If you’ve spent any time roaming No Man’s Sky’s infinite planets, you’ve probably seen other players swinging a glowing, multi-purpose staff that makes mining rare resources and fighting corrupted sentinels look trivial. I spent almost 12 hours wandering random systems and fighting endless sentinel waves before I figured out the straightforward process to unlock one for myself. This guide breaks down every step clearly, no unnecessary grinding or confusing lore hoops required, so you can learn how to get a staff in No Man’s Sky in just a couple of hours of playtime.
How to Get a Staff in No Man’s Sky: Start With Sentinel Pillar Hunting
The first and most important step to unlocking your staff is finding a Sentinel Pillar, the only location where you can pick up the official staff blueprint for free. You don’t need to progress through the main story to access these pillars, either – new players who have just left their starting system can hunt them down if they’re willing to deal with a small amount of sentinel heat. You don't have to fight high-level sentinels if you sneak to the pillar, so even players with weak starting multi-tools can pull this off.
To find a Sentinel Pillar, you first need to get a Sentinel Echo Locator. You can get these by defeating three waves of sentinels on any planet that has active sentinel patrols, or you can occasionally find them in loot chests at abandoned outposts. Once you have the locator, activate it from your inventory, and it will pin the closest Sentinel Pillar directly to your HUD. So you don’t have to waste time scanning random structures across the planet’s surface.
Gather All Required Crafting Materials for Your Staff
Once you unlock the blueprint from the Sentinel Pillar terminal, you’ll need a small list of materials to craft your first staff. None of these materials are locked behind late-game content, though you can speed up farming by heading to higher-tier star systems if you already have the hyperdrive upgrades to reach them. Here’s the full list of what you’ll need:
Don't skip collecting Storm Crystals even if you plan to use the staff only for mining, because they add a hidden 30% mining speed boost that you won’t get from any other base material. If you don’t want to wait around for storms, you can also buy Storm Crystals from trade terminals in wealthy Vy’keen systems for around 1,200 units each, which is a negligible cost for mid-game players. Once you have all these items gathered, you’re almost done with the process.
Craft and Customize Your Staff to Fit Your Playstyle
Once you have all your materials together, you can craft your staff at any standard build menu workbench, either on your base, your freighter, or even the portable workbench you can carry in your inventory. The crafting process takes 10 seconds total, no extra waiting or minigames required. It’s easily one of the most underrated tools you can unlock when you’re learning how to get a staff in No Man’s Sky for the first time.
You can swap out three core parts of the staff: the head, the core, and the grip. Mining-focused heads increase resource yield and reduce the time it takes to break through rare mineral deposits, combat-focused heads add elemental damage like fire or poison that shreds through sentinel and pirate health, and traversal-focused heads add a launch function that lets you fling yourself 50 meters in the air to cross gaps or climb mountains quickly. You can upgrade your staff later using nanites at the Space Anomaly upgrade station, so you don’t have to stress about picking the perfect first setup right away.
I personally keep two staves in my inventory at all times: one with a high-yield mining head for when I’m farming resources for base builds, and one with a fire damage combat head for when I’m exploring corrupted planets full of hostile sentinels. The staff has a much longer range than the standard multi-tool, so you can take out enemies before they get close enough to deal damage to you.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Getting Your First Staff
Even though the process to get a staff is pretty straightforward, there are a few common missteps that can add hours of unnecessary work to your grind. I’ve made all of these mistakes myself, so you don’t have to.
The first mistake is rushing the Sentinel Pillar without checking for nearby sentinel patrols first. If a sentinel drone spots you while you’re interacting with the pillar terminal, you’ll get locked out of the blueprint until you leave the planet and come back, which wastes a ton of time. Always save your game right before approaching a Sentinel Pillar, so if something goes wrong you can reload and try again without losing any progress.
Another common mistake is farming materials on low-level planets with low resource density. If you farm activated indium on a yellow star system planet, you’ll get half as much per deposit as you would on a blue star system extreme weather planet, so you’ll spend twice as long grinding. It’s worth making the trip to a higher tier system first to cut your farming time in half. Don’t forget to clear two free slots in your inventory before you try to craft the staff, either – if your inventory is full, you’ll have to dump valuable resources or run all the way back to your ship before you can finish crafting.
Once you learn how to get a staff in No Man’s Sky, it’s hard to go back to using the standard multi-tool for most tasks. It’s faster for mining, more powerful for combat, and the traversal upgrade makes exploring weird, mountainous planets way more fun. You don’t have to be a late-game player to unlock one either, even players who have only put 10 or 15 hours into the game can pull this off with a little bit of planning. If you end up with a fun custom staff build, feel free to drop it in the comments below to help other players out.
