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Staves are key to a handful of powerful strategies in Vagrant Story, although they are not powerful weapons in themselves. They are, however, extremely defensive against Magic, with a maximum Intelligence bonus of +30. Most other weapons add no Intelligence at all. Most Staves are much lower, admittedly, with +20 being unobtainable without crafting, until late in the first or in the second playthrough. Summoner Baton is easy enough to find, at +16 Intelligence. By comparison, an entire set of DAMASCUS armor adds 24 Intelligence through its material, with the armor itself (Hoplite has the most Intelligence) adding 85. Minor Gems are +4 each for a maximum of +20; Major, +6 each. A Hoplite Shield adds 24. Ashley himself, of course, adds more.

Staves, of course, add the most Magic for spellcasting, which is very useful in a game that allows inventory access and weapon change in the middle of combat. Spells use up Magic Points at an unsustainable rate, but they offer damage at range that ignores enemy Class. This is better before weapons are raised to high Class levels. See Damage for the attack formulas. Like Crossbow attacks, magic is useful against attackers that hit and fly away such as Imps and Gremlins, and higher level magic spells that do damage over a large area are useful against creatures with many hit locations.

Despite the Staff Design's low position on the hierarchy of material retention, SILVER Staves are a critical ingredient in transforming weapons with lower Materials to DAMASCUS weapons. See Rare Combinations

Silver and Damascus Staves become much more common drops in the endgame and subsequent playthroughs, and some are conveniently located near the Godhands workshop in Undercity West (not accessible until the second playthrough, with the Gold Key)

Staff's Riskbreak Break Art offers the unique tactical option of paying 40 HP to reduce Risk.

As with Great Axe, it is only 6 Tiers to the best Staff weapon. Staves are more common than Great Axes as drops and in chests, however.

Morph combinations of Staff blades with other blades tend to be conceptually based on the similarity of the staff grip to other long-handled grips. This is true in the case of the available Polearm, Heavy Mace or Crossbow Morphs, and the unavailable Dagger, Sword, Great Sword or Axe, but untrue in the case of Great Axe, which is not an available Morph, and untrue in the case of Mace, which is.

It is quite possible that the Damage Phantom Points for Staves are an error; placed in reverse order. Where one would expect PP to rise as Tiers advance, making higher Tiers more powerful, it instead drops by 15 each Tier, from 190 to 115.

Combinations[]

Tiers and Progression[]

Equipments by Tier


Damascus Sage's Cane[]

In the first playthrough, DAMASCUS blades can be combined at the Metal Works Workshop:

A few examples:
  1. Shotel + Crescent = Bishop's Crosier
  2. Double Blade + Khora = Bishop's Crosier
  3. Bec de Corbin + Crescent = Bishop's Crosier

Sadly, there is no way to make Staves out of Mismatches with Crossbow and therefore no way to make use of the Lug Crossbow drop in Limestone Quarry for this.

In the second playthrough New Game Plus, the way to get the highest-tier DAMASCUS Sage's Cane with the lowest number of blades is to kill Deaths until two penultimate Damascus Bishop's Crosiers drop at 13/255. This is actually only two blades, and so a Baselard of any material, or another blade, can be combined with one of the Sage's Canes to get Three Blade Affinity and Class. This is easy enough that it can become a strategy to create other weapons with, see Best Combinations. Only Daggers can be combined with the Staves and still retain the Damascus, as per Design Prevalence.


Break Arts[]

Main article: Break Arts#Staff
[1]

Definitely worth getting a few kills in with a Staff to take advantage of the tactical option of paying 40 HP for Riskbreak's Risk reduction.

  • Sirocco . Affinity: Fire. Type: Blunt. Cost: 25 HP. Requirements: 15 PT. X = 1.1
"Searing hot winds and wildfire engulf foe"
  • Riskbreak. Reduces RISK. Affinity: As weapon. Type: Piercing. Cost: 40 HP. Requirements: 90 PT. X = 1.2
"Focused blow that deals damage and reduces RISK"
  • Gravis Aether. Affinity: Earth. Type: Blunt. Cost: 55 HP. Requirements: 215 PT. X = 1.2
"Solidifies æther to crush foe"
  • Trinity Pulse. Affinity: As weapon. Type: Blunt. Cost: 75 HP. Requirements: 410 PT. X = 1.3
"Crushes foe with a triad of shock waves"

Stats[]

Weapon Type RISK STR INT AGI Range
Wizard Staff Blunt 1 1 5 -1 2
Clergy Rod Blunt 1 2 10 -1 2
Summoner Baton Blunt 1 3 16 -2 2
Shamanic Staff Blunt 1 4 20 -2 3
Bishop's Crosier Blunt 1 5 25 -3 3
Sage Cane Blunt 1 6 30 -3 3

Designs[]

Wizard Staff[]

Main article: Wizard Staff

Clergy Rod[]

One DAMASCUS; one of the few Damascus weapons in a first playthrough, on an Orc Leader. Two BRONZE on Liches, one HAGANE on a Zombie Mage in the first Giant Crab room.

Summoner Baton[]

A weapon of choice for Liches, with fifteen drops of all materials possible for a weapon. Out of a possible 48 liches and Lich Lords, half have either Summoner Baton or Shamanic Staff.

Shamanic Staff[]

Twelve.

Bishop's Crosier[]

Four SILVER, one HAGANE. One DAMASCUS in The Keep Time Trials.

Sage's Cane[]

Main article: Sage's Cane

None as drops or in chests


See also[]

Links[]

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