This staff just looks way too awesome to be absolute shit!
So I did one of these a while ago for the Skull of Corruption, and you all came up with some pretty cool suggestions. I suppose this is the start of a new series of discussions, where we take a look at the various seldom used items, and possibly perks and spells even, to determine if they are viable or absolute trash. So lets get to discussing the Staff of Magnus...
Pros -
- Drains 20 magicka per second
- Begins draining 20 health per second after target's magicka is depleted
- the staff's attack comes in the form of a wide range constant stream similar to novice flames spell except much longer and wider.
- Has a much larger charge capacity than other staves.
Cons -
- Cannot stagger enemies nor push them back in any way.
- On rare occasions the staff may simply keep draining magicka from its target, even when its target has run out of magicka.
I personally think this staff has enormous potential, despite how crappy a lot of people think it is. At 20 magicka absorbed per second you essentially have an infinite magicka battery, albeit one powered at the expense of your enemies.
Drain Vitality shout has an interesting side effect. Enemies affected by it cannot regenerate their health magicka or stamina. Combined with the staff, one could very quickly render mages defenseless. This can even be applied to dragons, all of whose breathe attacks are tied to a 150 pt magicka pool.
Once magicka is out of the way the staff begins draining health. Against non mage types you'll quickly run through their magicka, leaving only health which gets drained at an impressive 20 pts per second. Nothing else in the game will allow you to drain health that rapidly from enemies. Certainly not those useless vampiric drain spells.
Of course none of the above matters if you cant keep your enemies at bay. You might wish to pair this staff with anything that can hold enemies back. Luckily there are plenty of spells and shouts that do just that. You just need to figure out the best one to use depending on the kind of build you wish to craft with this thing.
And that wraps up what I have to say about this staff for now. I personally think it has a lot of potential, but let me know how crappy you think it is in the comments.
Replies
I was never into staves much, but there have been multiple well-made builds that revolved around staves, namely the Staff of Magnus.
I cant think of any off the top of my head but I know they exist. I just always figured this staff would be more widely used. Honestly Im surprised by how rarely some items are used in builds.
When I decided to go with the Nightingale Sword for my Hex Blade build I was surprised by how rarely that sword was used in builds despite its immensely powerful enchantment. I cant remember a noteworthy build since Ponty's Nightingale Swordsman that actually used it.
What bothers me about a lot of builders, particularly among large build communities like the vault, is that everyone complains that there's nothing left to work with to make a build unique and stand out. A claim I think is BS because I can easily point to 5 items inside of 30 seconds that players hardly ever touch.
I guess thats ultimately the point of these threads. To bring attention to items in the game the average player might dismiss in the hopes of generating some build ideas.
*coughcough*
The Nightingale Sword is so rarely used because of the enchantment cost. A fully charged Nightingale Sword only has 17, 16, 20, and 54 charges. The only notable version is the 54 charges one, which is obtained at level 46+, where most builds are nearing completion, and even that amount is minuscule compared to a self-enchanted sword which can easily go above 100 charges even with a low enchanting skill.
You bring up a valid point. Still the strength of the Nightingale Blade is certainly undeniable. I've personally never found soul gems to be difficult to come by, and there's a seldom mentioned perk in the enchanting tree that drastically increases the amount of charge gained from soul gems.
I wonder if those rare occasions are when the enemy has a very good magicka regen? I always saw this staff at about a 4.5/10. I would not use it against mages but against warriors and especially against archers.
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