My mage character found a staff of Chain Lightning...and it's very different from other staves.

For some reason, every time an enemy is hit with it, from NPC to giant to dragon, they stagger, even if it's not a direct hit. Note that I have both Augmented Shock ranks and the Impact perk, but this staggering does not apply to my staff of Fireball, even on direct hits (and Fireball is the same tier spell as Chain Lightning, but does more damage).

Also note that, even with the Impact perk, Destruction spells can only stagger with direct hits. That means that Chain Lightning should never be able to stagger enemies within the AOE, only the foe that is hit--and, sure enough, personally casting Chain Lightning has the normal effect. With my staff, I can stagger several enemies at once.

Does this happen to anyone else, with any staff?

because you can sell them, or give them to your companion so that he can blast you to pieces.

Give your Destruction staves to J'zargo.

Staff+Ward is one of the better ways to win mage vs mage battles, up until you get ridiculous magicka or 0 cost spells.

Yeah, I am still not sold on the usefulness of the staves, but using the Staff of Firebolts brings back some memories. It's a shame that you can't dual cast staves, though.

I'll have to try that sometime. Useful, as wards tend to eat magicka.

Did Beth ever think to include ward staves? Also, I'd like to note that staves are the reason I don't do that 0% spell cost crap. That's just too cheesy for me.

Dumb newbie question of the day: If I gift my followers with nice things, will they *use* them? or only in specific instances?

they'll use them but you have to be careful with what you give them, the ai is like if you give a two year old your controller

Only staff i ever use is sanguine rose. In oblivion they were my weapon of choice and my bow was sometimes used. Now i find myself using my bow a whole lot more not sure why though i think now the new dual casting magicka system has taken over the staff.

i liked the thread, never thought that it would be usefull give staff to companions as some people here posted. However, i didnt get YOUR post.

My companion has about ten different staffs that I gave her. She uses them all and even enchants them when they run dry. Don't knock staffs.

I don't usually use staves but I thought you could dual cast them since they're one handed, in fact that's a central idea in the artificer thread.

Yes, I actually found 2 of them and dual-wield them when I'm confronted by a dragon priest or dragur deathlord. 6-7 dual hits and they never get a spell off.
I really wish I didn't need them, but at level 41 with no smithing experience (which equals a crappy armor rating), I can't defeat these leveled creatures any other way.

No, guys, it is "staffs", and not "staves". By convention, staffs are accepted in TES lore. "Rindir's Staffs" is a shop in the Imperial City in Cyrodiil.

However, terms magic and magicka are not equivalent. Magic is an art of war, while magicka = mana, and they are used in such context.


PS. Brelyna Maryon the companion, can dual-wield 2 staffs of fireball and be quite a badass.

Actually a high skill makes the staff drain more slowly.

Some have unique spells. Also besides running out of Magicka, they can be useful for some builds. One time I used a staff of Ice Storm to beat a particular magic user who was kicking my buns with my regular attacks.

I think staffs are is casting and staves is for melee.

Maybe he meant dual cast as in, using 2 of the same staves at the same time and combine them for an extra powerful spell.

You can dual wield staves. Dual-wielding staffs of fireballs (I have like 5 of them lol) is completely BA. I also am 100 in destruction and have my fire perked which helps. It's pretty much my oh $h*&&! handle when things start getting crowded and my magic runs low. I love that they have an area of effect, as opposed to spells like incinerate (I dont think incinerate does as much damage as it says anyways).

Otherwise, the sanguine rose is a really good staff and has gotten me out of plenty of jams, now that my conjure is all the way up, i dont think I'll be using it as much but it was a lifesaver until the 40's.

I also carry a staff of paralyzing which is probably my best overall stave. The only thing that is hasn't paralyzed in one hit so far is a dragon. Oh yeah and it puts them out for an astonishing 10 seconds!

Felt like staves were better in Oblivion for some reason..

personally, i just can't play a mage without their staff. it's part of my lore as a player, lol.

Yes, i have that same staff and the same thing happens to me. Not sure why it happens, but it's a staff I will always hold on to because it's great when I am outnumbered.

The Staff of Magnus is why you should bother with staves.

Too bad there isnt a stave tree.

Everyone here should check out this thread for ideas on getting high damage from staves:
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1312501-the-way-of-the-artificer/page__fromsearch__1