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This article is about the stones used for casting Magic spells. For the metal used to make weapons and armour, see Runite (metal).
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Due to an update, the information in this article may be out-of-date.
Reason: Most of the history relating to the Moon Clan is incorrect
You can help improve this page by editing it.
File:Guthix runes.png

Guthix creating runes with the Stone of Jas, as seen in Meeting history.

File:Air rune.jpg

A piece of concept art of an air rune, as shown in the God letters.

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[]

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, and V and his supporters split off from the Fremennik and formed the Moon Clan, and Runecrafting remained unknown outside of it.

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.

In year 169 of the Fifth Age Wizard Elriss from the Runecrafting Guild opened up more of the Runespan, the pocket dimension in which the Runecrafting Guild is located, where they could create Runes slightly different to those found in Gielinor. Rune essence here is obtained in floating rocks and in the local fauna, as opposed to that mined at the Rune essence mines. They are charged to an element (the same as those in Gielinor) by siphoning the fauna or nodes of elemental energy that appear on the plane.

Non-members runes[]

File:Ancient teleport.gif

A player teleporting using Ancient Magicks.

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 include air, fire, water, and earth runes. Non-elemental include all others, which are: 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). Also free players are limited in the runes they can find in stores and that can be bought on the Grand Exchange. The two magic stores (in Varrock and Port Sarim) only sell the basic elemental runes, chaos runes, and death runes. The other types of runes can be traded with other players, gotten as drops or spawns, or bought on the Grand Exchange in Varrock.

Rune Shop Price GE Price Use Member to runecraft?
Air rune Air rune 17 17 One of the four elemental runes. Used to cast air missiles. Also used in Ancient Magicks. Can be runecrafted. No
Mind rune Mind rune 17 20 Used to cast low level curse spells. Can be runecrafted. No
Water rune Water rune 17 15 One of the four elemental runes. Used to cast water missiles. Also used in Ancient Magicks. Can be runecrafted. No
Earth rune Earth rune 17 10 One of the four elemental runes. Used to cast earth missiles. Also used in Ancient Magicks. Can be runecrafted. No
Fire rune Fire rune 17 68 One of the four elemental runes. Used to cast fire missiles. Also used in Ancient Magicks. Can be runecrafted. No
Body rune Body rune 16 59 Used to cast low level curse spells. It is the best rune that can be runecrafted by non-members. No
Cosmic rune Cosmic rune 232 221 Used for item enchanting spells (jewellery, crossbow bolts, and orbs). Can be runecrafted, but only after completing the Lost City quest, which is members only. Yes
Chaos rune Chaos rune 140 53 Used to cast low level curse spells. Can be runecrafted, but only by members. Yes
Nature rune Nature rune 372 255 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 Law rune 378 222 Used to cast teleportation spells. Can be runecrafted, but only by members. Yes
Death rune Death rune 310 262 Used to cast low level Ancient Magicks (rush and burst spells). Can be runecrafted, but only by members after completing Mourning's Ends Part II. Also used in Slayer Dart. Yes

Minigame runes[]

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, he or she will receive a messages saying You did not come here to do that!

Rune Substitute for
File:Elemental rune.png Elemental runes Can be used instead of elemental runes (air, water, earth, and fire combined).
File:Catalytic rune.png Catalytic runes Can be used instead of non-elemental runes (mind, chaos, death, blood, body, nature)

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[]

File:Plank Make.gif

A player casting a spell using astral runes

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 Shop Price GE Price Use
Astral rune Astral rune 220 256 Used to cast the Lunar Spells. Must complete the Lunar Diplomacy quest first. Can be made using the Runecrafting skill.
Blood rune Blood rune 550 369 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 Soul rune 410 239 Used to cast high level curse spells and in Teleother spells. Can only be player made at the ZMI Ouranian altar but only randomly. The image of Soul talisman and Soul tiara were discovered in the Knowledge Base at one time, but these images have been removed by Jagex.
Armadyl rune Armadyl rune Not sold 317 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[]

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.

Note:

  • 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
File:Dust rune.png Dust rune 307 Air rune Air rune Earth rune Earth rune
File:Lava rune.png Lava rune 527 Earth rune Earth rune Fire rune Fire rune
File:Mist rune.png Mist rune 560 Air rune Air rune Water rune Water rune
File:Mud rune.png Mud rune 470 Water rune Water rune Earth rune Earth rune
File:Smoke rune.png Smoke rune 439 Air rune Air rune Fire rune Fire rune
File:Steam rune.png Steam rune 485 Water rune Water rune Fire rune Fire rune

Obtaining runes[]

Monster drops[]

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Due to an update, the information in this article may be out-of-date.
Reason: Rune Value Improvements
You can help improve this page by editing it.

Many monsters drop runes in RuneScape, but some drop more than others. These are some of the more notable monsters that drop runes:

  • Level 7 and 20 Dark Wizards south of Varrock, north of the Black Knights' Fortress, and south of Taverley.
  • Wizards in the Wizards' Tower south of Draynor Village.
  • Infernal Mages in the Slayer Tower.
  • Air wizard, Earth wizard, Water wizard, Fire wizard south of Falador.
  • Chaos Druids in Taverley Dungeon.
  • Flesh Crawlers in 2nd floor of the Stronghold of Security drop fire, body, nature and dust runes.
  • Moss Giants on Crandor and the Moss Giant Island, west of Brimhaven drop Air, Earth, Nature, Law, Chaos, or Cosmic runes occasionally.
  • Goblins just South-west of the Grand Exchange.
  • Ghostly Warriors in the parallel dimension of the Axe Hut in level 55 Wilderness.
  • Cockroaches drop many different kinds of runes, mainly air, water, fire, death and law.
  • Hill Giants drop air runes, nature runes, cosmic runes, fire runes etc.
  • Ankou drop law, death, or blood runes, 15 noted pure essence, or 15 rune essence.
  • Barbarians drop Earth, Chaos, Law, Mind, or Fire runes occasionally.
  • Stone statues in Bandos' throne room drop many dust and earth runes.
  • Black Knights in the Black Knight's Fortress
  • Lesser Demons drop 60 fire runes from time to time.
  • Fire giants and Flesh crawlers occasionally drop fire runes.
  • Elemental workshop's guardians (Air Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental and Water elemental respectively) regularly drop runes.
  • Nex will drop up to 6500 blood runes (rare), or 4800 pure essence (common).
  • Gargoyle commonly drop 37 or 75 Fire runes, 15 Chaos runes and uncommonly 5 Death runes.

Runecrafting[]

See main article: Runecrafting

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.

Firemaking[]

See main article: Firemaking

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

Rogue Trader[]

See 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.

Rune Price GE Price
Air rune Air rune 17 17
Water rune Water rune 17 15
Earth rune Earth rune 17 10
Fire rune Fire rune 17 68
Mind rune Mind rune 17 20
Body rune Body rune 16 59
Chaos rune Chaos rune 140 53
Death rune Death rune 310 262
Cosmic rune Cosmic rune 232 221
Law rune Law rune 378 222
Nature rune Nature rune 372 255
Blood rune Blood rune 550 369
Soul rune Soul rune 410 239
Astral rune Astral rune N/A 256

Respawn locations[]

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

Note: 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 Lutha's house on Karamja Island, Dark Warriors Fortress, and on the ground floor of Lumbridge Castle next to the northern staircase.
Water rune Chasm Mines in Al Kharid, Dark Warriors Fortress.
Fire rune Chasm Mines in Al Kharid, inside Karamja Volcano, in Camelot Castle, and the Dark Warriors Fortress.
Earth rune North of Varrock, in Varrock Sewers, and Dark Warriors Fortress.
Body rune Varrock Castle grounds, Varrock Sewers, in the Al Kharid Scimitar Shop, scattered in Level 6 - 8 Wilderness, Dark Warriors Fortress and Lava Maze.
Mind rune Southern stairway in Lumbridge Castle, Varrock Sewers, Wilderness, Dark Warriors Fortress.
Chaos rune Levels 36-40 Wilderness, and Dark Warriors Fortress. Two spawns near the Trollweiss patch on the Trollweiss Mountain.
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.
Cosmic rune Ice Plateau in Level 48 Wilderness.
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.

Shops[]

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

Shop Location Runes Sold Notes/Elemental Runes Sold
Carwen Essencebinder Magical Runes Shop Burthorpe Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Chaos, Death Free-to-play (300)
Betty's Magic Emporium Port Sarim Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Chaos, Death Free-to-play (300)
Aubury's Rune Shop South-east Varrock Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Chaos, Death Free-to-play (300)
Ali's Discount Wares Al Kharid All except Astral Requires The Feud and Rogue Trader mini-game (300)
Magic Guild Store - Runes and Staves Yanille All except Astral and Cosmic 66+ Magic required, or 61+ with a magic potion (1,000)
Baba Yaga's Magic Shop Lunar Isle All except Cosmic Must have started the Lunar Diplomacy quest. It also is the only shop in-game that sells Astral runes. (1,000)
Void Knight Magic Store Void Knights' Outpost Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Body, Chaos, Death (1,000)
Tutab's Magical Market Marim (Ape Atoll) Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Law You must equip a monkey greegree to trade. (1,000)
Battle Runes Level 5 Wilderness, north of Edgeville Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Chaos, Death, Blood Very close to the Grand Exchange. Surrounded by aggressive Skeletons so it can be difficult to trade without the window being automatically closed constantly. (1,000)

Must have completed Abyss Miniquest for increased stock and blood runes.

Lundail's Arena-side Rune Shop Level 50-55 Wilderness All except Astral, Blood and Soul Located in the mage bank, a non-wilderness area. (1,000)
TzHaar-Mej-Roh's Rune Store TzHaar City Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Chaos, Death Uses Tokkul as currency. Located south-east of the TzHaar City entrance
Magic Training Arena Shop North of Duel Arena All except Astral, including all Combination runes Uses Pizazz points as currency.

Infinite runes[]

Worn Weapons (Outside Daemonheim)[]

Staff Cost Rune cost Element(s)
Staff of air 643 17 Air rune
Staff of water 617 15 Water rune
Staff of earth 622 10 Earth rune
Staff of fire 649 68 Fire rune
Air battlestaff 8,606 17 Air rune
Water battlestaff 8,797 15 Water rune
Earth battlestaff 8,686 10 Earth rune
Fire battlestaff 8,690 68 Fire rune
Lava battlestaff 9,616 527 Lava rune
Mud battlestaff 37,216 470 Mud rune
Steam battlestaff 35,744 485 Steam rune
Mystic air staff 24,631 17 Air rune
Mystic water staff 24,406 15 Water rune
Mystic earth staff 24,363 10 Earth rune
Mystic fire staff 24,475 68 Fire rune
Mystic lava staff 51,798 527 Lava rune
Mystic mud staff 96,642 470 Mud rune
Mystic steam staff 94,762 485 Steam rune
Armadyl battlestaff 13,224,752 17 Air rune
Mindspike (air) Untradeable 17 Air rune
Mindspike (water) Untradeable 15 Water rune
Mindspike (earth) Untradeable 10 Earth rune
Mindspike (fire) Untradeable 68 Fire rune
Tower Mindspike (air) Untradeable 17 Air rune
Tower Mindspike (water) Untradeable 15 Water rune
Tower Mindspike (earth) Untradeable 10 Earth rune
Tower Mindspike (fire) Untradeable 68 Fire rune
Penance Trident Untradeable Water rune

Worn Equipment (Outside Daemonheim)[]

Item Cost Element(s) Rune cost
Tome of frost 43,000 Dungeoneering tokens Water runes 15

Worn Weapons (Inside Daemonheim)[]

See main article: Dungeoneering/Equipment#Magic Weapons

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.

Photo item Name Element(s)
File:Water staff (Dungeoneering).png Water staff (Dungeoneering) Water rune
File:Earth staff (Dungeoneering).png Earth staff (Dungeoneering) Earth rune
File:Fire staff (Dungeoneering).png Fire staff (Dungeoneering) Fire rune
File:Air staff (Dungeoneering).png Air staff (Dungeoneering) Air rune
File:Empowered water staff.png Empowered water staff Water rune
File:Empowered earth staff.png Empowered earth staff Earth rune
File:Empowered fire staff.png Empowered fire staff Fire rune
File:Empowered air staff.png Empowered air staff Air rune

Trivia[]

Wikipedia logo
Runes}}
  • 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.
  • The true size of Runes can been seen in the Runecrafting Guild, whilst a female wizard makes them float in the air. They can also be seen in true size in a Rune display case in a POH.
  • Despite the fact that they could be used for combat, runes can be brought into Entrana.

de:Runen es:Runa zh:符石 nl:Runes

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