Introduction
The best Magus spells have a clear job beyond a large damage line. A Magus has limited prepared slots and a weapon-centered turn, so every spell should make Spellstrike worth the setup, pressure a different defence, save a dangerous position, solve movement, or handle a problem the party cannot muscle through.
This guide covers spell selection for the Magus from Impossible Magic and the verified Resurgent Maelstrom spell additions in Lost Omens: Rival Academies, without reproducing spell text. Use the Magus class guide for hybrid studies and the combat loop, then return here when it is time to decide what belongs in the spellbook and what belongs on a scroll.
For the broader map of traditions, class spell guides, and spell jobs, start with the PF2e spell guides.
Rating Key
| Recommendation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ● | A strong default for a broad range of Magus builds. |
| ● | Strong when the build, map, party, or campaign supports it. |
| ● | Useful, but narrow or demanding. |
| ● | Usually a poor blind preparation choice. |
What Does A Magus Need From A Spell?
A Wizard can prepare a deep bench for almost every imaginable problem. A Magus cannot. The class wants a compact working kit that remains useful when movement, a missed Strike, a shield action, or a hard target changes the turn.
| Spell job | What to prepare | Why it earns a slot |
|---|---|---|
| ● Direct Spellstrike delivery | One or two reliable options at the ranks you expect to cast | The class should have a credible high-impact turn when the target and position line up. |
| ● Save-based backup | A spell that asks for a useful save instead of another attack roll | It gives the build a different answer when AC or accuracy is the problem. |
| ● Defence or escape | Protection, repositioning, concealment, or an answer to dangerous terrain | A Magus who reaches the enemy still has to survive the enemy's turn. |
| ● Movement and reach | Teleportation, unusual movement, or ways to change the board | The best spell is useless if the target is outside the plan. |
| ● Exploration utility | Detection, communication, magic analysis, or campaign-specific access | Arcane preparation should matter between initiatives. |
| ● More damage of the same shape | A third spell that repeats an existing job | Limited slots punish redundancy. Buy a different answer first. |
How Should Spellstrike Change Your Spell List?
Spellstrike is a delivery option, not a mandate to turn every prepared spell into a weapon attack. Before preparing a candidate, check its action cost, target, range, defence, and what happens if the board changes before your turn. The current errata matters here: eligible save spells are not automatically excluded from Spellstrike. They simply answer a different tactical question from an attack spell.
| Delivery style | When it is best | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Spell attack | A debuffed target, strong party accuracy support, or a turn where the weapon hit is likely | A bad attack roll can waste both the weapon moment and a precious slot. |
| Saving throw | The creature's weak defence is known, or AC is not the fight you want to take | Confirm target and delivery interaction rather than assuming every save spell solves every Spellstrike problem. |
| Area spell | Several enemies are positioned well and the action economy is worth the commitment | Areas often solve a different job from a single-target Spellstrike. Do not force them into a weapon routine. |
| Buff, defence, or movement spell | The next turn needs protection, reach, or a better firing lane | The payoff may be a safer future Spellstrike rather than immediate damage. |
Use three-action economy as the tie-breaker. A spell that looks spectacular in isolation can be a poor Magus preparation if it leaves no practical movement, defence, or recharge turn afterward.
Should A Magus Use Threefold Limb Or Turbulent Tide?
Threefold Limb is an Uncommon rank-1 arcane spell that can be delivered as a close-range spell attack. Its three forms matter more than its damage line: choose ice to slow a target, liquid water to move it, or steam to interfere with what it can see. That makes it a conditional Spellstrike candidate when the Magus is already in melee and one of those outcomes changes the current board. It is not a routine first preparation for a ranged build, a target with unreliable attack odds, or a fight where none of the riders changes a decision.
Turbulent Tide is not a prepared spell. It is an Uncommon, one-action conflux spell for the Resurgent Maelstrom hybrid study, and it needs an improvised weapon. It offers a no-slot strike-and-movement play that can push nearby creatures and let the Magus pursue a pushed target, but it breaks the weapon unless the object is unusually hard or protected. Read the Magus class guide for the study's baseline and the Magus feat guide for the break-and-replace support before making it the focus plan.
| Option | Access and spell job | Take it when... |
|---|---|---|
| ● Threefold Limb | Uncommon arcane or primal rank-1 spell; close-range spell attack with a chosen tactical form | The Magus has a reliable melee delivery turn and the slow, reposition, or visibility disruption matters more than a general-purpose slot. |
| ● Turbulent Tide | Uncommon Resurgent Maelstrom conflux spell; one-action, no-slot improvised-weapon play | The campaign supplies expendable improvised weapons, nearby enemies make the push relevant, and breaking the current weapon will not collapse the next turn. |
Hot Take: Threefold Limb earns a slot when its chosen form solves the board in front of you; Turbulent Tide earns a focus point only after the campaign has proved it will keep feeding the improvised-weapon engine.
A Free Character Builder for Pathfinder 2e Is Coming
Get notified the day it is live, and grab our current character-building guides while you wait.
No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Which Cantrips Belong In A Magus Kit?
Cantrips are the class's everyday magical layer. They heighten automatically, keep the spellbook relevant when ranked slots are being saved, and let the character respond when Spellstrike is unavailable or extravagant. The cantrip guide has broad ratings; a Magus should prioritize a narrower package.
| Cantrip role | Why a Magus wants it |
|---|---|
| ● Reliable damage or ranged pressure | Gives a meaningful magical action when a melee delivery turn is wrong or the target is out of reach. |
| ● Defensive reaction or protection | Lets the character preserve a slot when a smaller defensive answer is enough. |
| ● Detection and magical literacy | A spellbook character should contribute to identifying magic, clues, and magical obstacles. |
| ● Utility movement or manipulation | Helps a martial character cross gaps, reach objects, and avoid spending an entire turn on an awkward problem. |
| ● A second damage cantrip with the same defence and range | Take it only when damage type or a known campaign matchup justifies the overlap. |
The supplied Impossible Magic spell list adds arcane options such as approximate, artistic recollection, create earthen facsimile, infectious enthusiasm, persistent servant, and thunder echo. These are not a reason to abandon a reliable combat cantrip. They are a reason to let the Magus contribute when the adventure is asking for information, objects, teamwork, or a safer route.
Low-Rank Spells: What Should The First Slots Do?
Early Magus slots are scarce enough that each one should cover a separate failure point. One direct-delivery candidate, one positioning or defence tool, and one utility answer is a healthier opening list than three versions of the same attack plan.
| Need | Useful Impossible Magic candidates to evaluate | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| ● Weapon-linked pressure | Echoing Weapon or Horizon Thunder Sphere | Both can support an aggressive turn, but compare the target and action shape to your actual weapon plan. |
| ● Pulling an enemy into the right square | Gravitational Pull or Retrieving Hook | Positioning can make an ally's turn, a flank, or your next delivery possible. |
| ● Countering an uncomfortable board | Cradle Aloft, Propelling Air Stream, or Vanish Weapon | These options are valuable because a Magus often loses more to position than to raw damage. |
| ● Changing the enemy's tempo | Unrelenting Gravity or Disorienting Flash | Prepare an alternative that does not ask for the same defence as every weapon-first plan. |
| ● Keeping a narrow answer available | Cinder Scribe, Quick Sort, or Timely Reminder | Good campaign tools; move them to a scroll or item plan when the campaign does not ask for them regularly. |
Do not copy a spell list into a character sheet because a recommendation site named it. Compare it with the arcane spell guide, your party's skills, and the campaign clues your GM has actually put in front of you.
Mid-Rank And High-Rank Spells: What Changes?
As spell ranks rise, the Magus should not suddenly imitate a full caster. The slots become more important because they can change a severe encounter or bypass a campaign obstacle, while the character's weapon routine still carries ordinary pressure.
| Problem | Candidates to evaluate | Practical question |
|---|---|---|
| ● Reach a target or escape a collapse | Far Reach, Ghost Rush, Time Jump, Blink Charge, Rewinding Step, or Proximal Shift | Does this create a better next turn, or merely move the problem? |
| ● Survive a dangerous exchange | Elemental Absorption, Warding Aggression, or a mantle spell | Does the defence protect the build's real weakness, such as melee exposure, a known damage type, or poor terrain? |
| ● Control space | Living Terrain, Force Rain, Weight of the World, or Infinitesimal Collapse Field | Will the table use the terrain and actions the spell creates? |
| ● Create an encounter swing | Cast Into Time, Comet Charge, or Planar Collision | Is this a severe-fight answer, not a routine turn you will regret preparing? |
Prepare spells that change the question. A movement spell changes who can be reached. A defensive spell changes whether you can stay in the threatening square. A control spell changes what the enemy can do. Damage remains good, but a Magus already has a weapon for turns where damage is the only question.
How Do Hybrid Studies Change Spell Choices?
The Magus class guide explains each study. Spell preparation should reinforce its practical constraint rather than trying to erase it.
| Build path | Spell priorities | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Inexorable Iron | Defence, reach, control around a melee line, and answers to elemental pressure | Loading every slot with movement when the build already wants to hold ground. |
| Laughing Shadow | Mobility, concealment, repositioning, and flexible targeting | Requiring a fixed square or a crowded hand plan every round. |
| Sparkling Targe | Protection, reaction-friendly turns, and spells that justify staying close | Treating a shield action as free when the turn also needs movement and recharge. |
| Starlit Span | Range, line-of-effect, cover, escape routes, and targets that punish clustered enemies | Purely adjacent-only plans with no answer when the map remains open. |
| Twisting Tree | Reach, control, defensive utility, and staff support | Forgetting that grip changes and staff actions already ask for attention. |
| Twofold Tine | Target selection, mobility, and tools that repay its busy action economy | Extra setup spells that delay the first useful turn. |
| Volatile Spark | Range, reload-aware pacing, and movement that maintains a firing lane | Assuming unusual access or firearm logistics without table approval. |
When Should A Magus Use Conflux Spells?
Magus conflux spells are focus magic, so they belong in the no-slot plan rather than the ranked-slot list. The supplied book presents options including booming blast, conjurer's countermeasure, dimensional assault, force fang, force fling, hasted assault, runic impression, shielding strike, shooting star, spinning staff, and thunderous strike. Lost Omens: Rival Academies adds Turbulent Tide to the study-bound lane above. Their value depends on whether their immediate effect and their relationship to the Spellstrike loop change the current fight.
The focus spells guide covers the shared resource rules. For a Magus, use a focus spell when it helps you move, defend, pressure, or recover the class engine now. Do not spend one just because it is available.
Unbroken Panoply is a broader Uncommon arcane or occult broken-weapon utility spell, not a Magus-specific option. Treat it as an arcane spell guide and occult-spell decision instead of a core Magus preparation.
Which Items Protect Magus Slots?
Magus item planning should keep rare answers out of the limited daily list. A scroll can carry an occasional campaign tool. A wand can handle a dependable daily spell. A staff can widen the available menu without forcing every preparation into one theme. The exact item depends on access, treasure, and the rest of the party.
| Item plan | Use it for | | --- | --- | --- | | ● Scrolls and consumables | Narrow utility, travel, detection, a contingency, or a spell too situational for daily preparation. | | ● Staves and wands | Repeatable support, a familiar defence, or a thematic package you expect to use often. | | ● Magic items by level | Checking that caster support competes sensibly with weapons, armour, runes, and defences. | | ● Weapons and runes | Keeping the weapon half of the class strong enough that every slot does not have to carry damage. |
A Practical Preparation Checklist
Before daily preparations, answer these questions.
- What is my likely first dangerous Spellstrike, and what makes its target or delivery reliable?
- Which prepared spell helps when the weapon plan is wrong: a difficult range, a hard AC, hostile terrain, or a dangerous counterattack?
- Which spell targets a different defence or changes the board instead of repeating damage?
- Which narrow answer is better carried on a scroll, wand, or staff?
- What can I do with no ranked slot if the encounter lasts longer than expected?
That checklist rewards the Magus who pays attention to the adventure, not the one who expects every fight to occur at weapon reach on a clean floor. Read the Magus feat guide next when a feat seems to add another button; it should protect this spell plan, not compete with it.
FAQ
Should A Magus Prepare Only Spellstrike Spells?
No. A Magus needs at least one high-impact delivery option, but defensive, movement, utility, and save-based spells stop the class from folding when a target or map breaks the ideal turn.
Is A Save Spell Better Than A Spell Attack For Magus?
Neither is always better. Spell attacks reward accuracy support and a target you expect to hit. Save spells give a different defence to attack, especially after the current errata, but still need a useful target and action plan.
Are Rituals Part Of A Magus Spell Plan?
They can be campaign tools, but they are not a substitute for combat slots or a normal Spellstrike turn. Use the rituals guide for group, downtime, and GM-facing planning.
What Is The Best First Item For Magus Spellcasting?
There is no single item for every build. Protect the weapon and defences first, then use scrolls for rare answers and choose a wand or staff only when the spell it carries fits your repeated play.
Related Guides
Continue with the PF2e spell-guide hub, Magus class guide, Magus feat guide, arcane spell guide, combat spell guide, utility spell guide, heightening guide, and PF2e guide hub.
