11 Tips & Tricks for Beginners in RuneScape: Dragonwilds
Image Credit: Jagex, RuneScape Dragonwilds
Welcome to Dragonwilds, where the dragons are wild and the tutorials are imaginary. If you just started and feel like you’ve been dropped into medieval IKEA without instructions, it was the same for us. Here are 10 tips and tricks that actually help.
Read More: All Skills in RuneScape: Dragonwilds
1. Plop a Lodestone at Your Base
Teleporting is your best friend. After finishing your first vault, you’ll get a Vault Core—which unlocks the Lodestone recipe.
Materials:
32 Stone
20 Rune Essence
1 Vault Core
Always carry enough to build one while out exploring. Drop it, fast travel back, dump your loot, then bounce.
2. Vault Cores Glow
When you’re exploring a Vault, keep your eyes peeled for a soft orange glow poking out from corners or behind rubble. That’s usually a Vault Core or its container—yes, even before you’ve opened the room. They’re not labeled, but once you know the color, it’s hard to unsee.
It’s especially helpful when you're in the mood to speedrun through instead of poking every dusty corner. Also: if a room looks pointless, check again. If the glow’s leaking through the wall, you probably missed a door, lever, or jump path.
3. Mining Rune Essence in Mid-Air? Use Rock Explosion
At Mining Level 11, you unlock the Rock Explosion spell. It’s meant for rocks, sure—but it also works on those annoying floating rune essences. Just time your cast when they dip low. Boom. Free shards in the air.
4. Crafting XP Trick with Crafting Tables
Want fast Construction XP?
Build a bunch of Crafting Tables (only costs Ash Logs)
Get 12 XP per table
Demolish and rebuild like a cheater (but legal)
5. Switch Your Staff’s Element
You can swap your staff between fire and air.
Go to your Rune tab
Right-click on the fire or air rune (the one with the orange mark)
Congrats, your staff now casts that element
Only fire and air seem to work (for now).
6. Use Axal Projection for Tree Clearing
At Woodcutting Level 11, you get Axal Projection. Line up multiple trees and it’ll cut them all in one throw. Bonus:
Right-click when chopping the stumps
You’ll do more damage than left-clicking
Faster wood, less time pretending it’s fun
7. Ghost Build Mode is Real
When placing buildings, hit F or toggle it from the left menu to enter Ghost Mode. This lets you plan your base without spending resources. Just blueprints—no commitment. Like a Minecraft vision board.
8. Unlock Flight Mode with Eye of Oculus
Once your Construction hits Level 11, you get the Eye of Oculus spell.
It’s basically flight mode for base building. You’ll float above your camp like a spooky architect, placing things wherever you want.
9. Don’t Starve (But Also... You Can)
If your hunger and thirst hit zero, you won’t die.
You’ll just hang out at 1 HP, barely alive and deeply dehydrated. Useful if you’re AFK or waiting for your friends to stop messing with their base tiles.
10. Secret Vault Areas Are Up, Down, and Behind Stuff
Inside vaults:
Look above you
Check for ramps, thorns, or stone barriers
Use Air Runes to jump up to hidden ledges'
There’s loot, levers, even Vault Cores tucked away. The floor is lying to you. Look up.
11. Armor Can Give You a Bonus Shield (Purple Bar)
Some crafted gear like the Apprentice Robe gives you a purple bar over your health.
This is a shield. It absorbs damage.
Recharge it by crafting Ward Stones at the Rune Altar:
1 Stone
5 Rune Essence
Cheap and useful—keep a few on you at all times.
Final Blurb
Dragonwilds doesn’t hold your hand—it barely acknowledges your presence. But that’s half the fun. Hopefully these tips make the start a little less “why am I on fire” and a bit more “hey, I got this.” If not… well, try not to die near lava.
Recommended | View all RuneScape Dragonwilds
