Created - 10.03.2025 Updated - 10.03.2025
Magic is one of the 3 combat skills in Old School Runescape. As such, throughout your OSRS journey, you will encounter many monsters and players trying to kill you using magic. There are various ways to keep your character safe from magical attacks, and today we will explore the armor side of things. This guide will give you insights on how magical defense works and how you can utilize armors for different situations to avoid taking damage as much as possible.
Defence Against Magic
Unlike the other combat styles, protecting against magical attacks is a little bit different. For other combat styles, the game will calculate your defensive bonus against an attack by taking your defence level plus your respective defence bonus into account. For magic, however, defence is calculated with your magic level plus your magic defence bonus, plus your defence level. For both instances, prayer can also be used to increase this bonus.
The effectiveness of your Magic level is much higher than your defence level against incoming magical attacks.
So, in a nutshell, get a high Magic level and Defence level in order to have the maximum passive protection from magical attacks. The Defence level will also allow you to wear much better armor and shields for extra magic protection.
Best In Slot Defensive Gear
Whether you are fighting a monster that uses magical attacks or a player trying to freeze you, the following gear will provide the best magical defense bonus in the game. Obviously, having the best-in-slot gear for this doesn't really make that much sense in real scenarios, but it is good to know the exact setup regardless. After this, we will get into more realistic setups.
| Slot | Item | Bonus | Information |
| Head | Masori mask (f) | +12 | Requires level 80 Defence and Ranged to wear. |
| Neck | Amulet of fury | +15 | No requirements. |
| Body | Masori body (f) | +74 | Requires level 80 Defence and Ranged to wear. (only +4 from a Armadyl chestplate) |
| Legs | Masori chaps (f) | +46 | Requires level 80 Defence and Ranged to wear. (only +6 from a Armadyl chainskirt) |
| Boots | Eternal boots | +8 | Requires level 75 Magic and Defence to wear. (Pegasians provide +5 if you are going for a full Ranged setup) |
| Cape | Imbued god cape | +15 | Requires level 75 Magic and the completion of the Mage Arena 2 miniquest. (Ava's assembler provides +8 if you are going for a full Ranged setup) |
| Shield | Spectral spirit shield | +30 | Requires level 65 Magic, 75 Defence, and 70 Prayer to equip. (Dragonfire ward provides +28 if you are going for a full Ranged setup.) |
| Gloves | 3rd Age Vambraces | +9 | Requires level 65 Ranged and 45 Defence to wear. (This is very unrealistic; black d'hide vambs provide +8 and are dirt cheap.) |
| Ring | Ring of Suffering (i) | +20 | Requires level 75 Hitpoints to wear. Needs imbuing via minigames. |
| Weapon | Purging staff | +25 | Requires level 77 Magic and 50 attack to use. |
| Total | +254 | | |
Surviving The Wilderness
If you are doing any activity in Wilderness, you can expect to encounter some PKers. These thirsty fools are after your GP, so you have to defend yourself against them. If they get a tele-block on you, you will have to tank them and running is a big part of the escaping process, and they will try to freeze you to prevent that. Having a high magic defence bonus here will help massively, as each time they splash, you will be able to run further away. Here are some realistic setups that you can use for this:
4 Iteming Expensive
| Slot | Item | Bonus | Information |
| Head | Karil's coif/Slayer helmet (i) | +6/+10 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged, really cheap. If you are on Slayer task, slayer helmet (i) is the better choice. |
| Neck | Amulet of glory | +3 | No requirements. Cheap. |
| Body | Masori body (f) | +74 | Requires level 80 Defence and Ranged to wear. (only +4 from a Armadyl chestplate) |
| Legs | Masori chaps (f) | +46 | Requires level 80 Defence and Ranged to wear. (only +6 from a Armadyl chainskirt) |
| Boots | Mixed-dragonhide boots | +3 | Really cheap and provides offensive bonuses. |
| Cape | Mythical cape/ Ava's Device | +8 / +4 | Requires Dragon Slayer 2 or Animal Magnetism |
| Shield | Dinh's Bulwark | -10 | We are suing this shield to round off our defensive stats. Even though this shield provides -10 Magic bonus, it provides massive defensive bonuses in all other styles. |
| Gloves | Barrows gloves/Black d'hide vambs | +6/+8 | Requires the completion of the quest "Recipe for Disaster". Black d'hide gives more magical bonuses but fewer offensive bonuses. |
| Ring | Ring of Suffering (i) | +20 | Requires level 75 Hitpoints to wear. Needs imbuing via minigames. |
| Weapon | - | - | - |
| Total | +156 | | |
Budget 4 Iteming
| Slot | Item | Bonus | Information |
| Head | Karil's coif/Slayer helmet (i) | +6/+10 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged, really cheap. If you are on Slayer task, slayer helmet (i) is the better choice. |
| Neck | Amulet of glory | +3 | No requirements. Cheap. |
| Body | Karil's leathertop | +65 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged. Great budget tank top. |
| Legs | Karil's letherskirt | +35 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged. Great budget tank bottom. |
| Boots | Mixed-dragonhide boots | +3 | Really cheap and provides offensive bonuses. |
| Cape | Mythical cape/ Ava's Device | +8 / +4 | Requires Dragon Slayer 2 or Animal Magnetism |
| Shield | Dinh's Bulwark | -10 | We are suing this shield to round off our defensive stats. Even though this shield provides -10 Magic bonus, it provides massive defensive bonuses in all other styles. |
| Gloves | Barrows gloves/Black d'hide vambs | +6/+8 | Requires the completion of the quest "Recipe for Disaster". Black d'hide gives more magical bonuses but fewer offensive bonuses. |
| Ring | Ring of Suffering (i) | +20 | Requires level 75 Hitpoints to wear. Needs imbuing via minigames. |
| Weapon | - | - | - |
| Total | +136 | | |
Budget/Skulled
| Slot | Item | Bonus | Information |
| Head | Karil's coif/God coif | +6/+4 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged, really cheap. If you have a lower defence level you can use any god coif. |
| Neck | Amulet of glory | +3 | No requirements. Cheap. |
| Body | Black d'hide body | +45 | Very cheap and requires level 40 Defence and 70 Ranged. |
| Legs | Black d'hide chaps | +23 | Very cheap and requires level 40 Defence and 70 Ranged. |
| Boots | Mixed-dragonhide boots | +3 | Really cheap and provides offensive bonuses. |
| Cape | Mythical cape/ Ava's Device | +8 / +4 | Requires Dragon Slayer 2 or Animal Magnetism |
| Shield | Black d'hide shield | +15 | Very cheap whilst providing great magic defence bonus. |
| Gloves | Barrows gloves/Black d'hide vambs | +6/+8 | Requires the completion of the quest "Recipe for Disaster". Black d'hide gives more magical bonuses but fewer offensive bonuses. |
| Ring | Ring of shadows | +5 | Completion of the Desert Treasure 2 quest. Free ring. |
| Weapon | Ahrim's staff | +15 | Cheap staff. Requires level 70 Magic and Attack to weild. |
| Total | +131 | | |
Feel free to change items around and find the best setup for you and your budget. It also totally depends on what you are doing in the Wilderness and what you need as well.
Top Magic Defence Items
Here is a list of the top items you can use to gain the most Magic defence for every equipment slot.
Head Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Masori mask (f) | +12 | Requires level 80 Defence and Ranged to wear. Expensive. |
| Any halo | +11 | Castle wars reward, pures can wear this. |
| Armadyl helmet | +10 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged. |
| Slayer helmet (i) | +10 | It's the best in slot for any Slayer task. |
| Crystal helmet | +10 | Requires level 70 Defence and 50 Agility to equip. |
| Eclipse moon helm | +10 | Requires level 75 Ranged and 50 Defence to equip. It's a great low-level helmet. |
Neck Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Amulet of fury | +15 | It's a well-balanced item with no requirements, and the blood version has the same bonus. |
| 3rd age amulet | +10 | Not very realistic to use. |
| Amulet of defence | +7 | Holds up to its name. |
| Amulet of power | +6 | Only good if you are an Ironman with no better options. |
| Amulet of avarice | +3 | Great for revenants. |
| Amulet of glory | +3 | This bonus is true for all versions of the glory. |
Body Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Masori body (f) | +74 | Requires level 80 Ranged and Defence. Technically, the Morrigan's leather body is the best-in-slot with a +75 defence bonus, but since that can only be used in BH, we will skip that. |
| Armadyl chestplate | +70 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged. |
| Karil's leathertop | +65 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged. Cheap compared to the previous options. |
| 3rd age range top | +60 | Requires level 65 Ranged and 45 Defence. Expensive, considering its stats, and it is a cosmetic item. |
| Hueycoatl hide body | +56 | Requires level 40 Defence and 70 Ranged. It's a great alternative for low-defence account builds. |
| Eclipse moon chestplate | +55 | Requires level 75 Ranged and 50 Defence. More effective when used with the entire set. |
Legs Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Masori chaps (f) | +46 | Requires level 80 Ranged and Defence. Morrigan's leather chaps have the same bonus but can only be used in BH. |
| Armadyl chainskirt | +40 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged. |
| Karil's leatherskirt | +35 | Requires level 70 Defence and Ranged. |
| Crystal legs | +34 | Requires level 70 Defence and 50 Agility. Only makes sense if you are using the full crystal set. |
| Blood moon tassets | +32 | Requires level 75 Strength and 50 Defence. It's a great mid tier item for melee. |
| Blue moon tassets | +32 | Requires level 75 Magic and 50 Defence. Only makes sense when using the full set. |
Boots Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Eternal boots | +8 | Requires level 75 Magic and Defence. They are the best magic boots. |
| Bloodbark boots | +5 | Requires level 60 Magic and Defence. Can wear the full bloodbark set to gain additional benefits. |
| Boots of brimstone | +5 | Requires level 70 in Defence, Magic, Ranged, and 44 Slayer. One of the best tank boots in the game. |
| Infinity boots | +5 | Requires level 50 Magic and 25 Defence. Doesn't make sense unless you have a low level account. |
| Pegasian boots | +5 | Requires level 75 Ranged and Defence. Best in slot Ranged boots. |
| Silly jester boots | +5 | These boots can be obtained from the Fremennik Isles quest for free. It is useless aside from this magic bonus that rocks. |
Cape Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Imbued god cape | +15 | Requires level 75 Magic. Requires the completion of the miniquest Mage Arena 2. Best in slot magic cape. |
| Infernal cape | +12 | Best in slot melee cape. It can only be obtained by beating Inferno. |
| Fire cape | +11 | Second best melee cape in the game. It can only be obtained by beating the fight caves. |
| God cape | +10 | It can only be obtained after completing the Mage arena 1. It is a very easy cape to obtain and is free. |
| 3rd age cloak | +9 | Requires level 65 Prayer. Really expensive and mostly cosmetic. |
| Any achievement cape | +9 | Any achievement cape has this +9 like skill capes. |
Shield Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Spectral spirit shield | +30 | Requires level 65 Magic, 75 Defence, and 70 Prayer to equip. Has a passive effect that reduces all prayer draining effects. |
| Dragonfire ward | +28 | Requires level 70 Ranged and 75 Defence. It is the best tank ranged shield in the game. |
| Twisted buckler | +26 | Requires level 75 Ranged and Defence. It is the best offensive ranged shield in the game. |
| Odium ward | +24 | Requires level 60 Defence. |
| God d'hide shields | +15 | Any god d'hide shield works, requires level 40 Defence and 70 Ranged. |
| Ancient wyvern shield | +15 | Requires level 70 Magic and Defence. It is the tankiest magic shield in the game. |
Gloves Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| 3rd age vambraces | +9 | Requires level 65 Ranged and 45 Defence. Mostly cosmetic. |
| God vambraces | +8 | Requires level 70 Ranged. Any god vambrace has the same bonus. |
| Black d'hide vambraces | +8 | Requires level 70 Ranged. Super cheap and effective. |
| Hueycoatl hide vambraces | +8 | Requires level 70 Ranged. It is superior in other stats compared to the god and black vambraces. |
| Barrows gloves | +6 | Requires the completion of the Recipe for Disaster quest. One of the best gloves in the game, super cheap. |
| Red d'hide vambraces | +6 | Requires level 60 Ranged to equip. |
Ring Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Ring of suffering (i) | +20 | Requires level 75 Hitpoints. This is the best tank ring in the game. If you don't imbue this ring, it only has a +10 Magic defence bonus. |
| Seers ring (i) | +12 | If you don't imbue this ring, it will only have a +6 Magic defence bonus. |
| Brimstone ring | +6 | Pretty well rounded ring, if you don't have access to Imbued rings. |
| Ring of shadows | +5 | It can be obtained after completing the quest Desert Treasure 2. |
| Lunar Ring | +2 | It can be obtained during the Lunar Diplomacy quest. |
| Ring of the gods | +1 | Both the imbued and non imbued versions provide a +1 Magic defence bonus. |
Weapon Slot
| Item | Bonus | Description |
| Purging staff | +25 | Requires level 77 Magic and 50 Attack to wield. It is an untradable item requiring 74 Crafting and 55 Smithing to craft. Great against demons. |
| 3rd age wand | +20 | Requires level 65 Magic to wield. Purely cosmetic item. |
| Accursed/Thammaron's sceptre | +20 | Requires level 70 Magic to equip. Best staff in Wilderness. |
| Kodai wand | +20 | Requires level 80 Magic. The best one handed staff in the game. |
| Master wand | +20 | Requires level 60 Magic. Cheap alternative to the kodai wand. |
| Toxic staff of the dead | +17 | Requires level 75 Attack and Magic to equip. Both the staff of dead and staff of light provide the same bonus. |
