Ancient Magicks

Ancient Magicks is a branch of Magic that can be used once the Desert Treasure quest is complete. It requires high levels of magic (all spells except the home teleport require at least 50 Magic), but include some of the most powerful combat spells in the game.

Changing to Ancient Magicks and back
To change to Ancient Magicks, the player must go to the pyramid in the desert south of Al-Kharid, west of Pollivineach and north of Menaphos. After entering the pyramid at the rear, the player can pray at the altar there to change between Ancient Magicks and the standard spellbook. Praying at this altar drains the player's prayer points to zero, but can still change your spellbook even with your prayer being 0.

It is easier for some players to change back to normal via Astral Altar, by changing to Lunar Spells, and then back to Standard Spellbook, as it negates having to go to the desert and having the Prayer Drained.

Reaching the Pyramid
The quickest way to reach the pyramid is to use a Pharaoh's Sceptre (obtainable through the Pyramid Plunder minigame), and use the "Jaldroacht" Teleport. This places the teleporting player directly on top of the pyramid. The player can then simply walk through the doors, run down the stairs and enter via the tunnel at the back. Another way to reach this pyramid is to use a Camulet to teleport inside Enahkra's temple, climbing out of the temple, and running east.. Another method is by using Ali Morisanne's magic carpet fleet for transport to the Bedabin Camp or Pollnivneach, and running from there to the pyramid. A Slayer Ring can teleport the player to Pollnivneach.

Ancient Staff
After the player completes the Desert Treasure quest, he/she can buy an Ancient staff for 80,000 coins from Eblis, who is found around the circle of mirrors seen in the quest. The staff can only be bought once. However, it is tradable between players. The ancient staff may also be bought on the Grand Exchange for coins. The staff can also be obtained as drops from Mummies found in the pyramid or the Chaos Tunnels. It is one of the only staves that can auto-cast Ancient Magick spells, along with Zuriel's staff or Sacred clay staff 1. It is possible to cast Ancient Magick without it. However, a player must then cast directly from the magic spellbook menu. A player can only equip the staff after he/she has finished the Desert Treasure quest.

1 The sacred clay staff can only autocast Ancient Magicks while in the Stealing Creation minigame.

Combat
Whilst the teleport spells used in Ancient Magicks aren't as useful as regular magic teleport spells, the combat spells are quite powerful. The smoke spells are the only group of spells that can inflict poison damage to other players and NPCs. Smoke Burst and Barrage are the only things in combat that can inflict poison at multiple targets at the same time. The shadow spells can be used to lower the target's Attack level at which can be useful if the caster has low defence. Shadow Burst and Barrage are the only spells that can weaken multiple targets at the same time. But, these spells are very expensive and are usually only used for their looks. The blood spells can be a replacement for food because of their healing abilities. Blood Burst and Barrage are very useful because they can drain health from multiple targets at the same time, thus having a maximum recovery of 45 and 63 hitpoints in every cast. These group of spells are commonly used by mage tanks in multi-combat PvP minigames such as the Tzhaar Fight Pit. They are also commonly used in magic only duels in the Duel Arena and other minigames such as Castle Wars and Fist of Guthix. The ice spells notably have the same effect as the Bind-type spells, as well as causing damage. Thus, ancient ice spells are extremely dangerous. These spells are the most commonly used in the ancient spellbook because of their spell effects, damage, and price. The ice spells are commonly used in PvP minigames such as Bounty Hunter, Castle Wars, and Clan Wars because of their ability to freeze multiple opponents and cause damage at the same time. The miasmic spells are special spells that can only be cast if the caster is wielding Zuriel's staff1. They are the highest hitting group of spells which have the ability to lower opponent's ranged and melee weapon speed which is very useful in long-term fights. However, these spells are not commonly seen because few people have Zuriel's staff. Ancient Magick spells are commonly used in the Fist of Guthix minigame because of their ability to freeze, and the fact that free runes are given to the players before the game starts. The highest hitting group of spells are the miasmic spells, followed by ice, blood, shadow, and smoke.

Ancient Magicks is not allowed in Barbarian Assault.

1 The sacred clay staff can only autocast Ancient Magicks while in the Stealing Creation minigame.

Spell Effects
The Ancient Magicks combat spells are divided into five categories; Smoke, Shadow, Blood, Ice, and Miasmic. Each categories has its own special effect along with the damage the spell would normally do. These effects are:


 * Smoke: Poisons the target.
 * Shadow: Temporarily reduces target's Attack level.
 * Blood: Heals the caster up to one-quarter (1/4) of inflicted damage.
 * Ice: Freezes target on the spot for 5-20 seconds (depending on spell).
 * Miasmic: Slows down opponent's ranged or melee attacking speed by 50%.

Trivia

 * Mind runes, Astral runes, Cosmic runes, Nature runes and Body runes are not used in the Ancient magicks spellbook.
 * The Ancient Magicks spellbook did not use earth runes before the Miasmic spells came.
 * The day of release these spells had a glitch where every spell along with the original effects would freeze opponents forever.
 * If a player casts home teleport on a free world, they would be transported to Lumbridge instead of Edgeville.
 * Before the release of PvP worlds and the sub-sequent release of Miasmic spells, all Ancient Magick spells were able to hit for 2 higher than now; ice barrage would hit 32, shadow burst would hit 22, etc.