Runecrafting

Runecrafting, sometimes shortened to RC, is a free-to-play skill that allows players to craft their own runes for magic spells. You need to finish the Rune Mysteries quest to start Runecrafting. Runecrafting is a fairly hard skill to raise, but it becomes a little bit easier if you utilise teleportation shortcuts. Runecrafting is currently the only free-to-play skill without 2 million accounts ranked on the Hiscores. It is also one of two free-to-play skills that aren't mentioned on Tutorial Island, the other skill being Crafting. The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 1,349,264 as of 1 August 2009 on the hiscores for Runecrafting is level 30 (13,364 exp).

Essence
To craft runes, players need blank rune stones, known as "essence". Essence is also commonly referred to as "ess". There are two types of essence: pure essence and rune essence (often called "normal essence" to distinguish it from pure.)

Rune essence
Normal rune essence is used to make elemental runes, mind runes, and body runes. This is the only type of essence that free players can obtain by mining at level 1.

Pure essence
Pure essence is used in the creation of cosmic runes, chaos runes, astral runes, nature runes, law runes, death runes and blood runes. It is the only kind of essence that players can make into cosmic runes, chaos runes, astral runes, nature runes, law runes, death runes and blood runes and combination runes. Members with a Mining level of 30 or above will automatically mine pure essence when mining from an essence mine in a members' world.

Rune essence mine
The Rune Essence mine is a network of mines that contains both rune essence and pure essence. To access these mines, players need to talk to certain non-player characters (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.

Free-to-play

 * Aubury, a wizard in Aubury's Rune Shop in Varrock, immediately south of the east bank. This is the NPC that almost all players use, as he is the shortest walk away from a bank in free-to-play worlds. A lot of members like to make money mining pure essence, then banking in the Varrock east bank
 * Sedridor, a wizard located in the basement of the Wizards' Tower, south of Draynor Village. The nearest bank from him is in the bank in Draynor Village, north of the tower.

Members

 * Wizard Cromperty - This wizard is located in East Ardougne, north-east of the marketplace.
 * Wizard Distentor - This wizard is located in the Magic Guild in Yanille. (66 Magic is required to enter.) This NPC is preferred by many members due to the proximity to a bank.
 * Brimstail - This gnome wizard is located in a cave west of the bridge in the Tree Gnome Stronghold. He is very far from a bank, and thus travelling to him is inconvenient and not recommended.
 * There is also a mine in the north part of Lunar Isle that has a rune essence rock inside it (Completion of Lunar Diplomacy is required). This site is far from a bank. If you wish to use this method, it is recommended to have your Lunar Spellbook open with a supply of Astral runes, Law runes, and Earth runes to cast Moonclan Teleport (Requires 2 Astral runes, 1 Law rune, and 2 Earth runes to cast. Level 69 Magic is required).

Monster drops

 * Minotaurs (drop noted Rune essence and Pure essence for members)
 * Banshees (drop noted Pure essence, members only)
 * All Abyssal monsters (drop noted and un-noted Pure essence, runecrafting pouches, members only)
 * Ankous (drop noted Pure essence for members only, and noted Rune essence for non-members)
 * Gargoyles (drop 35 noted Pure essence for members, 75 slayer and a rock hammer required)
 * Corporeal beast (drops 2500 noted Pure essence, members only)
 * Catablepon level 49 & 64 (drop 15 noted rune essence)
 * Catablepon level 68 (drop 15 noted rune essence for non-members and 15 pure essence for members)
 * Rock Lobster (drop noted rune essence)
 * Armoured zombie all three varieties (drop various quantities of noted pure essence)
 * Zamorak crafters drop pure/rune essence and also high level runes like law and blood.
 * Mutated Bloodvelds drop unnoted pure essence and are close to the blood altar.

The Great Orb Project
Essence is given throughout The Great Orb Project, depending on the player's performance. Runecrafting Guild Tokens, the reward for participating in the project, are awarded depending on the team's performance in the game. They can be traded for rune essence, altar-teleport tablets, talismans, and other runecrafting gear.

Talismans
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. Note that Runecrafting using the Abyss does not require talismans to access the altars, only the skill levels needed to craft the runes. It is not recommended to buy talismans (mainly water) if you want to save money. The selected talisman takes you to the altar at which you make the runes.

Players can buy all talismans (except the omni, elmental, blood, and/or death ) in the Runecrafting Guild from Wizard Elriss for 50 Runecrafting guild tokens (awarded upon finishing a game of The Great Orb Project).

Tiaras
Talismans take up a space in a player's inventory, allowing them to only hold 27 essence maximum in their inventory. However, a tiara can fix this. A player can combine a talisman and an ordinary silver tiara together, then wear the tiara on their head while still being able to craft runes. This saves inventory space, allowing players to hold a full pack of essence. Players can either craft a tiara, or buy one from another player.

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 use either item on the altar to combine them. 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.

Talisman staves


With the release of the Runecrafting guild, also came the release of "Talisman staves." A runecrafting staff can be purchased as a reward from the Great Orb Project mini-game, it can be used to make talisman staffs, and has two uses.

The first use is that a talisman staff can be used in place of tiaras or talismans. In addition, they can be used to distract the eyes in the Abyss, allowing them to the central portals. This relatively "useless" staff is mainly obtained purely for the act of accomplishments as most players will not spend 10,000 Runecrafting guild tokens to buy an item easily replaceable with an easy-to-get tiara.

To bind a talisman to a Runecrafting staff, take the talisman and staff to the appropriate altar and use either of the two on the altar. Runecrafting staves can be bound to an omni-talisman; simply use the talisman or staff on any altar. Additionally, the player can also speak to Wizard Korvak to bind an omni-talisman to a tiara or Runecrafting staff free of charge, simply by bringing him a tiara or Runecrafting staff while having the omni-talisman in their inventory.

Runecrafting staves are not able to be equipped until a talisman is bound to it. With no requirements other than 50 Runecrafting, the staff has fairly high Strength bonus (+33). A law staff has no stats, so it can be taken to the law altar via either the abyss or by conventional means. The omni-talisman and tiara can be used to travel to Entrana. However, because the omni-staff has equipment stats, it cannot be taken to Entrana, thereby making it useless for law rune crafting. This flaw in the "omni"- talisman staff has flared much criticism on the RuneScape Forums, as well the staff mainly being just an extremely expensive decoration as opposed to using merely a tiara.

Altars
Altars are where players transform their essence into runes. Tiaras, Talismans or Talisman staves are needed to enter these altars hidden inside the 'Mysterious ruins.' Note: there a some exceptions to this.

Mysterious ruins


Mysterious ruins are large, glowing, grey rocks surrounded by ruined pillars. They are used in order to travel to the altar of the runes being made. The player must have the talisman, tiara or talisman staff of the type of runes they wish to craft. Mysterious ruins can be found by selecting the 'locate' option on a talisman. In the chatbox, the player will notice a message that will tell them the direction they need to go.

Once the mysterious ruins are visible, the player must use their talisman on the ruins to be teleported to the altar. If they are wearing an enchanted tiara, a simple click on the ruins will transport the player to the altar.

Both the Ourania and Astral Altars can be accessed without needed these item/s either as they aren't located within Mysterious Ruins.

An alternative to using talismans and the mysterious ruins is the Abyss.

Soul Altar
This altar has yet to be released. See this page for more information.

Abyss
Members can also be teleported inside the ruins by using the Abyss, which does not require a tiara or a talisman. The Abyss was once considered the best way to runecraft, because players can access almost all of the altars in a very short time. 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. But since the release of Runecrafting Teleport Tablets, the Abyss has become obsolete to those willing to play The Great Orb Project.

Rune pouches
Inside the abyss or the abyssal area (by fairy ring ALR), there are monsters that drop pouches when killed. Players can store [PURE & RUNE] essence in pouches, effectively increasing the amount of essence that may be carried per trip.

Players must acquire each pouch in turn before the next pouch becomes available to them. The medium pouch will only drop if the player has a small pouch (though the small pouch does not have to be in the player's inventory), the large pouch drops once the player has a medium pouch and a small pouch, etc. The larger the pouch, the greater the required Runecrafting level to use it. Also when a player gains a pouch, there might be a random number of pure essence in it already.

Runecrafting pouches degrade after a certain number of uses. When a pouch degrades, a message will appear in the chat box and the pouch will turn darker in colour. Note that this only affects the largest pouch at first; if a player owns a medium pouch and a small pouch, then the medium pouch will degrade before the small pouch. When a pouch degrades, its carrying capacity is reduced. The Dark Mage in the centre of the Abyss repairs pouches for free, regardless of whether the pouches are in the player's inventory or bank. The Dark Mage will repair the pouch before it degrades, saving player's money. Some players visit the Dark Mage every tenth usage of their pouches to prevent potential damage. A player can also speak to Wizard Korvak in the Runecrafting Guild who will repair large and giant pouches for 9,000gp and 12,000gp, respectively. He also sells large and giant pouches for 25,000gp and 50,000gp, respectively.

If you are Runecrafting in the Abyss when you discover that one of your pouches has degraded, repair them in the Abyss and consider finding the Body rift and exit via the portal, this will teleport you just south west of Edgeville, without the use of a Glory charge. This will ensure maximum runes for each fully charged Glory.

Ourania rune altar
The Ourania rune altar, also called the ZMI Altar, converts pure essences into a mixture of runes. This altar requires no talisman or tiara to use. The Ourania Altar converts essences into runes on a one to one basis (that is, multiple runes per essences is not supported).

The altar gives double the experience for every rune crafted on the altar. This feature almost halves the amount of pure essences needed. The altar boosts single player Runecrafting training to speed levels that were previously only available by using groups of players running essences to a runecrafter at an altar.

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 in their inventory (except any noted essence or essence stored in pouches) into runes.


 * 1) Soul runes can only be crafted in the Ourania Runecrafting Altar as they do not yet have an altar of their own. However, images of the soul talisman and tiara have been leaked in the Knowledge Base, by making their URLs very easy to guess. This, coupled with the fact that there is a Soul rift in the Abyss (that cannot be used), this shows that this rune will probably become craftable sometime in the future.
 * 2) The difference of the level required between two runes (except astral and air runes) is always rising +1.
 * 3) The normal Xp given is always half of the ZMI altar Xp. It is also a +0.5 difference for a higher rune (except astral runes).

Crafting multiple runes

 * For calculations of profit/loss from crafting multiple runes, see the Multiple Runes calculator.

As a player's Runecrafting level increases, they can make more runes per essence. However, they only earn experience based on the amount of essence they craft. For example, a player may have only one essence in their inventory, but can make two air runes. They will only receive five 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, and Blood runes cannot be multicrafted.

Explorer's Ring
Players wishing to craft air, earth, fire or water runes should wear the Explorer's ring, as it gives the wearer a chance of receiving extra runes when crafting these. In addition to crafting extra runes, it gives the wearer exp for those extra runes, but does not affect the amount of charges in runecrafting gloves. Having said that, the runecrafting gloves do not give more exp for those extra runes crafted.

Combination runes
Members have an extension to Runecrafting, which is all but unused.

To craft combination runes, a player needs to bring 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:


 * 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 15 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.

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.

Crafting soul runes
At level 90 Runecrafting, a player used to receive a message informing them of their ability to craft Soul runes. However, the only way to craft these runes is randomly through the Ourania Runecrafting Altar, as there is no temple, talisman, or tiara. However, pictures of the tiara and talisman have been seen on the Knowledge Base by manipulating URLs, indicating that they may be released some day. Also in the Abyss there is a place where you could go to the soul altar, but there is a force that stops you.

Runecrafting gloves
Runecrafting gloves are a group of rewards from the mini-game Fist of Guthix for 75 tokens. These gloves are only available for air, water, and earth.

Runecrafting gloves give double the experience for the type of rune to be crafted. For example, a player wearing the air runecrafting gloves will receive 10 experience per essence rather than 5. 1000 essence may be crafted in this manner until the gloves crumble to dust. It should be noted that crafting Earth runes while wearing the Earth runecrafting gloves and the runecrafting set minus the gloves gives the best Runecrafting experience per essence in the game. Players can play Fist of Guthix to receive another pair.

Runecrafting Guild
The Runecrafting Guild is a guild released in the "Runecrafting Guild and Game" update on 12 August 2008. It is located through a portal on the first/second floor of the Wizards' Tower. Players must have a Runecrafting level of at least 50 to enter the Guild.

Features of the guild include a map of all the runecrafting altars that require talismans, Omni-talisman, two-party minigame called The Great Orb Project with rewards including Talisman staff, Runecrafting Teleport Tablets, Rune essence, Runecrafter Outfit, and Talismans.

Free-to-play training
Since free-to-play players do not have the wide range of resources available to members, training is considerably harder. There are six altars with which free-to-play players can craft runes, compared to the ten altars that members have. These six altars are:


 * Air altar - level 1
 * Mind altar - level 2
 * Water altar - level 5
 * Earth altar - level 9
 * Fire altar - level 14
 * Body altar - level 20

With these six altars, there are various combinations of obtaining essence and storing the runes that you craft for a total of at least 18 different training methods or paths to different altars that are worth investigating and using for regular methods of obtaining experience using this skill in F2P worlds. There is not necessarily a "best" method for training at any given level, although other skills and items can make a huge difference in being able to train this skill faster.

As with all skills, there are trade-offs between earning experience faster or earning money from this skill. It would be wise to check the current price for various runes and the rune essence before you start to invest some significant amount of time into training this skill, and to come up with your own plan for training this skill.

Other skills that can have a significant impact on training Runecrafting include Mining and Magic. High levels in either or both of these skills can have a huge impact on what training methods are most reasonable for this skill, as can the completion of the Lumbridge and Draynor Diary.

Pay-to-play training
The number of options available to players for crafting runes is considerably larger for members than it is for free players. Teleportation jewellery, Summoning familiars, essence holding bags, additional altars, quests that open new locations (and banks), and many more are options to consider when trying to obtain runes as members. Often, simply trying to find the "best" combination is a matter of personal choice, and also involves having developed many other skills as well to craft runes more efficiently.

Weight

 * If a player completes As a First Resort Quest, the use of the saltwater energy pool is a great advantage. This saves on energy potions as well as the few seconds it takes to drink them each trip. Although it is arguable that the time taken to access the spring is a factor which must be taken into account, it can be done quite efficiently to minimise the time spent in travelling and need only be done once approximately every 15 minutes. Furthermore the thermal spring can be used at the same time to heal any damage inflicted (eg by abyssal monsters) and provide an additional few HP. This saves some of the cost of food, and also most of the cost of energy potions - on average you lose 27k an hour using super energies while runecrafting.
 * Members should wear the Boots of lightness while training Runecrafting so that they can run longer. They can also wear a Spotted cape or Spottier cape. Penance gloves from the Barbarian Assault minigame gives another 4.5 kg weight loss.
 * When mining essence, players should be only carrying a pickaxe and essence pouches so that they can run longer.
 * Note that Rune essence and Pure essence weigh nothing.
 * Players with high agility levels may choose to use the agile top and agile legs since they both reduce weight by 12 kg and 10 kg respectively.

Running Runes

 * When crafting nature runes, there are a few possible ways:
 * 1) Have Jiminua un-note your pure essence at the cost of 2 coins per essence at the general store just south of Brimhaven.
 * 2) Some players use runners to bring them un-noted essences in exchange for noted essences, some cash and/or some runes.
 * 3) Travel north to the gnome glider from Al Kharid. Ride the glider to Karamja. Travel north-west, cross the river via the log, and then head south-west to the nature altar. Use a duelling ring to return and to the Duel Arena.
 * 4) Use The Abyss, using an amulet of glory to teleport to Edgeville and bank there and then repeat.
 * 5) Move your house 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) Bank in Catherby. Use the boat system to travel to Shipyard at Karamja. Run to nature altar. Use normal style Camelot teleport or Lunar style Catherby teleport to get back to bank.
 * 8) Using the level 57 Summoning Familiar Spirit graahk special ability to teleport just north of the fairy ring, running to the altar then returning to the bank by ring of duelling or by amulet of glory.
 * 9) The fastest way to craft nature runes is to buy nature tablets with tokens from the Runecrafting guild.


 * When crafting law runes on Entrana, there are a few possible ways:
 * 1) Walk from Draynor Village to Port Sarim. Board the boat. Craft and use glory amulet to return to Draynor.
 * 2) Use the Abyss method. Have at least 10+ charged glories for this method.
 * 3) After doing the Enlightened Journey quest you can unlock the balloon route to/from Castle Wars. You wear a Law tiara, a Ring of duelling and weight-saving gear. In the inventory one normal log, Pure essences and Pouches. The sequence then is: Castle Wars bank, Balloon ride to Entrana, walk to altar and craft runes.
 * 4) Leave Entrana via the boat, then run to the Void Knight outpost boat and use the Void Knight outpost bank


 * A common method for training Runecrafting is by using runners. A runner is a player that changes noted essences into un-noted ones by converting them in a bank or a shop. The runecrafter increases the amount of essences processed and the runner gets a good reward. Common player worlds where runners are used are:
 * Air running World 16. 25 normal essences for 25 noted and 1000-2000 coins
 * Nature running Worlds 36, 65 and 99. Mostly used by double nature runecrafters as payment is un-noted essence for noted essences and more than the same amount of nature runes (or equivalent in coins).
 * Law running Worlds 66 and 99. Both worlds now use the Assist System, runners will need a law tiara, and un-noted pure essence.
 * Mind running
 * Chaos running


 * The Ourania rune altar provides a very fast way to gain Runecrafting experience averaging from 25k-35k xp per hour, depending on runecrafting level. The fastest option requires the use of Lunar Spells and a magic level of 71 to use the Ourania Teleport spell. The sequence then is start at a bank, teleport to ourania entrance, optionally recharge prayer upstairs, go down and walk to altar, craft runes and use a bank teleport (ring of duelling, amulet of glory, Moonclan Teleport) to repeat.

Transportation

 * Members can use the duel ring teleports for fast Runecrafting xp. The duel arena teleport location is very close to the fire altar and the castle war teleport is very close to a banking spot.


 * The Runecrafting Teleport Tablets obtained from The Great Orb Project minigame can offer extremely fast experience. By teleporting to the runecrafting altar, then teleporting to a bank, players can craft runes with almost no need to walk.


 * Members can use the fairy ring teleport system as it is a quick way to get to remote places in RuneScape. (Including a teleport to the Grand Exchange)

Optimum Runecrafting gear
This outfit enables players to run for a long time when runecrafting, thus increasing your crafting rate. Items worn:
 * Agile legs
 * Agile top
 * Boots of lightness
 * Spotted Cape or Spottier Cape
 * Penance gloves (with 40 defence + Barbarian Assault mini-game)
 * Runecrafting gloves (worn only when crafting air, water and earth runes)
 * Explorer's ring 2 or Explorer's ring 3 (not able to be brought to Entrana) For the Energy Boost and can give additional runes when runecrafting air,water,earth,and fire runes
 * Omni-talisman or, preferably, an Omni-tiara (the lighter of the two) or Omni-talisman staff (for saving bank space or if you are crafting many different types of runes)(with 50 runecrafting + The Great Orb Project mini-game)


 * It should be noted that this is only useful when the player is wearing armour, as there is no difference in the drain speed of energy between sub zero weights and zero.

There is no longer a threat of player-killers in the level 5 wilderness near the Abyss but of course beware of the dreaded Revenants. However, keep in mind that if you are in level 6 Wilderness, only Revenants six levels over/below your level can attack you.


 * An alternative to using dragonhide armour is to use agile top and agile legs since these provide an overall defence bonus and reduces weight. However, you will need 85 agility to be able to gain the agile legs and 90 for the agile top.

Other
Accounts have been created solely for the purpose of aiding runecrafting. Rumours that many high levelled members' accounts were started in this way have circulated throughout RuneScape. Also note that you will need a Runecrafting level of at least 50 to access the Great Orb Project mini-game.
 * Another way to gain runecraft experience may be the assist system. It is recommended to team up with a friend and both go to the same altar, you craft the runes, then assist your friend. Using the assist system, whole clans have 'power-crafted' members' levels.
 * Members are better served using pouches when mining essence.
 * It is recommended that players mine a large amount of essence, bank them all, and then craft runes with 28 essence, or more if you have pouches in your inventory, each time.
 * The fastest and cheapest way to gain experience regardless is with altar tablets and explorer's ring 3. Teleport to the altar, craft your runes, then use cabbage-port and bank in Draynor. (Note: This does not apply to laws as you cannot bring explorer's ring with you). Note also that the tablets are untradeable, so players using this method must also spend time playing the Great Orb Project minigame.
 * You CANNOT use an abyssal familiar on Entrana. This was previously possible, but a hidden update now blocks you from taking a familiar to Entrana to runecraft (even though abyssal familiars are neither armour nor weaponry).

Temporary boosts
One method to give a boost to your runecrafting level is by eating orange spicy stews. However, the amount of boost is random (between -6 to +6).

After completing the Land of the Goblins quest, you can speak to Oldak using the "What have you discovered?" option and get a random boost between -2 and 2 to either Runecrafting or Magic.

99 Runecrafting
Once a member has reached level 99 Runecrafting, Aubury in Varrock rune shop will sell the Runecraft cape for 99,000 coins.

Trivia

 * There is a glitch if a player is crafting runes with a toy kite wielded, the player's kite would float in the air without them holding it during the runecrafting animation.
 * The Runecrafting Altars have an appearance similar to that of Stonehenge.
 * In the hiscores and on the skill interface, this skill is called the "Runecraft" Skill, but it is called "Runecrafting" in QuickChat. This is now fixed.