If you’ve spent dozens of hours hopping across star systems in No Man’s Sky, you’ve probably come across other players wielding glowing, ornate staffs that look way cooler than your standard issue multi-tool. I spent months ignoring this gear variant until I realized it packs way higher mining and damage stats than most mid-game multi-tools, so I set out to figure out how do you get a staff in No Man's Sky without grinding for 10 hours straight. This guide breaks down every viable method, from casual quest unlocks to rare world spawns, so you can pick the route that fits your playstyle. You don’t need endgame gear or a fully upgraded ship to get your first staff, either, which makes it a great pickup for new and veteran players alike.
How Do You Get a Staff in No Man’s Sky via the Autophage Questline
The Autophage questline is by far the most accessible way to unlock your first staff, and you can start it as soon as you have access to your first hyperdrive. First, you’ll need to locate a corrupted planet, which you can spot on your galaxy map by the small red sentinel warning icon next to the planet name. Land anywhere on the surface, and keep an eye out for small, floating Autophage drones that spawn near corrupted sentinel patrols. Follow the drone slowly (don’t shoot it, or it will vanish) and it will lead you to a hidden Autophage camp.
Talk to the robed Autophage NPC at the camp, and they will give you a short series of low-effort tasks to complete. These usually include collecting 20 sentinel components from defeated drones, scanning 3 types of corrupted fauna on the planet, and bringing them 1 irradiated pearl from a local cave. Once you turn in these items, they will hand you a basic staff blueprint and enough crafting materials to build your first staff right there at the camp’s workbench.
You don’t need to beat the main story to start this questline, which is a huge win for new players who haven’t made it to the Artemis quest arc yet. The base staff you get from this quest is a C-class model, but you can upgrade it later, or earn higher tier staff blueprints by trading sentient shards (dropped by corrupted sentinel walkers) to Autophage NPCs across the galaxy. I did this quest on my second playthrough and had my first staff in under 90 minutes, which is way faster than farming for rare spawns.
Find a Pre-Upgraded Staff in Harmonic Camp Chests
If you don’t feel like doing quest tasks and want a shot at a high-tier S-class staff right away, you can hunt for harmonic camps on corrupted planets. These hidden camps have locked chests that spawn random multi-tools, including staffs, with stats ranging from B-class to S-class depending on the system’s difficulty level.
To find a harmonic camp, you first need to get a sentinel echo locator, which drops every time you defeat a sentinel walker on a corrupted planet. Activate the locator from your inventory, and it will mark a harmonic camp location on your HUD. Fly to the camp, and solve the small terminal puzzle (you can find the answer by matching the symbols to the ones posted on signs around the camp) to unlock the main supply chest.
Staffs found in harmonic camps have random stats, so you can reroll by reloading your save before opening the chest if you don’t get the tier or design you want. S-class staff spawns are 15% more common in survival mode systems, so if you’re playing on a higher difficulty, you have a much better chance of walking away with an endgame-ready staff on your first try. Staff designs also match the biome of the planet they spawn on, so if you want a neon blue staff, look for harmonic camps on frozen or bioluminescent planets.
Purchase a Staff from Specialized Multi-Tool Vendors
If you have extra units sitting around and don’t want to mess with quests or camp hunting, you can buy a staff directly from specialized multi-tool vendors scattered across the galaxy. These vendors are most often found in tier 3 economy systems, usually in the back of the space station near the ship upgrade terminals. You can also find them in large, tier 3 player settlements, and occasionally in outposts on high-security planets.
Vendors sell staffs ranging from C-class to A-class, with prices starting at 1.2 million units. You can trade in your old multi-tools to knock up to 40% off the price, so don’t scrap your unused gear before stopping by a vendor. Pirate-controlled systems also have exclusive staff vendors that sell dark, red and black themed staffs you can’t find anywhere else, but be careful when visiting these systems, as hostile pirate ship attacks are far more common there.
One underrated trick I stumbled on last year is checking the multi-tool vendor in your own settlement once it reaches tier 3. These vendors often offer exclusive, settlement-themed staff designs that only show up for players who own the settlement, so it’s worth checking in every few days to see what they have in stock.
Customize and Upgrade Your Staff to Fit Your Playstyle
Once you have your first staff, you can tweak it to fit whatever activity you do most, whether that’s mining rare resources, fighting sentinels, or hunting for hidden ruins. Staffs have more upgrade slots than standard multi-tools, and their supercharged slots give a much higher stat boost, so it’s worth investing in high-quality upgrades as soon as you can.
You can make adjustments to your staff at any multi-tool workbench, either on your freighter, at a space station, or at a planetary outpost. Some of the most useful upgrades to prioritize include:
- Mining-focused upgrades: Add supercharged mining beam modules to cut through rare resource nodes 3x faster than standard multi-tools, and add a heat sink upgrade so you never have to pause mid-mine to let your tool cool down
- Combat-focused upgrades: Equip scatter blast and rocket launcher modules to take down sentinels and hostile fauna in one or two hits, and add a shield booster to reduce damage taken while you’re switching between weapon modes
- Exploration-focused upgrades: Add a scan booster module to increase your survey range by 50%, making it easier to find hidden ruins, ancient artifacts, and high-yield resource deposits without flying all over the planet
One common mistake new players make is installing low-tier C-class upgrades on their staff as soon as they get it. Wait until you have B-class or higher upgrade modules to install, since higher tier modules give way better stat boosts, and you can’t remove low tier modules without destroying them later.
At the end of the day, the route you pick to get your first staff comes down to how much time you want to spend, and what rewards you’re chasing. If you love following story content, the Autophage questline will give you a solid base staff with zero luck required. If you’d rather roll for a high-tier drop, hunting harmonic camps is well worth the effort. If you have extra units to burn, buying a staff from a vendor lets you skip all the grind entirely. No matter which path you choose, now you know exactly how do you get a staff in No Man's Sky to level up your exploration and combat runs across the galaxy.
