Does anyone ever use a staff?

[Luminary]

I have done a couple magic playthroughs, but I have never used a staff because they seem clumsy. Does anyone use them? are they worth anything?

[ralphtobybob]

Staffs that summon an atronoch or Daedra are very useful when being sniped from higher ground. You can launch one onto a balcony or other high point like in a fort, regardless of your conjuration skill range limitations.

I never give destruction staffs to followers because they'll sometimes do area of effect damage to friendlys, who then turn hostile.

Chain lightning staffs are useful when confronted with several enemies, especially mages. Not very useful though if you're using followers, because they'll jump right in and end up getting shocked, too.

[BoxMageOfOld]

staff is only worth anything when you have ordinator perk overhaul other wise it is such a lame handicap.

[Ilthe]

Staves are good if you want to play as a specialised mage - they allow you to focus on levelling your main magic skills and enchanting (for making and recharging staves), so you don't level too fast using unwanted skills with your main skills lagging behind.
This is very useful in the beginning, whan you barely have any mana and your gear is bad.
Staves allow using spells you don't have mana for yet.
Or even to use high mana cost magics as non-mage.

There are also good unique staves that have effects that can't be done with spells or allow using master level spells very early in the playthrough, like Wabbajack, Sanguine Rose, that Saartal questline staff, cool dwemer staff and CC staves, mainly Hasedoki's or necromancer one.

The staves weighting 8 points balances (comparing to non-mage archetypes) your magic gear weighting 5 at max. And by the time non-mages get the perk that makes worn armor weight 0, their weapons become heavier and your mage on the other hand will grow out of staves, having their magic skills high and gear enchantments maxed out.

[Mavloc]

IIRC staffs were supposed to function as a way for you to use spells you didn't have the skill level for, or didnt have the spell unlocked for, until you were able to.

In Morrowind and Oblivion you weren't the literal Dragonborn so it mattered. Not so much in skyrim.

[Alucard †]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Mavloc:

IIRC staffs were supposed to function as a way for you to use spells you didn't have the skill level for, or didnt have the spell unlocked for, until you were able to.

In Morrowind and Oblivion you weren't the literal Dragonborn so it mattered. Not so much in skyrim.

I don't think it really mattered in Oblivion either due to being able to create overpowered spells at the altar that are cheap to cast and outclass anything you can learn from spell vendors or get from magic staves.

[alexander_dougherty]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Alucard †:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Mavloc:

IIRC staffs were supposed to function as a way for you to use spells you didn't have the skill level for, or didnt have the spell unlocked for, until you were able to.

In Morrowind and Oblivion you weren't the literal Dragonborn so it mattered. Not so much in skyrim.

I don't think it really mattered in Oblivion either due to being able to create overpowered spells at the altar that are cheap to cast and outclass anything you can learn from spell vendors or get from magic staves.

Yeah, I never used staffs in Oblivion either...
Spells crafted to do the most damage for my level on the other hand, I had dozens,,,, that and destruction spells that did minimal damage but with a target of self to level up destruction....

[ralphtobybob]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Mavloc:

IIRC staffs were supposed to function as a way for you to use spells you didn't have the skill level for, or didnt have the spell unlocked for, until you were able to.

In Morrowind and Oblivion you weren't the literal Dragonborn so it mattered. Not so much in skyrim.

Staffs were a lot more useful in Oblivion because of the Silence effect. Destruction staffs allow ranged elemental attacks while silenced.

[Profile Name]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από ralphtobybob:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Mavloc:

IIRC staffs were supposed to function as a way for you to use spells you didn't have the skill level for, or didnt have the spell unlocked for, until you were able to.

In Morrowind and Oblivion you weren't the literal Dragonborn so it mattered. Not so much in skyrim.

Staffs were a lot more useful in Oblivion because of the Silence effect. Destruction staffs allow ranged elemental attacks while silenced.

I forgot about the Silence spell.
I forgot the Burden spell, too!

[Perplex]

Sometimes on early magebuilds if i find one that is decent, but i never recharge them and just sell them when i am done with them. Until i got a mod that changed Staff of Magus to actually be useful, then it was fun.
The only use they really have is for level enchanting. Crafting 10 staffs of the right type will get you 100 in enchanting. But you need access to a staff enchanter that is not at Neloth's house and you need the DLC/Mod that lets you create staffs.

[toasty frosting]

Staves can be a decent lategame option for mage followers with damage perks but no access to powerful spells. Brelyna is one example. She has Augmented Flames, but her strongest Destruction spell is Fireball. Toss her a Staff of Incineration she can do a lot more damage without as much risk of friendly fire. If you have a spell pack that adds damaging Restoration spells and staves, you can use that to turn a pure healer into a potential ranged nuke. Obviously if you have a spell teaching mod none of this is a huge deal, though a lot of custom voiced followers don't play nicely with NFF so you'd want another solution for them.

As another example, Lucien has the potential to reach 100 in all his combat skills, but his spell list is garbage, capping out at Apprentice skills almost across the board. Give him a good staff and a mage or spellsword setup is suddenly a lot more competitive with melee tank or archer builds.

In modded games where it's suddenly infeasible to get 0% cost on spells (or you just wanna use slots for different things), you can use staves and a bunch of soul gems and minmax your magicka stat. You still need to cast the spells naturally from time to time to actually get your skills up though, since your skill in the school affects staff costs...