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Runecrafting is a free-to-play skill that allows players to craft their own runes for magic spells. However, to use this skill, players must first complete the quest Rune Mysteries. The experience earned from making runes is small, meaning that Runecrafting is the slowest skill to raise. Until May 4th 2008, this was the only free-to-play skill without 1 million accounts on the Hiscores. Runecrafting is the only F2P skill not to have two million people on the hiscores. The current minimum to be ranked on the hiscores in Runecrafting is 30 Runecrafting and 13,363 experience.

Rune Essence[]

To craft runes, players need rune stones, known as 'rune essence'. Rune essence is also commonly referred to as 'rune ess' or just 'ess'. There are two types of rune essence: Normal essence and pure essence.

Normal Essence[]

Normal rune essence is used to make elemental runes and Mind runes and Body runes. This is the only type of essence free players can obtain by mining at level 1.

Pure Essence[]

Pure essence is used in the creation of all runes. It is the only kind of essence which can be made into cosmic runes, chaos runes, astral runes, nature runes, law runes, death runes and blood runes. If you are a member with level 30 Mining or above, you will automatically mine pure essence when mining from an essence mine in a members' world.

Obtaining Rune Essence[]

Rune Essence Mine[]

Both rune essence and pure essence are located in the same network of massive underground mines, known as the rune essence mine.

To access these mines, players need to talk to certain NPCs who can teleport them to the mines. A player can either right-click on the NPC and select the 'teleport' option or talk to the NPC and ask to be teleported.

Free-to-Play[]

  • Wizard Aubury - He is in Varrock's rune shop, immediately south of the east bank. This is the NPC that almost all players use, as he is the shortest walk away from a bank in free-to-play worlds.
  • Wizard Sedridor - This wizard is located in the basement of the Wizards' Tower, south of Draynor Village. The nearest bank from him is in the bank in draynor north of the tower.

Monster Drops[]

The Great Orb Project[]

Essence is given through out The Great Orb Project, depending on the player's performance, and can be purchased as a reward after completion.

Talismans[]

Main article: Talisman

Each talisman has a name that indicates what kind of rune a player can make with it. For example, to make air runes, a player needs to find an air talisman.

You can buy all talismans in the Runecrafting Guild from Wizard Elriss for ~15 Runecrafting Guild Tokens (awarded upon finishing a game of The Great Orb Project.

Talisman Members? GE price Dropped by
Air Talisman Air talisman No Exchange:Air talisman Men, Imps, Goblins, Wizards, Air Wizards.
Mind Talisman Mind talisman No Exchange:Mind talisman Imps, Wizards, Dark Wizards.
Water Talisman Water talisman No Exchange:Water talisman Wizards, Dark Wizards, Water Wizards.
Earth Talisman Earth talisman No Exchange:Earth talisman Men, Women, Wizards, Dark Wizards, Al-Kharid Warriors, Earth Wizards.
Fire Talisman Fire talisman No Exchange:Fire talisman Guards, Wizards, Skeletons with no weapons, Dark Wizards.
Body Talisman Body talisman No Exchange:Body talisman Guards, Wizards, Hill Giants, Dark Wizards.

Tiaras[]

Main article: Tiara

Talismans take up a space in a player's inventory, allowing them to only hold 27 essence maximum in their inventory. However, a tiara can fix this. A player can combine a talisman and a tiara together, then wear the tiara on their head while still being able to craft runes. This saves inventory space, allowing players to hold a full pack of essence. Players can either craft a tiara or buy one from another player.

To enchant a tiara, the player needs to bring the talisman to an altar (explained in the next section). For example, if a player wants to make air runes wearing a tiara, then they will have to bring their air talisman to the air altar and use either item on the altar to combine them. Players can also earn some runecrafting experience from making a tiara, shown in the table below. Additionally, making a tiara does not have a Runecrafting level requirement.

Tiara Experience GE price
Air Tiara Air tiara 25 Exchange:Air tiara
Mind Tiara Mind tiara 27.5 Exchange:Mind tiara
Water Tiara Water tiara 30 Exchange:Water tiara
Earth Tiara Earth tiara 32.5 Exchange:Earth tiara
Fire Tiara Fire tiara 35 Exchange:Fire tiara
Body Tiara Body tiara 37.5 Exchange:Body tiara

Talisman Staves[]

Main article: Talisman staff
Image Staff
Air talisman staff
Mind talisman staff
Water talisman staff
Earth talisman staff
File:Runecrafting staff fire.gif Fire talisman staff
Body talisman staff
Fire talisma staff

Talisman Staff Bonus

With the release of the Runecrafting guild, also came the release of "Talisman Staves." A runecrafting staff can be purchased as a reward from the Great Orb Project mini-game, it can be use to make talisman staffs, and has two uses. The first use is that a talisman staff can be used in place of tiaras or talismans. In addition, they can be used to distract the eyes in the Abyss, allowing them to the central portals. This relatively "useless" staff is mainy obtained purely for the act of accomplishments as most players will not spend 10,000 Runecrafting guild tokens to buy an item easily replaceable with an easy-to-get tiara. To bind a talisman to a runecrafting staff take the talisman and staff to the appropriate altar and use either of the two on the altar. Runecrafting staffs are not able to be equipped until a talisman is bound to it. With no requirements other than 50 runecrafting, the staff has fairly high Strength bonus (+33).

Altars[]

Main article: Runecrafting altar

Runecrafting altars are where players transform their essence into runes. Tiaras or talismans are needed to enter these altars hidden inside the 'Mysterious ruins.'

Mysterious Ruins[]

Mysterious Ruins are large, glowing, grey rocks surrounded by ruined pillars. They are used in order to travel to the altar of the runes being made. The player must have the talisman or tiara of the type of runes they wish to craft.

Mysterious ruins can be found by selecting the 'locate' option on a talisman. In the chatbox, the player will notice a message that will tell them the direction they need to go.

Once the mysterious ruins are visible, the player must use their talisman on the ruins to be teleported to the altar. If they are wearing an enchanted tiara, a simple click on the ruins will transport the player to the altar.

Altar Locations[]

Altar Location Closest Bank Picture
Air altar West of Varrock, near Sigurd the canoe maker. Varrock West Air altar-Location
Mind altar Between Ice Mountain and Goblin Village. Edgeville, Falador west Mind Altar Location
Water altar South of Lumbridge in the swamps by the dungeon. Draynor Water Altar Location
Earth altar Northeast of Varrock. Varrock east Earth Altar Location
Fire altar Northeast of Al Kharid, next to the Duel Arena. Al-Kharid, Duel Arena Fire Altar Location
Body altar Between Ice Mountain and Barbarian Village, south of the Monastery. Edgeville Body Altar Location

Crafting runes[]

When a player has entered the mysterious ruins, all they have to do is click on the altar. They will then craft all the essence in their inventory (except any noted essence or essence stored in pouches) into runes.

Rune Level Xp
Air rune Air 1
Mind rune Mind 2
Water rune Water 5
Earth rune Earth 9
Fire rune Fire 14
Body rune Body 20

Crafting multiple runes[]

As a player's Runecrafting level increases, they can make more runes per essence. However, they only earn experience based on the amount of essence they craft. For example, a player may have only one essence in their inventory, but can make two air runes. They will only receive five experience, as they only used one essence. The number of runes made from the essence in a player's inventory in an action that gains a level is determined by the player's level before the Runecrafting action, even if crafting the same amount of essence one piece at a time would yield more runes.

Rune Lvl for 2x Lvl for 3x Lvl for 4x Lvl for 5x Lvl for 6x Lvl for 7x Lvl for 8x Lvl for 9x Lvl for 10x
Air 11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99
Mind 14 28 42 56 70 84 98
Water 19 38 57 76 95
Earth 26 52 78
Fire 35 70
Body 46 92

Runecrafting Gloves[]

Runecrafting gloves are a group of rewards from the mini-game Fist of Guthix for 75 tokens. These gloves are only available for Air, Water, and Earth runecrafting.

Runecrafting gloves give double the experience for the type of rune to be crafted. For example, a player wearing the Air runecrafting gloves will receive 10 experience per essence rather than 5. 1000 essence may be crafted in this manner until the gloves crumble to dust. Players can play Fist of Guthix to receive another pair.

Image Normal Experience Experience with Gloves
Airrcgloves Air runecrafting gloves 5 10
Waterrcgloves Water runecrafting gloves 6 12
Earthrcgloves Earth runecrafting gloves 6.5 13

Runecrafting Guild[]

Main article: Runecrafting Guild

The Runecrafting Guild is a guild released on August 12, 2008. It is located through a portal on the first/second floor of the Wizards' Tower. Players must have a Runecrafting level of at least 50 to enter the Guild.

Training-runes[]

Runecrafting is a skill that is practiced less in free-to-play worlds, simply because of the distinct advantages members possess. However, it is still possible to train efficiently. Players can also use Runecrafting gloves, that will increase experience per essence crafted, and the Explorer's ring, which gives experience for the bonus runes that it will sometimes provide. The ring also recharges run energy, increasing runecrafting speed.

  • Players should start by crafting air runes. Simply mine or buy rune essence, and prepare at Falador east bank. From there, walk or run south (remembering to keep weight to a minimum) to the altar, craft runes, and go back. A trip to and back takes about 80 seconds running.
  • At level 2 Runecrafting, players can also craft mind runes at the mind altar.
  • At level 9 players can craft earth runes, run to Aubury to mine more essence and repeat, allowing faster experience.
  • Once at level 14, players should make use of the Al-Kharid bank at the Duel Arena, which is now nearer to the altar, also dueling in the arena restores full run energy, which makes runecrafting very quick. Players should keep in mind that the price of fire runes is low due to over-production from many players (both F2P and member). It may be difficult to make any sort of profit at all from crafting fire runes. Training by using the fire altar may give the maximum rate of experience, but it will always be a money losing proposition for any player taking this route, or at least a substantial lost opportunity for making money from other tasks.
  • At level 30, players can use Earth runecrafting gloves while crafting earth runes. This can rack up 13K experience per 1K essence. However, obtaining the gloves takes time and effort.
  • At level 50, players can train at the Runecrafting guild by doing The Great Orb Project.

Profit versus experience[]

Players wishing to profit from Runecrafting should take advantage of their ability to craft multiple runes. Depending on the Runecrafting level, it is possible to purchase essence, craft many runes from the essence, sell the runes for a profit, buy more essence, and repeat. This may result in less experience due to crafting lower-level runes, though it is possible to make good money using this method.

Crafting earth runes at the altar north-east of the Varrock east bank, was once a way to make good balance between quick runecrafting experience and profit. Since the price of  earth runes dropped rapidly to 11gp each recently, players should be aware of certain loss when runecrafting earths. Profit potential is better for runecrafters with level 52 or higher Runecrafting; that is the point at which it becomes possible to craft three earth runes per essence. These runes will not sell for quite as much as the number of air runes craftable at this level, but players will earn faster experience. Water runes may earn you potentially slightly more money per trip, but it is further away from a bank in terms of how long it takes to travel between the bank and the altar.


Changes to shop quantities of runes and reduction in price floors and ceilings in the grand exchange have allowed the price of rune essence and most runes to change drastically.

Recently, as of October 2009, rune essence has been far more expensive, around 70gp. Earth runes are up as well about 25gp. Water runes are the most affected, tripling in value to around 45gp. Airs are still around 10-15gp. Fire runes are down to 6 gp.

Body and mind runes are virtually unaffected at 8-10gp still.


With these prices airs will not produce profit unless crafted with lvl 66+ runecrafting. Earths are a good compromise between profit and experience, especially when using gloves and lumbridge ring. Waters however are the best for money, profiting when getting multiple runes per essence.

Training-Tiaras[]

Tiaras are another method of gaining runecrafting experience. To get experience from tiaras, a player takes 1-14 talismans to the appropiate altar, along with an equal number of Tiaras (Ie. body talismans to the body altar. )

Once inside the altar use either a talisman or a tiara with the altar. NOTE: using the talisman with the altar will bring up a menu asking if you want to make tiaras or staves so using the tiara with the altar is reccomended. Repeat for all the talismans you have with you.


There is no resale market for embued(assigned to an altar) tiaras, so doing this is a total loss of money, but as each trip yields up to 525 experience, it can be a very fast method for xp for the player who just wants to get lvl 50 and has plenty of money to spare.

Training Tips[]

Running and runners[]

A common method for training runecrafting is by using runners. A runner is a player that changes noted essences into unnoted ones by converting them in a bank or a shop. The runecrafter increases the amount of essences processed and the runner gets a good reward. Common player worlds where runners are used are:

    • Air running World 16. 25 normal essences for 25 noted and 1500-3000 coins
    • Mind running

Transportation[]

The Runecrafting Teleport Tablets obtained from The Great Orb Project minigame can offer extremely fast experience. By teleporting to the runecrafting altar, then teleporting to a bank, players can craft runes with almost no need to walk.

Other[]

  • Another way to gain Runecraft experience may be the assist system. It is recommended to team up with a friend and both go to the same altar, you craft the runes, then assist your friend. Using the assist system, whole clans have 'power-crafted' members' levels.

Accounts have been created solely for the purpose of aiding runecrafting.

  • It is recommended that players mine a large amount of essence, bank them all, and then craft runes with 28 essence.

Tiaras[]

You can still craft 14 tiaras in 1 trip while using altar teleport tablets even though they take up an inventory space. Wear a blank tiara instead of an enchanted one and carry 13 tiaras and 14 talismans in your inventory. When you get to the ruins use a talisman on them.

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