The Abyss

By Mindesto

The Abyss is located in another plane and only accessible through the Zamorakian Mage north-east of Edgeville. You must first perform a favour for him before gaining access to the Abyss. The abyss is an exciting but hazardous way to speed up Runecrafting.

Additional information on the Abyss is provided below the map. Please note that the obstacle locations change each time you enter - these are examples only. The map is at 200% zoom.

After the favour is completed, the Zamorak Mage will teleport you to the Abyss. He is in the same spot north of Edgeville, at the mouth of the river in level 5 Wilderness. Player-killers hang around this area. Decide ahead of time if you want to wear armour and weapons to put up a fight, or bring very few items to minimise losses if you die. Keep your skull status in mind when making this decision - if you die while skulled and have no prayer for even a Protect Item spell, you won't keep anything at all.

Right click on the Zamorak Mage in the Wilderness and choose 'Teleport'. He will transport you to a random place in the Abyss, on the multi-combat outer ring filled with monsters.

 Prayer. When you enter the Abyss your prayer is drained to zero. You can use prayer potions in the abyss to restore your prayer, but most players choose not to waste potions this way. If you need to fight abyssal monsters for pouches or talismans, it's better to use Fairy Ring Teleportation Network code "ALR" to find these monsters in a much less hostile environment where your prayer won't be drained. Some players may bring a home teleport tablet to use after they craft runes, to restore prayer at their home altar. Of course, this only helps until you re-enter the abyss, when your prayer will be drained again.

 Skull. Normally upon entering you are also "skulled", meaning that if you die you lose everything on you. However, if you wear a Forinthry Brace (enchanted diamond bracelet), you will not get skulled by entering the Abyss. The bracelet will protect you from being skulled 5 times and then it will break. The advantage is that you will keep your 3 most valuable items if you die. Unfortunately, this will not protect essence pouches - Jagex states that pouches are always lost when you die. Refer to our Crafting Guide for more information on bracelets.

The Abyss is full of many aggressive monsters, levels 41, 59 and 81. This is a multi-combat area, so you won't get a break. Some players come prepared with armour, food and a means of escape (quick teleport), in case they get overwhelmed. The best approach for runecrafters is to quickly get to an obstacle and try to pass through it.

The important part of the Abyss is its inner core, where there are thirteen rune altar rifts which bring you directly to any available rune altar. However, to move from the outer circle to the inner circle you must pass through a skill-related blockage.

 Obstacles. Different blockages can be passed using your thieving, woodcutting, mining, firemaking, or agility skill. You may choose any one of the eleven passages to the centre. Five require no equipment: one way requires no skill, two require thieving skill, and two require agility skill. There are six more options which require a tool to get through: two wood cutting (an axe), two mining (a pickaxe), and two fire making (a tinderbox). Passing a skill-related blockage will give you 25 experience points in that skill. The obstacle locations randomly change every time you enter, and are different for each player.

 Rifts. The middle circular area of the Abyss has 'rift' doorways which you can enter to go instantly to the related Runecrafting altar. For example, you can exit through the Fire rift to go to the Fire altar. The different rifts glow with their respective rune symbols, and their fixed locations are shown on the above map. There is no rift for Astral Runes, as they cannot be accessed through the Abyss. The rules for Entrana still apply, so no weapons or armour can be brought into the Law rift. You do not need a Tiara nor a Talisman to go through a rift. You also do not need the related runecrafting level to enter, but you cannot craft runes at lower levels.

The Dark Mage in the very centre can repair your rune essence pouches when needed. You can leave them in your bank, he can still fix them when you ask. He will also replace your small essence pouch if you lose it.

Unlocking the Abyss

To gain access to the Abyss, you will have to do a favour for the Zamorak Mage located north of Edgeville at the mouth of the river (level 5 wilderness). He asks you to speak to him at the Chaos Altar in Varrock. This is the one in the south east corner of Varrock, south of Aubury's Rune Shop. Meet the Zamorak Mage there.

He wants you to get the Rune Essence Teleport spell for him and gives you a Scrying Orb. You must teleport to the Essence Mine from three different locations (any three of those listed in the Runecrafting Skill Guide Introduction) while carrying the Orb. Just teleport to the mine and exit, then go to your next location and repeat. Once you complete the task, return to the Zamorak Mage in Varrock. When you give him back your Orb, you will receive an Abyssal Book, a small pouch and 1,000 Runecrafting xp. The main reward is access to the Abyss - you can enter by right clicking on the wilderness Zamorak Mage and choosing 'Teleport'.

Monsters and Drops

The Abyss is a multi-combat area infested with Abyssal monsters as detailed below. Killing these monsters only gives one third of the xp you regularly receive from killing other monsters, so this is not a good training area. If you are here to craft runes, just get to an obstacle and try to pass through as quickly as possible.

Abyssal Monsters
Leech (lvl 41)	Guardian (lvl 59)	Walker (lvl 81)

These monsters can also be found in an Abyssal Region accessible only through the use of the Fairy Ring Teleportation Network. The Fairy Code "ALR" will take travellers to an area in which all of the Abyssal monsters are present. However, this environment is single combat, and you do not become skulled or lose your prayer on entry. Thus, the fairy ring area is a much better place to fight these monsters for their pouch and talisman drops. This place also gives you the normal rate of experienced gained from combat, unlike the 1xp per hit in the regular abyss.

Rune essence pouches can be obtained as drops from these monsters in either of their locations. These pouches allow you to carry many rune essences in them. The bigger the size of the pouch, the higher the Runecrafting skill that is needed to use it. You can only have one pouch of each size. Over time your pouches degrade, causing them to turn a dark colour and carry less essence. If this happens, talk to the Dark Wizard in the centre of the abyss; you do not need to bring your pouches with you when repairing them, his magic extends to your bank. He will also return your Small Pouch if you've lost it. The Abyssal monsters also drop Elemental Talismans which can be used to access the Air, Water, Earth and Fire Altars. The unique Elemental Talisman can't be crafted into a Tiara nor used to bind runes.

Thanks To: Jard_Y_Dooku, Mmmcannibalism