What’s going on everyone! Welcome to the ultimate Old School RuneScape Magic guide. Whether you’re just starting your magical journey or aiming for level 99, this comprehensive guide will cover everything you need to know to master the Magic skill in OSRS.
This guide will walk you through the fundamentals of the Magic skill, how to begin your training, and all the essential information to reach the coveted level 99 Magic in OSRS. We’ll explore various training pathways, from the absolute fastest methods to more affordable, AFK, and even profitable options. Let’s dive into the world of OSRS magic!
OSRS MAGIC GUIDE OUTLINE
- Why Train Magic?
- How Magic Works
- Important Unlocks
- Questing For XP
- Pathways To 99
- Fastest Pathway
- Fast & Cheap Pathway
- AFK Pathway
- Profitable Pathway
- F2P Pathways
- Ironman Tips
Why Train Magic?
Why dedicate your time to training Magic in Old School RuneScape? As a core combat skill, Magic is vital for account progression. Leveling up unlocks a spectrum of powerful combat spells, essential teleportation spells for quick navigation, and a variety of useful utility spells to enhance your gameplay.
Many formidable bosses in OSRS, such as Kraken and Zulrah, are particularly vulnerable to magic attacks. Furthermore, high-level Player vs Monster (PvM) encounters often necessitate the use of magic for optimal strategies and efficiency.
Magic also boasts significant potential in Player vs Player (PvP) combat, with devastating spells like Fire Surge and Ice Barrage capable of turning the tide of battle.
Questing is another compelling reason to train Magic. There are 18 quests in OSRS that require a certain Magic level to begin or complete. Many of these are essential quests, such as Legends’ Quest and Dragon Slayer II, which unlock significant content and benefits.
For completionists, reaching level 75 Magic is necessary to obtain the Quest Cape, and level 96 Magic is required for the prestigious Achievement Diary Cape, showcasing dedication and accomplishment.
Finally, achieving level 99 Magic grants you the Magic Skillcape, a highly practical item. Its perk allows you to swap your spellbook 5 times per day, offering incredible flexibility for various in-game situations, all with just a simple cape swap.
How Magic Works
Magic experience in OSRS is earned by casting spells, each requiring specific runes. Magic is known to be a relatively fast skill to train to 99, with top-tier methods reaching experience rates exceeding 500,000 XP per hour. The diversity of training methods makes leveling Magic engaging and less monotonous compared to some other skills.
Furthermore, training Magic doesn’t have to break the bank. The Fast and Cheap pathway detailed in this guide allows you to reach level 99 in approximately 45 hours with a reasonable cost of around 35 million gold.
In Old School RuneScape, magic spells are categorized into several types, each serving different purposes:
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Combat Spells: Used to inflict damage upon enemies and apply debuffs, crucial for both PvM and PvP encounters.
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Teleport Spells: Provide convenient and rapid transportation to various locations across RuneScape, saving valuable time.
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Utility Spells: Encompass a wide range of spells that offer practical benefits, such as enchanting jewelry, transmuting items with alchemy, and creating resources.
Increasing your Magic level directly enhances your Magic Accuracy, improving your chances of successfully hitting enemies with spells. Higher Magic levels also unlock more potent spells with greater maximum damage potential. Crucially, your Magic level significantly contributes to your Magical Defence, accounting for 70% of your overall magic defense capability, making it vital for survivability against magical attacks.
Important Unlocks
Understanding the spellbooks and key quests is crucial for efficient magic training and unlocking the full potential of the Magic skill in OSRS. There are four distinct spellbooks available in Old School RuneScape, each offering a unique set of spells.
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Standard Spellbook: This is the default spellbook, accessible to all players from the start. It contains a balanced mix of combat, utility, and teleport spells, forming the foundation of magic in OSRS.
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Ancient Spellbook: Unlocked upon completion of the Desert Treasure quest. This spellbook is renowned for its powerful combat spells, including the Burst and Barrage spells vital for fast training, and useful teleport options.
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Lunar Spellbook: Accessible after completing Lunar Diplomacy. This spellbook primarily focuses on utility spells, offering valuable tools for various activities. Completing Dream Mentor unlocks 7 additional Lunar spells, and the Hard Fremennik Diary adds 2 more, further expanding its utility.
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Arceuus Spellbook: Unlocked by achieving 60% Arceuus House Favour. This spellbook presents a mix of combat and utility spells with a darker, necromantic theme. Full access to the Arceuus Spellbook, including 24 additional spells, is granted upon completion of the quest A Kingdom Divided.
Beyond spellbooks, completing certain quests unlocks key magic training locations and methods. Monkey Madness I and Monkey Madness II are essential quests as they unlock Bursting locations, which are some of the fastest magic training methods in OSRS.
Bursting is incredibly efficient for leveling magic quickly. Monkey Madness II unlocks a superior Bursting location compared to Monkey Madness I, offering even higher experience rates due to a greater density of monsters. If you aim for rapid magic levels, prioritizing Monkey Madness II is highly recommended.
Questing for XP
For new accounts, questing provides a significant boost to early Magic levels. Completing the Imp Catcher and Witch’s Potion quests at the beginning of your journey can swiftly take you from level 1 to 10 Magic in a short amount of time, jumpstarting your magic training.
Numerous other quests in OSRS offer Magic XP as a reward. Focusing on quests with low entry requirements, especially early on, can provide substantial chunks of Magic experience. If you are aiming for a Quest Cape eventually, completing these quests early on is an efficient way to progress through the initial Magic levels while working towards your questing goals.
Pathways to 99
Training Magic in OSRS offers various pathways to reach level 99, catering to different priorities and playstyles. Here’s an overview of several popular methods:
- Fastest Pathway: This route prioritizes speed above all else, achieving level 99 in approximately 27 hours but incurring a significant cost of around 102 million gold.
- Fast and Cheap Pathway: A balanced approach offering a good experience rate while being more economical. Reaching 99 takes about 45 hours and costs approximately 35 million gold.
- AFK Pathway: For those who prefer a more relaxed training experience, this method is less click-intensive and allows for more AFK time. Level 99 is reached in roughly 103 hours, costing around 19 million gold.
- Profitable Pathway: This pathway focuses on minimizing costs and even generating profit while training Magic. It takes about 92 hours to reach level 99 and can yield a profit of around 86 million gold.
- Free-to-Play (F2P) Pathways: Specific methods tailored for free-to-play players, allowing magic training within the limitations of F2P content.
Let’s delve into each of these pathways to help you choose the best method for your OSRS magic training journey.
Fastest Pathway
The Fastest Pathway to 99 Magic in OSRS focuses on maximizing experience rates, regardless of cost or click intensity. This method is ideal for players who want to level up Magic as quickly as possible.
This pathway begins with questing to quickly reach level 10 Magic. Then, from level 10 to 99, the primary training method is Enchanting Bolts. This method, especially when utilizing higher-tier bolts, can yield experience rates exceeding 500,000 XP per hour, making it incredibly fast.
Start by completing the Imp Catcher and Witch’s Potion quests to swiftly reach level 10 Magic. These quests are quick to finish and require minimal preparation.
Once you hit level 10, you can begin enchanting bolts. Enchanting bolts requires Cosmic runes, unenchanted gem-tipped bolts, and additional runes depending on the type of bolt you are enchanting.
At level 10 Magic, start by enchanting sapphire bolts, which provide approximately 100,000 XP per hour. To achieve the highest experience rates with enchanting bolts, you need to employ the 1-tick method. This involves holding down the spacebar and clicking the enchant bolt spell every game tick, which is every 0.6 seconds.
To simplify 1-tick enchanting, utilize the Runelite client’s metronome plugin. This plugin produces an audible tick sound every game tick, helping you maintain the correct rhythm for optimal speed.
Progress to enchanting emerald bolts at level 27, which are twice as fast as sapphire bolts. Continue upgrading to higher-tier bolts as you level up, eventually reaching onyx bolts, which offer experience rates exceeding 500,000 XP per hour.
By following this Fastest Pathway, you can achieve level 99 Magic in approximately 27 hours. However, it’s important to note that this method is extremely expensive and requires intense clicking, making it a very click-intensive training method. Despite the cost and effort, it is a highly effective way to quickly bypass the slower early Magic levels.
Fast and Cheap Pathway
The Fast and Cheap Pathway for OSRS Magic training offers a balanced approach, providing reasonably fast experience rates without the extreme costs associated with the fastest method. While still click-intensive, it is less demanding than 1-tick enchanting bolts.
This pathway involves a combination of questing, enchanting jewelry, and Bursting to reach level 99 Magic.
Similar to the Fastest Pathway, start by completing the Imp Catcher and Witch’s Potion quests to quickly advance from level 1 to 10 Magic.
From level 10 Magic, begin Enchanting Sapphire Jewelry. Enchanting Sapphire Rings is generally recommended as they often provide the best profit margins among sapphire jewelry.
There are two approaches to enchanting jewelry: AFK auto-casting and manual spell casting. While AFK auto-casting allows the game to enchant jewelry one by one automatically, manually clicking the spell for each enchantment is over twice as fast, significantly increasing your XP rate.
Enchant Sapphire Rings until level 27 Magic, at which point you can switch to enchanting emerald jewelry. Again, emerald rings are usually the most profitable option, although the profit margin might be minimal.
At level 49, transition to enchanting ruby jewelry. For ruby enchantment, it’s recommended to enchant Ruby Amulets into Amulets of Strength for potentially better profit or similar cost with slightly better XP.
Continue enchanting Ruby Amulets until level 57 Magic, where you can start Enchanting Diamond jewelry. Enchanting Diamond Necklaces is generally advised for maximum profit during this stage. Enchanting Diamond Jewelry will be your method from level 57 to 62, averaging around 110,000 XP per hour.
For slightly faster training between enchanting jewelry and Bursting, consider Tele-Alching. This method involves repetitively casting High Alchemy and Teleporting to the same location, with Camelot being a recommended spot. Tele-Alching can yield around 140,000 XP per hour and serves as a viable alternative to enchanting jewelry from level 57 to 62.
Once you reach 62 Magic and have completed Desert Treasure, you can start casting Smoke Burst, the first multi-target spell you unlock. From this point, aim to upgrade to Ice Burst as soon as possible for improved experience rates.
At higher Magic levels, Barrage spells become available. While more expensive, they offer even greater XP per hour than Burst spells. However, for a good balance between cost and speed, Ice Burst remains a highly recommended option for the majority of players training Magic.
For Bursting and Barraging, there are four primary locations recommended for training:
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Monkey Madness 1 Caves: In these caves, you can stack Skeletal Monkeys effectively for decent XP rates.
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Monkey Madness 2 Caves: These caves offer approximately 30% higher XP rates compared to Monkey Madness 1 caves due to a greater number of monsters. Here, you can also utilize the Bonecrusher and Dragonbone necklace for unlimited prayer points, enhancing your training sessions.
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Dust Devils in the Catacombs of Kourend: Requiring 65 Slayer, Dust Devils in the Catacombs provide a more cost-effective Bursting option. While XP rates are slightly lower due to fewer monsters, Dust Devils drop valuable items, reducing the overall cost of training.
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Nechryaels in the Catacombs of Kourend: Requiring 80 Slayer, Nechryaels offer the lowest cost Bursting location. Their valuable drops further offset the cost of runes, making it a sustainable training method.
When Bursting, prioritize gear that maximizes magic damage bonus and prayer bonus. Armor like Virtus or Ancestral is recommended as enemies in Bursting locations typically have low Magic Defence. Ahrims and Mystic armor are less effective here as magic attack bonus is less crucial against low magic defense NPCs.
Always use an Occult Necklace to boost magic damage. If your budget allows, a Tormented Bracelet provides a significant damage increase, further enhancing your Bursting efficiency.
For weapons, the Ancient Staff is a solid low-cost option. If you engage with Muspah, the Ancient Sceptre is an excellent choice, offering both damage and utility for Bursting.
In summary, Bursting at Maniacal Monkeys can achieve up to 350,000 XP per hour. Dust Devils and Nechryaels offer slower experience rates but at a reduced cost, providing more sustainable training options.
An alternative method to Bursting is Stun-Alching, which can yield up to 180,000 XP per hour, though it is very click-intensive. Stun-Alching involves wearing armor with a negative magic attack bonus of at least -65 to ensure stuns always splash.
Continuously cast Stun and then High Alchemy on an item to gain experience. A popular location for Stun-Alching is near the skeletons by the wilderness ditch, although you can also target any low-level monster.
The Fast and Cheap Pathway, utilizing Bursting at Maniacal Monkeys, takes approximately 45 hours to reach level 99 Magic and costs around 35 million gold.
AFK Pathway
For players seeking a more relaxed and less click-intensive approach to training Magic, the AFK Pathway is an excellent choice. This method prioritizes minimal attention and allows for extended periods of AFK training.
The primary AFK training methods involve casting String Jewelry or Plank-Make. These spells have longer casting times and allow for extended AFK periods.
For early Magic levels, you can cast Strike spells, like Fire Strike, on monsters like crabs. Crabs are ideal as they are low-level and allow for approximately 10 minutes of AFK time before needing to re-aggro them. While Bolt spells offer faster XP, Strike spells are still reasonably efficient and more cost-effective for AFK training. Splashing is less recommended compared to training on crabs as crabs provide almost double the experience rates.
At level 65 Magic, after completing Lunar Diplomacy, you can cast the Bake Pie spell. This spell allows for 50 seconds of AFK time per cast and yields up to 110,000 XP per hour. Bake Pie is also a great method to passively train Cooking alongside Magic.
At level 80 Magic and with Lunar Diplomacy completed, you can cast String Jewelry. This spell also offers 50 seconds of AFK time but provides faster experience rates, up to 150,000 XP per hour. String Jewelry is generally considered the fastest AFK Magic training method available.
At level 86 Magic, with Lunar Diplomacy and Dream Mentor quests completed, you unlock Plank-Make. Plank-Make has a 90-second AFK time and is highly profitable. Making Mahogany Planks is the most lucrative option, generating up to 400,000 gold per hour while providing around 90,000 Magic XP per hour.
Using the AFK pathway, training solely with String Jewelry to level 99 Magic takes approximately 103 hours. If you switch to Plank-Make from level 86 to 99, the total time to 99 Magic increases to about 119 hours.
Profitable Pathway
The Profitable Pathway for Magic training in OSRS aims to minimize expenses and even generate profit while leveling up. This method is perfect for players who want to train Magic without significantly depleting their gold reserves.
This pathway primarily utilizes enchanting jewelry, but also includes the Tan Leather spell and High Alchemy for profitable training methods.
Start with questing from level 1 to 10 Magic, similar to other pathways, to quickly bypass the very early levels.
Upon reaching level 10, begin enchanting Sapphire Rings, which provide approximately 28,000 XP per hour and often yield a small profit.
Progress through enchanting Emerald jewelry at level 27, Ruby jewelry at level 49, and Diamond jewelry at level 57, continuing to prioritize rings or necklaces based on current Grand Exchange prices for optimal profitability. At level 68, you can enchant Dragonstone jewelry, which can be profitable up to level 99 Magic. Enchanting Dragonstone rings is generally the most profitable Dragonstone item to enchant currently. Note that you will need a significant upfront investment to purchase the unenchanted dragonstone jewelry.
At level 78 Magic, with Lunar Diplomacy and Hard Fremennik Diaries completed, you unlock the Tan Leather spell. Tanning Black Dragonhide is the most profitable application of this spell, potentially netting over 1 million gold per hour while providing around 130,000 Magic XP per hour.
Lastly, consider High Alchemy as a profitable Magic training method. The profitability of High Alchemy depends heavily on selecting the right items to alchemize.
Two primary methods for acquiring alchable items are suggested:
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Join the clan chat “W308 anvil” as a guest. This clan chat often facilitates the purchase of alchable items at prices lower than the Grand Exchange market price.
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Utilize an alchemy calculator website. These websites automatically identify the most profitable items to alchemize based on real-time Grand Exchange prices, helping you maximize your profit potential.
High Alchemy provides around 75,000 XP per hour if performed continuously. However, it’s often most effective when combined with training another skill simultaneously, such as alching while training Agility, allowing you to train Magic passively while focusing on another skill.
Following the Profitable Pathway, you can expect to reach level 99 Magic in approximately 92 hours while generating a profit of around 86 million gold. Profit and XP rates can vary depending on market conditions and item choices.
F2P Pathways
For players restricted to the Free-to-Play (F2P) version of Old School RuneScape, training Magic efficiently requires different strategies and methods. While F2P training is generally slower than P2P, reaching higher Magic levels is still achievable.
In F2P, you can still start by completing the Imp Catcher and Witch’s Potion quests to gain a quick boost to your early Magic levels, similar to members’ training methods.
With Mind runes being relatively inexpensive in F2P, training on low-level monsters like goblins or cows using combat spells is a viable starting point.
Safe spotting is a common training method in F2P. You can safe spot Moss Giants or Ogress Warriors. Killing these monsters can help offset the cost of runes used, making training more sustainable in F2P.
The Fastest Pathway in F2P involves a combination of questing and enchanting jewelry. Start with questing until level 10, and then begin Enchanting Sapphire Amulets. In F2P, rings cannot be enchanted, so amulets are the only sapphire jewelry option available.
At level 27, switch to enchanting Defence Amulets, and then to Strength Amulets at level 43, continuing until level 55. From level 55, you unlock the fastest F2P method: Tele-Alch Falador. Alternatively, at level 57, you can enchant Diamond Amulets for slightly slower XP rates but potentially some profit depending on market prices.
Tele-Alch Falador is very click-intensive, but it is only marginally more intensive than enchanting jewelry and provides significantly faster experience rates in F2P.
If your goal is to achieve the Fastest 99 Magic in Free-to-Play OSRS, Tele-Alch Falador is your best option, despite its click intensity.
Ironman Tips
Before concluding this guide, let’s briefly discuss Magic training tips specifically for Ironman accounts in OSRS. As an Ironman, you are self-sufficient, and your Magic experience will come from a variety of in-game activities.
Ironman Magic training is often integrated into other activities such as alching valuable drops, bursting during Slayer tasks, and combat during bossing encounters.
For early-level Ironman training, using Fire Strike is a good starting point as Mind runes are readily obtainable from rune shops.
Ironman accounts should take full advantage of various rune shops across OSRS to maintain rune supplies.
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For general runes, visit shops in Varrock, Port Sarim, or the Pest Control area.
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The Mage Arena in the Wilderness offers a store selling Law, Nature, and Cosmic runes. Be cautious when venturing into the Wilderness.
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After completing The Feud quest, you can purchase Law, Nature, and Cosmic runes from Al-Kharid.
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The Wizard’s Guild in Yanille has a wide selection of runes, accessible with 66 Magic.
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Baba Yaga on Lunar Isle sells Astral runes, essential for Lunar spells.
Generally, Ironmen can follow the standard Magic training pathways outlined in this guide. However, Ironmen often utilize utility spells like Superheat, Superglass Make, or Plank-Make more frequently due to their self-sufficient nature and resource gathering requirements.
OSRS Magic Guide Conclusion
This concludes the comprehensive level 1 to 99 Magic guide for Old School RuneScape. Whether you aim for speed, affordability, AFK training, profit, or are playing as a Free-to-Play or Ironman account, there is a pathway suited to your needs.
Thank you for reading this 1-99 Magic Guide. If you found this guide helpful or informative, feel free to share it with fellow RuneScape players. If you have any questions or just want to connect, join the Theoatrix friend chat in-game. As always, thanks for reading, and have a fantastic day in Gielinor!