Magic Staves in Dragonwilds: Eight of Them, and None Lists a Damage Figure
Look up any Dragonwilds magic staff and one column is conspicuously empty: base damage. That is not missing data — it is the design. A staff fires the rune you equip, so the damage comes from the ammunition rather than the weapon. Which means the two numbers that actually separate the eight staves are power level and durability, and those two do not track each other at all.
The Eight Staves
| Staff | Power level | Durability |
|---|---|---|
| Master's Staff | 7 | 1300 |
| Pharaoh's Sceptre | 7 | 1300 |
| Zamorak Staff | 6 | 1600 |
| Subjugation Staff | 6 | 1600 |
| Necromancer's Staff | 5 | 1050 |
| Splitbark Staff | 5 | 1300 |
| Staff of Light | 4 | 1300 |
| Draconic Staff | 4 | 1100 |
| Grieving Moonstaff | 3 | 1050 |
Two staves reach power level 7 — the Master's Staff and the Pharaoh's Sceptre — which is the current ceiling, matching the Adamant tier of every other weapon class.
These are separate from battlestaves, which are the wood-tier line (Ash, Oak, Maple, Willow, Blightwood). The staves listed here are the named and special ones.
And the TzHaar staff belongs on this list too. Toktz-Mej-Tal is a power level 7 staff, crafted at the Mystic Forge from Refined Obsidian and Dragonstone — a third route to the ceiling, covered in our TzHaar guide.
Why There Is No Damage Figure
None of the eight publishes a base damage number, and the reason is on the rune pages rather than the staff pages: runes are "equippable as ammo when using a magic weapon."
An Air Rune deals 13–22 base damage on its own, "along with whatever staves the player equips." So the calculation is rune damage plus staff contribution, and the staff's half is expressed as a power level rather than a number.
That has a direct consequence for what you carry. As our runes guide covers, only three of the four elemental runes work as ammunition — Air, Water and Fire. Earth runes cannot be fired at all.
So a caster's damage upgrade path is two-track. You improve the staff's power level, and you improve the rune you load. A power level 7 staff firing Air runes is not using its tier, in exactly the way a power 7 crossbow firing Bronze Bolts is not.
And the three catalytic runes — Astral, Nature and Law — are not ammunition at all. They are spell components. A staff loaded with Law runes is not a weapon; it is a teleport budget.
Durability Does Not Track Power
This is the finding that changes a purchase decision:
| Comparison | Result |
|---|---|
| Zamorak / Subjugation (power 6) | 1600 durability |
| Master's Staff (power 7) | 1300 durability |
| Necromancer's Staff (power 5) | 1050 |
| Splitbark Staff (power 5) | 1300 |
The power 6 staves are tougher than the power 7 one. Zamorak and Subjugation both carry 1600 durability while the Master's Staff, a full tier above them, has only 1300 — the power 6 pair carries 23% more durability than the power 7 staff.
And two power-5 staves differ by 250 durability. The Splitbark Staff (1300) against the Necromancer's Staff (1050) — same tier, and one lasts a quarter longer between repairs.
In every other weapon class durability tracks the tier cleanly. Every Adamant melee weapon is 1600; shields follow their power level exactly on block. Staves are the exception, which means the usual assumption — that a higher tier is strictly better — does not hold here.
So read both numbers before committing materials. If you are casting constantly and repairing rarely, a Zamorak Staff at power 6 with 1600 durability may serve you better than a Master's Staff at 7 with 1300 — and it certainly costs less to get to.
Repair with Magical Mending rather than walking home, the same as shields.
Practical tips
- Eight named staves, plus the TzHaar Toktz-Mej-Tal at power 7.
- None publishes a base damage figure — the rune is the ammunition.
- An Air Rune deals 13–22 on its own, plus the staff.
- Only Air, Water and Fire runes are ammunition. Earth is not.
- Master's Staff and Pharaoh's Sceptre are the power 7 pair.
- But Zamorak and Subjugation (power 6) have 1600 durability against the Master's 1300.
- Two power-5 staves differ by 250 durability — Splitbark 1300, Necromancer's 1050.
- Staves are the one class where durability does not track tier. Read both.
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Conclusion
Dragonwilds' eight named magic staves run from the Grieving Moonstaff (power 3) up to the Master's Staff and Pharaoh's Sceptre at power 7, with the TzHaar Toktz-Mej-Tal as a third power-7 option from the Mystic Forge. None of them publishes a base damage figure, because the rune is the ammunition — an Air Rune deals 13–22 on its own, and only Air, Water and Fire work that way while Earth cannot be fired at all. That makes a caster's upgrade path two-track: the staff's power level and the rune loaded into it. And unlike every other weapon class, staff durability does not follow power level: the power 6 Zamorak and Subjugation staves carry 1600 durability against the power 7 Master's Staff's 1300, and two power-5 staves differ by 250. Read both numbers before you commit the materials, because here the higher tier is not automatically the better object.
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