Shocking grasp is just the magus's bread and butter spell. Your arcane pool and magus arcana grant you a number of additional fun abilities, and the versatility of a magus is almost unmatched.<br/><br/>That having been said, if you want to go Arcane Archer easier via the wizard route, two levels of fighter would beat out two levels of ranger unless you need skill points or track. The extra bonus feat would leave your normal feats to things you want for your wizarding half.<br/><br/>I'm not optimizing my character at all. He's here to have fun and flavor.