Elemental Staff

Version 0.23: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A powerful staff which used to belong to the leader of the Guild of Five Elements. In addition to the protection it provides, those skilled in Evocations may discharge powerful blasts of elemental energy when striking with it.

the +3 Elemental Staff

+3 staff
+5 AC
rF++
rC++
rElec
+80 MR (##)
Inflicts 10-24 fire, cold, electricity, or physical (crushing) damage each time it triggers. The game does two rolls with an Evocations/27 chance to succeed each time you successfully hit an opponent; if either test succeeds, the effect triggers.

Desirability

The Elemental Staff offers an unbelievable array of defensive bonuses, giving the wielder significantly more freedom when it comes to armour and jewellery slots. With a modest skill investment in Staves (12 for min speed) and significant training in Evocations, it also serves as a fairly powerful, moderately fast one-handed melee weapon, though not having control over the element you evoke is unfortunate.

For casters, coupling this with a Robe of the Archmagi and possibly other spellpower enhancers can leave you with a well-rounded defense and an overwhelming offense. For melee characters, particularly ones who can fill their suddenly-available equipment slots with slaying bonuses, it's an excellent way to gain exceptional amounts of durability while still being a force to reckon with. Don't expect it to be of much use in melee with monsters resistant to all elemental damage, however.

History

Prior to 0.14, the elemental staff was a +3, +1 quarterstaff making it a marginally better source of physical damage. However, it lacked any elemental brand effects, offered no rElec, made noise while wielded, and significantly increased your hunger. It also provided only +60 MR.