Steele's level, not the Staff's level. Shieldwall has 30 base damage at level 12 (18 + 12).
There are only 5 Melee weapons with better base damage, and 4 are quest rewards.
Even at level 7, it's 25 damage, which is ahead of the other weapons you can get on Myrellion.
That said, I'm hoping for a...