Staff of Battle

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A staff encased in vividly coloured scales, wrought by a long-forgotten wizard. It was the mage Iskenderun's favourite playtoy. The staff increases the power of its wielder's conjurations. When danger looms, it conjures a battlesphere, the strength of which depends on the wielder's skill with Conjurations.

the +0 staff of Battle

+0 staff

Enhances the power of the wielder's Conjurations
Automatically creates a battlesphere when monsters are in sight; battlesphere's power depends on your skill with Conjurations. It fires on both spell casts and melee hits.

Desirability

Spellcasters who are already using a staff of conjuration will likely want to upgrade to the staff of Battle if they find it. Other mages may also want to hold onto it if they aren't engaging in weapon combat, as having a battlesphere following you around will increase the damage output of your Conjurations for no extra cost.

Unlike mundane staves of conjurations, the staff itself deals no additional damage in melee. If you have found an enhancer staff for an elemental school of magic you specialize in, then that may be a better choice for you, especially if you don't have much skill in Conjurations.

As expected, characters that do not plan to use Conjurations have no use for the staff of Battle.

History

• Prior to 0.28, hitting enemies in melee with the staff of Battle did not trigger the battlesphere.
• The staff of Battle was added in 0.24.