Ancient Magicks



The Ancient Magicks are a branch of magic aligned to the gods Zaros and Seren, and form one of the three spellbooks in RuneScape. They are first accessible after the Desert Treasure quest, which rewards combat and teleport spells related to Zaros. After a higher-level quest, The Light Within, the spellbook gains additional spells that belong to Seren. Unlike the standard and Lunar spellbooks, the Ancient Magicks are largely combat-oriented, with only some of the Seren spells meant for non-combat.

Background
The Ancient Magicks are a long forgotten and destructive set of spells. In the second age they were very commonly used, mostly by the followers of Zaros, who ruled a very large kingdom at that time.

The very destructive and powerful spells of the Ancient Magicks proved to be very useful during the wars in the era. The spellbook also contained various teleport spells which made it easier for the Zarosians to travel across their kingdom, which stretched from the northern Wilderness, to northern Misthalin and north-western Morytania. As of now, the spellbook contains teleports which lead to places where the currently destroyed Zarosian fortresses once stood.

After Zaros' banishment, Zamorak and other gods like Saradomin destroyed the entire kingdom. The destruction of the kingdom and the slow disappearance of runestones caused the Ancient Magicks to become a rarely used form of magic. During this time, only the Mahjarrat used Ancient Magicks, mostly because they didn't need runes to use magic.

The God Wars held after Zaros' banishment saw the slow fade of the Ancient Magicks from common knowledge. Many of the remaining followers of Zaros, whom comprised the majority of spell-casters, were killed or imprisoned. The powerful spells caused much destruction during the enormous battles, although the number of people who knew about the spells was extremely limited. Zuriel, one of the most powerful mages at that time, being one of the few who still possessed the knowledge, devised the Miasmic spells, which at one time was the most powerful combat spell set.

Long after the end of the God Wars, at the beginning of the fifth age, the art of Runecrafting was rediscovered, giving humans a new supply of runes. New spells were invented by modern wizards of the Wizards' Tower, driving the ancient magicks even further into obscurity. Today, Ancient Magicks are used almost exclusively by the Mahjarrat, who have been driven close to extinction in Gielinor. A handful of people, including Zamorakians, such as Solus Dellagar, and Zenevivia, still possess the knowledge of Ancient Magicks. But furthermore, most mages of Gielinor choose to practice the modern magic created at the Wizard's Tower. Players will learn about the Ancient Magicks during the Desert Treasure quest, where they release the imprisoned Zarosian mahjarrat Azzanadra.

Skill and Quest Requirements
Because unlocking the Ancient Magicks spellbook requires completion of the Desert Treasure quest, the following quests are also required:


 * The Dig Site
 * The Tourist Trap
 * Temple of Ikov
 * Priest in Peril
 * Troll Stronghold
 * Waterfall Quest

Because of these quests, the skills required to obtain the Ancient Magicks can be seen in the table to the right.

The quest also requires ice gloves to wield a weapon against one of the bosses, which require 50 mining to acquire. The quest can be completed without them using ice arrows, but it is generally regarded as difficult and thus 50 mining could be considered an unlisted requirement for Desert Treasure.

For the Seren portion of the spellbook you will need to complete The Light Within quest, which requires the following quests to be completed. The quest also requires multiple level 80s and Plague's End requires multiple level 75s to start.
 * Fate of the Gods
 * Meeting History
 * Plague's End
 * The Temple at Senntisten
 * The World Wakes

Switching spellbooks
Players can switch to Ancient Magicks at the altar inside the Jaldraocht Pyramid (simply "Pyramid" on the World Map) in the Kharidian Desert, southwest of Pollnivneach and north of Menaphos. There is a rear entrance (tunnel) to the south of the pyramid that allows players who have completed Desert Treasure to enter the throne room directly, where the altar resides, without having to navigate the four floors of the pyramid. At the altar, players can pray to switch to or from the Ancient Magicks spellbook, though this drains all Prayer points to zero. (Players can still switch spellbooks even with 0 Prayer points.)

Those who simply wish to switch from Ancient Magicks to the regular spellbook may find it easier to pray twice at the Astral Altar on Lunar Isle, provided Lunar Diplomacy has been completed.

Alternatively, players who have completed Plague's End can use the elven grimoire found within the Cadarn Clan district of Prifddinas to switch between standard spells and Ancients.

Reaching the pyramid
Various methods of teleportation exist for reaching the Jaldraocht Pyramid:


 * Home teleport to Bandit Camp through the Lodestone Network. This lodestone is located just northwest of the pyramid.
 * Pollnivneach is a short distance east of the Pyramid and it is accessible via the use of a ring of slaying, the magic carpet network (from either Shantay Pass or Sophanem, after Icthlarin's Little Helper), or Teleport to House for players who have their houses located in Pollnivneach. After Love Story, a player can chisel a Teleport to House tablet to teleport to the Pollnivneach house portal.
 * The pharaoh's sceptre, obtained from the Pyramid Plunder activity, teleports players directly on top of the pyramid via the Jaldraocht teleport.
 * A camulet provides a teleport to Enahkra's temple, which is just west of Jaldraocht Pyramid.
 * A bandit camp teleport scroll can be used to teleport to the Bandit Camp, which is northwest of the pyramid.
 * Fairy ring code and run south to Nardah and run west till the bridge and cross it and you would see the Jaldraocht Pyramid

Autocasting
Prior to the autocasting update on 2 September 2009, the Ancient staff was the only way to autocast Ancient Magicks combat spells. It can be obtained once from Eblis, who will sell it for 80,000 coins after the completion of Desert Treasure. Alternately, the staff can be bought on the Grand Exchange for coins, or obtained as a drop from mummies. When the staff's original purpose was rendered obsolete, it provided a 10% bonus to spell damage until the Evolution of Combat, when it became a standard level 50 staff.

Combat
The Ancient Magicks combat spells are, as mentioned, the most dangerous combat spells in the game. Not only can they deal a substantial amount of damage, but each of the four classes of elemental spells has a different curse effect:


 * The Smoke spells (air) can reduce the target's chance to hit by 5% for 10 seconds.
 * The Shadow spells (earth) can lower the target's damage by 5% for 10 seconds.
 * The Blood spells (fire) can heal the caster 5% of the damage dealt to the target, and 3% of damage to secondary targets.
 * The Ice spells (water) can freeze the target in place and prevent it from moving for 10 seconds (2.4-9.6 seconds in PvP).

The effects have an estimated 10% chance to occur, for both auto-attacks and abilities; however, ice spells will always freeze targets if cast as an auto-attack. The Dark Form ancient curse doubles this chance. Between the releases of the Evolution of Combat and Seren spells, all but the ice spells applied their effects on every auto-attack, but would never with abilities. Ice spells always froze the target with auto-attacks and abilities.

In addition, the Burst and Barrage spells are area-of-effect (AoE) if cast as an auto-attack, and will hit both the target and any other player or NPC standing in a 3x3 zone around the target. Damage to secondary targets is reduced, as is the healing from blood spells. Rush and Blitz spells will only hit a single target.

Some monsters are large, meaning that they take up more than one square of space. When a Burst or Barrage spell is cast on one of these monsters, it will hit the monster plus any surrounding monsters with any square of space standing within a 3x3 zone of the targeted monster's south-westernmost corner square, which is treated as its "origin" square.

While less popular for general training, Ancient Magicks is often used in various player-versus-player activities, such as the TzHaar Fight Pit, Stealing Creation, Castle Wars, Fist of Guthix and Soul Wars. Ice spells, especially Ice Burst and Ice Barrage, are especially popular, due to their freezing effects.

Ancient Magicks are not allowed in Barbarian Assault.

Combat spells
The maximum hits listed here are the spells' base maximum hits, without any modifiers. See here for a list of items that increase the maximum hit of magic spells.

There are four ascending types of spells, these are: Rush, Burst, Blitz and Barrage. For these spell-types are 4 ancient 'elemental' variations for each spell type, in ascending order: Smoke, Shadow, Blood & Ice.

Seren spells
All Seren spells are unlocked after completing The Light Within.

Trivia

 * Before the release of the Seren spells, the only combination runes useful for the Ancient Magicks were Smoke runes, as the Paddewwa and Dareeyak Teleports were the only spells to use more than one elemental rune.
 * On the day of release, these spells had a glitch where every spell, along with the original effects, would freeze opponents.
 * The animation of the Daemonheim teleport that can be done with the Ring of Kinship is similar to (except for the colour) the Ancient Magicks teleport - and looks similar to the Pharaoh's sceptre's teleport animation. This may suggest a common (teleportation) principle or origin.
 * Each Ancient Magicks spell has a unique sound.
 * The Dungeoneering spellbook includes spells from both the regular and Lunar spellbooks, but none from the Ancient Magicks spellbook.
 * If your membership expires whilst the Ancient Magicks spellbook activated then it will return to the regular spellbook, even when you re-activate your membership.
 * During the early stages of the Evolution of Combat, the spells were called Gale, Rock, Bloodfire and Ice respectively, and Miasmic spells were removed. Before the Evolution of Combat, all the spells had different effects too: Smoke poisoned the target (poison damage has been removed), Shadow lowered the target's Attack, Blood healed you for 25% (now only 5%) of damage inflicted by you on your opponent, and Ice's freezing time varied depending on how strong the spell was (now all Ice spells freeze for 10 seconds when cast on NPC's and varies depending on spell with players), and Miasmic halved melee and ranged attack speed. In early 2014, the name changes were reverted, but the effects were not.