The Strange rock is an item from the Shattered Heart Distraction and Diversion. It may be found randomly while training any non-combat skill. Players may get two strange rocks per skill. When you have received the first rock for a skill, the drop chance for the second will be reduced by about 50%. Each strange rock is a segment of the statue of Dahmaroc, a wizard from the Second Age. After the statue of Dahmaroc has been completed, players may then again get two strange rocks per non-combat skill to once again complete the statue. The first time you complete the statue, you are given a statue plinth to place in your player-owned house.
Players that try to add the strange rock to the plinth for the very first time, will be stopped by Barnabus Hurma. By speaking to him and showing him the strange rock, he will then tell the player that they need to find its twin before adding it to the plinth. With the update on 19 August 2010, Barnabus Hurma will also give players a statue collection bag to store your strange rocks thus freeing up space in the player's bank or inventory. Strange rocks do not stack in the bank, even if they are paired. If the player wishes not to receive rocks any more, they may speak to Barnabus Hurma to toggle them off if desired. They can be turned on again if the player wishes to start receiving them again.
Players are allowed to create only 1 (one) statue per week. It is possible for the player to build the statue once and then go out and re-obtain all rocks in the same week and place all but the final set of rocks in the Museum statue prior to the expiration of the week. However, the player will be unable to complete the build of the 2nd statue because at that point (when attempting to place the final set), Barnabus Hurma will stop the player and state that "one explosion a week is enough."
Strange rocks are automatically kept upon death unless you are in the Wilderness.
When trying to collect a strange rock by training skills, the player will hear a small "clunk" sound and receive the message "You find a strange rock." upon receiving one. When training a skill and a rock is received with a full inventory, the player receives the message "Something odd happens to the (name of last object created) and you are left with a strange rock." This effectively replaces the item in your inventory, which could be detrimental when creating something expensive. If the player has a Statue collection bag (see below) in their inventory, however, the rock will be deposited directly into the bag without loss of other inventory items.
Interestingly, it is possible for strange rocks to be dropped on the ground, given the correct conditions. A common example would be fletching bolts of any type, as multiple bolts are made in the process; if one's inventory is full, the strange rock will remove only one bolt from the inventory, and proceed to be dropped on the ground where it may be picked up.
Rewards
After using a pair of strange rocks on the Statue plinth, the player gets where = Experience earned and = Skill level of the skill being trained when the rock is added to the statue.
For example, using a level of 50: Exp = 50*50 - (2*50) + 100 = 2500 experience. For level 99, it is 9703 exp. See Experience reward formula section for calculator and table.
The player needs two rocks from each skill to complete the statue. When the player has collected two pieces in one skill, they can be added to the plinth in order to create a section of the Dahmaroc statue. The plinth is located in the Varrock Museum right next to the entrance. Once you complete the statue you get a replica plinth (this is where you will be building your statue) to put in your POH and then you get a replica 'piece of statue' to start building the new statue in your POH. You can then begin to search and collect pieces again which gives you a shot at the extra experience once again.
You can use a Statue list to keep track which rocks you've added to the statue. You need to have two pieces to be able to add to the plinth.
Icons and Descriptions
You can identify what skill a strange rock is by examining it. Also, the different skills' rocks have different appearances.
| Skill | Image | Examine | How to obtain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agility | Agility | A rock found while practicing agility. | Completion of the following courses:
|
| Construction | Construction | A rock found while constructing furniture. |
Working on furniture or any construction activity that yields experience in the construction skill, including in building mode. Idling in house doesn't work since the update on 4 August 2010. Oak chairs and limestone fireplaces are highly recommended as they are relatively inexpensive per chance at a rock. |
| Cooking | Cooking | A rock found while cooking. | Attempting to cook any fish which you have the Cooking level for. You can still receive the rock even if you burn the fish. It is also possible to receive strange rocks while training at the barbecue in a clan citadel. |
| Crafting | Crafting | A rock found while crafting. | Making gold jewellery (best is to make gold bracelets); making items from leather or dragonhide; making molten glass in a furnace (as well as blowing it into glass objects); throwing clay on a potter's wheel (but not firing clay); making slayer rings; making cloth on the loom at a clan citadel, spinning items on a spinning wheel, crafting any type of battlestaff, blowing Potion flasks |
| Farming | Farming | A rock found while harvesting produce. |
Harvesting/Planting vegetables, hops, herbs, flowers, bushes, fruit trees and calquat trees; planting seeds or saplings. The fastest way to receive these rocks are to do a standard herb + allotment run using supercompost on every patch. Wield Magic Secateurs when harvesting. If you have completed the hard Falador Tasks, it is also advisable to plant White lilies at all flower patches to protect your allotments. |
| Firemaking | Firemaking | A rock found while lighting fires. | Lighting a fire using any logs and a tinderbox, as well as burning vines in Jadinko Lair, burning shades in Mort'ton, adding logs to a bonfire, and making charcoal at the kiln at a clan citadel. Note: Pyrelord and Forge regent familiars do not count as a tinderbox for this. Also, barbarian firemaking does not yield rocks. |
| Fishing | Fishing | A rock fished up from the waters. |
Fishing with a harpoon, net, cage, fly fishing rod, or barehanded. Fishing Rocktails or Cavefish in the Living Rock Caverns. Fishing for salmon and trout does not work. Note: It does not matter what you fish. You have a chance to get a rock every animation. |
| Fletching | Fletching | A rock found while fletching bows, crossbows and sagaies. | Making unstrung bows or crossbow stocks (though not when stringing bows). Making sagaie shafts and Blisterwood stakes can also yield rocks. |
| Herblore | Herblore | A rock found when making potions. |
By combining unfinished potions with secondary ingredients (not including barbarian mixes); making unfinished potions; or by cleaning herbs). It is strongly recommended to clean cheap herbs, such as marrentill, while having the statue collection bag in your inventory. The Herblore rock can be one of the fastest rocks to obtain by using this method. |
| Hunter | Hunter | A rock found in a hunter trap. | Tracking; deadfall; checking box, pit traps; checking Marasamaw plants; practising falconry; hunting Charm Sprites. It can also be obtained by dismantling a trap, even if it is not a successful catch, as long as the trap has been triggered. Also, if a falcon fails to catch a kebbit, it may still return with the rock. |
| Mining | Mining | A rock found while mining. |
Mining ore, coal, granite, clay, stone, gems or rune essence (strongly recommended); mining in the Living Rock Caverns (coal and gold; also strongly recommended), mining in Miscellania. Mining in the Lava Flow Mine also works, as well gathering resources at a clan citadel Mining plot. Note: It does not matter what you mine. You have a chance to get a rock every animation. If your Mining level is high enough, it is strongly recommended to mine in the Living Rock Caverns on a designated LRC world since you can almost nonstop mine there. |
| Runecrafting | Runecrafting | A rock found while binding runes. |
Crafting runes, also during the Great Orb Project minigame and the Runespan. The Wicked hood is extremely helpful when going after these rocks. Bring along all your runecrafting pouches as well. Generally, using the wicked hood method daily gives a high chance for at least one rock, particularly if the player has the full wicked robes set. |
| Smithing | Smithing | A rock found while smithing. |
Smelting normal ores, including gold ore; smithing items from normal bars; making Cannonballs out of Steel bars; smelting bars at a Smithing plot in a clan citadel. Note: It does not matter what you smith, so if you are on a budget, smith with cheap materials such as bronze bars. |
| Thieving | Thieving | A rock 'borrowed' from a pocket. |
Attempting to pickpocket an NPC that you have the Thieving level for (even if unsuccessful); stealing from stalls; stealing from chests. Master farmers are highly recommended due to their left-click pickpocket option and chance for good loot. |
| Woodcutting | Woodcutting | A rock found while cutting trees. |
Cutting any wood, ivy, Jadinko Lair roots, or jungle near Tai Bwo Wannai as well as training at the sawmill; training at a Woodcutting plot in a clan citadel. It is strongly recommended to chop ivy if you have the appropriate level since there is almost no need to bank. Note: It does not matter what you cut. You have a chance to get a rock every animation. |
Note: Skilling in a clan citadel may yield strange rocks since an update on 6 March 2012.
Equipment
Some equipment will be required to collect strange rocks. The equipment needed will be ones you need to train a certain skill. Some examples are a pickaxe for Mining and a hatchet for Woodcutting.
Useful Equipment
A full statue collection bag
You can talk to Barnabus Hurma (or any of the other archaeologists), within Varrock Museum, to receive a Statue collection bag. These bags will automatically store any statue pieces you gain from a skill activity (giving the message "You find a strange rock and add it to your bag."), and can be filled with your library of rocks. When you have two corresponding statue pieces in your bag, simply empty the bag and use the rocks on the statue base. You may also 'Look-in' the bag to check how many you have currently collected. If you lose or drop the statue collection bag, you will also lose its contents. This means that you'll have to complete skill tasks to regain the rocks you lost.
Trivia
- If you have a Pet Rock in your inventory, a message is displayed showing its excitement when you receive a strange rock.
- Certain rocks are easily identifiable as specific parts of Dahmaroc. For example, the Construction and Hunter rocks make up his head, the Smithing rocks make up his cape, and the rocks for Cooking, Fishing, Firemaking, and Woodcutting make up his arms.
- At one point, after receiving the first strange rock to start the Distraction and Diversion, members could also get rocks for non-member skills on a non-members world, which would result in the creation of a members object (although they would still receive the message "You find a strange rock."). This has since been fixed.
- Although the examine info for the Herblore rock says "A rock found while making potions", it can also be found when cleaning herbs. Similarly, the examine info for the Construction rock previously said "A rock found in my house" even though it could be obtained in another player's house by making flatpacks.
- It is possible, albeit rare, to get two rocks from one action (burning one log may result in receiving both rocks).
- Strangely, while practicing falconry , if you just catch the kebbit you can get the strange rock, even before retrieving the falcon from the kebbit and collecting your reward. A possible reason for this is that the player finds it in the grass while walking towards their prey.
- Prior to 11 April 2012 it wasn't possible to get a strange rock by fishing rocktails in Living Rock Caverns, making battlestaves, or making items on a spinning wheel.