From article: Magic
Combat spells result in a spell related amount of experience when cast, but also give experience depending on the amount of damage caused to the opponent. You get 2 magic experience points and 1.33 hitpoint experience points per point of damage done. Most combat spells use some Air runes in combination with some other "Combat" runes, though there are exceptions with the special spells such as Magic Dart.
Combat spells will occasionally splash upon contact with a target (they will do no damage). When splashing, the caster will receive only the base experience for that spell and no additional experience. So there is no difference between splashing with a spell and hitting a 0. The splash rate depends on these things:
- The caster's Magic level
- The Magic attack bonus of the equipment the caster is wearing
- The target's Magic and Defense levels
- The Magic defence bonus of the equipment the target is wearing
Stronger spells can do greater damage but are less accurate than their weaker spell counterparts. To maximise accuracy, especially in training and player killing, players are advised to equip magic boosting equipment, unequip magic lowering equipment, drink Wizard's mind bomb, and raise magic levels.
Some monsters are more vulnerable to certain elemental spells. For an example, ice/water monsters are generally more vulnerable to fire spells.