OSRS Runecrafting Guide - Training 1-99 Fast (F2P & P2P Methods)

Runecrafting is one of the 15 F2P skills in Old School Runescape and it can be trained by using both F2P and P2P methods. This skill is probably the slowest and most difficult skill to train efficiently as it requires moving a long distance to gain an arguably small chunk of XP which also means you cannot be AFK.

Runecrafting allows you to make runes that are being used to cast the different magic spells meaning that you can make good profits by selling the runes at the Grand Exchange.

Players tend to train Runecrafting through quests or XP lamps to avoid the boring progress of training it the regular way through Altars. But at the high levels of Runecrafting, your XP rate becomes much better as well as the money you can make by selling the runes.

In this article, we are going to focus on how to reach level 99 quickly in addition to some money-making methods. Note that training this skill is not that expensive but it is annoying and very click-intensive.

Make sure to check out all 23 OSRS skills in our relevant guide.

OSRS Runecrafting 101

Making runes through Runecrafting is simple, you need an Essence and the desired Altar to enchant the Essence. There are 3 types of Essences in the game, each one of them is used to make specific runes.

Rune essences are used for making Air, Water, Body, Fire, Mind, and Earth runes.
Pure essences are used for making Chaos, Astral, Nature, Cosmic, Law, Wrath, and Death runes in addition to all the runes that made by the Rune essences.
Dark essences fragments are used for making Blood and Soul runes.

Rune essences and Pure essence are obtained through killing monsters such as Ankous and keep in mind that Pure essences are for members only. You can also obtain both of them by mining in the Rune Essence Mine after completing Rune Mysteries quest.

Mining in the Rune Essence Mine will earn you Rune essences until level 30 Mining when you will start getting Pure essences instead if you are a P2P play.

Dark essences fragments are made by using a Chisel on Dark essence blocks which are obtained by using the Dense essences blocks on the Dark alter in Arceuus (requires 100% favor).

Dense essences blocks are obtained by mining inside the Arceuus Essence Mine located in Arceuus. The Arceuus Essence Mine requires having 25% Arceuus favour as well as level 38 Mining and level 38 Crafting.

To craft a rune of a specific type, you need its required Essences and the corresponding Altar. Clicking on the altar while having the Essences in your inventory is how you convert the Essences to the desired runes.

It is always advised to use both the closest teleport to a bank and the closest teleport to the Altar so you can speed up the process.

Altars

Entering The Mysterious Ruins, Dueling Area, Old School Runescape

Altars are the places where you convert your Essences to Runes, these can be found around the map but you won’t find them by using the map icons. All of the altars are located inside the Mysterious Ruins with each in a different dimension. Note that Blood, Soul and Astral Altars are only found in the normal world, not the Mysterious Ruins.

Each Altar requires a Talisman(except for Blood, Soul, and Astral) of the same type to be accessed, or you can use a Tiara of the corresponding type to access which saves you one inventory slot since you can equip it.

These Altars can be found by Right-clicking the Talismans and choose the “locate” option. Directions to the altar will be shown in the chatbox until you reach it.

The table below shows all the Altars as well as the directions to find each.

Entering the Altar is done by using the talisman on it, or by clicking on the Altar while equipping the corresponding Tiara.

Note: Astral altar requires the completion of Lunar Diplomacy Quest to be used.

Talismans

Runecrafting Talismans, Old School Runescape

Talisman is the item you use to access an altar of the same type. A Talisman can be also used to craft the Combination Runes which will be explained later in the article.

Talismans are obtained by either killing monsters such as Elemental wizards or buying them directly from the Grand Exchange.

Tiaras

Runecrafting Tiaras, Old School Runescape

Tiaras are used instead of Talismans to access Altars, however, they cannot be used to replace Talismans when it comes to crafting Combination Runes.

To make a Tiara of a specific type, you should bring a normal Tiara alongside a Talisman of the desired type to the corresponding Altar. After that, you should use the Tiara on the Altar so you can combine it with the Talisman to create a Tiara of a specific type.

A normal Tiara is made by using a Tiara mould with a Silver bar in a Furnace which requires level 23 Crafting.

Note that there are no Tiaras or Talismans for the Astral, Soul and Blood runes as their altars are within the same dimension of the normal world not in the Mysterious Ruins.

Multiple Runes

As your Runecrafting level increases, the number of runes you can make from each Rune/Pure essence is increased. But that doesn’t mean you gain more XP as you only gain XP for each Rune/Pure essence used regardless of the number of runes crafted.

Note that Earth x5 is only obtained if you used a boost of +5 to reach level 104.

Combination Runes

There are some runes that require a specific recipe to be created, these runes are called Combination Runes. It is when you combine 2 types of runes into one Rune, but this is only limited to some runes.

To do that, you need to bring the one half of the combination (1 type of the two runes) along with its matching talisman (tiara doesn’t work) in addition to the Pure essences needed to the altar that has the same type of the other half of the combination. Also, do not forget the Tiara/Talisman needed to access the altar (usually should be Tiara for more inventory slots).

Important Note: Crafting these runes requires you to use the rune you brought on the altar instead of just clicking on the altar, otherwise you will craft normal runes instead.

Doing that has a success chance of 50% but this can be boosted to 100% by using a Binding Necklace. Keep in mind that the Talismans will be consumed either way.

You can use the Magic Imbue spell to craft Combination Runes which allows you to do the process without bringing a matching Talisman (for 1 type of the two runes). Thus your XP/Hour will be slightly boosted since you will have more inventory slots. You need to cast the spell just before clicking on the Altar.

Having this spell requires level 82 Magic and the completion of Lunar Diplomacy Quest to unlock the Lunar spells Book.

Using the Magic Imbue spell also requires 2 Astral runes, 7 Fire runes and 7 Water runes for each cast. That means having a Rune Pouch (explained in the Ourania Altar section) will save you 2 inventory slots. These required runes can be obtained by either crafting them or buying them from the Grand Exchange.

Note that you will get low XP rates inside the low-level altars such as crafting Dust runes inside the Air altar instead of the Earth altar.

Ourania Altar

Ourania Altar Location, Old School Runescape

The Ourania Altar is where you can make any type of runes (except Wrath Runes and the Combination Runes) randomly. It requires no specific Runecrafting level, but the higher your Runecrafting level, the better runes you can get, the better XP/Hour rate you receive.

This Altar can be accessed without the need for any Talismans or Tiaras, and its mechanism is like any other Altar where you click on the Altar to craft the runes.

Using the Ourania Teleport spell (requires level 71 Magic and the completion of Lunar Diplomacy Quest) is recommended to get the fastest XP/Hour rate as it places you near the entrance of the altar. That means you will have to use it right after crafting the runes to start another round.

Ourania Teleport spell requires 6 Earth Runes, 1 Law Rune and 2 Astral Runes for each cast. These runes are obtained by either crafting them or buying them from other players at the Grand Exchange (which is better and faster).

It is advised to use a Rune Pouch to store the required runes for the Ourania Teleport spell so you can have more inventory slots. The Rune Pouch can either be obtained from a Slayer master for 750 Slayer Points or Bounty Hunter Shop for 75 Bounty Hunter points. It allows you to store 3 types of runes (16K rune for each type).

There is a bank inside the altar but it requires paying any type of 20 non-combination runes for each time you use it. You can set it up to not take specific runes of your decision instead of taking them randomly, also you can prevent the NPC from asking you each time the same question and to take the runes automatically instead.

Using the previously mentioned Rune Pouch is very useful with a certain setup in this altar. You can bring an Earth staff instead of the Earth Runes needed for the Ourania Teleport which is equipable and will save you a slot in the Rune Pouch. This free slot can be filled up with the runes that you will use to pay for the Bank, which means you will end up saving one inventory slot.

There are 2 paths inside the Altar, one of them is very long and the other is dangerous. It is always recommended to take the dangerous path while being in the official Ourania Altar world (no.327) where everybody is there which will reduce the chance of you taking damage.

The XP rates in the Ourania Altar varies depending on your Runecrafting level. Check the table below to know more about it.

Note that the XP you get in Ourania Altar is double the normal XP you would get outside of it. Pure Essences is the only Essences that should be used in Ourania Altar.

Completing medium Ardougne Diary will grant you a chance of creating bonus runes for each essence used (no extra XP).

Abyss (Inner Ring)

The Abyss Inner Ring is very useful to teleport to any altar in the game through rifts (except Wrath and Astral altars) without the need of a Talisman or a Tiara

The Abyss is generally accessed by speaking to the Mage of Zamorak, north of Varrock, south of the Wilderness Mine after completing Enter the Abyss Quest.

Notes:

• Teleporting to the Law altar requires you to have no weapons or armour because it is located in Entrana
• The Cosmic altar teleport requires the Completion of Lost City Quest.
• Soul altar and Blood altar teleportations require you to use a dark essence block on the rift (you need to do it one time only).
• Completion of the Mourning’s End Part II Quest is required to teleport to the Death altar.

Bank Fillers

Setting Bank Fillers, Old School Runescape

Using a Bank Fillers is an option to lock up the empty slots in your bank so you can easily deposit and withdraw whatever item you need with a minimum effort. This can be turned on by using the Bank settings.

Using the Bank Fillers is very useful when it comes to Runecrafting as you can easily deposit the entire inventory and fill it up with Essences for each trip.

To prevent items like Pouches to not be deposited in the bank once you click on the “Deposit Inventory” button, you will have to remove their placeholders from the bank so they don’t go back as there will be no empty slot.

To remove the Bank Fillers, you can right-click the Filler and choose the “Clear-All” option.

Useful Runecrafting Training Items

The Items below are very useful and highly recommended to train Runecrafting. Please try to obtain the Pouches to level Runecrafting efficiently.

Pouches

The Abyss Entrance Location, Old School Runescape

A Pouch is an item you can use to store Essences in and it has 4 different sizes with each requiring a specific Runecrafting level to use.

These Pouches are obtained by killing monsters in the Abyss which requires the completion of Enter the Abyss quest. Teleporting to the Abyss is done by speaking to the Mage of Zamorak located south of the Wilderness mining site north of Varrock/Edgeville.

Pouches will degrade after using them for a while and they can be repaired by speaking to the Dark mage in the center of the Abyss.

Each Pouch allows you to store a certain amount of Essences thus they are very useful to gain more XP per hour as makes your trip longer. To learn everything about each Pouch, check the table below

Note that you should repair the Pouch once it degrades or it will suddenly vanish if you keep using it.

Runecrafting Cape

Runecrafting Cape, Old School Runescape

Runecrafting Cape is acquired once you reach level 99 Runecrafting and it is very useful when it comes to money-making only as the requirement of having level 99 is making the cape useless for training.

Equipping this cape will prevent the Pouches from degradation as well as giving access to all the altars without Talismans/Tiaras.

Binding Necklace

A Necklace that gives 100% success rate to craft Combination Runes instead of 50%. It has 16 charges, which means it can only be used for 16 times before it turns to dust.

Players can either obtain it by killing monsters in the Abyss or casting Lv2 Enchant spell on an Emerald Necklace (level 27 Magic required).

Runecrafting Quests

Completing these quests is very helpful to pass the early slow levels of Runecrafting. Quests like Enter the Abyss, Rune Mysteries, and Lunar Diplomacy are almost essential.

Leveling Runecrafting 1-99

The training methods below should be considered as your most efficient way to level 99 without considering anything else such as making money.

Level 1-9

Air Altar Location, Old School Runescape

• Craft Air Runes (5 XP / Essence).

XP/Hour: 5K~9K
Essences Needed: 194
Recommended Items: All the Pouches you can use & a Falador Teleport
Required Items: Air Tiara/Talisman & Rune/Pure Essences

Both Pure Essences and Rune Essences can be used, keep in mind that the XP you earn is based on how many Essences you have used, not how many runes you have created (Check the Multiple Runes section above for more information).

The Air Altar is located south of Falador city, which means using a Falador Teleport to bank the runes is very efficient XP-wise. It is recommended to use the Teleport tablets as it takes 1 inventory slot only.

If you don’t know how to craft runes in general, please head back to the OSRS Runecrafting 101 section.

Level 9-14

Earth Altar Location, Old School Runescape

• Craft Earth Runes (6.5 XP / Essence).

XP/Hour: 8K~11K
Essences Needed: 176
Recommended Items: All the Pouches you can use & a Varrock Teleport
Required Items: Earth Tiara/Talisman & Rune/Pure Essences

Crafting Earth Runes is done at the Earth Altar which is located south of the Varrock Lumber Yard. You can use either Pure Essence or Rune Essences to craft Earth Runes.

Using Varrock Teleport to get back to the bank and prepare for another trip is more efficient XP-wise. It is advised to use the Teleport tablets since it only takes 1 inventory slot.

Level 14-23

Fire Altar Location, Old School Runescape

• Craft Fire Runes (7 XP / Essence).

XP/Hour: 17K~20K
Essences Needed: 598
Recommended Items: All the Pouches you can use & a Ring of Dueling
Required Items: Fire Tiara/Talisman & Rune/Pure Essences

Fire Runes can be crafted using Rune Essences or Pure essences on the Fire Altar. The Fire Altar is located west of the Duel Arena, thus using a Ring of Dueling to teleport there is the fastest way to reach it. The Dueling Rune can also be used to teleport to a bank by using its Castle Wars teleport to prepare for another trip.

It is advised to equip the Ring of Dueling so you can free up one inventory slot.

The Ring of Dueling is made by casting Lvl-2 Enchant (requires level 27 Magic) on an Emerald Ring or can be bought directly from the Grand Exchange (recommended).

Level 23-99

Ourania Altar Location, Old School Runescape

• Craft runes at the Ourania Altar.

XP/Hour: Varies depending on the Runecrafting level
Recommended level: 71 Magic
Essences Needed: Varies
Recommended Items: All the Pouches you can use, Earth staff & a Rune Pouch
Required Items: Pure Essences, Mind runes & the runes required for Ourania Teleport (except Earth runes)
Other Recommendations: The completion of Lunar Diplomacy to use Ourania Teleport

The Ourania Altar is located south of West Ardougne in the Ourania Cave, which means using Ourania Teleport is recommended to gain better XP rates. Keep in mind that only Pure Essences should be used here. Keep in mind that you should be on Lunar Spellbook to use Ourania Teleport.

Everything about Ourania Altar has been explained in the OSRS Runecrafting 101 section above, so check it out to understand its mechanism and the inventory setup you should be using.

Using Mind runes to pay for the Bank access is your best choice due to the low cost of the runes as you buy them from the Grand Exchange. It is also highly recommended to use Bank Fillers while training here.

You can expect around 22K XP/Hour at level 23 Runecrafting and this will be increased as your Runecrafting level goes up (check the table in the Ourania Altar section above).

Alternative Runecrafting Training Methods

You can use the methods below if the previously mentioned training methods are not available for you for some reason.

Crafting Cosmic Runes

Cosmic Altar Location Inside Zanaris, Old School Runescape

Required level: 27+
Recommended Items: All the Pouches you can use, Amulet of Glory & Dramen Staff
Required Items: Pure Essences & Cosmic Tiara/Talisman
Completion of: Lost City Quest
XP/Hour: 11K~20K
GP/Hour: 500K
Runes/Hour: up to 2350

Crafting Cosmic Runes at the Cosmic altar which is located in Zanaris is fairly a good method to gain XP while making some decent money. It requires the completion of Lost City Quest to access to Zanaris.

Accessing to Zanaris requires having a Dramen Staff which is obtained after completing Lost City Quest. This staff is also used to access to the Fairy ring teleport system.

It is highly recommended to use the Fairy Ring “BKS” after crafting the runes to get to a bank and re-fill the inventory for another trip. This can be done by using Amulet of Glory teleport to Edgeville which allows you to get to the closest Fairy Ring located east of Edgeville.

So the trip will be like:

1. Fill the inventory and the Pouches with Pure Essences from Zanaris Bank and walk to the Cosmic Altar to craft the runes.
2. Use Amulet of Glory Teleport to Edgeville and teleport to Zanaris using the BKS Fairy Code.
3. Deposit your Cosmic Runes and repeat all the steps again.

Amulet of Glory can be obtained by casting Lvl-5 Enchant spell on a Dragonstone amulet or by buying it from other players at the Grand Exchange (recommended).

Note that at level 59 Runecrafting you will get double the Runes but not double the XP.

Crafting Lava Runes

Fire & Lava Altar Location, Old School Runescape

Required level: 23+
Recommended level: 82 Magic
Recommended Items: All the Pouches you can use, the runes required for the Magic Imbue spell, Rune Pouch & Ring of Dueling
Required Items: Pure Essence, Earth Runes & Fire Tiara.
XP/Hour: Up to 75K

Lava Rune is one of the Combination Runes in OSRS and they require a unique combination to be crafted. Everything about the Combination Runes is explained in the Introduction for Noobs section.

It is advised to use the Fire altar for crafting Lava Runes as it gives higher XP than the Earth Altar and it is close to the Ring of Dueling Teleport. You will also need the Binding Necklace to gain a 100% success chance (explained earlier).

The Rune Pouch is needed for storing the runes required for casting the Magic Imbue spell. You should be on the Lunar Spellbook during this process.

The trip should be like:

1. Equip the Ring of Dueling, the Binding Necklace & the Fire Tiara.
2. Withdraw a good amount of Earth Runes from the bank to your inventory while having a Rune Pouch with the required Runes to cast Magic Imbue.
3. Fill your inventory and your Pouches with Pure Essences.
4. Teleport to the Fire Altar using the Ring of Dueling.
5. Cast Magic Imbue and use the Earth Runes on the Altar to craft Lava Runes.
6. Teleport to Castle Wars bank using the Ring of Dueling and repeat all the steps again.

With having all the Pouches (upon level 75 Runecrafting), this will be probably the fastest Runecrafting training method in the game.

Making Money with Runecrafting

Making money using Runecrafting is a decent way at the high levels, it doesn’t make a fortune but it helps.

Crafting Astral Runes

Astral Altar Location, Old School Runescape

Required level: 40+
Recommended level: 69 Magic
Recommended Items: All the Pouches you can use, the runes needed to cast Moonclan Teleport & a Rune Pouch.
Required Items: Pure Essences
Completion of: Lunar Diplomacy Quest
XP/Hour: 30K/Hour
GP/Hour: 500K~900K
Runes/Hour: Up to 3800

Crafting Astral runes can only be done at the Astral altar after completing Lunar Diplomacy Quest. Pure Essences are the only Essences used in this case since the Astral runes are P2P runes. The Astral Altar is located south-east of the village found on Lunar Isle.

It is highly recommended to use the Moonclan Teleport from the Lunar Spellbook to teleport to Lunar Isle where you can prepare for each trip. That means using a Rune Pouch will save you 2 inventory slots. Casting Moonclan Teleport requires having level 69 in Magic.

You will get double the runes after reaching level 82 Runecrafting, but that doesn’t mean double the XP. You can make decent money per hour by selling the Astral Runes at the Grand Exchange.

Crafting Wrath Runes

Wrath Altar Location, Old School Runescape

Required level: 95+
Recommended Items: All the Pouches you can use, Mythical cape, Ring of Dueling & Anti-Dragon Shield
Required Items: Pure Essences & Wrath Tiara/Talisman
Completion of: Dragon Slayer II Quest
XP/Hour: 30K
GP/Hour: 1.3M
Runes/Hour: 4000

Crafting Wrath runes is done at the Wrath Altar which is accessible after Completing Dragon Slayer II Quest. The fastest way to the Wrath Altar is by using the Mythical cape teleport as it teleports you just in front of the Mythic Statue.

Clicking on the Mythic Statue will get you down to the Corsair Cove Dungeon where you should run south all the way until you find a Cave Entrance in the wall. Clicking on the Crave will teleport you to an island where you can find the Wrath Altar. Accessing the Wrath Altar requires a Wrath Talisman or a Wrath Tiara.

Road to The Wrath Altar, Corsair Cove Dungeon, Old School Runescape

Equipping an Anti-Dragon Shield while walking in the Corsair Cover Dungeon is highly recommended since it is packed with Dragons.

A Ring of Dueling teleport to Castle Wars should be your teleport to a Bank to prepare for the next trip.

The Mythical cape can be bought from the Mythical Cape Store for 10K coins after completing Dragon Slayer II Quest.

The Anti-Dragon Shield can be bought from Oziach’s Armour in Edgeville after Completing the Dragon Slayer Quest. It can also be bought from the Grand Exchange.