Runecrafting

Runecrafting is a skill that allows players to craft their own runes for magic spells. The experience earned from making runes is small, making runecrafting a very slow skill to raise. Exp rates for runecrafting are half of even the next slowest skill mining. These rates can be slightly increased by minimizing profit, or even incurring a loss.

The fastest exp rate without assistance from other players is approximately 74,000 experience an hour by runecrafting Lava runes, which results in a loss of gp. This is better in the long term (due to the return at 91 Runecrafting with double nature runes), however short term return can be gained by crafting nature, law, or cosmic runes through the abyss.

Due to how slow Runecrafting is, many players look to avoid training runecrafting, by dumping any lamps, and using tears of guthix to raise the stat for them.

With the release of blood and soul altars on 7 January 2016, runecrafting has become less time consuming, with blood runes reaching experience rates of 33,000 per hour and soul runes reaching up to 40,000 experience per hour.

Creating runes
Runes are crafted from either Rune essence or Pure essence. Players learn about this essence through the quest Rune Mysteries.

Rune essence


Normal Rune essence is used to make air runes, mind runes, water runes, earth runes, fire runes, and body runes. This is the only type of essence Free players can obtain by mining. Only level 1 is required to mine this.

Pure essence


Pure essence is used to make any runes (except blood and soul runes), although it is the only kind of essence which can be made into cosmic runes, chaos runes, astral runes, nature runes, law runes, and death runes. Level 30 Mining is required for this.

Pure essence can also be used to craft any rune type unlike Rune essence which can only be used to craft the basic elemental runes (Water rune, Earth rune, Fire rune & Air rune) along with Mind and Body runes.

Dark essence


Dark essence fragments are used to make blood runes and soul runes. These fragments are created by using dense essence blocks on the Dark Altar in Great Kourend's Arceuus House to create dark essence blocks. These dark essence blocks can then be chipped with a chisel, creating the essence fragments.

Level 38 Mining and Crafting, along with 100% Arceuus House favour are required to do this.

Obtaining rune essence
Both normal essence and pure essence are located in the same mines. However, players require a mining level of 30 to obtain pure essence. It is obtained automatically upon mining the rune essence, in place of regular essence.

To access these mines, players need to talk to certain NPCs who can teleport them to the mines. A player can either right-click on the NPC and select the 'teleport' option or talk to the NPC and ask to be teleported. However, the right-click option is faster than talking. There are five NPCs that can teleport players to the essence mines. However, only two of them are available for free players.

Players also have access to a second mine on Lunar Isle which does not require a teleport from an NPC. It is a fairly long walk from a bank with some strong monsters on the path to the mine.

Other methods of obtaining essence include trading with other players and purchasing from the Grand Exchange, monster drops, rewards from the Nightmare Zone, or the daily reward from the medium, hard and elite Ardougne diaries.

Obtaining dark essence fragments
Only dense essence blocks can be obtained in this mine. In order to obtain dark essence blocks, the dense essence must be taken to the dark altar north-west of the mines and then chip the dark essence into dark essence fragments. Players require a mining and crafting level of 38 to mine dense essence blocks.

To access and use these mines, players must traverse to Great Kourend in Zeah and run north to the Arceuus house. Before using the mines, players must have at least 25% Arceuus favour points to mine dense essence blocks, and 100% favour to create dark essence blocks and create blood and soul runes.

These essence and essence fragments cannot be banked and are untradeable.

Altars
Altars are where players make their runes. Tiaras or talismans are needed to enter these altars hidden inside 'mysterious ruins'. Players can find altars by finding them on their own, using a talisman, or by asking other players.

To find an altar using a talisman, players can right-click on the talisman and click on the 'locate' option. In the chatbox, the player will notice a message that will tell them the direction they need to go in, whether it be northwest or southeast.

When a player has found the mysterious ruins, they then need to enter the ruins. The player can enter by using their talisman with the ruins. If they are wearing an enchanted tiara, all they have to do is click on the ruins.

When the player is inside the ruins, they are now in the altar. They can then use their essence with the altar to craft some runes. While inside an altar, a player can also enchant a tiara if they have an un-enchanted tiara in their inventory. With the un-enchanted tiara, all they have to do is use with the altar and it will become enchanted. The table below lists the locations of where the altars are.

Talismans
Talismans are important as they are needed to make runes. To obtain talismans, players will have to kill monsters or buy them from other players. However, except from abyss monsters, talismans are an uncommon drop from monsters, making them difficult to obtain. Right clicking them and selecting locate gives a direction to find the altar for that particular type of rune.

Each talisman has a name that indicates what kind of rune a player can make with it. For example, to make air runes, a player needs to find an air talisman. It is important to note that free players can only craft basic elemental runes (Air, Water, Earth, and Fire) as well as Mind and Body runes, while members can make Cosmic, Chaos, Nature, Law, and Death runes.

Note that all elemental talismans (Air, Water, Earth, and Fire) will be dropped by the corresponding Elemental Wizard south of Falador, close to Malignus Mortifer.

Abyssal monsters have a chance to drop any talisman except death.

Tiaras
Talismans take up a space in a player's inventory, allowing them to only hold 27 essence in their inventory. However, a tiara can fix this. A player can combine a talisman and a tiara together, allowing them to wear the tiara on their head while still being able to craft runes. With the talisman inside the tiara, players can hold 28 essence. Players can either craft a tiara or buy one from another player.

If a player has a grey tiara with no markings on it, then it is unenchanted. To enchant a tiara, the player needs to bring the talisman to an altar (explained in the next section). For example, if a player wants to make air runes wearing a tiara, then they will have to bring their air talisman to the Air altar and combine the talisman and the tiara. Players can also earn some Runecrafting experience from making a tiara, shown in the table below. Additionally, making a tiara does not have a Runecrafting level requirement.

Note: There is no astral tiara/talisman as the altar is found in the world, not in a special portal/zone.

Abyss
Players can also be teleported inside the ruins by using the Abyss, which does not need a tiara or a talisman to use. This is possibly the best way to craft your own runes. However, despite being much faster in many cases, players often choose not to use this route due to the risk of the Wilderness. Players travel to level 5 Wilderness to be teleported.

Crafting runes
When a player has entered the mysterious ruins, all they have to do is click on the altar. They will then craft all the essence they hold into a rune. .

Crafting multiple runes
As a player's runecrafting level increases, they can make more runes. However, they only earn experience based on the amount of essence they have. For example, a player may have only 1 essence in their inventory, but can make 2 air runes. They will only receive 5 experience, as they only used one essence. The number of runes made from the essence in a player's inventory in an action that gains a level is determined by the player's level before the runecrafting action, even if crafting the same amount of essence one piece at a time would yield more runes.

Law, Death, Blood, and Soul runes cannot be multicrafted.

Combination runes
Members have an extension to Runecrafting, which is the ability to combine two runes into one item.

To craft combination runes, a player needs to take existing runes that are one half of the combination, with a matching talisman (not a tiara), along with an equal amount of pure essence to the Altar which comprises the other half of the combination. Use the talisman for the existing runes on the altar, resulting in:

Normally when Runecrafting, there is a delay after clicking on the altar which restricts the player from performing any action for a couple seconds. When crafting combination runes this delay is lost, meaning you can empty pouches, and use teleports such as dueling rings immediately.
 * The talisman is consumed.
 * 50% success in making combination runes.

For 100% success, players can wear a 'Necklace of Binding' (enchanted emerald necklace), but this is only good for 16 uses. The runes made can often save inventory space when used for certain spells, including those in Ancient Magicks. Alternatively, the player may use the lunar spell Magic Imbue to make combination runes without using the opposing talisman. Using Necklaces of Binding and Magic Imbue to craft lava runes can yield the fastest Runecrafting experience in the game.

Players receive less experience at the lower-levelled altars. For example, making mist runes at the air altar will give 8 xp for each rune made, while the same runes at the water altar will give 8.5 xp for each rune made.

Rune running
A common method for training Runecrafting is by using rune runners. A runner is a player that changes noted essences into unnoted essence by converting them in a bank or a shop. At the appropriate altar, the runner trades the runecrafter changing unnoted essences for noted essences and some fee (usually coins or runes). The runecrafter increases the amount of essences processed and the runner gets a good reward.

The following are common worlds where runners are used are:
 * Nature running: Worlds 336 Most double nature runecrafters take unnoted essence for noted essences and more than the same amount of nature runes (or equivalent in coins).
 * Law running: World 341. Trade unnoted pure essence for noted essence and the same amount of law runes. On some worlds the scheme is bringing your own pure essence.

Tips

 * Using a ring of dueling while making fire runes and lava runes allows teleporting a short distance (less than 20 squares) from the fire altar entrance and quick banking via the Castle Wars teleport. Each ring will only last for four trips, but saves lots of time and run energy is greatly preferred compared to banking at the Duel Arena.
 * Players who have completed the hard Kandarin Diary unlock the ability to change their Camelot teleport location to Seers' Village, which is very close to the bank.
 * Players who have 99 crafting have unlimited teleports with their crafting cape to the Crafting Guild, which is the closest to a bank after completion of the hard Falador Diary.
 * Members find it more convenient to use pouches with them when mining essence or crafting runes. Pouches can be obtained by using The Abyss. When bank trips are short (e.g. using the Magic Guild), the overhead of handling the pouches negates the additional essence carrying capacity.
 * It is recommended that players mine a large amount of essence, bank them all, and then craft runes with 28 essence in their inventory each time. For example, a player should mine 28 essence, bank them, and go back to the mines and repeat until a sizable amount of essence has been banked. This method is faster than mining 28 essence and then crafting the runes. (For water and earth runes, the gain is unclear unless this technique is combined with teleportation between bank and altar, since those two altars are only slightly nearer to banks than to Rune essence mine teleport points.)

Weight reduction

 * When mining essence, players should be only carrying a pickaxe and essence pouches so that they can run longer.
 * All pickaxes mine Abyss shortcut at the same rate. The black pickaxe is the best pickaxe to use as it has a weight of 0 kg, although a bronze pickaxe can be used as a cheaper substitute especially if the player can reach 0 kg weight anyway.
 * Members should always wear the Boots of lightness. The boots can be obtained at the Temple of Ikov quest (the quest is not required to pick them up) and provide 4.5 kg of weight loss. These boots are enough to negate the weight of a pickaxe and/or Tiara and cost nothing to obtain.
 * With the appropriate Hunter level, players can wear a Spotted cape or Spottier cape to further reduce weight and increase their running duration.
 * Penance gloves from the Barbarian Assault minigame provide a 4.5 kg weight reduction.
 * Graceful clothing can be beneficial, but not always necessary since most players won't be carrying more than 4.5 kg worth of items.

Crafting Nature Runes
When crafting nature runes on southern Karamja, there are a number of ways to craft them, because the altar is so far from a bank. Possible ways to craft nature runes are:
 * 1) Have a large amount of noted essence and some money. Sell as much essence as the player's inventory can hold to the general store northwest of the altar, then buy them all back. The player can then go the nature altar and craft their runes and repeat. However, some other players may be doing the same thing, making players buy another player's essence.
 * 2) Some players use runners to bring them unnoted essence in exchange for noted essence, some cash and/or some runes.
 * 3) From Al-Kharid, travel north to the gnome glider. Ride the glider to the Grand Tree and then to Karamja. Travel northwest, cross the river via the log, and then head southwest to the nature altar. The player can then craft their runes. When they are done, they can use either a glory amulet to teleport to Al-Kharid or use a dueling ring to bank at Castle Wars and then teleport to the Duel Arena.
 * 4) Use The Abyss, using an Amulet of glory to teleport to Edgeville and bank there and then repeat, use the Edgeville dungeon teleport with Ancient Magicks, or teleport home and use a mounted amulet of glory.
 * 5) Move your house (construction skill) to Brimhaven. Teleport to home and run to nature altar.
 * 6) Use the fairy ring teleport system. From Edgeville run to ring across the river. At fairy ring central, use the CKR teleport to get close to the altar. Craft and use a teleport method to get back to Edgeville bank.
 * 7) Use the boat system to travel to Shipyard at Karamja. Run to the nature altar. Use Camelot teleport (normal spellbook) or Catherby teleport (Lunar spellbook) to bank and repeat.

Crafting Law runes
When crafting law runes on Entrana, there are a number of ways to craft them, because the altar is so far from a bank. Remember no weapons or armour of any kind are allowed here. Possible ways to craft law runes are:
 * 1) Walk from Draynor Village to Port Sarim. Board the boat. Craft and use glory amulet to return to Draynor. Have at least 10+ charged glories for this method.
 * 2) Use the Abyss method. Have at least 10+ charged glories for this method. This method isn't recommended because you can't use armour or weapons to protect against PKers and Abyss monsters. Also it limits the ways to get into the inner ring in the abyss.
 * 3) After doing the Enlightened Journey quest you can unlock the balloon route to/from Castle Wars. After this route is unlocked, it is one of the fastest and safest methods to craft Laws. You wear a Law tiara, a ring of dueling and weight saving gear. In the inventory, bring logs, pure essence and Pouches. The sequence then is: Castle Wars bank, Balloon ride to Entrana, walk to altar and craft runes, use a ring of dueling to teleport back to Castle Wars bank.
 * 4) Leave Entrana via the boat, then run to the Void Knight outpost boat and use the Void Knight outpost bank.

Weight-reducing outfit
This outfit will enable you to run for longer periods of time when runecrafting thus increasing your crafting rate. Possible items that can be worn:
 * Boots of lightness
 * Graceful outfit
 * Spotted cape or Spottier cape
 * Penance gloves (with 40 defence after barbarian assault mini-game)

In the Abyss this might be helpful, because of the many PKers that want your glory amulet.

Levels 1-9
Complete the Enter the Abyss miniquest which awards 1000 experience points OR craft 194 air runes (see above for Air altar location).

Levels 9-14
Craft 176 earth runes (see above for Earth Altar location).

Levels 14-44
Craft 7,649 fire runes (see above for altar location). You will be using the ring of dueling method, therefore you will require at least 69 rings of dueling. Wearing a fire tiara, teleport to the Duel Arena using your ring of dueling whilst having 28 rune essence or pure essence in your inventory. Run slightly north from the teleport location to the Fire altar. Craft your Fire runes. Then teleport to Castle Wars using your ring of dueling. Bank and repeat. If done properly, you can power level to 44 Runecrafting in as little as 3 hours.

Levels 44-54
Craft 10,581 nature runes (see above for Nature altar location).

Levels 54-65
Craft 31,427 law runes (see above for Law altar location).

Levels 65-77
Craft 102,616 death runes (see above for Death altar location).

Levels 44-82
Craft nature runes via the abyss. It is good money, and you will always be ahead in money than someone who powerlevels with lava runes to 82/91 before they start making money, because by the time they break even you will already be close enough to 82/91 to maintain your vast gap in gp. Continue to craft nature runes until 82, or 91 if you do not wish to complete Lunar Diplomacy, though it is highly recommended as double astrals at 82 are almost twice the gp/hr than single natures and 25% more xp/hr.

Levels 82-91
This method requires completion of Lunar Diplomacy, the use of Moonclan Teleport as well as the ring of dueling to bank at Castle Wars for more efficiency. The maximum experience per hour that has been achieved is 35k. Use 400k pure essence to craft 800k astral runes.

Levels 91-99
For maximum profit, craft nature runes via the abyss. This is highly recommended as the gp/h is so high it will allow you to use the most efficient methods of leveling other skills known as "buyables".

For maximum xp/hr at the expense of no profit, stand at the altar on world 336, and trade other players nature runes for essence.

Quests

 * The Eyes of Glouphrie (no Runecrafting requirement) - 6000 experience
 * Devious Minds (requires level 50 Runecrafting) - 5000 experience
 * Lunar Diplomacy (requires level 14 Runecrafting) - 5000 experience
 * Slug Menace (requires level 30 Runecrafting) - 3500 experience
 * What Lies Below (requires level 35 Runecrafting) - 8000 experience

Miniquests

 * Enter the Abyss (no Runecrafting requirement other than Rune Mysteries) - 1000 experience

Temporary boosts
There are two boosts available to members. None of these boosts stack:
 * For up to +5, players may eat orange spicy stews from Evil Dave to get a random boost between -5 to +5.
 * For +1, at level 99, players can wear and operate the Runecraft cape.
 * Talking to Oldak in Dorgesh-Kaan may raise or lower a players runecrafting level by up to two points.