Pay-to-play Mining training
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Contents
Equipment[edit | edit source]
The only item required to mine is a pickaxe. In order to achieve the greatest amount of experience and ores, one should always use the best pickaxe available at their Mining level. However, certain low level rocks become attainable at maximum speed at higher mining levels, even with lower level pickaxes. Although a certain Attack level is required to wield one, players are still able to use the pickaxe to mine without the required Attack level.
Using the infernal pickaxe (making one requires 85 Smithing) is recommended if powermining for the fastest experience, as it will smelt 1/3 of the ores mined, reducing the amount of ores that need to be dropped and also providing passive Smithing experience. It can be charged with dragon pickaxes or smouldering stones. The latter are usually cheaper, but using the infernal pickaxe can still be somewhat expensive for some players. For other methods, the crystal pickaxe performs better and it should be used if the player has enough crystal shards for it.
Completing task sets from the Varrock Diary grants the player Varrock armour, which gives the player 10% chance of mining 2 ores at once while worn. Varrock armour 1 gives this bonus ores up to coal, 2 up to mithril, 3 up to adamantite and 4 up to amethyst (additionally, works as a prospector jacket).
The prospector kit obtained from Prospector Percy in the Motherlode Mine provides a total of 2.5% bonus experience per ore mined. The outfit is not time-efficient to get if the player is going for 99 Mining using the fastest methods, however it is a requirement for a master clue step and a hard task in the Falador Diary so the player might want to get it anyway. There are also mining gloves available in the Mining Guild, however they do not bring any benefits when using the training methods below.
Ore table[edit | edit source]
| Level required | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Rune essence
|
5 |
| 1 |  Clay
|
5 |
| 1 |  Copper
|
17.5 |
| 1 |  Tin
|
17.5 |
| 10 |  Blurite ore
|
17.5 |
| 10 |  Limestone
|
26.5 |
| 15 |  Iron
|
35 |
| 20 |  Silver ore
|
40 |
| 30 |  Coal
|
50 |
| 30 |  Pure essence
|
5 |
| 35 |  Sandstone
|
30,40,50,60 |
| 40 |  Gold ore
|
65 |
| 40 |  Gem rock
|
65 |
| 45 |  Granite
|
50,60,75 |
| 55 |  Mithril ore
|
80 |
| 65 |  Lovakite ore
|
10 |
| 70 |  Adamantite
|
95 |
| 85 |  Runite
|
125 |
| 92 |  Amethyst
|
240 |
Quests for Mining experience[edit | edit source]
- Doric's Quest: 1300 XP
- Plague City: 2425 XP
- The Giant Dwarf: 2500 XP
- Lost Tribe: 3000 XP
- Another Slice of H.A.M.: 3000 XP
- Between a Rock...: 5000 XP
- Enakhra's Lament: 7000 XP
- The Dig Site: 15,300 XP
- Making Friends with My Arm: 10,000 XP
- Dragon Slayer II: 18,000 XP
- Song of the Elves: 20,000 XP
Fastest experience[edit | edit source]
To gain Mining experience most efficiently, players should always drop the ores they mine ("powermining" or "dropmining"). Players can quickly drop their items by holding the shift key and clicking on the ore once shift drop has been enabled in the options.
Levels 1–37 – Questing[edit | edit source]
Completing Doric's Quest, The Dig Site, Plague City, The Giant Dwarf, The Lost Tribe and Another Slice of H.A.M. grants the player a total of 27,525 Mining experience, which elevates a level 1 Mining to level 37. All of the quests have fairly low requirements, and completing them allows the player to skip the early levels, and use an adamant pickaxe right from the start.
Levels 1–15 – Copper/Tin ore[edit | edit source]
If the player is not willing to do any quests, copper or tin should be mined from level 1 to 15. This can be done anywhere, though the Lumbridge Swamp mining site is debatably the easiest due to its relative lack of players and aggressive monsters, and its collection of copper and tin rocks.
To progress from level 1 to level 15, you will need 2411 experience. You will need to mine a combination of 138 copper or tin ores to reach level 15, since they both give 17.5 experience a piece.
Levels 15–75 – Iron ore[edit | edit source]
Mining iron provides the fastest experience from level 15 to 75. Having Varrock armour 1 or higher increases the overall experience rate for this, as it gives the player 10% chance to mine 2 ores at once while worn.
From level 15 to 60, players should mine iron at a location that has three iron rocks in a triangle, as such a formation that allows the player to mine all three rocks without moving. There are seven such locations available at this level: the Legends' Guild mine, the Al Kharid Mine, the Piscatoris mine, the Lovakengj mine, the Verdant Valley on Fossil Island (near the mushtree), the Mount Karuulm mine and the Resource Area (level 51 Wilderness). Drop the ores while waiting for the rocks to respawn.
If using tick manipulation, the best place to mine iron is in the Legends' Guild mine between East Ardougne and Legends' Guild, which has 4 iron rocks close to each other in the eastern part. Start the 3-tick cycle with a herb and tar (or other suitable items) while moving between rocks, and drop the ores between mines. This method is faster than using a triangle spot, but because this method is much more advanced and significantly harder than using a triangle spot, it is only recommended for players who plan on 3-tick mining granite from level 75 onwards.
From level 60 onwards the pay-to-play area of the Mining Guild becomes the best option, as the respawn time for rocks mined in this area is halved. This makes it so the players do not have to wait for the rocks to respawn or use tick manipulation; with correct timing and accurate clicks, players can drop the ore between mines and keep mining continuously.
Players can expect to gain up to around 45,000–55,000 experience per hour below level 60 when not using tick manipulation. From level 60 and above, the maximum experience rate in the Mining Guild caps at around 70,000–80,000 experience per hour, depending on performance and the pickaxe used.
Banking the ores is not recommended as this slows down experience rates a lot and the iron ores are usually not worth very much. Those who still wish to bank their ores are advised to use the pay-play area in the Mining Guild, which has a triangle spot near to the bank chest.
Levels 75–99 – Granite[edit | edit source]
From level 75 Mining onwards, the fastest experience is gained by 3-tick mining granite in the south-west area of the Quarry, which has 4 granite rocks close to each other (commonly referred to as "3t4g", 3-tick 4 granite). This method offers by far the best experience rates, but it is extremely click-intensive and can be hard to learn. With good performance it is possible to achieve 115,000–125,000 experience per hour at 99 Mining. When granite mining without tick manipulation, you can expect to get up to 63,750 experience per hour at 99 Mining.
Having Varrock armour 2 or higher increases the overall experience rate for this method, as it gives the player 10% chance to mine 2 ores at once while worn. It also strongly recommended to use an infernal pickaxe if the player can afford to use it, as it significantly reduces the amount of ores that need to be dropped and also provides passive Smithing experience. One fully charged infernal pickaxe lasts for around 900,000–1,000,000 Mining experience. Using a crystal pickaxe is not recommended for this method, as it does not bring any benefits or increase experience rates because of tick manipulation being used, and it costs crystal shards to use.
When doing this method, it is recommended to use resizable mode, zoom in and turn the camera south so that there is as little distance from the inventory to the rocks as possible. Turning data orbs off is also helpful to prevent any misclicks when clicking on the southernmost rock.
It is advised to drop the mined ore on the ground between mines. This is done by starting the 3-tick action and clicking on the next rock, quickly dropping the ore and clicking the rock again. This requires accurate clicking and some practice to perform consistently, but it is much more efficient than dropping a full inventory.
As the Quarry is located in the desert, some sort of desert heat protection is necessary in order to survive. Desert amulet 4 provides immunity to the desert heat while worn, alternatively wearing the Hitpoints cape along with a regen bracelet will outheal the damage taken from desert heat. If neither of those are an option, the player can bring waterskins and fill them with the lunar spell Humidify.
Other methods[edit | edit source]
Levels 30–99 – Motherlode Mine[edit | edit source]
Mining in the Motherlode Mine is a common way to train Mining, as it requires relatively low effort compared to other methods and offers decent profit at higher levels. However, experience rates are significantly lower as a result.
Completing medium tasks of the Falador Diary grants the player access to a shortcut (requires 54 Agility) within the Motherlode Mine. Completion of the elite diary will also increase the chance of receiving higher-level ores.[1]
Additionally, players are able to obtain golden nuggets through cleaning pay-dirt. These can be used to purchase the Prospector kit from Prospector Percy, which adds a bonus 2.5% experience while mining. Having all the parts from the prospector kit is a requirement for completing the hard task set of the Falador Diary.
Once the player reaches level 72 Mining and has 100 golden nuggets, it is recommended to unlock the upper levels of the mine. The upper levels have more concentrated ore veins compared to the lower level, and they deplete after they have been mined for a set amount of time, unlike in the lower area, where it's a random chance per pay-dirt mined, making one vein last longer on average.
Players can gain up to 30,000 experience per hour at level 70 Mining, 42,000 experience per hour at level 85 and 53,000 experience per hour at level 99.
Levels 61–75 – Gem rocks[edit | edit source]
Mining gem rocks at the underground portion of the Shilo Village mine becomes a viable option for players who have completed hard tasks of the Karamja Diary. Players can use the nearby bank deposit box after they have mined a full inventory of gems. Experience rates with a charged amulet of glory equipped and a dragon pickaxe average around 41,000–42,000 experience per hour below 70 Mining, 52,000 experience per hour at 80, 58,000 experience per hour at 90 and 63,000 experience per hour at 99. However, doing this method past 75 Mining is not recommended unless the player is hunting for the rock golem pet, as the Blast Mine minigame offers better experience and similar profit.
Levels 70–99 – Volcanic Mine[edit | edit source]
Participating in the Volcanic Mine minigame can offer the best experience rates outside of the Quarry. To enter the mine, players must have level 50 in Mining, and have earned at least 150 Kudos. In addition, players must pay Petrified Pete 30 numulites every time they wish to enter the mine.
In a good team, the player can gain roughly 75,000–80,000 experience per hour at level 85 Mining and 85,000–90,000 experience per hour at level 99.
The official world for this minigame is world 323, although it is recommended to search for a team — the Minigame Group Finder includes a clan chat for Volcanic Mine, where players may be found making groups.
Levels 75–99 – Blast Mine[edit | edit source]
Participating in the Blast Mine minigame (which requires having 100% Lovakengj favour) offers decent experience and good profit from level 75 onwards. This is due to being able to obtain runite ore at that level, which makes bulk of the profit gained. It is possible to participate in the minigame below 75 Mining, but this is not recommended as the lack of runite ores will severely hamper experience and profit rates. Having a higher Mining level increases the chances of obtaining better ores, increasing experience and profit as a result.
A common inventory setup is to have noted dynamites along with unnoted ones, a chisel, a tinderbox, and a stamina potion. As soon as you run out of dynamite, run to the nearby bank chest to unnote more dynamite for blasting. Having weight-reducing clothing (such as the graceful outfit) is very beneficial in order to save run energy. Since the chance of getting higher-level ores depends on the player's Mining level, the dragon pickaxe's special attack can be used to temporarily increase the current Mining level. Equip the prospector kit when collecting the ores from the operator for extra experience.
Players can gain up to around 55,000 experience per hour at 75 Mining, 65,000 experience per hour at level 90 and 70,000–75,000 experience per hour at level 99.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Jagex. Mod Ash's Twitter account. 8 Nov 2017. Mod Ash: "[Was the diary reward for ore-choosing fixed?] 18th June 2015, yes."
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