Water rune

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:Water runeThe RuneScape Classic Wiki also has an article on: classicrsw:Water-Rune

This article is about the rune. For other uses, see Water rune (disambiguation).

The official world for RC Running & ZMI Altar is world 36 (P2P).

This article has a money making guide here. Description: Crafting water runes through the abyss Please add tips to the subpage, rather than the article below.

Water rune
Release																				4 January 2001 (Update)
Members																				No
Quest item																				No
Properties
Tradeable																				Yes
Equipable																				No
Stackable																				Yes
Disassembly																				Yes
Destroy																				Drop
Values
Value																				17 coins
High alch																				3 coins
Low alch																				2 coins
On death																				Always kept outside dangerous area
Weight																				0 kg
Examine
One of the four basic elemental runes. Used in Magic (5).
Grand Exchange
Exchange																				156 coins (info)
Buy limit																				25,000
Loading...
Advanced data
Item ID																				555
Links																				MRID • recipe

Item JSON: {"edible":"no","members":"no","stackable":"yes","stacksinbank":"yes","death":"always","name":"Water rune","bankable":"yes","gemw":{"name":"Water rune","limit":25000},"equipable":"no","disassembly":"yes","release_date":"4 January 2001","id":"555","release_update_post":"Runescape beta is now online!","lendable":"no","destroy":"Drop","highalch":2,"weight":0,"tradeable":"yes","examine":"One of the four basic elemental runes. Used in Magic (5).","noteable":"no"}Buy limit: 25000

The water rune is one of the four elemental runes. They are used to invoke the power of water, in spells such as Water and Ice spells, and may be substituted for by a water staff, water battlestaff, mud battlestaff, steam battlestaff, or tome of frost. Water runes are also substituted in spells by the mystic version of all staves mentioned previously. These runes are also used for ice spells.

These may be made using the Runecrafting skill at level 5 Runecrafting, granting 6 experience per essence, using the Water altar south-east of Draynor Village in the Lumbridge Swamp. They can also be found at various spawns around the game, such as the spawn in the scorpion pit north of Al Kharid. Water runes can also be dropped by monsters. They can sometimes be found inside barrels. After the quest Dealing with Scabaras, water runes may be used on a water tiara, requiring both 50 Magic and Runecrafting, to make an enchanted water tiara. This item replaces waterskins in the desert heat, with three water runes accounting for one dose of water. The amount of charges that the tiara can store is unlimited. Similarly to infusing a druid pouch, the user must use at least 3 water runes on the tiara.

While wearing Explorer's Ring 2 from Easy Lumbridge Task achievement provides 10% chance of crafting an additional water rune per essence at the Water altar (same for air, earth and fire runes at appropriate altar).

Crafting multiple water runes

For more information about Runecrafting multiples, see crafting multiple runes.

Multiplier		GE Price
1x	5	156
2x	19	312
3x	38	468
4x	57	624
5x	76	780
6x	95	936
7x	114*	1,092

Spells

Water runes are needed in a vast amount of spells, as listed below. Because of all the spells that need water runes, many mages will just use a staff of water, water battlestaff or mystic water staff.

Free spells

All players can cast these spells.

Spell		Level	Runes	Spellbook	Spell type
	Bones to Bananas	15	122	Normal, Daemonheim	Skilling
	Falador Teleport	37	113	Normal	Teleport
	Lvl-1 Enchant	7	11	Normal	Skilling
	Water Blast	47	33	Normal, Daemonheim	Combat
	Water Bolt	23	22	Normal, Daemonheim	Combat
	Water Strike	5	11	Normal, Daemonheim	Combat

Member spells

Only members can cast these spells:

Spell		Level	Runes	Spellbook	Spell type
	Ape Atoll Teleport	64	2221	Normal	Teleport
	Ardougne Teleport	51	22	Normal	Teleport
	Bake Pie	65	154	Lunar	Skilling
	Bones to Peaches	60	244	Normal	Skilling
	Catherby Teleport	87	3310	Lunar	Teleport
	Charge Water Orb	56	3301	Normal	Skilling
	Crystallise	88	6666	Ancient	Skilling
	Enchant Bakriminel Bolt (Pearl)	92	112	Normal	Skilling
	Enchant Bakriminel Bolt (Sapphire)	90	1111	Normal	Skilling
	Enchant Crossbow Bolt (Pearl)	24	12	Normal	Skilling
	Enchant Crossbow Bolt (Sapphire)	7	111	Normal	Skilling
	Fire Urn	82	11055	Lunar	Skilling
	Fishing Guild Teleport	85	338	Lunar	Teleport
	Ghorrock Teleport	96	28	Ancient	Teleport
	Humidify	68	113	Lunar, Daemonheim	Skilling
	Ice Barrage	94	25	Ancient	Combat
	Ice Blitz	82	15	Ancient	Combat
	Ice Burst	70	24	Ancient	Combat
	Ice Plateau Teleport	89	338	Lunar	Teleport
	Ice Rush	58	13	Ancient	Combat
	Incite Fear	98	1210	Ancient	Combat
	Khazard Teleport	78	224	Lunar	Teleport
	Lassar Teleport	72	24	Ancient	Teleport
	Lvl-5 Enchant	68	11515	Normal	Skilling
	Magic Imbue	82	277	Lunar	Skilling
	North Ardougne Teleport	76	125	Lunar	Teleport
	Potion Share	81	21010	Lunar	Combat
	Rapid Growth	88	3333	Ancient	Skilling
	Sapphire Aurora	77	13	Ancient	Combat
	Shield Dome	84	333	Ancient	Combat
	Sift Soil	91	1510	Lunar	Skilling
	South Feldip Hills Teleport	10	111	Normal	Teleport
	String Jewellery	80	2105	Lunar	Skilling
	Tele-group Catherby	88	3315	Lunar	Teleport
	Tele-group Fishing Guild	86	3310	Lunar	Teleport
	Tele-group Ice Plateau	90	3316	Lunar	Teleport
	Tele-group Khazard	79	228	Lunar	Teleport
	Tele-group Trollheim Farm	92	3320	Lunar	Teleport
	Tele-group Waterbirth	73	125	Lunar	Teleport
	Tele-other Falador	82	111	Normal	Teleport
	Trollheim Farm Teleport	92	3310	Lunar	Teleport
	Water Surge	85	55	Normal, Daemonheim	Combat
	Water Wave	65	44	Normal, Daemonheim	Combat
	Waterbirth Teleport	72	121	Lunar	Teleport

Removed spells

Spell		Level	Runes	Spellbook	Spell type
	Boost Potion Share	84	31210	Lunar	Combat
	Chill bolt	1 GoodMagic	21	Good magic	Combat
	Elemental bolt	9 EvilMagic	1111	Evil magic	Combat
	Fear	12 EvilMagic	31	Evil magic	Combat
	Stat Restore Pot Share	81	21010	Lunar	Combat

Locations

Store locations

This is an auto-generated list (update now). For a full list, see here. For help, see the FAQ.

Seller	Location	Cost	Currency	Base stock	Members?
Ali's Discount Wares	Al Kharid	17	Coins	300
Aubury's Rune Shop (New Varrock)	New Varrock	Free sample	-	15
Aubury's Rune Shop (New Varrock)	? (edit)	17	Zemomark	300
Aubury's Rune Shop	Varrock	17	Coins	300
Baba Yaga's Magic Shop	Lunar Isle	17	Coins	1,000
Battle Runes	Wilderness	17	Coins	1,000
Betty's Magic Emporium	Port Sarim	17	Coins	300
Carwen Essencebinder Magical Runes Shop	Burthorpe	17	Coins	300
Lundail's Arena-side Rune Shop	Mage arena bank	17	Coins	1,000
Magic Guild Store - Runes and Staves	Wizards' Guild	17	Coins	1,000
Rune Shop (Anachronia)	Anachronia	17	Coins	300
Tutab's Magical Market	Ape Atoll	17	Coins	1,000
TzHaar-Mej-Roh's Rune Store	TzHaar City	26	Tokkul	1,000
Void Knight Magic Store	Void Knights' Outpost	17	Coins	1,000

Item spawns

• On the ground in Al Kharid mine.
• On the ground in Black Knight Fortress in the Wilderness
• On the ground in Frozen Waste Plateau

Products

This is an auto-generated list (update now), and shows the first 100 items alphabetically. For all items, click here.

Item	Skills	Materials	GE price
Amulet of bountiful harvest (new)	7	1 × Opal amulet 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	826
Amulet of glory	68	1 × Dragonstone amulet 1 × Cosmic rune 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune	11,104
Amulet of glory	80  68	1 × Gold bar 1 × Dragonstone 1 × Ball of wool 1 × Cosmic rune 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune	11,104
Amulet of magic	7	1 × Sapphire amulet 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	2,050
Ardougne teleport (item)	51	1 × Soft clay 2 × Law rune 2 × Water rune	8,539
Bones to bananas (item)	15	1 × Soft clay 2 × Water rune 2 × Earth rune 1 × Nature rune	659
Bones to peaches (item)	60	1 × Soft clay 4 × Water rune 4 × Earth rune 2 × Nature rune	186
Bracelet of clay	7	1 × Sapphire bracelet 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	3,315
Catherby teleport (item)	87	1 × Soft clay 3 × Law rune 3 × Astral rune 10 × Water rune	6,006
Combat bracelet	68	1 × Dragonstone bracelet 1 × Cosmic rune 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune	10,437
Combat bracelet	74  68	1 × Gold bar 1 × Dragonstone 1 × Cosmic rune 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune	10,437
Cracked fishing urn (r)	2	1 × Cracked fishing urn (nr) 1 × Water rune	N/A
Decorated fishing urn (r)	76	1 × Decorated fishing urn (nr) 1 × Water rune	N/A
Elemental balance 1	37	500 × Air rune 500 × Water rune 500 × Earth rune 500 × Fire rune	N/A
Elemental balance 2	57	1,000 × Air rune 1,000 × Water rune 1,000 × Earth rune 1,000 × Fire rune	N/A
Elemental balance 3	77	2,000 × Air rune 2,000 × Water rune 2,000 × Earth rune 2,000 × Fire rune	N/A
Enchant dragonstn.	68	1 × Soft clay 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune 1 × Cosmic rune	569
Enchant sapphire	7	1 × Soft clay 1 × Water rune 1 × Cosmic rune	326
Falador teleport (item)	37	1 × Soft clay 1 × Law rune 3 × Air rune 1 × Water rune	7,079
Featherfingered necklace (new)	7	1 × Opal necklace 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	2,765
Fishing guild teleport (item)	85	1 × Soft clay 3 × Law rune 3 × Astral rune 8 × Water rune	6,039
Fragile fishing urn (r)	15	1 × Fragile fishing urn (nr) 1 × Water rune	N/A
Games necklace (8)	7	1 × Sapphire necklace 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	4,828
Ghorrock teleport (item)	96	1 × Soft clay 2 × Law rune 8 × Water rune	6,166
Headhunter's sacrifice (new)	7	1 × Opal bracelet 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	1,642
Ice plateau teleport (item)	89	1 × Soft clay 3 × Law rune 3 × Astral rune 8 × Water rune	2,275
Ivandis flail	47  27	3 × Silver bar 2 × Mithril bar 1 × Sapphire 1 × Emerald 2 × Cosmic rune 3 × Air rune 1 × Water rune	N/A
Khazard teleport (item)	78	1 × Soft clay 2 × Law rune 2 × Astral rune 4 × Water rune	3,394
Lassar teleport (item)	72	1 × Soft clay 2 × Law rune 4 × Water rune	2,505
North ardougne teleport (item)	76	1 × Soft clay 1 × Law rune 2 × Astral rune 5 × Water rune	2,518
Pearl bakriminel bolts (e) × 10	92	10 × Pearl bakriminel bolts 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Blood rune 2 × Water rune	10,530
Pearl bolts (e) × 10	24	10 × Pearl bolts 2 × Water rune 1 × Cosmic rune	440
Plain fishing urn (r)	41	1 × Plain fishing urn (nr) 1 × Water rune	N/A
Polar habitat	67	1,000 × Air rune 1,000 × Water rune 1 × Bagged evergreen	N/A
Ring of Luck	7	1 × Lapis lazuli ring 1 × Water rune 1 × Cosmic rune	3,530
Ring of Wealth	68	1 × Dragonstone ring 1 × Cosmic rune 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune	9,582
Ring of Wealth	55  68	1 × Gold bar 1 × Dragonstone 1 × Cosmic rune 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune	9,582
Ring of metamorphosis (new)	7	1 × Opal ring 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	3,040
Ring of recoil	7	1 × Sapphire ring 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	1,806
Rod of ivandis	25  7	1 × Silver bar 1 × Mithril bar 1 × Sapphire 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	N/A
Rune case 1	41	2 × Teak plank 2 × Molten glass 1 × Air rune 1 × Water rune 1 × Earth rune 1 × Fire rune	N/A
Sapphire bakriminel bolts (e) × 10	90	10 × Sapphire bakriminel bolts 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Blood rune 1 × Mind rune 1 × Water rune	20,570
Sapphire bolts (e) × 10	7	10 × Sapphire bolts 1 × Water rune 1 × Mind rune 1 × Cosmic rune	760
Silvthril rod (enchanted)	7	1 × Silvthril rod 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	N/A
Silvthril rod (enchanted)	25	1 × Silver bar 1 × Mithril bar 1 × Sapphire 1 × Cosmic rune 1 × Water rune	N/A
Skills necklace (4)	68	1 × Dragonstone necklace 1 × Cosmic rune 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune	12,120
Skills necklace (4)	72  68	1 × Gold bar 1 × Dragonstone 1 × Cosmic rune 15 × Earth rune 15 × Water rune	12,120
Strong fishing urn (r)	53	1 × Strong fishing urn (nr) 1 × Water rune	N/A
Trollheim farm teleport (item)	92	1 × Soft clay 3 × Law rune 3 × Astral rune 10 × Water rune	10,517
Water orb	56	1 × Unpowered orb 30 × Water rune 3 × Cosmic rune	1,797
Waterbirth teleport (item)	72	1 × Soft clay 1 × Law rune 2 × Astral rune 1 × Water rune	3,037

Drop sources

For an exhaustive list of all known sources for this item, see here.

Showing 100 out of 142 sources.

Source	Level	Quantity	Rarity
Aviansie	89; 92; 95	30	13/128
Bandit (Wilderness)	18	9	Uncommon
Bandit Brawler Melee	112	9	Uncommon
Bandit looter	42	3–17	Common
Barrel (Viyeldi caves)	N/A	1–11	Common
Basilisk	70; 77	20	12/128
Big frog	36	12	Uncommon
Black Heather	138	30	Uncommon
Black Knight Titan	28	Unknown	Uncommon
Brine rat	49	10; 18	Uncommon
Casket (CS Week)	N/A	150	Common
Catablepon	53; 54	7	8/128
Cave bug Level 12		1–170	2/128
Cave bug Level 8		8	4/128
Cave goblin (monster)	1	6	Common
Cave slime	26	15	5/128
Chaos dwarf hand cannoneer	70; 101	10	Common
Chaos dwarf	28; 45; 47; 84; 101; 108	10	1/128
Chaos dwogre	92; 98	10	Common
Chaos witch apprentice	121	1–100	Unknown
Chaos witch channeler	143; 147	1–100	Unknown
Chaos witch mender	109	1–100	Unknown
Chaos witch	141	1–100	Unknown
Chest (Oldak)		10–19	61.31/1400
Cockatrice	44	1–2	3/128
Cockroach drone	4	1–7	18/128
Corpse archer	18	6	9/128
Corpse mage	21	8	10/384
Corpse spider	4	2	8/195
Crawling corpse torso	9	4	Uncommon
Crystal chest Taverley	N/A	200	Common
Cyclops Ardougne Zoo	63	7	Uncommon
Dagannoth guardian	98	10–36	Uncommon
Dagannoth spawn	65	3	Common
Dagon'hai Monk	77	10; 18	Common
Dark warrior	16	3	4/128
Dark wizard (The Zamorakian Undercity)	114	1–100	Unknown
Dark wizard High level	30; 35; 37	10; 18	Uncommon
Dark wizard Low level	22; 30; 33	10; 18	Uncommon
Desert strykewyrm	103	2–100	Uncommon
Donny the Lad	138	30	Uncommon
Dragith Nurn	26	8	Unknown
Elf warrior	84; 89	70	Common
Elite Khazard guard	77; 84	4–10	Common
Essence impling jar		30	1/10
Essence impling	42	30	1/10
Exiled kalphite paragon	84	31–89	Common
Exiled kalphite soldier	84	53–84	Common
Experiment No.2	64	3–14	Uncommon
Frog	77	6	Common
Giant Oyster	N/A	150	Common
Giant Oyster	N/A	300	Common
Giant Rock Crab	95	1–39	Common
Giant Sea Snake	63	15	Uncommon
Giant ant worker	49	28	Common
Giant skeleton (Shadow Dungeon)	84	18	Uncommon
Giant wasp	70; 84	32; 35; 37	Common
Gnoeals	70	30–44	Common
Goblin guard (Observatory)	28	6	6/128
Goblin Common	2; 4; 5; 11	6	6/128
Guthix wizard	105; 119	42; 146	Uncommon
Hill giant	44	7	Uncommon
Hobgoblin (elite)	41	2	Uncommon
Hobgoblin Unarmed	28; 30	2	2/128
Hobgoblin Armed	32; 35; 91	2	2/128
Ice giant	51	12	Rare
Ice troll	84; 89	65	Common
Icefiend	35	1–5	Uncommon
Icefiend Ice Mountain	35	5	Common
Imp herald	98	5	Common
Imp	5	5	Common
Infernal Mage (elite)	82	25	Unknown
Infernal Mage	72	10; 18	4/128
Jailer	39	Unknown	Common
Kalphite Soldier	65	21; 22	Uncommon
Kalphite Worker	58	11–19	Common
Knight of Ardougne Mourner HQ	53	70	Common
Maelstrom, Raging Waterfiend	142	125	Always
Minotaur	14; 44; 52	5	5/128
Mogre	54	5–18	Uncommon
Molanisk	53	1–13	11/128
Mountain troll (well)	8	6	Common
Mourner	33; 79; 85	70	Common
Mugger	15	6	Uncommon
Outlaw	32	6	Uncommon
Paladin	49	30	Common
Reward casket (easy)	Easy	150	Common
Reward casket (medium)	Medium	300	Common
Rock lobster	100	9	Common
Salarin the Twisted	77	12	Common
Sandy Casket (red)	N/A	150	Common
Sandy Casket (red)	N/A	300	Unknown
Sandy Casket	N/A	150	Common
Sandy Casket	N/A	300	Unknown
Saradomin wizard	98	146	Uncommon
Sea Snake Hatchling	63	15	Common
Sea Snake Young	63	15	Uncommon
Security casket (CS Week)	N/A	300	Unknown
Sir Carl	81	30	Common
Sir Harry	81	30	Common

Disassembly

Water rune
Disassembly category	Runes and talismans
Disassembly XP	0.1
Item quantity required	50
Material count	8
Base junk chance	?  94.5% Your actual junk chance depends on your junk chance reduction researched. See the table below for all values, and Junk for more information. Reduction Junk chance None 1 94.5% 1 34 93.6 2 49 91.7 3 64 89.8 4 69 87.9 5 78 86.0 6 83 83.2 7 91 81.3 8 95 78.5 9 105 75.7
Common materials
Magic parts	85/100
Uncommon materials
Crafted parts	13/100
Rare materials
Powerful components	2/100

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included—see here for how to help out!

• update 4 January 2001 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

• The most water runes required for a spell is 30, for the Charge Water Orb spell.
• Water runes used to have a price ceiling of 16 coins each, and were extremely hard to buy on the Grand Exchange. On 9 September 2009, the price cap was removed (and shortly before, the infinite stock of water runes in shops had been removed), and water runes increased in price to over 40 coins each. Due to this it was very smart to buy water runes from rune shops at 17 coins and sell on the Grand Exchange.
• Water runes spiked massively in price in 2021 due to the release of the Fractured Staff of Armadyl, which has a special attack that synergizes incredibly well with the Incite Fear spell (which costs 10 Water runes per autoattack) through its ability to discount the adrenaline cost of Tsunami.
• As of 1 October 2022, 15,544,642,599 water runes were owned by active players.