Ourania Runecrafting Altar

The Ourania Runecrafting Altar (also known as the ZMI Altar or the Ourania Altar) is one of several Runecrafting altars located around RuneScape. The altar is in the Ourania Cave, which is west of the Battlefield, and south-west of West Ardougne.

The official Ourania Runecrafting world is world 70. Going into this world is better, as other players may be killing the monsters on the route, and free tele-group spells to Lunar Isle might be offered at the altar.



There are actually two altars in the Ourania area, and the runecrafting altar goes by several names, which can cause some confusion:
 * 1) The Ourania runecrafting altar is in the cave itself. It is sometimes called the Ourania altar, the Ourania rune altar, or the ZMI altar. This is a runecrafting altar, not a prayer one.
 * 2) A chaos altar is outside the cave, near the cave's entrance. This altar is a prayer altar, not a runecrafting one. (To add to the confusion, there are several "chaos altars" throughout the world, most for prayer and one for runecrafting!)

Description
This altar will craft random runes from pure essence only - rune essence cannot be used. The mix of random runes depends on the Runecrafting level of a player.

As the altar gives double the experience per pure essence, it provides faster Runecrafting experience and roughly halves the amount of essence needed to achieve Runecrafting levels. The Ourania Altar converts essences into runes on a one to one basis (i.e. multiple runes cannot be created at this altar). With the random nature of the rune mix, the cost of pure essences may exceed the street value of the crafted runes.



The Ourania Altar is the only runecrafting method at this time to produce Soul runes as the equivalent altar has not yet been released into the game. The magic supply shops are still the dominant supply for these runes.

Transportation
A few ways can be taken to get to the altar:
 * Ourania Teleport (71 magic) - appearing at the starting of path to the entrance
 * Spirit Tree - from Tree Gnome Village to the Khazard battlefield and travel south-west
 * Ardougne Teleport (51 magic with Plague City Quest done) - walk out from the zoo and head south-west
 * Kandarin Monastery Teleport (using Ardougne cloak)

Banking
There are three methods of banking when using the altar:
 * 1) Moonclan Teleport (69 magic). To return to the altar, use the Ourania Teleport spell.
 * 2) Ring of duelling. Use this ring to teleport to the Castle Wars bank and the Ourania Teleport spell to return to the altar.
 * 3) Eniola, a travelling banker. Eniola will allow you access to your bank account in exchange for 20 of any one type of rune. Using runes which are common, or not often used, such as body runes, or elemental runes, is advisable.

Paths
There are two paths leading to the altar:
 * Shorter, more dangerous route.
 * Longer, danger free route.

Shorter route
Lower level players around 70 or below will probably want to take the alternate route, but higher ups will be able to wear any combination of magic armour and melee armour and run through relatively unscathed.

If a player goes to the altar from the shorter route, there are various tactics.
 * Increase their magic defence as much as possible and put on protect from missiles for the whole journey. Ghostly robes are a good choice, as they provide modest magic defence while being weightless, allowing run energy to last longer.
 * Switching around prayers to try and avoid the varied attacks while running through.
 * Wear full melee armour with the protect from magic spell, using the baths from the As a First Resort... Quest for run energy. From Oo'glog,
 * Run north to reach the gnome glider (One Small Favour Quest required), go to the Grand Tree then take the Spirit Tree south of the Tree to go to Khazard battlefield.
 * Use Lunar Magicks spells.



Longer route
This route is a long winding pathway. Once players reach the end of the path, they will have to squeeze through a small crack in the wall to reach the altar. The Zamorak crafters are commonly killed in hopes of their rare rune drops.

Rates
The runes craftable at the Ourania Runecrafting Altar occur in the following proportions:
 * At level 80 (based on a 509 essence test):

The total cost for 40 pure essence is roughly 0 coins, therefore the profit for an inventory (of 40) is about 0

''Note: All prices shown are taken from the Grand Exchange Market Watch. To update outdated prices, see Grand Exchange Market Watch/Runecrafting.''


 * At level 57 (based on a 1000 essence test):

Tips

 * If transporting to Lunar Isle to bank without a Seal of Passage, talk only with the eastern banker, 'Bird's-Eye' Jack. Talking with the other bankers will result in the player being kicked off the island.


 * The familiars to use here are the Spirit Terrorbird to scroll extra run energy or the Abyssal parasite, Abyssal lurker, or Abyssal titan familiars which hold 7 extra essence. There is a small Summoning Obelisk right at the lunar colony entrance, so that you can renew summoning points when needed, if you bank there.


 * The nearest source of essence is right on Lunar Island, North and east in the dungeon. Simply take a pick there (running to avoid the Suqahs level 114) mine and continue to Ourania. The next closest is in East Ardougne Wizard Cromperty whose house lies north-east of the East Ardougne marketplace and who provides a teleport to the essence mines.


 * It is advisable to run in a group to the altar as it reduces the chance of being attacked.


 * To reduce damage, players tend to use Protect from Missiles as well as Rapid Heal as there is an altar just as you enter. Defence boosting prayers such as Steel Skin or Chivalry can also help to reduce damage taken.


 * When teleporting back to Lunar Isles, wield a Staff of earth and use Tele Group Moonclan instead to increase Magic XP gained. Many mages teleport this way so if you are a lower level (but completed or at least started Lunar Diplomacy) or don't want to use your runes, make sure you have accept aid on and hitch a ride with them.  It is also recommended to review the teleport destination before accepting, to make sure it is teleporting to Lunar Isle, as sometimes a player may telegroup to a dangerous area such as Ice Plateau.


 * Resting works while banking, so hitting rest before each time you bank can help you to recover run energy more quickly.


 * A Player With 59+ Agility can make the long trip (Safe Route) With-in 1 "Run Period" (Starting The Trip At 100% Run)
 * The deposit-all feature can be used to massively increase your xp per hour. If you withdraw your pouches (and if you are using Eniola, your stack of preferred runes) and then fill your bank, you can simply click the deposit all button to bank the different runes you make at ZMI, instead of taking extra time to bank them all individually (or losing profit by dropping them on the return trip). An easy way to do this is to purchase different colored afros from Party Pete.

Trivia

 * The name of this altar is perhaps a reference to Urania, a Greek mythological figure, who was the muse of astronomy and astrology.
 * The song 'Altar Ego' is unlocked here.
 * The cave lizards are aggressive to the Zamorakian guards, so players may take advantage of this to receive less damage, but not by much.