Summoning training

Summoning training can become very expensive and tedious, but familiars at higher levels make Summoning a rewarding skill. To begin training the Summoning skill, you must first speak to Pikkupstix in Taverley, and complete the Wolf Whistle quest.

Starting
To begin training the Summoning skill, players must complete Wolf Whistle, which will give 276 experience to Summoning, granting the player level to 4, as well as 275 gold charms (enough for level 16). After that you will have to collect your own charms. Look below for information on how to do that.

Quests
Players may complete certain quests and activities to receive summoning experience, including Penguin Hide and Seek, the Tears of Guthix minigame, as rewards following certain random events, and certain quest lamps (usually require you to reach level 30 first to get summoning exp). Using non-charm methods of levelling gives experience, and allows players to save valuable charms for use in higher level familiars.

Pouches
The only viable way of training Summoning is creating Summoning pouches. To begin making a Summoning pouch, the following are required:
 * An empty pouch, which can be bought from Pikkupstix for 1 gp each.
 * A quantity of charms, which must be collected by the player through monster killing and other methods. Good ways to do this are listed below.
 * A large number of spirit shards, which can be bought from Pikkupstix for 25 gp each.
 * A tertiary ingredient which is specific to the creature you are creating, similar to the secondary ingredients used in Herblore.

Obtaining Charms
If you are serious about getting 99 or getting many levels above 70, you will want to mainly try to get crimson charms. There are several different ways to do this effectively:
 * Ice bursting/ice barraging Rock lobsters
 * Meleeing the Ancient Cavern Waterfiends with a Zamorakian spear, Saradomin sword, or possibly a Godsword or another strong crush weapon
 * Using the same weapon to kill the Waterfiends in the Chaos Tunnels, which is much harder, and will require much higher levels.
 * Many high level players also choose to slay for their charms, which tends to be slower, but more manageable, as you change monsters every few hours.

Rock Lobsters
There are many different ways to do this successfully, most of which involve wearing prayer armour (Proselyte) to lure 9 rock lobsters towards you, moving to your safe spot, and then switching into magic armour (Ahrim's) to kill them. Most of your inventory should be Prayer potions, but you will also want runes for ice spells, and a few blood spells (to heal after a lure). You will also want to be wearing 1 set of armour and have the opposite set in your inventory. You will also want a teleport, and a few pieces of food. It can be helpful to leave a few empty spaces for charms. Note: You will need a partner to get to rock lobsters, and one of you will have to bring a Rune thrownaxe. See the Waterbirth Island article for more information. Players attempting to use this method should have 70+ (preferably 94+ magic), 70+ prayer, and having other combat levels high would help as well. They should also have a large amount of cash that they are not afraid to use. Bursting can lead to over 150 crimson charms per hour, and barraging can lead to over 200 crimson charms per hour.

Ancient Cavern Waterfiends
Most players take this route, as it is a cheap (sometimes profitable), and relatively easy way to gain large amounts of charms in short amounts of time. The easier version will require 80+ melee stats, 40+ prayer (although 70+ is highly recommended), 70+ mage (to defend from the Waterfiends' magic attack), and preferably 68+ summoning. Players should wear mage defense armour (Karil's or Black d'hide) and use the Protect from Missiles or Deflect Missiles prayer. Players with 68 or higher summoning may use the Bunyip familiar's scroll (swallow whole), to consume the raw sharks and raw lobsters dropped by the waterfiends. The best weapons to use are the Zamorakian spear and the Saradomin sword, for their high crush bonuses, speed, and strength. The better the crush bonus and speed, the more charms you will get. This method will generally lead to around 70-90, but possibly over 100 crimson charms per hour.

Higher level players will have more options. Some of the best include wearing Dharok's, allowing 20-40 more charms per hour than with range armour. Many high level players will use a Unicorn stallion's healing aura scroll, so they don't have to use prayer. Others prefer to use the Turmoil and Soul Split prayers to avoid using a unicorn stallion familiar. The extreme potions from Herblore also come in handy here. These methods are only beneficial with 95+ melee stats, 80+ prayer, 90+ range and mage, and 88+ summoning. This higher-level method will lead to 100-140 crimson charms per hour.

Chaos Tunnel Waterfiends
This method is much like slaying waterfiends in the ancient cavern, though it will require much higher combat levels and a lot more attention. The Chaos tunnels are multicombat, and should be considered very dangerous if not properly prepared.

For upwards of 200 crimson charms per hour, extreme potions (89 or 90 Herblore) and maxed combat skills (with 95+ prayer) are required. However, this method can be used at lower levels as well, resulting in approximately the same amount of crimson charms per hour as bursting rock lobsters. For both methods level 95+ summoning is strongly recommended, since the Iron and Steel titans are capable of doing massive damage with their special attacks. Players will need high level equipment (Karil's and a Zamorakian spear) with a high defence against magic bonus. It is a very hard, but very rewarding method, and is definitely not for everyone. A generic inventory would contain a couple combat-boosting potions, high level food (Monkfish or above), and 200+ Iron within or Steel of legends scrolls, leaving the rest to be filled with prayer potions and one emergency teleport. Alternatively, the food and prayer potions can be replaced with Saradomin brews and Super restore potions.

What Pouches to Make

 * DISCLAIMER - These are only recommendations, you should be very careful when deciding what pouches to make for summoning, as prices change, and some pouches may only be good to make at certain times if you are wishing to get a summoning cape for a relatively low cost.
 * It is best if you can save Blue charms until level 89 and make Geyser titans, since they give the most experience per blue charm.
 * Some people prefer to stop using gold charms once they get to level 85 or near it, as they begin to be too slow experience and can waste your time.
 * Some people also do not use green charms, because they are very expensive for the experience gained.

How to Make Pouches
When making pouches, you should have the charms you are using, the unmade pouches, and the spirit shards. Then you should have 25 of the tertiary ingredient. Unless you are using the Falador obelisk, in which case you should have 2 spaces to hold runes (with a air or water staff equipped) or 1 to hold Falador Teleports.

Below level 57 summoning, it is best to run back and forth between Piscatoris bank and the Piscatoris summoning obelisk. You could also use the fairy ring to bank in Zanaris .If you have not done Swan Song, you may also use the Obelisk under Pikkupstix and bank in Falador. Because this method requires lots of running, you will want to have any weight reducing equipment you own equipped. You may also choose to use a familiar to hold more items, or use a Spirit terrorbird for infinite run, that is very cheap.

Above level 57 summoning, you should use Spirit kyatt pouches as a teleport near the Piscatoris summoning obelisk, and use rings of duelling to bank at Castle Wars. Using this method it is possible to make over 2700 pouches an hour, making it the fastest way to train the summoning skill. Due to the agility update, all you need to have equipped is a ring of duelling. You will use your kyatt to get near the summoning obelisk, and run north after it teleports you.

It's also possible to use the Balloon Transport System to make pouches in Taverley. Equip a hatchet and a ring of duelling, take a balloon to Taverley, make pouches, then teleport to the bank at Castle Wars. You'll use one inventory space for logs (which you can cut at Castle Wars next to the balloon site), but won't need anything else equipped as running is not a problem.

What to do with the Pouches
Some options only work well with some pouches, some only work well depending on prices. You should analyze the data and figure out what is the best option for you.

Other Important Information

 * Why aren't Arctic bears listed?
 * Arctic bears only give slightly more experience per pouch than barker toads, but they cost much more. Gold charm pouches are in general relatively cheap (in accordance with how much experience they give.) Because of this, there is really no reason to make Arctic bears, unless you want them for their teleport and hunter bonuses. (Such as for collecting Kyatt furs.)


 * Why aren't any abyssal pouches listed?
 * Mainly because Abyssal charms, unlike Obsidian charms are rare. They are dropped one at a time, while Obsidian charms are dropped two at a time (from TzHaar-Ket and TzHaar-Xil). They are also much rarer, and are in a more remote location. Overall, they take a lot more effort to obtain, not making them worth the effort for Green charm pouches.


 * Why does it say to wait so long before using Blue charms?
 * Blue charms give lots of experience, and as it is easy to level with the other charms at first, it is a waste to use your blue charms, when you could gain way more experience in the long run.


 * Why should Gold charms be saved from levels 28-51?
 * There are not many good Gold charm pouches at these levels, and it is better to use Green charms and Crimson charms for the time being.


 * Why should Spirit larupias not be made when they are essentially the same as Spirit graahks and Spirit kyatts?
 * Spirit larupias are in lower demand, because they are not quite as useful, so it's better to make the other ones. Also Spirit kyatts can be used in the Piscatoris method of making pouches.


 * Why should Ice titans not be made when they are essentially the same as Fire titans and Moss titans?
 * Ice titans require both an Air talisman and a Water talisman for every pouch, meaning they take more than twice as long, and more money.
 * Why should Wolpertingers not be made at level 92, instead of continuing on with Swamp titans?
 * Again, they take two items, meaning they take more than twice as long, the slight bit of extra experience you get is not worth the extra time involved.
 * What's the fastest way to make pouches? Where's the closest bank?
 * (57 summoning required) - The fastest method is to summon your Spirit Kyatt, and have a ring of dueling equipt. Click on your familiar, and use the Teleport option, this should take you only a few steps below a trapdoor, where a summoning obelisk is located for making pouches. Go down the trapdoor, and create familiar pouches, then using the ring of dueling, teleport to Castlewars (this is the closest bank). Bank your scrolls, and repeat this method for the fastest method.


 * (If you can't summon a Spirit Kyatt) - If your house is in Taverley, use this method. Withdraw Air runes, Law runes, and a staff that provides unlimited earth runes and another rune of your choice. Once you're ready to make the first trip, teleport to your house portal. Run towards the summoning obelisk. Make the pouches, then teleport to a bank. Bank and repeat. (Note: - Using a Beast of Burden; such as the Spirit Terrorbird, to store items required for scrolls can be extremely helpful, although the extra banking time required may be debatable if its faster or not)

Trivia

 * Note that after reaching level 17 or 29 it is possible to get to any level (even level 99) in a single trip by making either spirit mosquito pouches or giant chinchompa pouches at the Feldip hills obelisk. Both of these familiars require a stackable tertiary ingredient, allowing a player to collect all the required charms and seconds for any level within a single inventory. While technically possible, it requires immense amounts of preparation and time, and doesn't have much of a benefit, so it is not suggested.