I started the Mages Guild Questline and am now choosing my Staff out of multiple choices of staves. I was wondering which is the best to choose. These are peoples opions on each of them. Tell me if you agree or disagree and which staff to choose please. I got this off another forum dont know if its true

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Destruction
  
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Fire_Damage: Trolls and many undead are weak to fire, but most Daedra resist it.
    
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Frost_Damage: Many types of undead resist frost damage and only a few enemies are weak to it. Overall, probably the least useful destruction staff.
    
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Shock_Damage: Many Daedra are weak to shock and few enemies resist it, so this is a good choice.
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Illusion
  
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Charm: Charm spells are extremely cheap to cast yourself, and the effects of the staff aren't particularly powerful, either. You're probably better off choosing something else.
    
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Paralyze: This can be extremely useful, as paralyze spells are difficult and expensive to cast yourself. Paralyze is also on the list of magical effects that are not available for enchanting. At a high enough level, your staff can emulate a master-level paralyze spell. Even a short-duration spell is useful, as it knocks the target down.
    
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Silence: Another good choice, especially against all the necromancers you'll face if you continue in the Mages Guild quest line.
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Mysticism
  
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Soul_Trap: While perhaps not as useful as others, this can be handy if you don't want to bother casting Soul Trap yourself, especially if you pair it with http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Azura%27s_Star to keep every item you have charged.
    
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Telekinesis: No real practical use, though it might be handy for thievery, decorating your house, or general mischief. If your character has the Atronach Birthsign, you can use the staff to recharge your magicka since, at high levels of spell absorption, all telekinesis spells have a chance to be absorbed instead of working normally.
    
  • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Dispel: Might be useful for dealing with conjurers or enemies who use shield spells, but otherwise not terribly useful.

I'm not an Oblivion expert, but I chose Paralyze for mine, mainly because it seemed the most useful. I already had a staff of Fire that did enough damage, so yeah, went with Paralyze. 40 shots of Paralyze seems like it will be extremely useful. I am probably going to drop my other fire staff and just use the Paralyze staff and then whack them with the Sword of the Crusader.

I'm a pure mage in this save. So probably a destruction would be better?

Well, I'll handle my reply like this:

Destruction: If you use the spells don't bother with the staff, it's not really worth it. If you don't and want a ranged elemental offensive option, pick shock. The others have their advantages but shock gives the best all round effectiveness.

Illusion: Charm is a cheap spell, and very easy to exploit with spell making, and carrying around a staff for it is kind of pointless. Silence has it's uses, but only against casters, and it doesn't stop them using scrolls so it's still rather limited. Paralyze is great, hit's just about everything that isn't a vampire, and gives you either time to run, or time to take them out easier. It generally makes them fall over, adding to the recovery time, meaning more damage can be squeezed in. Also can be used to roll bears down hills.

Mysticism: Soul trap has it's uses, but only if you use a lot of enchanted weapons and don't use the spell. telekinesis is nearly pointless as a spell, and a colossal waste as a staff. Dispel is a limited effect, generally best used on yourself as a potion rather than on enemies.

So to sum up: Paralyze is easily the best. The effect is widely useful, and the equivalent spell isn't all that cost effective in terms of magicka. For general offense, pick lightning because not much resists it, off the top of my head I can only think of storm atronachs. As a pure mage, paralyze is still your best bet, because it makes it easier to keep enemies from getting too close, and lets you save magicka for offense.

Thank you

The info you already have is pretty good. I would go with either paralyze or shock. Shock not only is the least resisted element but it travels faster to the target than fire or frost. Of the two solid staff choices, I'd urge paralyze because it is not at all common on a staff, whereas later on you can find plenty of good shock staves. If you choose paralyze, you'll naturally want to study up (or learn the hard way) which foes ignore paralysis (starting with vampires for example).

I'd also suggest Paralyze, and I'd note that a staff (whether your mage staff or one taken as loot) works best as a supplement to your cast combat magic, rather than a substitute for it. So Paralyze is an excellent choice for a mage who is not schooled in Illusion, while a Shock staff would be a good choice for a mage who doesn't use Destruction magic.

Also, on the subject of it being a "supplement"... My Silvonwe character used a Shock staff in a powerful one-two combination with a custom "Weakness to Shock/Weakness to Magic" spell. Cast the spell, and chase it with a blast from the staff. Rinse and repeat.

What I'm saying is, don't necessarily view the staff as a primary attack. Choose your staff so it will work harmoniously with the way your character likes to operate.

As others have said paralyze or shock. If you are a pure mage you should be able to cast soul trap easy enough when needed and if you don't want to bother with soul trap, you can just make a custom destruction spell with a short duration (2 seconds is plenty) soul trap thrown into the mix. It will hardly add anything to the cost of the spell but will ensure a soul trap if you kill something with the spell.

Paralyze or Shock, telekenises is good to