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  • Basics
  • Early Levels (1-54)
  • Later Levels (55-99)

No Fantasy RPG is complete without some form of magic skill, and Old School RuneScape is no exception. The game contains a massive variety of spells to cast, from the usual elemental attacks to utility spells that help you with other skills. There's even a spell that turns bones into peaches.

Magic is one of the most useful skills in all of RuneScape, not only because it opens up many combat options and money-making methods, but also because casting teleport spells is one of the best ways to travel around Gielinor. There are, predictably, many ways in which you can train Magic, and so choosing one may seem daunting at first. The best option will vary between accounts, so be sure to do your research and pick the right one for you.

Basics

OSRS screenshot of the Wizards Tower

The incredible utility of Magic comes at a price: every spell in Old School RuneScape has to use up runes to be cast, meaning that you are going to have to purchase a lot of runes to reach level 99 (we're talking hundreds of thousands). Fortunately, there is a way around this - equipping one of the many elemental staves available in the game stops you from needing a certain type of rune. For example, wielding a Staff of Fire means that you no longer need to have any Fire Runes available to cast spells; the staff acts as an infinite source of Fire Runes.

As well as the below methods, questing is a great way to gain a fair amount of Magic XP, especially when you're starting. Witch's Potion and Imp Catcher are both very quick, free-to-play quests with no requirements that grant Magic XP, and for Members, there's Fairy Tale I - Growing Pains and The Grand Tree, among others. The XP gains from these quests may not be massively significant in the long run, but when you're beginning your training they will help you power through the lower levels with ease.

Early Levels (1-54)

OSRS screenshot of Lumbridge Cow Field

Combat Spells

At level one, this is pretty much the only option available to you outside of questing. At the early levels, Magic combat is very inexpensive, requiring only Mind Runes and Air Runes which can be bought for only a few GP each. Defeating low-level enemies such as Chickens and Cows in Lumbridge with Wind Strike will net you at least 5.5 XP every cast and will get you up levels quickly. Members should attack Sand Crabs on Hosidius, or Rock Crabs on Rellekka, instead.

When you unlock Water Strike, Earth Strike, or Fire Strike, you should switch to those for faster Magic training. You can mitigate the additional rune requirements of these elemental Strike spells by equipping a corresponding elemental staff. On reaching level 17 Magic you should switch to Wind Bolt and then proceed through the Bolt spells as you unlock them. Since these spells require Chaos Runes, they are more expensive, but this is still a relatively cheap way of training Magic.

Instead of killing enemies, if you want to brute force your way through your Magic training you can splash spells instead. Splashing is when a spell is cast but deals no damage - the idea behind this training method is that you can keep kitting the same NPC eternally if you never deal enough damage to kill it, meaning that this is a fully AFK way of training. You'll need to equip armour and weapons that have a negative Magic attack bonus, such as platebodies and full helms - you should be aiming for a -64 Magic attack bonus overall. This means that you'll need to swap out your elemental staff for a heavy melee weapon, so you'll have to pay all the rune cost for every spell you cast - for this reason, air spells such as Wind Bolt are recommended.

Enchanting Jewellery

From level 7, you can enchant sapphire jewellery. Casting Lvl-1 Enchant on Sapphire Necklaces will not only give you a good XP/hr rate but will also generate you a small profit on selling the enchanted jewellery. At level 27 you unlock Lvl-2 Enchant which should be cast on Emerald Rings, and finally, at level 49 you can switch to Lvl-3 Enchant to be used on ruby jewellery.

Enchanting Bolts

If you're a RuneScape Member and have a lot of GP to spare, you can try enchanting crossbow bolts. The first enchant spell unlocks at level 4, and from then on you should use the highest-level enchant spell you have unlocked that you can afford to use. While this provides a very quick experience, it does so at a massive GP loss, so this isn't one for the faint-hearted!

That said, many players who have the spare capital will enchant bolts all the way to level 99 - just make sure you do the maths beforehand!

Later Levels (55-99)

OSRS screenshot of many players in the Grand Exchange

High-Level Alchemy

Reaching level 55 Magic is perhaps the most significant milestone you will reach on your journey to 99 since it unlocks one of the most popular training methods in the game: High-Level Alchemy. This is a spell that allows you to turn items into GP. For most items, you'll end up losing a lot of money doing this, but if you're clever with what you choose to alch you can make a small profit while reaching over 70k XP/hour. For example, Adamant and Runite armour pieces, as well as Green D'Hide Bodies, often spin a profit of a few hundred GP per item if you can get a good deal on them from the Grand Exchange.

Since you can alch noted items in your inventory, it is easy to combine High Alchemy with other training methods - for example, you can Tele-Alch by alternately casting High Alchemy and teleport spells for huge XP gains. However, this can get very expensive!

Advanced Combat Spells

At the tail end of your Magic training journey, combat becomes a less ideal option for training Magic since cheaper options with higher XP gains become more readily available. There is, however, one exception to this rule: using the various Burst/Barrage spells from the Ancient Magicks spellbook. These spells can target multiple enemies at once, multiplying your XP gain by an impressive factor over the standard spellbook's offerings. The first good combat spell in this book is Ice Burst, available from level 70 Magic.

However, using these spells is no mean feat: not only do you need to use special weapons, such as the Kodai Wand and the Nightmare Staff, to auto-cast these spells, but to unlock the spellbook at all you need to complete the taxing Desert Treasure quest - this has many other level and combat requirements and so may not be viable for every player.

OSRS screenshot of a player casting Ice Barrage

Other Methods

If none of the above tickles your fancy, there are many other ways to train your magic up to 99. This isn't an exhaustive list, only a selection of some of the highest XP-per-hour methods available.

Method Required Magic Level Runes Per Cast XP per hour Notes
Plank Make 86 1 Nature Rune, 2 Astral Runes, 15 Earth Runes (0 if wearing a Staff of Earth) Up to 166,000 Cast Plank Make on Mahogany Logs for 90xp and a slight profit per cast. Casting this spell requires completion of the Dream Mentor quest.
String Jewellery 80 2 Astral Runes, 5 Water Runes, 10 Earth Runes (0 Water and Earth Runes required if wearing a Mud Battlestaff) Up to 150,000 Cast String Jewellery on unstrung Topaz Amulets for 83xp per amulet. Also grants a small amount of Crafting XP. Can sell the strung amulets to break even GP-wise. Requires access to the Lunar Spellbook.
Lvl-5 Enchant 68 1 Cosmic Rune, 15 Water Runes, 15 Earth Runes (0 Water and Earth Runes required if wearing a Mud Battlestaff) Up to 124,000 Cast Lvl-5 Enchant on Dragonstone Rings for good profit and 78xp per cast. XP rates drop massively if you need to keep buying Dragonstone Rings to enchant, so only makes good XP-per-hour when you have lots of spare money to invest.

NEXT: Old School RuneScape: Temple Of The Eye Quest Walkthrough