Runecrafting - RuneScape Guide - RuneHQ (2024)

Table of Contents

• Getting Rune Essence
• Talismans
• Temple Locations
• Tiaras
• Essence Pouches
• Abyss
• Zamorak ZMI altar
• Great Orb Project
• Runespan
• Combination Runes
• Dungeoneering Runecrafting
  • Crafting Runes
  • Powering Staves
• Runecrafting Experience Table
• Runecrafting Gloves
• Chaos Temple Map
• Training Methods
• Quests for Experience
• Temporary level boosts
• Master runecrafter robes
• Capes of Accomplishment

Getting Rune Essence

1. Buy it. Don't buy essence unless you can really afford it, or if the rune is worth more than the essence.
2. Mine it. This is a more popular approach. Take everything off when mining essence! I see people running to and from the bank with full rune on! This is a big no-no! hold your pickaxe and, if you have them, wear Boots of Lightness (obtained during the Temple of Ikov Quest). Even with a full load of Essence and a rune pickaxe, wearing Boots of Lightness will get your weight to -2 kg.

If you're going to mine the Rune essence, there are 6 Wizards who will teleport you to the mine and one special mine that does not require a teleport. You must have completed the Rune Mysteries quest to be able to mine Rune/Pure Essence.

*= Members only area and therefore you can only use that certain wizard in a members world.

Wizard	Location	Map
Aubury	Varrock rune shop, just south of the eastern bank.
Sedridor	Top floor of the Wizards' Tower in the southwest room.
Wizard Cromperty*	In the building northeast of the East Ardougne market place.
Wizard Distentor*	Wizards' Guild in Yanille, requires 66 Magic to enter.
Brimstail*	In a cave southwest in the Tree Gnome Stronghold.
Carwen Essencebinder	Burthorpe rune shop, east of the Agility course.
N/A	Dungeon mine in the northeast part of Lunar Isle. This location requires partial completion of the Lunar Diplomacy quest.

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Talismans

To craft runes, you will first need a talisman. In the quest, you receive an Air talisman for free; you'll have to obtain the others yourself. You can craft the runes without any talisman with you, if you go through a portal in the abyss.

Talisman	Picture	Where Found
Air		Given by Sedridor when completing quest; dropped by level 2 goblins and wizards
Mind		Dropped by Imps, Wizards, Yanille Tower Guards, Colonel Radick
Water		Dropped by Wizards, Dark Wizards, and Giant Frogs
Earth		Dropped by Men and Women around Runescape, Al-Kharid Warriors, Farmers, Rogues, Wizards, Dark Wizards, Vampires, Lesser Demons and Greater Demons
Fire		Dropped by Guards, Wizards, Dark Wizards, and Skeletons (lvl18)
Body		Dropped by Guards, Giants, Wizards, and Dark Wizards
Cosmic*		Dropped by Lesser Demons, Ice Giants, Mysterious Old Man, Otherworldly Beings and Caskets (Big Net Fishing)
Chaos*		Dropped by Lesser Demons, Skeletons, Giants, Chaos Druids, Moss Giants, Otherworldly Beings, given by the Mysterious Old Man Random Event, Chaos Dwarfs, Black Demons, Ice Warriors, Greater Demons, Baby Dragons, Hobgoblins, Fire Giants, Shadow Warriors and Mountain Dwarfs
Nature*		Dropped by Moss giants, Barbarians, Green Dragons, Red Dragons, Lesser Demons, Thieves, Greater Demons, Blue Dragons, Hobgoblins, Paladins, Black Knights, White Knights, Ice Warriors, Jogres, Mountain Trolls, Kalphite Workers, and Cyclopes
Law*		Dropped by Abyssal leeches, Ghouls, Guards, Paladins, Tortoises, Warped terrorbirds, Warped tortoises
Death*		Reward from Mourning's Ends Part II Quest and Dropped by Dark Beasts
Blood*		Reward from Legacy of Seergaze Quest
Soul*		Dropped by Feline akh, Imperial mage akh, Imperial ranger akh, and Imperial warrior akh
Elemental*		Obtained from drops from creatures in The Abyss
Omni*		Show Wizard Elriss every regular talisman or tiara.

*Members-only

When you have a talisman, you'll need some Rune essence. They are not stackable in free-play (for members, see Essence Pouches later in this guide), but are fairly easy to mine, taking no mining level; the better pick you have, the faster you get Rune essences. Talk to one of the teleporters listed above (make sure to bring a pickaxe), and ask to go to the Rune Essence. Mine however many you'd like and use one of the portals to go back.

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Temple Locations

To craft the essences into runes, you need to find the temple of the element matching the runes you wish to make: for example, the Air temple for Air runes. Use the Locate option on your talisman and follow the direction, or look here to find the temples:

Element	Picture of Location	Temple Location
Air		South of the road between Barbarian Village and Varrock, just to the west of Gertrude's house south west of the entrance of Varrock
Mind		On the hill above the Goblin Village
Water		Southwest corner of Lumbridge Swamp
Earth		Northeast of Varrock, South of Fort Forinthry
Fire		Northeast of Al Kharid, just north of the duel arena
Body		Northwest of the Barbarian Village
Cosmic*		In Zanaris, south of the cow pen, there's a long tunnel and at the end is the altar
Chaos*		In level 12 Wilderness, north of Edgeville, there is a large maze inside, but don't get your hopes up about this one as it takes easily twice as long to make chaos runes than cosmic runes
Astral*		Lunar Isle, southeast of the village. Requires completion of Lunar Diplomacy. The altar is not ruined and there is neither an Astral talisman nor a tiara; you may simply walk up to it and craft runes
Nature*		Deep Karamja jungle, just north of Shilo Village. See the Nature Runecrafting special report for the more information.
Law*		North side of Entrana, just over the bridge leading to the Unicorns and Firebird
Death*		Inside the Temple Of Light, see Mourning's Ends Part II
Blood*		At the end of the tunnels in the laboratory in the Meiyrditch area, see Legacy of Seergaze
Soul*		Within the fountain of the Imperial District in Menaphos. You must have completed 'Phite Club before it can be accessed.

*Members-only

To enter the temple, use your talisman on the mysterious ruins, wear a tiara and enter, or use a rift in the Abyss. To craft the runes, just click the Craft-rune option at the altar inside the temple. This will automatically make all the essence you carry into the corresponding rune. Each temple represents their element in construction, so the Fire temple is a volcano, the Cosmic is deep space, and the Chaos is a maze, fit for panicking. (For help with the Chaos maze, see the Chaos Altar Maze Map).

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Essence Pouches (Members Only)

Essence pouches allow you to carry additional essence in your inventory. Small, medium, large, and giant pouches can be obtained as drop from monsters in the Abyss. When found, they are 2/3 full of essence, which can be used regardless of your level. You can only have one of each size and they will degrade over time. When degraded, pouches will holds fewer runes. You can get these pouches repaired by talking to the Dark Mage in the Abyss or Wizard Korvak in the Runecrafting Guild. Another option is using the Repair Rune Pouch spell for those who purchased the spell as a reward from the Livid Farm mini-game. The massive pouch is a possible reward from the Runespan minigame for 1000 points. Unlike the other pouches it disappears after 42 uses and must be purchased again instead of having to repair it.

Pouch	Image	Level to Use	Essence capacity
Small		1	3
Medium		25	6
Large		50	9
Giant		75	12
Massive		90	18

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Tiaras

Tiaras may be crafted from Silver (see Crafting Skill Guide) and can be combined with any Rune Talisman of your choice to create an enchanted tiara that can be worn in your helmet slot. This will allow you to enter the appropriate temple simply by left clicking on it, rather than the normal method of using a talisman on the temple. You can make a tiara by using a tiara on the desired altar while carrying the matching talisman in your inventory (the talisman will be consumed and you will gain some experience).

Tiara	Picture	Exp for making
Air		25
Mind		27.5
Water		30
Earth		32.5
Fire		35
Body		37.5
Cosmic *		40
Chaos *		42.5
Nature *		45
Law *		47.5
Death *		50
Blood *		52.5
Soul *		55

*Members-only

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The Abyss (Members Only)

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The Zamorak AMI altar (Members Only)

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Great Orb Project

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Runespan

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Combination Runes (Members only)

Combination runes can be made by having existing runes of one type, a talisman of the other type, and pure essence in your inventory. For instance, to make lava runes, you could have fire runes, an earth talisman, and pure essence (the same amount as you have fire runes). Then, go to the earth altar, making sure you can get in with either an earth talisman or earth tiara. Use the fire talisman on the earth altar, and lava runes will be crafted (and you will lose the fire talisman.) It is possible for this to fail to produce runes, thus you can use the Binding necklace which will allow a perfect binding rate for 15 uses, after which it disintegrates. The necklace is made by enchanting an Emerald necklace (27 Magic required).

Rune	Image	Level to Make	XP (Low)*	XP (High)*	How to Make
Mist		6	8	8.5	Water and Air combo
Dust		10	8.3	9	Earth and Air combo
Mud		13	9.3	9.5	Earth and Water combo
Smoke		15	8.5	9.5	Fire and Air combo
Steam		19	9.3	10	Water and Fire combo
Lava		23	10	10.5	Fire and Earth combo

*You receive less experience at the lower-leveled runecrafting altar. For example, making mist runes at the water altar will cause you to receive more experience than making mist runes at the air altar.

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Dungeoneering Runecrafting

While Dungeoneering, you will come across various trees and monsters that drop Rune essence. From these trees you can create staves to aid your Magic abilities. For more information please visit our Fletching guide.

Crafting Runes

To aid in your adventures, Runecrafting altars have been provided. You do not get the same experience as you would on the surface, so to find out exactly what you will receive, view our table below:

Rune	Image	Level Required	Experience gained (per 10 rune essence)
Air		1	1.0
Mind		1	1.1
Water		5	1.2
Earth		9	1.3
Fire		14	1.4
Body		20	1.5
Cosmic		27	1.6
Chaos		35	1.7
Astral		40	1.74
Nature		44	1.8
Law		54	1.9
Death		65	2
Blood		77	2.1

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Powering Staves

If you have obtained a staff during your adventures, you are able to empower it on a Runecrafting altar. This will give infinite runes depending on the type of staff that you choose. For your options, see our table below:

Staff	Image	Level Required	Wood required	Experience Gained	Members Only
Water staff		10	Any	5.5	No
Earth staff		20	Tier 2 or higher	12	No
Fire staff		30	Tier 3 or higher	20.5	No
Air staff		40	Tier 4 or higher	29	No
Catalytic staff		50	Tier 5 or higher	39.5	No
Empowered water staff		60	Tier 6 or higher	51	Yes
Empowered earth staff		70	Tier 7 or higher	63.5	Yes
Empowered fire staff		80	Tier 8 or higher	76	Yes
Empowered air staff		90	Tier 9 or higher	90.5	Yes
Empowered catalytic staff		99	Tier 10	106	Yes

*= Members only items

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Runecrafting Experience

When you achieve a certain level of runecrafting, you will automatically make additional runes from each essence. The table below lists the levels required and experience earned. Please note that you get experience only for each essence used, and not for each rune made, so even if you make eight air runes per essence, you will only gain 5 experience.

* Members only
+ To create Soul runes you must first charge the altar using Pure essence; 4 create 1 charge and it takes 1.25 charge (5 essence) to create 1 Soul rune. The charger and altar can both hold up to 100 of their respective essence/charge.

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Runecrafting Gloves

These gloves are for both F2P and P2P, so don't despair. They are obtained from Reggie by buying them for 75 Fist of guthix tokens at the Fist of Guthix mini-game.

Runecrafting Gloves
Item Name	Image	Level Needed	Effect
Air runecrafting gloves		10 Runecrafting	x2 experience per essence crafted
Water runecrafting gloves		20 Runecrafting	x2 experience per essence crafted
Earth runecrafting gloves		30 Runecrafting	x2 experience per essence crafted

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Chaos Altar Maze

When you enter the top level of Chaos altar, go to the very Southwest ladder, and go down it. Then go to the ladder that is to your east, and a little bit north (it should show up on your map). Go down that ladder. On this level, you can see the tops of the ruined pillars from the altar. Then, to your west, and a little bit north (on the opposite side of the ruined pillars) there is a ladder, go down it. You should be able to see the altar from here, but it is east of where you are. Jagex has added a new portal just east of the altar that allows you a quick exit from the altar maze - Yay! Or, for the hard way you could follow the same path in reverse to get out, and on the top floor, head north and east, until you see a portal, then exit, and go on to Edgeville, or wherever else you want to go! An Amulet of glory can be used to teleport back to Edgeville, as well.

Chaos Shortcut:

With the completion of What Lies Below, you will unlock access to the chaos shortcut. The entrance of it is located north-east of Varrock, and slightly south west from the saw mill.

After following the tunnel you can use the portal which brings you to the second level of the chaos maze. Proceeding through the maze to the chaos altar and crafting your runes. From here you have two options, you can either use the portal at this level and exit to level 13 wilderness, or head back up to the second level and use the portal there to take you back to the tunnel.

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Training Methods

Air Runes:

Water Runes:

Water runes are a decent way to earn both money and experiences. Below you will find 2 methods of training your runecrafting by means of Water runes

Amulet of Glory-Method:

1. Withdraw a charged amulet of glory, a water talisman/tiara/runecrafting staff, and 28/27 rune essence from your bank.
2. Use the amulet of glory to teleport to Draynor Village.
3. Run to the Water temple and craft the water runes.
4. Teleport back to Draynor Village with your amulet of glory. Bank the waters, and start over again. When your amulet of glory runs out of charges, teleport to Burthorpe with your games necklace and go the the Guild of Heroes to recharge it. Then teleport back to Draynor Village and continue with runecrafting.

If these steps are done correctly, you should be able to craft waters 3 times before having to recharge your amulet of glory. Instead of having to continually recharge your amulet of glory after every 3 runs, you can buy a lot of amulets of glory and switch them at the bank in Draynor once one runs out. This is, however, a bit more expensive but faster.

Zanaris-Method:

This method does not require you to spend money on means of teleportation. In order to use this method you must have completed the Lost City quest.

1. Withdraw a Dramen staff, a water talisman/tiara, and 28/27 rune essence from the bank at Zanaris.
2. Leave the city and run to the Water temple.
3. Enter the temple and craft the water runes.
4. Use your Dramen staff to enter Zanaris.
5. Run to the bank, deposit your runes and start over again.

Fire Runes

This is the one of the fastest ways to make your fire runes. If you plan on using this method you must have a large amount of Rings of duelling at your disposal. Being successful in this routine may also require you to have 35 Runecrafting as you will probably want more than just 26 fire runes on each run.

1. Withdraw a ring of duelling, a fire talisman/tiara/runecrafting staff, and 27,26 rune essence from your bank. Do not wear the ring as it will slow you down, keep it in your inventory.
2. Teleport to the Duel Arena.
3. Run to the Fire temple and craft the fire runes.
4. Teleport to the Castle Wars arena with your ring of duelling.
5. Bank the fire runes and start over again

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Quests for Experience

• Rune Mysteries - 250
• Rune Memories - 300
• Mage of Zamorak Miniquest - 1,000
• Rune Mechanics - 1850
• Slug Menace - 3,500
• Devious Minds - 5,000
• Lunar Diplomacy - 5,000
• The Eyes of Glouphrie - 6,000
• The Elemental Workshop IV - 7,500
• What Lies Below - 8,000
• The Prisoner of Glouphrie - 45,000

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Temporary level boosts

For more information on how to boost your level, see the Temporary Stat Leveling Techniques special report.

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Master runecrafter robes

Master Runecrafter robes provide an experience bonus whilst Runecrafting. They can be purchased using tokens awarded for playing The Great Orb Project.

Item Name	Image	Bonus
Master runecrafter hat		1%
Master runecrafter body		1%
Master runecrafter skirt		1%
Master runecrafter boots		1%
Complete set		5%

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Capes of Accomplishment

Once you have achieved level 99, you may visit Larriar, in the Runecrafting Guild, to purchase a Runecrafting cape for 99,000 Coins.

Once you have achieved level 120, Larriar will sell you the Runecrafting master cape for 120,000 Coins.

Discount

Note that as of December 2018, another one of Mod Daze's Easter Eggs have been found. This enables you to purchase a Skillcape for half price (only from Larriar, not Elen) if you are wearing a Ring of Charos (a). Be aware that "Half price" is 92,000 Coins as the experience at level 92 is approximately half way to level 99.

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