if you replace the staff with a shield, you end up with pretty much the same dodge (depending on which shield you pick - wooden shields are worse, but kite shields and tower shields actually give more dodge), plus you can combine it with any one handed weapon (and pretty much every one handed weapon deals more damage or at least adds a special attack)
dodge units are nice, but when they fail to dodge, they usually lack the armor to survive the hits. and as others have said, amarians aren't really that great. pick wraith for the innate 20 dodge or kraxis - they also get 20 dodge while they sit in their fortifications, and they can use one handed spears+shields which deals more damage (at least the 2nd and 3rd tier spears), and gives them 2 special attacks. for some extra cheese, make a custom faction based on one of the two and add the lucky trait and a death+air mage hero for the blind spell that decreases chance to hit - basically "reverse dodge" - and the evade buff for even more dodge
