Wilderness


 * For PvP in general, see Player killing.
 * For the music track, see Wilderness (music track).

The Wilderness is a large and dangerous area which makes up the entirety of north-eastern Gielinor, directly north of the kingdoms of Asgarnia and Misthalin. On 1 February 2011, Player-versus-Player (PvP) combat reminiscent of the original style prior to the removal of free trade was reintroduced here.

Development history
The Wilderness was famous for being the only place where non-members could engage in Player-versus-Player (PvP) combat to gain all items that the defeated dropped until 10 December 2007, when the Duel Arena was opened to free players and the Bounty Hunter and Clan Wars activities were introduced.

As of 15 October 2008, players were allowed to attack each other here (and across the rest of RuneScape in PvP worlds) on special Bounty Worlds (These worlds will have been rendered obsolete by the first of February as the classic Wilderness area is reintroduced). They could not, however, attack each other here on non-PvP worlds.

In the months between December 2007 and October 2008, however, players could only attack each other via activities. The Clan Wars free-for-all portals are very similar to the Wilderness before 10 December 2007, however with the arrival of Bounty worlds the Wilderness returned to being like old player killing. Players had be careful entering the Wilderness as they could be attacked and likely killed by Revenants.

From 24 December 2010 to 14 January 2011 a referendum to bring back the old wilderness and free trade was conducted, in which ninety one percent of votes were a yes. The Wilderness is now returned to the original player killing wilderness on 1 February 2011. As of 18 January 2011, the "Attack" option was secretly added to the menu while right-clicking on a player in the Wilderness in certain areas. Clicking it yielded "You can only attack players in a player-vs-player area".

In-game history
The Wilderness used to be known as Forinthry. It was a dense forest with rich supplies of basically everything that a city would need. It was once a big part of Zaros' mighty empire, with many fortresses like Dareeyak, Carrallangar, Annakarl and Ghorrock. It once held the greatest of cities ever to be seen on RuneScape and was described as "Heaven on Earth". That is until the God Wars started, and War erupted from the rich land that once belonged to the God Zaros, who faded out of existence as he was betrayed by the once-mortal Zamorak, who then became a god himself. Zamorak quickly destroyed all the Zarosian fortresses. The Gods joined forces in order to fight against Zamorak. However, eventually all the Gods started to fight amongst and for themselves. The Wilderness back then became the centre of warfare.

Possibly during these wars, a parallel realm of the Wilderness was created by the Spirit Beast. Those who are unlucky enough to die in the wilderness will be trapped in this realm for the rest of eternity. As the spirit beast slowly drains the souls of the unfortunate mortal victims makes itself stronger. The prime example of these are the Revenants, cursed to eternally walk the wilderness even after death, thousands of years after the God Wars.

After 4,000 years of battle, the heaven-like Wilderness is now reduced to nothing but cursed, un-revivable wastelands. Eventually Guthix awoke from his long slumber and put an end to the God Wars by creating the Edicts of Guthix, which banned all gods from ever directly influencing Gielinor again. Guthix went deep into the depths of Gielinor and wept, saddened by the effects the God Wars had had on the world that he had created and loved. The Wars are stopped, but the damage was done. Many races like Aviansies, Icyenes, Ourgs and Wyrms were driven to extinction, many having died in the God Wars. The Wilderness is now a wasteland feared by adventurers. Today many ruins of the once beautiful cities still remain in these lands, barely recognizable as great cites but rather as piles of bricks, and spirits of the creatures who died during the God Wars were forced by the gods to look after the Wilderness. They started patrolling the wilderness and attacking people, and became known and feared as the Revenants. Adventurers fought back and soon Revenants could only be found in the Forinthry Dungeon. Many of those who have died in the Wilderness after that point, have end up within a Spirit Plane.

During the Fourth Age, there were many attempts to recolonize the Wilderness. One of them was Bonde family who managed to build a successful farm in the 1700s. However, they were assassinated. There are still many creatures wandering around in the wilderness, like many species of giants and demons. Due to Wilderness being a site of ancient battles, it is also a place where dragons reside. Some outlaws, mostly Zamorakians, have also managed to set up their bases there, like bandits, dark warriors, rogues and pirates.

In year 169, many adventures teamed up together to fight the Revenants to reclaim what was rightfully theirs. Their efforts were successful, and the Revenants were banished to a cave known as the Forinthry Dungeon. Despite this, the Revenants still remain dangerous to anyone wishing to explore the cave, but are not nearly as powerful as they were above ground.



Revenants
Revenants were added by Jagex to challenge players after player killing was removed. They would randomly appear and attack players in the Wilderness. Revenants are the ghost-like spirits of creatures killed during the God Wars. All of them could teleblock, freeze, and use all three sides of the combat triangle. In members Wilderness, most of them could also poison the player (except for the Revenant dragon, which could poison players anywhere in the wilderness). They can also unleash hefty damage despite their combat level; even the level 7 Revenant Imps can hit up to 90 LP. The further north players go, the higher the danger level gets. The danger level represents the potential combat levels of revenants you can engage in combat. A danger level of 1 means you can be attacked by revenants within 1 combat level of your own; a danger level of 2 means you can fight revenants within 2 combat levels of your own; and so on.

After the Wilderness and Free Trade Update on February 1st, revenants were removed from the Wilderness surface and banished to the Forinthry Dungeon. They also lost there ability to teleblock and freeze players, but they are still extremely dangerous and should not be under estimated.

Teleport restrictions
Teleports will not work above level 20, except for a select few such as the Amulet of Glory or Ring of Life which may be used by members up to level 30. However, the Tele Block spell will prevent you from using any means of teleportation for 5 minutes.

If you have completed Spirit of Summer, you can use Jennica's ring to activate portals throughout the Wilderness, even from the axe hut at level 55, since the spirit realm is not considered a part of the wilderness as far as game mechanics go.

Items that allow member teleportation to up to 30 level Wilderness:


 * Amulet of glory
 * Bracelet of combat
 * Necklace of skills
 * Pharaoh's sceptre
 * Grand seed pod
 * Ring of Life

The Wall


The Wilderness is protected by a wall on its southern edge, requiring players to click on it to enter the Wilderness. This was to prevent players from wandering into the Wilderness and getting killed, or getting 'lured' or tricked into going into the Wilderness with popular luring techniques such as Tree Luring prior the Wilderness changes. After clicking the wall, players are presented with a screen that asks whether they really want to enter the Wilderness. Players who click yes will then jump over the wall. Above it, there are a few safe spaces. This has, however, reduced the level 1 Wilderness to 4 tiles.

Jagex added the ditch/wall functionality on 18 April 2007. They also added the option not to receive this warning message every time on 17 July 2007. Players can toggle this and other warning messages on and off via the Doomsayer in Lumbridge.

Why Enter the Wilderness?
Many players enter the wilderness to PK (Player Kill). There are also two Boss monsters located within The Wilderness:


 * King Black Dragon

- Located in level 42 Wilderness, near the lava maze. The entrance to the King Black Dragon's lair is located in the wilderness, but the lair itself is not.


 * Chaos Elemental

- Located in the highest levels of the Wilderness, west of the Rogue's Castle.

The Wilderness Volcano is also a good area to train since it has Greater Demons and Hellhounds. There is always plenty to kill since the monsters spawn fast and there is usually a small amount of players. Some places in the Wilderness spawn runes which players may collect for free although it can be quite dangerous if other players pass by. Some players like to get together with friends and take the risk of hanging out in the Wilderness just for the fun of it.

To Access the Abyss
Pay to play players can use the Abyss Via Wilderness to access the various altars throughout RuneScape to craft runes; the Zamorak mage that teleports players to the abyss is in level 5 Wilderness. Many players will risk being killed to craft runes here as it is the fastest way available to train Runecrafting until the ZMI altar becomes feasible; normally only runes above cosmic are crafted here as any rune below this is not considered worth the risk, and/or it takes less time to reach the appropriate altar by other means.

For Resources
There are many useful respawns in the Wilderness. Particularly, in the non-members' world, there are only two spawn points for the planks required in the Dragon Slayer quest: There are also many respawns for bones in the Chaos Temple and the Bone Yard, and members can collect White Berries (a valuable potion ingredient) at Red Dragon Isle.
 * 1) In the Graveyard of Shadows, level 22 Wilderness. This place is multi-combat and is filled with aggressive level 18 and 24 zombies, so lower levels may want to bring some food and/or armour.
 * 2) The lava maze (level 43) contains several item spawns such as iron full helm, gold necklace, staff of earth, steel plate, along with coin respawn points. Bring food, as it contains king scorpions, hill giants and lesser demons.

There is a small hill at above 50 wilderness north of the border where cut sapphires spawn, however it is guarded by low-level spiders

To Mine Ores
The risk factor and the aggressive monsters mean these mines are rarely mined-out, unlike the Mining guild at busy times.

The Wilderness has one of the few places to mine runite ore in all Gielinor, being the only place free-to-play players could mine runite until the 19 July 2010 Dungeoneering update. After the Feb 1 2011 Wilderness update, the runite rocks near the Lava Maze began spawning their ore much faster, making it well worth the risk for those who are bold enough to mine in level 40+ Wilderness.

While the best metal armour enables players to shrug off most of the monsters that frequent the mines, other players will frequently attack with Magic as well, so ranged armour may be preferable to avoid a negative magic defence bonus. Protect from Magic may also be used to ward off magical attacks.

To Solve Clues
Pay to play players can obtain Clue scrolls from monsters. The higher level Clue scrolls often involve visits to the Wilderness, including to the parts with a very high danger level. Be warned that you can still be attacked by other players while fighting off any of the wizards that may attack you while digging for a casket, so be prepared for anything. Most of the time you will be incapable of teleporting, so you should be sure to bring a lot of food, preferably lobsters or better.

To Train Agility
Pay to play players have an Agility training course in the deep Wilderness. It is one of the fastest Agility training areas, though also the most dangerous, as you can be attacked at any time.

To Kill Monsters
The Wilderness has monsters that can be interesting to kill for their drops or their experience e.g. Greater demons. In member worlds, Green Dragons and the King Black Dragon are killed for Dragon bones and dragon hide, the Chaos Elemental for valuable items such as the Dragon 2h sword, Black unicorns for unicorn horns, and the Corporeal beast for sigils worth millions of coins used to make spirit shields, are examples of monsters that attract players into the Wilderness.



To Unlock Music
Some players wish to unlock as much music as possible, since they can get the Air Guitar emote upon unlocking 500 songs. Approximately 40 music tracks are unlocked in the Wilderness, including some in the Spirit of Summer and Summers End quests which are started and take place in the wilderness. Exploration, doing certain quests, training specific skills, and competing in various mini-games will unlock soundtracks and music in the wilderness area.

To Make Money
Many players engage in player killing in throughout the Wilderness to obtain valuables. When they kill a player, they will get all or nearly all of the items that the player was holding. Then the player killer takes the dropped items and does whatever they may wish to do with them. This includes using the High Alchemy or Low Alchemy spells on them or selling them for money.

Also, many players visit the Wilderness to kill Green Dragons, as the hides and bones they always drop are very profitable.

Another way to make money is by walking/running back and forth from the Wilderness Volcano bank to the Red Dragon Isle, where players can pick up White berries, banking them, and later selling them at the Grand Exchange. White berries sell for coins each.

Another way many players make money is killing black unicorns west of stealing creation and collecting unicorn horns. When they get a full inventory of horns, they deposit them in the stealing creation bank deposit box. After getting many unicorn horns, they can be sold on the Grand Exchange. Unicorns horns sell for coins.

To Sell Items
Many players have items that are of very little value to merchants and skill specialists. The General store in the Bandit Camp buys items for close to high alchemy prices because the "Tax collectors do not visit his store." All Wilderness merchants are very high-level as a matter of personal safety.

To Buy Capes
Some players want to collect team capes, so they go in the wilderness just to enhance their collection. These handy capes can vary in colours and designs.

You can find these capes by searching for men with big bags on their backs. Their location are in different places but are always near one place.

To Slay Revenants
Many players seek out revenants in the Forinthry Dungeon to kill them for their valuable drops, such as corrupt dragon armour, statuettes and Ancient Warriors' Equipment. The dungeon can be entered in either level 17 or 31 Wilderness near the western wall. Be warned that the dungeon is still concered a PvP area, and it's multi-combat, making it extremely dangerous. There are a lot of places that players would like to explore. However, curiosity can sometimes kill you, and this applies best to the Wilderness. But if a player is ready, why not go ahead and have a look around?

To complete quests or miniquests
On 29 July 2008, the first Wilderness quest, Spirit of Summer, was released. The quest mainly focuses at the centre of the wilderness. The sequel Summer's End is also started in the Wilderness, and on the 29 September, the third quest, Defender of Varrock brought players to the Graveyard of Shadows and to the Chaos Temple which are both located in the Wilderness.

Also, the Ghostly robes (miniquest) takes a player into the Wilderness at least once.

To light beacons
If the player has finished the All Fired Up quest, then the player may need to head into the Wilderness to light some beacons for the activity of the same name. The beacons in the Wilderness are in the following locations: one on the Frozen Waste Plateau, one beacon is located in the low-level Wilderness north of the Grand Exchange, two other beacons north-east of the Lumber yard and one beacon is located north of the altar in level 43 Wilderness.

To Shop and Trade
There is a shop selling pizza bases located in the Bandit Camp, as well as a general store which buys items from players for the high alchemy price rather than the standard low alchemy used in most general stores. However, due to the remoteness of the bandit camp, the stores are rarely used.

To go Dungeoneering
Because Daemonheim is located in the wilderness, some players may walk through the wilderness to get to the peninsula. However, it is faster to get to Daemonheim by taking the Fremennik ship at Al Kharid or to teleport there via the Ring of Kinship.

To Fish
Around level 35 in the wilderness, on the east coast, there is a second F2P fishing spot for lobster, tuna and swordfish. Also, in the Lava Maze, is the only lava eel fishing spot besides the one in the Taverley Dungeon near the group of baby blue dragons.

To Hunt for Penguins
Sometimes penguins from Penguin Hide and Seek will be in the wilderness, so if a player would like to maximise their weekly reward they would have to go in to the wilderness to find the penguins. However, often penguin hunting clans can lead the penguins to relatively safe spots and thus reduce the risk.

Why not enter the Wilderness?
There is one main reason for players to refuse to enter the Wilderness: fear of death. A player can be killed very quickly in the wilderness in many ways:
 * By other players - the attackable levels are increased by the wilderness level, so players can be attacked by players a much higher combat level than them.
 * By high-level monsters - some of the chief wilderness attractions are some of the most likely places to die - revenants patrol all major landmarks, and the chaos elemental makes the region from the scorpion pit to the skeletal fence to the wilderness volcano nearly unapproachable.
 * By 'regular' monsters - almost all monsters in the wilderness attack players on sight even if they are passive elsewhere. These creatures attack everyone - level 100+ players will still be attacked by giant rats.
 * By Revenants - only in Forinthry Dungeon. Much more dangerous than their combat level suggests. After Wilderness Return update much more rewarding than before.

Features
All of the area to the right (the F2P/P2P Wilderness border is Danger Level 48) except the Red Dragon Isles is available to Free-to-play users. A basic outline to some features is given below, for more in-depth click on the link.

Features
This area is only available to Pay-to-play users. Note: The white line visible near the bottom is the fence separating the Free-to-play and Pay-to-play areas.

Mage Arena
This is where players with at least level 60 Magic can take Kolodion's challenge. Successful players receive the God Cape and the God Staff of their chosen God. For more information, see the Mage Arena article.

Obelisks
There are six Wilderness Obelisks. Each portal will randomly teleport anyone standing on the central pad to any of the other 5 pads. They are the only teleportation method to work beyond level 30 Wilderness apart from the Ardougne teleport lever, the Mage Arena teleport lever, and the Edgeville teleport lever. To activate the portal, touch any of the pillars on the side. The portals are found in the following locations:

Be Warned: using this may also teleport Revenants if they are caught in the 3x3 square when the teleport activates.

Wilderness part of Edgeville dungeon
Although most of the Wilderness is an open area, the north part of Edgeville dungeon is Wilderness too. It can be accessed by passing a members gate. The Wilderness level in the northernmost part is 5. Points of interest:
 * Several Chaos druids in the Wilderness section, well known for their high drop rate for herbs.
 * There are six red spider's eggs respawns in this dungeon, making it easier to collect them for potions.
 * Several Black Demons live farther inside the dungeon, closer to a bank than most others.
 * There is a demon who resides in the dungeon named Chronozon. He's a critical part of the Family Crest quest and can only be killed after successfully casting all four of the elemental "blast" spells on him.
 * The Earth Obelisk is in the dungeon near Chronozon, and the Air Obelisk can be accessed through the dungeon as well, past the Black Demons.
 * The dungeon is one of only 2 locations to house Earth warriors. You need 15 Agility to cross the monkey bars to get to them.
 * From 1 February 2011, this part of Edgeville Dungeon is a PvP zone.

Effects on Bounty Worlds
Any player within a particular level range of Combat level can be attacked on Bounty Worlds. The range is calculated with this formula:


 * $$\text{level range} = ( 0.1 * \text{Combat level}) + 5 + \text{Wilderness level}$$

Note that the result is always rounded down.

For example, a player with a Combat level of 100 may attack players with Combat levels between 85 to 115 (a 15-level range). If the player is in the Wilderness, the range increases as the player travels deeper, (directly based off the level of Wilderness the player is in).

Note: A player CAN be attacked by another player outside their range, if the other player has the player within their range. This player CAN of course retaliate if they are attacked this way, even though the other player is outside their level range.

The various Combat level colours:


 * Green - Lower in Combat level
 * Yellow - Equal in Combat level
 * Red - Higher in Combat level
 * White - Cannot be attacked (i.e. outside the Combat level range or in a safe area.)

Quests
No quest starts in the Wilderness but several take place partially or mostly in the Wilderness. However, according to Jagex, there is no PvP combat in quest areas in the Wilderness, and players on quests that enter the Wilderness have safe ways to transit the PvP parts of the Wilderness. Quests taking place partially or mostly in the Wilderness are:
 * Spirit of Summer
 * Summer's End (requires travelling through the Wilderness, though majority of the quest takes place in the Spirit Realm)
 * Defender of Varrock
 * The Curse of Arrav
 * The Temple at Senntisten
 * While Guthix Sleeps (the attack on Lucien requires the player to go to the Chaos Temple (hut) in the Wilderness, but via a route that avoids the PvP Wilderness)