Staff Combinations in Vagrant Story

The Staff Design, together with Great Axe, has only six Tiers. Only six tiers makes Staff one of two shortest ladders up which you can take weapons that have accumulated a lot of Class and Affinity bonuses, rather than just throwing those weapons away because their Design is weak or their supply is excessive. Unfortunately Staves are pretty rare considering they are the only Design focused on increasing Intelligence strength for casting spells. Staff has the useful Break Art Riskbreaker.

Of note when combining is the bottleneck at Shamanic Staff. Shamanic Staff will combine only with Summoner Baton, not the next higher tier of Bishop's Crozier. It is normal for weapons and armor in VS to have a penultimate Tier that combines productively only with itself.

Weapons found in Vagrant Story fall into one of ten categories, called Designs for the purpose of this guide. The categories each have a section here, in alphabetical order. The individual weapons within that category are arranged by Attack (STR), from weakest to strongest. The levels of weapon Designs, from weak to strong, are called Tiers for the purpose of this guide.

The results of Combinations of the six weapons of the Staff Design with all of the 90 weapons in Vagrant Story are shown here. A combination of a weapon Design of a particular Tier with one of the same Design and Tier results in either that same weapon, in most cases, and the next higher Tier, in the case of end-Tier weapons, but the Affinities and Classes of the ingredients are combined.
For more on the effect of combinations on Affinities and Classes, see Combine in Vagrant Story

Combination Analysis Generally speaking, it can be observed that weapons belong to Design groups, such as Swords or Polearms. Within these Designs, individual weapons belong to Tiers, ranging from least powerful to most powerful. Some Designs have six Tiers, others eight or ten or even twelve. Weapons of the same Design, in adjacent (consecutive) Tiers, will advance, creating a weapon of the same type but the next higher Tier. Weapons in the same Tier, of any Design, are more likely to combine productively. This results, as with armor, in a Morph to another design. Unlike armor, there are often two other Morphs. These often occur from either Design being one Tier higher than the other. However, the second and third Morph may instead be from only one Design, and two or more Tiers higher. A weapon in a lower tier will often 'devolve' the higher weapon to the same type but a lower tier. This is called Mismatch in these guides and can be useful if the product is rare (see the Combines section) Table Key + Progression: Same-Design combinations of consecutive Tiers that combine to make the next higher consecutive Tier of that same Design. These are usually marked with + / Morph: Design A + Design B = Design C. These can be useful to turn unneeded weapon Designs into ones that can fill in gaps in Tier Progression. They occur most often near same-Tier combinations, and are often Regular, with most or even all of the combinations of same, one-apart, and two-apart Tiers giving the same Design result. Irregular Morphs often occur far away from the same Tier, and usually occur when the Design of one ingredient has many more tiers than the others, and there are therefore extra combinations above the same-Tier ones. So a combination of the fifth tier weapon of a Design that has six tiers with a sixth tier weapon of a Design with eight tiers yields a useful fifth tier product of another, third Design with six tiers. It is not a lower tier than both of them, but it is lower than one of them. The usefulness depends entirely on the availability of the product as a drop or chest item and the demand for it in the production chain of the third or other Designs; usefulness is not distinguished when marking it as a / item. L and S are used for the two versions of Footman's Mace; L for Large or Long, and S for Small or Short, choice of mnemonic is up to the reader. Sometimes there are two different products of the same ingredients, depending on which order the ingredients are added. The first product listed represents a combination of the first ingredient from the left, vertical column of ingredients in the first Combine slot. - Mismatch; there tends to be a much heavier penalty on combinations that are close together but not consecutive, than there is for combining a very low weapon with a high one. This can be seen in the combination of the high Tier Bullova axe with Great Axes; the very lowest Great Axe combines to make a mid Tier Axe. As the Great Axes go up Tiers, the product drops in Tier. It goes up again at two Tiers below, and becomes a Morph at one Tier below. = Equal Combinations potentially improve the Class and Affinities of weapons without changing their Design or Tier; Daggers are a Design that commonly produces Equal Combinations (and does not change their Material, either, due to being furthest along the chain of Design Prevalence).

Due to Prevalence, no combinations with Staves will be of the material of the Staff.

Blades

Staff with Same

	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier	Sage's Cane
Wizard Staff	Wizard Staff =	Wizard Staff =	Wizard Staff =	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Clergy Rod		Clergy Rod =	Shamanic Staff +	Clergy Rod =	Clergy Rod =	Summoner Baton
Summoner Baton			Summoner Baton =	Bishop's Crosier +	Bishop's Crosier	Clergy Rod
Shamanic Staff				Shamanic Staff =	Wizard Staff	Shamanic Staff =
Bishop's Crosier					Sage's Cane +	Wizard Staff
Sage's Cane						Sage's Cane =

Axe with Staff

See Crossbow Combinations, Heavy Mace Combinations, Polearm Combinations, Staff Combinations

There is a tendency for Axes combined with Staves of around the same Tier to create Crossbows, Heavy Maces, or Polearms

Design Prevalence: Combinations of Axe and Staff will be the material of the Axe, with an exception.

Rare Combinations: A SILVER Axe in the first ingredient position with a HAGANE Staff in the second will create a DAMASCUS Axe, Crossbow, Heavy Mace, Polearm, or Staff. Damascus Heavy Mace will combine with any other Design to make a Damascus weapon

	Hand Axe	Battle Axe	Francisca	Tabarzin
Wizard Staff	Gastraph Bow	Langdebeve	Spear	Battle Axe
Clergy Rod	Wizard Staff	Light Crossbow	Sabre Mace	Glaive
Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Target Bow	Footman's Mace 2H
Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Windlass
Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Sage's Cane	Bishop's Crosier	Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff

	Chamkaq	Tabar	Bullova	Crescent
Wizard Staff	Francisca	Tabarzin	Chamkaq	Tabar
Clergy Rod	Battle Axe	Francisca	Tabarzin	Chamkaq
Summoner Baton	Scorpion	Battle Axe	Francisca	Tabarzin
Shamanic Staff	Gloomwing	Corcesca	Tabarzin	Tabarzin
Bishop's Crosier	Cranequin	Mjolnir	Trident	Chamkaq
Sage's Cane	Bishop's Crosier	Lug Crossbow	Griever	Awl Pike

Crossbow with Staff

See Crossbow Combinations, Dagger Combinations, Great Sword Combinations

The combinations of Crossbows and Staves are utterly uniform. There will always be a Morph if the Crossbow is one Tier higher, in which case the combine will produce a Dagger, and if the Crossbow is two Tiers higher, in which case the combine will produce a Great Sword

	Gastraph Bow	Light Crossbow	Target Bow	Windlass	Cranequin	Lug Crossbow	Siege Bow	Arbalest
Wizard Staff	Spatha	Battle Knife	Broad Sword	Light Crossbow	Light Crossbow	Target Bow	Windlass	Cranequin
Clergy Rod	Wizard Staff	Scimitar	Scramasax	Norse Sword	Target Bow	Target Bow	Target Bow	Windlass
Summoner Baton	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod	Rapier	Dirk	Katana	Windlass	Windlass	Windlass
Shamanic Staff	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Short Sword	Throwing Knife	Executioner	Cranequin	Cranequin
Bishop's Crosier	Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Firangi	Kudi	Claymore	Lug Crossbow
Sage's Cane	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier	Shamshir	Cinquedea	Schiavona

Dagger with Staff

See Crossbow Combinations, Heavy Mace Combinations, Polearm Combinations, Staff Combinations

Morphs: Just about as irregular in Design-result-per-Tier as it could possibly be. The ratio of Tiers is pretty irregular, also; all of the Morphs occur in combinations with the Dagger at a higher Tier than the Staff, but with 12 Tiers to Dagger, that is not saying much. Crossbows, Heavy Maces, and Polearm

The result of these combinations will always be of the same material as the Crossbow blade; see Design Prevalence and Rare Combinations

	Battle Knife	Scramasax	Dirk	Throwing Knife	Kudi	Cinquedea
Wizard Staff	Wizard Staff	Sabre Mace /	Spear /	Battle Knife	Scramasax	Dirk
Clergy Rod	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod	Gastraph Bow /	Footman's Mace L /	Glaive /	Scramasax
Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Light Crossbow /	Gloomwing /
Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Sage's Cane	Bishop's Crosier	Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff

	Kris	Hatchet	Khukuri	Baselard	Stiletto	Jamadhar
Wizard Staff	Throwing Knife	Kudi	Cinquedea	Kris	Hatchet	Khukuri
Clergy Rod	Dirk	Throwing Knife	Kudi	Cinquedea	Kris	Hatchet
Summoner Baton	Scorpion /	Dirk	Throwing Knife	Kudi	Cinquedea	Kris
Shamanic Staff	Target Bow /	Mjolnir /	Corcesca	Throwing Knife	Kudi	Cinquedea
Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier	Windlass /	Griever /	Trident /	Kudi
Sage's Cane	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier	Bishop's Crosier	Sage's Cane	Cranequin /	Destroyer /

Great Axe with Staff

See Great Axe Combinations, Crossbow Combinations, Heavy Mace Combinations, Polearm Combinations

Quite irregular combinations, with the one consistency being a Crossbow result when the Staff is one Tier higher than the Great Axe. When the Tiers are equal, the result is a Heavy Mace except for Bishop's Crosier plus Double Blade yielding Trident. When the Great Axe is one Tier higher, the result is more often than not, a Polearm.

All combinations will be of the material of the Great Axe as per Design Prevalence.

	Guisarme	Large Crescent	Sabre Halberd	Balbriggan	Double Blade	Halberd
Wizard Staff	Sabre Mace /	Gastraph Bow /	Guisarme	Large Crescent	Sabre Halberd	Balbriggan
Clergy Rod	Gastraph Bow /	Spear / Footman's Mace L /	Glaive /	Large Crescent	Large Crescent	Sabre Halberd
Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Light Crossbow /	Gloomwing /	Scorpion /	Sabre Halberd	Sabre Halberd
Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Target Bow /	Mjolnir /	Corcesca /	Target Bow / Balbriggan?
Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Windlass /	Trident /	Summoner Baton
Sage Cane	Bishop's Crozier	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Cranequin /	Destroyer /

Great Sword with Staff

See Great Sword Combinations, Crossbow Combinations, Heavy Mace Combinations, Polearm Combinations

Irregular Morphs creating Crossbows, Heavy Maces, and Polearms

Design Prevalence: Great Swords will determine the Material in combinations with Staves

	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier	Sage's Cane
Broad Sword	Langdebeve	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier
Norse Sword	Glaive /	Gastraph Bow /	Clergy Rod	Claymore Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier
Katana	Broad Sword	Sabre Mace /	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Executioner	Broad Sword	Scorpion /	Light Crossbow /	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Claymore	Norse Sword	Norse Sword	Footman's Mace L /	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton
Schiavona	Katana	Norse Sword	Corcesca /	Target Bow /	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff
Bastard Sword	Executioner	Katana	Katana	Gloomwing /	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff
Nodachi	Claymore	Executioner	Katana	Trident /	Windlass /	Bishop's Crosier
Rune Blade	Schiavona	Claymore	Executioner	Executioner	Mjolnir /	Bishop's Crosier
Holy Win	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier	Sage's Cane

Heavy Mace with Staff

See Heavy Mace Combinations, Crossbow Combinations, Dagger Combinations, Polearm Combinations

Morph: Even-Tier combinations yield Polearms, up to Tier six Awl Pike. With Staves one Tier higher, a Crossbow is created, up to Tier five Cranequin. With Heavy Mace one Tier higher, Daggers are created, losing one Tier to go up to Tier five Cinquedea in six Tiers

Prevalence: Heavy Mace > all. There are no Rare Combinations of Heavy Mace and other Designs

	Langdebeve	Sabre Mace	Footman's Mace L	Gloomwing
Wizard Staff	Spear /	Battle Knife /	Sabre Mace	Sabre Mace
Clergy Rod	Gastraph Bow /	Glaive /	Scramasax /	Footman's Mace L
Summoner Baton	Wizard Staff	Light Crossbow /	Scorpion /	Dirk /
Shamanic Staff	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Target Bow /	Corcesca /
Bishop's Crosier	Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Windlass /
Sage's Cane	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff

	Mjolnir	Griever	Destroyer	Hand of Light
Wizard Staff	Footman's Mace L	Gloomwing	Mjolnir	Wizard Staff =
Clergy Rod	Footman's Mace L	Footman's Mace L	Gloomwing	Clergy Rod =
Summoner Baton	Gloomwing	Gloomwing	Gloomwing	Summoner Baton =
Shamanic Staff	Throwing Knife /	Mjolnir	Mjolnir	Shamanic Staff
Bishop's Crosier	Trident /	Throwing Knife /	Griever	Bishop's Crosier =
Sage's Cane	Cranequin /	Awl Pike /	Cinquedea /	Sage's Cane =

Mace with Staff

See Mace Combinations, Crossbow Combinations, Heavy Mace Combinations, Polearm Combinations

Morph: Entirely regular: Even-Tier combinations yield Crossbow, up to Tier six Lug Crossbow. With Maces one Tier higher, a Heavy Mace is created, up to Tier six Griever. With Maces two Tier higher, Polearms are created, up to Tier six Awl Pike

Prevalence: Mace determines the material

Rare Combinations: SILVER Mace in the first Combine slot and HAGANE Staff in the second gives DAMASCUS results

	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton
Goblin Club	Gastraph Bow /	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod
Spiked Club	Langdebeve /	Light Crossbow /	Clergy Rod
Ball Mace	Spear /	Sabre Mace /	Target Bow /
Footman's Mace S	Spiked Club	Glaive /	Footman's Mace L /
Morning Star	Ball Mace	Spiked Club	Scorpion /
War Hammer	Footman's Mace S	Ball Mace	Ball Mace
Bec de Corbin	Morning Star	Footman's Mace S	Ball Mace
War Maul	War Hammer	Morning Star	Footman's Mace S

	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier	Sage's Cane
Goblin Club	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier
Spiked Club	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Ball Mace	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Footman's Mace S	Windlass /	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff
Morning Star	Gloomwing /	Cranequin /	Bishop's Crosier
War Hammer	Corcesca /	Mjolnir /	Lug Crossbow /
Bec de Corbin	Footman's Mace S	Trident /	Griever /
War Maul	Footman's Mace S	Morning Star	Awl Pike /

Polearm with Staff

See Polearm Combinations, Crossbow Combinations, Dagger Combinations, Sword Combinations

Morph: Irregular and of poor quality, none higher Tier than six; Crossbow, Dagger and Sword

Design Prevalence: Combinations of Staff and Polearm will be the material of the Polearm. There are no Rare Combinations

	Spear	Glaive	Scorpion	Corcesca
Wizard Staff	Battle Knife /	Gastraph Bow /	Spatha /	Glaive
Clergy Rod	Wizard Staff	Wizard Staff	Scramasax /	Light Crossbow /
Summoner Baton	Wizard Staff	Wizard Staff	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod
Shamanic Staff	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod
Bishop's Crosier	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod
Sage's Cane	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod

	Trident	Awl Pike	Boar Spear	Fauchard
Wizard Staff	Glaive	Scorpion	Corcesca	Trident
Clergy Rod	Scimitar /	Scorpion	Scorpion	Corcesca
Summoner Baton	Dirk /	Target Bow /	Rapier /	Corcesca
Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Throwing Knife /	Windlass /
Bishop's Crosier	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff
Sage's Cane	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff

	Voulge	Pole Axe	Bardysh	Brandestoc
Wizard Staff	Awl Pike	Boar Spear	Fauchard	Voulge
Clergy Rod	Trident	Awl Pike	Boar Spear	Fauchard
Summoner Baton	Corcesca	Trident	Awl Pike	Boar Spear
Shamanic Staff	Short Sword /	Trident	Trident	Awl Pike
Bishop's Crosier	Kudi /	Cranequin /	Firangi /	Awl Pike
Sage's Cane	Bishop's Crosier	Bishop's Crosier	Cinquedea /	Lug Crossbow /

Sword with Staff

See Crossbow Combinations, Heavy Mace Combinations, Mace Combinations, Polearm Combinations, Sword Combinations

Staves, of course, add the most Magic for spellcasting, and their mid-high level Riskbreak Break Art reduces RISK. 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.

Staves combine with swords of roughly the same level in numerous but unpredictable Morphs of many types, to make a Crossbow, Heavy Mace, Mace, or Polearm design.

Morph combinations of Staff blades with other blades are 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.

	Spatha	Scimitar	Rapier	Short Sword	Firangi	Shamshir
Wizard Staff	Sabre Mace /	Spear /	Spatha	Spatha	Scimitar	Rapier
Clergy Rod	Wizard Staff	Gastraph Bow /	Footman's Mace L /	Glaive /	Scimitar	Scimitar
Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Clergy Rod	Light Crossbow /	Gloomwing /	Scorpion /
Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Clergy Rod	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Target Bow /
Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff
Sage Cane	Bishop's Crosier	Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Shamanic Staff	Summoner Baton	Shamanic Staff

	Falchion	Shotel	Khora	Khopesh	Wakizashi	Rhomphaia
Wizard Staff	Short Sword	Firangi	Shamshir	Falchion	Shotel	Wizard Staff
Clergy Rod	Rapier	Short Sword	Firangi	Shamshir	Falchion	Clergy Rod
Summoner Baton	Rapier	Rapier	Short Sword	Firangi	Shamshir	Summoner Baton
Shamanic Staff	Mjolnir	Corcesca	Short Sword	Short Sword	Firangi	Shamanic Staff
Bishop's Crosier	Shamanic Staff	Windlass /	Griever /	Trident /	Firangi	Bishop's Crosier
Sage Cane	Shamanic Staff	Bishop's Crosier	Bishop's Crosier	Cranequin /	Sage's Cane	Destroyer /

See Also

• Combinations
• Rare Combinations
• Weapon Combinations
• Weapons