Staff weapon
The
staff weapon is a fictional weapon in the
Stargate universe.
Within the Stargate universe, the staff weapon is a common weapon for
Jaffa soldiers, both serving in the armies of the
Goa'uld and under their own government. The weapon is powered by liquid
naqahdah, as is most
Goa'uld technology. There is a switch along the staff that opens an almond-like head at the tip; the same switch then delivers a strong energy blast from the opened end. The energy bolts from a staff weapon penetrate armor very well and the blast is powerful enough to punch a hole the size of a man's head through the target. A single clean hit to the chest is usually sufficient to kill, although a hit to the thigh or shoulder areas may be survived if the target is lucky. The heavy, rounded ends of the weapon and its sturdy length allow it to be used in
melee combat for striking and knocking down an opponent when the enemy is too close to safely or effectively use the energy assault.
To competently employ the staff as a melee weapon, especially against similarly armed opponents, extensive training is required, similar to the various martial arts disciplines of humanity, many of which utilize staff-like weapons for close-combat. Since almost all Jaffa seen wielding the staff are at least marginally proficient in melee combat as well, it is implied that all Jaffa serving the Goa'uld receive years of training, or the Jaffa possess an innate talent for staff use, possibly from Goa'uld genetic modification.
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Teal'c holding his staff weapon straight up. Note its extreme length. |
In highly skilled hands it can be quite effective, but its design is not optimized for military use. In the episode "
The Warrior", the staff weapon was demonstrated to be significantly less accurate at long range than the
FN P90, even in the hands of an exceptionally skilled Jaffa warrior. With no means of rapid-fire for engaging multiple opponents, and equipped with no means of increasing accuracy for combat over anything beyond point-blank range, it is likely that the Goa'uld, in an attempt to appear even more God-like to their subjects, supplied them with weaponry that would be both awe inspiring and destructive, with no thought to its effectiveness.
Jack O'Neill, comparing the staff weapon to his (much more impressive)
P90 explained, "[The staff weapon] is a weapon of terror: it's made to
intimidate the enemy.
This [A
P90] is a weapon of war: it's made to
kill the enemy."
This may explain how
SG-1 is often able to prevail unscathed when confronted by several Jaffa firing at them with staff weapons, while more often than not they end up getting knocked out when someone is firing at them with a . This may also explain why there is an emphasis on using such a powerful ranged weapon for melee.
Sodan troops use a variant of the staff weapon in which the back meter or so of the weapon has been removed; it eliminates the quarterstaff function of standard staff weapons, but it makes it lighter and easier to carry; among other things, it has allowed the Sodan to strap their weapons to their backs.
["Babylon"]Kull Warriors apparently use a wrist-mounted version of the staff weapon, but with smaller blasts and a higher rate of fire.
["Evolution"]The
staff cannon is a variant of the
Goa'uld staff weapon. It is heavier and more powerful, and is typically placed on a mount and used to defend a
Stargate on a Goa'uld- or Jaffa-controlled planet; much as the gateroom defense teams do on Earth.
In addition to Gate-defense, they are the
Death Glider offensive weapon, with two forward-mounted staff cannons on their wings. A strong Jaffa warrior, such as
Teal'c, can carry a staff cannon around by pointing it forward with the back resting on the hip, supported by and secured with a shoulder strap.
An
al'kesh is equipped with an enlarged version of the staff cannon that deploys from its belly; the weapon is carried retracted into the ship when not in use.
The weapons of a
Ha'tak mothership have the same visual effect as staff cannons but on a larger scale.
Warriors of the
Ori carry a similar weapon. It is more silver-colored and has two prongs in place of the almond-head. It fires a blue rather than a yellow bolt, but is otherwise remarkably similar to the Goa'uld version. This leads to the assumption that, like their other technologies, the
Goa'uld "borrowed" the staff weapon from
Ancient technology. As the only Ancient weapons yet seen are the
Drone Weapon, the
Dakara Superweapon, its relative the anti-
Replicator disruptor, and a stunner, it is unknown whether the Ancients actually used a staff variant.
