Runes (2024)

This article is about the stones used for casting Magic spells. For the metal used to make weapons and armour, see Runite (metal).

Runes are small, weightless stones that allow players to cast spells using the Magic skill. Runes can be either bought from the various Rune shops found across RuneScape, traded with other players, purchased on the Grand Exchange, created from rune essence or pure essence through the Runecrafting skill, obtained from the Runecrafting Guild, procured from drops by killing monsters, or picked up from spawns on the ground.

The elemental runes (air, water, earth and fire, named after the Greek classical elements) can be substituted for by wielding a respective elemental staff, battlestaff or mystic staff. The only times an elemental staff cannot be used to substitute for runes is when setting up a portal in the Portal Chamber of a player-owned house, or when charging a Polypore staff.

Runes come in a number of different types, but they can be categorised according to themes based on their names. For example, mind, body, blood and soul are all constituent parts of a human; cosmic and astral pertain to outer space; nature is in Guthix, law is in Saradomin, and chaos is in Zamorak; and life and death occur in time. The six combinations runes (mud, mist, lava, smoke, steam and dust) cover all possible pairs of the four elemental runes.

History[edit | edit source]

When the humans first came to the realm of Gielinor through the World Gate in the First Age, Guthix created runestones, allowing the humans and other sentient races to practise the Magic arts. These runestones were created by Guthix using an ancient artefact called the Stone of Jas, which he found on Gielinor when he arrived.

In the Second Age, the humans continued and expanded the practice of magic. However, the runes that Guthix had provided began to dwindle and became a much sought after commodity. Many mages such as Dahmaroc had to fight each other for runestones. During one such fight, Dahmaroc was turned into stone himself, becoming what he once sought after so much.

At some point in the Second Age, the ability to craft runes was discovered when V - a Fremennik Seer - found the Stone of Jas in the Lunar Isle mine. Although the Stone was taken by 'those that walk a higher astral path', V discovered that the rocks around it had formed the Rune essence, which is a magical rock capable of absorbing the elements of Magic. He and his followers then created the Runecrafting Altars in special areas most attuned to their respective element, which then folded upon themselves to create pocket dimensions. By bringing Rune essence to these altars, runestones could be created. Many of the Fremennik thought that creating runes was blasphemy, as they were tools of the gods, and that they should only use the runes Guthix crafted for them. V and his supporters then split off and formed the Moon Clan, who use Lunar spells instead of the traditional spells.

By the time of the Fourth Age, the runestones that had been given by the gods had all but depleted due to the heavy use of Magic during the God Wars. The art of magic faded with the supply of runes, until essentially being lost to humans altogether.

At the start of the Fifth Age mainland Humans discovered Runecrafting when they discovered a Rune Essence Mine in the frozen north. After finding the essence, they soon after discovered the magical temples that the moon clan had created, and that the essence could be crafted there. Runecrafting soon became widely used in many locations. The Wizards' Tower was then formed, and became the greatest institution of magic in the land.

In year 70 of the Fifth Age the Wizards of the Wizards' Tower discovered how to solve the teleportation problem by routing teleports through another plane: the Abyss. This would allow them to teleport directly to the Rune essence mine from anywhere in the world, which would greatly increase rune production. However there was a disagreement over exactly who should get the credit for the discovery, and the source of the actual spell, a Zamorakian demon, was unacceptable to the Saradominist Blue Wizards. The Blue Order abandoned the ritual to create a teleport "anchor" mid-casting, which caused a fire which destroyed the original Wizards' Tower, a catastrophe blamed in later years on the Zamorakian Red Order. The only survivors of the fire were Perien the Blue and Kelavan the Red. Perien founded a new Wizards' Tower on the site of the old one, and became its Archmage. Due to what happened to the first tower, which was a collaboration between followers of many gods, Archmage Perien restricted access to the tower to Saradominists only, and started teaching the teleport spell to the Rune essence to only a select few people so that the Essence didn't fall into the wrong hands.^[1]

While anyone magically proficient was capable of crafting runes, due to the fact that the essence mine was locked to all but Saradominists, any runes that were in circulation were made by them only. Their distrust of the other gods' mages meant that they often tried to plot ways to access the mines, or at least get their hands on rune essence or crafted runes.

In year 169 of the Fifth Age, Wizard Finix, a new student, wrote a theory in which he believed that the runecrafting altars' energy were finite and that they would run out in the future. The senior wizards could not disprove this theory, as they believed that the altars had infinite energy, but Fenix also believed that it would be possible to create runes by siphoning energy from around them. He had attempted this on Gielinor, but failed, either because the theory was incorrect or he was not proficient enough in Runecrafting. Wizard Elriss, who was not fully convinced of the theory, but wondering if he was correct, opened up more of Runespan, the plane in which the Runecrafting Guild was based in, so that proficient runecrafters could practice siphoning.

Non-members runes[edit | edit source]

All players can use the runes listed below. There are two categories of runes referenced in the game: elemental runes and non-elemental runes. Elemental runes consist of air, fire, water, and earth runes. Non-elemental runes consist of mind, body, chaos, death, blood, soul, cosmic, law, nature, astral and Armadyl runes.

However, free players can only craft runes up to body runes (using the Runecrafting skill). Free players are also limited in the runes they can find in stores and that can be bought on the Grand Exchange. The two magic stores outside of the Wilderness (in Varrock and Port Sarim) only sell the basic elemental runes, chaos runes, and death runes. The other types of runes can be obtained by trading with other players, item drops or spawns, or bought on the Grand Exchange in Varrock.

Rune		Price		Profit	Use	Member to runecraft?
		Shop	GE
	Air rune	17	54	37	One of the four elemental runes. Used to cast air missiles. Also used in Ancient Magicks. Can be runecrafted.	No
	Mind rune	17	15	−2	Used to cast low level curse spells. Can be runecrafted.	No
	Water rune	17	66	49	One of the four elemental runes. Used to cast water missiles. Also used in Ancient Magicks. Can be runecrafted.	No
	Earth rune	17	17	0	One of the four elemental runes. Used to cast earth missiles. Also used in Ancient Magicks. Can be runecrafted.	No
	Fire rune	17	75	58	One of the four elemental runes. Used to cast fire missiles. Also used in Ancient Magicks. Can be runecrafted.	No
	Body rune	16	24	8	Used to cast low level curse spells. It is the best rune that can be runecrafted by non-members.	No
	Cosmic rune	232	272	40	Used for item enchanting spells (jewellery, crossbow bolts, and orbs). Can be runecrafted, but only by members after completing Lost City.	Yes
	Chaos rune	140	158	18	Used to cast low level curse spells. Can be runecrafted, but only by members.	Yes
	Nature rune	372	728	356	Used in transmutation spells. For example, low level and high level alchemy, superheat and binding. Can be runecrafted, but only by members.	Yes
	Law rune	378	195	−183	Used to cast teleportation spells. Can be runecrafted, but only by members.	Yes
	Death rune	310	252	−58	Used to cast low level Ancient Magicks (rush and burst spells). Also used in Slayer Dart. Can be runecrafted, but only by members after completing Mourning's End Part II.	Yes

Minigame runes[edit | edit source]

Elemental runes and catalytic runes are given to players who are participating in Fist of Guthix, Dominion Tower, Barbarian Assault, or Stealing Creation. They are substitute for other runes. However they can only be used in combat spells. If a player tries to cast a non-combat spell, they will receive a messages saying You did not come here to do that!

Rune		Substitute for
	Elemental rune	Can be used instead of elemental runes (air, water, earth, and fire combined).
	Catalytic rune	Can be used instead of non-elemental runes (mind, body, cosmic, chaos, astral, nature, law, death, blood, soul, and Armadyl)

The members-only Lunar spell Stat Spy can be cast in Fist of Guthix, despite not directly affecting combat. These runes cannot be dropped. If they are dropped in the Fist of Guthix waiting room, they will be lost immediately. You will have to exit the waiting room and enter again to get them back.

Members runes[edit | edit source]

The Wizards' Guild in Yanille has the cheapest rune shop available to members. Located on the guild's upper floor, it sells every rune in the game except for astral, cosmic, and combination runes.

Only members can use the runes listed below.

Rune		Price		Profit	Use
		Shop	GE
	Astral rune	220	911	691	Used to cast the Lunar Spells. Must complete the Lunar Diplomacy quest first. Can be made using the Runecrafting skill.
	Blood rune	550	536	−14	Used to cast high level Ancient Magicks (blitz and barrage spells). Can be made using the Runecrafting skill after completion of the Legacy of Seergaze quest.
	Soul rune	410	1,081	671	Used to cast high level curse spells, skilling related spells like Crystallise, as well as Tele-other spells. Can be made using the Runecrafting skill after completion of the 'Phite Club quest.
	Armadyl rune	Not sold	1,997	N/A	The only rune used to cast the spell Storm of Armadyl and released with the Ritual of the Mahjarrat quest. The quest must be completed to use it. It has no other use than the spell. It is also only made with Dust of Armadyl.

Combination runes[edit | edit source]

These runes are members only, and act as one of each of their composite runes. To make them, you will need some elemental runes, a talisman of the same element, and an equal amount of pure essence. You must then take these items to the secondary elemental temple, and then use the elemental runes or talisman on that altar. For example, if you wanted to make dust runes, you would bring air runes, pure essence, and an air talisman to the earth altar; alternatively, you could bring earth runes, pure essence, and an earth talisman to the air altar. The talisman will be consumed as the combination runes are made.

Crafting combination runes uses one of the talismans, so it is recommended that one only crafts combination runes of the talismans one has the most of. The Lunar spell Magic Imbue allows a player to craft combination runes without the use of the opposing talisman. Crafting combination runes has a 50% chance of success. A Binding necklace allows 100% success for crafting combination runes 15 times.

Rune		GE Price	Combination				GE Total
	Mist rune	3,201		Air rune		Water rune	120
	Dust rune	2,711		Air rune		Earth rune	71
	Smoke rune	188		Air rune		Fire rune	129
	Mud rune	1,147		Water rune		Earth rune	83
	Steam rune	2,422		Water rune		Fire rune	141
	Lava rune	200		Earth rune		Fire rune	92

Necrotic runes[edit | edit source]

Necrotic runes are a type of rune used in Necromancy incantations. They include bone, spirit, flesh, and miasma runes.

All necrotic runes can be crafted using the Runecrafting skill after completing the Rune Mythos quest. The first step is converting pure essence into impure essence through rituals, and then crafting the essence into runes at one of the four altars in the Necromantic Rune Temple. Their production is unaffected by elemental or catalytic anima stones.

Necrotic runes can be placed into nexuses alongside ectoplasm. Necrotic runes cannot be stored in a grasping rune pouch.

Rune		Price		Profit	Use
		Shop	GE
	Spirit rune	Not sold	174	N/A	Used to cast incantations. Necromancy armour upgrades.
	Bone rune	Not sold	530	N/A	Used to cast incantations. Necromancy armour upgrades.
	Flesh rune	Not sold	793	N/A	Used to cast incantations. Necromancy armour upgrades.
	Miasma rune	Not sold	1,311	N/A	Used to cast incantations. Necromancy armour upgrades.

Obtaining runes[edit | edit source]

Runecrafting[edit | edit source]

Runecrafting is the skill of crafting runes from rune essence or pure essence. Through this skill, players can create their own runes for use in magic.

Monster drops[edit | edit source]

Many monsters drop runes; for more information see the drop information for each rune.

Elemental	Catalytic	Necrotic
Air rune Water rune Earth rune Fire rune Mist rune Dust rune Mud rune Smoke rune Steam rune Lava rune	Mind rune Body rune Cosmic rune Chaos rune Astral rune Nature rune Law rune Death rune Blood rune Soul rune	Spirit rune Bone rune Flesh rune Miasma rune

Firemaking[edit | edit source]

Players can get runes as a possible reward from Fire spirits. The runes obtained cannot be selected however.

Rogue Trader[edit | edit source]

Runes can be obtained by completing Ali Morrisane's Rogue Trader minigame, which players may complete after finishing The Feud quest.

After completing the minigame, players are able to obtain runes for a cheaper price.

Rune		Price		Profit
		Shop	GE
	Air rune	17	54	37
	Water rune	17	66	49
	Earth rune	17	17	0
	Fire rune	17	75	58
	Mind rune	17	15	−2
	Body rune	16	24	8
	Cosmic rune	232	272	40
	Chaos rune	140	158	18
	Astral rune	220	911	691
	Nature rune	372	728	356
	Law rune	378	195	−183
	Death rune	310	252	−58
	Blood rune	550	536	−14
	Soul rune	410	1,081	671

Respawn locations[edit | edit source]

Here is a short list of respawn locations of runes throughout RuneScape.

The best place to get rune respawns in F2P is in the Dark Warriors' Fortress. The northernmost room contains respawns of 5 earth, water, air, and fire runes. The room directly west of this contains 5 chaos, mind, and body runes. Players should be wary when approaching this area: Although this a good place for a rune spawn, the Wilderness is nevertheless a player-killing zone. It is not usually crowded and can be a good place for low levelled players to gain a few magic levels on the Dark Warriors.

Rune		Location
	Air rune	West of Lumbridge, behind Luthas's house on Karamja Island, Dark Warriors' Fortress, and on the ground floor of Lumbridge Castle next to the northern staircase.
	Water rune	Al Kharid mine in Al Kharid, Dark Warriors' Fortress.
	Earth rune	North of Varrock, in Varrock Sewers, and Dark Warriors' Fortress.
	Fire rune	Al Kharid mine in Al Kharid, inside Karamja Volcano, in Camelot Castle, and the Dark Warriors' Fortress.
	Mind rune	Southern stairway in Lumbridge Castle, Varrock Sewers, Wilderness, Dark Warriors' Fortress.
	Body rune	Varrock Palace grounds, Varrock Sewers, in the Al Kharid Scimitar Shop, scattered in Level 6 - 8 Wilderness, Dark Warriors' Fortress and Lava Maze.
	Cosmic rune	Ice Plateau in Level 48 Wilderness.
	Chaos rune	Levels 36-40 Wilderness, and Dark Warriors' Fortress. Two spawns near the Trollweiss patch on the Trollweiss Mountain.
	Nature rune	Level 45 Wilderness, Treasure Chest in East Ardougne and an island north of Rellekka. A Thieving level of 28 is required to open the chest.
	Death rune	South-west of Yanille in the Feldip Hills. Members only.
	Blood rune	Treasure chest in the Chaos Druid Tower and next to Demonic Ruins in the Wilderness. Members only. A Thieving level of 59 is required to open the chest.

Shops[edit | edit source]

There are several shops around RuneScape that sell runes. These are identified with the Magic shop icon () on the minimap. Only the shop in the Mage Training Arena stocks combination runes.

Shop	Location	Runes Sold												Access	Notes	P2P?
Magic Training Arena Shop	North of Het's Oasis	∞	∞	∞	∞	∞	∞		∞	∞	∞	∞	∞	Use ring of duelling or Al Kharid lodestone, then walk north-east and enter the Mage Training Arena.	Infinite stock. Only shop that sells combination runes. Uses pizazz points as currency.
Magic Guild Store - Runes and Staves	Yanille	1,000		1,000	1,000		300		300	100	1,000	100	100	Use a House Teleport (with house located in Yanille), Yanille tablet, Watchtower Teleport, Fairy ring CIQ or the Yanille lodestone. Then walk east.	Requires 66+ Magic, or 61+ with a magic potion.
Baba Yaga's Magic Shop	Lunar Isle	1,000		1,000	1,000		300	100	300	100	300	100	100	Teleport to the Lunar Isle lodestone and enter the walking house just to the north.	Only shop that sells astral runes. Requires starting the Lunar Diplomacy quest.
Ali's Discount Wares	Al Kharid	300		300	300	300	300		300	300	100	100	100	Teleport to the Al Kharid lodestone and then walk north.	Requires The Feud and Rogue Trader minigame.
Lundail's Arena-side Rune Shop	Mage Arena, in level 50-55 Wilderness	1,000		1,000	1,000	100	300		300	100	300			Use a Wilderness sword or amulet of glory teleport or Edgeville lodestone and pull the lever south of Edgeville bank, then walk directly to the west and pull the Mage Arena lever.	Requires passing through parts of deep Wilderness.
Battle Runes	Level 5 Wilderness, north of Edgeville	1,000		1,000			300				100	100		Use Wilderness sword or amulet of glory teleport, or Edgeville lodestone teleport and walk north-east.	Requires Enter the Abyss for blood runes and increased stock.
Void Knight Magic Store	Void Knights' Outpost	1,000		1,000	1,000		300				100			Use the Port Sarim lodestone and walk east to the Squire (Void Knights) to travel to the outpost, then walk south-west to the shop.
Carwen Essencebinder Magical Runes Shop	Burthorpe	300		100	100		30				10			Teleport to the Burthorpe lodestone and then walk east
Aubury's Rune Shop	South-east Varrock	300		100	100		30				10			Teleport to Varrock or to the Varrock lodestone and then walk to the shop south of the east bank.
Betty's Magic Emporium	Port Sarim	300		100	100		30				10			Teleport to the Port Sarim lodestone and then walk north
Rune shop (Anachronia)	North west in the Anachronia base camp	300		100	100		30				10			Teleport to the Anachronia lodestone once built, or take The Stormbreaker ship from the Varrock Dig Site.	Requires a level 3 Town hall to be built to access.
TzHaar-Mej-Roh's Rune Store	TzHaar City	1,000		1,000	1,000		300				100			Teleport to the main plaza using TokKul-Zo and walk north-west (requires The Elder Kiln), or teleport to the Port Sarim lodestone or the amulet of glory teleport to Musa Point and then walk to the Karamja Volcano to reach the city. Located north-west of the TzHaar City Main Plaza (north of the city entrance).	Uses Tokkul as currency.
Tutab's Magical Market	Marim (Ape Atoll)	1,000								100				Use Ape Atoll Teleport (requires Freeing King Awowogei), fairy ring CLR (requires A Fairy Tale III and a small ninja greegree), or talk to Daero (see Ape Atoll#Getting there).	Requires equipping any monkey greegree to trade.

New Varrock[edit | edit source]

Shop	Location	Runes Sold												Access	Notes	P2P?
Aubury's Rune Shop (New Varrock)	South-east New Varrock	300		100	100	300	300	10	10	10	10	10		Walk to the south-eastern part of New Varrock.	Runes cannot be taken out of New Varrock. Uses Zemomarks as currency.

Infinite runes from worn equipment[edit | edit source]

Outside Daemonheim[edit | edit source]

Currently, the only staff that supplies air runes alongside another rune is the elemental battlestaff, a level 30 staff from Master Treasure Trails. Additionally, the Avernic wand can be equipped alongside a tome of frost to provide infinite air and water runes.

Tier	Weapon		Cost	Element(s)
				54	66	17	75	1,147	2,422	200
5		Staff of air	2,450
5		Staff of water	2,274
5		Staff of earth	2,083
5		Staff of fire	2,336
6		Avernic wand	N/A
6		Tower mindspike (air)	N/A
6		Tower mindspike (water)	N/A
6		Tower mindspike (earth)	N/A
6		Tower mindspike (fire)	N/A
10		Penance trident	170 170 170 170
10		Mindspike (air)	N/A
10		Mindspike (water)	N/A
10		Mindspike (earth)	N/A
10		Mindspike (fire)	N/A
30		Air battlestaff	7,278
30		Water battlestaff	7,013
30		Earth battlestaff	7,216
30		Fire battlestaff	6,996
30		Mud battlestaff	19,785
30		Steam battlestaff	18,151
30		Lava battlestaff	9,844
30		Elemental battlestaff	2,338,957
40		Mystic air staff	23,408
40		Mystic water staff	23,280
40		Mystic earth staff	23,391
40		Mystic fire staff	23,295
40		Mystic mud staff	91,646
40		Mystic steam staff	120,601
40		Mystic lava staff	75,417
48		Tome of frost	43,000Dungeoneering token
70		Penance master trident	390 390 390 390
75		Mystical staff	1,350[n 1]
77		Armadyl battlestaff	122,923,337
82		Staff of limitless air	3,334,402[n 2]
82		Staff of limitless water	3,334,425[n 2]
82		Staff of limitless earth	3,333,467[n 2]
82		Staff of limitless fire	3,333,407[n 2]
82		Staff of limitless mud	3,402,993[n 2]
82		Staff of limitless steam	3,431,984[n 2]
82		Staff of limitless lava	3,385,731[n 2]
85		Camel staff	34,251,963

Inside Daemonheim[edit | edit source]

All magic weapons (both wands and staves) in Daemonheim have the energy to provide infinite runes of all four elements, except the following which can only provide one type of elemental rune.

Tier	Item		Element(s)
5		Water staff	Water rune
10		Earth staff	Earth rune
20		Fire staff	Fire rune
30		Air staff	Air rune
50		Empowered water staff	Water rune
60		Empowered earth staff	Earth rune
70		Empowered fire staff	Fire rune
80		Empowered air staff	Air rune

Money making guide[edit | edit source]

The following money making guide is available for Runes:

Gallery[edit | edit source]

• 

  Small runes in a case, in a Player Owned House.

• 

  Small elemental runes in a case.

Update history[edit | edit source]

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included – see here for how to help out!

Trivia[edit | edit source]

• An update fixed a bug in which runes purchased from the Grand Exchange used the image of a pure essence in place of the actual rune in the Grand Exchange collection box.
• On 9 June 2010, the images of runes in the inventory and bank were given a graphical revamp which tilted them to an angle, to make them look more 3D. Rune and pure essence were not included in the update.
• There may not be a set size for runes, as they appear to range from coin-sized to larger than a person's head.
• Despite the fact that they could be used for combat, runes can be brought into Entrana.
• In the early days of RuneScape, there was a planned life rune which would have been used for a type of magic-based summoning.

References[edit | edit source]