Table of Contents



Getting Rune Essence

Rune/pure essence looks like this:

Rune essence Pure essence

There are two ways to get essence:

  1. Buy it. Don't buy essence unless you can really afford it, or if the rune is worth more than the essence.
  2. Mine it. This is a more popular approach. Take everything off when mining essence! I see people running to and from the bank with full rune on! This is a big no-no! hold your pickaxe and, if you have them, wear Boots of Lightness (obtained during the Temple of Ikov Quest). Even with a full load of Essence and a rune pickaxe, wearing Boots of Lightness will get your weight to -2 kg.

If you're going to mine the Rune essence, there are 6 Wizards who will teleport you to the mine and one special mine that does not require a teleport. You must have completed the Rune Mysteries quest to be able to mine Rune/Pure Essence.

*= Members only area and therefore you can only use that certain wizard in a members world.

Wizard Location Map
Aubury Varrock rune shop, just south of the eastern bank. Aubury
Sedridor Top floor of the Wizards' Tower in the southwest room. Wizard Sedridor
Wizard Cromperty* In the building northeast of the East Ardougne market place. Wizard Cromperty
Wizard Distentor* Wizards' Guild in Yanille, requires 66 Magic to enter. Wizard Distentor
Brimstail* In a cave southwest in the Tree Gnome Stronghold. Wizard Brimstail
Carwen Essencebinder Burthorpe rune shop, east of the Agility course. Carwen Essencebinder
N/A Dungeon mine in the northeast part of Lunar Isle. This location requires partial completion of the Lunar Diplomacy quest. Wizard Brimstail

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Talismans

To craft runes, you will first need a talisman. In the quest, you receive an Air talisman for free; you'll have to obtain the others yourself. You can craft the runes without any talisman with you, if you go through a portal in the abyss.

NOTE: All talismans from Air to Nature are also dropped by the Monsters in The Abyss.

The monsters listed in the table below are only examples, more monsters may drop these (for more detailed information on these monsters refer to the relevant talisman in the items database).

Talisman Picture Where Found
Air Air talisman Given by Sedridor when completing quest; dropped by level 2 goblins and wizards
Mind Mind talisman Dropped by Imps, Wizards, Yanille Tower Guards, Colonel Radick
Water Water talisman Dropped by Wizards, Dark Wizards, and Giant Frogs
Earth Earth talisman Dropped by Men and Women around Runescape, Al-Kharid Warriors, Farmers, Rogues, Wizards, Dark Wizards, Vampires, Lesser Demons and Greater Demons
Fire Fire talisman Dropped by Guards, Wizards, Dark Wizards, and Skeletons (lvl18)
Body Body talisman Dropped by Guards, Giants, Wizards, and Dark Wizards
Cosmic* Cosmic talisman Dropped by Lesser Demons, Ice Giants, Mysterious Old Man, Otherworldly Beings and Caskets (Big Net Fishing)
Chaos* Chaos talisman Dropped by Lesser Demons, Skeletons, Giants, Chaos Druids, Moss Giants, Otherworldly Beings, given by the Mysterious Old Man Random Event, Chaos Dwarfs, Black Demons, Ice Warriors, Greater Demons, Baby Dragons, Hobgoblins, Fire Giants, Shadow Warriors and Mountain Dwarfs
Nature* Nature talisman Dropped by Moss giants, Barbarians, Green Dragons, Red Dragons, Lesser Demons, Thieves, Greater Demons, Blue Dragons, Hobgoblins, Paladins, Black Knights, White Knights, Ice Warriors, Jogres, Mountain Trolls, Kalphite Workers, and Cyclopes
Law* Law talisman Dropped by Abyssal leeches, Ghouls, Guards, Paladins, Tortoises, Warped terrorbirds, Warped tortoises
Death* Death talisman Reward from Mourning's Ends Part II Quest and Dropped by Dark Beasts
Blood* Blood talisman Reward from Legacy of Seergaze Quest
Soul* Soul talisman Dropped by Feline akh, Imperial mage akh, Imperial ranger akh, and Imperial warrior akh
Elemental* Elemental Talisman Obtained from drops from creatures in The Abyss
Omni* Omni-Talisman Show Wizard Elriss every regular talisman or tiara.

*Members-only

When you have a talisman, you'll need some Rune essence. They are not stackable in free-play (for members, see Essence Pouches later in this guide), but are fairly easy to mine, taking no mining level; the better pick you have, the faster you get Rune essences. Talk to one of the teleporters listed above (make sure to bring a pickaxe), and ask to go to the Rune Essence. Mine however many you'd like and use one of the portals to go back.

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Temple Locations

To craft the essences into runes, you need to find the temple of the element matching the runes you wish to make: for example, the Air temple for Air runes. Use the Locate option on your talisman and follow the direction, or look here to find the temples:

Element Picture of Location Temple Location
Air Air Altar South of the road between Barbarian Village and Varrock, just to the west of Gertrude's house south west of the entrance of Varrock
Mind Mind Altar On the hill above the Goblin Village
Water Water Altar Southwest corner of Lumbridge Swamp
Earth Earth Altar Northeast of Varrock, South of Fort Forinthry
Fire Fire Altar Northeast of Al Kharid, just north of the duel arena
Body Body Altar Northwest of the Barbarian Village
Cosmic* Cosmic Altar In Zanaris, south of the cow pen, there's a long tunnel and at the end is the altar
Chaos* Chaos Altar In level 12 Wilderness, north of Edgeville, there is a large maze inside, but don't get your hopes up about this one as it takes easily twice as long to make chaos runes than cosmic runes
Astral* Astral Altar Lunar Isle, southeast of the village. Requires completion of Lunar Diplomacy. The altar is not ruined and there is neither an Astral talisman nor a tiara; you may simply walk up to it and craft runes
Nature* Nature Altar Deep Karamja jungle, just north of Shilo Village. See the Nature Runecrafting special report for the more information.
Law* Law Altar North side of Entrana, just over the bridge leading to the Unicorns and Firebird
Death* Death Altar Inside the Temple Of Light, see Mourning's Ends Part II
Blood* Blood altar At the end of the tunnels in the laboratory in the Meiyrditch area, see Legacy of Seergaze
Soul* Soul altar Within the fountain of the Imperial District in Menaphos. You must have completed 'Phite Club before it can be accessed.

*Members-only

To enter the temple, use your talisman on the mysterious ruins, wear a tiara and enter, or use a rift in the Abyss. To craft the runes, just click the Craft-rune option at the altar inside the temple. This will automatically make all the essence you carry into the corresponding rune. Each temple represents their element in construction, so the Fire temple is a volcano, the Cosmic is deep space, and the Chaos is a maze, fit for panicking. (For help with the Chaos maze, see the Chaos Altar Maze Map).

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Essence Pouches (Members Only)

Essence pouches allow you to carry additional essence in your inventory. Small, medium, large, and giant pouches can be obtained as drop from monsters in the Abyss. When found, they are 2/3 full of essence, which can be used regardless of your level. You can only have one of each size and they will degrade over time. When degraded, pouches will holds fewer runes. You can get these pouches repaired by talking to the Dark Mage in the Abyss or Wizard Korvak in the Runecrafting Guild. Another option is using the Repair Rune Pouch spell for those who purchased the spell as a reward from the Livid Farm mini-game. The massive pouch is a possible reward from the Runespan minigame for 1000 points. Unlike the other pouches it disappears after 42 uses and must be purchased again instead of having to repair it.

Pouch Image Level to Use Essence capacity
Small Small Pouch 1 3
Medium Medium Pouch 25 6
Large Large Pouch 50 9
Giant Giant Pouch 75 12
Massive Massive Pouch 90 18

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Tiaras

Tiaras may be crafted from Silver (see Crafting Skill Guide) and can be combined with any Rune Talisman of your choice to create an enchanted tiara that can be worn in your helmet slot. This will allow you to enter the appropriate temple simply by left clicking on it, rather than the normal method of using a talisman on the temple. You can make a tiara by using a tiara on the desired altar while carrying the matching talisman in your inventory (the talisman will be consumed and you will gain some experience).

Tiara Picture Exp for making
Air Air tiara 25
Mind Mind tiara 27.5
Water Water tiara 30
Earth Earth tiara 32.5
Fire Fire tiara 35
Body Body tiara 37.5
Cosmic * Cosmic tiara 40
Chaos * Chaos tiara 42.5
Nature * Nature tiara 45
Law * Law tiara 47.5
Death * Death tiara 50
Blood * Blood tiara 52.5
Soul * Soul tiara 55

*Members-only

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The Abyss (Members Only)

Upon completing the Mage of Zamorak miniquest you unlock the access to the Abyss, a place that offers a faster method for crafting runes. The mage, located north of Edgeville, will teleport you to that mysterious Abyssal space. Note that in the Abyss you are 'Skulled' as soon as you enter and all of your prayer is drained. Therefore it is advised that you take a manner of teleportation and a Prayer potion with you.

Abyss Map

In the Abyss, you may kill Abyssal leeches, Abyssal guardians, and Abyssal walkers for larger essence pouches, talismans, and the Elemental talisman. The Elemental talisman gives access to all of the four elemental temples: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire, but cannot be used to make combination runes or a tiara.

Elemental Talisman

The Abyssal space also offers access to *all* of the existing altars except the Astral rune Alter (one portal to an altar that doesn't yet exist is also present). You may need to use your Thieving or Agility skill, a tinderbox, a pickaxe, or a hatchet to overcome traps to reach the inner level. At the inner level, the rift portals to the altars are located.

For more information on the Abyss, refer to our Abyss Guide.

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The Zamorak AMI altar (Members Only)

The Zamorak ZMI altar is an ancient and powerful altar Zamorak controls that allows a user to craft any rune at any level, but not just one. When you craft on this altar, you will get a variety of runes instead of just one type (Air-Soul).

The ZMI altar is located North of the Edgeville bank across the wilderness ditch. Once inside find the Zamorak mage to reach the inner ring. The inner ring you will find the rift where you can craft Soul runes at.

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Great Orb Project

The Great Orb Project is a team game, consisting of a Yellow and a Green Team. Once you have joined a team, you will be given a number of staffs. the game consists of 6 rounds for F2P and 8 for P2P, each lasting 2 minutes. These rounds take place at Runecrafting altars. During each round, you will see be green and yellow colored orbs around the edge of the alter. The aim of the game is to get as many of your colored orbs to the altar by using the given wands. When the final altar has been fought for, a portal will take you back to the Runecrafting Guild, where you will be granted your reward in the form of tokens. These tokens can be used to purchase a various robes, altar teleport tables, staffs and talismans.

Great Orb Project

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Runespan

The Runespan is a realm of floating islands, filled with magical creatures and nodes. The goal of the mini-game is to craft runes within the Runespan by siphoning energy from various creatures and nodes that inhabit the realm. When siphoning creatures you will receive essence and runes. These runes can be used to cross platforms to reach other islands or to siphon nodes that yield you more xp at the cost of a rune. During your stay in the area a yellow wizard may appear asking for runes in exchange for experience. From time to time a runesphere will also appear. Siphoning the sphere will yield you experience and runes. The runes obtained in the game are turned into points upon leaving the area, which can be spent on Runecrafting/Magic equipment and weight-reducing robes. For more information, check out the Runespan mini-game guide.

Runespan

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Combination Runes (Members only)

Combination runes can be made by having existing runes of one type, a talisman of the other type, and pure essence in your inventory. For instance, to make lava runes, you could have fire runes, an earth talisman, and pure essence (the same amount as you have fire runes). Then, go to the earth altar, making sure you can get in with either an earth talisman or earth tiara. Use the fire talisman on the earth altar, and lava runes will be crafted (and you will lose the fire talisman.) It is possible for this to fail to produce runes, thus you can use the Binding necklace Binding necklace which will allow a perfect binding rate for 15 uses, after which it disintegrates. The necklace is made by enchanting an Emerald necklace (27 Magic required).

Rune Image Level to Make XP (Low)* XP (High)* How to Make
Mist Mist rune 6 8 8.5 Water and Air combo
Dust Dust rune 10 8.3 9 Earth and Air combo
Mud Mud rune 13 9.3 9.5 Earth and Water combo
Smoke Smoke rune 15 8.5 9.5 Fire and Air combo
Steam Steam rune 19 9.3 10 Water and Fire combo
Lava Lava rune 23 10 10.5 Fire and Earth combo

*You receive less experience at the lower-leveled runecrafting altar. For example, making mist runes at the water altar will cause you to receive more experience than making mist runes at the air altar.

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Dungeoneering Runecrafting

While Dungeoneering, you will come across various trees and monsters that drop Rune essence. From these trees you can create staves to aid your Magic abilities. For more information please visit our Fletching guide.

Crafting Runes

To aid in your adventures, Runecrafting altars have been provided. You do not get the same experience as you would on the surface, so to find out exactly what you will receive, view our table below:

Rune Image Level Required Experience gained (per 10 rune essence)
Air Air rune 1 1.0
Mind Mind rune 1 1.1
Water Water rune 5 1.2
Earth Earth rune 9 1.3
Fire Fire rune 14 1.4
Body Body rune 20 1.5
Cosmic Cosmic rune 27 1.6
Chaos Chaos rune 35 1.7
Astral Astral rune 40 1.74
Nature Nature rune 44 1.8
Law Law rune 54 1.9
Death Death rune 65 2
Blood Blood rune 77 2.1

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Powering Staves

If you have obtained a staff during your adventures, you are able to empower it on a Runecrafting altar. This will give infinite runes depending on the type of staff that you choose. For your options, see our table below:

Staff Image Level Required Wood required Experience Gained Members Only
Water staff Water staff 10 Any 5.5 No
Earth staff Earth staff 20 Tier 2 or higher 12 No
Fire staff Fire staff 30 Tier 3 or higher 20.5 No
Air staff Air staff 40 Tier 4 or higher 29 No
Catalytic staff Catalytic staff 50 Tier 5 or higher 39.5 No
Empowered water staff Empowered water staff 60 Tier 6 or higher 51 Yes
Empowered earth staff Empowered earth staff 70 Tier 7 or higher 63.5 Yes
Empowered fire staff Empowered fire staff 80 Tier 8 or higher 76 Yes
Empowered air staff Empowered air staff 90 Tier 9 or higher 90.5 Yes
Empowered catalytic staff Empowered catalytic staff 99 Tier 10 106 Yes

*= Members only items

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Runecrafting Experience

When you achieve a certain level of runecrafting, you will automatically make additional runes from each essence. The table below lists the levels required and experience earned. Please note that you get experience only for each essence used, and not for each rune made, so even if you make eight air runes per essence, you will only gain 5 experience.

Rune XP Level 2x 3x 4x 5x 6x 7x 8x 9x 10x
Air rune Air 5 1 11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99
Mind rune Mind 5.5 2 14 28 42 56 70 84 98 - -
Water rune Water 6 5 19 38 57 76 95 - - - -
Earth rune Earth 6.5 9 26 52 78 - - - - - -
Fire rune Fire 7 14 35 70 - - - - - - -
Body rune Body 7.5 20 46 92 - - - - - - -
Cosmic rune Cosmic* 8 27 59 - - - - - - - -
Chaos rune Chaos* 8.5 35 74 - - - - - - - -
Astral rune Astral* 8.7 40 82 - - - - - - - -
Nature rune Nature* 9 44 91 - - - - - - - -
Law rune Law* 9.5 54 - - - - - - - - -
Death rune Death* 10 65 - - - - - - - - -
Blood rune Blood* 10.5 77 - - - - - - - - -
Soul rune Soul*+ 275 90 - - - - - - - - -
Armadyl rune Armadyl* 10 72 - - - - - - - - -

* Members only
+ To create Soul runes you must first charge the altar using Pure essence; 4 create 1 charge and it takes 1.25 charge (5 essence) to create 1 Soul rune. The charger and altar can both hold up to 100 of their respective essence/charge.

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Runecrafting Gloves

These gloves are for both F2P and P2P, so don't despair. They are obtained from Reggie by buying them for 75 Fist of guthix tokens at the Fist of Guthix mini-game.

Runecrafting Gloves
Item Name Image Level Needed Effect
Air runecrafting gloves Air runecrafting gloves 10 Runecrafting x2 experience per essence crafted
Water runecrafting gloves Water runecrafting gloves 20 Runecrafting x2 experience per essence crafted
Earth runecrafting gloves Earth runecrafting gloves 30 Runecrafting x2 experience per essence crafted

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Chaos Altar Maze

Items needed:

1. Chaos tiara/talisman
2. Pouches (optional)
3. Bronze pickaxe (MUST be bronze!)
4. Energy potions (optional but advised)
5. Spottier/Spotted cape
6. Boots of Lightness

When you enter the top level of Chaos altar, go to the very Southwest ladder, and go down it. Then go to the ladder that is to your east, and a little bit north (it should show up on your map). Go down that ladder. On this level, you can see the tops of the ruined pillars from the altar. Then, to your west, and a little bit north (on the opposite side of the ruined pillars) there is a ladder, go down it. You should be able to see the altar from here, but it is east of where you are. Jagex has added a new portal just east of the altar that allows you a quick exit from the altar maze - Yay! Or, for the hard way you could follow the same path in reverse to get out, and on the top floor, head north and east, until you see a portal, then exit, and go on to Edgeville, or wherever else you want to go! An Amulet of glory can be used to teleport back to Edgeville, as well.

Chaos Shortcut:

With the completion of What Lies Below, you will unlock access to the chaos shortcut. The entrance of it is located north-east of Varrock, and slightly south west from the saw mill.

Chaos Shortcut

After following the tunnel you can use the portal which brings you to the second level of the chaos maze. Proceeding through the maze to the chaos altar and crafting your runes. From here you have two options, you can either use the portal at this level and exit to level 13 wilderness, or head back up to the second level and use the portal there to take you back to the tunnel.

Chaos Map

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Training Methods

Air Runes:

Air runes can be a good way to level your runecrafting if you use 'air runners'. These are players who will run back and forth from the nearest bank to the air temple. They bring essence from the bank to the temple and use your Assistance to craft air runs. By using this method you gain experience and the runners air runes. World 16 has been designated by Jagex as the Air running themed world.

As a runner you will need to equip the following items: 28 Rune essence and an Air tiara or Air runecrafting staff (27 essence if you use a talisman. It is advised that you do not wear any armor to reduce your weight, which will keep your run energy up for longer periods of time. Members may also wear Boots of lightness, Spotted/Spottier cape, and Penance gloves to reduce their weight even more. They can also use the Oo'glog Spas to temporarily keep their run energy up..

Water Runes:

Water runes are a decent way to earn both money and experiences. Below you will find 2 methods of training your runecrafting by means of Water runes

Amulet of Glory-Method:

  1. Withdraw a charged amulet of glory, a water talisman/tiara/runecrafting staff, and 28/27 rune essence from your bank.
  2. Use the amulet of glory to teleport to Draynor Village.
  3. Run to the Water temple and craft the water runes.
  4. Teleport back to Draynor Village with your amulet of glory. Bank the waters, and start over again. When your amulet of glory runs out of charges, teleport to Burthorpe with your games necklace and go the the Guild of Heroes to recharge it. Then teleport back to Draynor Village and continue with runecrafting.

If these steps are done correctly, you should be able to craft waters 3 times before having to recharge your amulet of glory. Instead of having to continually recharge your amulet of glory after every 3 runs, you can buy a lot of amulets of glory and switch them at the bank in Draynor once one runs out. This is, however, a bit more expensive but faster.

Zanaris-Method:

This method does not require you to spend money on means of teleportation. In order to use this method you must have completed the Lost City quest.

  1. Withdraw a Dramen staff, a water talisman/tiara, and 28/27 rune essence from the bank at Zanaris.
  2. Leave the city and run to the Water temple.
  3. Enter the temple and craft the water runes.
  4. Use your Dramen staff to enter Zanaris.
  5. Run to the bank, deposit your runes and start over again.

Fire Runes

This is the one of the fastest ways to make your fire runes. If you plan on using this method you must have a large amount of Rings of duelling at your disposal. Being successful in this routine may also require you to have 35 Runecrafting as you will probably want more than just 26 fire runes on each run.

  1. Withdraw a ring of duelling, a fire talisman/tiara/runecrafting staff, and 27,26 rune essence from your bank. Do not wear the ring as it will slow you down, keep it in your inventory.
  2. Teleport to the Duel Arena.
  3. Run to the Fire temple and craft the fire runes.
  4. Teleport to the Castle Wars arena with your ring of duelling.
  5. Bank the fire runes and start over again

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Quests for Experience

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Temporary level boosts

For more information on how to boost your level, see the Temporary Stat Leveling Techniques special report.

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Master runecrafter robes

Master Runecrafter robes provide an experience bonus whilst Runecrafting. They can be purchased using tokens awarded for playing The Great Orb Project.

Item Name Image Bonus
Master runecrafter hat Master runecrafter hat 1%
Master runecrafter body Master runecrafter body 1%
Master runecrafter skirt Master runecrafter skirt 1%
Master runecrafter boots Master runecrafter boots 1%
Complete set 5%

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Capes of Accomplishment

Runecrafting Skill Cape Set

Once you have achieved level 99, you may visit Larriar, in the Runecrafting Guild, to purchase a Runecrafting cape for 99,000 Coins.

Runecrafting Master Skill

Once you have achieved level 120, Larriar will sell you the Runecrafting master cape for 120,000 Coins.



Discount

Note that as of December 2018, another one of Mod Daze's Easter Eggs have been found. This enables you to purchase a Skillcape for half price (only from Larriar, not Elen) if you are wearing a Ring of Charos (a). Be aware that "Half price" is 92,000 Coins as the experience at level 92 is approximately half way to level 99.

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This Skill Guide was written by Sporhund, Sk8rRIMuk, Skeletonmat, and zhicks1. Thanks to Fireball0236, Alk12, blingking, Phantom, Boyboy126, Lord leh, Darkwitchy, Weezy, Eric2203, Shadowfiregx, Lightarrow88, DRAVAN, Tango, TezBeast, Ghoulies, xizorandy, Have A Nice Day, ujkkju, DarkBlitz ,4399tina,Nuke-Marine, Downstrike, neodvdhawk, maxg3002, Neodvdhawk, Baakalor, goatluver500, Kang227, flatlander20, stu23, Silvanil, Mankeyspike, O Hell Yeah, daveberto, gangsta p, FoxHunt, the_real_gte, Keystone, Ltangel, Freakybat, stormer, Taraka2, maijingil, Nate1star, Jsm7823, an the man, easeeley, the axe dude, grindalyx, Zmanred01, pokemama, Broadi, Im4eversmart, Laps9, Serial, Snake712, pdgeorge, Sora267, Lordofchao50, sir karamu, princefalcon, Ithin, Skatey, choramizzu, danielson666, PrimeFalcon, Jakesterwars, saphirangel, Vortex479, lessamoth, gregmasta, Seethru, Gregmasta, Brenden, ninjakannon, cbs30954, KingT, Kang, Piro_Omar, Maonzhi, Skeletonmat, Senug5, Absolution, Silent_Sniper, Sandman366, zoig137, link465, BobbehMan, Hilwin1, Motion Man, Radmite, Noble_K, ChathMurrpau, Ksb Single, and Javezz. for corrections.
This Skill Guide was entered into the database on Tue, Feb 17, 2004, at 11:10:42 AM by MrStormy, and it was last updated on Mon, Feb 20, 2023, at 04:43:41 PM by KsbSingle.

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