Ancient Relics/Guide

This page is up to date (v1.2.2).

Dungeons

While dungeons are unchanged, the Ancient Relics gamemode requires players to complete dungeons to increase their skill levels, which are otherwise locked to a very low level.

While dungeons can be completed in any order, the following is a suggested order based on the max hit of the boss of each dungeon, including a link to the guide to that dungeon, as well as the combat level cap the player will have for that dungeon.

Lvl Dungeon Guide Max
10   Chicken Coop   Chicken Coop/Guide 52
15   Undead Graveyard   Undead Graveyard/Guide 106
20   Spider Forest   Spider Forest/Guide 142
25   Frozen Cove   Frozen Cove/Guide 172
30   Deep Sea Ship   Deep Sea Ship/Guide 204
35   Bandit Base   Bandit Base/Guide 174
40   Hall of Wizards   Hall of Wizards/Guide 208
45   Miolite Caves   Miolite Caves/Guide 240
50   Dragons Den   Dragons Den/Guide 470
55   Volcanic Cave   Volcanic Cave/Guide 520

Skills

Throughout the game the skills level are capped (initially to 10) which means that you will need to carefully manage resources and equipment early on. Completing a dungeon will raise your skill caps and so this is a good first goal. Fishing and cooking are locked out until much later making dungeons considerably harder, and you will need creative ways of getting those foods with higher HP.

Any skill XP earned over the ceiling cap will be deleted, but the mastery and global mastery XP work as normal.

There are many creating ways of obtaining stronger items that you will need:

Ancient Relics

Performing any skill will give you a (low) chance of discovering an Ancient Relic. Whilst it is possible to get all of the Ancient Relics without completing dungeons, it is not recommended. It is worth noting, that many of the Ancient Relics will give you passive rewards that go beyond the kill and so should not be overlooked. There is however a guaranteed Ancient Relic when you reach skill level 20 which is likely to happen after completing your first dungeon, and you should try to get these relics as soon as they are available.

Lesser Relics

While skilling you will be rewarded with Lesser Relics which can be equipped to give boosts to that skill. One Lesser Relic will be used for every action. For example, in   Mining the   Mining Lesser Relic will guarantee one jewel for every ore, which is a great way to earn   early in the game. Similarly, the   Thieving Lesser Relic provides an extra 30 stealth which will come in handy when you want to progress   Thieving.

Skill Balancing

When levelling up your skills it is important to consider how each skill interacts with your other skills and abilities. For example, if you level   Smithing it will give you access to stronger weapons and armour, but to use this skill you will also not   Mine for the raw materials and a higher combat level to wear the items you have made. Similarly, if you level   Firemaking to soon then you will also need   Woodcutting (or   Thieving) to balance out this skill.

When to fully explore cartography

Early exploration of   Cartography is recommended as it unlocks many great rewards. However, it is strongly recommended that you do not attempt to fully explore   Cartography (or use Auto Survey) until you are able to reach   Level 100. Surveying has a finite amount of XP available, and any that you waste early on could limit how much of the map you ultimately reveal.

Map creation and upgrades have unlimited XP, but these are not a generous source of XP, and will consume a lot of   Paper.

Levels 1 to 10: Starting tips

Starting tips:

  • Township Tasks: Check out the easier   Township tasks as often these will give useful rewards such as food,   or   which can be a big boost early on. Use a   Bronze Dagger to kill 100   Plant. This will complete the township task and reward you with 2,000   Potatoes.
  • Cartography: Starting   Cartography will give you   50. Surveying the   Farmer's Market at (13, 16) which is close to your starting position in   500.
  • Slayer Tasks: It is free to select a new slayer task, and so for every combat keep re-rolling until you get a low target monster. You will need to stick to   Plant,   Chicken and   Cow. Use   potatoes while training combat, and save high value food items such as   Shrimp for the   Chicken Coop dungeon.
  • Runecrafting: Ancient Relics uses the hardcore Combat Triangle, and so magic is powerful against melee monsters.   Runecrafting will let you unlock more damaging spells. Mine plenty of   Rune Essence to create runes and obtains staves such as the   Staff of Earth and the highest magic gear you can obtain. You can train   Level 10 on the   Cow.
  • Mining: The   Mining Lesser Relic provides a guaranteed gem, and so mining ore is a good source of   early on. Sell jewels to obtain 1,000,000  to unlock Auto Eat Tier 1 early as this will give a considerable advantage.
  • Melee: Train melee to 10 XP and unlock the   Golbin Thief and use   Mining and   Smithing to create   50. Make at least one   Golbin Thief so that you can receive more marks.
  • Chicken Coop The   Chicken Coop can be defeated once you have maxed out your magic, hitpoints and prayer XP. You should wear your strongest magic gear possible, and a good supply of runes. Use Earth Strike magic, and Thick Skin as your prayer for a small advantage. Use   Shrimp to maintain your health.

Once you have defeated the dungeon, you will unlock level 15 in combat, and the skills you have selected.

Levels 11 to 29: Skilling recommendations

After completing a dungeon, you will be offered a randomized selection of skills and level caps to select from. Whilst some choices might be straight-forward, it can be challenging weighing up the benefits and of each skill.

Here are some things to consider:

  • Thieving: Once you get to   Level 26 you will unlock   Assistant Cook which will be a great source of food. Also, you can use   Thieving to get   as well as some useful drops or ammo, as there are very few other ways to make money at this time.
  • Farming: This provides a passive source of food, herbs, and logs. For example, killing   Junior Farmer until you have 3   Potato Seeds so that you can start   Farming for extra food. In time, the passive benefits of   Farming will give you a huge boost.
  • Astrology: Early on, there are some good passive boosts available in   Astrology. However, the cost of unlocking increases quickly, so early it's a good idea to focus on small boosts, rather than trying to max out .
  • Summoning: This gives a big boost and is needed for the higher strength mobs and dungeons. For example,   Golbin Thief is a good early summon that will help give the advantage in combat.
  • Slayer: The Slayer tasks will reward you with   Slayer Coins which can be used to purchase   Slayer re-supplies. These give you a good source of food, prayer and ammo. It is going to be a long time before you unlock   Fishing and   Cooking, so these re-supplied will be invaluable. Levelling   Slayer will also unlock new mobs and dungeons in time.

Levels 30+: Places of Interest

At this point you will have found some Ancient Relics which will give you passive benefits. but there is still a lot to discover.

Here are some suggestions on where to go next:

Continue defeating dungeons to increase your skill caps and along the way you will discover the Ancient Relics. Good luck!

Dungeon Tips

This section gives clues on how to defeat some of the early dungeons without too much reliance on skill or luck. Depending on which Ancient Relics you obtain, and the skills that you unlock, some better options might become available.

Level all combat stats to maximum that you can after every dungeon. Use Slayer Tasks for all of your combat training. It is free to change easy tasks , and you will then receive   from all of the monsters you train with which will allow you to purchase more re-supplies.

Level every skill to 20 as soon as it becomes available, even if the skill itself is not that useful, as this will give a guaranteed Ancient Relic. Many relics give benefits outside of the skill itself. Do not overlook the benefits of each small improvements - you are forced to face the dungeons woefully under-levelled.

Level township and farming as you go along. These passive skills will pay dividends when you are fully levelled.

Chicken Coop: Level 10

Before tackling this dungeon, level up your magic, prayer and summon to 10. You can use low-level slayer tasks to level up all of your combat skills safely.

At level 10, you are very limited in what you can craft and equip. Equip the   Earth Strike. Use   Golbin Thief and Prayers to help reduce the battle time and increase your chances of success. Using   Shrimp should be sufficient to beat the   Mumma Chicken.

Undead Graveyard: Level 15

Before tackling the dungeon level your skills to at least 20 if they are upgrade as this will maximize the number of Ancient Relics. You can obtain   50 from   Cartography (see above for coords), and the   Eyeball from an easy township task. Use low-level slayer tasks to train your combat skills. You can get   1000 from   The Restless Sanctum at (13, 14) which is very close to your starting position.

At level 15, you are limited in what you can craft and equip. If you have plenty of   Shrimp or   Lobster then this should be sufficient. Equip the   Fire Strike,   Soul Split I and   Blinding I spells. Use   Occultist and   Thick Skin to increase your chances of success.

Undead Graveyard: Level 20

At level 20, you will need to take on the Bandits which will be your toughest challenge yet. There is an easy task that will grant you   (G) Mithril Platebody, and the remainder of the armour can be obtained from the   Mithril Knight. It will take a bit of time to acquire all of the armour which should give a chance for all of your stats to increase. It is important that you level everything up to 20 (or better) so that you obtain the most number of Ancient Relics possible. It you know how, use the Easter Eggs to obtain   Amulet of Calculated Promotion.

For the dungeon, you will likely need a lot of   Lobster (e.g. 500) to overcome this dungeon safely. You can obtain 50,000  (which is enough for 10 re-supplies) from   Shrouded Horizon in (4, 26) which can be found by navigating a straight path from your starting position, but be advised that you will need around 500,000  to reach this hex. If you have the   Mining Lesser Relic then mining for jewels is a good way to get sufficient   for your travels.

Use   Occultist and   Agility Lesser Relic (reduces attack interval) to increase your chances of success. Use   Burst of Strength and   Clarity of Thought to increase your stats. During the battle with   Bandit Leader you will need to time your eats carefully to avoid being killed and it may take more than one attempt. Pay close attention when the special (yellow attack) as these will decrease their attack interval considerably. You may need to hold down the eat button to avoid getting killed unexpectedly as you will encounter a lot of damage.