"i heard magic def was 20% def level 80% mage but yeh, it is both "
"I think that's correct (the 70% mage / 30% defence part). I've just staked a lot of different people and I splashed less on 85 defence then 99 defence, both with 99 magic (and I'm 99 magic aswell). "
"I've been mage boxing yesterday and I've found out that defence really helps. I won most of the mage boxing from people with around 90 defence, 95 magic but I lost the mage boxing from 99 def/mage and if they were ~90 defence with 99 magic I still lost. I'm splashing a lot when they have higher defence so yeah, it might be bad luck but from my own experience defence is important. I'm 99 magic/hitpoints and 47 defence myself btw.
Another friend of mine is 85 defence, 95 magic, 93 hitpoints and he can win from people with 130+ combat that x2 or x1.5 him and he won most of the fights from me, even though we were switching attack styles and stuff so yeah."
found these on rsc staking topic. I think defense is the way to go.