Pay-to-play Runecrafting training

The massive profits and convenient perks of the skill draws many to Runecrafting. The amount of money that a player (especially those who use Magic extensively) can both save and make honing this skill is nearly unmatched. However, the amount of long and tedious work that goes into leveling up this skill drives many players away from it, leaving those with the required patience to reap great rewards.

The significant milestones in Runecrafting are:
 * Level 25 – Five more essence per trip.
 * Level 27 – Cosmic runes.
 * Level 40 – Astral runes
 * Level 44 – Nature runes.
 * Level 50 – Eight more essence per trip.
 * Level 54 – Law runes.
 * Level 59 – Two Cosmic runes per essence.
 * Level 75 – Eleven more essence per trip, resulting in an experience per hour boost of approximately 20 percent (via most methods).
 * Level 77 – Blood runes.
 * Level 82 – Two Astral runes per essence.
 * Level 90 – Soul runes.
 * Level 91 – Two Nature runes per essence.

Pouches
One of the best ways to maximise your Runecrafting experience and profit per hour involve using pouches. Pouches allow you to craft more runes per each run because they can be filled with rune/pure essence and then emptied to add the rune or pure essence back into your inventory. They can be repaired in the Abyss by talking to the Dark Mage located in the inner ring. While the Small pouch will never decay, any pouch larger than it will decay so it is highly recommended that you go and repair your pouches once they stop carrying additional essence. Failure to replace your pouches will lead to you having to get new ones from the Abyssal monsters as pouches will eventually vanish upon decay.

The following pouches are available for use:
 * A Small pouch (carries 3 additional essence, obtainable through the Enter the Abyss miniquest)
 * A Medium pouch (carries 6 additional essence, obtainable in the Abyss, can be used upon reaching level 25 runecrafting)
 * A Large pouch (carries 9 additional essence, obtainable in the Abyss, can be used upon reaching level 50 runecrafting)
 * A Giant pouch (carries 12 additional essence, obtainable in the Abyss, can be used upon reaching level 75 runecrafting)

Note that it is possible to acquire these pouches by killing the abyssal creatures prior to attaining the required Runecrafting levels; however, players will not be able to store essence inside of them unless the Runecrafting level requirement is met.

Gear
Equipping the following items prior to Runecrafting is recommended as they will reduce your carrying weight in order to lengthen the amount of time you can run.
 * Boots of lightness (Obtained from the cellar in the Temple of Ikov)
 * Spottier cape (requires Hunter level of 66)
 * Penance gloves (requires 40 Defence and completion of Barbarian Assault minigame)
 * The Graceful outfit earned from Marks of grace while doing rooftop agility courses.
 * While the above items are helpful in reducing the weight you carry so that you can run for longer, they are not at all required. Stamina potions can be used at a bank to recover and reduce your energy drain. Alternatively, you can level your Agility to allow for faster energy regeneration, which means fewer potions needed in between trips.
 * Black pickaxe if using the Abyss. This is the lightest pickaxe in the game, weighing in at 0kg.

Abyss Runecrafting
The Abyss is the most common place for people to train Runecrafting, since for most altars it's the fastest way to get to it from a bank. Before you can enter the Abyss, you will need to complete the Enter the Abyss mini-quest. You should maximise Defence against the Abyss creatures (Magic-based melee attacks) and still weigh 0kg. Your Runecrafting success in the Abyss is based on your respective level (as well as having the appropriate tool) used to clear an obstacle to get to the inner ring. Your Agility and Mining level are most commonly tested, since it's a high chance that you will teleport in close to either of the two obstacles requiring them.

Gear
Gear up with a D'hide body, Graceful legs, Spottier cape, Boots of lightness, Black pickaxe (to clear the Mining obstacle), charged amulet of glory and Ring of dueling.

Banking
A good layout would be to put your Essence in the top right and, next to them, Stamina potions. This makes your banking more efficient, especially if you don't use mousekeys.

Inventory
Your inventory should consist of your pouches and your Essence. Do not take potions with you on the trips as it will lower your experience and gold per hour. Try drinking while filling your pouches. For maximum efficiency, place the pouches on the second row from the bottom so your cursor is over the popup option "Empty pouch" when right-clicked at an altar.

Strategy
When running through the Abyss, maximizing both experience and profit per hour is crucial to your success. Follow these steps to earn you the most profit in the fastest time possible. After banking, click east or north of the bank. Clicking west or northwest will result in your character running to the door you entered from which makes you lose 1 or 2 ticks. After you exit the bank, click along the western wall of the men building. Clicking inside if it is closed is fine, if the door is open you will start running inside. After that, click on the ditch and then north 6-8 tiles then northeast until you hit the northern end of River Lum (which then becomes a tunnel to Black chinchompas). When you reach the water you should have already right clicked the teleport option on the Zamorak Mage. Upon entering the Abyss, click north. 80% of the time you will have to go north first. Spot the closest obstacle (always Mining or Agility); this is where the skills come in. Your success rate for an obstacle is practically your Level/99, and at 99 you never fail. After entering, click in the direction of your rift (Altar), then right when you enter it make sure you are already clicking on where the altar is. Right-click your pouch which should be on the fifth row in your inventory and lower it to empty, having a pouch in the same column one slot lower will line up the click for that one to empty by just right-clicking then left-clicking it. Make sure when you're crafting the second-third batch of runes you have right-clicked your Glory amulet to teleport to Edgeville without wasting ticks, That way you can also see before you're able to teleport if your amulet is charged, or if you need to teleport to Castle wars with a Ring of dueling if it isn't. After teleporting to Edgeville, click right in the bank and then right-click the banker to skip the dialogue and directly access your bank. Clicking this way will save you 1 tick instead of walking the last tile to the bank booth.

Any level - Arceuus: Book/Dark Manuscript Finding (Free/Optional XP)
To start gaining free Runecrafting XP, visit the Arceuus House Library and begin by clicking the "Help" option on any of the 3 NPCs (Sam, Professor Gracklebone, or Villia) that wander around the Bottom Floor of the Library. They will ask you to get a certain book, if you go to the Top Floor's Northern areas, You will find Biblia wandering around as well. Ask Biblia for advice on where to search the Library for the book. If you successfully find the book you were asked to find and deliver it to the customer, you will be given a Book of arcane knowledge, which can be read for Magic or Runecrafting XP. This new method of gaining Runecrafting XP is completely free, but can consume time.

Levels 1-9/14/20 – Air runes

 * Air altar route.png To start off do the Rune Mysteries quest.

If you do the Abyss miniquest immediately after talking to Wizard Sedridor to complete Rune Mysteries, the 1,000 Runecrafting experience reward given by the miniquest will get you from zero experience to level 9 Runecrafting, allowing you to bypass air, mind, and water Runecrafting. It will take you right away to Earth runes (level 9).

An optional way to skip Runecrafting levels, is completing The Eyes of Glouphrie quest which gives you a 6000 Runecrafting experience reward and doesn't require a Runecrafting level. This allows you to start off with level 23 Runecrafting and crafting Body runes (level 20). However, this quest does require 46 Magic, 5 Construction and The Grand Tree quest.

If you can't do the Abyss miniquest or the optional quest, the only way you can train is by crafting air runes, which grants 5 Runecrafting experience per Rune essence or Pure essence used (140 exp for an inventory of 28). The air altar is 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 ess per inventory): 7

Levels 9-14/20 – Earth runes
Starting at level 9, it is advised you craft Earth runes at the Earth altar, which is just north east of Varrock, near the Sawmill. Crafting earth runes grants 6.5 experience per rune essence or pure essence used (195 exp for an inventory of 30). 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, Alternatively you may use the Lumberyard teleport scroll to teleport right next to the Earth altar for faster exp, using Rings of dueling to teleport to Castle wars to bank. Earth runes are handy runes to have, required if you come across any earth based spells. Selling earth runes may prove to be a greater advantage to you than actually saving them, but that is completely up to the player.


 * Experience needed (9-14): 1,138
 * Rune essence needed: 176
 * № of inventories (30 ess per inventory): 6

Levels 14-20/44 – Fire runes
At level 14, it is best to craft fire runes, which grant 7 experience per rune essence or pure essence used (210 experience for an inventory of 30). The fire altar is west of the Duel Arena north of Al Kharid. It is close to Faldi's chest bank by the arena, but if you have the money, the fastest method to level 44 is to use ring of dueling to teleport to Castle Wars, and withdraw essence from the bank. Then use the ring to teleport to the Duel Arena. Run north to the altar, craft the runes, then teleport back to Castle Wars using the ring. With rings of dueling rarely costing more than 1,100gp, buying enough of them to get from 14 to 44 would cost less than 70,400 (64 rings x 1,100gp per ring).

Fire runes are also very useful for a wide variety of spells, so it may be a good idea to hold onto them in case you wish to train your Magic later on, but once again, that is all up to you.


 * Experience needed (14-20): 2,363
 * Rune essence needed: 338
 * № of inventories (30 ess per inventory): 12

Levels 20-23/27/35/44 – Body runes
Once you reach level 20, you are now able to craft body runes, which grant 7.5 experience per rune essence or pure essence used (225 exp for an inventory of 30). Body runes are useful for a number of spells, such as "Confuse" or "Weaken" in the normal spellbook, often used for low-intensity Magic training, also known as "Splashing", along with two higher level spells in the Lunar spellbook. They are also used in the Necromancy Spellbook for Ensouled Head Prayer XP Training. Note: Due to their limited use, these runes are less commonly traded between players. However, they give plenty of experience and are the highest level runes that free players are able to craft. With this being said, taking into account the distance from the bank (which is the Edgeville bank) and the amount of experience from each rune (7.5 experience per rune crafted), this is a very good way to level up Runecrafting for low level/free to play players.


 * Experience needed (20-27): 5,260
 * Rune essence needed: 702
 * № of inventories (30 ess per inventory): 24

Levels 23-27/35/44/54/59/65/82/91/99 - Lava runes
Lava Runecrafting, compared to other training methods, is faster but far more costly to train, granting up to 72k experience per hour at absolute maximum commitment. Due to the click intensive process this method involves, players may be more likely to see rates closer to 60k per hour.

For the best experience, players will need level 82 Magic and completion of Lunar Diplomacy to cast the spell Magic Imbue, which negates the need for a talisman in combination runecrafting.

Players should use a ring of dueling and binding necklace to teleport close to the fire altar and ensuring lava runes are crafted 100% of the time.

Levels 13-23/27/35/44/54/59/65/82/91/99 - Mud runes
Mud Runecrafting is the fastest way of getting experience before you are able to craft lava runes. Above that mud runes yield the best profit till at least Runecrafting 27. The average price for mud runes is 180 per rune, but it is highly unstable and can be anywhere between 120 to 250 gp per rune.

Tips:
 * Always remember to take a binding necklace with you when crafting combination runes.
 * If you have access to the balloon transport system, you might want to shorten the trip by using a ring of dueling and a willow log to quickly move between Castle Wars and the altar.
 * The profit of Mud runes highly outweighs the expenses of your binding necklace and transportation.
 * On the best days you might be able to make 5k per inventory of mud runes, this is after subtracting the costs of a talisman, binding necklace and ring of dueling.

Levels 27-35/44 – Cosmic runes
Players with a Runecrafting level of at least 27 who have completed the Lost City quest are able to craft cosmic runes, which grant 8 experience per pure essence used (280 experience for an inventory of 35). Cosmic runes are a very good source of experience, but require the completion of the Lost City quest and the distance from the Cosmic altar to the bank is a bit further than the Body Altar and the Edgeville bank. Another option is to use the quest point cape to teleport to a fairy ring to get to the altar faster. This method takes about 58 seconds if you bank at Edgeville using an Amulet of glory. There are two shortcuts to the altar, one at 46 Agility and one at 66; these make the trip quite a bit shorter.


 * Experience needed (27-44): 45,919
 * Pure essence needed: 5,740
 * № of inventories (35 ess per inventory): 164

Levels 35-44 - Chaos runes
At level 35, players can now craft Chaos runes, which grant 8.5 experience per Pure essence used (297.5 exp for an inventory of 35). They are involved in the majority of attack spells and can yield great profits as well. However, if you're in it just for the Runecrafting experience, then this method may not be the most efficient for you. If you do however wish to use the Chaos altar, it is advised that you use the Abyss, as it will save you the hassle of going through the 3 level "maze" of the Chaos temple every time you wish to craft Chaos runes. Additionally, it would take 9-12 hours collectively depending on how much you are able to run to reach level 44 if the maze is consistantly used.

Levels 44-54/65/75/82/99 – Nature runes
Players with a Runecrafting level of at least 44 are able to craft nature runes, which grant 9 experience per pure essence used (315 exp for an inventory of 35). Nature runes are a quick and useful way to level up your Runecrafting level. At maximum commitment, players will gain about 27k experience per hour.

The runes are involved in a numerous amount of extremely useful spells (in terms of spells used to level up your Magic level quickly). The Nature altar is located in Karamja, north of Shilo Village. Since these runes are highly sought after, Runecrafting nature runes is a beneficial and profitable way to level up, and it is highly recommended you sell the runes if you have no intention of using them soon. Unless you have people running pure essence to you outside the nature altar, this will not be the fastest method for crafting Nature runes.

The fastest method for crafting Nature runes involves completing the Enter the Abyss miniquest and entering the Abyss. After completing Enter the Abyss, the Mage of Zamorak (Located in the Southern Wilderness mining site north of Edgeville) will teleport you to the Abyss upon right clicking him. Once in the void, you will instantly become skulled and lose all of your prayer points so this method is not recommended for low-level players as there are monsters up to level 81 inside.

The basic process for Abyss Nature crafting involves starting at the Edgeville bank. You will want to equip a Black pickaxe (The lightest pickaxe ingame) or a Mithril pickaxe (second lightest), an amulet of glory (6) or (4), it is also recommended to wear the best equippable dragonhide armour along with Boots of Lightness, spottier cape, and graceful hood/gloves. Once these items are equipped, withdraw as much pure essence as you can into your inventory including any extra essence you can add with the pouches you are able to use. Run north to the mining site in the wilderness and teleport to the Abyss, once you enter you must quickly find an entrance to the middle ring by running around the sides looking for either a chute to jump through or a rock to mine. Higher Agility/Mining levels will increase your chances at successfully getting into the ring. If you don't successfully mine or make your way through a chute, keep left clicking them to avoid getting killed by the abyssal creatures. Once you have made your way to the middle ring you can now run to the Nature altar entrance and instantly be teleported there. Once you create your Nature runes use your amulet of glory to teleport back to Edgeville and start the process again. It would be wise to obtain a few extra amulets of glory to make this method as prolonged as possible (20 amulets would cost around 660k - you can sell them back at around the same price when you need money or take a pause from Runecrafting), and get 10 Construction and complete Heroes' Quest so you can teleport to your house in Taverley when they need to be charged in the fountain below Heroes' Guild.


 * Experience needed (44-54): 95,223
 * Pure essence needed: 10,581
 * № of inventories (35 ess per inventory): 303

Levels 54-59/65/82/91 – Law runes
Players with a Runecrafting level of at least 54 are able to craft law runes, which grant 9.5 experience per pure essence used (408.5 experience for an inventory of 43). At this point you should be using the abyss system with a way to teleport to Edgeville, via either house or glory. Another efficient method is using the balloon transport system from Castle Wars to Entrana, take a regular log to fuel the balloon. After crafting your laws teleport back to Castle Wars using your Ring of Duelling and repeat. The Law altar is located on Entrana, so when using the law altar make sure you don't have anything equipped because otherwise you won't be allowed in through the portal in the Abyss. However, players can still use bronze pickaxes and drop them prior to entering the portal. Players using the balloon transport system are advised to click straight north upon arriving at Entrana, as this will result in the pathfinder generating a path to run all around the island, which can be then be cancelled after crossing the bridge to get to the law altar.
 * Must have completed Troll Stronghold

Note: Compared to nature runes, law runes only give 0.5 more experience per rune crafted. However, one law rune generally sells for at least 50gp less than one nature rune.
 * Experience needed (54-59): 97,014
 * Pure essence needed: 10,212
 * № of inventories (43 ess per inventory): 238

Levels 59-65/82/91 – Double cosmic runes
At level 59, you can create two cosmic runes per pure essence. This method results in reasonable profit and decent experience. Another option is to use the quest point cape to teleport to a fairy ring to get to the altar faster. This method takes about 58 seconds if you bank at Edgeville using an Amulet of glory. Profit can be increased by using the best shortcut (requires 66 Agility) and by using a giant pouch (requires 75 Runecrafting).


 * Experience needed (59-82): 2,173,201
 * Pure essence needed: 271,651
 * № of inventories (43 ess per inventory): 6,318
 * Total profit (59-82):

Levels 65-77/82/91
At level 65, you may switch to death runes (assuming that you have completed the Mourning's Ends Part II quest), which grant 10 experience per pure essence used (430 exp for an inventory of 43). The Death altar will let you craft death runes using a talisman or a created tiara.

Levels 65+ - Death tiaras
At level 65, if you have completed Mourning's End Part II, you can run through the abyss like you normally would, however, bring 14 Death talisman and 14 Tiaras. By clicking on the Talisman then the Death altar, you gain 50 experience each time. Starting at the Edgeville Bank, it takes approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds to run to the abyss and enter the death altar then make 14 death tiaras. You gain 700xp for making 14 Death Tiaras, so it is around 28,000xp per hour. It should be noted that this method costs you a significant amount of money (May not be profitable) and is mainly for gaining larger amounts of experience per run or using less amounts of items (Example: Using 2,000 tiaras instead of 100,000 essence).

Levels 77-90 - Blood runes
At 77 runecrafting you can create blood runes which yield 23.8xp per Dark essence fragment. At best, a player can gain up to 40k experience per hour. To craft blood runes, players must gain 100% favour with the Arceuus House in Great Kourend.

In order to craft blood runes via the Abyss, players must use a dark essence block on the blood rift before being able to use it permanently.

In order to create dark essence fragments, players must first mine Dense essence blocks from the Dense essence mine (granting 12 mining and 8 crafting xp per block), then use the blocks on the Dark Altar (granting 2.5 runecrafting xp per block). Then, players must use a chisel on the Dark essence block to create dark essence fragments (granting 8 crafting xp per block chiseled). Players can stack up to 108 "charges" on the fragment before crafting runes.

Because the essence blocks are untradeable, players must mine and craft their own dark essence fragments. From 77-99 runecrafting, players can expect to gain about 1165k and 1524k mining and crafting experience, respectively if solely crafting blood runes from 77-90 and immediately moving on to soul runes at 90.

Levels 90-99 - Soul runes
At 90 runecrafting, you can create soul runes which yield 29.75xp per Dark essence fragment. At best, a player can gain up to 44-45k experience per hour. To craft soul runes, players must gain 100% favour with the Arceuus House in Great Kourend.

In order to craft soul runes via the Abyss, players must use a dark essence block on the soul rift before being able to use it permanently.

In order to create dark essence fragments, players must first mine Dense essence blocks from the Dense essence mine (granting 12 mining and 8 crafting xp per block), then use the blocks on the Dark Altar (granting 2.5 runecrafting xp per block). Then, players must use a chisel on the Dark essence block to create dark essence fragments (granting 8 crafting xp per block chiseled). Players can stack up to 208 "charges" on the fragment before crafting runes.

Because the essence blocks are untradeable, players must mine and craft their own dark essence fragments. From 77-99 runecrafting, players can expect to gain about 1165k and 1524k mining and crafting experience, respectively if solely crafting blood runes from 77-90 and immediately moving on to soul runes at 90.

Levels 82-91 – Double astral runes
At level 82, you can create two astral runes per pure essence. Many players choose this method because it is almost the same income as double nature runes, far more exp/h (up to 35k per hour at maximum), and far safer. While doing this, make sure you use an earth staff and have unlocked the Tele Group Moonclan spell. After banking (4 pouches for the best xp/h), run south and click over the river, the pathfinder will find the most efficient path for you to get to the bridge and usually you will only waste 1 tick running east. Finally, wear a rune kiteshield/blessed spirit shield/dragonfire shield/toktz-ket-xil/crystal shield (i) because suqah can hit very accurately against players who are not wearing any armour, or just prayer flick at the bridge. After runecrafting, use a dueling ring to bank at castle wars, for a tremendous increase in xp/h. Also, having a rune pouch will give you a distinct advantage. This can be bought from the bounty hunter store for 1,200,000 points, and it will hold up to 16k of any three rune type. Using a dust battlestaff with law, cosmic, and astrals in the rune pouch is the best way to negate the need to take out any runes to teleport back to moonclan, and NPC contact. Once you teleport to castle wars, store your astrals in your rune pouch while running to the bank chest.

If using the method of teleporting to Castle Wars to bank, and group teleport back to Moonclan method, the profit will be:
 * Experience needed (82-91): 3,481,744
 * Pure essence needed: 400,201
 * № of inventories (54 ess per inventory): 7,412
 * Total profit (82-91):

Levels 91-99 – Double nature runes
At level 91 you can create two nature runes per pure essence used. Many players choose to train Runecrafting to 99 using this method due to the massive profit that it yields. Training Runecrafting from level 91 to level 99 using this method requires 792,400 pure essence and yields 1,584,800 nature runes, which can be sold for tremendous profit.


 * Experience needed (91-99): 7,131,600
 * Pure essence needed: 792,400
 * № of inventories (54 ess per inventory): 14,675
 * Total profit (91-99):