Runecrafting Guide

Introduction

Although there are no quest requirements to unlock Runecrafting, it is suggested that you complete the Rune Mysteries quest, as this unlocks helpful elements to the skill. It's a fairly easy quest, and you'll most likely be able to complete it quickly. This skill doesn't require many tools - all you need is a pickaxe (any kind will do), and the talisman of the rune you want to craft. The locations of the Talismans and Altars are provided later in this guide.

To start, you'll have to mine (or purchase) some rune essence. You can only do this in the special Runecrafting mine. Rune essence mines are unlocked upon completing the Rune Mysteries quest. To get to these mines, you'll either have to go mine some in the Lunar Isle dungeon, or be teleported by one of the following people:

  • Wizard Sedridor on the lower level of the Wizard Tower South of Draynor Village.
  • Aubury in the rune shop in Varrock, just South of the East Bank.
  • Wizard Cromperty in East Ardougne, just to the north-east of the Marketplace.
  • Wizard Distentor in the Wizards' Guild in Yanille.
  • Carwen Essencebinder in the rune shop in Burthorpe, directly east of the Burthorpe Agility course.
  • The gnome Brimstail in a cave in the Tree Gnome Stronghold (North west of Ardougne). To find his cave, head north-west in the Stronghold until you see a small bridge on the West side of the Stronghold. Brimstail's cave is inside a large hollow rock a little to the East of that bridge.
pic

Once you get teleported you'll find yourself in a cave-like mining area. You'll see lots of rocks, some of which you can mine. You can figure out which ones can be mined by moving your cursor over the rocks, or by right-clicking your mouse. When you find a rock that can be mined, you can get some rune essence. Once you've gotten the amount of essence you want, look for the portal to leave the mining area. There is a portal in each corner of the rune essence mine. You can bank your essence then go back for more, or go straight to the Altar to convert them into runes.

The kind of rune essence you'll mine depends on your member status and your mining level. If you're not a member, or if you're a member but have a mining level lower than 30, you'll mine normal rune essence. However, if you're a member with a mining level of at least 30, you'll mine pure essence. Pure essence can be used to craft any rune, while normal rune essence will only allow you to craft mind, body, air, water, earth and fire runes. Note that if the guide tells you to bring rune essence, you can safely assume that bringing pure essence works, too. You earn 5 xp Mining per essence.

If you're a little too lazy to mine the essence yourself or can't be bothered, you can buy both pure and rune essence from other players or the Grand Exchange. Also, a number of low level monsters drop noted rune or pure essence. For a list of these monsters, simply search our Bestiary by entering the words "rune essence" or "pure essence" in the Bestiary's Keywords field and then clicking the Search button.

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Talismans

When you finish the Rune Mysteries Quest, you will receive an air talisman as a reward. Talismans are used to enter the runecrafting altar where you change your rune essence into runes. So when you get that first talisman, can you guess what kind of runes you can make? That's right! The air talisman allows you to enter the Air altar, where can make your very own air runes! To make other kinds of runes, you need the talisman the rune corresponds to, and the level to craft them.

You won't find any talismans just lying around Runescape, though. There are a couple of ways to get them, but the easiest and most popular way is to kill monsters. Some talismans are easy to get, while others are extremely hard to get. Here's a table of which monsters you can kill to get the different talismans.

  • All Abyssal monsters drop several different types of Talismans. See the Abyss section of this guide for more info.
Talismans
Pic Name Some monsters that drop
Air Talisman Air Air wizards, Goblins, Wizards, Abyssal Leeches, Corpse Archers, Corpse Mages
Mind Talisman Mind Imps, Wizards and Dark Wizards
Water Talisman Water Waterfiends, Water wizards, Wizards and Dark Wizards
Earth Talisman Earth Earth wizards, Men, Women, Wizards, Dark Wizards, Al Kharid Warriors, Rogues, Lesser Demons and Greater Demons
Fire Talisman Fire Fire wizards, Skeletons, Wizards, and Dark Wizards
Body Talisman Body Guards, Wizards, Dark Wizards, Hill Giants, and Desert, Jungle, and Ice Strykwyrms
Cosmic Talisman Cosmic Lesser Demons, Ice Giants, Dagannoth, and Turoth. Also obtainable from caskets when big-net fishing.
Chaos Talisman Chaos Hobgoblins, Skeletons, Ice Warriors, Shadow Warriors, Black Knights, Lesser Demons, Hill Giants, Fire Giants, and Moss Giants
Nature Talisman Nature Hobgoblins, Jogres, Moss Giants, Fire Giants, Green Dragons
Law Talisman Law Battle Tortoises, Terrorbirds, Ghouls, Guards, Paladins and Abyssal Leech, Guardians, and Walkers
Death Talisman Death Reward for completing the Mourning's End Part II Quest. Also dropped by Dark Beasts.
Blood Talisman Blood Reward for completing the Legacy of Seergaze quest. Also a reward from burning Vyrewatch.
Elemental Talisman
Elemental Talisman There is an additional talisman which is only dropped by Abyssal monsters within the Abyss. The Elemental Talisman can be used to access any of the four Elemental Altars - Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. Unfortunately, it cannot be crafted into a tiara, nor can it be used for producing combination runes.
Omni Talisman The ultimate talisman can only be obtained by playing the Great Orb Project minigame, which requires level 50 Runecrafting. The Omni Talisman can be used to access all of the runecrafting Altars. It can also be crafted into a tiara, or into a staff. Please refer to our Great Orb Project Guide for more details on purchasing this handy reward.
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Tiaras

A Tiara serves the same purpose as a Talisman, it will allow you to access a Runecrafting Altar. The advantage is that you can wear it on your head instead of holding it and so you save an extra space in your inventory, allowing you to Runecraft more runes per trip. A basic Tiara is crafted from one silver bar, see our crafting guide. You can then enchant this to allow you to access the altar of your choice.

To enchant a Tiara, take a Talisman to its altar. The altar locations are listed here. With a tiara in your pack, use the Talisman on the altar where you normally craft runes; the tiara and the Talisman will bind together. You will lose your Talisman, but now you have a very useful piece of headgear. The different Tiaras are shown below as well as the Runecrafting experience you receive when you make them.

Tiaras
Pic Tiara Exp
Air Tiara Air 25
Mind Tiara Mind 27.5
Water Tiara Water 30
Earth Tiara Earth 32.5
Fire Tiara Fire 35
Body Tiara Body 37.5
Cosmic Tiara Cosmic 40
Chaos Tiara Chaos 42.5
Nature Tiara Nature 45
Law Tiara Law 47.5
Death Tiara Death 50
Blood Tiara Blood 52.5
Omni-tiara Omni None
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Altars

So now you have some rune essence and a talisman. The next step is to find the altar. The talisman not only looks pretty cool, it's also a compass. Each talisman has been designed to find the altar to which it belongs. This means that the air talisman will find the Air Altar for you, the Chaos Talisman will lead you to the Chaos Altar, and so on. To use the compass feature, right-click on the talisman and select the "locate" option. The talisman will tell you in which direction to walk to get to the Altar. Keep using the "locate" option until you arrive at the Altar.

When you arrive at the "Mysterious Ruins" that house the Altar, use your talisman on the ruins by right-clicking on the talisman and selecting "Use talisman". Then click on the ruins. Doing this will teleport you inside to the Altar. When you're inside, walk towards the middle to find the Altar. When you find the Altar, click on it to convert all the blank essence in your inventory into runes. This does not work with rune noted essence - so be sure you have actual rune essence with you to make your runes. Also, note that in order to make cosmic or higher level runes, or combination runes, you'll need to use pure essence. When you're done, find the exit portal and enter it. You'll be teleported back outside.

For those of you that need help in finding the Altars, or if you prefer not to find them on your own using the talisman, the chart below provides the location of each Altar:

Name Location Map
Air Altar East of Barbarian Village and South of the Cooking Guild near the river. Click here to see a map of the area.
Mind Altar Between Goblin Village and Dwarven Mountain. Just North of the crater where the Bandos tower once stood, and just South of the wilderness wall. Click here to see a map of the area.
Water Altar Lumbridge Swamps, near the Lost City Portal. Click here to see a map of the area.
Earth Altar North-east of Varrock, near the Jolly Boar Inn. Click here to see a map of the area.
Fire Altar Al Kharid desert, South of the mining area. Click here to see a map of the area.
Body Altar South of the Monastery, between Barbarian Village and Dwarven Mountain. Click here to see a map of the area.
Cosmic Altar Southern part of Lost City. Click here to see a map of the area.
Chaos Altar Wilderness level 9, South of the Dark Warriors Castle. Click here for a map of the maze Click here to see a map of the area.
Astral Altar South-east corner of Lunar Isle, which is accessible after completing the Lunar Diplomacy quest. Click here to see a map of the area.
Nature Altar North of Shilo Village, in Karamja Jungle. Click here to see a map of the area.
Law Altar Northern part of Entrana. Click here to see a map of the area.
Death Altar Mourning's End Part II temple, bottom floor. Click here to see a map of the area.
Blood Altar Meiyerditch Caverns. Click here to see a map of the area.
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The Runes

The Runes
Pic Name RuneCrafting level RuneCrafting exp
Air Rune Air 1 5
Mind Rune Mind 1 5.5
Water Rune Water 5 6
Earth Rune Earth 9 6.5
Fire Rune Fire 14 7
Body Rune Body 20 7.5
Cosmic Rune Cosmic 27 8
Chaos Rune Chaos 35 8.5
Astral Rune Astral 40 8.7
Nature Rune Nature 44 9
Law Rune Law 54 9.5
Death Rune Death 65 10
Armadyl Rune Armadyl* 72 10
Blood Rune Blood 77 10.5

Armadyl runes* can only be crafted after the Ritual of the Mahjarrat quest. The rune is crafted at the Air altar from one Dust of armadyl and one pure essence. The number of runes made is identical to the number of air runes that you can normally make from one essence (see below).

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Multiple runes per essence

As your Runecrafting level increases, you'll be able to craft more than 1 rune per essence. After the required level to craft a rune or number of runes per essence (i.e. Nature runes at level 44), you will have a chance of crafting more runes per essence up to the levels listed in the table below. For example, you will craft between 1 and 2 airs per essence from 1-11 Runecraft, and after 11 Runecraft, you will craft between 2 and 3 airs per essence, increasing towards 3 as your level increases. For levels like 91 Runecraft and above, for which there is no ability to craft more multiple Nature runes per essence, you will receive 2 Nature runes for every essence.

When crafting Law, Death, and Blood runes, you will have a small chance to craft double the amount of runes. The higher your runecrafting level, the higher the chance is. There are no guaranteed levels where you will always produce multiple runes.

However, remember that you'll still only get Runecrafting experience for each essence you convert into runes, not for each rune you make. This means that, if you're level 33 Runecrafting, for example, and you get 4 air runes for 1 essence, you'll still only get 5 experience for making those 4 air runes.

Multiple runes
Pic Name Lvl for 2x Lvl for 3x Lvl for 4x Lvl for 5x Lvl for 6x Lvl for 7x Lvl for 8x Lvl for 9x Lvl for 10x
Air Rune Air 11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99
Mind Rune Mind 14 28 42 56 70 84 98 - -
Water Rune Water 19 38 57 76 95 - - - -
Earth Rune Earth 26 52 78 - - - - - -
Fire Rune Fire 35 70 - - - - - - -
Body Rune Body 46 92 - - - - - - -
Cosmic Rune Cosmic 59 - - - - - - - -
Chaos Rune Chaos 74 - - - - - - - -
Astral Rune Astral 82 - - - - - - - -
Nature Rune Nature 91 - - - - - - - -
Law Rune Law - - - - - - - - -
Death Rune Death - - - - - - - - -
Death Rune Armadyl - - - - - - 77 88 99
Blood Rune Blood - - - - - - - - -
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Combination Runes (Members Only)

Runecrafters have the ability of combining two different elemental runes to fuse into one new "combination" rune. These will act like both of their composite runes, and can save inventory space; especially useful to Mages when duelling.

Combination Runes
Pic Rune Made from Level Exp
Mist Rune Mist Air and Water 6 8 or 8.5
Dust Rune Dust Air and Earth 10 8.3 or 9.0
Mud Rune Mud Water and Earth 13 9.3 or 9.5
Smoke Rune Smoke Air and Fire 15 8.5 or 9.5
Steam Rune Steam Water and Fire 19 9.5 or 10
Lava Rune Lava Earth and Fire 23 10 or 10.5

The experience gained varies based on which altar you craft the combination runes at. The lower experience amount will always be a result of crafting at a lower level altar. Thus, if you craft mist runes at the water altar, you will get more experience than if you craft them at the air altar.

In order to make these runes, you will need to bring the Talisman and Rune of one composite element to the Altar of the other composite element. You will also need an equal number of pure essence. For example, to create Lava runes, which are made from Earth and Fire runes, you will need to go to either the Earth altar or the Fire altar.

  • Going to the Earth altar, you will need to bring a Fire talisman, and an equal amount of Fire runes and blank essence.
  • Going to the Fire altar, you will need to bring an Earth talisman and an equal amount of Earth runes and blank essence.

Once you are at the altar, use your talisman on it as usual and you will convert your composite element runes and your essence into an equal number of combination runes. Doing this will use up your original runes, your essence, and your talisman! Below is a table showing what you need to bring for each combination rune when going to specific altars.

  • The left talisman, outlined in green, is the altar to which you are going.
  • The right talisman, outlined in red, is the talisman which you will use on the altar (it will be lost in the process).
  • The rune, outlined in cyan, is the type which you must bring with an equal amount of pure essence.
Combination Rune Inventories
Pic Rune Altar 1 Altar 2
Mist Rune Mist At Air Altar At Water Altar
Dust Rune Dust At Air Altar At Earth Altar
Mud Rune Mud At Water Altar At Earth Altar
Smoke Rune Smoke At Air Altar At Fire Altar
Steam Rune Steam At Water Altar At Fire Altar
Lava Rune Lava At Earth Altar At Fire Altar

After completion of the Lunar Diplomacy quest, you will have access to the Lunar Magicks spell book. Here you will find a level 82 spell called "Magic Imbue". Casting this gives you 15 seconds in which you can craft combination runes without needing to sacrifice a talisman. Therefore, if you utilize this spell, you will not need the talisman outlined in red when combining runes. In that case, just use the Element Rune highlighted in Cyan on the Altar

Combining runes only has a 50% chance of success per rune, even when using the Magic Imbue spell, meaning that any number of the essence you bring along could be successfully crafted. However, you can raise the chance of successfully crafting your combination runes to 100% for all of your essence by wearing a Binding Necklace. Every Binding Necklace can be used for combining runes 15 times before it will run out. This necklace is made by enchanting an Emerald Necklace (requires level 27 magic), see our crafting guide.

Binding Necklace
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The Abyss (Members Only)

The Abyss is a medium (another dimension if you like) that provides quicker access to the Runecrafting altars, but at a greater risk. To gain access to the Abyss, you will have to do a favour for the Zamorak Mage located north of Edgeville by the river (lvl 5 wilderness). The abyss requires you to do a favour for the Zamorak mage before you can use it.

Click to go to the map of the Abyss

One very important tip to bear in mind with the abyss is the utility of the Demonic skull. When in the player's inventory or equipped, it grants 250% or 350% of the normal runecrafting experience. However, one should be aware that it will result in the player having a bounty on their head - if someone PKs you, they will receive a 500K coin drop.

Once you enter the Abyss, you are instantly skulled and your prayer is drained to zero. The area is a multi-combat area and infested with Abyssal monsters. To move from the outer circle to the inner circle of the abyss, you must pass through a skill-related blockage. Different blockages can be passed using your thieving, woodcutting, mining, firemaking, or agility skill. Passing each skill-related blockage will give you 25 experience points in that respective skill. The middle circular area of the Abyss has so-called "rifts" through which you can exit through to different Runecrafting portals. For example, you can exit through the Fire rift to go to the Fire altar. The different rifts are shown on the above map. There is no rift for either the Astral altar or the Ourania altar, so they cannot be accessed through the Abyss. Though you are utilizing a tool of Zamorak to access the altars, Saradomin's power is still in effect on Entrana, so no weapons or armour may be brought through the law rift. You do not have to wear a Tiara or bring a Talisman to go through a rift. The Abyss is much quicker for crafting most types of runes.

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Pouches

Pouches can be obtained as drops from Abyssal monsters in either the abyss via the Wilderness entrance or via the Fairy Ring Teleportation Network code ALR, and they allow you to carry many Rune/Pure Essence in them. Note that each pouch can only contain one type of Essence, although you can have different Essences in different pouches. The bigger the size of the pouch, the higher the Runecrafting skill that is needed to use them. You can only have one pouch of each size. As you use your pouches, they will degrade and this causes them to turn a dark colour and carry less essence. If this happens talk to the Dark Wizard in the centre of the abyss; you do not need to bring your pouches with you when repairing them, his magic extends to your bank.

NOTE: You will ALWAYS lose your pouches if you die, even if they are the only 3 items you are carrying. If you know you are going to die, you can drop your pouches and try to hurry back to pick them up, but any Essence you have in them will be lost.

Small pouches may be recovered by talking to the Zamorak Mage in the middle of the abyss. Medium pouches can be recovered by talking to Wizard Korvak in the Runecrafting Guild. Wizard Korvak can also repair all pouches except for the massive pouch (he charges 9000gp to repair a large pouch, 12000gp for a giant pouch) as well as sell large and giant pouches for a price (25000gp or 50000gp, respectively).

The Abyssal monsters also drop Elemental Talismans which can be used to access the Air, Water, Earth and Fire Altars. These talismans can't be crafted into Tiaras or used to bind runes.

The Fairy Ring abyss (Code ALR) is a good place to replace pouches for those who have the access to Fairy Rings. In this environment, there is no multi-combat, and you do not become skulled or lose your prayer on entry.

Pouches
Pic Name Holds RC level
Small Pouch Small Pouch 3 Essence 1
Medium Pouch Medium Pouch 6 Essence 25
Large Pouch Large Pouch 9 Essence 50
Giant Pouch Giant Pouch 12 Essence 75
Massive Pouch Massive Pouch 18 Essence 90
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Zamorak Mage Institute (ZMI / Ourania) Altar

This altar offers players an alternative method of runecrafting, and earning good experience per run. It is located in a dungeon beneath the Chaos Altar south-west of Ardougne. The entrance to the dungeon is right beside the Zamorak altar. Alternatively, the Ourania Teleport of the Lunar Magicks spellbook teleports directly to the Zamorak altar. Once you climb down the ladder, you will enter a rather large dungeon. Near the entrance ladder, there is a banker who will charge you 20 of any one rune per transaction. There are 2 paths to the altar, one is safe from hostilities but is longer, the other is shorter but has monsters who are hostile to all combat levels. The monsters are in a multicombat area and include melee, range and mage attackers. The altar is located at the end of both paths. The altar does not require a talisman or tiara to enter.

Click to go to the map of the Ourania altar dungeon

Usually, players opt to use the shorter path since it is a lot quicker than the longer path. Of course, this comes with a level of difficulty. Players typically pray while running the short path, since right above the Ourania altar is a prayer altar. This allows players to effectively have unlimited prayer to use. The most common prayers are Protect from Missiles, Rapid Heal, Protect Item, and a defence-boosting prayer such as Piety or Steel Skin.

However, since all three combat styles will be attacking you, armour is still required. It is important to balance the need of defence with the need of a low weight. Since Protect from Missiles is usually used, magic is the next most dangerous (since the Zamorak Warriors usually only get in 1 hit on you if you are running). Therefore, the most common types of armour are magic defence-boosting armours, which tend to be light. Examples are dragonhide, hunter camouflage, and magic robes. Weight-reducing items such as Penance Gloves and Boots of Lightness are also useful.

There is an official Ourania Altar world which is world 70. Players may find it useful to runecraft at the Ourania Altar in the official world because not often will you find yourself alone, resulting in less damage taken by each individual player from the monsters. However, players who choose to runecraft with Familiars, such as the Abyssal Lurker, should know that other players will most likely use familiars as well. This results in confusion when going to fill a Familiar's inventory since it is hard to distinguish between your familiar and other players'.

There are two factors that make runecrafting at the ZMI altar a very good method of training. First, it will give players a chance to craft runes that would not normally be available at their level. This also includes soul runes, which do not have a related altar released at the moment. Secondly, each rune that is created will earn twice the original experience! On the downside, the runes you get are random, and you may only use Pure Essence. The higher your runecrafting level, the greater your chance of crafting high level runes, which earn more experience. Note however that multiple runes per essence does not work on this altar.

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The Great Orb Project and the Runespan

These mini games are for both members and free players, and offer alternatives to traditional runecrafting training. To access these, go through the light purple portal upstairs in the Wizards Tower. For the Great Orb Project, Players must have level 50 Runecrafting to enter the Runecrafting Guild where the game is located. For the Runespan, you may enter with any runecrafting level.

The Great Orb Project revolves around two teams each trying to capture green and yellow orbs at various runecrafting altars. At the end of each game, essence will be awarded based on how well your team does. This essence can be crafted at the altar for double experience. Tokens are awarded at the end of each series of games and can be spent on clothes, talismans, essence, or tablets that teleport you directly to an altar. The members-only omni talisman, which is usable at any altar, is particularly popular. For more information, consult our Great Orb Project guide.

The Runespan involves siphoning the runic energy of the plane's spirits into runes, and giving them to the guild in exchange for reward points. Traverse the many islands of this vast realm and siphon from the weakest air essling to the most powerful soul esswraith. Reward points can be spent on wicked clothes, new runic staves, and the massive runecrafting pouch. For more information, visit the Runespan Guide.

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Tips and Tricks

There are different methods and tactics you can use to train your Runecrafting quicker and more effectively. This section of the guide will explain some of these methods.

  • General Tips
    1. Wearing the Boots of Lightness while runecrafting is an advantage as it reduces your weight and allows you to run for longer periods of time. You can read about how to get them in the Temple of Ikov quest guide although you do not have to do the quest.
       
    2. Wearing a Spotted or Spottier Cape, or Penance Gloves while runecrafting gives you yet another advantage in weight reduction, again allowing you to run for an even longer period of time. You can read about how to get the capes in the Hunter Guide. Penance gloves are a reward from the Barbarian Assault minigame.
       
    3. Wearing the Agile top (acquired with 90+ agility at the Advanced Barbarian Outpost Course) and the Agile legs (acquired with 85+ agility at the Advanced Gnome Stronghold Course) will give you a hefty weight reduction.
       
    4. When mining essence, it is advisable to wield only a pickaxe and wear nothing to keep your weight to a minimum so you can run longer.
       
    5. There are ways to keep your run energy up as you go from bank to altar. Refer to the Getting Around guide for details.
       
    6. It is beneficial to have pouches with you when you are mining rune essence. They will enable you to carry many more essence.
       
    7. Whenever you are runecrafting at any Altar, if you have pouches - use them! They allow you to carry more essence per trip and hence save you time in the long run. Information about pouches can be found earlier in the guide.
       
    8. If you are runecrafting any of the elemental runes (air, water, earth, and fire), the Lumbridge Explorer's Ring 2 , 3, or 4 will grant you additional runes, which you will receive full experience for.
       
    9. When runecrafting at the Zamorak Mage Institute/Ourania Altar, wielding the Ardougne Cloak 2 or 3 will give the chance of creating additional runes. No extra experience will be gained from this bonus.
       
    10. If you have an Enhanced Excalibur, you can use it to boost your defence temporarily when going into the Abyss to provide a little extra protection.
  • Air Runecrafting
    Required: Rune essence, Air tiara.
    The nearest bank to the air altar for non-members (F2P) is the Varrock west bank. Members (P2P) also have access to the cooking guild bank upon completion of the Hard Varrock Tasks and if wearing the Varrock armour.
    The first possible method is to simply run between either of the banks mentioned above and the altar because they are quite close to one another. A second option available is to teleport back to Varrock instead of running. For members (P2P), having your teleport spot set to the Grand Exchange can save a small amount of time by placing you slightly closer to the bank.
  • Water Runecrafting
    Required: Rune essence, Water tiara, Amulet of glory, Super energy potions (recommended) or Spirit terrorbird pouch with Tireless run scrolls (recommended)
    As the location of the Water Altar is in the middle of the Lumbridge swamp, the nearest bank is at Draynor Village. Coincidentally, the Amulet of Glory can also teleport you there as well. Hence, the best tactic when runecrafting Water runes is to withdraw your essence from the bank in Draynor Village and then proceed to the Altar with your Tiara or Talisman. Craft your essence there and use your Amulet to teleport back to Draynor Village. Every time you need to recharge your Amulet/s, it would be wise to use a Games Necklace which is made from Gold and a Sapphire. More info is in our Crafting guide.
    If you are F2p or for whatever reason unable to use Amulets of Glory, it is suggested you use the Explorer' ring 3, or 4 from the Lumbridge Tasks to teleport to the cabbage patch, and then run to Draynor bank. This is faster than running back to the bank from the altar. This ring also offers three daily run-replenish charges that will help speed things up.
  • Earth Runecrafting
    Required: Rune essence, 1 Willow log (per trip), Earth tiara, Super energy potions (recommended) or Spirit terrorbird pouch with Tireless run scrolls (recommended)
    After completing the Enlightened Journey quest, players have access to the Balloon Transportation Network. Utilising the trip to Varrock allows for quick access to the Earth Altar. To maximise your Earth runecrafting efficiency, it is best to take along a duelling ring and teleport back to Castle Wars after crafting your earth runes, to begin the process again.
  • Fire Runecrafting
    Required: Rune essence, Fire tiara, Rings of duelling (or Ring of Kinship), Super energy potions (recommended) or Spirit terrorbird pouch with Tireless run scrolls (recommended)
    Use a Duelling Ring to teleport to the Duel Arena and craft your essence at the Fire Altar there. Then use your ring again to teleport to Castle Wars and use the bank chest there to withdraw more essence. As the ring has 8 uses, each ring will last you 4 trips, so it would be wise to stock up on as many rings as you need for the number of essence you have.
  • Chaos Runecrafting
    Required: Bronze pickaxe (first time only), Pure essence, Chaos tiara, Super energy potions (recommended) or Spirit terrorbird pouch with Tireless run scrolls (recommended)
    Upon completing the What Lies Below quest, players are given access to the Chaos Tunnel shortcut. To use this shortcut after the quest -
    1. Bring a chaos talisman or tiara (along with your essence) and head from Varrock towards the Earth Altar until you see a large statue of Saradomin on a pedestal.
       
    2. You are told you can not excavate this site without a bronze pickaxe (only bronze will work - ask the lady sitting nearby). You will only need to use the pickaxe on the statue once, after this the tunnel remains open.
       
    3. Once the hole has been opened up beneath the statue, simply enter it and follow the path North until you come to a portal.
       
    4. After entering this portal you will be teleported to the third level of the Chaos Altar. Simply follow the normal route through the maze, but from the third level (point 5 on map), until you reach the altar.
       
    5. After crafting the essence into chaos runes, tele back to Varrock (preferably with a Varrock teletab to save space) and re-stock.
    This method may be slow since you still have to traverse half the chaos maze, but it eliminates the need to go into the wilderness. It may be effective for players who have 74+ runecrafting wanting to make double chaos runes without the risk of the Abyss. For others though, the Abyss is still the fastest means of making chaos runes since it totally skips the maze part.
  • Nature Runecrafting
    The Nature Altar is located in the Karamja Jungle and is just north of Shilo Village. Because it is located in such a remote place, there are a few different tactics to choose from if you are going to runecraft Natures.
    1. The Abyss
      Required: Pure essence, Multiple Amulets of glory, Super energy potions (recommended), Mithril pickaxe (recommended), EITHER an Abyssal familiar (Levels 54, 62, or 93) OR a Spirit terrorbird (Level 52) and Tireless run scrolls.
      This method is somewhat dangerous, but is by far the most rewarding if you do not have level 57 summoning. Starting in Edgeville bank, run northward to the Zamorak mage. He will teleport you to the abyss, where you will either squeeze through a gap or mine a rock to reach the inner circle. From there, enter the nature rift along the north side, and craft your runes. Teleport back to Edgeville using an Amulet of glory and swap for a newly-charged amulet if necessary. The Abyssal familiars work as an extra pouch, and the Spirit terrobird works in lieu of super energy potions, giving you 50% of your agility level worth in run energy for every Tireless run scroll used.
       
    2. The Fairy Ring Method
      Required: Pure essence, Dramen/Lunar staff, Must have started "A Fairy Tale: Part II" quest, Nature tiara
      Another method involves the usage of the Fairy Ring Teleportation Network, available after receiving permission to use it from the Godfather in the A Fairy Tale II Cure a Queen quest. Wield a dramen staff (from the Lost City quest), and enter any ring to get to Zanaris. Combination CKR is convenient for nature runecrafting; it takes you to a point south-west of the nature altar, west of the Shilo Village gem rocks. After runecrafting your Nature Runes, you can either return to the fairy ring, or use alternative forms of teleportation. The most popular method is to use an Amulet of Glory to teleport to Edgeville, as there is a nearby Fairy Ring which can be used to quickly return to the Nature Altar. (For a list of all fairy ring locations, see Tip.It's Getting Around Guide.) It is also possible to use the combination DIS to appear near the Wizards Tower and immediately mine more essence, meaning you would not need a supply of it already.
       
    3. The General Store Method
      Required: NOTED Pure Essence, Coins (2 gp per essence you plan to craft), Nature tiara
      This method should only be used if you for some reason cannot craft runes through the Abyss or with a Spirit graahk. You can't runecraft noted essence, so use it on Jiminua (at the General store north-west of the Nature altar) and she will un-note it for 2 gp per essence. (Do not Sell it to her - she charges the same as the Grand Exchange!) Walk to the altar, runecraft, and repeat to un-note more essence.
       
    4. The Graahk Method
      Required: Pure essence, Nature tiara, Spirit graahk pouch, Level 57 summoning, Rings of duelling (or Ring of Kinship), Amulet of glory, Super energy potions (recommended)
      Level 57 summoners may use the Spirit Graahk familiar to teleport to the hunting spot to the west of the Nature Altar. From there, it is a short run east (stay out of the trees) to get to the Nature Altar. Craft the runes, then teleport to Castle Wars. Withdraw more essence, super energy potions and/or another ring of duelling if necessary, and repeat. If you are using pouches and they degrade, teleport to Edgeville with an Amulet of glory, and using the abyss, repair the pouches.
  • Law Runecrafting
    Required: Pure essence, Law tiara, Rings of duelling (or Ring of Kinship), Normal logs (1 per trip), Super energy potions (recommended)
    After completing the Enlightened Journey quest, players have access to the Balloon Transportation Network. Utilizing the trip to Entrana allows for quick access to the Law Altar. To maximize your Law runecrafting efficiency, it is best to take along a duelling ring or ring of kinship and teleport back to Castle Wars or Daemonheim after crafting your law runes, to begin the process again. You can bring a Holy Book with you onto the island. This will give extra protection if you running through the abyss.
  • Blood Runecrafting
    Required: 65 Agility, 66 Magic and completion of Desert Treasure, Pure essence, Blood tiara, Super energy potions (recommended) or Spirit terrorbird pouch with Tireless run scrolls (recommended)
    After completing the Desert Treasure quest, players have access to the Ancient Magick spell book. Utilizing the Kharyrll (Canifis) teleport allows for quick access to the blood altar shortcut. Shortcut to Blood Altar
    1. Teleport to Kharyrll and enter the passage behind the Canifis Pub. Enter the first cave to the east after passing through the secret wall.
    2. Enter the cave in the first corner you come too.
    3. Pass the Agility shortcut (Requires 65 Agility) and head north into the first cavern you see. Enter the altar using your talisman at the north end of the cavern.
    4. Repeat.
    To maximize your Blood runecrafting efficiency, do not bank your blood runes, as they are required for the Kharyrll Teleport. Alternatively if you have 50 Construction, you can build a Teleport Chamber with a permanent teleport to Kharyll, hence saving runes. See our Construction guide for more details.
  • Power Runecrafting (Abyss)
    Required: Rune or Pure essence, Amulets of glory, Abyssal pouches (recommended), Any pickaxe (recommended), Light-weight armour (recommended), Super energy potions (recommended) or Spirit terrorbird pouch with Tireless run scrolls (recommended)
    The abyss is the fastest method to runecraft most types of runes, but it has associated risks. The Abyss is the medium you will use to travel to your altar of choice; it's faster than most conventional travel. More info about the Abyss was provided earlier in the guide. The steps involved are explained below:
    1. You will be going up to level 5 wilderness and travelling through the Abyss so it is best to wear some armour. Player-killers can Entangle/Teleblock players on their way to the Abyss so a good choice would be Dragonhide armour, a helmet and a Ring of Life just in case. Boots of Lightness from Temple of Ikov, Spotted or Spottier Capes from Hunting, and Penance gloves from the Barbarian Assault minigame are also an advantange to reduce your weight.
       
    2. Start at Edgeville bank and fill your inventory with as much essence as you can. If you have pouches, use as many as you can. You can only own one of each type at any one time. Note that you will not need a Talisman or Tiara to access your altar of choice in the Abyss.
       
    3. Walk to the Zamorak Mage in level 5 wilderness north of Edgeville and select the 'Teleport' option to be taken to the Abyss. WARNING: Entering the Abyss will result in your character being skulled. This can be avoided by using a Forinthry Brace. Refer to our Crafting Guide for more information on the Forinthry Brace. Your prayer will also be drained to zero. Get to the centre of the Abyss using whichever method you like. To save inventory space, use your Thieving to distract the eyes or your Agility to Squeeze through a gap. You may also wield a Pick Axe or a Hatchet to Mine Rocks or Chop Tendrils to get to the centre. Once inside, choose the appropriate rift to take Exit through portal to the Altar of your choice.
       
    4. Runecraft your essence at the altar. If you have brought some pouches as well, empty these and runecraft those extra essence.
       
    5. Now teleport back to Edgeville to start the process over again. You can either use your Amulet of Glory or the Paddewwa teleport spell from the Ancient Magicks that you receive as a reward from the Desert Treasure quest. With the advent of Construction, it has become popular to mount a glory in a quest hall within the house, so that you can teleport to your house and use the mounted glory there rather than risking one while runecrafting. Using house teleport tablets makes this process efficient, though still slightly slower than simply using an Amulet of Glory.
  • Ourania Runecrafting
    Required: Pure essence, Earth/Lava/Mud staff, Light-weight armour (recommended), Super energy potions (recommended) or Spirit terrorbird pouch with Tireless run scrolls (recommended)
    If you want experience more than cash, you may want to consider using the Ourania altar located south west of Ardougne. This altar provides around 50% more experience per run compared to other methods, but you get random runes. The most efficient way to use this altar is to use the Ourania teleport of the Lunar Magick spellbook. In order to use it, you must speak to Baba Yaga after completion of the Lunar Diplomacy quest (no additional tasks required).
    1. Start with any bank that you have easy access to: Edgeville, Draynor Village, Castle Wars Bankchest and Lunar Isle are good choices. Withdraw some Astral and Law runes, equip yourself with a Earth/Lava/Mud staff, weight reducing gear (and some dragonhide armour if you choose to go via the more dangerous route), and fill your inventory with pouches and Essences.
       
    2. Teleport to Ourania, go down the ladder, run to the altar and craft your runes.
       
    3. Teleport back to a bank of your choosing and repeat, repairing pouches whenever necessary. Alternatively, you can teleport back using the Ourania teleport and bank with Eniola. When banking with him, it is suggested you pay him with fire runes, as they are the cheapest rune. This method is slightly faster but also slightly more expensive.
  • Runner Runecrafting
    Using Essence runners (other players) allows you to stay at the runecrafting altar while others bring essence to you. You should expect to pay runners in noted essence, crafted runes and/or cash. Special worlds for running Airs (F2P), Laws and Natures have been recognised by Jagex and can be seen on the World Selection page before entering the game (look under "Running".) The guidelines for each world are different, and can be found on the Runescape Official Forums, because the original companies were established by players for players. The company threads explain what to bring, what to expect to pay runners, and what crafters (or runners) should wear (showing that they are following those guidelines.)
  • Runecrafting Tabs
    The rewards for the Great Orb Project include a selection of runecrafting tabs that can be used to speed up runecrafting. Note that tabs are not technically faster than the Abyss or Spirit graahk methods of runecrafting, if you add the time required to obtain the tabs onto the time required to actually use them. However, they are a healthy alternative for runecrafting in that some find it more enjoyable to play a minigame rather than just runecraft for hours on end, and similar to agility tickets, the tabs can be saved up and used for a good amount of runecrafting experience in a short amount of time.
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Skill Boosts

The Fist of Guthix minigame offers a unique way to increase your experience when making specific runes. The gloves give double the normal experience! They will disintegrate after using 1,000 essence with them.

Runecrafting Experience Gloves
Runecrafting Level 10 20 30
Picture Air Runecrafting Gloves Water Runecrafting Gloves Earth Runecrafting Gloves
Rune Air Water Earth



Master runecrafter robes can be bought with Runecrafting guild tokens, which you can earn by playing the Great Orb Project minigame. These robes each offer a small experience bonus when worn, with the entire set providing 2.5% additional experience.

Master runecrafter robes
Pic Name Information
Master Runecrafter Hat Master runecrafter hat Provides an xp boost of 0.4% when worn.
Master Runecrafter Body Master runecrafter body Provides an xp boost of 0.8% when worn.
Master Runecrafter Skirt Master runecrafter skirt Provides an xp boost of 0.6% when worn.
Master Runecrafter Boots Master runecrafter boots Provides an xp boost of 0.2% when worn.

Runecrafting chi globes into sea singer's items (available from Player-owned ports with 90 runecrafting) will give runecrafting experience rewards for each item made. The amounts can be seen in the table below

Pic Name Chi Globes needed Experience reward
headband Sea singer's headband 30 10,000xp
Sea singer\'s robe bottom Sea singer's robe bottom 50 20,000xp
Sea singer\'s robe top Sea singer's robe top 80 30,000xp
Superior sea singer\'s headband Superior sea singer's headband 40 10,000xp
Superior sea singer\'s robe bottom Superior sea singer's robe bottom 60 20,000xp
Superior sea singer\'s robe top Superior sea singer's robe top 100 30,000xp


Summoning offers several familiars related to runecrafting. Sadly, there are no level bonuses, but the abyssal familiars will carry pure essence for you, and some other familiars can convert runes.

Runecrafting Familiars
Summon Level Pic Familiar Abilities Scroll
54 Abyssal Parasite Pouch Abyssal Parasite Fights (level 86) Magic
Carries 7 pure/rune essence
Abyssal Prayer drain slowed
Abyssal Drain: Magic attack that gives you 10 prayer points if it hits
62 Abyssal Lurker Pouch Abyssal Lurker Fights (level 93) Controlled
Carries 7 pure/rune essence
Abyssal Stealth: Boosts Agility and Thieving by 4 points
93 Abyssal Titan Pouch Abyssal Titan Fights (level 215) Attack
Carries 7 pure/rune essence
Essence Shipment: Banks all pure essence that you and your familiar are holding
57 Spirit Graahk Pouch Spirit Graahk Fights (level 93) Strength
Hunter Boost +5
Strikes twice if it must move to enter combat
Can teleport you to Horned Graahk (Karamja) hunting area (nearby Nature Altar)
Goad: Sends it to attack enemy

Although not a level booster, the Wicked hood offers a number of functions that will make Runecrafting more convenient. These can be accessed by using the "activate" option on the hood.

  • Consume - Using a Runecrafting talisman on the hood "unlocks" the corresponding rune on the hood and 100 Runecrafting xp is gained. An Omni-talisman will unlock every rune on the hood (except soul) and the elemental talisman will unlock all four basic elemental runes on the hood. Runecrafting tiaras can also be consumed by the hood.
  • Essence - You can remove up to 100 rune essence from the hood once a day for free. This will become pure essence if an omni-talisman is used on the hood, and the essence is removed un-noted, so it can be instantly used at a Runecrafting altar.
  • Runes - 5 members runes or 100 non-members runes can be removed from the hood once a day for free. The desired rune must have been unlocked on the hood first. If both an omni-talisman and elemental talisman have been added to the hood, this can be performed twice a day. Members runes are defined as runes that can be only be crafted by members i.e. law runes are a non-members item, but can only be crafted by members.
  • Teleport - The hood offers two teleports to any unlocked Runecrafting altar per day. This can be very convenient for changing to the Lunar Spellbook provided you have used an omni-talisman on the hood to unlock this altar.
Wicked hood
Pic Magic attack Magic Defence
Wicked Hood +3 +3

Another boost to your Runecrafting is available to both members and free players who have completed up to or above the Easy Lumbridge Tasks. While wearing an Explorer's Ring 2 , 3, or 4 , you will have a small chance of crafting extra elemental runes (air, water, fire, earth) for each essence crafted. You will receive normal experience for crafting these runes (not affected by The Great Orb Project's double xp or Runecrafting Experience Gloves.)


For members that need a few more levels the following options can help.

Runecrafting Level Boosters
Pic Name of Method Level Increase Information
Oldak Oldak -2 to +2 (Random) Members who have completed the Death to the Dorgeshuun quest can talk to Oldak in Dorgesh-Kaan. When asked about his discoveries, Oldak will randomly give either a temporary +2 increase or -2 decrease to your Magic or Runecrafting level. It may take a few tries before receiving the boost that you want.
Spicy Stew Spicy Stew -6 to +6 (Random) Made by using Orange spice on a Stew. For more information on making Stews, please visit the Cooking Guide. This item is not tradeable.
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Request Assistance

If you find yourself a few levels short of making an item, or want to safely offer your skills to another player, the request assistance option will allow you to do so. Simply right click the player who has the skills that you need and request their assistance. If they accept, a pair of hands will appear in your bottom right corner, and you can make whatever runes they can. You keep the runes, but they get the experience.

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Skill mastery and Beyond

Cape of Achievement

Once you have mastered the skill and reached level 99 you may want to buy a Runecraft cape from Larriar in the Runecrafting Guild. If you already have another 99 skill, or obtain another one while wearing the cape (unless you have it keepsaked), it will become a Runecraft cape (t).

Please refer to the Achievement Capes guide for more details.

Runecrafting Cape

After obtaining 99 Runecrafting it becomes possible to obtain a Runic shard randomly, which can be combined with other shards from the other artisan skills (Construction, Cooking, Crafting, Firemaking, Fletching, Herblore, Smithing) to create an artisan's cape and artisan's helm. The cape has the same stats as a trimmed skill cape and the helm is purely cosmetic.

True Runecrafting Mastery

Achieving 99 is the ultimate goal for many players, however the skill does not stop there. For players wanting to show off their dedication to a skill it is possible to obtain "True Mastery" by obtaining "120 Runecrafting" which is 104,273,167 XP. The Runecrafting master cape can then be purchased from Larriar in the Runecrafting Guild.

Runecrafting master cape

It is worth noting that beyond level 99 there is no additional content for Runecrafting as the level increases are invisible so training the skill gets no faster. To work out your theoretical Runecrafting level check out our XP table.

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Credits

Original Guide by: Ks Jeppe

Thanks to: abomb67, All Bogs, Applejuiceaj, Arp590, audiv0x, Aurhora, Baffler, bigm115, bluehooloovo, Bows, chenw, coincol2.0, Codguy, Cowman_133, cowmaster187, dark_messenger, DownToFletch, Dragontotem, Dyonyssos, Eeeeediot, Eyehawk78, frozenfire, funion987, gimli1890, goku_nazz, HammyTheOne, hawk87, Headnazgul, Helios Gamos, I Yendor I, Illy_Toga, I_R_For_Real, Jaffy1, JELRICII, Johndevl, Juhniz, lalala7324, laratje92, lsufreak9, LordSoultar, manoman, mchainmail, Mementh, Misplacedme, Murray200, Octarine19, olliedoom, Omnitec, Ordalca, PhrstBrn, Plody, pokemama, Rcty, Reivaxlorp, Rickhardo77 rndom, Rotschreck, Runesupergod, SaidinWoT, SerpentEye, Shasta_Sms, Speedyshel, Spling, Sodapop554, soundnut, Tomiz, tryto, Vlad the Old, Wachtwoord, Warriormonkx, waterfish333, weasel, Wisetsm, Wizard111111, wyvren2000, zaaps1, zakini

Last updated by: Arceus

Last updated on: 27-Dec-2014


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