The Best Staves In Elden Ring

Builds focused around sorceries are among the most powerful in Elden Ring. When properly optimized, they can trivialize some of the game's most difficult bosses. And if you’re going to cast sorceries, you’ll need a staff. You’ll come across many as you travel the Lands Between, but some are substantially more useful than others.

The reason for these differences varies; perhaps they buff a particularly useful type of spell, or simply have extremely high damage. Regardless, there's no question that not all Staves are equally viable. Here are some you should consider using during your next playthrough.

Updated on February 21, 2024, by Lucas Ellinas: With no word on Elden Ring’s DLC, you might be itching for another playthrough of the base game. And if you want to incorporate sorceries into your new build, you’ll need a staff, so we’re rounding out our list with the remaining options.

Naturally, these last few entries are the worst of the worst, so you shouldn’t use them unless you absolutely have to. Still, it’s worth understanding what makes them weaker than the alternatives, if only so you know why you should avoid them.

18 Rotten Crystal Staff

Whether or not you agree that the Rotten Crystal Staff is the worst staff in Elden Ring, it’s certainly the most disappointing. Spells cast by the Rotten Crystalians that use this staff cause Scarlet Rot buildup, so you would expect the same from the Rotten Crystal Staff. Unfortunately, this staff is a great lesson in why you should never set your expectations too high.

It turns out that the Rotten Crystal Staff only causes Scarlet Rot when you use it as a melee weapon. Even then, it might still represent a minor upside over the regular Crystal Staff, but while both provide the same buff to Crystalian Sorceries, the rotten version actually has slightly worse scaling. And to top it all off, you can’t even get it until Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree, one of the game’s final areas, where it drops from a Lesser Crystalian Mage near the Elphael Inner Wall Site of Grace.

17 Glintstone Staff

The Glintstone Staff is one of the starting weapons given to the Prisoner Class, and one you should probably move on from as soon as you can. There’s not much to say about the weapon, really; it has worse scaling than another staff at every level of Intelligence, and doesn’t provide any particular bonuses, so there’s really not a good reason to use it.

It is relatively easy to access, though; if you didn’t start as a Prisoner and still want a staff that is both bad and boring, it drops from the Noble Sorcerers that try to ping you to death from long range with Glintstone Pebbles, and is in fact a guaranteed drop from a specific Noble Sorcerer you can find just south of the Waypoint Ruins in Limgrave.

16 Astrologer’s Staff

The Astrologer's Staff is, unsurprisingly, the starting weapon for the Astrologer Class. You could also buy it from the Nomadic Merchant you meet next to the Liurnia Lake Shore Site of Grace in Liurnia of the Lakes although there’s not much reason to do that... unless you have a penchant for collecting mediocre weapons.

The unfortunate truth is that, like the Glintstone Staff, the Astrologer’s Staff gets outclassed at every level of Intelligence by another staff on this list, so if you’re trying to play optimally there will always be a better option. That said, the difference isn’t as large as it was with the Glintstone Staff, so if you really can’t be bothered to seek out one of the staves from later on this list, you’ll still have a serviceable build.

15 Digger’s Staff

The Digger's Staff has some of the worst scaling among all Staves. As a result, the only reason to use it is if you are interested in one of the two Stonedigger Sorceries, which it boosts the damage of by 20 percent. These Sorceries are rather weak, but they can be pretty fun to use. Shatter Earth causes you to slam your Staff into the ground, creating an explosion.

Rock Blaster does the same thing, but allows you to create what is effectively a magical drill that you can hold in front of you, stunlocking weaker enemies before you slam it into the ground. It’s not the most powerful strategy, but if it appeals to you, the Digger’s Staff is dropped by the Glintstone Miners you can encounter in several of the tunnels in Elden Ring. Farm until you pick up two of them, and get digging.

14 Staff Of The Guilty

The Staff of the Guilty is an extremely unusual weapon. It scales exclusively with Faith, but will deal far less damage than the high-tier Staves that use Intelligence. This problem is compounded by the fact that there are only two Sorceries that scale exclusively with Faith: Briars of Punishment and Briars of Sin. Staff of the Guilty buffs these Sorceries by 20 percent, and they have innate Bleed buildup, which is always nice. But that comes at the cost of dealing damage to yourself when you cast them.

When using double Staffs of the Guilty to stack their buffs, along with Alberich’s Set — which also buffs those Sorceries — you can get decent damage out of them, but it’s usually not worth limiting yourself so much. If you don’t mind having such limited options, or want to include a couple Sorceries in your Faith build, you can farm the Staff of the Guilty from the Thorn Sorcerers wielding blazing staffs. The earliest one that can be found is in Liurnia of the Lakes, although there are far more of them near Fort Laiedd in Volcano Manor or in the Mountaintops of the Giants.

13 Albinauric Staff

When Elden Ring first launched, the Albinauric Staff was a key component in Arcane builds. Unfortunately, it was hit with a significant nerf thanks to the overall power of those strategies. That said, if you are playing a split Arcane/Intelligence build (possibly with some Faith added in), the Albinauric Staff is still the best option to use for casting your spells.

To get this staff, you'll need to head to Volcano Manor. On your way to the Godskin Noble boss, you’ll find it in a darkened room, guarded by a tough Omenkiller enemy.

12 Gelmir Glintstone Staff

There are certain weapons in Elden Ring that even the most experienced players might not know that they exist. The Gelmir Glintstone Staff is one of those weapons. Which is a bit of a shame, since it is great for certain builds. It boosts Volcanic Sorceries (which admittedly aren’t especially strong), but more importantly, it has the best Sorcery Scaling for split Intelligence/Faith builds until your reach 50 in both stats. That’s about where you’ll be during your first playthrough unless you do some serious grinding. The trouble is, getting the Gelmir Glintstone Staff is not going to be fun.

This staff drops from one of the Man-Serpent Sorcerers you can find in Volcano Manor. It’s fairly easy to identify which one, since it has a giant egg on its head. Unfortunately, there’s only one such enemy, and the runup to it is not easy. Unless you really want this weapon for your build, it might be worth skipping.

11 Academy Glintstone Staff

The Academy Glintstone Staff is a fairly niche weapon, but in a certain, specific scenario, it's among the best in the game. A fully upgraded Academy Glintstone Staff will deal more damage than any other between 41 and 68 Intelligence. It probably won’t be your main weapon during your entire playthrough, since if you are reaching 68 Intelligence you are probably going all the way to the soft-cap at 80.

Still, this staff can be a helpful stopgap to get you through the mid-game. You’ll have to put in some work to get it, though. Unlike most of the other staves on this list, you can’t just pick it up off a corpse somewhere. Your first option is finishing Thops’ questline. You can also get the staff by farming the exceptionally irritating Glintstone Sorcerers that populate the Academy of Raya Lucaria.

10 Demi-Human Queen’s Staff

The Demi-Human Queen's Staff is perfect for players who just want to dip their toes into casting Sorceries. Maybe you want to play a strength-focused character who uses spells for those hard-to-reach flying enemies. If you plan on staying at 40 Intelligence or below, this staff will do the most damage when fully upgraded. The Meteorite Staff is better in the early game, but if you are playing a relatively low-Intelligence character in the late game, the Demi-Human Queen’s Staff is where you should turn.

To get it, kill the Demi-Human Queen in the Demi-Human Forest Ruins on the Weeping Peninsula.

9 Carian Glintblade Staff

Despite having “blade” in its name, the Carian Glintblade Staff doesn’t affect Sorceries that emerge from your Staff, like Carian Slicer or Adula’s Moonblade. Rather, it buffs any Sorcery that creates Glintblades, the magical swords that float around your head and launch at your enemies.

While these Sorceries can be quite powerful, they usually won’t be the main feature in your build. As a result, using a Staff with better scaling or one that focuses on a more powerful type of Sorcery will often be better. That said, if you find yourself using these Glintblade Sorceries frequently, the scaling on the Carian Glintblade Staff is good enough that it’s worth considering. You can pick it up early in the game, atop the Highway Lookout Tower in eastern Liurnia of the Lakes.