OSRS Magic Gear Progression

You upgrade magic gear to push two stats, in this order of impact:

• Magic damage % — an additive multiplier on your max hit. Every source stacks: a +5% here and a +3% there all add together, then apply to your built-in or spell max. This is the lever that scales your damage on every single cast, so it’s where your GP goes first.
• Magic attack bonus — raises your accuracy (hit chance) alongside your Magic level and the spell you cast. Matters most against high-defence targets; on low-defence Slayer monsters you’re already hitting near-cap, so damage % wins.

The short version: chase magic damage % first (Occult, Tormented bracelet, Ancestral, a good weapon), then magic attack for accuracy. A maxed spell-caster stacks roughly +28% magic damage from armour and accessories alone, before the weapon’s own bonus.

Four items carry every magic setup. Get these first — they give the most damage per GP and unlock the rest of the kit.

Tumeken’s Shadow

The endgame weapon (85 Magic). Its passive triples your worn magic-attack and magic-damage bonuses — nothing else comes close where you can use it.

Kodai Wand

+15% magic damage, autocasts Ancient Magicks, and gives unlimited water runes. The best weapon for bursting and barraging.

Occult Necklace

+5% magic damage for a low price (70 Magic). Mandatory in every magic kit. Swap to Salve (ei) on undead targets.

Tormented Bracelet

+5% magic damage in the gloves slot — best in slot, and one of the cheapest damage upgrades you can buy.

Powered staffs are the default for sustained DPS; spell-casting weapons are for Ancient bursting. Max-hit formulas use your visible Magic level (after boosts).

Robes give magic attack (accuracy) and, on the top tiers, magic damage %. Requirements shown are the Magic level to wear (most top robes also need Defence).

Magic damage % bonuses add together, then multiply your max hit. These are the exact values (wiki-verified) — build your stack to the highest total your account can wear.

Worked example. Single-target (a powered staff or Fire Surge), a maxed mage wears Occult (+5), Tormented (+5), Ancestral (+9), Magus (+2), imbued god cape (+2) and Elidinis’ ward (f) (+5) — +28% magic damage from gear. Bursting Ancient Magicks instead, swap Ancestral for Virtus, which rises to +15% on Ancient spells — that’s +34% from gear, and with a Kodai (+15%) it’s +49% on every Ice Barrage. Tumeken’s Shadow is two-handed, so the shield comes off — its passive instead triples the worn bonus (about +23% single-target → roughly +69%), which is why it’s untouchable where it can be used.

Two situational swaps that beat your usual gear. On a Slayer task, the Imbued Slayer helm (i) gives +15% magic damage in the head slot — more than any hat, so wear it over Ancestral/Virtus while on task. On undead targets, the Salve amulet (ei) gives +20% magic damage and accuracy — it beats the Occult in the amulet slot. Both are head/amulet swaps, not extra stacking sources.

Note on the Tome of fire. It does not add to the stack above — the item itself gives +0% magic damage. Its bonus is a separate fire-spell-only multiplier (+50% damage vs monsters, +10% vs players) applied on top, so it only helps when you’re actually casting fire spells.

• Powered staffs (Tumeken’s, Tridents, Sanguinesti, Eye of Ayak) need no spell selected — click-attack and they fire their built-in hit. No runes beyond charges.
• Standard spellbook — Fire Surge is the top single-target spell for training with a Kodai/Harmonised. Use it when you don’t own a powered staff.
• Ancient Magicks — Ice Barrage / Blood Barrage hit every monster in a 3×3 area. This is the only way magic out-earns other styles: bursting stacked Slayer monsters (Smoke Devils, Dust Devils, Nechryaels) for 250K+ Magic XP/hr. Needs a Kodai or Master/Ancient staff to autocast. On task, wear the Imbued Slayer helm (i) (+15% magic) and a Salve amulet (ei) on undead — both beat your usual head and amulet.

Free-to-play magic is a different game: there is no magic damage % gear in F2P at all — Occult, Tormented, Ancestral, the Tridents and even Mystic robes are all members-only. So an F2P setup chases one thing, magic attack (accuracy), plus the strongest spell you can cast. It’s built for early training, F2P PKing, and quests.

Best F2P spells: Fire Blast (59 Magic) is the strongest F2P attack spell — drop to Fire Bolt or Fire Strike at lower levels, and use Crumble Undead on undead. There is no F2P bursting (Ancient Magicks are members), so F2P magic stays single-target.

Ironmen can’t buy upgrades, so magic progression is about where each piece comes from, not GP. The order that actually matters:

• Early — Mystic robes (buy from the Wizard’s Guild at 66 Magic) and a Trident of the Seas (Cave Krakens, 87 Slayer) are the first real power spike.
• Occult necklace — the biggest cheap jump. Drops from Smoke devils (93 Slayer), roughly 1/512. Rush this.
• Ahrim’s robes — Barrows. The bridge top/legs before Ancestral.
• Tormented bracelet — crafted from a Zenyte (Demonic gorillas / zenyte shards).
• Imbued god cape — the Mage Arena II miniquest (free, just a Wilderness trek).
• Magus ring — Desert Treasure II (Duke Sucellus).
• Ancestral robes — Chambers of Xeric.
• Tumeken’s Shadow — Tombs of Amascut, the endgame chase.

Ironman priority: rush Occult (Slayer) and a Trident early, then Barrows for Ahrim’s, the free god cape from Mage Arena II, and finally raids for Ancestral and the Shadow.