Best Elden Ring staffs for early and late game

Update: Elden Ring has had plenty of updates, so we've updated this list of Elden Ring's best staffs to reflect that. We've streamlined information and added some further detail to help you determine which staff is best for you, and have also added some links to new guides pages to help you with tracking them down.

In Elden Ring a spellslinger is only as good as the staff they use. If you’re a sorcerer bashing your head against the game's toughest fights, you might be curious as to what the best staffs in Elden Ring are. Magic and mages can be especially strong in this latest FromSoftware release, granted they’ve got the right equipment for the job.

While we've seen staffs in Dark Souls before, and they were arguably underwhelming, Elden Ring moves on from this. Wielding your staff and casting spells across The Lands Between is far from boring, especially given the range of sorceries on offer, and the powerful staffs at your fingertips.

To help you become the terrifying wielder of magic you’ve always dreamt of being, we’ve created this list of the best early and late game staffs in Elden Ring, that you should rush to get your hands on.

• Meteorite Staff
• Demi-Human Queen’s Staff
• Academy Glintstone Staff
• Carian Glintblade Staff
• Lusat’s Glintstone Staff
• Carian Regal Scepter
• Azur’s Glintstone Staff

Best early-game staff in Elden Ring: Meteorite Staff

Prerequisites: 6 Strength, 18 Intelligence

One of the most powerful staffs you can grab early on is the Meteorite Staff, an astounding weapon with an S rank in intelligence scaling and a passive bonus to gravity spells. You have to go out of your way to get the item early on, but if you’re looking to blast through bosses and tough areas this is a must have.

The downsides to the staff are that you cannot use Ashes of War on it, nor can you upgrade it, but do not let this fool you. With an Intelligence build, where all your points are pumped into INT, the damage of this staff scales brilliantly. If you're a fan of using Rock Sling, it's a must-have.

You can find this staff at the Street of Sages Ruins in Caelid, pictured above. You can either wait until you make your way to this region through regular means and access the ruins by travelling north of the Aeonia Swamp Site of Grace, or you can head to Dragon Burnt Ruins in Limgrave, which you can travel to quickly by foot or horse from The First Step Site of Grace.

If you're navigating from Dragon Burnt Ruins, there is a staircase leading underground. Be wary of the rats and open the chest inside. This is a trapped teleporter chest that'll take you to the Sellia Crystal Tunnel. Make your way out of here by leaving the shack you're in and going left, through the tunnels. You'll find a Site of Grace down a ladder, and when you exit, you'll find yourself in Caelid.

Head southwest of the tunnels exit and through the swamp until you find the Street of Sages Ruins.

Once you've finally made your way to the ruins, the staff itself is found on a corpse inside a small ruined tower filled with small toxic plant monsters. We've shown the small tower you need to locate above.

You can either kill these enemies and take it, or venture around the outside of the building and pick the staff up from the window to the tower.

Another top early game staff in Elden Ring: Demi-Human Queen’s Staff

Prerequisites: 6 Strength, 10 Intelligence

If you’re looking for a staff that is still great and requires less adventuring on your part, the Demi-Human Queen’s Staff is a Glintstone staff that is a nice alternative. With a C rank in Intelligence scaling, this staff is a great tool for sorcerers looking to upgrade their starting weapon.. You also won't be able to use Ashes of War on the staff, but you can upgrade this one, unlike the Meteorite Staff.

For the staff, simply make your way to the south side of the Bridge of Sacrifice and start heading west into the forest. Following the path, you’ll come across the Demi-Human Forest Ruins. If you’re struggling to track this location down, stick to the north west of the woods and you should come across these ruins in no time.

These ruins are home to Demi-Humans, obviously. However, they’re also home to a gigantic demi-human sorcerer who will pepper you with magic as you attempt to take them down. Kill them, and they’ll drop the Demi-Human Queen’s Staff. You can use and upgrade this all the way through the early game and do just fine. However, you should note that if you can get your hands on the Meteorite Staff early on, that staff is better for your gravity spells than the the Demi-Human Queen's Staff is.

Academy Glintstone Staff

Prerequisites: 6 Strength, 28 Intelligence

This staff can be acquired when you reach Raya Lucaria Academy, and while I may feel it is in no competition with the Meteorite or Demi-Human Queen's Staff, it can still prove useful for casting magic. You can also infuse it with Ashes of War!

You’ll meet Sorcerer Thops at Church of Irith initially, south-west of Lake-Facing Cliffs Site of Grace, and there are two ways you can go about getting the staff from here. The first way is to ruthlessly slay Thops and loot his corpse as soon as you meet.

The second, perhaps more ethical way, is to give Thops an Academy Glintstone Key. He will then relocate to the Schoolroom Classroom area of the Academy.

Travel to the Schoolroom Classroom Site of Grace, exit the room and go left. You’ll find Thops’ corpse in a chair here. Now, you can loot his body without his murder on your hands.

There’s also a chance that the enemies around Raya Lucaria Academy may drop the Academy Glintstone Staff when killed, and this happens to be how we got our hands on it!

Carian Glintblade Staff

Prerequisites: 6 Strength, 12 Dexterity, 22 Intelligence

A great staff for those looking to boost the effectiveness of most of their Carian spells, the Carian Glintblade Staff is a fantastic staff to rush to. While it only has a C rank in Intelligence scaling, the weapon has a passive that boosts the effectiveness of all Glintblade spells you cast while it is equipped. Additionally, you can apply an Ash of War to the staff!

Travelling to this weapon is fairly simple. All you have to do is have access to Liurnia, either through making your way through Stormveil Castle, or by sneaking your way around the right of the castle. From there, take the main road north until you reach a rocky overpass just before you reach some trees.

Climb on top of this rocky overpass and you’ll find a tower overlooking the road. Climb to the top of this tower, kill the sorcerer there, and your new staff can be found in a chest nearby.

It's also worth noting that this staff will only boost certain Carian sorceries. These include: Glintblade Phalanx, Greatblade Phalanx, Carian Phalanx, Carian Retaliation, Magic Glintblade, and Magic Downpour.

Lusat’s Glintstone Staff

Prerequisites: 10 Strength, 52 Intelligence

Lusat’s Glintstone staff is ridiculous. Requiring 52 Intelligence to use, this staff improves the power of all sorceries at the cost of additional FP. As such, it’s a great staff for any type of sorcery build, as long as you’re able to work past the increased cost of the attacks you use.

You can also use the staff without 10 Strength, but it will consume a lot more of your stamina if you choose to do this. As such, we recommend an alternative staff if you cannot yet meet the requirements; the FP and stamina usage is not worth it.

To find this staff, head to the Sellia Under Stairs Site of Grace. From there, jump on your horse amd climb the stairs into Sellia, Town of Sorcery. Once you’re on top of the stairs, take your first left and ride straight ahead staying left as you go until you reach the boss room for the Nox Swordstress and Priest. Kill these two, then open the chest at the back of the room for the Lusat’s Glintstone staff.

Best late-game staff in Elden Ring: Carian Regal Scepter

Prerequisites: 8 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 60 Intelligence

The Carian Regal Scepter is another Glintstone staff that you can acquire mid-game. The staff has a rather impressive B rank scaling with Intelligence, so if you're going for an INT build, this is the staff for you; especially since it requires a whopping amount of iItelligence to be wielded, and many of the spells it provides passive buffs to are high-level. Once you approach the late game, you'll be torn between this staff and Azur's Glintstone Staff to see you through to the end, but we do recommend using this staff over Azur's where you can.

The scepter will passively buff all full moon sorceries, which isn't amazing considering that of the 70 or so spells in the game, only two are full moon ones - those being Rennala's Full Moon and Ranni's Dark Moon. However, the B rank intellect scaling is arguably what you want this staff for, unless you really enjoy turning yourself into the moon and yeeting yourself at enemies.

The staff is easily acquired. All you need to do is beat one of the main story bosses, Rennala Queen of the Full Moon, at the Raya Lucaria Academy. Then, once you've got her remembrance, trade this with the Finger Reader at Roundtable Hold for the Carian Regal Scepter and Rennala's Full Moon spell.

Another top late-game staff in Elden Ring: Azur’s Glintstone Staff

Prerequisites: 10 Strength, 52 Intelligence

While not as powerful as the Carian Regal Scepter, you can upgrade Azur's Glintstone Staff all the way up to level 25, at which point it becomes pretty strong. It starts off with a B rank in Intelligence scaling, but be warned it requires a very high Intelligence stat to use - 52 intellect in total. This, alongside the Carian Regal Scepter, are the two best late-game staffs to pick up.

Start from the Site of Grace named Debate Parlor in the Raya Lucaria Academy and walk through the large double doors leading into the courtyard. Climb the ruined stairs to your left, run past the sorcerers shooting magic at you, take a left and vault over the railing onto another set of stairs below. There you’ll see another sorcerer. Make your way past them, take another left, then vault over another railing onto the rooftops.

Continuing over these rooftops, you’ll find a ladder which will allow you to climb up to a higher platform near a bell tower. Continue forward past another sorcerer towards the bell tower, run around the right of the tower, then jump down onto some roofs below.

You want to drop five floors in total, onto some thin roofs with a skeletal archer to your right. Fall off the roof to the left of this archer onto a platform, then follow it around the side of the building before jumping onto yet another rooftop straight ahead.

Once there, walk around the right of this rooftop until you come across an open window. Hop up and head inside, being careful not to fall down off the beams. Below you there will be two more beams, one on each side of the room. Drop down onto the beam furthest from the window you entered, and continue forward. Drop down onto the second furthest chandelier from you, then hop down onto the small bridge with a robed sorcerer standing on it.

Run to the right of the sorcerer, past another white-robed enemy then dash straight ahead into the candle-lit corridor. There you’ll find one final troublesome enemy wielding a crossbow and dagger. Kill them, and you’ll find the staff straight ahead of you in front of a mass of faces.

The Carian Regal Scepter is arguably the best staff in the game. It's damage often outdoes Azur's Glintstone Staff, and it is incredibly fast to spellcast with, giving you an edge in particularly tough fights.

---

That wraps up our Elden Ring best staffs guide! While you’re here, check out our coverage on the Elden Ring pranksters tricking players with the in-game messaging system, as well as our comprehensive guide to The Lands Between.

Finally, if you some strong spells to pair your staff with, take a look at our guide to Elden Ring's best spells.