Runespan



The Runespan is a Runecrafting training method released on 30 April 2012. 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.

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 activity. There is nothing to kill a player in Runespan, unless they are poisoned. Gravestones spawn as normal in case of death, but runes collected would be automatically redeemed for points. Completion of the Rune Mysteries quest is not required to participate in the Runespan. Mourning's Ends Part II and Legacy of Seergaze are not required to siphon death or blood runes.

Location
The Runespan can be found in the Wizards' Tower, by the Runecrafting Guild entrance, after talking to Wizard Finix.
 * Wizards have appeared at every Runecrafting altar, and will offer to teleport players to the Wizards' Tower after a brief conversation.
 * All players can teleport to Draynor Village and walk to the Wizards' Tower.
 * Members can use wicked hood to teleport them to the floor of the Wizards' Tower.
 * Members can teleport to the tower by going through the east portal on the floor of the Wizards' Guild. (Requires level 66 Magic)
 * Members can use the fairy ring code D-I-S, taking them behind 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. An empty inventory allows more space for the items associated with the activity. There are 16 unique items collected in Runespan.


 * 1) Start by collecting 25 essence from floating essence. If players run out of essence at any point, they can collect 25 more essence. However, most essence after the initial amount is collected from creatures.
 * 2) Speak to Wizard Finix and investigate the cost of buying 10 of each rune you can siphon from him; if you have enough points, this is a good start.
 * 3) Interact with creatures and concentrated energy nodes.
 * 4) * Siphon creatures to turn up to 10 essence into runes. Once the creature is drained, it gives 50 more essence. Experience is awarded for siphoning. Each different creature produces a specific rune.
 * 5) * Chip away at creatures to turn 10 runes back into essence. Each creature chipped requires 10 of a specific rune. This activity is not recommended, though.
 * 6) * Siphon concentrated energy nodes for more runes and experience. Each concentrated energy node produces a specific rune or set of runes. Concentrated energy nodes do not give more essence when they are drained.
 * 7) Transport from island to island on each level at the cost of runes. Each transport platform costs different runes, which are displayed on the platforms themselves and in the examine text of the platforms.
 * 8) At specific locations, climb between lower levels and higher levels.
 * 9) Optionally participate in two Distractions and Diversions specific to Runespan (the yellow wizard and the runesphere) for an experience reward.
 * 10) Exit 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 first floor 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 on the lower level. Only parts of the middle level are available to free-to-play players. There are 46 islands on this level. All types of esshounds and esslings are found on this level. Esshounds are quite common in this floor compared to esslings.


 * 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. Esslings are somewhat common while esshounds and esswraiths are quite uncommon in this level.


 * 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 minimizing movement and staying near a central island. If maximum points is your goal, choose an island with the highest level creature that you can siphon. If maximum experience is your goal, it's best to find an island that has many nodes slightly below your 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 you will need to activate the platforms to reach your chosen island.
 * 3) Upon entering the Runespan, your first action should be to collect 25 essence from the nearest floating essence; there is always at least one on every island.
 * 4) * If you have reward points already, speak to Wizard Finix and exchange reward points for 10 of each rune that you can siphon. The cost will be equal to the value of the runes as if leaving the Runespan. These runes alone should be sufficient to get to your island.
 * 5) * It is recommended to gather a stockpile of basic runes either upon entering the Runespan or on your way to your island. Collecting at least 100 of each rune is usually sufficient for movement around the Runespan as well as to help out yellow wizards.
 * 6) Make your way to your chosen island, siphoning from essling creatures as you go. These low level creatures are quick to deplete and like all creatures yield 50 rune essence each. This will help increase your stock of rune essence quickly.
 * 7) Once you reach your chosen island, stay there. For maximum points, 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 faster experience than the highest node you can siphon.
 * 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. 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 99 Runecrafting, only siphoning soul esswraiths (not siphoning nodes or hunting wizards), players are capable of getting upwards of 55,000 experience points per hour. This amount increases dramatically to upwards of 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. This, however, negatively affects points per hour.

Experience is gained by siphoning runes from the creatures and nodes within the Runespan. Experience is also gained from rescuing the yellow wizard.

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 since runes are used to cross platforms. However the counter will not update to reflect the lost points until another rune is created.

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 10 runes without pause, the creature will be destroyed. When this happens, 50 rune essence is given to those players still siphoning it. The creatures respawn after a few seconds, always at the same location. If all players siphon 9 or less 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 still gain 0-2 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 (like cyclones, rock fragments, and fleshy growths), but there are also nodes that players can siphon two different types of runes from (like 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. However, it is usually not recommended to be on the hunt for nodes as each island contains random nodes and they can respawn slowly and on another island, unlike the creatures.

Nodes will expire faster when fewer players are siphoning runic energy from them, so it is in the best interests of all players to have many people focus on the same node in order to prolong its lifespan.

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

Platforms
Platforms transport players from one island to another, like bridges. Crossing them uses up certain runes. 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, the type of elemental rune used depends on the amount the player has in their inventory. The most abundant rune type would always be used. If more than one rune type is equally abundant, the lower level one would be used. For example, water runes would be used over fire runes.

It appears that runes are only consumed when going one of the two directions available from a pair of platforms. This is a measure to prevent players from getting stuck on dead end floating islands.

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 on the mainland, these runes are not tradeable.

Yellow Wizard
There are a number of wizards on each floor that stand in random locations and periodically teleport to different locations. At any one moment, every wizard appears in the same location for all players. Most of them are wearing blue robes, but one wizard is wearing yellow robes (the one chosen to be wearing yellow is specific to individual players).

Every 10 minutes after logging into or entering Runespan, returning from a random event or successfully handing the yellow wizard runes, a message will appear in the chatbox saying that a wizard needs the player's help. If you choose not to find the wizard they will not call out again until you help one or leave Runespan. To find the wizard, talk to any of the wizards in blue robes, including Wizard Finix. A flashing arrow will point to where the yellow wizard is located. He will take up to 10 runes and will grant a reward of Runecrafting experience based on the type of rune you provide and your level. Players may not always be able to reach the yellow wizard because he may be on an island that requires a platform they do not have access to. When called, a player can find a yellow wizard on any floor. 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 you can give the wizard a lower level rune at the cost of receiving less experience.

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

Some players choose to wear the yellow set of Canifis robes or Runecrafter robes while in the Runespan; this is more likely than not in order to confuse newer players who may interrupt their training and cross platforms before realizing that the Yellow Wizard is not present.

Wizard hunting
To increase your potential experience rate, and the amount of wizards saved per hour, here is a technique for the middle floor which will help you along. Once you log in or enter the Runespan, start a stop watch or take note of the time on your computer. After roughly 8.5 minutes has expired you know a wizard will call out in 1.5 minutes time, to prepare for this run towards Wizard Finix at the center of the map (you can also place a marker on the world map). He is always in the same spot making him the best option. Ask him to point you to the yellow wizard. Locate and talk to him and use the recommended rune (see XP rewards). If you arrive early, start siphoning some nodes. After you give the wizard runes, reset your stop watch/timer and repeat the process. If you do this method perfectly you can do 6 wizards in roughly 1 hour.

On the upper floor, all of the blue wizards appear randomly on the islands, and it will take too long to reach Wizard Fenix. The general technique applies, but leave early to start searching for a blue wizard. However, if you find the Yellow Wizard too early, he may transport away before he calls for you. You might also have to travel the entire floor along the edges, only to find out the Wizard teleports, or discover that he is on a platform you cannot reach. Unless you have blood runes to quickly move across the entire floor, this may severely slow down point and possibly experience gains as well.

XP rewards
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 they reward more experience, and if a wizard requests the highest level rune you have, it is actually more beneficial to give the wizard the second highest rune. Because of this it is strongly  recommended that you 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.

For non-members, start giving the required runes when your level is near 60.

Runesphere
The runesphere is a rare occurrence in the Runespan which requires multiple people to successfully siphon off its many layers of runic energy, using up rune essence and giving runes of whatever layer the Runesphere is currently on. Players also receive rune dust, which can be exchanged with the runesphere core for 10 Runecrafting experience per dust. The runesphere will disappear after an hour regardless of whether or not all of the layers have been siphoned. Players can siphon up to 1,000 dust per day, although they may only hand in dust once per day. Players may work on additional runespheres after handing in dust, but they will not earn dust.

When a runesphere is active, an icon will appear at the top left of the screen, saying "runesphere active". Players can then find the runesphere on one of the 3 floors at their world. 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 is generally not recommended due to the low experience recieved from it. The layers of the runesphere also need an increased Runecrafting level than their other counterparts, such as Shifters and esshounds. The rewards given are minimal and is usually not recommended as it affects XP per hour drastically as the rune dust only awards up to 10,000 Runecrafting experience. At higher Runecrafting levels, a node like 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 colored.

Each other part of the robes provides an additional 25 free essence and 1 rune claim per day. 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.

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) is required for the trimmed completionist cape and costs 211,860 points total. Because of this very few players, if any, can currently wear a 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.

Trivia

 * RuneSpan_Dragon.png 28 April 2012, 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.
 * On 30 April 2012, Runespan was offically released to both F2P and P2P members. There was a glitch which had a effect on how many nodes could spawn during each level, this was since then fixed by Jagex but not without making another glitch which would require a system update to fix. During the first glitch nodes on level one had around 14-20 nodes per island. Level two had a constant 5-8 nodes per island and level 3 had a constant 2-3 nodes per island. When they applied a hotfix shortly after its release these nodes became very rare at level two and three which people have spectated they decreased the spawn rates by 2/3 of the original which had serious issues. On 1 May, another system update occurred in which nodes are now spawning 1/3 the amount when first released. It appears the constant node glitch is caused by an active runesphere.
 * On 2 May 2012, Runespan received another hotfix to correct the problems with node spawns. Mod Pi rewrote the spawning code of the nodes so that they do not cluster or randomly despawn as they were.
 * Players can obtain strange rocks and spin tickets from the Runespan.
 * The respawn time of the various creatures in Runespan is extremely short. This is to stop brief 'AFKing', as players have to click again on the rapid respawn to resume.
 * When using runes on a wizard (blue or yellow (if you gave him runes already)), a message will result in "The wizard is uninterested in your offerings."
 * While siphoning runes from essence creatures, if players try to perform an emote it says "you are already doing an emote", but the emote of siphoning runes does stop.
 * When using the conjuration platforms, before the dragon manages to make a walkable path for you, you seem to be walking in air. It might be an oversight by Jagex.
 * Additionaly, rarely enough it is possible for the platforms which create stepping stones to accidently make you pause a while, and you can be seen walking in the air at where the last stepping stone would be.
 * Players can not use the assist system while siphoning or crossing platforms that they do not have the required level for.
 * Random events can occur here, though the Runespan runes will not be converted to points in the random event and the runes cannot be banked.
 * This activity suggests that, should the ability to craft soul runes be added in the future, it will require 90 Runecrafting, with the logic that siphoning all other essence creatures requires the same level as crafting the respective type of rune (i.e. siphoning a nature esshound and crafting a nature rune both require level 44 Runecrafting).
 * Wearing pieces of master runecrafter robes does increase the experience gained while in the Runespan.
 * There is a glitch that if the player gets a random event while on a platform, the random event character will stand on the platform instead of in front of the player.
 * If you look carefully at the floor maps, you will find that the highest levelled creatures on that level tend to either be at the edges (1st and 2nd), while the ones at the third floor are grouped at the middle.