Staves are a rather underutilized weapon type in Skyrim. They have powerful enchantments, these are capable of turning the tide of a fight or making an easy fight last just a few seconds. It’s definitely worth keeping a staff on you during your travels, they offer so much. Although this is a list of the best staves in Skyrim, every single staff is useful so feel free to use the best one you have, even if you don’t have any on this list. But if you have a lot of staves and you want to know which one you should be using, the following entries will tell you all you need to know!

10. Staff of Incineration

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Starting off simple, the Staff of Incineration is a considerably powerful weapon, capable of melting enemies with ease. It deals 60 points of fire damage which is of course, incredibly high, even more so when you consider the fact that it deals bonus damage to targets already on fire. The reason it’s only number 10 on the list is due to its rarity, as well as it only having 48 charges before it has to be re-charged with a soul gem.

(Spoiler) How to obtain: You can purchase this staff from vendors, although it does come at a high price. You can also find it as loot randomly, if you’re extremely lucky.

9. Staff of Inspiration

This staff provides a huge amount of uses before it runs out, making it an awesome choice for your early adventures. It’s best used alongside your companion, as it grants the target extra health and stamina as well as preventing them from fleeing from battle. Not the most powerful staff you’ve ever seen but it can be useful in boss fights.

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Found as random loot. You can also purchase it from a number of mages at the College of Winterhold.

8. Staff of the Frost/Storm Atronach

Summoning atronachs to help you in battle can be a practical way of diverting attention from yourself. If you’re a mage for example, you’ll be able to have up to two allies taking enemy aggro while you gun them down from range. The reason I only included Frost & Storm while disregarding Flame is simply due to the charge amounts. With the Frost & Storm staves, you can summon an atronach up to 22 times before a re-charge is needed, compared to 15 times with the Flame atronach staff.

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Just like the previous entries, these staves are relatively easily to encounter. Simply find one as loot or purchase one from a number of vendors all across Skyrim.

7. Staff of Magnus

Such an awesome looking staff should deserve a higher spot on the list but there’s reasons for it being placed in 7th place. Lets have a look at its enchantment first, it deals 20 damage to magicka and if the enemy has 0 magicka, it absorbs health instead. Sounds incredible! It is as well, as long as you can use it. The Staff of Magnus has a base charge per usage of 17, so you’ll have to stock up on tons of soul gems before you consider adding this to your arsenal. It does look cool though.

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Complete the Staff of Magnus quest-line in the College of Winterhold.

6. Dragon Priest Staff (Wall of Fire)

Slightly situational but in those right situations, it can be extremely useful. As you’ve probably guessed by the name, this staff produces a wall of fire on the ground that deals fairly high fire damage to any enemies silly enough to walk through it. The best thing is, you can use this ability up to 98 times! So if you stick this in your inventory, you’ll be able to use it consistently.

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Found as loot on the body of Rahgot, a Dragon Priest in Forelhost. You do need to kill him first!

5. Eye of Melka

The Eye of Melka is a powerful staff that is perfect for those who need a quick burst of damage before a fight. Each shot will ignite the targeted area, dealing 40 fire damage to anyone within a small radius. It does have low charges, 17 to be exact, but that’s 17 fights that will be made much, much easier. It’s also really easy to obtain, which is why it pipped a few other staves to the top 5 of the list.

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Either kill Melka in Blind Cliff Cave, or complete a quest given by her.

4. Wabbajack

Likely the most recognisable staff on the list, Wabbajack is a legendary weapon that’s loved by Elder Scrolls players everywhere. The awesomeness of its enchantment is just too fun, although it can be rather useless if luck isn’t in your favour. I was tempted to put it higher on the list because of its epic appearance but the shots per re-charge aren’t great at all. I won’t go into the details of each possibility upon cast, I’ll leave that for you to find out when you get your hands on it!

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Complete Sheogorath’s quest Mind of Madness.

3. Skull of Corruption

Each shot from the Skull of Corruption deals a fairly piddly 20 damage, so why is it number 3? It looks awesome, that much is true. The damage is increased to 50 if you’ve collected dreams from sleeping persons. To harvest dreams, simply cast the staff on a sleeping NPC. Yep, that’s it. So you have a 50 damage per shot staff, with a high charge count (75) and awesome appearance. What’s not to love?

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Acquirable at the end of the quest Waking Nightmare, found in Dawnstar.

2. Sanguine Rose

Such a unique staff had to be so high up on the list, it’s extremely powerful and remarkably easy to obtain. While it only has 13 charges in its ammunition, each charge summons a daedric monster to fight for you. These monsters grow in power as the wielder grows so if you receive this staff early on, it’ll massively contribute to your adventures for a long time.

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Upon reaching level 14, you’ll have the chance to go through a quest given by Sam Guevenne in any tavern. You’ll receive Sanguine Rose after completing said quest.

1. Miraak’s Staff

No other staff in the entire game compares to the competence and epicness of Miraak’s Staff. Each cast sprays tentacles on the ground which damage and poison any nearby enemies. They last for a long time, allowing you to completely drown a room in tentacles to win fights with ease. Lesser creatures have difficulty maneuvering in such terrain, making them sitting ducks for any ranged abilities. It also looks amazing, which is fitting for the best staff in Skyrim!

(Spoiler) How to obtain: Only available in the Dragonborn DLC, it’s looted from Miraak’s corpse.

Whether you call them staffs or staves is irrelevant: you’ve come here to find the best magical sticks in the Skyrim modding community.

And I’m here to tell you exactly where you can download them.

Performing magical acts in Skyrim is fun, we all know that.

And I’m sure that if you’re like me, you also think the staffs that come with the game are pretty crappy. Well, not all but many.

Thankfully modders have created a bunch of cool new ones that come packed with amazing enchantments & spells that you’ve never seen before, which serves as a way to reinvigorate the magical experience of an old-fashioned playthrough.

10. Staff Enchanting Overhaul

Skyrim Sheath On Back

Okay, I actually wanted to focus on staffs only for this list. However I think leaving out this mod will be detrimental to your wizardry experience.

This is the Staff Enchanting Overhaul mod, and with this each enchantment will be scaled according to your level. This means that you’ll have access to much more powerful enchants the further you advance in the game.

That’s not all, though.

The mod also comes with a handful of customization options, which makes it a fantastic mod to install if you’re looking to completely change the way enchanting works and make it as close to what you envision as possible.

9. Dwarven Condenser

The Dwarven Condenser is the steampunk version of a wizard staff.

And it’s one that also comes with the ability to shoot out some cool fire breath.

Skyrim Staff On Back

I mean, this is technically not a magical mod. But it does provide you with a much better staff anything that comes with the vanilla game.

Besides, it also looks like something that you’d see made by the Dwarven. It’s super lore-friendly.

If they ever got close to magic, they would’ve made something like this!

8. Saruman Staff (Lord of the Rings)

Alright time to move away from lore-friendliness for a minute and appreciate the fact that someone managed to model Saruman’s staff to perfection and added it to Skyrim.

With both universes sharing a lot of similarities, one would imagine that some modder was bound to do it eventually.

In any case, Saruman’s LOTR staff can be used to cast the Unrelenting Force shout as a bound enchantment. This means you don’t need to waste the powers of the Dragonborn to make your enemies fly.

Now you can do it while feeling like the powerful Saruman himself!

7. LifeSong – The Grove Matron Staff

I recently wrote a guide about some of the coolest Druid mods for Skyrim, and even though I didn’t include this one, it was a really close cut.

LifeSong is a lore-friendly nature staff that allows you to control the powers of nature itself.

First, though, you’re going to need to find it and earn it.

Skyrim Staves Mod

This is one of the few mods on my list that actually comes packed with a full story behind it, supported by a magical environment made by the creator of the mod.

It might not be the first one on my list. But it’s one that I fully recommend you check out if you’ve got the time to search it out.

6. Staff of Shalidor

The Staff of Shalidor mod doesn’t really come with a background to it. It just gets added to your game as soon as you load a save with the mod installed.

However, as far as cool mods go, this is one staff you’ll want to have.

It’s a staff designed with a small house at its tip. And yes, you can actually access the house itself.

Freaky, I know.

Activate the staff and be transported to inside it… yes, inside the staff! Possibly one of the best houses you could get for a wizardly playthrough.

5. Iban’s Staff

If you’re a RuneScape player then you know exactly what Iban’s Staff mod does.

It adds Iban’s Staff, one of the RPG’s most popular staves in the game.

Resembling the effect that this staff had in RuneScape, Iban’s Staff for Skyrim fires a deadly skull that crashes into your enemies and sends them flying backwards.

It doesn’t really fit Skyrim’s lore, sure.

But the concept of the staff isn’t too farfetched either.

Besides, who doesn’t like shooting stuff towards your enemies and watching them fly away?

4. Ancient Staff

Another one based on a RuneScape staff, the Ancient Staff mod comes with a small extra dungeon that you need to complete to obtain it.

The staff itself is extremely powerful and can freeze your enemies to death in a matter of seconds. But beware: you’re going to need to charge it pretty often.

Be sure to use it only if necessary, and don’t spend all of its charges at once – regardless of how tempting it may be to do exactly that.

3. Staff of Magnus Improved

We’ve all grown to love the Staff of Magnus beyond our wildest dreams.

But we have to accept it – the texture of the staff is pretty crappy.

I mean, it was due for some improvements anyway.

So this handy mod adds a new retexture to the Staff of Magnus, which makes it look HD and just beautifully redesigned.

2. The Elianora – Master Wizard’s Staff

Alright I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting to find a custom staff mod as well done as this one.

The Elianora not only looks super cool, but also has a bunch of crazy effects. With fire, lightning, and ice enchantments all at once, it’s got to be the most powerful staff on this list!

That said though, there’s always another mod to tempt you…

1. Elemental Staffs

This mod, although it doesn’t add a new staff to the game, creates a unique design for all of the Skyrim staves.

It basically lets them look unique according to their enchantment.

So all of the vanilla staves will get a retexture that adds a new color depending on their enchantment. A very subtle change, but damn this looks cool.

It might be a pretty basic aesthetic mod, but it makes the game much more immersive for a magical playthrough.