RuneScape’s New Mining and Smithing Update

Continuing with the overhaul on the way Mining and Smithing works in RuneScape, this month’s new Smithing and Mining update has brought along further changes to the skills. This might have left you wondering what those changes are, and how this will affect the way in which you play the game. Luckily for you, we’re here to bring you up to speed with the changes so that you don’t get left behind.

We will discuss about:

• Changes that have been made to smithing and mining in the past
• New changes to smithing and mining
• How to continue training efficiently

What changes have been made in RuneScape’s Smithing and Mining Updates?

You may remember, about this time last year, some changes being made to the Mining and Smithing skills and the way you go about training them. In case you don’t remember or haven’t played in a while, here’s a quick recap on RuneScape’s Smithing and Mining update;

• Mining: New metals were added that become available at level 90, and along with them new pickaxes, also becoming available at level 90, were added with which to mine the new metals. Swinging your axe at ores also gives XP while filling up a progress bar. Ores are obtained after this progress bar is filled up, which is faster if your level is higher, and if you are using a better pickaxe. In an effort to prevent the need to world skip, many ores no longer deplete, so you can happily mine with others, and if you’re paying attention, an ore may sparkle, granting you an XP and progress bar boost if you go for it.

• Smithing: The changes added to Smithing allowed you to choose how active you want to be when training you skill. If you wish, you can take a more AFK approach, meaning items take longer to smith and will grant less XP, or you can stay focussed and use the forges next to the anvils to heat up items and smith them faster, granting more XP. The ability to upgrade items was also added, of which fully upgraded items can be used in burial ceremonies by dwarves in Falador, granting more XP, but destroying the item. Those who are patient enough to make their way to 99 Smithing may also create Masterwork armour (a full set of which will set you back 600 metal bars) which degrades, can be augmented, and can be trimmed to slow degredation.

Now that you’re all caught up on what was added last year, let’s dive into this year’s new re-work.

• Mining: Now, rocks that reduce stamina while you mine them will be a little bit more punishing to players. When your stamina empty, you will only deal 20% ‘damage’ to these rocks while you mine them, as opposed to 80%.

• Smithing: The changes made this year to Smithing revolve around the way in which items are disassembled into parts or components for Invention. Now, for every bar used to smith an item, four parts or components will be granted when that item is broken down. For example, if an item takes one bar to smith, it will break down into four parts or components, if it takes two bars, it will break down into eight parts or components, and so on.

How can we adjust to the Smithing and Mining Update in RuneScape?

One of the great things about the Mining side of RuneScape’s update that makes things so much easier (and less stressful) is the fact that many rocks no longer deplete, meaning that you’re no longer required to race other players and hope you get the ores before them. With this competition now gone for most rocks, you should no longer feel the need to spend time world-hopping to find less crowded mining locations and can spend more time focussed on training.

To combat the effects that stamina will now have when mining ores, we recommend utilizing perfect juju mining potions and stone spirits. A perfect juju mining potion, like juju mining potions, will give the player a 10% chance to gain a stone spirit of the type of ore that is being mined. However, the perfect variation of the potion will also refill the player’s stamina when the stone spirit is consumed to gain an additional ore, making it essential for training Mining if you want to ensure you are maximising XP and mining more efficiently. Make sure you enable the stamina bar and keep an eye on it!

When smelting to train Smithing, the time it takes to create bars has increased, but the amount of XP gained per bar has decreased, and smithing items that require more bars takes longer but also rewards more XP. Despite these changes, XP gained per hour has remained pretty much the same, so there’s not really much you need to worry about here.

What you do need to worry about is the forges that have been added to each anvil. The forges allow players to access their metal bank, and will allow you to heat items when smithing, resulting in quicker completion time, and more XP per hour if utilized. The hotter the item is, the more progress will be made per hit when smithing, so make sure you click on the forge to keep your items hot. The smithing auto-heater may help you here, as it will use 5 coal from your metal bank to restore heat to 30% when it reaches 0%.

Wrap Up

Over the past year, RuneScape’s Smithing and Mining updates have drastically changed how the skills are trained, particularly with the way in which the progress bar is used by each skill respectively, and with new items being added that supplement the way in which the skills are trained. You should now have the information you need to get out there and make sure you’re training as efficiently as possible and maximising that precious XP per hour.

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