Dust Runes are one of Runescape’s combination runes, a rune type that combines the effects of two of the four elemental runes into one item. Dust Runes combine Air Runes and Earth Runes into one, and can be used in place of both elements for any spell, including spells that use both Air and Earth Runes. While a bit finicky in both its inputs and its outputs, the process of crafting Dust Runes is actually quite simple.
Dust Runecrafting requirements
To craft your own Dust Runes, you will need at least level 10 Runecrafting. Every Dust Runecrafting trip you take will require Pure Essence, at a rate of one piece of essence for every Dust Rune crafted. The other items required for the process will vary depending on which Runecrafting altar you visit.
For starters, if visiting the Air Altar south of Varrock’s Cooking Guild, you’ll need to bring a stack of normal Earth Runes equaling the amount of Dust Runes you intend to craft, as well as an Earth Talisman and a means to get into the Air Altar. An Air Talisman or Air Tiara will both work for this purpose. Keep in mind that the Earth Talisman is consumed in the process of making Dust Runes at the Air Altar.
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Alternatively, you can head to the Earth Altar near Varrock’s eastern lumber yard, albeit with the elements of all items in the process reversed. This means that you’ll instead bring Air Runes along with a disposable Air Talisman and an Earth Talisman or Earth Tiara for access to the altar. As with both altars, wearing an elemental tiara in place of its talisman will save an inventory space, letting you bring another piece of pure essence per inventory.
Runecrafting Dust Runes
To enter the Air or Earth altars, you need to approach their respective ruins in the overworld and either use the same-element talisman on it or, if wearing its elemental tiara, left clicking it. This will teleport you directly to the actual altar, which you can interact with to create runes.
How you interact with the altar will change what type of runes you craft. Left-clicking on it with essence in your inventory will only create runes of that type, which will result in making Air or Earth Runes instead of the desired Dust Runes. Instead, using the opposite stack of elemental runes on the altar — Air Runes on the Earth Altar or Earth Runes on the Air Altar — will fuse dust runes at the cost of both the disposable talisman and the runes used.
By default, making combination runes has a 50% success rate, meaning that around half of your available essence will be crafted into Dust Runes per trip. If done efficiently, making use of relevant teleports, Abyssal Titan summons, full essence pouches, and Binding Necklaces to increase the odds of a successful combination to 100%, you can craft approximately 14,000 Dust Runes per hour spent Runecrafting. This can turn a profit of around 20,000,000 GP hourly, making Dust Runecrafting one of Runescape’s most profitable money-makers.
