Water rune running

Water rune running (also known as Water running) is the interaction between two groups of players - crafters (also known as assisters), who create from between 1x Water runes to 6x Water runes and runners, who bring pure essence to the crafters at the Water altar.

Both parties benefit in different ways. The runecrafters gain fast, free experience, while the runners get their essence turned into Water runes. On September 9 2009, Jagex had a shop update which removed the price cap on water runes allowing them to increase to above 40 coins each. This allowed Water rune running to be more profitable that Air rune running. There are two near banks to the Water altar, Draynor Village and Lumbridge. Both are close and are the most common method of running water runes. While there are no official Water rune running worlds, runners and assisters can be found in the Air rune running world, World 16. The operation has also been found to take place on World 1.

Requirements

 * Water talisman (or water tiara) - Tiaras and talismans are not needed if you use the Abyss.
 * Rune essence, unnoted. Pure essence can be used, but it is more expensive and it is only profitable if you use rune essence. (It is recommended that you bring at least 25)
 * Pouches - Optional; can only be used when water rune running takes place on a Members world, and increase the amount of essence which can be carried per trip. A Small Pouch holds 3 essence, a Medium Pouch carries 6 essence, a Large Pouch carries 9 essence, and a Giant pouch carries 12 essence.
 * Some kind of teleport - Optional; to allow you to do more trips in less time. A Glory amulet can be used on members world to teleport back to Draynor Village, or the Lumbridge teleport spell (level 31 Magic required) can be used to teleport back to Lumbridge

Standard practice
Runners will need rune essence in unnoted form to begin. Rure essence can be mined from the rune essence mine (Rune Mysteries Quest required), or purchased from other players.

Once players have the essence, the final task is to enter the Water altar.

To request assistance from crafters already standing there, players should look for crafters that are standing around saying "open" or "assisting", and they should then proceed right clicking on the crafter and choosing the "req assist" option. After the crafter has accepted the assistance request, the player may then proceed to the water altar to craft water runes, giving experience points to the assister.

The Math

 * The calculations use real-time prices from the Grand Exchange Market Watch. For more information, see Grand Exchange Market Watch/Runecrafting.

This example assumes that the Runner is carrying 25 Pure essence to the Runecrafter. It also assumed that the assister can make 6x Water runes (level 96 Runecrafting required). Also, both the Runner and the Runecrafter have sufficient quest points to "bypass" the trade limit system.


 * Runner: 25 Rune essence at ea = 0 coins
 * Runecrafter: 6 x 25 Water runes at ea = 0 coins


 * Wealth transfer (to runner): 0 coins

The wealth transfer of 0 coins is still within the maximum trade limit of 60,000 coins, and the trade can take place. Players can keep repeating the trades until the maximum limit of 60,000 coins. After that, they have to wait 15 minutes until the limit is reset. Since the runners take 3–5 minutes per run, the trade limit system will not affect the overall performance of Water rune running. However, both the runners and the crafters should have a trade limit of at least 0 coins. For maximum efficiency, both should have the maximum trade limit of 60,000 coins. Or you can ask them to assist you.
 * See Grand Exchange Market Watch/Runecrafting for current prices, or to update outdated prices.

Selling Water Runes
Water runes are always in demand, due to their use in casting spells as well as giving charges to the Enchanted Water Tiara (a members item allowing players to not take damage while wandering the desert). While market price is constantly fluctuating, Water runes currently sell for  coins in the Grand Exchange. The table below shows the profit runecrafters can make in Water Running.

* These columns assume that you mine the rune essence yourself.

Walk - Draynor Village
This method is the most common. Run to the Water Altar through Lumbridge Swamp. Craft the runes and run back to the Draynor Village bank.

Walk - Lumbridge Village
This method is similar to Walking from Draynor Village. Run to the Water Altar through Lumbridge Swamp. Craft the runes and run back to the Lumbridge bank in Lumbridge Castle.

Tablets
Required: Suggested: Using the water altar tablet to teleport right outside the altar. These can be purchased from the The Great Orb Project. This is by far the fastest method, though it does require time to gain more tablets from time to time.
 * 50 runecrafting level is required to gain access to the runecrafting guild.
 * Water talisman,Water tiara,Water talisman staff, or an item that allows access to the water altar. (The tablets only teleport you outside of the altar)
 * Although you will most likely use less then 20% energy per trip, it would be nice to wear some weight reducing gear.
 * A form of teleportation to a location close to a bank. (Usually Amulet of Glory or Explorer's ring 3 to teleport to the nearby cabbage patch.)