Staff of Embers

Staff of Embers is a magic weapon that fires a slow-moving fireball in a high arc. On direct impact it deals blunt damage and creates an explosion that ignites targets and damages enemies in an area, making it effective against clustered foes and enemies that are difficult to hit directly. Like other magical weapons, it has no secondary attack or extra ability, and its damage and Eitr consumption scale with the wielder’s Elemental Magic skill.

The staff’s head emits a faint orange-red glow at all times. The light is very dim compared with proper light sources, but it can still provide a little visibility in darkness. The glow also makes the user easier to detect while sneaking, increasing the wearer’s visibility by about 20%.

At higher skill levels, the weapon becomes noticeably cheaper to use. At maximum Elemental Magic skill, Staff of Embers only consumes 24 Eitr per cast, which means it can be used with the Eitr from a single Magecap if the user is close enough to that skill level. Its projectile’s range and area-of-effect make it especially useful for hunting Hares, and the fire damage over time can stack if multiple fireballs land on the same target, allowing repeated casts to build up significant damage.

Upgrading the staff improves its durability and its fire damage, while blunt damage remains unchanged at all qualities.

• Quality 1: 120 Fire, 120 Blunt, 200 durability, craft cost of 20 Yggdrasil Wood, 4 Surtling Core, and 16 Refined Eitr
• Quality 2: 126 Fire, 120 Blunt, 250 durability, craft cost of 10 Yggdrasil wood, 2 Surtling core, and 8 Refined eitr
• Quality 3: 132 Fire, 120 Blunt, 300 durability, craft cost of 20 Yggdrasil wood, 4 Surtling core, and 16 Refined eitr
• Quality 4: 138 Fire, 120 Blunt, 350 durability, craft cost of 30 Yggdrasil wood, 6 Surtling core, and 24 Refined eitr

Because the fireball travels slowly, timing and aim matter more than with direct-hit weapons. The explosion radius helps compensate for this, so the staff works best when enemies are moving predictably or when they are grouped together. Its slow projectile also means it can be used to attack targets at range before they reach melee distance.