Contents:
- Introduction
- Talismans, Tiaras and Altars
- Basic Runes
- Combination Runes
- The Abyss
- Tips
Introduction
Runecrafting involves making runes, which you use to cast spells. To start this skill, you must first complete the Rune Mysteries Quest by first talking to the Duke of Lumbridge.
Rune Essence
To start you must first mine 'rune essence' with any type of pick. To do this you must be teleported to the rune essence mine by either the Sedridor in wizard tower or the Aubury in the Runeshop in Varrock, members can also choose from Wizard Distentor in the Magic guild, Wizard Cromperty in East Ardougne, or the Brimstail Gnome in the underground cave under the Gnome Tree Village. You will get teleported into a room full of rune essence rocks. They are not stackable, so mine with them until your inventory is full, then go through one of the portals to either bank the essence or go directly to the altar. The fastest place to get essence is from the Rune Shop in Varrock.
Crafting
After you have collected enough essences for yourself you must craft them into a rune. Before you travel to the altar, you must get the talisman or tiara of the rune you wish to make. After collecting your talisman or tiara, take it and as many essences as you can to the alter to craft them. See the chart below for alter locations.
Talismans, Tiaras and Altars
Most talismans are obtained from monster drops, the better the talisman, the harder the monsters you have to kill to get them. However the Law talisman can only be gained by completing the Edgar's Ruse Quest.
To make an enchanted tiara, you must take an unenchanted tiara and the talisman of the type you want to make to the altar of the type you want to make.
Talisman take up one space in your inventory, whereas tiaras can be equipped and so give you one extra spot for essence. When wearing a tiara you only need click on altars to enter them rather than having to use a talisman on a altar.
Note:
Red Text: Not craftable yet, information may be incorrect.
Blue Text: Members Only
Rune |
Talisman |
Tiara |
Altar Location |
| Air |  |
 |
Little north-east of Crafting guild, south of Falador. |
| Mind |  |
 |
Between Goblin Village and Dwarven Mountain. |
| Water |  |
 |
Lumbridge Swamps. |
| Earth |  |
 |
North-east from Varrock, near the Jolly Boar Inn |
| Fire |  |
 |
Al Kharid desert, south of the mining field. |
| Body |  |
 |
South of the Monastery, between Barbarian Village and Dwarven Mountain. |
| Cosmic |  |
 |
Southern part of Lost City. |
| Chaos |  |
 |
Wilderness level 9, south of the Dark Warriors Castle. |
| Nature |  |
 |
Southern part of the Karamja Jungle. |
| Law |  |
 |
North-Eastern part of Zanaris |
| Death |  |
 |
In the Light Temple underneath West Ardounge |
| Blood |  |
Not yet available | |
| Soul |  |
Not yet available |
Basic Runes
Rune |
Image |
Runecrafting Level |
Runecrafting Experience |
| Air |  |
1 | 5 |
| Mind |  |
2 | 5.5 |
| Water |  |
5 | 6 |
| Earth |  |
9 | 6.5 |
| Fire |  |
14 | 7 |
| Body |  |
20 | 7.5 |
| Cosmic |  |
27 | 8 |
| Chaos |  |
35 | 8.5 |
| Nature |  |
44 | 9 |
| Law |  |
54 | 9.5 |
| Death |  |
65 | 10 |
| Blood |  |
77 | 10.5 |
| Soul |  |
90 | 11 |
Multiple Runes
When you reach certain runecrafting levels, you can get multiple runes per essence, however you only get the experience for every essence that is used. The header indicates how many runes you will get for each essence. The numbers in the table indicate the level needed.
For example, If you have level 38 runecrafting and you use 20 essence at the water alter, you will get 60 water runes.
Rune |
Image |
2x |
3x |
4x |
5x |
6x |
7x |
8x |
9x |
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 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Cosmic | |
59 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Chaos | |
74 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Nature | |
91 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Law | |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Death | |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Blood | |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Soul | |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Combination Runes
You can get combination runes which count as multiple types of runes, i.e. a mist rune counts as a water and air rune.
To make a combination rune, you need the talisman or tiara of the alter you plant to go to, the talisman of the other type of rune you want, and an equal number of the other type of rune and essence.
Notes:
You will lose the other type of talisman.
You only have a 50% chance of success unless you wear a Necklace of Binding - an enchanted emerald necklace.
Example:
There are two ways to make each rune, to make mists rune you need...
When going to the air altar:
- Air Talisman or Tiara
- Water Talisman
- 25/26 Water runes
- 25/26 Rune essence
or
When going to the water altar:
- Water Talisman or Tiara
- Air Talisman
- 25/26 Air runes
- 25/26 Rune essence
Rune |
Image |
Level Required |
Combination |
| Mist |  |
6 | Water and Air |
| Dust |  |
10 | Earth and Air |
| Mud |  |
13 | Earth and Water |
| Smoke |  |
15 | Fire and Air |
| Steam |  |
19 | Fire and Water |
| Lava |  |
23 | Fire and Earth |
The Abyss
The Abyss offers a different way of crafting runes, view the guide here.
Tips
Runners
Rather than running back and forth getting rune essence, a good way of gaining experience is to have people get the rune essence for you. You can then pay them by giving them the runes you make or some gold pieces.
Nature Crafting
Making natures is a very good way of making money as they can be sold for around 300gp. To use the following technique you require...
- A nature tiara
- Lots of noted rune essence
- About 10,000gp
1. You should sell 26 essence to the general store north-west of the altar. Then buy them back.
2. Now go the altar and and craft the essence into natures.
3. Return to the shop and buy back 25 essence.
4. Go to the altar and craft the essence.
5. Repeat steps 3-4 untill you need to restock.
Fire Crafting
One of the fastest ways to make runecrafting experience is to make fire runes using Dueling Rings (Enchanted Emerald Rings).
You require:
- A fire tiara
- A dueling ring
- 27 rune essence
Now you just use your ring to teleport to the Duel Arena, go into the fire altar and make fire runes. With your ring, teleport to Castle Wars and use the bank chest to get more essence and another ring if needed and repeat.
ZMI RuneCrafting
The ZMI Altar is located underground near the Observatory. To reach it, it is recommended to use Ourania Teleport (level 71, Lunar Magics) and take the short path, through the Zamorak NPCs. It is suggested that you use World 70 since this is considered the 'ZMI World' so many people will be there to take off some of the damage that may have been dealt on you.
After teleporting to Ourania you should quickly run past the red salamanders and and climb down the ladder which is located next to the altar that you can charge your prayer on. When running the short, dangerous way you should turn on either protect from melee or range on, then after the curve you should turn protect from magic on. Once you get to the altar you should turn prayer off then immediately click the altar and craft all available essence.
Teleport to either Edgeville, Castlewars, or Moonclan island. They are all about the same speed and it's just a matter of preference.
Bank quickly as you can and then repeat process by teleporting to Ourania.