Runecrafting
- This article is about the runecrafting skill. For information on training runecrafting, see Runecrafting training. (F2P) (P2P)
|
| |
| Also known as | RC |
|---|---|
| Release date | 29 March 2004 (Update) |
| Members only | No |
| Minimum level for Hiscores |
15 as of 17 November 2012 - update |
| Players with 99 |
45,577 as of 17 November 2012 - update |
| Players with 200M XP |
35 as of 17 November 2012 - update |
Runecrafting, often shortened to RC or RCing, is a free-to-play skill released with RuneScape 2 allowing players to craft runes for Magic spells at Runecrafting altars.
Since the release of the Runespan, the amount of players who have achieved 99 Runecrafting has more than doubled. Because of this, Runecrafting has gone from being the rarest level 99 to currently being the fifteenth rarest level 99 (Construction being the first.) Runecrafting also has the ninth fewest number of players to have reached 200M experience, with only 35 players having done so. With the Runespan allowing players to actively train their runecrafting skills whenever they want for free.
The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 870,006) on the hiscores for Runecrafting is level 15. As of 17 November 2012, there are 45,577 current members that have achieved level 99 in Runecrafting.
History
First Age
When the humans first came to the realm of Gielinor through the World Gate, Guthix created Runestones, allowing the humans and other sentient races to practice the Magic arts. These runestones were created using an ancient artefact, probably created by the Elder Gods, called the Stone of Jas.
Second Age
In the Second Age, the humans continued and expanded the practice of magic. It is assumed that the Ancient Magicks spells originated in this age and were commonly used.
Third Age
The God Wars commence. Many gods participate in this war to conquer Gielinor. Magic is used intensively during the God Wars in combat. The art of runecrafting is lost in this age.
Fourth Age
Magic was seldom used in this age as the accumulation of runes had dwindled immensely due to the God Wars. The art of magic fades with the supply of runes, until essentially being lost to humans altogether.
Fifth Age
Humans re-discover how to perform the art of runecrafting, realising the connection between imbued talismans at altars. The Fremennik claim that the magic belongs only to the gods, and that it was stolen from them by the Moon Clan and any whom dare to craft a rune, which they feel insults the gods. Runecrafting soon reaches the kingdoms of Asgarnia and Misthalin, where it becomes widely used in many locations. The main concentration of runecrafting and affiliates of the art can be found at the Wizards' Tower and the Runecrafting Guild.
During the Fifth Age wizards from the Runecrafting Guild discover how to access the Runespan, an area on the same plane as the Guild, where they could create Runes slightly different to those found in Gielinor. Rune essence here is obtained in floating rocks and in the local fauna, as opposed to that mined at the Rune essence mines. The essences are a different shape, thus cannot be used for traditional magic. They are charged to an element (the same as those in Gielinor) by siphoning the fauna or nodes of elemental energy that appear on the plane. These runes cannot be taken out of the Runespan . However, they can be converted into 'points' upon exiting the Runespan.
Essence
To craft runes players need blank rune stones called essence. There are two types of essence: Rune essence and Pure Essence, both are unstackable. They are most commonly referred to simply as 'Ess.' Several other common slang names include 'Pures,' 'P ess', 'Pure ess,' and 'Rune ess.'
Rune essence
Rune essence is dramatically limited in its potential on members servers. It is only capable of being bound at altars available to non-members - into Air, Mind, Water, Earth, Fire, or Body runes. You will be unable to craft member's runes such as Chaos or Nature. This form of Rune Essence is often called "normal essence" or "regular essence" to distinguish it from Pure essence. It requires only level one in mining to mine, but Rune Mysteries must be finished before you can access the mines of Rune Essence.
Pure essence
Pure essence can be used in the creation of any and all runes. This kind of essence is the only kind of essence that can be used to craft Cosmic, Chaos, Astral, Nature, Law, Death, Blood, and the various combination runes such as Steam, Mud, Lava, etc. Runes crafted at the Ourania Runecrafting altar must also be made with pure essence. In order to mine any amount of Pure Essence, a player must be a Member with at least level 30 Mining and have access to the Essence Mines.
Obtaining essence
There are multiple ways to obtain rune essence or pure essence. These include trading with other players and purchasing from the Grand Exchange, mining it, monster drops, rewards from the The Great Orb Project, and the daily reward from the Ardougne Tasks or wicked hood.
Runespan Essence
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In the Runespan, a different form of Rune essence is utilised. It has jagged edges, unlike its siblings in Gielinor. It is obtained by catching some that is floating about in the runespan, 'chipping off' from an animal or from siphoning all the elemental energy from an animal. Runes crafted from this essence cannot be used to cast conventional magic, and are converted into points as a player leaves the Runespan.
Altars
At altars, blank rune essence is transformed into Runes by binding the energies of the altar into the runestone. Tiaras, Talismans or Talisman staves are needed to enter altars hidden inside 'Mysterious ruins'. There are a couple of exceptions to this e.g. the astral altar.
Mysterious ruins
A Mysterious ruin is a large, glowing stone slab surrounded by pillars. They are essentially doorways used to travel from Gielinor to the pocket dimension at which runecrafting actually takes place. Entry to each altar requires a specific talisman, tiara or talisman staff which functions as something of a key or trigger which transports the player to the altars. (shown below). By 'Using' a talisman on a Mysterious ruin, players will be transported directly to the runecrafting altar within a landscape related to its theme. Other ways to enter involve wielding a staff or tiara, saving one inventory space. A small portal on the floor near the altar provides transportation back to Gielinor.
Both the Ourania and Astral altars can be accessed without use of a talisman or related accessories. These two altars have no Mysterious Ruins at their entrance, instead being simply the altar itself.
There is one alternative method to gain access to all but the Ourania and Astral altars directly, circumventing the mysterious ruins entirely, via usage of the Abyss.
Entering altars
To enter a Runecrafting Altar you must have either a Talisman that matches the current altar you are trying to enter (or Omni-Talisman for Lv. 50 and above), then click Use and then on the Altar. Alternatively you can use a Tiara or the Wicked Hood infused with the power of a Talisman (this can be done inside the altar with a plain Tiara and the Talisman you used to enter the altar or by using them on the hood). The Tiara or Wicked Hood is recommended because equipping it saves an inventory space. It allows entry into the Altar with one click. Altars can also be teleported to through the special ability of the Wicked Hood and/or using pre-made teleport tabs from The Great Orb Project minigame. Talisman staves may also be obtained from this minigame. These work the same way as Tiaras (they are infused with the desired talisman) but can also be used as a weak melee weapon.
Talismans
- Function:
Talismans are the primary version of the three items which allow players access to the runecrafting altars. Each altar has an individual mysterious ruins which reacts only with the corresponding talisman. For example, use of an Air Talisman is needed to enter the Air Altar, whereas attempting to use a Water Talisman on the Air Altar will not produce any result at all. Talismans can be used on altars to create tiaras and staves. Some types of talisman are harder to obtain, and can cost quite a lot of money on the Grand Exchange. However, tiaras are often cheaper as creating tiaras is a way to earn Runecrafting experience.
Most talismans have a 'locate' option, which causes them to function as something of a compass. The result of using the Locate option will be an indication of the direction of the Mysterious ruins corresponding to the talisman being used, as related to the players current location, such as North-East. The message is generated in the chatbox.
- Downside:
Since talismans occupy an inventory space and rune essence is not stackable, talismans quickly become a hindrance to players attempting to utilise the skill as well as those simply attempting to train. As such, most players who are seriously committed to runecrafting quickly upgrade to tiaras or talisman staves at the first opportunity.
- Specialty Talismans:
There are two talismans that are not directly related to a single altar. The elemental talisman is a multi-key type talisman which functions for the Air, Water, Earth, and Fire Altars, but no others. Unfortunately, this talisman has no Tiara or Staff form, and is members only, severely limiting its usefulness. The other specialty Talisman is the coveted Omni-talisman, which is also members only. The Omni-Talisman is untradeable, but unlike the Elemental Talisman, it may be bound into a tiara or staff form. As it is untradeable and may only be obtained within the runecrafting guild, this talisman may be considered to have an indirect requirement of level 50 runecrafting to use. The Omni-talisman, and its related accessories, provide universal access to all altars.
- Obtaining Talismans:
All of the Talismans are tradeable, and can be purchased from the grand exchange or directly from other players. Most talismans are common to semi-rare monster drops, however some of the members talismans, notably the Blood and Death talismans, are not as simple to get, and may be considerably more difficult to obtain. An alternate method of obtaining most runecrafting talismans is to purchase them directly from Wizard Elriss within the Runecrafting Guild who will trade all but Elemental, Blood, and Death talismans for tokens earned as a reward from The Great Orb Project. The Elemental Talisman is an uncommon drop received from Abyssal Creatures, while the Blood and Death talismans are initially received near the end of the quests Legacy of Seergaze and Mourning's End Part II respectively, though they can be gotten (rarely) from certain monsters after the related quest as well. The Omni-Talisman is obtained only within the runecrafting guild by presenting Wizard Elriss with a complete collection of all the various talismans or tiaras. Players can receive a replacement Omni-Talisman without needing to present the talismans or tiaras again.
Tiaras
Function: Tiaras are headpieces crafted by players from silver. Blank tiaras may be imbued with the key-like function of a talisman, which cannot then be changed or removed. An imbued Tiara becomes essentially an equipable version of whatever talisman was bound into it. As this frees an inventory slot and gives the player the ability to directly enter a mysterious ruin, without a series of clicks, tiaras are extraordinarily convenient. All tiaras except Omni-tiaras are tradeable, and some (but not all) are quite valuable.
Creation: To bind a tiara, a player must take a talisman and blank tiara to the altar which matches the talisman they intend to bind. With both items in their inventory, the player must use either item on the altar to initiate the binding process. This will earns players Runecrafting experience, the amounts of which is listed here. Making tiaras does not have level requirements, so players with no runecrafting experience may immediately begin binding body or higher talismans for accelerated experience at low levels.
The Omni-Tiara: The Omni-Tiara is bound by Wizard Korvak in the runecrafting guild, not at an altar. The player will need to bring him an Omni-Talisman and a blank Tiara. The result is quite ornate in appearance, and functions to provide the player with universal access to the altars while worn. The Omni-tiara provides the same single click entry option as all other tiaras.
Talisman staves
Function: Talisman staves are the final type of talisman accessory, which functions both as a weak weapon as well as an equippable item which allows access to Runecrafting altars through the mysterious ruins. Talisman staves are untradeable. Just as tiaras, they provide players with a simple left-click to enter the ruins. These staves provide no assistance in magic and will not substitute for the runes they are related to in any way. As such these items are usually just considered to be the symbol of an elite runecrafter.
Creation: A blank Runecrafting staff can be purchased as an expensive reward from The Great Orb Project activity, is untradeable, and cannot be wielded while blank. The process of attaching a talisman to the staff is identical to the process of binding a tiara. The player must take both the Runecrafting Staff and the Talisman they wish to attach to it to the corresponding altar, and use one of the two items on the altar. Unlike creating tiaras, this action does not give the player Runecrafting experience. NOTE: Players are unable to change the talisman type once the staff is bound. As a blank staff takes many hours of work to obtain, players should carefully consider which staff they want to bind. Completed runecrafting staves are also untradeable, and it should be noted that they are destroy only, having no drop option. If a player is killed while wielding a talisman staff it will be destroyed (unless included in the 3 items kept on death.)
Unique staves: The Omni-Talisman Staff is not created at an altar. The Omni-Talisman and a Blank Runecrafting Staff are bound together within the runecrafting guild by Wizard Korvak. The Law talisman staff is unique in the fact that it has no stat bonuses. Because of this, it is allowed onto Entrana allowing the player to reach the Law altar while wielding it, as the mysterious ruins of the law altar are located on Entrana.
Wicked hood: The Wicked Hood (when fed talismans or tiaras from any altar) allows the wearer to enter any Runecrafting altar currently available to them and functions like a tiara allowing the user left click the altar. It is obtained from Tam Mcgrubor in Burthorpe with at least level 5 Runecrafting.
Altar locations
| Altar | Level | Members only? | Location | Closest bank | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air rune Air altar |
1 | No |
South of Cooking Guild. And east of Barbarian Village. |
Varrock bank south of G.E | File:Air Altar Location.png |
| File:Mind rune detail.svg Mind altar |
1 | No |
|
File:Mind Altar Location.png | |
| File:Water rune detail.svg Water altar |
5 | No |
|
Al Kharid bank is the closest, just to the east of the swamp |
File:Water Altar Location.png |
| File:Earth rune detail.svg Earth altar |
9 | No |
|
The trip takes a bit longer but you only have to walk one way which makes it faster. |
File:Earth Altar Location.png |
| File:Fire rune detail.svg Fire altar |
14 | No |
|
|
File:Fire Altar Location.png |
| File:Body rune detail.svg Body altar |
20 | No |
|
|
File:Body Altar Location.png |
| File:Cosmic rune detail.svg Cosmic altar |
27 |
Yes (Unlocked after Lost City) |
|
Zanaris Walking time: 1min 12s* * Using the agility shorcuts is much faster. |
File:Cosmic Altar Location.png |
| File:Chaos rune detail.svg Chaos altar |
35 | Yes |
|
Edgeville* / Varrock East* Walking time: ?? / 1min 50s * Edgeville route goes through mysterious ruins, Varrock route goes through Tunnel of Chaos (unlocked during What Lies Below). |
File:Chaos Altar Location.png |
| Astral rune Astral altar |
40 |
Yes (Unlocked after Lunar Diplomacy) |
|
Lunar Isle * Equipping an earth staff and casting Moonclan Group Teleport/Moonclan Teleport will save walking time, although 1 space is needed for law runes; provides additional magic experience. |
File:Astral Altar Location.png |
| Nature rune Nature altar |
44 | Yes |
|
Shilo Village (unlocked after quest) Walking time: 1min 22s* * Less walking time with Spirit Graahk, Fairy ring or Amulet of Glory. |
File:Nature Altar Location.png |
| Law rune Law altar |
54 | Yes |
* No weapons are allowed for entering Entrana. |
Void Knights' Outpost (via ship) / Draynor Village |
File:Law Altar Location.png |
| Death rune Death altar |
65 |
Yes (Unlocked after Mourning's Ends Part II.) |
|
Lletya * Advised to use the Abyss instead due to time involved |
File:Death Altar Location.png |
| Blood rune Blood altar |
77 | Yes (Unlocked after Legacy of Seergaze) |
|
Burgh de Rott (After In Aid of the Myreque) or Canifis |
File:Blood Altar Location.png |
There is no known place to craft a soul rune, other than the Ourania altar. Also, Cosmic, Chaos, Nature, Law, and Death runes can be crafted by non-members while dungeoneering.
Ourania Runecrafting altar
The Ourania Runecrafting altar, also called the ZMI altar, converts Pure essence into a mixture of random runes (without the multiple runes factor taking effect). The altar, which requires no talisman, tiara or staff to enter, gives double the normal experience for every rune crafted. Players do not need a specific Runecrafting level in order to craft at this altar, but the chance of crafting higher-levelled runes increases with a higher Runecrafting level. The altar boosts individual Runecrafting training to speeds that were previously only available to people using rune running methods.
Once inside the Ourania Cave, quickly reached by an Ourania Teleport, players may use a bank that requires 20 of any type of runes. They can then go to the altar by taking either a short and dangerous route or a longer and safe route. Note that the long, curving path has no monsters that can distract you from Runecrafting. At the end of the long path, there is a crack that requires no Agility level and gives no agility experience.
| Altar | Level | Members? | Location | Closest bank | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ourania Runecrafting altar | 1 | Yes |
* No talisman, tiara, or staff required |
Eniola (uses 20 runes as a banking fee [many suggest Mind Runes as they are a cheaper resource]) Lunar Isle * Equipping an earth staff and casting Moonclan Group Teleport/Moonclan Teleport is another option, although 1 space is needed for law runes; provides additional magic experience. use ourania teleport to get back. |
File:Ourania Altar Location.png |
Abyss
Members can also be teleported inside the ruins by using the Abyss, a 'focal point' leading to most altars that does not require a talisman, tiara or talisman staff. After a miniquest, players can get teleported to the Abyss by the Mage of Zamorak at level 5-6 Wilderness north of Edgeville. Once teleported, players will be in an outer ring, have all prayer points drained, be skulled, and surrounded by abyssal monsters. They will need to pass through an obstacle to access the inner ring, containing the entries to most altars (except the Astral and ZMI altars).
The popularity of the Abyss has died out since the release of other faster and safer Runecrafting training methods, such as the ZMI altar, Spirit Graahk runecrafting, The Great Orb Project, and the Runespan.
Crafting runes
When a player has entered the mysterious ruins with a tiara, a talisman, or runescrafting staff, all they have to do is click on the altar. They will then craft all the essence in their inventory into runes (except any essence in noted form or stored in pouches or in familiars).
| Rune | Pure essence needed? | Level<ref>The differences in levels required to craft two subsequent types of runes always increase by 1 from Mind to Blood runes (excluding Astral runes and Armadyl Runes).</ref> | XP | ZMI altar XP | GE Price | Members |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Air
|
No | 1 | 5 | 10 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | No |
 Mind
|
No | 1 | 5.5 | 11 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | No |
 Water
|
No | 5 | 6 | 12 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | No |
 Earth
|
No | 9 | 6.5 | 13 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | No |
 Fire
|
No | 14 | 7 | 14 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | No |
 Body
|
No | 20 | 7.5 | 15 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | No |
 Cosmic
|
Yes | 27 | 8 | 16 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | Yes |
 Chaos
|
Yes | 35 | 8.5 | 17 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | Yes |
 Astral
|
Yes | 40 | 8.75 | 17.5 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | Yes |
 Nature
|
Yes | 44 | 9 | 18 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | Yes |
 Law
|
Yes | 54 | 9.5 | 19 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | Yes |
 Death
|
Yes | 65 | 10 | 20 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". |
Yes |
 Armadyl
|
Yes, and Dust of Armadyl | 72 | 10 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | Yes | |
 Blood
|
Yes | 77 | 10.5 | 21 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | Yes |
 Soul*
|
Yes | 90 | 11 | 22 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". | Yes |
Crafting A Soul Rune
Currently, the only way to craft Soul runes is via the random effect of the Ourania Runecrafting altar. The soul altar has yet to be released. Although it is expected in eventuality, there is currently no Soul altar or any confirmed plans to release it. However, pictures of the soul tiara and talisman have been seen on official Runescape Knowledge Base by manipulating URLs. Also, at level 90 Runecrafting, at one point in time, players received a message informing them of their ability to craft Soul runes, which has been removed. This, coupled with the existence of the Soul rift in the Abyss (where "A strange power blocks your exit")(The Abyssal rune rifts for Death and Blood runes also existed long before their release to Runecrafting), are strong indications that the Soul Altar is fully intended to be released in the future.
Crafting multiple runes
- For calculations of profit / loss from crafting multiple runes, see the Multiple Runes calculator.
As a player's Runecrafting level increases, they will become able to craft multiple individual runes from a single piece of rune essence, including both pure and regular essence, where it can be used. However, making more actual runes does not translate to an increase in experience. The experience players earn while multi-crafting runes is based on the experience-per-essence they craft, with an essence crafted into an air rune netting the same experience if crafted into 1, 3, or 10 individual runes.
The number of individual runes a player can craft increases as their runecrafting level increases, but is very specific to each different rune. Even the most experienced player will almost never double craft a blood rune. As a player's Runecrafting level gets closer to the level required for the next sequential multiple runes crafting level, the player's probability of crafting that multiple of runes will increase linearly up to about a 60% chance to create an extra rune.
After the last set level of multiple runes, players will always craft that multiple, for example, members will always craft double Nature runes after 91 Runecrafting, and will not create triple Natures. For Law, Death and Blood runes, the level for double runes would lie above 99, but there is still a chance of crafting double runes, the probability of doing so increasing towards 60% as your level increases, but only reaching a fraction of that probability. A table showing the set levels of multiple runes follows.
Prior to an update on 17 November 2009, players could only craft multiple runes after reaching the set levels.
(Levels over 99 are only possible when using potions or role boosts when Dungeoneering. The only boost outside of Dungeoneering that can boost high enough is an Orange Spicy Stew which can give -6 to +6 boost. -5, -6, +5 and +6 are very unlikely.)
Combination runes
Members can craft combination runes which are a fusion of two of the elemental runes in a single rune. The combinable elemental runes are limited to: Air, Water, Earth and Fire runes. Players cannot, for example, combine a fire and a nature rune, nor can any combination of non-elemental runes, such as cosmic and death, be made.
Actually crafting combination runes is mildly complex. Players will need to bring:
- A selected type of elemental runes (air, water, earth, fire, or a mix if desired)
- One matching talisman for every elemental rune type brought. (If the player brought fire and water runes, they will need a fire and a water talisman)
- Pure essence (regular essence will not work.)
One pure essence will be used for every combination rune crafted, so the amount of Pure Essence brought should equal the number of runes brought. The usual maximum inventory is 1 talisman, 26 elemental runes, and 26 pure essence. The ingredients must be brought to an opposing altar from the runes being crafted. Players must be able to enter the opposing altar of their choice, which will require either another talisman, related accessories, or usage of the abyss. Once the player has accessed the altar whose element is the desired other half of the fusion, the player must use the Runes on the altar, NOT the pure essence. If the player uses the essence on the altar, all essence in their inventory will be crafted as usual and the player will resultingly be in possession of two stacks of unfused runes. The talisman may also be used on the altar, but this may generate an interface asking about tiaras and other options, using the runes themselves completes the combination without further prompting. The result will be thus:
- The matching Talisman is consumed in the process. One talisman is used every binding, so essence withdrawn from pouches and familiars will require another talisman.
- All essence in the players inventory will be consumed.
- A number of elemental runes equal to the number of essence in the players inventory will be consumed.
- There will be a 50% failure rate in crafting the combination runes. The failed runes will simply vanish.
Function and Usage of Combination Runes
A combination rune saves inventory space when used for Certain Spells. This can also be especially useful on quests, where the players inventory is often very restricted. Mud runes are now highly sought after by members as they are an ingredient (when crushed) in a high level Herblore potion, but are also a common drop in decent quantity from various monsters. Runes which have been combined with the air element are especially useful in combat. Also, each combination rune counts as two separate runes, when applicable. For example, a Lava Rune will count for both 1 earth and 1 fire rune in any spellcast which uses these runes simultaneously. However, if a player casts a spell which only uses a fire rune and not an earth rune, the combination rune will still be expended. Combination runes have usage priority over basic runes. As an example, were a player were to withdraw and utilise the runes to cast the spell Teleport to Varrock with a stack lava runes in their inventory, they would find that they had accidentally used one of their lava runes and still be in possession of the single fire rune required to cast the teleport.
The Necklace of Binding
The Necklace of Binding is crafted through a combination of the Crafting and Magic skills, and is tradeable. It is an Emerald Necklace, which is crafted from an Emerald and Gold Bar, which has been enchanted using the Level-2 Emerald Enchant spell. If this item is worn while crafting combination runes, players will be rewarded with a 100% success rate for each combination rune. However, each Necklace of Binding will function only 15 times before dissolving into dust, at which point it will need to be replaced. The counter related to charges is player specific, and not connected to the item. If a player were to attempt to sell a necklace, which they believed to have 1 usage left, and purchase a replacement, the replacement will still function as if it only has one usage, and will dissolve upon the next crafting. Conversely, the player which purchases the mostly used necklace will find that it will function as many times as their individual charge counter dictates.
When a charge is used, or the necklace breaks, the player will receive a notification in the chat window, which is easy to miss. Players are advised to pay careful attention to these messages or they will be unpleasantly surprised by an unexpected and abrupt return of the 50% failure rate if they continue to craft and do not realise that they have lost the necklace. As such, players planning on mass crafting combination runes will want to have a small stock of these stored in their bank, in plain sight.
Magic Imbue
Members with level 82 in Magic and access to the Lunar Spellbook, there is another method to craft combination runes. Players who are able may use Magic Imbue to circumvent using a talisman at everytime clicking the altar for crafting combination runes. This is very effective at saving money, but is no more efficient at crafting the runes as players must carry astral runes in the place of the talisman, saving no inventory space. When the spell is cast the player will be given a window of around 15 seconds to initiate the binding which must still be done at an altar opposing the runes you wish to combined, and still also requires pure essence present in your inventory. Astral runes are comparably much cheaper and easier to obtain in quantity than any amount of talismans, and Members can wield the appropriate combination staff to avoid carrying spellcasting runes in their inventories. The final benefit of this method of runecrafting is that it provides players with an amount of magic experience in tandem with runecrafting experience, making the entire venture more useful.
The recommended inventory for players intending to use this method is:
- A Steam Staff
- Omni-tiara, or one of the four Elemental Tiaras (Air, Water, Earth or Fire.)
- A sizable stack of Astral Runes. (2 for every binding run)
- A sizable stack of Elemental Runes (Air, Water, Earth or Fire) in denominations of 26.
- 26 Pure Essence
- A Necklace of Binding (to increase the chance of binding runes from 50% to 100%)
List of Combination Runes and Experience rates
Player will notice that it is possible to craft each type of combination rune at two separate altars, however doing so would require inverting the elemental ingredients. Players will receive less experience if they chose to craft at the lower-levelled altars. For example if a player makes Mist runes at the Air altar they will receive 8 experience for each mist rune made, while crafting at the Water altar will give 8.5 experience for per mist rune. The following list reviews both the components and exp. rates of the different combination runes. The 'Low-rune' list relates the experience from crafting at the lower-level altar, the 'High-rune' list relates the experience if crafting at the higher-level altar.
| Rune | level | Can replace | Exp. from type of altar | Current G.E. price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Icon | Name | Low-rune | High-rune | |||
|
Mist rune | 6 | &
|
8.0 | 8.5 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". coins |
|
Dust rune | 10 | &
|
8.3 | 9.0 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". coins |
|
Mud rune | 13 | &
|
9.3 | 9.5 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". coins |
|
Smoke rune | 15 | &
|
8.5 | 9.5 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". coins |
|
Steam rune | 19 | &
|
9.3 | 10.0 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". coins |
|
Lava rune | 23 | &
|
10.0 | 10.5 | Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". coins |
Pouches
Within the Abyss as well as the Abyssal Area (which are separate locations), there are monsters that drop the varieties of untradeable pouches occasionally when killed. Players can only be in possession of one of each type of pouch at any time, including familiars and banks. Players will not be able to receive a pouch as a drop until they have completed the Miniquest subsequent to What Lies Below quest which accesses the Abyss. Players with access to the Abyssal Area and not the Abyss will not receive pouch drops.
Players can store various amounts of Pure or regular Rune essence in these pouches (but not both in the same pouch), effectively increasing the amount of essence that may be carried per trip. The amount of essence held varies from pouch to pouch. There are five types of pouches, a graduated set holding an increasing number of essence. Players must acquire each smaller pouch in order for the next pouch to become available to them, with the exception of the medium pouch which is handed out at the runecrafting guild with no restrictions, including no quest requirement.
Runecrafting pouches degrade after a certain number of uses, with the larger pouches degrading faster than the smaller pouches. When a pouch degrades, a message will appear in the chat box and the pouch will turn darker in colour. When a pouch degrades, its carrying capacity is reduced. The Dark Mage in the centre of the Abyss, who can be contacted through the NPC contact spell, repairs pouches for free, regardless of whether the pouches are in the player's inventory or bank. He will also repair the pouch before it degrades, effectively resetting the amount it has partially degraded back to zero. These pouches can also be bought and repaired by Wizard Korvak in the Runecrafting Guild, but he charges rather heavily for his services. For his fees view Wizard Korvak's NPC info page. If a pouch is allowed to continue to degrade, it will eventually fall apart entirely, at which point the player will have to acquire another one.
| Image | Type of Pouch | Required Level | Essence held | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Small pouch | 1 | 3 essence | Obtained from the Dark Mage and a reward from the Abyss (miniquest) |
|
Medium pouch | 25 | 6 essence | Dropped by Abyssal monsters; obtained from Wizard Korvak in the Runecrafting Guild for free |
|
Large pouch | 50 | 9 essence | Dropped by Abyssal monsters; obtained from Wizard Korvak in the Runecrafting Guild for 25,000 coins |
|
Giant pouch | 75 | 12 essence | Dropped by Abyssal monsters; obtained from Wizard Korvak in the Runecrafting Guild for 50,000 coins |
|
Massive pouch | 90 | 18 essence | Obtained from Wizard Finix outside of the Runecrafting Guild for 1,000 Runespan Tokens. |
Note: Temporary boosts will not allow you to use a larger pouch than your base level.
Abyssal familiars
Abyssal familiars are the only familiar capable of carrying unnoted rune essence, any other beast of burden cannot handle them. These familiars are to help members with Runecrafting, as they essentially increase the inventory size of the player, although some are also quite combat capable. Members may use one of the three following familiars to carry essence: the Abyssal Parasite, Abyssal Lurker, or Abyssal Titan. These special Beasts of Burden will hold 7 Rune or Pure essence, but cannot hold any other kind of item. Note that these familiars are not allowed onto the isle of Entrana therefore they may not be used when law rune crafting.
| Image | Familiar | Summoning level required |
Time (minutes) |
Pouch cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Abyssal parasite | 54 | 30 | 1,970 coins (update) |
|
Abyssal lurker | 62 | 41 | 2,172 coins (update) |
|
Abyssal titan | 93 | 32 | 2,289 coins (update) |
Explorer's ring
Among its other benefits, wearing an Explorer's ring (versions 2, 3, or 4) gives the wearer a 10% chance of receiving an extra rune for each essence when crafted at the Air, Water, Earth, or Fire Altars. These versions of the ring can only be obtained after completing the easy or medium Lumbridge and Draynor Tasks. Another benefit of the Explorers Ring 3 is that, when used properly, can cheaply shorten runecrafting runs via the infinite reusability of the cabbage port ability the ring provides. Using this teleport to reach Draynor bank, in tandem with other teleports such as the teletabs from the runecrafting guild, can considerably shorten most runecrafting runs. This method, in some instances, is notably cheaper than other teleport jewellery, and can be useful to low combat level players who wish to avoid using the abyss. Unfortunately this method is invalid for crafting law runes, as the ring is not allowed on Entrana. An Explorer's (3) can also grant three run charges which will replenish run energy by 50%.
For people who do not want to go through the Lumbridge Tasks to get the Explorer's ring or prefer a shorter walk to the bank can use a Dungeoneering Ring of kinship to teleport instead.
Runecrafting gloves
There are three types of runecrafting gloves, one for Air, Water, and Earth. The gloves are an untradeable graduated set of rewards received from the Fist of Guthix activity, costing 75 tokens. Runecrafting gloves give players double the experience per essence crafted. These gloves have a limited number of usages and will crumble to dust after crafting 1,000 essence. Players can then play the activity to receive another pair. Players may only have one pair of each type at a time.
| Gloves | Normal XP | XP with gloves |
|---|---|---|
 Air runecrafting gloves
|
5 | 10 |
 Water runecrafting gloves
|
6 | 12 |
 Earth runecrafting gloves
|
6.5 | 13 |
Runecrafting Guild
The Runecrafting Guild is a guild accessible to players having at least level 50 Runecrafting through a violetly-purple portal on the first floor of the Wizards' Tower.
The Guild features a map of all the Runecrafting altars that are entered through mysterious ruins, wizards, and a two-party activity called The Great Orb Project with rewards including the Talisman Staff, Runecrafting Teleport Tablets, Rune or Pure essence, the various sets of Runecrafter Robes, and Talismans. The runecrafting guild is the location where players may obtain an Omni-talisman. Also Wizard Korvak sells and repairs the various pouches, and will give the player a medium pouch for free, without having to complete any of the related quests. If a player owns and uses a Runecrafting Guild Teleport Tablet, they are able to access the Runecrafting Guild without 50 Runecrafting; this can be abused by players that have been reset due to bots used on the account.
Runecrafting training
- An alternate method to training is available to all players in the dungeoneering skill. However, this should no longer be considered as viable for powerlevelling since the exp was decreased from 10% down to 2%. This method involves the gathering of coins and essence throughout the dungeon then buying more essence and crafting it into the highest level runes and then selling them in order to buy more essence. The difficulty in this method of training is you will only receive 2% the normal exp and you craft 10 essence at a time in an animation slightly faster than that of using bones on an altar.
- There is another way to train runecrafting while in a dungeon. Although this method is slower than crafting rune essence, it uses up less money for each exp gained. A player can buy tangle gum staves from the Smuggler, using 612 coins for each staff. Free players can only imbue water staves, which yields 11 exp (5.5 Runecrafting and 5.5 Magic). The crafted staves can be sold back to the Smuggler for 165 coins. This results in a loss of 81.3 coins for 1 exp Runecrafting and 1 exp Magic. Crafting rune essence into air runes in a dungeon only results in 1 xp for 500 coins. Crafting 26 staves takes just about 60 seconds for a rate of about 8500 Runecrafting exp/h, not counting the time to buy/sell staves and click the altar. Even for Free-to-play this is no better than crafting runes outside of Daemonheim. Going in at complexity 3 and selling all items gives about 24,236 coins (varies because items on tables vary) and results in about 291xp for water staffs made. One could also use high alchemy on the items instead of selling to Smuggler for more coins. Repeat by exiting and re-entering. This method is boring because each staff has to made one at a time and is very tiring after a number of loads.
- Another way of training Runecrafting, is known as Effigy Crafting where a player hunt effigies by killing monsters such as Cave Crawlers and Gandodermic Beasts, often with aid of a cannon. This method is popular among higher level and wealthy players due to the familiararity with combat. This method can result in 30-40k Rune/Effigy Crafting experience per hour, depending on level. This method also gives good rates of experience in combat stats as well as experience in the stats used to open the effigies.
- On 30 April 2012, the Runespan was released. It provides a new way to train runecrafting that does not involve altars or using one's own essence. It is available to members and free players for training from levels 1 to 99, although nonmembers have limited access to the Runespan and, therefore, limited exp rates. Above level 70 it yields more experience than the ZMI altar.
Running and equipment tips
Players who are intending on a long haul runecrafting session will be constantly irked by depleted run energy (this problem has become less prevalent since the Agility and run energy updates). Players should ensure that they are as light as possible by removing any and all items not essential to the runecrafting process from their person. Weight reducing clothing, such as a spottier cape, boots of lightness and penance gloves or the wicked robes, are recommended for Members, as they will extend the distance that their run energy will carry them. Players should equip only either a talisman staff, wicked hood or imbued tiara, as well as applicable teleport jewellery. A tiara is recommended over a talisman staff simply because it weighs less. Pouches, essence, Lumbridge Explorer Ring (2-4) and/or a talisman should be the only items present in players inventories during a runecrafting run. If you have level 52 summoning you can use a spirit terrorbird to cast tireless run that can restore your run energy.
When using the ZMI altar or the Abyss, sacred clay melee armour can be very helpful if you have less than 90 Defence. Both the platebody and platelegs are only 2 kg and have the defence statistics of rune armour. With the boots of lightness and a spotted or spottier cape, it is simple to keep your weight below zero.
Players with the Agility level to obtain Agile armour are encouraged to wear it, as it provides a moderate defence bonus while reducing the player's weight.
Temporary boosts
There are three boosts available to members.
- For up to +6, players may eat orange spicy stews from Evil Dave to get a random boost between -6 to +6. (With a -5 to +5 being a lot more common, since the -6 or +6 boost is very hard to get)
- For up to +2, after completing the Land of the Goblins quest, players can speak to Oldak using the "What have you discovered?" chat option to get a random boost to either Runecrafting or Magic between -2 and +2.
- For +1, at level 99, players can wear and operate the Runecraft cape.
- These boosts do not stack.
99 Runecrafting and 200m xp
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Once a member has reached level 99 Runecrafting, Larriar in the Runecrafting Guild will sell the Runecraft cape for 99,000 coins.
- Before the Dungeoneering update, Runecrafting was one of only 4 skills where a new feature or ability is unlocked at level 99 - other than buying a skillcape, the other three being Summoning, Smithing and Construction.
- Runecrafting was previously the only remaining skill in which no player had earned 200M experience. However, on 1 December 2010 Phoenix Odin became the first player to achieve 200M Runecrafting experience. As of the 12th of October 2012, twenty nine players have now achieved 200M Runecrafting experience.
- A bug on 14 April 2010 lead to an exponential increase in Runecrafting experience when crafting within Daemonheim (on the order of 2,000 experience per nature rune) This led to a high number of players reaching level 99 in Runecrafting within half an hour of the glitch being released, with players making 2 and 3 levels at 70+ with a single crafting session. This forced Jagex to shut RuneScape down for approximately 4 hours during which time they made a rollback of player data to before the glitch was released. This action caused a massive rant on the forums, during which many people spammed the official sticky at a rate reaching 3-5 pages every second.
See also
- Runes
- Magic
- Runecrafting Guild and The Great Orb Project
- Wizard Hallam
- Unified Runecrafting Theory
- Free-to-play Runecrafting training, a guide to training Runecrafting for free-to-play players
- Pay-to-play Runecrafting training, a guide to training Runecrafting for pay-to-play players
- Quest experience rewards - Runecrafting
- Grand Exchange Market Watch/Runecrafting
- Runecrafting/Level up table
- Runespan
Calculators
Template:Runecrafting calculators
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