Runes (2024)

Runes are small, weightless, magical stones with symbols on them representing various elements. Players need the right combinations of runes to cast spells using the Magic skill.

Runes can either be bought from the various Magic shops found throughout Old School RuneScape, created from rune essence through the Runecraft skill, procured from drops by killing monsters, or picked up from various spawns on the ground.

Elemental staves (the staff of earth, the staff of air, the staff of fire, and the staff of water) provide an unlimited amount of runes of their stated type to cast spells while wielding them.

Free-to-play runes[edit | edit source]

All players can use the runes listed below, though free players can only craft runes up to body runes (using the Runecraft skill). The two free-to-play Magic stores (in Varrock and Port Sarim) only sell the basic elemental runes, chaos runes, and death runes.

	Use	Level	GE price
Air rune	Used to cast air missiles and one of the four basic elemental runes.	1	4
Mind rune	Used to cast basic missile spells (Wind, Water, Earth and Fire Strike).	2	2
Water rune	Used to cast water missiles and one of the four basic elemental runes.	5	4
Earth rune	Used to cast earth missiles and one of the four basic elemental runes.	9	4
Fire rune	Used to cast fire missiles and one of the four basic elemental runes.	14	4
Body rune	Used to cast low level curse spells.	20	5
Cosmic rune	Used for item enchanting spells (jewellery, crossbow bolts, and orbs).	27	102
Chaos rune	Used to cast low level missile spells (Wind, Water, Earth and Fire Bolt) as well as Crumble Undead.	35	77
Nature rune	Used for transmutation spells such as Low and High Level Alchemy and Superheat Item, as well as Binding.	44	105
Law rune	Used to cast teleportation spells and Telekinetic Grab.	54	118
Death rune	Used to cast medium level missile spells (Wind, Water, Earth and Fire Blast).	65	121

Members runes[edit | edit source]

The Wizards' Guild located in Yanille has the cheapest Magic shops available to members. Located on its upper floors, it sells every rune except astral, cosmic, wrath, and combination runes.

Only members can use the runes listed below.

	Use	Level	GE price
Sunfire rune	Used as replacement of Fire Runes.	13	110
Astral rune	Used to cast Lunar spells. Lunar Diplomacy is required to craft and use these runes.	40	80
Blood rune	Used to cast high level missile spells (Wind, Water, Earth and Fire Wave).	77	202
Soul rune	Used to cast high level curse spells, teleport-other spells and some more spells.	90	174
Wrath rune	Used to cast very high level missile spells (Wind, Water, Earth and Fire Surge).	95	241

Combination runes[edit | edit source]

Main article: Combination rune

These runes are members only, and act as one of each of their composite runes.

Combination	Level	GE price
Mist rune	Air rune Water rune	6	119
Dust rune	Air rune Earth rune	10	13
Mud rune	Water rune Earth rune	13	111
Smoke rune	Air rune Fire rune	15	34
Steam rune	Water rune Fire rune	19	70
Lava rune	Earth rune Fire rune	23	12

Obtaining runes[edit | edit source]

Monster drops[edit | edit source]

Many monsters drop runes in RuneScape, but some more than others. These are some of the most notable and easy.

Level 7 and 20 Dark wizards south of Varrock, south of Taverley, and in Draynor Village
Wizards in the Wizards' Tower south of Draynor Village
Elemental mages south of Falador
Chaos druids in Taverley Dungeon and Edgeville Dungeon
Flesh Crawlers in 2nd floor of the Stronghold of Security
Zombie (common) in 2nd floor of the Stronghold of Security
Infernal Mages in the Slayer Tower
Hill Giants in the Giants' Plateau. Note that the giants are level 28, but even novice players can gain runes from them. There’s usually one or two high-level characters fighting the giants. When a one of these players kills a giant, the giant will occasionally drop a rare rune-such as a law, nature, cosmic or death rune. If your character can’t go head-to-head with giants, just activate sprint, grab the rune, and retreat to the entrance of the plateau. The giants won’t follow you past the edge of the plateau, so it’s a good spot to heal in-between rune drops. Bones to bananas is good for this; there’s plenty of bones around, and your character can transmute them directly into bananas.

Runecraft[edit | edit source]

Main article: Runecraft

Runecraft is the skill of crafting runes from rune essence. Through this skill, players can create their own runes for use in Magic.

Rogue Trader[edit | edit source]

Main article: Rogue Trader

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. Unlike most shops, prices here stay the same while you are buying or selling runes.

	Price sold at	Price bought at
Air rune	4	2
Mind rune	3	1
Water rune	4	2
Earth rune	4	2
Fire rune	4	2
Body rune	3	1
Cosmic rune	62	25
Chaos rune	112	45
Nature rune	225	90
Law rune	300	120
Death rune	225	90
Blood rune	500	200
Soul rune	300	150

Rune shops[edit | edit source]

There are several Magic shops around RuneScape that sell runes. These are identified with the flame icon on the map. Shop names in italics are members-only. Note wrath runes can not be bought from shops anywhere.

Shop	Location	Runes Sold	Notes
Aubury	South-east Varrock	Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Chaos, Death	Often frequented by players and bots, so its stock is frequently low.
Betty	Port Sarim	Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Chaos, Death
Ali Morrisane	Al Kharid	All except Astral	Requires completion of The Feud and Rogue Trader
Magic Guild	Yanille	All except Astral and Cosmic	66 Magic required to enter the Magic Guild (can be boosted)
Baba Yaga	Lunar Isle	All except Cosmic	Must have started the Lunar Diplomacy quest. Currently the only shop to sell Astral runes.
Mage Training Arena	North of Emir's Arena	All except Astral	Uses Pizazz points instead of coins as currency.
Mage Arena	Level 50-55 Wilderness	All except Astral and Soul	Located in the mage bank, a non-Wilderness area.
Mage of Zamorak	Level 5 Wilderness, north of Edgeville	All except Astral and Cosmic and Nature
Ape Atoll	Ape Atoll	Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Law	Requires completion of Monkey Madness II or a Greegree to access.
Pest Control	Void Knights' Outpost	Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Chaos, Death
Amlodd's Magical Supplies	North-west Prifddinas	All except Astral and Soul	Requires Completion of Song of the Elves
TzHaar-Mej-Roh's Rune Store	Mor Ul Rek	Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Body, Chaos, Death	Runes can only be bought with the Tokkul currency. Players often sell chaos runes here to get 300000 Tokkul to buy an uncut onyx from the Ore and Gem Store.
Thyria's Wares	Arceuus	Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Body, Chaos, Death

Barrows[edit | edit source]

Main article: Barrows

The Barrows minigame provides large amounts of catalytic runes (mind, chaos, death, and blood) from the chest, though very high combat skills are required in order to be successful at the Barrows.

v•e

Runes

Elemental

Basic	Air Water Earth Fire
Combination	Mist Dust Mud Smoke Steam Lava

Catalytic

Other

Retrieved from ‘https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Runes?oldid=14597591’

FAQs

How to get 1,000 runes? ›

The huge, hairy trolls on the cliffs North of the Stormgate each drop about 1000 Runes when killed, and while they hit hard, they're also very slow. If you can space them out and kill them one at a time, you can pretty effectively build up a good pool of Runes to spend in preparation for bosses like Margit and Godrick.

Keep Reading ›

How to get 10k runes fast? ›

One of the easiest methods is to defeat enemies that repeatedly drop a good number of runes. Some of the best for this is the Vulgar Militia around Gatefront ruins. These guys are relatively easy to defeat and drop around 1,000 runes each. You can easily rack up 10,000-20,000 runes in 30 minutes of farming here.

Does Gostoc steal your runes? ›

Gatekeeper Gostoc is also a tricky sort and it turns out he steals 30 percent of your runes should you die inside the castle. It's possible to get these back, but you'll have to weigh up the consequences of doing so. Here's what you need to know about the Elden Ring Gatekeeper Gostoc quest and the main gate choice.

Learn More ›

Does Elden Ring punish you for dying? ›

Death in Elden Ring sets you back, not five or ten seconds, but five or ten minutes. The punishment for failure is that you lose time, large swathes of time, which you have to repeat again and again.

Why do I have less runes when I pick them up? ›

It seems if players go through the side path, Gatekeeper Gostoc will follow them and steal some of their runes upon death. This is why some Elden Ring players have noticed their runes decreasing when they go to retrieve them, but there's a way to fix it.

Keep Reading ›

Where can I get a lot of runes? ›

The best Elden Ring Rune farming locations are peaked by the entrance to Mohgwhyn's Palace, where players can farm 40,000 Runes in a few minutes and repeat the process infinitely.

Read On ›

How do you get higher runes? ›

Upgrading Runes

Runes can be upgraded to higher runes through the Horadric Cube. El through Ort can all be upgraded similarly to gems by placing three of the same type in the cube and receiving one of a higher grade in return. Higher levels of runes can also be upgraded, but require an additional gem as well.

Know More ›

How do you get great runes? ›

In Elden Ring, one of the rewards you'll get after taking down each major boss is a Great Rune. There are several Great Runes to collect throughout the game, each offering a different bonus to your abilities after consuming a Rune Arc, but you have to activate most Great Rune before they're actually viable.