Analysis, Discussion and Tips for Success

General Discussion

Elemental battlestaves are weapons that can be used as (poor) bludgeoning weapons, or more typically, to provide infinite runes of one of the elemental types. To make one of these staves, you begin with a "plain" battlestaff, and attach to it a water, earth, fire or air orb. The orbs are made by casting a special spell on unpowered orbs at one of the four obelisks located in or near remote reaches of the Taverley and Edgeville dungeons, and the unpowered orbs, of course, are made using (ta da!) the Crafting skill.

Making elemental orbs is a process unto itself (and you can also sometimes get them as drops), so these methods assume you are buying them, as well as the plain battlestaves. Once you have the orbs and staves, making the elemental battlestaves is as simple as attaching the two pieces together.

While the finished products here are useful items, most players only need one at most; the majority of elemental battlestaves are made for Crafting XP and then alched, yielding 9,300 gp each. (That's why the items sell for just under that number most of the time.) This is a small loss on each battlestaff made and alched, because the orbs are worth over 1k each, but this activity lets players train pretty quickly, and for high level players battlestaves can represent a worthwhile trade-off of training speed and cost.

Incidentally, don't listen to the players who tell you that "making elemental battlestaves turns a profit". Yes, you can get up 64 plain battlestaves from Zaff every day at 7,000 gp each, if you're wearing Varrock Armour 3. But those battlestaves can be immediately resold for over 8k each to players who want them for this very activity. The profit is in getting the plain battlestaves from Zaff, not using them to craft.

Location and Access

You can make these at any bank, but a one-click bank is preferred. Castle Wars is my favorite.

Required and Recommended Equipment

None needed.

Required and Recommended Supplies

One plain battlestaff and one orb for each elemental battlestaff made.

Familiar Suggestions

Summon a foraging familiar to earn extra money for you while you work -- I prefer the magpie, given the high value of rings and gems today.

Technique and Tips

There's really nothing much to this. Take out 14 orbs and 14 battlestaves, click one orb and one staff, then right-click the interface and choose "Make All". Wait about 25 seconds, bank and repeat.

Note that you want to take the orbs out first, because if you left-click a battlestaff first it will be equipped as a weapon.

One trick I like is to start out wielding one extra battlestaff. This way, if I accidentally click a battlestaff first in my inventory, it "swaps" with the one I am holding and saves me having to unequip it.