OSRS F2P Magic Training: Splashing vs Curse Alching – Which Is Truly AFK?

Game screenshots and facts are cited from the Old School RuneScape Wiki (strategy, equipment, drops, and related pages). Writing is original editorial, not a copy of the wiki article.

If you've ever looked at the Free-to-play Magic training page, you know the real bottleneck isn't the skill — it's the attention you're willing to pay. Two methods get recommended over and over: splashing Wind Strike while you make a sandwich, and the mysterious "curse alching" that promises faster XP. But here's the catch: curse alching as most outsiders imagine it doesn't work on free worlds. Alchemy spells are members-only, and the Curse spell can't be autocast. So the real F2P decision is between true AFK splashing and the high-XP but click-intensive Curse method. This guide breaks down both, tells you exactly when to use each, and shows where buying gold or a service is the honest time-saver.

We'll pull facts from the official wiki, compare XP rates and costs with the current Grand Exchange in mind, and give you a step-by-step setup for each method. By the end, you'll know whether to set your character to splash for six hours while you work, or to sit down and click Curse for 40 minutes of focused training.

F2P Magic Training: The Starting Line

Free-to-play Magic has a steep early climb, but two quests flatten it. Completing Imp Catcher (875 XP) and Witch's Potion (325 XP) gets you from level 1 to level 10 before you cast a single combat spell. That gives your Wind Strike a max hit of 6 and skips a few minutes of cow-killing. You'll still need runes, and the cheapest source changes constantly; the wiki recommends checking both Aubury's Rune Shop and the Grand Exchange, since shop packs can undercut GE prices for mind and air runes.

For rune sourcing, buying from Aubury in Varrock or using the Grand Exchange is almost always faster than crafting or monster drops. Shop packs often save money on air, water, earth, fire, and mind runes. Crafting runes requires mining essence and walking to altars, which is a poor use of training time. Killing monsters for rune drops is fine as a side benefit, but don't rely on it for bulk supplies.

Gear matters even for AFK methods. The best free-to-play magic attack bonuses come from the shaman mask (same +2 as wizard hats but with melee defence), an amulet of magic, and an elemental staff. For splashing you'll actually do the opposite: stack negative magic attack on purpose. But for active training, you want the highest magic attack you can afford.

Splashing Wind Strike: The True AFK Baseline

Splashing is the only legitimate way to train Magic with near-zero attention in free-to-play. You deliberately lower your magic attack bonus below -64 so every spell splashes, then equip a staff of air and autocast Wind Strike on a monster that either can't reach you or respawns quickly. Your character will keep casting for up to 20 minutes until the game auto-logs you out. That's the entire mechanic: set it, walk away, come back, click once to reset the logout timer.

How to set up a Wind Strike splash

• Gear for negative magic attack: wear full iron or steel armour, a metal kite shield, and dragonhide vambraces. The key is to get your magic attack bonus to -64 or lower. The exact pieces depend on your Defence level; verify on the wiki's Splashing page.
• Equip a staff of air: this gives you unlimited air runes and lets you autocast Wind Strike.
• Choose a target: popular options include rats in Lumbridge, seagulls at Port Sarim, or the monks in Edgeville Monastery. The target must not be able to kill you, and you must be able to stay in a safespot or tank the hits.
• Set autocast: open the combat options tab, click the spellbook icon, and select Wind Strike.
• Start casting: click the monster once. Then go make a coffee.

The best splashing targets are monsters that are low level, have low max hit, are easily safespotted, and are in a spot where you won't be attacked by aggressive NPCs. Classic choices: rats in the Lumbridge castle basement, seagulls at Port Sarim docks, or monks at Edgeville Monastery. Some players splash on the Varrock guards, but those can hit back if you're low Defence. Always test the spot for 10 minutes before going fully AFK.

Wind Strike splash gives 5.5 XP per cast and, at a cast every 3 seconds, you'll land around 6,600 XP per hour. It's slow, but it's completely AFK. The rune cost is negligible: with the air staff, each cast uses one mind rune. Mind runes cost about 3 coins each on the GE, so you're looking at roughly 3,600 coins per hour. Even a brand-new account can afford that for a few hours.

Don't waste time splashing Wind Strike past level 13. At that point you unlock Fire Strike, which has a higher base XP of 11.5 per cast. With a staff of fire you only need mind runes, so the cost is identical while the XP doubles to around 13,800 per hour. Every AFK-minded F2P mage should switch to Fire Strike as soon as they can cast it.

Curse Training: High XP, But Not AFK

The Curse spell at level 19 gives a chunky 29 Magic XP per cast — more than five times what Wind Strike gives. It requires 2 body runes and 1 water rune, and it lowers the target's Defence by 5%. Because it's a non-damaging debuff, it grants no Hitpoints XP, which makes it a favorite for pures. Many players assume Curse can be splashed just like Wind Strike and left to run. That's the trap: Curse cannot be autocast. You must manually click the spell and the target for every single cast. There is no legitimate way to AFK Curse in free-to-play.

So why do people talk about "curse splashing"? It's often used by players who want to avoid dealing any damage while still getting the XP — you splash Curse to keep the monster alive and yourself safe. But you're still clicking every 3 seconds. That's not AFK, it's semi-active. If you're willing to pay that attention, Curse is the fastest F2P Magic XP outside of members content. At 29 XP per cast and a realistic click rate of 1,200 casts per hour, you can expect around 34,800 XP per hour. That's over five times faster than Wind Strike splash, but it costs more and demands your hands.

The rune cost is the second hurdle. Body runes and water runes fluctuate, but two body plus one water per cast is always pricier than the single mind rune for Fire Strike. On the GE, body runes typically run several coins each, and water runes are similar — check current prices before committing. Curse gives better XP per hour, but the gold cost per XP is usually higher than splashing Fire Strike. That's the tradeoff: active time for faster levels.

High Level Alchemy and "Curse Alching" — Members Only

The term "curse alching" gets thrown around because in members, players cast Curse and High Level Alchemy in the same tick, combining two high-XP actions. High Level Alchemy (level 55) and Low Level Alchemy (level 21) are both members-only spells. No free-to-play account can cast any alchemy spell, period. Nature runes, the key component, are also not obtainable in free-to-play.

That means every YouTube guide showing a F2P account "alching" is either mistaken or showing ancient content from a different era. In today's OSRS, if you're on a free world, your alchemy options are zero. The closest F2P equivalent to the members' curse-alch method is to use Curse as your main XP source and supplement it with other activities like killing monsters for drops. But you will never alch in F2P.

XP Rates, Costs, and Attention: A Side-by-Side Comparison

To make the decision easier, here's a clean table. The cast rate assumes one spell every 3 seconds (1,200 casts/hour), which is the standard autocast speed and a realistic manual clicking pace for Curse.

Fire Strike splash is the clear winner for AFK: double the XP of Wind Strike at the same rune cost (assuming mind rune price is the same for both — it is). Curse smashes both in raw XP, but it's not AFK and the rune cost is higher. If you can tolerate semi-active training, Curse is the fastest way to 43 or 55 in F2P.

Calculate cost per XP: Fire Strike splash costs about 3.6k gp/hour for 13.8k XP, so ~0.26 gp/XP. Curse costs roughly 15-20k gp/hour for 34.8k XP, so ~0.5 gp/XP depending on rune prices. That means Curse is less cost-efficient but faster. If you have gold to spare and want speed, Curse is fine; if you're broke, stick with Fire Strike.

Leveling Milestones: When to Splash and When to Click

Free-to-play Magic has clear breakpoints. Use this as a roadmap:

• 1–13: If you can AFK, splash Wind Strike. If you're active, the wiki recommends killing cows around Lumbridge with Wind Strike and banking the cowhides for profit. Either way, the first 13 levels go by fast.
• 13–19: Switch to Fire Strike splash if AFK; if active, keep killing monsters with Fire Strike (or whichever element the monster is weak to for extra damage and XP). At 13 you also unlock the ability to alch in members, but not in F2P.
• 19–41: This is where Curse becomes available. If you're willing to click, Curse on a safespotted monster (like a monk or a rat in a cage) is the best XP/hour. If you prefer AFK, stick with Fire Strike splash and accept the slower pace.
• 41–55: At 41 you get Wind Blast, but its chaos rune cost makes it impractical for regular training. Most players keep clicking Curse or keep splashing Fire Strike until 55, at which point they either switch to members for High Alchemy or stop training Magic as a primary skill.

If you're active and want to combine XP with profit, the wiki suggests killing cows at low levels for cowhides, then moving to hill giants or moss giants later. Hill giants are F2P, found in Edgeville Dungeon, and drop big bones and limpwurt roots. With safespotting, you can kill them at low magic level. Another classic is the lesser demon in Wizard's Tower, which has 40% water weakness and can be safespotted from the stairs. Check the wiki's 'Other monsters to kill for experience' section for a full list.

The "Level 33+" and "Level 59+" sections of the wiki cover more active options like killing elementally weak monsters (e.g., lesser demons at Wizard's Tower with water spells) for better XP combined with drops. For pure AFK, nothing beats Fire Strike splash until you have a reason to go members.

Common Mistakes and Pitfalls

Avoid these classic F2P magic errors:

• Trying to splash with too much magic attack: if your magic attack is above -64, you'll sometimes hit, kill the target, and stop splashing. Always verify your gear totals.
• Using a staff without checking its magic attack bonus: elemental staves give +10 magic attack. You need enough negative armour to offset that. If you can't reach -64, drop the staff and manually cast — but then it's not autocast, so not AFK.
• Expecting Curse to be autocastable: it isn't. Don't waste time looking for a hidden option; it's manual only.
• Attempting to alch in F2P: High and Low Alchemy are members spells. You can't even use nature runes on a free world.
• Ignoring rune prices: buying 10k mind runes at the wrong moment can cost you double. Check the GE and shop packs before stocking up.
• Forgetting to reset the logout timer: even the best splash setup stops after 20 minutes. If you're truly AFK, set an alarm to click once every 15–18 minutes, or use a remote desktop while at work (if allowed by your own rules).
• Not checking whether your target is aggressive: some splashing spots have aggressive monsters like scorpions or barbarians that will interrupt your splashing. Always test with a low-risk account.

Time-to-Goal and the Honest Shortcut

Let's talk real numbers. If your goal is level 37 for the Falador teleport (a common F2P milestone), you need about 28,700 total XP. From level 1 using Fire Strike splash at 13,800 XP/hour, that's roughly 2 hours of AFK time — spread over however many 20-minute sessions you can manage. With Wind Strike, it's over 4 hours. With active Curse, it's under an hour of clicking.

If your goal is level 55 for High Alchemy (a members goal), you need around 166,600 XP. Fire Strike splash takes about 12 hours total; Curse takes under 5 hours of clicking. That's a big difference. For many players, 5 hours of focused clicking is worth it; for others, 12 hours of background splashing while they work is the better trade.

This is where buying gold or a service becomes the honest shortcut. If you value your time at more than the rune cost per hour, buying gold to fund thousands of Curse runes — or hiring a booster to click for you while you sleep — can be a rational choice. You're not breaking any rules by purchasing gold through legitimate marketplaces; you're simply offloading the grind. Check current gold rates to see if the cost of runes plus a service is less than the value of your own hours.

If you're buying a service, make sure it's from a reputable marketplace that uses legitimate players; never share your account details with strangers. A trusted marketplace can arrange for a booster to train your character while you're offline, but you must trust their security. Many players prefer to buy gold and do the training themselves to keep account safety.