Runecrafting is a skill that gets a bad name in OSRS, it is often viewed as a slow and monotonous skill to train. Rightfully slow, as most of the methods used provide slow experience rates and require a lot of effort/attention. This makes it one of the most impressive skills to train to level 99 in OSRS. This OSRS Runecrafting Training Guide will show you the most efficient methods to go from level 1 – 99 Runecrafting.
Fastest Runecrafting Training Methods
Questing: level 1 – 33
Early levels of any skill can usually be skipped with quests, runecrafting is no different. Since the early levels are especially slow for Runecrafting it is highly recommended to use this method. As for your accounts progression you will need to complete these quests anyway. By completing the following quests you should reach level 33:
- The Eyes of Glouphrie
- The Slug Menace
- The Ascent of Arceuus
- Temple of the Eye
- Enter the Abyss miniquest
Lava Runes: level 23 – 99
Lava Runecrafting is the fastest runecrafting training method in OSRS. Players can gain up to 110,000 runecrafting experience per hour with Lava Runes.
It is recommended that players have completed Lunar Diplomacy and have at least 82 magic for Magic Imbue. This removes the need for an earth talisman and makes the process easier. Additionally, remember to bring your best weight-reducing gear (graceful set) and a ring of dueling. The ring of dueling will be used to teleport back and forth between the fire altar and the bank at castle wars.
Lava Runners
Lava Runners is a way that wealthy players can significantly increase their experience rates when crafting Lava Runes.
The method works by paying between 3 and 4 players to ferry pure essence to the altar for you. This allows you to completely eliminate banking time and have a continuous flow of pure essence coming in. With 3 runners experience rates jump to around 180,000 per hour or with 4 runners you can expect 240,000 exp/hour. The cost for 1 runner is between 5 and 10m gp/hour, depending on their experience. This makes it one of the most expensive training methods in the game and so is often unviable for many players.
Alternative Runecrafting Training Methods
Lava Runecrafting is unquestionably the fastest experience in OSRS. However, not everyone will want to use this method, it is very click intensive and boring, with no profit being made either. There are a lot of different methods available that are more AFK-friendly and also some good options for profit that can be used. Below is a list of some of the best alternative runecrafting training methods.
Ourania Altar (ZMI): level 1 – 99
The Ourania Altar or ZMI as some players call is a viable training method for runecrafting in OSRS, at all levels. It offers competitive experience rates, is significantly less intensive and also provides reasonable levels of profit through-out. At high levels players can expect up to 77,000 exp/hour with pure essence and around 400,000 to 550,000 gp/hour. A breakdown of all the different experience rates by level brackets can be seen below.
There are no requirements for the Ourania Altar method. However, completion of Lunar Diplomacy is highly recommended, as the Ourania Teleport is essential for the best experience rates, this spell is only accessible on the Lunar Spellbook. Additionally, NPC contact is required to efficiently repair rune pouches without wasting significant time. Finally, weight-reducing gear such as graceful is highly recommended, although less important than the other recommendations.
It is also worth noting that auto-retaliate should be turned off as the path to the altar has some aggressive monsters. For this same reason it is not recommended to use this method on low level accounts, including level 3 skillers or 10hp accounts.
Blood & Soul Runes: Level 77 – 99
At level 77 players unlock the ability to craft Blood Runes and at level 90 they unlock the ability to craft Soul Runes. Both are viable methods to use to reach level 99 and both have their own advantages. Both provide less experience than ZMI and Lavas, however, they are significantly less intensive and provide good profits too.
Blood Runecrafting provides between 38,000 and 42,000 runecrafting exp/hour and soul runecrafting provides around 45,000 to 50,000 runecrafting exp/hour. Using this method players will also gain a small amount of mining and crafting experience, as players must mine in the Arceuus essence mine to acquire dense essence blocks, then convert these to dark fragments with a chisel. From level 77 to 99 runecrafting with bloods/souls players can expect around 1,646,000 crafting and 1,235,000 mining experience.
As mentioned, this method requires both a pickaxe and chisel to acquire the dark fragments used to craft at the respective blood or soul altar. Some players, mainly ironmen choose to stay crafting bloods instead of soul runes, as the blood runes generally provide more utility to ironmen accounts.
Guardians of the Rift: Level 27 – 99
Guardians of the Rift is a Runecrafting focused minigame. With this method players can expect up to 70,000 runecrafting experience per hour. There is additional experience in crafting (up to 6,600 xp/hour) and mining (up to 3,500 xp/hour). A breakdown of the hourly experience rates for different levels can be seen below.
This method is often favoured by players who want a more engaging way of training, while still getting some competitive experience rates. Although, to use this method you will need to have completed the Temple of the Eye quest. Additionally, make sure you are using your best pickaxe and essence pouches for efficient experience rates when training.