From the RuneScape Wiki, the wiki for all things RuneScape

[edit] Help, Hints, And Tips

Words displayed in the color blue is a link to another article (page) that goes into more detail, or a relevant website. However, to keep from navigating from the current article that you're reading, such as this one, it's best to right-click on the link, and then left-click on either "Open (Link) in New Tab" or "Open (Link) in New Window", depending upon what web browser you are using.

Most of what's in these Guides can be found here on RuneScape Wiki, so why bother writing these Guides? Instead of having to follow one article to another article to yet, another article, etc., etc., most of the information is provided on a single page dedicated and devoted to a single aspect of RuneScape.

Please post any comments, questions, or suggestions directly related to this article in my Discussion (User Talk) page.

[edit] Beginner's Guide To RuneScape

After completing Tutorial Island and Learning the Ropes Quest, please read the following Beginner's Guides thoughly! These Guides may help you tremendously starting out:

I know it's a ton of reading, but the more you know, the better you'll play RuneScape, thus enjoying it a lot more. Also, along with RuneScape Wiki, these websites offer very valuable information, and I highly recommend bookmarking them or adding them to your Favorites (depending upon your web browser):

Grand Exchange (quickly look-up current Grand Exchange market prices)
HiScores (quickly look-up someone's Skill levels, especially useful when asking for assistance using the Assist System)
Tip.It RuneScape Help (offers some of the best calculators I've seen)
Sal's Realm of RuneScape (offers some of the most detailed info along with a lot of pics)
Zybez RuneScape Help (another website with decent info and calculators, has a good toolbar for Firefox, and one of the best interactive World Maps I've used)
RuneScape HeadQuarters (some of their info is outdated or contains typos, but still good info nonetheless)

Using a combination of all of the above websites should provide enough info on any RuneScape-related topic! And for even more info on just about any topic, here's RuneScape Wiki's Guides.

[edit] Types Of Player Characters

In RuneScape, there's basically two types of Player Characters, and more often than enough, a blend of the two! Also take a look at the Player guide for more info. A lot of Characters could be classified into these categories:

Main account - Usually a Player's highest-leveled Character, and is usually a "jack-of-all-trades", meaning that they don't specialize in neither non-Combat or Combat-related Skills, but in both.
Skillers - Or also known as "Skill pures", these Players prefer to work on non-Combat Skills rather than Combat-related Skills. They often seek fortune over fame, and satisfaction in being self-reliant and Self-sufficiency over than the Barbarianism of Combat. Many prefer to be really efficient at gathering raw materials such as Logs from Woodcutting and Ores from Mining, for obtaining the most profit, or take these raw materials and make something more useful out of them, often times at a loss of profit.
"Pures" - Most often are "Combat pures", these Player Characters often specialize in a couple of Skills, and usually a single Combat Skill from the Combat triangle. If they develop any other Skills, they are usually directly related to the Combat Skill of their choice. Warriors may choose Mining and Smithing to make their own Weapons and Armour, Rangers may take-up Woodcutting and Fletching to make their own Ranged weapons and perhaps even Crafting their own Ranged armour, while Mages may do some Mining Essence at a Rune Essence mine and then Runecrafting this Essence into Runes at a Runecrafting altar for spell casting.
- For both Combat and money-making, many Player Characters will combine the Skills listed above for a Ranger plus Mage mix, as I fondly call "Quasi-Pures" or Hybrids. These Rangers+Mages will use their Magic to cast the High Level Alchemy spell on the Bows they made while Fletching, which is a good source of both income and Experience. Since most of their Items are light-Weight, they can carry Ranged armour, Ranged weapons, along with Magic Items, and switch Items during battle to whatever will slay their victims more efficiently. Ranger+Mage can be a very deadly combination, and very deadly from a distance!

For training Skills, take a look at the Skill Training Guides and at Power levelling. These other websites offer other great recommendations and suggestions:

[edit] Getting Around In The World Of RuneScape

The world of RuneScape is a pretty big place, especially if you're a P2P (Pay-to-play) Member. You'll find yourself having to visit many places, especially while doing Quests. There's many different ways of getting around, such as Teleportation. Here's a few things to concentrate on when starting out:

To get around, you'll need to know where you're going. You can use the in-game World map, but it's somewhat slow to load (especially if you're using dial-up internet), and you can only use it while playing. If you want to use an alternative, you can download a JPG picture. Don't forget to update it every month! Also, Tip.It RuneScape offers an Interactive Atlas. While viewing large images within your web browser, I highly recommend using Firefox along with several add-ons, listed below.
Carry as little Weighted Items as possible at all times! This includes Training Skills (except for Combat-related Skills) or completing Quests (except for when Combat is involved during the Quest). Only bring Items that you absolutely need! The more Weight you carry, the more Energy you'll use while Running. Whenever possible, try to use Weightless or light-Weight protective Items, such as an Elemental shield (after completing the Elemental Workshop I Quest) or a Holy book (after completing the Horror from the Deep Quest). If you need good Armour and still need to Run quite a bit through a dangerous area (such as the Abyss, Dungeons, and/or the Wilderness), wearing Dragonhide armour (especially a Black dragonhide set with a Blessed dragonhide coif, or full Blessed dragonhide armour) is lighter than most of your Melee armour, and still offers decent protection from different Attack styles. However, you'll need at least a Defence Skill Level 40+ to wear any Dragonhide armour, and a Ranged Skill Level 40+ just to wear Green dragonhide armour. It is highly recommended to have a Ranged Skill Level 70+ so you can wear either Black dragonhide set with a Blessed dragonhide coif, or full Blessed dragonhide armour!
Weight-reducing equipment - Wear at all times, except when Training Combat-related Skills. I highly recommend to all P2P (Pay-to-play) Members a Hunter Skill Level 66+ just so that you can wear a Spottier cape, but a Hunter Skill Level 40+ to wear a Spotted cape is better than nothing. Also, you only have to partially complete the Temple of Ikov Quest to obtain the Boots of lightness. Then lastly, playing the Barbarian Assault Minigame may earn you Penance gloves, but you also must have a Defence Skill Level 40+ to wear them, like Dragonhide armour. Once you can obtain and wear all of the best Weight-reducing equipment possible, then you'll have a -13.5 kg (kilograms) subtracted from your total Weight! However, having negative Weight has the same effect as having 0 kg (kilograms) of Weight.
Agility Skill - I consider this to be one of the most important Skills only available to P2P (Pay-to-play) Members. The higher this Skill is, the quicker your Run Energy restores and gives you access to more Shortcuts. As far as I know, this is the only P2P (Pay-to-play) Member Skill that also works in F2P (Free-to-play) worlds (minus using Shortcuts)! I highly recommend Training this Skill first above all other Skills (except maybe for Combat-related Skills) or completing most Quests, since it may aid you in anything you do. In my opinion, this Skill should always remain one of your highest-leveled Skills.
Explorer's ring 3 - Teleport to the Cabbage Patch in-between the Crafting Guild, Draynor Manor, Draynor Village, Falador, Port Sarim, Rimmington, and the Rimmington mine. Also, it can restore your Run Energy up to three times per day, once you have completed the Lumbridge and Draynor Diary.
Magic - Once your Magic level gets above Level 25, and onwards to Level 64, you can Teleport to many different places with the right Runes, Elemental staves, and completed Quests. I highly recommend having at least a Magic Level 37 (to cast Teleportation spells to the major cities in the F2P (Free-to-play) world), several Law runes, and Elemental staves (especially Elemental battlestaffs, such as a Lava battlestaff, Mud battlestaff, and/or Steam battlestaff to condense your Bank Items and reduce the time changing Elemental staves to cast different Teleportation spells) for everyone. However, if you're a P2P (Pay-to-play) Member, I also highly recommend having at least a Magic Level 58+, and complete both the Plague City and Watchtower Quests for Teleportation access to both Ardougne and Yanille, respectively. After completing Lunar Diplomacy and Desert Treasure Quests, you'll expand your Teleportation spells quite a bit with new Spellbooks giving you access to Lunar Spells and Ancient Magicks, respectively. Having a Runecrafting Level 54+ also makes Teleportation spells much cheaper since you can Runecraft your own Law runes along with any other Runes you may use to Teleport.
Amulets of glory - The great thing about Amulets of glory is that they are reusable and can be recharged at the Heroes' Guild, once you have completed the Heroes' Quest. Also, if you have at least a Construction Level 47+, having a Player-owned house in Taverley along with a Quest Hall Room containing an Amulet of glory Guild Trophy is a quick and easy way to recharged your uncharged Amulets of glory. I highly recommend keeping at least 27 or 28 Amulet of glorys in your Bank so you don't have to stop doing whatever it is you're doing to recharge them constantly at the Heroes' Guild. If you have 28 Amulets of glory, you could Teleport up to 112 times before having to stop and recharge them all!
The Fairy ring Network - A huge Teleportation network of getting around mostly to remote areas, but you have to complete the Fairy Tale quest series first, along with any other Quests that may be involved for accessing certain areas.

Please also refer to:

[edit] Achievement Diaries

When you first start playing and traveling around the world of RuneScape, always talk to NPCs (Non-player characters) to start the Achievement Diary for that city or town, even if you have no plans to complete the Achievement Diary. Most often, you'll "accidentally" do many of the Achievement Diary's tasks without even trying, while completing Quests and Training your Skills in that area. Here's a list of the Achievement Diaries at the time of this writing:

Lumbridge and Draynor Diary (talk to Explorer Jack, found north of the Lumbridge castle in a house marked with the Achievement Diary green star icon on the Minimap)
Varrock Diary (talk to either Rat Burgiss at the crossroads south of Varrock and north of Lumbridge and has a blue star quest icon next to him, or Reldo the librarian of Varrock Palace located at the northwest corner of the castle, in the room to the right of the tower)
Falador Diary (talk to Redbeard Frank at the Asgarnian port-town of Port Sarim, the Chemist in his house in Rimmington, or Sir Vyvin's Squire in the courtyard of White Knights' Castle in Falador)
Karamja Diary (talk to either Pirate Jackie the Fruit at the Brimhaven Agility Arena entrance in Brimhaven, or Kaleb Paramaya who runs the Paramaya Inn in Shilo Village (city))
Seers' Village Diary (talk to any Seer in the Seers' Village, Stankers at the Coal Trucks north of the Fishing Guild and west of McGrubor's Wood, or Sir Kay in Camelot castle between Seers' Village and White Wolf Mountain)
Fremennik Province Diary (talk to the Council workman at the the bridge leading to Rellekka, Yrsa who runs Yrsa's Accoutrements and Yrsa's Shoe Store in western Rellekka, or Advisor Ghrim in Miscellania castle)

By completing each of these Achievement Diaries, you'll receive Items in the Achievement Diary set, which have many benefits. I've used my Explorer's ring 3 more than I ever thought I would! Please also send me a message in the Discussion (User Talk) page if Jagex creates a new Achievement Diary and I haven't updated this article.

[edit] Quick Chat And Quick Links Regarding Skills

Many people know that Quick Chat can quickly tell everyone your Character's Skill by pressing:

Enter
S
(select the Skill inquired about)
2

Also, pressing the "F9" key can also bring-up a quick response feature, depending upon what was the last question asked using Quick Chat. But many people don't know that Quick Chat can also display several of your current Skill levels at once. Press these keyboard keys in the following sequence:

Enter
Enter
Space bar
Space bar
(select the Skills inquired about)

Basically, you hit the "Enter" key twice and then the "Space bar" twice to bring-up the options for displaying multiple Skill levels. Of course, this doesn't display ALL of your Skills. If someone keeps nagging you about your Skill levels, you can always refer them to this link:

http://hiscore.runescape.com/hiscorepersonal.ws?user1=(Insert Your Character's Name Here)

You'd insert your Character's name after the "user1=" part. So, to look-up my Character's name on RuneScape's Hiscores list, you'd type in your web browser's address bar:

http://hiscore.runescape.com/hiscorepersonal.ws?user1=Absalon_Cnch

Another link to compare two Players' Skills is:

http://hiscore.runescape.com/compare.ws?user1=(Insert Player's Name Here)&user2=(Insert Other Player's Name Here)

So, to compare my Skills to my brother-in-law's Skills, you'd type:

http://hiscore.runescape.com/compare.ws?user1=Absalon_Cnch&user2=LordRaptor76

If you play RuneScape with a best friend, this is a really quick way to keep-up on how your Skill levels compare to each other.

[edit] Random events and Random event gifts

When you encounter a Random event, one of the Random event gifts you may have to choose from is a Genie Lamp or a Book of knowledge for Experience in any available Skill. The Genie Lamp increases the Skill Experience by ten times the current level of that particular Skill. For example, if the player has a Crafting Skill Level 30, they would gain 300 Crafting Experience if the Crafting Skill is chosen. The Book of knowledge gives you Experience equivalent to your level in a Skill times 15. Compared with a Genie Lamp, which only gives the Experience equal to the level times ten, the Book of knowledge is 50% more potent. Choosing the Genie Lamp or the Book of knowledge Random event gift is usually preferred over any other Random event gifts available, since you can earn Experience in any available Skill. I recommend that you either use the Experience in your highest-leveled, money-making Skill to gain even more Experience; or in your lowest-leveled, least preferred Skill. Many Players prefer to choose to use the extra Experience from the Genie Lamp and Book of knowledge Random event gifts into the following Skills:

Agility (extremely repetitive, and doesn't directly make you any money, but only helps indirectly)
Crafting (although offers many ways of making many different Items, can be costly if you buy your materials from the Grand Exchange or slow to raise)
Combat-related Skills (some Players hate Combat (especially non-Combat Skill pures), but many Quests require Combat, and many various raw materials and Items are only located in very dangerous areas)
Construction (one of the most costly Skills to raise in RuneScape, even if you gather your own materials)
Farming (either takes a long time to earn Experience while Training other Skills, or a lot of micromanagement if Power levelling it)
Firemaking (deemed by most as one of the most useless and worthless Skills in RuneScape, most Players would rather use their Logs from Woodcutting, or from buying them at the Grand Exchange, for Fletching instead of watching their Logs literally go up in smoke)
Herblore (spend time either having to steal Herb seed, or buy them at the Grand Exchange often at a loss, and then plant and wait for them to grow into Herbs; or buy needed Potion ingredients from the Grand Exchange at an even bigger loss)
Hitpoints (only Skill that you can't directly focus on, and can only be raised during Combat)
Hunter (located in remote areas many Players don't have quick access to)
Prayer (as mentioned below)
Runecrafting (very time-consuming to raise, especially if Mining your own Essence, and not very profitable until level 44+)
Slayer (involves a lot of Combat, or unable to access the Slayer Master due to an uncompleted Quest, or the Slayer Master is located in a remote area)
Smithing (either spend a lot of time Mining Ores, or spend money buying them at the Grand Exchange often at a loss)
Summoning (requires Combat to obtain Charms from certain monsters, and can be very costly to raise if you buy the other needed materials from the Grand Exchange)

Also, anyone who started playing RuneScape before Learning the Ropes Quest was released July 14th, 2008 may also have two 250 Experience Lamps simply waiting for them to use! All you have to do is:

Go to Lumbridge
Go to the house north-east of Lumbridge Castle, also directly east of the General store
Climb down the Ladder to the basement of the house
Talk to Sir Vant sitting in the chair

Tell him that you could slay the dragon for him, he'll decline your offer, but will give you two Lamps that gives 250 Experience each in any the following Skills: Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Ranged, Magic, Mining, Smithing, Fishing, Cooking, Firemaking, Woodcutting, and Prayer. I decided to use both of my Lamps into Prayer for a total of 500 Prayer Experience, but you can choose whatever Skill or two that you want.

[edit] Miscellaneous Tidbits Of Advice

If your Inventory has an extra slot, always pick-up and bury any and all Bones you come across. Unless you have a Gilded altar at your Player-owned house (which requires a very costly, time-consuming Construction Level 75+ to build), Prayer is a very slow-to-raise Skill, and should always remain in the back of your mind while Training other Skills or doing Quests.
As hinted earlier in Types Of Player Characters, many Skills work together, such as Fishing+Cooking, Mining+Smithing, Woodcutting+Firemaking+Cooking or Woodcutting+Fletching+Ranged, Mining+Runecrafting+Magic, and even Thieving+Farming+Herblore. Focus on Skills where you gather raw materials first (such as Fish from Fishing, Ores from Mining, and Logs from Woodcutting), and then use these raw materials to raise your other Skills (such as Cooking your Fish, Smithing your Ores, and Fletching or Firemaking your Logs from Woodcutting). Simple enough. To work on several Skills all at once, this method below is highly recommended for new Players:

Combat Chickens (Combat level 1)
Bury Bones for Prayer Experience
Woodcutting Logs from a nearby Tree using your Woodcutting Axe
Using your Tinderbox on the Logs for Firemaking
Cooking the Raw chicken on the Fire, and then eat all of your Cooked chicken to restore any lost Hitpoints during Combat
Bank the Feathers from the Chickens for later use in Fishing using a Fly fishing rod and/or Fletching Arrows
Repeat the above steps until most of the Skills involved are at least Level 5 each
Combat Cows (Combat level 2)
Bury Bones for Prayer Experience
Woodcutting Logs from a nearby Tree using your Woodcutting Axe
Using your Tinderbox on the Logs for Firemaking
Cooking the Raw beef on the Fire, and then eat all of your Cooked meat to restore any lost Hitpoints during Combat
Bank the Cowhides from the Cows for later use in Crafting Leather
Repeat the above steps until most of the Skills involved are at least Level 10 each
Start Crafting the Cowhides into Leather gloves in Al Kharid

A lot of people drop Items deemed as worthless, but if you want to raise many skills such as Crafting, Farming and Herblore, it's a good idea to Bank "worthless" Items such as all Gems, Herbs, and Seeds. You'll never know when you'll need them, and they all stack in your Bank account, anyways.
Everytime you're about to Teleport to Varrock and if money permits, leave at least eight slots open in your Inventory and bring at least 56,000 Coins with you. The tent, called Zaff's Superior Staves, directly to the north-west of where you Teleport to in Varrock sells Battlestaffs at 7,000 Coins each, and they sell for about 8,200 each at the Grand Exchange (give or take), which is also just a 10 second run north-west of where the tent is. Be sure to talk to Zaff about his Battlestaffs. This gives you at least an extra 10,000 profit daily, and only takes you about 10 seconds of extra time. Since you can only buy these Battlestaffs once daily, it may not be a bad idea to just collect them instead, if you foresee yourself using them later in the future Crafting Battlestaves. Crafting Battlestaves is one of the best ways to make some money while earning both Crafting and Magic Experience. I have a Crafting Battlestaves Guide listed below.
Most importantly, treat others as you'd like to be treated. Only Noobs call other people Noobs. If someone calls you a Noob, simply either add them to your Ignore List or turn-off your Public chat until they leave you alone, or you just simply leave. Most likely, they're doing so just to see your response.

[edit] My Skill Help, Hints, And Tips

Help, Hints, & Tips
- House Plans & Construction Help
- Crafting Help
- Farming Table
  - About Farming Table & Farming Help
- Quest Checklist
  - About Quest CheckList & Quest Help
- Runecrafting Help

[edit] Recommended Web Browser And Add-Ons

Firefox Web Browser - Not only it's one of the safest web browsers to use, but also is one of the most customizable with all of the Add-Ons and Themes you can use! Not sure how to use Firefox? No problem!!! Here's a list of a couple of websites that will help you get started:

Firefox Support Home Page
Firefox Beginner's Guide

One of the many ways to customize Firefox is that you can create custom profiles, which is like having two or more Firefox Web Browsers on your computer. I have two profiles, one is my Default that loads my usual home pages, Bookmarks, Add-Ons, Themes, etc., and my RuneScape profile that loads my RuneScape-related home pages (listed above), Add-Ons, Themes, etc. Please refer to this web page article on how to create and manage profiles.
Here's my Firefox User Profile Screen.

[edit] Recommended Add-Ons And Themes

Not sure how to install and use Firefox Add-Ons and Themes? Visit the Add-Ons Installation Guide.

BetterCache - Removes any limitations websites may have caching their website. There are issues with certain websites, such as iGoogle and editing RuneScape Wiki articles, which can be added to a Never-Cache List inside of the Add-on.
Boox - Adds Bookmark enhancements, especially a tooltip pop-up window when you move your mouse over a Bookmark.
CheckPlaces - Checks your Bookmarks for any invalid links. Also checks and updates websites for Favicons (Bookmark icons).
Classic Compact - Basic Firefox Theme that reduces the size of your Navigation/Bookmarks Toolbars buttons and text, thus giving you more "real estate" (screen space) for playing RuneScape and web pages.
- Classic Compact Options - Adds customization to the Classic Compact Theme.
Context Search - Adds search options in the drop-down menu when you select a word in a web page and right-click on it with your mouse. More Search Engines can be added via the Search Bar.
(your country here) (your language here) Dictionary - Adds spell-check to Firefox. Very handy when filling out any kind of web page form.
DNS Prefetch - Automatically prefetches DNS addresses of the links inside of a web page, thus making going from one web page to another a little faster.
Fasterfox - Performance and network tweaks to help Firefox run and load web pages faster.
Grab and Drag - Grab and scroll the way you do in Adobe Acrobat Reader, and works very well scrolling across large images, such as world maps, with your mouse. Always remember that pressing the keys ALT+SHIFT+D is the default for turning this Add-on off and on when needed.
Greasemonkey - Run scripts to enable even more functionality within Firefox. Visit UserScripts.org to download, install, and run scripts.
- Autocomplete Always On - A script that turns Autocomplete=Off to Autocomplete=On on websites that doesn't allow you to save your logins and passwords so that you can.
Image Zoom - Zoom images in and out, and works well with large world map images.
Resurrect Pages - Allows to view pre-cached web pages on different servers if a web page link doesn't work.
Tab Mix Plus - Adds many useful features to tabbed browsing in Firefox, especially when searching and reading multiple websites.
TagSifter - Browse your Bookmarks' Tags (categories), if you've created them. Also has a feature to auto-generate Tags for your Bookmarks.
Toolbar Buttons - As the name implies, adds many more useful buttons that you can use in your Navigation Toolbar.
Update Notifier - You can set this to automatically check and install all Add-Ons and Themes updates, and restart Firefox
URL Fixer - Automatically fixes common typos we all make while trying to type a website link in the Location (Address) Bar.
WOT (Web Of Trust) - Notifies you if a website can be trusted before clicking on it within a Search Engine, such as Google or Yahoo.
Xmarks - Synchronize your Firefox Bookmarks onto a server (as an online backup), with other computers, and even with Internet Explorer's Favorites (must have Xmarks for IE installed).
Zybez RuneScape Help Official Toolbar - Provides quick access to many informative links and search on Zybex RuneScape Help's website.

Here's how my Firefox looks after customizing and optimizing it to how I wanted.

[edit] To Update The Price Of An Item On The Grand Exchange Here On RuneScape Wiki

Open a new tab/window of your preferred web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc.).
Go to the Grand Exchange's web page at http://itemdb-rs.runescape.com/frontpage.ws in the new tab/window.
Click on the "edit" link of the item below you wish to update.
Backspace/Delete the number in the "|Last=" line.
Copy/Paste or type the number in the "|Price=" line into the "|Last=" line.
Backspace/Delete the time and date in the "|LastDate=" line.
Copy/Paste or type the time and date in the "|Date=" line into the "|LastDate=" line.
Copy/Paste or type the name of the item you wish to update in the search box in the Grand Exchange's web page along with "quotations marks" on each end of the item's name and click on the "Go" button.
Copy/Paste the new item price from the Grand Exchange's webpage into the "|Price=" line.
Please remove any commas (,) from the current Grand Exchange price.
Type five (5) tilde symbols (~~~~~) in the "|Date=" line.
Click on the "Save Page" button.
Repeat this process for each item you wish to update! And thank you for taking the time to update RuneScape Wiki for the rest of us! If everyone were to spend only a few minutes once a week updating the prices here on RuneScape Wiki, then our Grand Exchange prices would stay more current for everyone to use!

Drkstlkr 1,390 edits since June 13, 2008

User:Drkstlkr/Help