Evil Tree

The Evil Tree is a members-only Distractions and Diversions event, released on 25 February 2009. This event can be done twice daily; the counter resets at 00:00 GMT. Players must log out and back in to reset the clock. A tree will spawn two hours after the death of the last tree in that world. As such, players may kill a tree in one world and switch to another world where a new tree is just sprouting.

Notes:
 * 1) Bonus experience does work.
 * 2) Lumberjack clothes do increase experience received from cutting the evil tree.
 * 3) Ring of fire & Flame gloves do increase experience received from cutting or lighting the evil tree.
 * 4) Woodcutting urns do not work
 * 5) * However, urns can be useful while cutting (non-evil) trees, when under the spell of the Leprechaun's auto-banking magic

Warning: Interacting with a tree at any stage of development counts as one of the two daily trees. This applies to nurturing trees, even if players do not have the required levels to chop or burn the fully grown tree. However: you can right click and inspect saplings and young trees to find out what they will grow into. This right clicking to inspect and check a fully grown tree's health, or a sapling's type does not count as one of the daily interactions.

A way of making it easier to find evil trees is by joining a friend chat dedicated to tracking evil trees which players may find in the RuneScape Forums. In these, players can share their reports with other players that are also looking for evil trees and then calculations, based on the times given by spirit trees, are used to determine when evil trees may sprout. These calculations do not directly interact with the game engine.

Overview
The purpose of the event is to kill the Evil tree, after which the player is rewarded; see below. There are seven types of evil trees and twenty-six possible locations.

Farming experience is granted each time the Sapling advances to another stage of development while nurturing. Woodcutting experience is granted every few seconds during chopping. Firemaking experience is granted each time a new section of the Tree is lit on fire from evil tree kindling. Firemaking experience is also granted after adding the evil tree kindling to the bonfire from the dead evil tree.

A leprechaun is found near all trees. He will explain the evil tree and is the one to reward players after one is killed. He can also loan out low-level tools if you've forgotten yours.

Stages
An evil tree has a total of six stages: stages 1–5 are different growths of the sapling, and stage six is a fully grown evil tree. The strange sapling may be nurtured by players to make it grow quickly, but it will grow on its own. The type of a sapling could formerly only be determined by checking the farming experience when nurturing or the level requirement needed if the player's farming level was too low, see chart. However, this counts as one of the twice-daily interactions. Currently a much safer alternative is available, which is to right-click the sapling and press inspect. Players may wish to refrain from nurturing trees until they know if they are interested in killing the resulting tree. After the sapling is fully grown, it becomes an evil tree.

Locating
There are several ways to find an evil tree:
 * Open the D&D tab on the Adventurers interface, for the Evil Tree D&D it will state the time until an evil tree appears and state "ready" when the evil tree has arrived.
 * Speak with a Spirit tree (this requires completion of Tree Gnome Village). It will tell you the status of the tree in each world and it gives players a hint to its location; see here. Each hint leads to at least two locations. Once the Sapling has grown into a full tree, Spirit trees will teleport the player to the exact location. If a quest is required that you have not completed, (such as Legends' Quest for trees in the Kharazi Jungle) the Spirit tree will not teleport you.
 * Be nearby. Once the Strange Sapling sprouts, Evil roots will briefly shoot out of the surrounding ground. These roots can appear a good distance from the location of the tree, so search carefully. Roots will only appear beneath the players feet that have not yet interacted with two evil trees that day.
 * If you cannot get a tip from the spirit tree, have a friend who can talk to the spirit tree get one for you.
 * Join a clan or Friends Chat. Many will be advertised in the RuneScape Forums under "Distractions and Diversions".
 * A sapling for an Evil tree will spawn exactly two minutes from the time a server comes online after a crash or a system update.
 * Players that have completed the 2011 Easter event can use their Sunbeam crown or Icicle crown to ask about the tree's type and a hint to its location or, if no tree is alive, the estimated time until one is.

Killing
The evil tree is killed using two methods: cutting with a hatchet and lighting fires at its base. Different levels are required to cut and burn the tree; see below. Chopping the tree and its roots gives Woodcutting experience, and lighting fires gives Firemaking experience.

To chop the tree, a hatchet is needed. As with all woodcutting, higher-level hatchets cut faster than lower-level ones. To burn the tree, the player will require a tinderbox and some kindling, which is attained from chopping down one of the four roots that grow on the north, east, south, or west side of the tree. Upon request, the leprechaun will provide the player with a Bronze hatchet and a tinderbox. It is recommended to use your own hatchet for faster cutting.

The evil roots will strike and stun players who are standing nearby. They will also force players who are standing on their spawn location off the way each time they spawn. Machetes are more effective at cutting roots than most hatchets are. If you have a Rune hatchet and a Red topaz machete in the inventory, your character will automatically use the machete to cut the roots, indicating that it works better. The Dragon hatchet and Inferno adze are still faster than any of the machetes. When 4 evil roots are active cutting one will takes the least time, also when 3 evil roots are present the fourth will respawn slower.

There are eight spots at the base of the tree to light. The fires do damage to the tree over time and help you earn reward faster; therefore it is recommended to light the fires as early as possible to maximize damage.

It takes one minute until new roots strike up again on each side.

The tree begins with 100% health, and the player with 0% reward. As players chop the tree and the fires burn, the tree's life drops and the player's percentage of reward increases. This can be checked by right-clicking and inspecting the tree. Doing so will stop the player from chopping, note, so do so sparingly. The tree does not die when it reaches 0% health if none of the players cutting it have obtained 100% reward. The amount of players that need 100% depends on the total amount of players cutting the tree. Eventually the tree will die and become a Fallen tree, from which you can receive your rewards. Once you have received your rewards, you may burn spare kindling in it for Firemaking experience. You may only collect a maximum of 200 kindling. A fallen tree will remain for 10 minutes before disappearing.

If an evil tree takes too long to die, it gets struck by lightning; see below.

It is often best to kill a tree with at least a few other people to get the best reward. Also, with more people, the evil roots get killed faster, letting you get back to chopping for experience and reward. A good crowd between 4 and 12 seems to get the maximum reward for everyone.

Skill Requirements
The invisible boosts of summoned familiars do not work to get the required levels. They only increase the rate of cutting.

Locations with hints

 * Location hints are given by Spirit trees - note that the Tree Gnome Village or The Grand Tree quest must be completed in order to speak with a Spirit tree. Hints are also given by the spirit of summer via a icicle crown or sunbeam tiara.
 * Some hints/locations require other quests. Some are simply easier to access with certain quests.
 * There are currently 26 possible known locations.
 * All hints refer to at least two possible locations (occasionally three or four).
 * Hints start with "It can be found...".
 * Many new players are unaware of the need to click continue, the Anima Mundi is not the location hint.

Experience
Note: the Ring of fire, Flame gloves and the Penance horn give no additional experience, and the Inferno Adze will not automatically light any kindling received. Mahogany logs, Achey tree logs, Teak logs, Arctic pine logs, and Eucalyptus logs cut under the leprechaun effect won't be banked, instead you'll receive the usual 'Your inventory is too full to hold anymore logs.'
 * When an evil tree is still a sapling, Farming experience can be gained from nurturing it. No items are required to do this.
 * When an evil tree is fully grown, chopping the evil roots and the tree itself grants Woodcutting experience.
 * When an evil root vanishes, the player gains Evil tree kindling, which can be used to set fire to a part of the tree. This awards Firemaking experience depending on your level.


 * {| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2" |Evil Tree ! colspan="4" |Experience !Nurturing !Firemaking !Chopping roots !Chopping tree
 * Normal
 * 20
 * 200
 * 3
 * 15.1
 * Oak
 * 45
 * 300
 * 6.4
 * 32.4
 * Willow
 * 66
 * 450
 * 9.1
 * 45.7
 * Maple
 * 121.5
 * 675
 * 11.1
 * 55.8
 * Yew
 * 172.5
 * 1,012.5
 * 12.8
 * Magic
 * 311
 * 1,517.5
 * 14.1
 * 125
 * Elder
 * 687.5
 * 2,000.5
 * 15.5
 * 162.1
 * }
 * 125
 * Elder
 * 687.5
 * 2,000.5
 * 15.5
 * 162.1
 * }
 * }

Items

 * You can sell the Evil tree kindling to the leprechaun for 25 coins each, burn it in the fallen tree, or choose to keep the kindling to use on future Evil trees. Since all trees give the same type of kindling, keeping the kindling for the next tree could be of great help getting it lit faster.


 * When the tree dies, it turns grey and withers. Players can get the following items from the evil tree as a reward:
 * Noted logs of the same type as the tree, with the exception of the Elder Evil Tree offering an assortment of noted Yew, Magic, Teak, Mahogany and Elder logs
 * Coins
 * Tree Seed or Bird's nest
 * 1-10 Morchella mushroom spores
 * 1-11 Fellstalk seeds
 * Level 1 Clue scroll
 * Key halves. Elder trees offer a very rare chance of receiving a piece of the Crystal triskelion key
 * Key tokens
 * The normal reward received appears to be Logs (noted), Coins, and Tree Seed or Bird's Nest, with Clue Scrolls and Key Halves as an additional reward. This requires inventory room of three or four spaces. The Ring of Wealth has been found to affect the chances of obtaining Clue Scrolls and Key Halves from a dead Evil Tree.
 * Prior to the late introduction of Elder Trees, an Elder Evil Tree gave an assortment of logs, as there was no Elder Log. Now they give all sorts of logs including Elder logs.

Further woodcutting
For a period of time after the tree is killed, players are given several advantages when cutting trees. The amount of time depends on the percent damage done to the evil tree, and the type of evil tree; see below. This ranges from 2 to 30 minutes. These abilities only apply to cutting Normal, Oak, Willow, Maple, Yew, Magic, and Elder trees. (Does not include other evil trees, cursed magic trees, or any other non-standard tree.) This bonus does not disappear when you log out. When you log back in granted time will continue. Players collecting the reward from a farming leprechaun afterwards will receive only half of the magical banking time.
 * Significantly reduced chance of a tree being felled when a log is harvested (This also works with normal trees). For this to apply, nobody else may be cutting the tree. (This does not apply to trees in farming plots.)
 * Significantly increased chance of having birds' nests fall out of trees. (This does not apply to trees in farming plots.)
 * Ability to have logs "magically escorted" to the player's bank while Woodcutting. Sparkles can be seen above the players head when a log is sent to the bank, although it is not possible for other players to see this effect.
 * Note: Teak, Mahogany, Arctic Pine, Achey and Eucalyptus tree logs will not be transported to the bank. This is because the magic log banking ability only applies to normal class logs, not special ones.

Logging out pauses the remaining time of these effects.

Players wishing to take advantage of this feature should consider cutting trees which yield logs quickly. The most efficient trees to chop for Woodcutting experience for the duration of the reward are willow trees. Some of the best places to make use of the automatic banking are:
 * Willow trees outside Crafting Guild or Fishing Guild (using Skills Necklace)
 * Willow trees near the Lumbridge Lake (Home Teleport)
 * Willow trees to the north of Seers Bank (Camelot Teleport)
 * Willow trees west of Draynor Village, by Port Sarim (Amulet of Glory Teleport or Cabbage Port)
 * Willow trees south west of Ardougne bank. (using Ardougne Cloak)
 * Willow trees just West of Barbarian Assault (using Games necklace )
 * Willow trees in the resource dungeon on the Daemonheim Peninsula (using Ring of Kinship). Level 30 Dungeoneering is needed to enter this dungeon.

For players with higher woodcutting levels, maples in an uncrowded area are also good for using the magical log-banking. The best location for this is the forest of maple trees west of Sinclair Mansion (near fairy ring code C J R), north of Seer's Village, wearing Seer's headband 2 or higher will gain an extra 10 experience. Also Maple trees in the resource dungeon on the Daemonheim Peninsula (using Ring of Kinship). Level 30 Dungeoneering is needed to enter this dungeon.

Some players may also wish to cut oak trees to later turn into planks for construction.

If your bank is full, you will receive a message saying, "Your bank is too full to hold any more logs." You may still chop trees and gain experience, but you will not collect the logs.

Maximum rewards


The following table shows the highest reported reward possible. A lower percentage reduces the rewards.

The same percent will not always equal the same amount of gold or logs.


 * {| class="wikitable"

!Evil Tree !Logs !Gold coins !Duration of log teleportation
 * Normal
 * 12
 * 185
 * 6 minutes
 * Oak
 * 24
 * 326
 * 10 minutes
 * Willow
 * 226
 * 1,127
 * 14 minutes
 * Maple
 * 131
 * 1,280
 * 18 minutes
 * Yew
 * 24
 * 4,218
 * 22 minutes
 * Magic
 * 10
 * 4,737
 * 26 minutes
 * Elder
 * 375 Teak/102 Mahogany/59 Yew/18 Magic/7 Elder
 * 9,482
 * 30 minutes
 * }
 * 26 minutes
 * Elder
 * 375 Teak/102 Mahogany/59 Yew/18 Magic/7 Elder
 * 9,482
 * 30 minutes
 * }
 * }

Treasure Hunter
A different distraction and diversion is chosen each week to give the player a Key token for simply participating. Once every 4 weeks, the player may gain a key token for chopping an Evil Tree. Key tokens can only be received when the Evil Tree D&D is the designated D&amp;D of the week.

Lightning
If an evil tree takes too long to die, it gets struck by lightning. If the tree's health is above 50% 10 minutes after it has appeared, lightning will strike and bring its health down to 50%; after 20 minutes the same applies for 25% health and after 30 minutes, the tree is then killed by a third lightning strike. This also has a lightning sound effect to go along with it. If the evil tree is struck with lightning for the third time and dies, you will still get your rewards if you participated.

Clans/Friends Chats
There are many Distractions & Diversion Friends Chats to help with various D&Ds. For Evil Trees, these chats rely on a 'lister' and 'scouters' method, where by the scouters hopping worlds and reporting the time until the tree sprouts on that world and then the lister will calculate when it will be close to sprouting and will direct the scouters to that world to check, report back and if desired, Nurture, Cut and burn it. When a world is checked, it will be reported in the format "world ## 60+" or whatever the time given by the spirit tree/ Easter crown is. If there is a tree on a world, the world, type, location and health will be reported to the chat as information for others in the chat to see and if they want to, hop to that world and go to the tree. A spirit tree will give a message indicating "a long time" (before another tree sprouts), the exact amount of time remaining in minutes, "strange sapling" (sprouted, but still a sapling), or "dispatch the evil tree" (sprouted and fully grown - health between 0-100%).

Music

 * Trees aren't your Friends

Trivia

 * With the release of Evil Trees, pures who had completed Monkey Madness gained the ability to travel to Ape Atoll without receiving the experience rewards from Daero. This was accomplished by using a spirit tree to teleport to a tree located there. This prompted Jagex to simply allow players to return to Ape Atoll normally without claiming the experience reward.
 * If you are interrupted by a system update while participating, you will find a new sapling sprouting in its place upon login. This may take a few minutes to start. Your rewards from the original tree will be awarded if you talk to the tool leprechaun.
 * If you try to use a ring of stone or ghoulish mask next to an Evil Tree, instead of transforming you get the message: "The magic from the nearby Evil Tree could make the effects of the transformation unpredictable."
 * If you don't have a woodcutting tool in your inventory when killing an Evil Tree, your character will cut the Evil Roots with a machete if it is in your toolbelt and cut the body of the Evil Tree with a hatchet.
 * If an NPC is standing over the evil root spawn area it will not respawn.
 * The magic log banking reward takes priority over Signs of the Porter, which were added with Divination.
 * An update on 26 May 2015 made several changes to Evil trees, including the ability of kindling to be burned after a tree is killed, improved experience rates, and a change to the magical log banking ability such that your inventory no longer needs to be full.

Evil tree Evil Tree