Staff of Olgreb

Version 0.19: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Magical staves
Name	staff of Olgreb
Icon

A staff which was once wielded by the mighty wizard Olgreb.It increases the power of its wielder's poison magic and can be evoked to activate its own venomous spells. Its touch may poison even resistant creatures, and it grants protection from all venoms when wielded.

The staff of Olgreb is a rare magical staff which aids in the casting of Poison Magic, much like a staff of poison does. Any poison spell cast while wielding the staff of Olgreb will gain a boost to spell power, usually causing it to deal more damage and/or last longer (the specific impact of this, if any, depends on the spell). Additionally, the wielder is rendered immune to poisons while holding the staff.

The staff can be used in combat, functioning as a staff with enchantment bonuses to accuracy and damage equal to (Poison Magic/3). You can improve your combat performance with this weapon by training Fighting and Staves. Like a staff of poison, it can poison its target in melee, although with greater likelihood:

Chance to Poison: Poison Magic×12.5%, with a separate 50% chance if that fails; even poison-resistant animals and plants can be poisoned if an additional Poison Magic×12.5% chance is successful.

You can also evoke it to cast Olgreb's Toxic Radiance. When used successfully, there is a chance that you will simultaneously cast Venom Bolt against a target of your choosing.

OTR Success Rate: (1+Evocations)×16% (100% at 5 Evocations)
Venom Bolt Success Rate: (1+Evocations)×5% (100% at 19 Evocations)
Spell Power: 5+Evocations×5
Cost: 4 MP, 50 food

Desirability

If you plan on using lots of Poison Magic, this is an excellent item to find. Not only will it enhance your poisonous spells, the chance of piercing poison resistance can come in handy for fighting some of the nastier poison-resistant enemies. It's far superior to a plain staff of poison.

Even if you don't want to use poison magic much, you may still wish to train Evocations in order to use the staff's evocable abilities. At 10 Evocations, you can essentially cast two spells at once for only 4 MP and a relatively low food cost. Obviously, this is less helpful against anything poison-resistant, but it can be extremely useful against large groups of enemies, especially swarms of insects or spiders. Additionally, the poison immunity granted by the staff can be extremely helpful in surviving places like the Spider's Nest or Snake Pit.

History

Prior to 0.14, it only granted poison resistance.