I didn't see any "create a database in staging server" in your original post; you added it after I pointed your strategy wouldn't do it.

Duplicating a database from datafiles/archivelogs/controlfiles/... works all the time; I will love to see you working out your exp/imp strategy in a medium size database... lets say as small as 500Gig in size.

If you want to suggest a solution that has a size constraint, better to ask OP for the size of the database, then, if applies, suggest it. Simple isn't