Magic

The RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: rsw:MagicThe RuneScape Classic Wiki also has an article on: classicrsw:Magic

This article has a calculator here. Calculators determine experience and costs based on real-time prices from the Grand Exchange Market Watch.

This article is about the Magic skill. For information on training Magic, see Magic training (F2P) (P2P).

For a list of all requirements and unlockables within the Magic skill, see Magic/Level up table.

Magic
Released		4 January 2001 (Update)
Also called		Mage
Members		No
Type		Combat
Statistics
Players with 99		215,830 as of 1 August 2021 - update
Players with 200M XP		137 as of 1 August 2021 - update

Magic is one of the most important skills in Old School RuneScape and is one of the three combat classes. It is used in combat via combat spells, fast transport around the world via teleportation spells, and allows crafted items to be enchanted and convert items into coins through utility spells. While it is possible to play the game without being skilled in Magic, it is a considerable advantage to be able to use many spells, especially High Level Alchemy and teleports.

Magic is also important in order to defend well against Magic attacks. Unlike Melee and Ranged Defence, Magic Defence is actually determined by both Magic (70%) and Defence (30%) levels, as well as magic defence bonus.

Magic level up - normal

The music that plays when levelling up.

Magic level up - with unlocks

The music that plays when levelling up and unlocking new content.

Spells

For a list of all the spells in the game, see List of spells.

A player demonstrating Magic spells.

Magic is used almost exclusively through casting spells on monsters, another player, on one's self (reflexively), or on an item.

Magic spells are divided into three distinct types: Combat, Teleport, and Utility spells.

Combat spells

Main article: Combat spells

Combat spells are primarily used by players, mostly in battle, for their offensive capabilities. Combat spells can be separated into three sub-types:

• Offensive spells - Used to deal magical damage against opponents.
• Curse spells - Used to disable or debilitate an opponent.
• Support spells - Offers a range of benefits to the caster or recipient.

Teleport spells

Main article: Teleport spells

Teleport spells instantly transport players to a predetermined location. As teleportation save lots of time when travelling around the world, they are widely used among all players.

Some spells may teleport players to the dangerous Wilderness, where they are warned before the spell is actually cast, though this can be toggled by right-clicking the spell icon.

Utility spells

Main article: Utility spells

Utility spells are primarily used by players outside of combat in skilling activities, such as enchanting jewellery, baking pies, or reanimating ensouled heads.

The lunar spellbook, accessible by members, focuses heavily on utility spells.

Runes

Main article: Runes

All spells (with the exception of the Home Teleports) require the use of runes as a consumed resource. Runes are stackable, commonly traded items which are obtained by various methods, such as by crafting them via the Runecraft skill or obtained as drops from monsters.

Elemental staves

Main article: Elemental staves

The requirement for certain runes in a spell can be removed if the player wields an elemental staff corresponding to an elemental rune. As an example, wielding a staff of fire allows a player to cast High Level Alchemy using only one nature rune.

Magic weapons

Main article: Weapons § Magic weapons

Magic weapons attack from a distance and come in two primary types, staves and wands. They can be used as melee weapons, however their primary function is for casting spells, taking place of elemental runes, auto cast, and access to specific spells like Magic Dart.

Spellbooks

There are four different spellbooks used to cast magic spells from. A player may only cast spells from their current spellbook, and if they wish to use spells from another spellbook, they must change to that spellbook through various means.

To cast a spell, a player must choose the desired spell from their spellbook. To access the activated spellbook, click on the spellbook icon in the game's interface.

Free-to-play players only have access to the standard spellbook, while the other three spellbooks are only available for members after unlocking them through various content.

As with other skills, some spells require higher skill levels to cast.

Standard spellbook

Main article: Standard spellbook

The standard spellbook is available to all players. There is no prerequisite to using the standard spellbook, although some spells are only available on members' worlds and others require completion of certain quests or tasks.

Arceuus spellbook

Main article: Arceuus spellbook

The Arceuus spellbook is available to players upon gaining 60% favour with the city of Arceuus. Like the standard spellbook, it has a variety of teleport and utility spells at its disposal, although a larger set of combat and utility spells are only accessible to players who have completed the quest A Kingdom Divided.

Ancient Magicks

Main article: Ancient Magicks

Ancient Magicks are available to players upon completion of the quest Desert Treasure. Unlike the other spellbooks, the Ancient Magicks is significantly combat-oriented, including some of the most powerful combat spells in the game.

Lunar spellbook

Main article: Lunar spellbook

The Lunar spellbook is available to players upon completion of the quest Lunar Diplomacy. The spellbook is primarily oriented towards utility spells and combat-support spells, although some of them are only accessible to players who have completed the quest Dream Mentor and completion of the Hard Fremennik Diary.

Combat

Monster magic defence

A monster's defence level has no effect on the accuracy of incoming magical attacks. Instead, a monster's magical defence roll is calculated solely from their magic level and magic defence bonus. This differs from range and melee, as they use the defence level and respective defence bonus.

Magic staves

Main article: Staves

Various staves are available in Old School RuneScape. In the list below are all the free-to-play staves, which all can be obtained at Zaff's store in Varrock. The main effect of a staff is to boost Magic Attack and Defence, while the elemental staves provide unlimited amounts of their corresponding rune(s). There are many members' staves such as battlestaves, mystic staves, slayer's staff, lunar staff and ancient staff. Visit the staves' page for a complete description.

Item		Attack		Defence				Strength
		Crush	Magic	Stab	Slash	Crush	Magic
	Staff	7	4	2	3	1	4	3
	Magic staff	10	10	2	3	1	10	7
	Staff of air	7	10	2	3	1	10	3
	Staff of water	7	10	2	3	1	10	3
	Staff of earth	7	10	2	3	1	10	5
	Staff of fire	9	10	2	3	1	10	6

Magic armour and robes

Main article: Armour/Magic armour

Most mages wear robes, although some light armour is available that is made from special material and does not hinder the wearer's ability to perform magical attacks. For the different sets of armour and detailed information on each piece, see the armour guide.

A player can have a Magic Attack bonus of up to 172, and a Magic Defence bonus up to 253. The lowest Magic Attack bonus is -105, which will help prevent spells from hitting an opponent while training (i.e. splashing).

Magic accuracy

• Magic accuracy is determined by attacker's Attack roll and defender's Defence roll.
• Attack roll and Defence roll formulas are different for monsters and players, more precisely their Attack and Defence effective levels differ.
• The player's accuracy roll depends on the player's Magic level ($M_{lvl}$) and Magic equipment attack bonus ($M_{eab}$). Because visible Magic level is used, Prayer effects need to be considered ($P_{e}$).
• Monster's accuracy roll depends on the monster's Magic level ($M_{lvl}$) and Magic attack bonues ($M_{ab}$).
• The player's defence roll depends on the player's Magic level ($M_{lvl}$), player's Defence lvl ($D_{lvl}$) and Magic equipment defence bonus ($M_{edb}$).
• Monster's defence roll depends on the monster's Magic level ($M_{lvl}$), monster's Magic defence bonus ($M_{db}$)

		Player	Monster
Attacking	Effective level ($E_{a}$)	$M_{lvl}\times P_{e}+8$	$M_{lvl}+9$
	Attack Roll ($R_{a}$)	$E_{a}\times (M_{eab}+64)$	$E_{a}\times (M_{ab}+64)$
Defending	Effective level ($E_{d}$)	$M_{lvl}\times 0.7+D_{lvl}\times 0.3+8$	$M_{lvl}+9$
	Defence Roll ($R_{d}$)	$E_{d}\times (M_{edb}+64)$	$E_{d}\times (M_{db}+64)$

• The hit chance can be calculated by taking Attack roll ($R_{a}$) of the attacker (Player/Monster) and comparing it with Defence roll ($R_{d}$) of the defender. Both can be calculated from given table.
  • If $R_{a}>R_{d}$ then Hit chance $H_{c}=1-(R_{d}+2)/(2\times (R_{a}+1))$
  • Otherwise Hit chance $H_{c}=R_{a}/(2\times (R_{d}+1))$
• Examples of Defence roll calculation for monsters
  • Callisto (Members only)
    • Effective level $E_{d}=M_{lvl}+9=1+9=10$
    • Defence roll $R_{d}=E_{d}\times (M_{db}+64)=10\times (900+64)=9,640$
  • Skeletal wyvern (Members only)
    • Effective level $E_{d}=M_{lvl}+9=120+9=129$
    • Defence roll: $R_{d}=E_{d}\times (M_{db}+64)=129\times (80+64)=18,576$
• Protect from Magic makes most NPCs splash against player.

Training Magic

Main article: Magic training

Temporary boosts

Main article: Temporary skill boost

All values given below by formulae are rounded down.

Boost		Level increase	Visibility	Other info
	Magic cape	1	Visible	Activating the cape's effect will increase the corresponding skill by 1.
	Oldak	±2	Visible	Requires completion of Death to the Dorgeshuun.
	Wizard's mind bomb	2 or 3	Visible	Boosts magic by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {2}{100}}+2$. Restores 3 Hitpoints. Reduces Attack, Strength and Defence. Available to free players.
	Magic essence	3	Visible	Used during the Fairytale II - Cure a Queen quest.
	Mature Wizard's mind bomb	3 or 4	Visible	Boosts magic by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {2}{100}}+3$. Reduces Attack, Strength and Defence.
	Magic potion	4	Visible	Allows for the use of higher level magical spells.
	Divine magic potion	4	Visible	Acts as a magic potion. Passive stat draining for magic is disabled for 5 minutes, meaning the player's magic will stay fully boosted. After the 5 minutes are over, magic level will be restored to its base level.
	Battlemage potion	4	Visible	Boosts defence by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {15}{100}}+5$. Allows for the use of higher level magical spells.
	Divine battlemage potion	4	Visible	Acts as a battlemage potion. Passive stat draining for magic is disabled for 5 minutes, meaning the player's magic will stay fully boosted. After the 5 minutes are over, magic level will be restored to its base level.
	Bandages (Theatre of Blood)	4	Visible	Acts like a super combat, ranging, stamina, magic and prayer potion, and heals 20 hitpoints.
	Spicy stew (red spice)	±0-5	Visible	Depending on type of stew, any skill can be boosted or reduced by 0 to 5 levels randomly.
	Imbued heart	1-10	Visible	Boosts magic by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {1}{10}}+1$. Allows for the use of higher level magical spells. Only usable once every 7 minutes.
	Kodai (-)	4-13	Visible	Boosts Magic by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {10}{100}}+4$. Does not allow for the use of higher level magical spells. Only useable within the Chambers of Xeric
	Kodai potion	5-17	Visible	Boosts Magic by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {13}{100}}+5$. Does not allow for the use of higher level magical spells. Only useable within the Chambers of Xeric
	Super magic potion	5-19	Visible	Boosts magic by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {15}{100}}+5$. Allows for the use of higher level magical spells. Only usable within the Nightmare Zone.
	Overload	5-19	Visible	Boosts combat stats by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {15}{100}}+5$ (excluding hitpoints and prayer). The boost is reapplied every 15 seconds for 5 minutes. Also damages the player for 50 Hitpoints. (This lost health is refunded after the overload ends.) Only usable within the Nightmare Zone or within the Chambers of Xeric.
	Kodai (+)	6-21	Visible	Boosts Magic by ${\text{Level}}*{\frac {16}{100}}+6$. Does not allow for the use of higher level magical spells. Only useable within the Chambers of Xeric

Quests

Quests requiring Magic

Quest	Magic requirement	Other requirements
In Aid of the Myreque	7	25 , 15
Watchtower	15	15 , 25 , 14 , 40
Elemental Workshop II	20	30 , 20
Darkness of Hallowvale	33	22 , 5 , 20 , 26 , 32 , 40
The Giant Dwarf	33	14 , 12 , 16
Spirits of the Elid	33	37 , 37 , 37
Enakhra's Lament	39	50 , 45 , 43 , 45
King's Ransom	45	65
The Eyes of Glouphrie	46	5 , 45 ()
Sins of the Father	49	62 , 56 , 52 , 60 , 50 , 50
Desert Treasure	50	53 , 50 , 10
Legends' Quest	56	50 , 50 , 45 , 52 , 42 , 50 , 50 , 50 , 50
Family Crest	59	40 , 40 , 40
Lunar Diplomacy	65	61 , 40 , 49 , 5 , 60 , 55
Swan Song	66	100 , 62 , 62 , 45 , 42 , 40
Dragon Slayer II	75	200 , 70 , 68 , 62 , 60 , 60 , 50 , 50

Quests rewarding Magic experience

Main article: Quest experience rewards

Quest	Experience reward	Magic requirement	Other requirements
Witch's Potion	325	-	-
Imp Catcher	875	-	-
Fairytale I - Growing Pains	1,000	-	-
Spirits of the Elid	1,000	33	37 , 37 , 37
The Giant Dwarf	1,500	33	14 , 12 , 16
The Grand Tree	2,150	-	25
Recipe for Disaster (Lumbridge Guide subquest)	2,500	-	40
Horror from the Deep	4,662	-	35
King's Ransom	5,000	45	65
Lunar Diplomacy	5,000	65	61 , 40 , 49 , 5 , 60 , 55
Enakhra's Lament	7,000	39	50 , 45 , 43 , 45
Dream Mentor	10,000	65	32 (boostable), 85 , 61 , 40 , 49 , 5 , 60 , 55
The Eyes of Glouphrie	12,000	46	5 , 45 ()
Swan Song	15,000	66	100 , 62 , 62 , 45 , 42 , 40
Watchtower	15,250	15	15 , 25 , 14 , 40
Desert Treasure	20,000	50	53 , 50 , 10
Total	103,262

Skill choice

Upon completing any of the following quests, players may choose to allocate experience to Magic. These rewards usually come in the form of items, such as lamps or books, and are independent of any experience rewards directly received for completing the quest.

Quest	Experience reward	Skills available	Skill requirements
X Marks the Spot	300	Any	None
Client of Kourend	500 twice	Any	None
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	2,500	Any skill above 30	49 , 57
A Tail of Two Cats	2,500 twice	Any skill above 30	None
The Great Brain Robbery	5,000	Any skill above 30	16 , 30 , 50
King's Ransom	5,000	Any skill above 50	65
Darkness of Hallowvale	2,000 three times	Any skill above 30	5 , 20 , 22 , 32 , 33 , 40
A Taste of Hope	2,500 three times	Any skill above 35	48 , 40 , 40 , 45 , 38
A Kingdom Divided	10,000	Any skill above 40	54 , 52 , 52 , 50 , 42 , 38 , 35
Architectural Alliance (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 40	None
In Search of Knowledge (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 40	None
Curse of the Empty Lord (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 50	Some players will need 31
Shadow of the Storm	10,000		30
Contact!	7,000 twice		None
Dream Mentor	15,000		32 , 85 , 61 , 40 , 49 , 5 , 65 , 60 , 55
A Night at the Theatre	10,000 twice		90 recommended
One Small Favour	10,000 twice	Any skill above 30	36 , 25 , 18 , 30
Recipe for Disaster (The final battle)	20,000	Any skill above 50	175 , 70 , 48 , 50 , 53 , 53 , 25 , 59 , 40 , 50 , 40 , 40 , 10 , 10 , 36
Legends' Quest	7,650 four times		107 , 50 , 50 , 45 , 56 , 52 , 42 , 50 , 50 , 50 , 50
Sins of the Father	15,000 three times	Any skill above 60	62 , 60 , 56 , 52 , 50 , 50 , 49
Dragon Slayer II	25,000 four times		200 , 75 , 70 , 68 , 62 , 60 , 60 , 50 , 50
Monkey Madness II	50,000 twice		69 , 70 , 60 , 55 , 55 , 60
Total	446,900

Trivia

• In early 2001, there were two magic skills, Good Magic and Evil Magic. However, with the introduction of a new magic system, the lower skill was removed, and the higher skill changed to Magic. For example, if the player had level 50 Good Magic and level 40 Evil Magic, they would keep level 50 Magic, and the experience for the Evil Magic was discarded. Because of this, some players were upset that they lost money for training their lower magic skill, and that the experience was thrown away instead of carried over. There were also spells like Shock Bolt, Elemental Bolt, Camouflage, and Fear.
• Prior to the introduction of RuneScape 2, combat spells were universally represented by a simple, flying blue star, which proved difficult to distinguish from arrows, which were green stars. Also, in RuneScape Classic, players were capable of casting magic spells while wearing full rune armour, leading to a massive imbalance in favour of high-level mages.
• Prior to the advent of multicombat areas in RuneScape 2, mages and archers could attack enemies while a melee fighter engaged the monster in direct combat. This was the most common way for multiple players to attack the same creature, usually high level bosses like the King Black Dragon. The loot would go to whoever dealt the most damage, and the person who dealt the last hit would be the only one to receive experience, though less than if they had killed the monster themselves.
• In RuneScape Classic, each spell gave the fixed experience using the formula 2 * spell level + 20. Magic was a much faster skill to train if you could get sufficient runes, though runes were much harder to obtain. With RuneScape 2 came the introduction of Runecraft and many monsters with much higher rune drop rates, so runes became much easier to obtain. Accordingly, experience rates were also reduced to where they are today. Now normal spells generally gives (spell level + 10) experience and combat spells generally give a base experience of (spell level + 10)/2.
• A Runescape Mythbusters episode aired on twitch revealed that a player's Magic level plays a role in defending against magic attacks.