Runespan


 * Worlds Icon.png The official world for Runespan for Pay-to-Play is 39, and Free-to-Play is 38.

The Runespan is a dimension where runic energies are much purer than on Gielinor, which is the main reason that the Runecrafting Guild is stationed in the Runespan. Since Wizard Finix, an enigmatic young student at the Wizards' Tower, put forward his recently developed theory that runecrafting altars do not contain infinite energy, more of the realm has been opened to the public to gather runes and harness energy for the Guild to study and use.

As of 30 April 2012, wizards and runecrafters may train their skill in the Runespan. Using rune essence, players can siphon rune energy from creatures that roam the area, or from intermittent nodes. This gives Runecrafting experience that was designed to be the best in the game. When leaving the Runespan, all runes players have created will be taken away by the guild wizards and converted into points which can be spent on rewards, as the Runecrafting Guild claims ownership of the Runespan, for it is located in the realm of the guild. The master runecrafter robes's experience increasing effect is present in the realm, although it does not affect experience received for supplying a yellow-robed wizard with runes. You may also get an experience boost from the use of a clan Avatar, though you can not bring the avatar inside the Runespan you still get the experience while on the same world. This also affects the yellow-robed wizard experience.

Although debated in the Runecrafting Guild, Wizard Finix claims the runecrafting altars currently used to craft runes will become unstable, and the Runespan will become the only method to create runes. It is in another dimension where runes can be pulled from elemental nodes or from the wildlife. The Runespan is located in islands in the "vast sea of nothingness" which surrounds the guild.

Runes obtained in Runespan cannot be used to cast any spells other than for passing platforms as the Runespan is a safe realm. There is nothing to kill a player in Runespan, unless they are poisoned. Gravestones spawn as normal in case of death, but runes collected are automatically redeemed for points. Completion of the Rune Mysteries quest is not required to participate in the Runespan. Mourning's Ends Part II, Legacy of Seergaze and Lunar Diplomacy are not required to siphon death, blood or astral runes.

Please note that the Assist system does NOT work to gather runes from creatures or nodes that the player does not have the required level to siphon, nor does it work to cross platforms that the player doesn't have the level to cross.

Location
The Runespan portal can be found at the top of the Wizards' Tower, by the Runecrafting Guild entrance, after talking to Wizard Finix.
 * Wizards are stationed at every Runecrafting altar, and will offer to teleport players to the Wizards' Tower after a brief conversation.
 * Players can teleport to Draynor Village and walk to the Wizards' Tower.
 * Members can use wicked hood to teleport them in front of the low-level portal to Runespan.
 * Members can teleport to the tower by going through the eastern portal on the second floor of the Wizards' Guild. (Requires level 66 Magic)
 * Members can use the fairy ring code, taking them to the south of the tower.
 * Runecrafting guild teleports can be used to go directly to the Runecrafting guild, then exit the portal and re-enter choosing the Runespan location.

General gameplay


Players do not need to take anything with them into Runespan. However, if a player owns any pieces of Master Runecrafting Robes, it is strongly recommended to bring these as they will increase experience earned inside the Runespan. An empty inventory allows more space for the items associated with the activities. There are 17 unique items collected in Runespan. All runes and essence stack in the inventory. Note that any runes brought into Runespan are different from the runes crafted within, therefore they are separate items and will not stack together or benefit in any way.

Start by collecting 25 rune essence from floating essence. If players run out of essence or drop below 25 essence at any point, they can collect more essence from floating essence, to a maximum of 25. However, essence after the initial amount is more effectively collected from siphoning creatures. You can also optionally buy 10 of each rune available at the player's level from Wizard Finix, enabling movement between platforms immediately. This costs up to 177 points, but the cost of the runes equals their value when redeemed, so you will receive those points back when you leave.

There are two main ways to earn experience and Runespan points; siphoning either creatures or concentrated energy nodes. Siphoning creatures can turn up to 5 essence into runes. Once the creature is drained, it gives 50 essence, regardless of the type of creature. Experience is awarded for siphoning. Each different creature produces a specific rune. Siphoning concentrated energy nodes allows faster experience than siphoning creatures, but nodes only appear for fixed periods of time, appear at random locations, and don't give rune essence when depleted.

It's also possible to chip away at creatures to turn 10 runes back into essence. Each creature chipped requires 10 of a specific rune. This can bypass the limit of 25 essence per load, but chipping gives no experience.

Players can move from island to island using platforms at the cost of runes. Each transport platform costs different runes, which are displayed on the platforms and in their examine text. Players can access the three levels of Runespan by using the vine and bone ladders.

There are two distractions and diversions specific to Runespan, the yellow wizard and the runesphere, which allow extra experience to be gained.

You can exit the Runespan by asking any wizard for a teleport back to the Wizards' Tower or by using any other teleport method. All runes and essence are turned into points when players leave.

There are three distinct levels of the Runespan, each catering to different Runecrafting levels. Free-to-play players only have access to the lower level and part of the middle level. Runes gathered here are taken by the Runecrafting Guild, but members are able to claim points towards wicked robes, new magical staves, and a new massive pouch (requires level 90 Runecrafting) which holds 18 essence. All players are rewarded with Runecrafting experience.

While in the Runespan, players have an interface on the top left of their screen with the following icons.

Area
The Runespan is split into three levels. Different creatures, nodes and platforms can be found on each.

Lower Level


The lower level of the Runespan can be accessed at any Runecrafting level by using the portal on the top of the Wizards' Tower. It is completely available to all players. There are 52 islands on this level. All types of esslings are found on this level.


 * Creatures
 * Air essling
 * Mind essling
 * Water essling
 * Earth essling
 * Fire essling


 * Nodes
 * Cyclone
 * Mind storm
 * Water pool
 * Rock fragment
 * Fireball
 * Vine


 * Platforms
 * Float platform
 * Earth platform
 * Ice platform
 * Small missile platform

Middle Level


The middle level of the Runespan can be accessed at 33 Runecrafting by climbing the vine ladder, located on the lower level. Members with 50 Runecrafting also have the option of starting on the middle level when entering the portal in Wizards Tower. Islands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 15 and 44 are accessible in free-to-play. There are 46 islands on this level. All types of esshounds and esslings (except Fire esslings) are found on this level. Esshounds are quite common in this floor compared to esslings. If you look out from some of the islands in the middle level you may see the runecrafting guild. This is odd, however, because when the player is inside the guild they only see a few empty islands floating around, but cannot actually see the Runespan.


 * Creatures
 * Air essling
 * Mind essling
 * Water essling
 * Earth essling
 * Body esshound
 * Cosmic esshound
 * Chaos esshound
 * Astral esshound
 * Nature esshound
 * Law esshound


 * Nodes
 * Cyclone
 * Mind storm
 * Water pool
 * Rock fragment
 * Fireball
 * Vine
 * Fleshy growth
 * Fire storm
 * Chaotic cloud
 * Nebula
 * Shifter
 * Jumper


 * Platforms
 * Float platform
 * Earth platform
 * Ice platform
 * Small missile platform
 * Conjuration platform
 * Missile platform
 * Vine platform
 * Mist platform
 * Comet platform

Upper Level


The upper level of the Runespan can be accessed at 66 Runecrafting by climbing the bone ladder on the middle level. This floor is available exclusively to members. There are 33 islands on this level. All types of creatures and nodes are found on this level. Esswraiths are somewhat common while esshounds and esslings are not as common in this level.

There is no entrance portal to this level. It can be reached by entering the middle level portal, and trading in some points for runes with Wizard Finix and going south-west to the bone ladder. Players without the points to trade for runes can get to the upper level by collecting rune essence, siphoning the air essling for 3 air runes, taking the float platform south, siphoning the chaos esshound for 2 chaos runes, then taking missile platforms south-west and west to reach the bone ladder.


 * Creatures
 * Air essling
 * Mind essling
 * Water essling
 * Earth essling
 * Fire essling
 * Body esshound
 * Cosmic esshound
 * Chaos esshound
 * Astral esshound
 * Nature esshound
 * Law esshound
 * Death esswraith
 * Blood esswraith
 * Soul esswraith


 * Nodes
 * Cyclone
 * Mind storm
 * Water pool
 * Rock fragment
 * Fireball
 * Vine
 * Fleshy growth
 * Fire storm
 * Chaotic cloud
 * Nebula
 * Shifter
 * Jumper
 * Skulls
 * Blood pool
 * Bloody skulls
 * Living soul
 * Undead soul


 * Platforms
 * Float platform
 * Earth platform
 * Ice platform
 * Small missile platform
 * Missile platform
 * Vine platform
 * Mist platform
 * Comet platform
 * Skeletal platform
 * Greater missile platform
 * Flesh platform
 * Greater conjuration platform

Strategy

 * 1) Most strategies involve minimising movement and staying near a central island. If maximum points is the player's goal, they should choose an island with the highest level creature that they can siphon. If maximum experience is their goal, it's best to find an island that has many nodes somewhat below their level (these grant the fastest experience) and with the lowest level creature possible (which grant the fastest rune essence).
 * 2) Before entering the Runespan, check the maps above and the tables below this section to find out which runes will be needed to activate the platforms to reach a chosen island.
 * 3) Upon entering the Runespan, the player's first action should be to collect 25 essence from the nearest floating essence; there is always at least one on every island.
 * 4) * If players have reward points already, they should speak to Wizard Finix and exchange their reward points for 10 of each rune that they can siphon. This allows players to be able to move between platforms immediately, instead of having to spend time and manually siphon enough runes to do so upon every entry to Runespan. The reward point cost of the exchange will be equal to the reimbursement value of the runes upon leaving Runespan, so there is no reason not to exchange. These runes alone should also be sufficient to get to a chosen island.
 * 5) * It is recommended to have an upkeep of about 20 runes of every kind if the player decides to travel, since 20 of each rune is usually sufficient for movement around the Runespan, as well as to help out the yellow wizard when available (which takes 10 runes of a given kind). Otherwise, players might find that they do not have the runes they need to teleport on the same island and may need to wait patiently for a node to spawn, or travel back one or two islands to gather them; particularly law runes and other higher or basic level runes depending on which level of Runespan the player is on. So gathering a few more runes earlier can be helpful.
 * 6) Players should make their way to their chosen island, siphoning from essling creatures as they go. These low level creatures are quick to deplete and every creature yields about 50 rune essence each. This will help increase the player's stock of rune essence quickly.
 * 7) Once players reach their chosen island, they should stay there. For maximum points, they should siphon the highest level creature on that island repeatedly. For maximum experience, first stockpile at least 1000 rune essence by siphoning esslings, and then siphon any nodes that appear.
 * 8) * Mid-level nodes are generally faster experience than the highest leveled nodes siphonable.
 * 9) * If a mid/high level node appears on a connected island, hop there until the node is depleted and then hop back.

Experience
Runespan is playable at any Runecrafting level. Experience is gained by siphoning runes from the creatures and nodes within the Runespan. Experience is also gained from helping the yellow wizard.

At higher levels, the experience gained per hour is the best in the game, surpassing even the Ourania Runecrafting Altar. It is calculated that the amount of experience gained may surpass 50,000 experience points per hour at level 60.

At level 85, it is possible to gain 90,000 experience points per hour, given that the player siphons only good nodes (preferably using a friends chat to find them more efficiently) and hunts the yellow wizard.

At 99 Runecrafting, only siphoning soul esswraiths (not siphoning nodes or hunting wizards), players are capable of getting 55,000 experience points per hour. This amount increases to over 100,000 experience per hour if the player is actively siphoning high experience-yielding nodes, hunting the yellow wizard, and minimising time spent moving around. Maximising experience, however, can negatively affect points per hour.

A viable strategy is to stick to lower level nodes such as fleshy growths, fire storms and nebulae. Although they give less experience than higher level nodes, they are much more numerous and less time can be spent moving.

For free-to-play players, fleshy growths (46.2xp) give the best experience per hour, around 50k xp/hour at higher levels, followed by fireballs (34.8xp), and then vines (32.3xp). Although fire storms require the highest level they do not give the most xp/hour due to the inconsistency between the range of experience gained, which however averages to 32.5xp.


 * Experience rates were tested with 99 Runecrafting, and the XP values do vary based on luck. The hourly XP rates are just estimates; moving time, xp from esslings/esshounds/esswraiths and experience from wizards is excluded.


 * Essences are worth more XP if used with runes that give a higher average experience than most runes, meaning, you won't have to spend as much time siphoning creatures which will increase the XP per hour.
 * The Yellow Wizard's XP changes your hourly XP quite a bit, although, the XP change varies depending on how far away the wizard is, or how often you get called.

Points
Creating runes awards points that can be used to buy rewards. When players leave the area, the points will automatically be redeemed. Using runes to travel around the Runespan will decrease the player's point total because runes are used to cross platforms. Chipping away at creatures will also decrease points because runes in the player's inventory are exchanged for rune essences.

Creatures
Inhabiting the Runespan are various creatures who can be "siphoned" for runes to help cross platforms to other islands. Every successful siphon consumes one rune essence and creates a rune of the creature's type. There is a possibility of failing to siphon the creature, which will consume no essence, give no runes, and grant 0-2 experience. The chance of failing decreases at higher Runecrafting levels. Any number of players can siphon runes from one creature at the same time, but if one of the players siphons a total of 5 runes without pause, the creature will be destroyed. When this happens, 50 or more rune essence is given to those players still siphoning it. The creatures respawn after a few seconds, at or near the same location. If all players siphon 4 or fewer runes from a creature then stop and resume siphoning, it can be siphoned indefinitely.

Creatures can also be "chipped", which requires ten lower-levelled runes and gives 10-20 rune essence. The same creature cannot be chipped twice in a row; players can't chip the same creature until they have chipped three others.

Nodes
A node is an elemental object within the Runespan that can be siphoned for runes, giving Runecrafting experience. If the siphon is unsuccessful, the player can gain either 0 or 2 experience. A white ring appears below all nodes which shows which runes will be crafted from it. Unlike creatures, nodes do not respawn in the same locations when depleted.

There are basic nodes pertaining to one element (such as cyclones, rock fragments, and fleshy growths), but there are also nodes that players can siphon two different types of runes from (such as fire storms, which grant air runes and fire runes). Combination nodes such as fire storms will never yield both runes at once, with the higher level rune having a lower chance of being obtained; a fire storm will reward the player with 22.5 experience if it produces an air rune, or 42 experience if it produces a fire rune.

Siphoning a node will give twice the experience as siphoning their respective creature. For example, players who siphon a Death esswraith receive only 60 experience per rune, while siphoning skulls gives players 120 experience per rune.

The nodes don't change any faster or slower when people are siphoning from them, much like the coal and gold deposits in the Living Rock Caverns. This means that no matter how many people are siphoning from a single node, it will last for a randomly determined amount of time before disappearing or changing to another node type.

The chances of finding a better node increase as players go up the floors. For example, shifters and jumpers are uncommon sights on the middle floor. The higher-level nodes on a floor (shifters and jumpers for middle floor, skull+ for the upper floor) rarely spawn on the larger islands and are more commonly found on the smaller islands.

Occasionally a node will be replaced, while still active, with another, different node in the exact same location. Nodes can be replaced with either a lower or higher level node. A player siphoning a node that gets replaced will continue siphoning without the need to reclick it. However if the node changes into a higher level node than the player can siphon they will automatically stop siphoning, and have to find another node.

Platforms
Platforms transport players from one island to another, much like bridges. Crossing them uses up certain runes as well as a small number of points currently held in inventory. The symbols on the platforms show which runes are required to use the platform. If players examine the platform, it will show them the runes needed to cross.

In the case of missile platforms, a variety of elemental runes can be used interchangeably depending on what is available in the player's inventory. The most abundant rune type will always be used. If multiple rune types are equally abundant, the lower level one would be used. For example, water runes would be used over fire runes.

When moving from a smaller island to a larger one, neither runes nor points will be used. However when moving from a larger island to a smaller one, runes and points will be consumed. This will be indicated on your mini-map with a red bridge.

When moving from two similarly sized islands runes and points will be consumed in either direction of travel. This will be indicated on your mini-map with a tan bridge.

Runes
A player can initially start with 25 rune essence by collecting from floating essence. The rune essence is converted into one or more of the fourteen runes by siphoning creatures or nodes. A player can use their current points to buy some runes (10 of each rune that a player can siphon for) from Wizard Finix, but the current points and the points currently held in inventory will not be updated unless another rune is crafted. The points will be deducted and the bought runes will be transferred to the inventory. The runes may then be used for crossing between gaps. Unlike the runes used in Gielinor, these runes are not tradeable.

Yellow Wizard
There are a number of wizards on each level that stand in random spots and periodically teleport to different locations. Each level has one wizard wearing yellow robes and several others wearing blue robes. Each player can see all of the wizards at any given moment, though the wizard wearing yellow robes is random to each player. Despite this, multiple players can see the same wizard as the yellow one at the same time.

Every 10 minutes after logging into or entering Runespan or successfully handing the yellow wizard runes, a red message will appear in the chatbox saying that a wizard needs the player's help. If the player chooses not to help the wizard, the message will not be called out again.

To find the yellow wizard, talk to any of the wizards in blue robes, including Wizard Finix. After a short chat or choosing the right click option "Find Wizard," a flashing arrow will point to where the yellow wizard is located. On rare occations the yellow wizard will appear on your island, making his experience bonus worth while.

Once the yellow wizard is found, players can either talk to him or choose the right click option "Best Rune" in order to find which type of rune he needs. In either case, the player must then use a stack of runes on the yellow wizard. He will take 10 runes from that stack (or the entire stack if there are less than 10) and in return he will grant a reward of Runecrafting experience based on: the type of rune provided, the player's runecrafting level, and whether the rune provided was what he asked for.

Players may not always be able to reach the yellow wizard because he may be on an island that can only be traveled to using a high level platform. Players may also not be able to fulfill the yellow wizard's request, as he can ask for any level rune including soul runes even on floor 1. In this case, players can give the wizard a lower level rune at the cost of receiving less experience.

Curiously, even though the yellow wizard says he is stranded, he will still teleport along with the blue wizards every time their positions shuffle. It is possible for a player with very bad timing to speak to the yellow wizard, but have him teleport while selecting the runes to offer him. Under these circumstances, the flashing arrow will update to point to the new location.

Hunting tips
The best place to hunt yellow wizards is on the middle level of the runespan. To increase the number of wizards helped per hour, use a stop watch to monitor the ten minute period until a wizard calls out. After roughly 9 minutes (there being 1 minute until call out) prepare by running to Wizard Finix at the centre of the map. He never changes location making him the best blue wizard to find. Players should then ask him to point to the yellow wizard. Locate the yellow wizard, and by this time the player should have received the call out message. Give him runes and restart the stop watch.

On the upper level, the same technique can be used, but because the blue wizards move around, it is recommended that players start searching for a blue wizard at 8 minutes. Unfortunately, if players find the Yellow Wizard too early, he may teleport away before he calls for help.

'Syncing'
'Syncing' is a common practice used on the unofficial Runespan worlds to ensure everybody has the same yellow wizard. To successfully sync you must find the clan's Yellow Wizard (or 'Pro'); exit to the lobby and then rejoin; repeat until the wizard becomes yellow. You will now have the same wizard as the rest of the clan/friend's chat - making it much easier and quicker to find him and gain XP.

XP rewards
Because the "best rune" doesn't always yield the most experience, the table below presents a strategy that will maximize the experience reward.

At runecrafting levels under 33 (players limited to floor 1), it is not recommended to find the yellow wizard as the extra experience is very little and players can easily gain 5-10 levels between wizard callings. Giving the wizard the "requested rune" yields more experience than fire runes. At level 76 and below, players should turn in the highest level rune available and not the requested rune as this will reward more experience, and if a wizard requests the highest level rune the player has, it is actually more beneficial to give the wizard the second highest rune. Because of this it is strongly recommended that players read what rune the wizard wants before handing over a rune. At level 77 the experience for requested runes jumps and the highest possible rune, blood runes, will give only 4,600 experience (if not requested) while the requested rune (no matter how low level) gives roughly 5,100 experience. Due to this, players with at least level 77 should follow the request. Non-members should start giving the requested rune when their runecrafting level is near 60.

Runesphere
The runesphere is an alternating occurrence in Runespan which requires players to successfully siphon off its many layers of runic energy, using up one rune essence per runes received of whatever layer the Runesphere is currently on. Players also receive rune dust, which can be exchanged - when used on the Runesphere's core - for 25 Runecrafting experience per rune dust. The Runesphere will disappear after an hour whether or not all of the layers have been siphoned as it constantly decreases with or without players. Players can siphon up to 1,000 dust per day, and only hand in dust once per day beginning at 0:00 UTC. Players may work together on finding additional runespheres after handing in dust, but they will not earn any more rune dust.

When a runesphere is active, an icon will appear at the top left of the screen, saying "runesphere active". Hovering your cursor over the icon will tell you which floor that the runesphere is found on.

NOTE: It is not always located on the floor the player is currently on, so going up or down floors may be required to find it.

When players have found it, they can start drawing runes and experience from it by siphoning it. The runesphere will begin on a particular rune, and as it is siphoned from, will gradually decrease one rune at a time (law to nature to astral and so on) until it reaches air, after which it will become a runesphere core.

Siphoning a runesphere gives very fast experience and allows a player to receive bonus xp from it as an energy ball. The layers of the runesphere also need higher Runecrafting levels than their required levels, such as Shifters [level 43] and blood pools [level 77]. The experience given is rapid, but not as important as the yellow wizard's rewards as it affects XP per hour drastically as the rune dust only awards up to 25,000 Runecrafting experience. At higher Runecrafting levels, a node such as an Undead Soul or Bloody Skulls can award more experience than a Runesphere.

Rewards (m)
Runes gathered in Runespan are taken by the Runecrafting Guild if players leave the Runespan. In return, players receive Runespan points to spend on various rewards, only available to members. It is possible to buy a second wicked hood, but it will not give extra free runes, essence or teleports each day. However, extra wicked hoods can be given different colours.

Each other part of the robes provides an additional 25 free essence and 1 rune claim per day, and owning all 3 adds an extra daily altar teleport. They do not have to be worn for the bonus to count.

Points can be spent in Wizard Finix's reward shop next to the Runecrafting Guild portal. To buy everything in the shop, players will need 282,360 points. The maximum number of points that can be saved is 214,748,364.

Esteem
Esteem is purely cosmetic; it does not affect siphoning rates. For every level earned, esteem changes the design/symbol on the wicked hood, cape and robes.

The symbol for the corresponding rank is also displayed on the back of the wicked hood, the left shoulder of the wicked robe top, and the front of the wicked legs.

Rank 1 (the highest tier) costs 211,860 points total and is required for the trimmed completionist cape.

Buying a rank subtracts the cost from the higher ranks. For example, buying the tier 10 rank at 15 points will reduce the cost of all ranks by 15 points so buying tier 9 after tier 10 would only cost an additional 45 points.

Re-colour
Players can re-colour their equipped wicked equipment for 2,000 points total. If a full set of robes of one colour is desired, it would be cheapest to obtain the full set, equip it, and then purchase the re-colour. Alternatively, you can re-colour each piece individually, but will still cost 2,000 points each time.

Lower Level

 * Runearia
 * Runebreath
 * Runecalm
 * Runesque
 * Runeward

Middle Level

 * Runeiverse
 * Runenergy
 * Runespan
 * Runesphere
 * Runetine

Upper Level

 * Runefear
 * Runefire
 * Runescar
 * Runewaste
 * Runewrath

Trivia

 * On 28 April 2012 at 8:00 PM UTC, when the See the Future event began, rifts to the Runespan opened in the Grand Exchange near the west wall, at the Catherby fruit tree patch, and in the central market of East Ardougne. Esslings also appeared with them. Wizard Finix was also seen for a brief time during this teaser, and left along with the rift orbs. Approximately 10 minutes after the rift spawned, the esslings disappeared, a Runesphere appeared in place of the rift. It also disappeared after a few minutes.
 * All Esteem Rank symbols are symbols from the Runic Alphabet of the Elder Futhark.  However, for Esteem Rank 3, which appears as an "M" within concentric circles, the symbol is actually turned on its right side on the wicked robes set (most apparent on the cape).

Gallery
Runespan