Free-to-play Runecrafting training

Levels 1-9/14/20 – Air runes
In free-to-play, the only way to begin training Runecrafting is by crafting air runes, which grants 5 Runecrafting experience per rune essence used (140 experience for an inventory of 28). The air altar is located just south of Falador, with a bank close by. Keep in mind that in Old School RuneScape, unlike in RuneScape 3, the air altar is not located west of Varrock. You will end up with a decent amount of air runes, which you may then sell, or retain for your own personal use. Continue to craft air runes until you reach level 9, at which point it is best to move on to crafting earth runes.


 * Experience needed (1-9): 969
 * Rune essence needed: 194
 * № of inventories (28 essence per inventory): 7

Levels 9-14/20 – Earth runes
Players with a Runecrafting level of at least 9 are able to craft earth runes, which grant 6.5 experience per rune essence used (182 experience for an inventory of 28). The earth altar is located north-east of Varrock, near the sawmill. The distance between the altar and bank is a brisk walk away, so you can gather a great portion of experience in a short amount of time. You will accumulate a decent amount of earth runes, which you may sell or retain as you see fit.


 * Experience needed (9-14): 1,138
 * Rune essence needed: 176
 * № of inventories (28 ess per inventory): 7

Levels 14-20 – Fire runes
At level 14, it is best to craft fire runes, which grant 7 experience per rune essence used (196 exp for an inventory of 28). The fire altar is located west of the Duel Arena north of Al Kharid. The closest bank is Faldi's chest bank by the arena. You will accumulate a decent amount of fire runes, which you may sell or retain as you see fit. (Due to the farther bank distance fire runes result in less experience per hour)


 * Experience needed (14-20): 2,363
 * Rune essence needed: 338
 * № of inventories (28 ess per inventory): 12

Levels 20-99 – Body runes
Players with a Runecrafting level of at least 20 are able to craft body runes, which grant 7.5 experience per rune essence used (210 experience for an inventory of 28). Body runes are useful for a number of spells, such as Confuse and Weaken, which are often used for low-intensity Magic training. Body runes are the highest level runes that free-to-play players are able to craft and crafting them grants the highest possible Runecrafting experience per gp for free-to-play players. You will accumulate a huge amount of body runes, which you may sell or retain as you see fit.

From levels 20 to 45, one body rune will be created per essence used. From levels 46 to 91, two body runes will be created per essence used. From level 92 onwards, three body runes will be created per essence used.


 * Experience needed (20-99): 13,029,961
 * Rune essence needed: 1,737,329
 * Body runes created: 4,335,146
 * № of inventories (28 ess per inventory): 62,048

Levels 1-99 – Water tiaras
Players with a Runecrafting level of 1 are able to craft water tiaras, which grant 30 experience per tiara and water talisman used (419 + 1 experience for an inventory of 14 each). Water tiaras are the most cost efficient tiaras that free-to-play players are able to craft and crafting them grants the 4th highest possible Runecrafting experience per hour for free-to-play players. You will accumulate a huge amount of water tiaras, which you should sell on the grand exchange.


 * Experience needed (1-99): 13,034,431
 * Tiaras needed: 434,333
 * Water talismans needed: 434,333
 * Water tiaras created: 434,333
 * № of inventories (14 tiaras and 14 talismans per inventory): 31,035

Levels 1/5/14-99 – While collecting resources
A good way to train runecrafting is by crafting air/water/fire runes while performing other actions. Air runes can easily be crafted in between runs mining Gold ore in the Crafting Guild, or collecting Limpwurt root at the Hobgoblins near the crafting guild. Water runes could be crafted in between mining Coal at the West Lumbridge Swamp mine. Fire runes could be crafted in between mining at the Al Kharid mine.

Because this method adds minimal amounts of time to your planned activities and only costs 1 inventory spot for the trip back, it is a great way to combine a resource-collecting task with runecrafting, which greatly reduces the net time spent on runecrafting.


 * Experience needed (1/5/14-99): 13,034,431 / 13,034,093 / 13,032,324
 * Rune essence needed: 2,606,887 / 2,172,406 / 1,862,062
 * № of inventories (28 essence per inventory): 93,104 / 77,586 / 66,503