Advices on a magus build please.

[Gandal]

I'm GMing a RL pathfinder game in a home setting,and one of my players wanted to try the magus.
We are experienced in both GMing and playing,but this is our first time trying a magus at a table game,and the player wants to be sure his char rocks.
The magus just got 4th level and so far she (female elf) did great, but in the first 3 lvls CRs were relatively easy;the player would like to advance her more as a melee support, while i'm more for arcane blaster,since the other party arcane, a draconic sorcerer, isn't optimazed for spellcasting.

The build so far:

Shaldleara:

Female elf magus 4 ; traits (Focus. mind)(Corageous)
Str 16 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 16 Wis 8 Cha 10
HP 31
Initiative +3
BaB +3 ; CMB +6 ; CMD 19
AC 18 (+1 Chain shirt) Touch 13 ; FF 15
Saves (fort+6 ; Ref+5 ; Will+4)-included Cloak of resistance +1

Craft alchemy +9;Craft weaponsmith +9;Escape artist +4;Ride +8;
Knowledge arcana +10;Knowledge dungeoneering +7;Knowledge planes +7;
Stealth +4;Swim +8;Spellcraft +12;Climb +7;UMD +6

1st level feat-Combat casting
3rd level feat-Weapon focus scimitar
3rd level arcana-Pool strike
Arcana pool pnts 5

Melee:MW Scimitar +8 (1d6+3 /18-20 x2)

Known spells :
Cantrips-all
Level 1 -Magic Missile;Shield;Shocking grasp;Vanish;Burning hands;Corrosive touch;Expeditious retreat;Color spray;Enlarge person;Feather fall.
Level 2 -Frigid touch;Invisibility
Concentration+12

Sorry is spells/skills aren't in alphabetical order, i wrote them as they are in order for our lang (italian)

[Stasiscell]

Well first of all while the traits , feats and arcana chosen are well and good for 3rd level they are a great deal redundant later on.

if you allow him a free mulligan/rebuild due to lack of knowledge id recommend taking the traits reactionary and magical lineage (shocking grasp) as well as making cha a dump stat and not bothering with umd.

As for other things the fleetfooted alternate racial trait is brutal you trade off the redundant weapon training and keen senses for a +4 to initiative and the run feat.

Toughness/imp initiative should have been the first lvl feat , going first or the extra hit points is worth more than the bonus to conc checks.

the weaponcrafting skill is also a bit redundant and id take up perception regardless of it not being a class skill (it gets rolled soo damn much).

the pool strike arcana is a trap it looks nice but is a waste of pool points i mean at 4th you get spell recall and a shocking grasp will do more damage than pool strike without wasting a arcana selection , familiar is what id grab with either toad or green sting scorpion (another +1hp/level or +4 initiative).
at 7th lvl id take the intensified spell feat (to extend the use of shocking grasp), 5th lvl id take heightened spell + preferred spell , heightened spell is kind of a dead feat but the ability to make shocking grasp spontaneous is amazing .

a few things of note critters with electrical immunity will be annoying but you are still a magus capable of hasting and full attacking so you wont ever be truly useless against such foes.

If you go preferred spell route your spell per day list will be devoid of shocking grasp and full of utility spells and versatile spells such as invisibility, fly, dispel magic etc under the premise that you can spontaneously switch them out for a metamagic shocking grasp at a moments notice in combination with spell recall you will be pretty useful outside a fight being able to cast these spells x ammount of times a day without worrying about having a touch spell for spell combat/spell strike.

this makes for a thematic potent character Shaldleara the levinquick a elf known for her speed grace and reaction time who specializes in delivering a maelstrom of electrical attacks in brutal melee.

i assume that a 25 point buy was used if so try this stat allocation
Str: 16
Dex: 14 (16)
Con: 16(14)
Int: 14(16)
Wis: 9
Cha: 7

a 7 cha dosent mean shes ugly just that shes aloof or vulgar. a neat idea is that she would be soo quick to react that she would be rude cuttig people off mid sentence or changing conversations halfway into a argument , arrogance can allways contribute to the low cha.

[Stasiscell]

sorry fleet footed only grants +2 initiative my bad.

[Gandal]

At first level she was 20 pnt buy:
15 (7)
16 [14+2](5)
12 [14-2](5)
16 [14+2](5)
8 (-2)
10

7+5+5+5-2=20

Str 15 raised to 16 at level 4

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Also, why does she have a 16 in both Str and Dex? If she is going dervish dance, she has no need for Str, while if she ever wants to cast in heavy armor, that Dex will be wasted. I agree if you are allowing a rebuild that Combat Casting is unnecessary, since Magi get so many bonuses later on, and with such a low con, toughness is mandatory. She should have put a 16 into con. Spell selection is ok, but she will want more arcane pool soon.

[Gandal]

I see what you all are saying.He doesn't like having to take a familiar along,but can consider focusing on casting rather than melee.
That build has been very effective in the first three levels,and w/out Combat casting a lot of spells would have gone wasted due to low rolls :(

[ub3r_n3rd]

I think the Bladebound Magus Archetype is pretty cool if he doesn't want to worry about a familiar per se. This also fits with the melee theme of the kind of magus that your player wants to be. I'd look into it if I were you and if you'll allow him to pick this archetype a bit later than what is normal. If you do go this path, you'll need to get him the black blade ASAP as it's supposed to be given to him somehow at level 3.

[Shfish]

Easy explanation for it happening at level 4....late delivery..the last person who was supposed to "leave" it around for him was caught up in Customs.... ;)

[Cathedron]

I've played a Magus before and made it to level 16 before finishing the adventure. I'm normally averse to stat dumping, but I fully dumped Strength and Charisma even with a 25 pt buy. (I played him as a scrawny, scrappy, annoying, arrogant, bookish know-it-all.) A Magus is a challenging class to play and has to be slightly optimized to live up to their potential. It was the most difficult class I've ever played, but also the most rewarding.

Everyone is giving good advice, but the most important thing is this: use Spell Blending and pick up Calcific Touch as soon as possible. It is invaluable against big beasties (the bigger, the more invaluable it becomes). I killed a dragon in two hits with this thanks to Spellstrike and a high crit range. If a class was ever intended to make a DM cry, it was the Magus.