Magic
Casts 51 configured spells - the four-element strike/bolt/blast/surge ladder, alchemy, curses, freezes and a full teleport network - and gates wands, staves and battlestaves.
Magic is the third attack style and the game's utility skill. A cast's damage is your wand's damage plus the spell's, scaled by your Magic level, so at 120 you hit around 80% harder than at level 1. Outside combat it teleports you across the map, turns loot into coins, smelts ore without a furnace, enchants jewellery and weakens a target's Attack, Strength or Defence.
Level 1 to 120
Magic splits into two grinds that mix well. Combat casting pays one XP for every 6 damage on a 1.5 second cast, so you climb the strike, bolt, blast and surge families as they unlock and hold the best wand you can. Utility spells pay a flat amount per cast on a one second cooldown, which turns banked loot and jewellery straight into levels. Most players alch and enchant between fights, and cast their newest attack spell during them.
- Strike spells with an elemental staff 1 to 17
Air strike at 1, water at 5, earth at 9, fire at 13, each one elemental rune plus a mind rune. An elemental staff supplies its own rune forever, so air strike with a staff of air costs nothing but the mind rune. Aubury in Varrock and the shops in Port Sarim and Al Kharid stock the basics.
- Enchanting jewellery 7 to 120
63 XP a cast for sapphire at 7, emerald at 27, ruby at 49 and diamond at 57, then 87 for dragonstone at 68 and 97 for onyx at 87. A cosmic rune plus elementals every time, so the real limit is how much gold jewellery your Crafting can supply.
- Bolt spells 17 to 41
Air bolt at 17, water at 23, earth at 29, fire at 35, each costing two elemental runes and a chaos rune. Chaos is the last rune the basic shops sell, and you can craft your own at Runecrafting 28, so this is the first spell family with a real bill attached.
- Low and high alchemy 21 to 120
Low alchemy gives 11 XP a cast on a one second cooldown and pays 40% of an item's value; high alchemy at 55 gives 22 XP and pays 60%. Three fire runes and a nature rune, five and one at high, so with a fire staff it comes down to a nature rune a cast.
- Superheat 43 to 120
18 Magic XP a cast plus the full Smithing XP for the bar, with no furnace needed anywhere. Four fire runes and a nature rune, so with a fire staff it is a nature rune per bar and two skills moving at once.
- Blast spells 41 to 62
Air blast at 41, water at 47, earth at 53, fire at 59, each costing three elemental runes and a death rune. Death runes come from Runecrafting 65 or from drops until Magic 66 opens the Magic Guild in Yanille, which sells them alongside law and blood.
- Surges and the force spells 62 to 120
Air surge at 62, water at 65, earth at 70 and fire at 75, each four elemental runes and a blood rune. Then elemental force at 90, dark elemental force at 95 and apocalypse at 98, all on death and wrath runes. Hold the strongest wand you can, since its damage is added to the spell's before your level scales the total.
Runes
The basic shops, Aubury in Varrock among them, stock air, mind, water, earth, fire and chaos. The Magic Guild in Yanille adds death, law and blood, but wants Magic 66 to get through the door. Body, cosmic, nature and wrath never appear in a shop at all.
Nature runes at Runecrafting 41 are the ones worth chasing, because they gate alchemy and superheat, the two spells you will cast most over a whole account. A rune pouch carries five kinds of rune, or eight once upgraded.
Curses
Confuse at 3 takes 5% off a target's Attack, weaken at 11 its Strength and curse at 19 its Defence, each for seven seconds on earth, water and a body rune. Vulnerability at 66 hits Defence, enfeeble at 73 Strength and stun at 80 Attack, all at 10% on a cosmic rune.
They still count as combat spells, so they pay XP for the damage they deal on top of the debuff. Vulnerability before a hard fight is worth the cosmic rune.
Worth knowing
- Bind a spell to left or right click from the spell list so you can cast it without opening the menu every time.
- Lava, mud and steam staves each cover two elements at once, which cuts the rune bill on every spell that uses them.
- Set your combat style to Magic in the profile settings, or half of every combat cast's XP goes to Defence.
- The level 99 cape casts free of runes one time in ten, lets any wand cast any spell, and opens your rune pouch on command.
The full table
XP is shown wherever it is fixed.
Level 1 to 9 12 entries
Home teleport 1 
Level 1 enchant 7 
Level 10 to 19 7 entries
Teleport to Lumbridge 6 xp 10 
Bones to banana 15 
Level 20 to 29 7 entries
Low alchemy Transform items to coins at 40% of their base selling price 21 
Teleport to Varrock 13 xp 25 
Level 2 enchant 27 
Level 30 to 39 8 entries
Level 40 to 49 8 entries
Teleport to Island You can buy your own island by talking to an estate agent 40 
Superheat 43 
Teleport to Camelot's castle 18 xp 45 
Teleport to Edgeville 18 xp 48 
Level 3 enchant 49 Level 50 to 59 8 entries
Book of darkness You can repair a damaged Zaros book on a prayer stand. You must have the 4 pages of Zaros to repair the book 50 
Teleport to East Ardougne 20 xp 51 
High alchemy Transform items to coins at 60% of their base selling price 55 
Teleport to Falador 21 xp 55 
Level 4 enchant 57 
Level 60 to 69 8 entries
Teleport to Taverley 22 xp 60 
Teleport to Trollheim 23 xp 61 
Teleport to the Watch Tower 25 xp 65 
Level 5 enchant 68 Level 70 to 79 8 entries
Arcane Spirit Shield Boosts magic damage by 10% and grants a 5% chance to not consume runes Forged from a Blessed spirit shield and an Arcane sigil 70 
Teleport to Canifis Locked behind the Priest in Peril quest 25 xp 70 
Level 80 to 89 6 entries
Teleport to Entrana 28 xp 80 
Teleport to Crandor Requires the Dragon Slayer quest 30 xp 85 
Level 6 enchant 87 
