Though the natives of Skyrim might view magic as the weapon of milk drinkers, the land has plenty of opportunities and weapons for those who chose to pursue the arcane arts. There are many spells the Dragonborn can learn to incinerate their victims, but adding staves to the mix can help save on Magika costs and can help you deal more damage against higher-level foes.
Many staves can be found while looting and pillaging dungeons and each staff offers its own unique ability. Some bring fire, others ice, and some staves can even raise the dead. Not all staves are made equal, however, and these staves are not only superior in ability but in style as well.
10 Wabbajack
True to its owner Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness, this staff seemingly embodies chaos. The Wabajack has a random effect that ranges from transforming a target to empowering them. You don’t truly know what you will get with the Wabbajack and this can make it bothersome in actual combat. Not knowing if your staff will utterly destroy an enemy or help them is not something most people would see as ideal. However, what the staff lacks in reliability, is more than made up for in laughs.
9 Staff of The Storm Atronach
Summoning an Atronach to aid you in battle is an effective strategy and the Staff of The Storm Atronach makes that task a little easier. You can summon a Storm Atronach for 60 seconds with this staff, but it has a charge cost of a Grand Soul Gem, which after a while becomes troublesome to get. The Staff allows you to still summon an Atronach without draining your entire Magika reserve.
8 Skull of Corruption
Daedric Prince’s tend to make pretty good staves, and the same is true of Vaermina whose domain is dreams and nightmares. The Skull of Corruption is powered by the dreams of sleeping citizens and can cause damage to multiple enemies. While powering it with dreams increases its damage output, it can sometimes be a drag having to continuously break into houses when NPC’s are sleeping.
The Skull of Corruption can hit multiple enemies, but if you like to have a follower when you are exploring Ancient Nordic Tombs the staff can damage them as well.
7 Staff of Revenants
The Staff of Revenants is a conjuration-based staff that allows you to reanimate a powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds. This powerful staff comes in handy when fighting multiple Dragur.
The random encounter is with an NPC named Aspiring Mage, but if you meet him too early he will only give you the less powerful Staff of Zombies. While the staff is powerful, it is hard to come by and not as useful as other in-game staves.
6 Miraak’s Staff
Available with the DLC Dragonborn, Miraak’s staff definitely has the most interesting animation within Skyrim. When used, the staff will spray out tentacles that will stagger and poison foes who come into contact with them. This makes it perfect for trapping enemies.
But, the staff is not all-powerful since higher level Dragur are only staggered and don’t take any damage. Therefore, the staff is mostly effective as crowd control and not much else.
5 Halldir’s Staff
This unique staff had the ability to not only calm less powerful enemies but trap their souls if they die within 60 seconds. That ability makes this staff incredibly useful when facing multiple foes at once. Not only can you calm some while you deal with the more powerful enemies, but you have an instant soul trap without having to physically cast the spell. The only drawback is that Halldir’s Staff only deals 17 base damage.
4 Staff of Ice Storms
Emulating the Destruction Spell Ice Storm, this staff causes a high amount of damage to both an opponent’s health and stamina. While the staff may seem pretty inconspicuous, the fact that it damages health and stamina by 40 per second makes it one of the more offensively powerful staves in Skyrim. You will want this staff to both slow down and deal damage to foes.
3 Eye of Melka
Named after a Hagraven of the same name, the Eye of Melka is a unique take on the Forsworn staves. Capable of creating a fiery explosion worth 40 damage in a 15-foot-radius, this destruction staff deals high levels of fire damage to enemies of all types. In short, if you like burning things, you need this weapon.
You can get the staff by either helping Melka against an evil Hagraven named Petra, or you can kill Melka and loot her body for the staff.
2 Staff of Jyrik Gaulderson
This staff once belonged to one of the most feared mages in Skyrim and you can wield it to bring the same fear to your enemies.
The Staff of Jyrik Gaulderson takes 25 points of an opponent’s health damage and 50 of their magika reserves. This makes the staff a very powerful tool against other magic users.
1 Sanguine’s Rose
Created by the Daedric Prince of Debauchery and everyone’s favorite drinking buddy Sanguine, the staff is a powerful Daedric artifact for you to claim. The staff summons a leveled Dremora to fight for you for sixty seconds which can result in having some very powerful Dremora allies.
You must be level 20 for this quest to trigger in-game.
