Skyrim - Staves

Staves are one-handed weapons that cast a spell from their own charge instead of your Magicka, so anyone can use one whatever their magic skills are. That is the whole appeal: a warrior with 15 Destruction can carry a Staff of Fireballs and throw 40 point explosions with it. The catch is that a staff never gets better, never raises a skill, and stops working entirely when the charge runs out.

There are 44 standard staves across the five schools. What separates them is not damage, it is casts per charge, a figure no menu in the game shows you: divide the staff's charge pool by its cost per cast and the answers run from 500 down to 3.

Combat

Where it wins

• Skill does not gate the effect. A Staff of Incineration does its 60 points of fire damage at Destruction 15 exactly as it does at 100, which no spell can claim.
• It costs no Magicka, so a staff in the off hand is free damage next to a sword, a shield or a second staff. Staves are one-handed in Skyrim and can be dual wielded.
• Destruction perks still apply. Augmented Flames takes a Staff of Flames from 8 damage per second to 10, so a caster gains from a staff as well.
• The cheap Illusion and Restoration staves are effectively unlimited. Staff of Courage costs 1 point per cast against a 500 charge, which is 500 casts before it needs a soul gem.

Where it loses

• Using a staff raises no skill. Hours with one leave Destruction exactly where it started, which makes staves a poor choice for a character still levelling.
• Higher skill does not raise the damage, only the charge cost. The staff you find at level 10 is the same staff at level 50.
• The expensive ones run dry fast. Staff of Fear gets 3 casts from a full charge and Staff of Paralysis 6, so both need a filled soul gem after almost every fight.
• Blacksmiths will not buy or sell them, staves cannot be disenchanted, and the Soul Siphon perk does not recharge them.

Builds

A staff is at its best on a character who is not a mage. The effect ignores your skill, so the value is highest where the skill is lowest: a two-handed warrior gains a ranged option, a stealth archer gains a panic button, and neither has to spend a perk.

• For a warrior: a Destruction staff in the off hand with a one-handed weapon. Staff of Firebolts at 24 casts is the sensible middle, and Staff of Thunderbolts at 58 casts is the outlier worth hunting.
• For a mage: staves cover the school you did not perk into. A Destruction specialist carries Staff of Revenants for a free tank rather than spending points in Conjuration.
• For a low level character: Illusion staves punch above the level they drop at, because crowd control does not scale with your skill either. Staff of Fury turns a group against itself at level 1.
• Where the next chunk of value comes from: not a stronger staff, a cheaper one. Casts per charge varies by more than a hundredfold across the set while damage varies by eight, so the upgrade that matters is finding the same effect at a lower cost per cast.

Best Staves

Notes

• Casts per charge is the stat that matters, and it is charge divided by cost per cast. The range is enormous: Staff of Courage gets 500, Staff of Fear gets 3.
• A discharged staff is inert until recharged with a filled soul gem, the same as any enchanted weapon. The Soul Siphon perk is the exception that does not work on staves.
• Staves cannot be disenchanted, so they never teach you an effect.
• The named effect is not always the spell. Staff of Thunderbolts carries Lightning Bolt, not Thunderbolt, which is why its numbers look wrong next to the rest of its tier.
• Only spell merchants and general goods merchants trade staves. A blacksmith will not touch one.
• Unenchanted staves added by Dragonborn can be enchanted at the Staff Enchanter in Tel Mithryn, but the staff type fixes which school you may put on it.
• In Morrowind and Oblivion a staff took both hands. In Skyrim it takes one, which is what makes the off-hand staff build possible.

One-Handed Weapon Categories