Runecrafting

Runecrafting is a free-to-play skill that allows players to craft their own runes for magic spells. However, to use this skill, players must first complete the quest Rune Mysteries. The experience earned from making runes is small, making runecrafting a very slow skill to raise. This is the only free-to-play skill without 1 million accounts on the Hiscores. The current minimum to be ranked on the hiscores in Runecrafting is 30 Runecrafting and experience.

Rune Essence
To craft runes, players need rune stones, known as 'rune essence'. Rune essence is also commonly referred to as 'rune ess' or just 'ess'.

There are two kinds of rune essence, normal essence and pure essence.

Normal Essence
Normal rune essence is used to make air runes, mind runes, water runes, earth runes, fire runes, and body runes. This is the only type of essence Free players can obtain by mining.

Pure Essence
Pure essence is used to make any runes. It is the only kind of essence which can be made into cosmic runes, chaos runes, astral runes, nature runes, law runes, death runes, and blood runes.

Obtaining Rune Essence
Both normal essence and pure essence are located in the same massive underground mines. However, members require a mining level of 30 to obtain pure essence. It is obtained automatically upon mining the rune essence, in place of regular essence.

To access these mines, players need to talk to certain 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. However, the right-click option is faster than talking. There are five NPCs that can teleport players to the essence mines. However, only two of them are available for free players.

Members also have access to a second mine on Lunar Isle which does not require a teleport from an NPC. It is a fairly long walk from a bank with some strong monsters on the path to the mine.

Free-to-Play

 * Wizard Aubury - He is in Varrock's rune shop, south of the east bank. This is the NPC that almost all players use, as he is a shortest walk away from a bank in Free-To-Play world. Players are strongly recommended to use this NPC.
 * Wizard Sedridor - This wizard is located in the basement of the Wizards' Tower, south of Draynor Village. Unfortunately, he is very far away from a bank. Free players are recommended to use the Aubury route instead.

Members

 * Wizard Cromperty - This wizard is located in East Ardougne, northeast of the marketplace.
 * Wizard Distentor - This wizard is located in the Magic Guild in Yanille. A magic level of 66 is required to enter the guild, though with a Wizard's Mind Bomb, a player can enter the guild at level 63, and with a Magic Potion, entry can be granted at level 62. This NPC is close to a bank like Aubury. This is the closest teleporter to a bank for Pay-To-Play (this is recommended over Aubury if you are P2P and have at least 63 Magic). However, using a Wizard's Mind Bomb every time you have to bank is unpractical, so a magic level of at least 66 is recommended.
 * 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, making him obsolete.
 * There is also a mine in the north part of Lunar Isle that has a rune essence rock inside it; however, this requires completion of the Lunar Diplomacy quest and is also very far from a bank, making it also obselete.

Alternatives
Some monsters also drop rune essence, for example the Minotaur in the first level of the Stronghold of Security and Banshees, which drop countless noted Pure Essence.

Talismans
Talismans are important as they are needed to make runes. To obtain talismans, players will have to kill monsters or buy them from other players. However, except from abyss monsters, talismans are an uncommon drop from monsters, making them hard to obtain.

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. It is important to note that free players can only make air runes, mind runes, water runes, earth runes, fire runes, and body runes, while members can make cosmic runes, chaos runes, nature runes, law runes, and death runes.

Note that all talismans of elements (Fire, Earth, Air and Water) will be dropped by the corresponding wizard south of Falador, close to Malignius Mortifer.

Tiaras
Talismans take up a space in a player's inventory, allowing them to only hold 27 essence in their inventory. However, a tiara can fix this. A player can combine a talisman and a tiara together, allowing them to wear the tiara on their head while still being able to craft runes. With the talisman inside the tiara, players can hold 28 essence. Players can either craft a tiara or buy one from another player.

If a player has a grey tiara with no markings on it, then it is un-enchanted. 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 combine the talisman and the tiara. 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.

Altars
Altars are where players make their runes. Tiaras or talismans are needed to enter these altars hidden inside 'mysterious ruins'. Players can find altars by finding them on their own, using a talisman, or by asking other players.

To find an altar using a talisman, players can right-click on the talisman and click on the 'locate' option. In the chatbox, the player will notice a message that will tell them the direction they need to go in, whether it be northwest or southeast.

When a player has found the mysterious ruins, they then need to enter the ruins. The player can enter by using their talisman with the ruins. If they are wearing an enchanted tiara, all they have to do is click on the ruins.

When the player is inside the ruins, they are now in the altar. They can then use their essence with the altar to craft some runes. While inside an altar, a player can also enchant a tiara if they have an un-enchanted tiara in their inventory. With the un-enchanted tiara, all they have to do is use with the altar and it will become enchanted. The table below lists the locations of where the altars are, and their closest bank (not including the abyss).

Abyss
Players can also be teleported inside the ruins by using the Abyss, which does not need a tiara or a talisman to use. This is possibly the best way to craft your own runes. 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.


 * See also Abyss.

Ourania rune altar
The Ourania rune altar is a new altar in the member worlds. It converts pure essences into a mixture of runes. The altar provides only one rune per essences. To counter these negative aspects, the altar gives double the experience for every rune crafted on the altar. This feature almost halves the amount of pure essences needed to gain a certain amount of runecrafting experience. It also reduces the amount of runes being pushed into the economy. The new 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.


 * See also Ourania rune 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 they hold into a rune.


 * 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 aSoul rift in the Abyss (that cannot be used), this shows that this runes will probably become craftable sometime in the future.

Crafting multiple runes
As a player's runecrafting level increases, they can make more runes. However, they only earn experience based on the amount of essence they craft. For example, a player may have only 1 essence in their inventory, but can make 2 air runes. They will only receive 5 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 and Death runes cannot be multicrafted.

Maximum runes per trip
Using all rune pouches available at a players level, a player can craft up to these numbers of runes per trip.

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

To craft combination runes, a player needs to take 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-leveled 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 will be released some day.

Free To Play Training
Runecrafting is a skill that is practiced less in free-to-play worlds, simply because of the distinct advantages the Members world possesses. However, it is still possible to train efficiently.

At the basic levels, the player should start by crafting air runes. Simply mine or buy rune essence, and prepare at Falador east bank. From there, walk or run South (remember to keep your weight at a minimum!) to the altar, craft your runes, and go back. A trip to and back takes about 80 seconds running.

Once the player is able to craft minds, you could move to Edgeville bank. Run to the altar and run back. Or simply stay at Falador until you can craft fire runes.

Once at level 14, make use of the new update! The Al-Kharid bank at the duel arena is now nearer to the altar, and it's a simple run to make fires. Keep in mind that the price of fire runes is low due to over-production from many players (both F2P and member) using this method... if you can even sell these runes at all. Training by using the fire alter may give you the maximum rate of experience, but it will always be a money losing proposition for any player taking this route, or at least a substantial lost opportunity for making money from other tasks.

If you want to make money from runecrafting, use the Multiple Runes aspect of the skill. Depending on your runecrafting level, you can craft enough runes to sell for two or three times as much as the essence cost you. Although you'll get less experience, you can make significantly more money making air runes because you get an extra rune per essence for every 11 levels of runecrafting you've achieved.

A fair compromise between making a modest profit and earning experience can be had by crafting earth runes at the alter north-east of the Varrock east bank. Profit potential is especially good once you have passed level 52 when you can craft 3 earth runes for each piece of essence, although the pure profit isn't nearly as substantial as crafting air runes at a similar level. Water runes may earn you potentially slightly more money per trip, but it is further away from a bank in terms of how long it takes to travel between the bank and the alter.

Member Training
As mentioned in the above, the Member's World has distinct advantages over Free To Play. You can make use of enchanted jewelry, use negative weight bonuses, use essence pouches, and train agility to run longer.

As soon as one starts, it is immediately suggested to do the Abyss Mini-Quest.

At level 1 members can make use of the Ourania Runecrafting Altar which allows them to craft all runes gaining double the normal experience, although you should use the long path (east) because on the short path (west) there are many high-level monsters. To use the bank at the entrance to the cave you must bring 20 of any rune.

At the level 1-14, it's the same as in Free Worlds, start by crafting airs. You can continue this way until you can craft fires, or craft minds at level 2 and use amulets of glory to teleport back to the bank. (Remember that 10+ glories are highly recommended as the time to recharge isn't worth it with fewer glories). Another possibility is to immediately take advantage of the abyss.

At level 14-27, some of the magic starts. You can now craft fires! The most efficient way is to have a large number of Dueling rings. Using the dueling ring, teleport to the Al-Kharid Dueling Arena, run to the altar, and use the ring again to teleport to the Castle Wars bank and repeat. This is extremely fast experience until you can craft cosmics.

At level 27-35, if you have a high agility level, and finished the Lost City quest, you can start crafting cosmics at Zanaris. Make use of the shortcuts to access the altar faster, and repeat the process. If you're agility isn't as high, you can just make use of the Abyss to craft cosmics. (Remember to get your medium pouch from the abyssal monsters!)

At level 35 it is recommended to do the What Lies Below quest, it gives the highest runecrafting reward of any quest. (8000 xp)

At level 35-40, make use of the Abyss to craft chaos runes. Or stick with making cosmics if you do not feel comfortable with the wilderness.

At level 40-44, if you have done Lunar Diplomacy, start crafting Astrals. Or if you didn't, either craft chaos runes, or cosmics. At this time, fire runes are not worth the cost per essence and the dueling rings/profit and experience rate so it's not suggested.

At level 44-54, (this is where the money starts coming in) start crafting natures from the few methods mentioned below and above. (Abyss, store method, or house teleport method.) You can make easy money this way, doubling the money you used to buy pure essence, (prices as of 7th of Feburary 2008).

54-99 Now it's pretty much your choice, either start crafting laws at Entrana, or move into the abyss and do the highest type of runes you can. Always remember to get the pouches as soon as you are able to obtain them!

At level 91, which is basically a runecrafter's master goal, you can proceed to make double natures, which quadruples the money you used to buy the pure essence, easily earning you a million in less than an hour.

Tips

 * If a player completes As a First Resort, use of the saltwater energy pool is a great advantage. By preparing their inventory completely, then bathing in this pool and immediately teleporting to their chosen start point for runecrafting (eg. Edgeville for nature runes or laws, Castle Wars for laws), the crafter can run 8 to 10 trips easily without need of any energy restoration. This saves on energy potions as well as the few seconds it takes to drink them each trip.
 * Members should wear the Boots of lightness while training Runecrafting so that they can run longer. The boots can be obtained during the Temple of Ikov quest, although the quest is not a requirement. With the appropriate Hunter level, players can wear a Spotted cape or Spottier cape to further reduce weight and increase their running duration. Penance gloves from the Barbarian Assault minigame gives another -4.5 kg weight loss. It may also be worth taking some time to train  (or applying XP boosts to) agility.
 * Members find it more convenient to have pouches with them when mining essence. Pouches can be obtained by killing Abyssal monsters in The Abyss or the Abyssal Area. Pouches may be repaired by the Abyssal mage even if they are banked. When bank trips are short (e.g. using the Magic Guild), the use of handling the pouches increases the effectiveness of a player's additional essence carrying capacity.
 * When mining essence, players should be only carrying a pickaxe and essence pouches so that they can run longer.
 * It is recommended that players mine a large amount of essence, bank them all, and then craft runes with 28 essence in their inventory each time. For example, a player should mine 28 essence, then bank them, and then go back to the mines and repeat. When they have, say, 560 essence, then they can make some runes. This method is faster than mining 28 essence and then crafting the runes. (For water and earth runes, the gain is unclear unless this technique is combined with teleportation between bank and altar, since those two altars are only slightly nearer to banks than to rune essence mine teleport points.)
 * When crafting nature runes on southern Karamja, there are a number of ways to craft them, because the altar is so far from a bank. Possible ways to craft nature runes are:
 * 1) Have a large amount of noted essence and some money. Travel northwest to the general store just south of Brimhaven. Have Jimnua unnote your pure essence at the cost of 2 coins per essence.
 * 2) Some players use runners to bring them unnoted essences in exchange for noted essences, some cash and/or some runes. Typical locations for this are the air, law and nature altars.
 * 3) From Al-Kharid, travel north to the gnome glider. Ride the glider to the Grand Tree and then to Karamja.  Travel northwest, cross the river via the log, and then head southwest to the nature altar. The player can then craft their runes. When they are done, they can use either a glory amulet to teleport to Al-Kharid or use a duelling ring to bank at Castle Wars and then teleport to the Duel Arena.
 * 4) Use The Abyss, using an amulet of glory to teleport to Edgeville and bank there and then repeat, use the Edgeville dungeon teleport with Ancient Magicks, or teleport home and use a mounted amulet of glory.
 * 5) Move your house (construction skill) 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.
 * When crafting law runes on Entrana, there are a number of ways to craft them, because the altar is so far from a bank. Remember no weapons or armour of any kind are allowed here. Possible ways to craft law runes are:
 * 1) Walk from Draynor Village to Port Sarim. Board the boat. Craft and use glory amulet to return to Draynor. Have at least 10+ charged glories for this method.
 * 2) Use the Abyss method. Have at least 10+ charged glories for this method. This method isn't recommended because you can't use armour or weapons to protect against revenants and abyss monsters. Also it limits the ways to get into the inner ring in the abyss.
 * 3) After doing the Enlightened Journey quest you can unlock the balloon route to/from Castle Wars. After this route is unlocked, it is one of the fastest and safest methods to craft Laws. 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,  use Ring of duelling teleport back to Castle Wars bank.
 * 4) Leave Entrana via the boat, then run to the Void Knight outpost boat and use the Void Knight outpost bank
 * 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. A glory amulet teleport to edgeville bank also can be used for the return trip. Note that this method does not require pure essences, so normal essences can be used (buy those in free to play worlds).
 * A common method for training runecrafting is by using runners. A runner is a player that changes noted essences into unnoted ones by converting them in a bank or a shop. At the appropriate altar, the runner trades the runecrafter changing unnoted essences for noted essences and some fee (usually coins or runes). 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 1500-3000 coins
 * Nature running Worlds 36, 65 & 99. Mostly used by double nature runecrafters as payment is unnoted essence for noted essences and more than the same amount of nature runes (or equivalent in coins).
 * Law running Worlds 66 & 99. While both worlds will give laws for unnoted pure essence, World 66 crafters will also give the runners noted essence, while World 99 crafters will not. On some worlds the scheme is bring your own pure essences.
 * Mind running
 * Chaos running
 * The Ourania rune altar provides a very fast way to gain runecrafting experience. 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. Optionally, bring 20 cheap runes (e.g. fires) to bank at the entrance and collect some additional essences. Without teleports, the method involves walking back to the entrance and pay runes to bank.
 * Another way to gain runecraft experience may be the assist system. It is recommened to team up with a friend and both go to the same altar, you craft the runes, then assist your freind. This doubles the experience you gain per trip, however you can only get 30,000 exp from it per day.

Ultimate runecrafting outfit
This outfit will enable you to run for ages when runecrafting thus increasing your crafting rate. Items worn:
 * Boots of lightness
 * Spotted Cape or Spottier Cape
 * Penance gloves (with 40 defence + barbarian assault 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 PKers in the level 5 wilderness near the Abyss but of course beware of the dreaded Revenants. However, keep in mind that if you're in level 6 Wilderness, only Revenants six levels over/below your level can attack you.

Skill Cape
When a player reaches level 99 in runecrafting they can buy a Runecrafting cape from Aubury in the Varrock rune shop for 99k.