Updated for Patch 3.23
Staves are Melee weapons associated with Intelligence and Strength. Their Implicit mod usually grants your character a lot of Attack Block Chance, making them a good defensive option. These can host a variety of modifiers for Attack and Spell builds - Staves can roll Cast Speed, increased Elemental or Spell Damage, and additional Levels to all selected Spell Skill Gems. Warstaves are more Attack-oriented - they have fewer caster modifiers to choose from. It's an important distinction among Rare Items. Unique Staves and Warstaves are both used in Attack and Spell builds alike. Each one is different, this difference rarely applies to them. Staves and Warstaves are similar to Maces and Axes, their damage is not as high, but due to the extra Block Chance, and higher base Critical Strike Chance, they are a very valid option.
When looking for a Staff for an Attack build, consider its DPS. It's the determining factor of how good it is. Most Rare weapons will perform better in this scenario. Cane of Kulemak is a special case - it's very good if you Unveil the increased Physical Damage and increased Attack Speed modifiers on it. A Staff for a Spellcaster should generally increase the Skill Gem Level by around 3 or even 5. Duskdawn, Pledge of Hands, or The Annihilating Light are very generic Staves that will fit most Spell builds quite well. The list we've put together should prompt you to explore the potential of all of these weapons or explain how they work and why some builds use them.
Staves | |
Fencoil - Lets you turn most Spells into Traps right from the start. The Trap Support Gem is also available at level 1, so the only reason to use it that early is to save a Gem Socket. We recommend using a regular Trap Skill like Explosive Trap instead or switching to Deerstalker Boots at level 22. | |
Required Level: 1 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Replica Fencoil - It Supports socketed Spell with Multiple Totems, which is a Support Gem that a lot of Totem players use. It's good early on to save a Socket, but there's not much else here. Just some Life, Mana, and Damage. | |
Required Level: 1 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Blood Thorn - Great level-1 weapon for a Physical Attack character. It becomes obsolete after the first or second act. | |
Required Level: 1 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Replica Blood Thorn - It's good during the first two acts for any Fire Damage character. If using an Attack, be sure to convert all the Physical Damage to Fire to benefit from the Fire Damage bonus. You will eventually switch to Abberath's Horn, Ashcaller, Martyr of Innocence, or The Searing Touch. | |
Required Level: 1 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Stormheart - A quite good leveling weapon for a Mixed Damage (preferably Cold and Lightning) Attack build such as Glacial Hammer or Static Strike - you can use it with Trinity Support to gain Resonance stacks quickly. | |
Required Level: 28 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Martyr of Innocence - Has very high DPS for its level requirement. It also provides you with a lot of Attack Block Chance and Battlmage, meaning it's good for Attack and Spell builds alike. We recommend using it in Physical to Fire builds such as Molten Strike, Tectonic Slam, Consecrated Path, Explosive Trap, or Wave of Conviction. Replace it after acquiring a higher DPS weapon in case of an Attack build, or a weapon that increases the Gem Level of your Spells if it's a Spell build. | |
Required Level: 51 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Femurs of the Saints - It's supposed to be used in a Minion build with a lot of various summons for various bonuses, but it's just not that good for a 2-hand weapon. It increases the Level of socketed Minion Gems by 2 and their damage by up to 100%, but similar (often far better) stats can be found on a Convoking Wand. The other boons are not that good - mostly Utility and Defensive perks that can be found on any other gear piece, like Shield. Still, good for a low-budget Minion build. Don't bother six-linking it. | |
Required Level: 58 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Burden of Shadows - It's a weapon for Life-stacking characters. The existence of Ratphit Globe and Relic of the Pact makes it hard for it to stand out, as these also occupy your weapon slots in Life-stacking builds. This one is still popular in non-crit builds. DoTs don't scale up with Critical Strikes (Ratphit Globe is that good because of its Crit bonuses per Maximum Life), so to benefit from added Chaos Damage you should use it to cause Poison Damage. The downside of losing 500 Life a second is no issue for a Pathfinder (which also specializes in Poison Damage) with Master Surgeon passive. You can use it with any Spell, the added Chaos Damage overshadows all the other types of Damage your Spells might have. | |
Required Level: 58 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Searing Touch - Searing Touch is very good for a lot of Spell Fire Damage builds, especially Ignite ones, such as Detonate Dead, Fire Trap, or Wave of Conviction. It simply provides you with a lot of Damage. Replace it later, the best Rare Staves can increase the Level of all selected Spell Skills by 5 with only 2 mods (Magister's and Lava Conjurer's Prefixes for example). | |
Required Level: 62 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Agnerod East - Budget weapon for a Lightning Spell build, but we recommend Agnerod West if you have a choice. This one increases the Duration of Shock or Sap, which is of no concern for most. | |
Required Level: 66 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Agnerod North - Budget weapon for a Lightning Spell build, but we recommend Agnerod West if you have a choice. This one has an additional 15% Chance to Shock, which is good if you don't plan to deal Critical Strikes, as all Critical Strikes with Lightning Damage will apply Shock anyway. | |
Required Level: 66 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Agnerod South - Budget weapon for a Lightning Spell build, but we recommend Agnerod West if you have a choice. This one grants you an additional 5% to Maximum Lightning Resistance, which is a lot. Can be used in a build where you receive a lot of Lightning Damage - this is the case in a Herald of Thunder build, due to the two Storm Secret Rings. | |
Required Level: 66 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Agnerod West - Budget weapon for a Lightning Spell build. This one distinguishes itself from other Agnerod Staves with added Lightning Damage to Spells. Roughly as much as a tier 4 Prefix (Arcing). It's not outstanding, but good enough. | |
Required Level: 66 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Enmity Divine - It's supposed to be used in Melee Bleed builds, which are not popular as of 3.23. It has a DoT Multiplier for Bleeding from Critical Strikes and increased Critical Strike Chance, but a regular Rare Staff with the "of Exsanguising" Suffix will increase your Physical DoT Multiplier by up to 75%, which is better already. Critical Strike and Bleeding Damage do not mix very well anyway, as the extra Damage does not affect the Ailments it causes. The added Physical Damage is high so the Staff is not completely useless. | |
Required Level: 66 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Yielding Mortality - It's an upgraded version of The Enmity Divine. The only difference between the two is the better Harbinger this one summons. It causes Bleeding enemies you Kill to explode, which improves your clear speed significantly. Again, we would advise against using it, as a Rare Weapon with higher Hit Damage and unconditional Bleeding Damage Multiplier is better. | |
Required Level: 66 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Annihilating Light - A very popular and cheap Staff for an Elemental Spell Damage build (its DPS is too low for any Attack build). Normally you would want a weapon to increase the Skill Gem Level for the Spells you're using, but the triple damage bonus is so high that it can compete with such Staves. It's especially great if you're using more than one Spell, or Spells that don't scale as well with Gem Level. We have used it in a Heartbound Loop Autobomber Scion or Eye of Winter Miner Inquisitor builds. | |
Required Level: 68 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Witchhunter's Judgment - Brandsurge overcharges your Brands, making them Activate 35% faster and Expire 150% faster every 0.5 seconds. Expired Brands explode. It's very bad - it has no direct damage bonuses. Even when your Brand is sped up, it won't deal much damage. | |
Required Level: 68 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
Warstaves | |
Dying Breath - It's used in cheap AG setups. It's hard to find other uses for it. | |
Required Level: 13 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Pillar of the Caged God - Used in Strength-stacking builds, like this Boneshatter Juggernaut. You can then cultivate damage with Trauma Stacks and increase it with Strength, | |
Required Level: 13 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Realmshaper - A leveling weapon for a mixed Elemental Damage non-Critical Spell build. You can use it with a Pyre Ring to Convert nearly all Cold Damage to Fire. Can also be used in crude Cold-to-Fire Ignite builds, but there it has to compete with Replica Cold Iron Point, which is often much better. | |
Required Level: 13 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Xirgil's Crank - Mediocre low-level weapon for any Spell Damage build with at least some Energy Shield. It has a high Block Chance and can start to Recover your ES on Block, so we recommend grabbing an additional Block Chance on the passive Skill tree and activating Tempest Shield. You will be able to find something better rather quickly. | |
Required Level: 28 +20% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Whispering Ice - Used only in Intelligence-stacking Whispering Ice builds. It grants the Spell similar to Firestorm of Pelting, so try that one first if you haven't. It's excellent even on a budget if you know how to gain a lot of Intelligence cheaply. | |
Required Level: 33 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Tremor Rod - One of the most sought-after items during the first few days of a new league. It allows you to detonate Mine an additional time, which increases your damage by a third (Skitterbots can Detonate Mines additional time too). Often used with March of the Legion, where the actual Mine setup is socketed. You will later replace it with a better weapon. | |
Required Level: 41 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Sire of Shards - It's definitely fun, but not that useful. It works in Projectile Spell builds like Fireball or Spark, but it doesn't improve your damage against bosses (not unless you're using a Shotgunning Spell with Nimis Ring, but even there it's not that good), so it's rarely used. It's just more Projectiles and better clear speed, which is rarely a concern. | |
Required Level: 49 +20% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Winds of Fate - It has very high DPS but works only half the time (after reaching 50% Crit Chance), so the actual damage is mediocre at best. Winds of Fate Battlemage Inquisitor uses it alongside Plume of Pursuit that guarantees Critical Strike on a Skills' final repeat so you don't need any Critical Strike Chance at all. You can use Controlled Destruction Support and Marylene's Fallacy there, while also reaping the benefits of the weapon's high damage via Battlemage. It also can be used in Chains of Command Animated Guardian Necromancer build - the Rallying Cry will improve your Minions' Damage based on the Damage of your weapon, which is one of the highest in the game. | |
Required Level: 55 +18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Cane of Unravelling - You can use it with Chaos DoT Spells such as Essence Drain or Blight. It's considered a budget weapon as it's not particularly outstanding. It's quite bad actually, you can get an "of Disintegrating" Suffix on a Rare Staff that gives you up to 75% Chaos DoT Multiplier instead. Additionally, Power Charges and Damage over Time is not a great combination - you can enhance it with Graven's Secret or The Aylardex. | |
Required Level: 60 +20% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Soulwrest - A build-defining weapon for a Soulwrest Phantasms Summoner build. It summons a lot of Phantasm Minions if you're consuming Corpses. Cast Desecrate to create them, and use Kitava's Teachings and Offering Skills to consume a lot of them steadily. It can be implemented to nearly any Minion build, but these often go for other weapons like Rare Convking Wand or Severed in Sleep. | |
Required Level: 60 +20% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Fulcrum - Popular weapon for Fulcrum Ignite Auto-Bomber Chieftan build. It reflects the Ignites you inflict back to you, which you can Proliferate to all nearby enemies as you move around. It's not a popular weapon in any other build - it's too much of a hassle and too little reward to bother with the self-ignite, self-chill, and self-shock. | |
Required Level: 60 +20% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Disintegrator - You can have up to 9 Siphoning Charges, which may grant you a lot of Physical and Chaos Damage with Physical Damage Reduction. You will need a good source of Life Recovery to sustain self-inflicted Physical DoT. We would use it on a Pathfinder that shifts incoming Physical Damage to be taken as Elemental Damage. Add to that Master Surgeon for a much better Life Recovery, and Poison Passives to benefit from Physical and Chaos Damage. Still, it requires very specific gear pieces and some sort of rapidly hitting Skill. It has potential that we may explore in the future. | |
Required Level: 64 +25% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Duskdawn - Duskdawn is generally good in all Spell builds with capped Critical Strike and Attack Block Chance. It increases Spell Damage, Block Chance, and Critical Strike Multiplier - by up to 135%, which is a lot. You can hook up Flame Dash with Controlled Destruction Support to Hit enemies with a non-Crit every now and then. As was the case with Divinarius, use it if you value Crit mods over Gem Level mods in your Spell build, which is the case with Spells baked into items, or Spell that scale up with your or your Minions' Life. | |
Required Level: 64 +25% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Replica Duskdawn - Instead of increasing Spell Damage, it increases Elemental Damage. Also, instead of increasing Spell Crit Chance, it increases the weapon's Crit Chance, which is supposed to make it viable for Attack builds, but it simply is not. Its DPS is too low. That makes it inferior when compared to the original Duskdawn. | |
Required Level: 64 +25% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Taryn's Shiver - A mediocre Staff for Spell Damage Cold builds. Just be sure not to use Elemental Focus Support - you need to Freeze. The Annihilating Light is most likely a superior choice. | |
Required Level: 64 +25% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Atziri's Rule - It comes with a built-in Skill Gem that you should build around. As it is a Trigger Gem, it's good on a Saboteur. There's not much to it that hasn't been said in our guide. | |
Required Level: 68 +20% Chance to Block Spell Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Cane of Kulemak - One of the most versatile weapons. It's shaped by its Veiled modifiers, which have only half as many as a regular Rare Staff, but their effect can be improved by up to 90%. The pool of modifiers is vast and you can use it in any build that can host a Rare Staff. You may sell it Unveiled for a large sum, or unwrap it yourself. | |
Required Level: 68 +20% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Hegemony's Era - A budget-friendly Staff for any Critical Strike Melee build. It can be used in this Shockwave Cyclone Slayer build for example. Replace it with a good Rare weapon as soon you can get your hands on one. | |
Required Level: 68 +20% Chance to Block Spell Damage while wielding a Staff |
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Pledge of Hands - Grants you a 6th Support Gem - Greater Spell Echo which substitutes regular Spell Echo. It also increases Spell Damage and Maximum Mana by a fair amount, making it popular amongst all sorts of Hierophant builds with Mind over Matter, Divine Guidance, and Sanctuary of Thought. You can use it in this Holy Flame Totem Hierophant starter build. | |
Required Level: 68 +20% Chance to Block Spell Damage while wielding a Staff |
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The Grey Spire - Its DPS is astoundingly low despite the Attack Speed bonus. The only qualities are a high bonus to Maximum Resistances and a mediocre (for a weapon) Global Damage increase. Despite it, it's still good if you're using a Spell that doesn't scale up only with Gem Level, like Detonate Dead which grows stronger alongside your Corpses' Life. You can equip your Animated Guardian with it to make it extra durable. | |
Required Level: 68 +20% Chance to Block Spell Damage while wielding a Staff |
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