What splashing is
Splashing means casting combat spells at a monster while your Magic attack bonus is so low that every cast misses. A miss still pays the spell's base xp, the monster takes no damage, and with auto retaliate on it keeps fighting you. It is one of the slowest ways to train Magic and one of the most AFK, which is the whole appeal.
Getting to −64 Magic attack
You need a Magic attack bonus of −64 or lower. At −63 or above, a cast can occasionally land and do damage, and the setup stops being hands-off.
- Armour: a full helm, platebody, platelegs (or plateskirt) and kiteshield. Every metal carries a Magic penalty, and bronze needs no Defence level, so it is the usual pick.
- Hands: green or gilded d'hide vambraces (40 Ranged).
- Feet: fancy, fighting or decorative boots.
- Weapon: an elemental staff. It adds +10 Magic attack, so the rest of the set has to cover that, but it saves a rune type on every cast.
- Members swaps: a mixed hide cape (−15, needs 60 Ranged and 50 Defence) and snakeskin boots (30 Ranged and 30 Defence) give extra room.
Check the total on your equipment stats screen before you start. If it reads −63, one swap is all it takes to fix.
Spells and xp rates
| Spell | Magic level | XP per cast | XP per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind Strike | 1 | 5.5 | 6,600 |
| Water Strike | 5 | 7.5 | 9,000 |
| Earth Strike | 9 | 9.5 | 11,400 |
| Fire Strike | 13 | 11.5 | 13,800 |
| Curse (manual casts) | 19 | 29 | Depends on clicks |
The hourly rates assume 1,200 casts an hour: an autocast combat spell goes off every 5 ticks, and a tick is 0.6 seconds. Wind Strike costs 1 air and 1 mind rune. Fire Strike needs 3 fire, 2 air and 1 mind, so with a fire staff you only pay for the air and mind runes. That makes it the usual choice from 13 Magic.
Strikes or curses?
Curse gives 29 xp per cast for 3 earth, 2 water and 1 body rune, more than double Fire Strike. The catch is that curse spells cannot be autocast, so you click every cast yourself. That trades away the AFK part of splashing, and if you are going to click, other methods pay better for the same attention. Confuse (level 3, 13 xp) and Weaken (level 11, 21 xp) work the same way.
Where to splash
- Pick a monster that cannot hurt you through your armour, in a single-combat area, so nothing else joins in.
- Rats and seagulls on the Port Sarim docks are the classic free-to-play spot. Members have many more options, such as the rats in West Ardougne, though cats can kill rats.
- Do not splash in the Lumbridge area, castle basement included. Once you have 10 Magic, spells that cannot hit there give no xp at all.
The 20 minute idle limit
After 20 minutes without input, your character stops attacking. Keep auto retaliate on, then click or press a key every so often before the timer runs out. Moving the mouse alone is not enough.
When splashing is worth it
Splashing makes sense for early levels while you are busy with something else, and as a cheap way to clear the first stretch of Magic. It is far too slow to carry an account to 99: Fire Strike alone would take hundreds of hours. From 55 Magic, high alchemy gives 65 xp per cast and can pay for itself if you pick the right items. For the full route by level, read the OSRS Magic training guide; to price up other spells, use the Magic calculator or browse the OSRS magic spells list.