Staff of cold

Version 0.17: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Magical staves
Name	staff of cold
Icon

This staff increases the power of ice spells cast by its wielder, and protects him or her from the effects of cold. If the wielder is skilled in Evocations, they can freeze those struck by it, dealing even greater damage if they are also skilled in Ice magic.

A staff of cold is a magical staff which aids in the casting of Ice Magic. Equipping it will cause it to auto-identify. Any ice spell cast while wielding a staff of cold 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 protected from cold, gaining one rank of cold resistance.

The staff can also be used in combat, functioning as a +0 staff that deals additional cold damage:

Cold Damage: A random amount ranging from 0 to 1.25×([Evocations/2]+Ice Magic)
Chance to Activate on a Hit: (Evocations+Ice Magic/2)×6.66% per hit

Further physical damage bonuses can be gained through training Fighting and Staves. The Staves skill also increases your accuracy and the speed at which you can attack, making it well worth gaining at least a few levels.

The only downside to wielding a staff of cold is that it makes you less attuned to Fire Magic; all fire spells you cast will suffer a spell power penalty.

Staves of cold, like other magical staves, can sometimes be cursed.

History

Prior to 0.8, the chance of a staff of cold auto-identifying when wielded depended on the Ice Magic skill of the wielder.