Do you still need runes when using a beginner wand in runescape? - Answers

Basically, yes. Different wands and staffs give different bonuses to "magic accuracy", with the result that you have a higher chance of causing damage, thus increasing average damage-per-second. This has nothing to do with saving runes. However, a staff of air will use no air runes for spells that require them; similarly, a staff of fire, water, or earth will save you the corresponding runes. Since the air spells only use air runes, you can cast them for free if you wield a staff of air. A staff of light, on the other hand, gives you a 1/8 chance to save ANY type of rune, so on average, it will save you 1/8 of the total cost. Please note that the basic combat spells - that is, most combat spells in the standard spellbook - are now fairly cheap - especially if compared to the time before the Evolution of Combat upgrade - since they use only elemental runes.