This Week In RuneScape: Improvements, Fixes & Senntisten Archaeology

Those of you who’ve helped Azzanadra re-open the lost city of Senntisten will soon be able to dig a little deeper into its history – literally! From August 16th you’ll be able to explore an all-new Archaeology microsite right in the heart of the former Zarosian capital. Earn more lore than you can shake a spade at, uncover a few new mysteries and earn some shadowy rewards.

You’ll need at least 60 Archaeology to get started in Senntisten, and the site’s myriad wonders should carry you all the way to level 67.

What kind of wonders, you ask? Here’s a list:

• Six new excavation spots spread across four distinct sites
• A new section of the city
• 18 new artefacts to restore
• Eight new collections, and a new collector named Eblis
• Three new mysteries containing a number of lorebooks
• Four stained glass windows to repair on-site for Crafting XP
• Five new research tasks
• One new relic
• And loads of achievements!

But hold your horses – before you go rushing off to start training in preparation, let’s take a closer look at that there relic, shall we?

The newest relic is Aurelius' Mask, which will grant you all the benefits of the ‘Mobile’ perk. For 50 Energy, you’ll get a 50% reduction on the cooldown for movement abilities like Surge or Barge. The catch is that you won’t generate Adrenaline for using those abilities as you would normally – but it’s still a great boon for skillers trying to get around Gielinor quickly!

To get your hands on Aurelius' Mask, you’ll need to complete the ‘Secrets of the Inquisition’ mystery. Thinking caps at the ready!

Recently, we attempted to lower the cost of use for Erethdor’s Grimoire by introducing the pages as drops in the Creatures of the Lost Grove Slayer Task – but it didn’t have the effect we intended. We’ve heard your feedback, and made the following changes:

• Solak now has a 100% chance to drop Torn Grimoire Pages, up from 25%.
• As a result, players will no longer be able to roll a 50% chance to get two pages in one drop.
• Added the item Cluster of Torn Grimoire Pages, a stack of 25 Pages with a 1/200 drop chance.

You’ll need level 60 Archaeology (or higher) to explore Senntisten, and 92 Slayer to take on the dragonkin of The Nodon Front. If only there was some kind of super-helpful Double XP event running to help you catch up on your skilling...

Oh wait, there is! Double XP LIVE is active until August 16th, just in time to beef up your Archaeology skill – or indeed, any other skill you care to train!

For those of you who’re new to Double XP LIVE, it’s very simple: across the ten days of the event, you’ll have 48 hours of Double XP time to spend. You can blast through it all in one weekend, take things slow and steady, or even pause the timer and take a breather in-game.

RuneScape members will get 100% of the Double XP buff, whereas free-to-play adventurers will only receive 20%.

Learn more about Double XP LIVE here!

Elder God Wars Dungeon: The Nodon Front

Improvements

Fixes

• Dyed versions of the Fractured Staff of Armadyl are no longer tradeable.
• The Pontifex Shadow Ring can now be reclaimed from Azzanadra in the Senntisten Cathedral.
• Attack options will now be hidden on Kerapac during his death animation to make looting easier.
• Added a 1.2 second antispam to the Warp Time ability to prevent spam clicking from accelerating it.
• Cooldown indicators on various abilities found in The Nodon Front have been made more opaque for better visibility.
• Clue Scrolls will now drop with the rest of the loot piles in the Kerapac encounter.
• If players attempt to stand beneath Kerapac during the Shatter mechanic, the time thread tear will now pick a random direction to fire in, instead of not firing at all.
• Added a check to Kerapac’s magic attack to stop him dealing damage while he’s in the process of dying.
• The Staff of Armadyl’s special attack is now affected by the Altar of War’s cooldown reset.
• The Greater Concentrated Blast ability’s animation no longer shows the player held in place if they attempt to move while casting.
• HOTFIXED: The maximum number of players able to join an instance of ‘Kerapac, the Bound’ is now capped correctly.
• HOTFIXED: Poison no longer bypasses damage caps when Kerapac transitions through phases.
• HOTFIXED: The dyed Fractured Staff of Armadyl will now retain its dye when transitioning to certain states.
• HOTFIXED: Drops from the Nodon will no longer appear under siege engines.
• HOTFIXED: Ironmen will now be awarded drops and progress on their Slayer Tasks when using siege cannons against the Nodon.
• HOTFIXED: The Warp Time ability from the Kerapac boss fight will no longer re-trigger upon leaving the instance.
• HOTFIXED: The extra damage from Dwarf Multicannon Upgrade Kits will now only be applied after the upgrade has been unlocked.
• HOTFIXED: Kerapac will now attack straight away after transitioning into phase 4 on Hardmode.
• HOTFIXED: Kerapac can no longer be damaged during phase transitions.
• HOTFIXED: The Staff of Armadyl’s special attack no longer gives extra spellcasts via non-ability-based critical hits.
• HOTFIXED: Ironmen will now reliably receive loot and XP from Kerapac.

Path System

Changes

Activity Tracker: Archaeology Tutorial

• The Archaeology Path will now progress as expected.
• The ‘Breaking the Seal’ Archaeology mystery achievement is now free-to-play.
• Removed the Assistant, Associate, Professor and Guildmaster qualification achievements from the Archaeology Path.
• The path now completes upon breaking the seal and entering Kharid-Et.
• The Qualification – Intern hint trail now leads to Acting Guildmaster Reiniger instead of the entrance to the Archaeology Guild.
• The Archaeology Path hint trail is now suppressed when following the Archaeology Tutorial, which has its own trail.

Activity Tracker: Achievements

• Removed the Lumbridge Achievement Path Book. It will return when the Path System is rewritten or removed.
• The ‘Work for Idol Hands’ achievement now has entries for taking each statuette, as well as for delivering them to Xenia.
• The Dungeoneering Path has been moved from the Default Path Book to the Burthorpe and Taverley Path Book, as it points the player to Taverley Docks.

Improvements

• Path rewards are now displayed in a central popup which also describes the completed path. This will replace the previous popup.
• Certain interfaces are no longer zoomed into full screen on mobile.
• When on a path containing dialogue choices, the first choice will be selected by default in cases where the player taps out before making a choice.
• Clarified and standardised the text for choosing a Path in Turael’s dialogue.
• The Leather Crafting Path no longer requires the player to pick up a Cow Hide before unlocking it.
• Improved the user interface tutorial when choosing a path via the ‘I want to choose a different path’ dialogue.
• Users will now be forced out of the Troll Cave if they disable the guidance system during the Morningstar instance.
• The area outside the Burthorpe Troll Cave is now a little less gloomy.

Fixes

• Your Path will no longer clear upon teleporting to Tutorial Island.
• Should you lose your weapon following the Tutorial Island or Davendale tutorials, you will now be able to claim it back from Turael.
• Addressed several issues during the collections portion of the Archaeology Tutorial, which stemmed from collection logs being converted from modal to overlay interfaces.
• New players are no longer kicked off the Burthorpe Path when they gain a total skill level of over 100.
• While on the Mining and Smithing Path, players will now be directed back to the Burthorpe Mine if they create the wrong item.
• Prevented Dwarf Weed Incense Sticks from transporting items to your Bank while in item-restricted areas.

Environment

Improvements

• Added new lighting in Citharede Abbey’s cellar.

Fixes

• A variety of rocks and pillars in Lletya have been made more solid and can no longer be walked through.
• A ladder tile in the Outpost north of West Ardougne is no longer visually blocked by ground decorations.
• A section of the fence in East Varrock has been updated to match other fences.
• Wooden props in Burthorpe Castle now fit snugly against the wall.
• A rock blocking access to a source of the Rogue’s Purse herb has been removed.
• You may no longer walk into and hide inside the rocks near the Ruined Temple Agility course.
• Updated the cubemaps for Shattered World maps to increase realism on certain materials.

Mobile

Improvements

• Added a scenery border to the first cutscene of the Hunt for Surok miniquest.
• Added a scenery border to the tower cutscene during Grim Tales.

Fixes

• Fixed a mobile-specific black screen issue at the start of the Hunt for Surok cutscenes.

Other

Improvements

• Withdrawing materials from the Metal Bank in the Wilderness will now trigger a warning informing players that it will not be possible to deposit them again during combat in the Wilderness.
• Added a left-click option to fix the light in the Lighthouse during Horror From the Deep.
• Text in the Pets Wardrobe Interface has been made brighter and easier to read.
• The Beach has been packed away for another year, by which time we might just have got all the sand out of our swimsuits!

Fixes

• Fixed a typo associated with the Trahaearn Pickaxe override.
• Reverted some chat message spacing changes.
• Stephanie the seagull pet’s icon in the Player Owned House Menagerie now portrays her instead of a yak.
• The ‘use all’ function now works consistently across XP items in free-to-play.
• You must now bow to Uri in order to speak to him when completing Medium Clue Scrolls.
• Pets unchecked outside the Player Owned House are now properly removed from the Menagerie.
• Pets added to the Menagerie from the Backpack are now properly stored and displayed in the Player Owned House after leaving and re-entering it.
• The Full Slayer Helmet’s ‘Wear’ and ‘Activate’ options now work correctly.
• When hatching multiple eggs, you will now collect the correct hatchlings from each incubator.
• Dr Nabanik’s ‘I want to talk about mysteries’ dialogue option now works correctly.
• In-progress Urns can no longer be stored in Invention machine inventories.
• The Make-X interface for fletching Ogre Bows now states that Grish the Shaman must teach you how to make one.
• An ‘Info’ option has been added to closed doors in Dungeoneering. When used, you’ll receive a message with the type of key your party needs to progress further into the dungeon, and whether you already have the key required.
• Portents of Restoration are now correctly consumed when players’ HP drops below 50% after standing on the Gravecreeper’s poison pools.
• Characters and objects will no longer float in the Deep Sea Fishing Hub. Presumably, this does not affect the fish.
• The correct player will now receive XP when assisting in the creation of Primal Extract.
• Implings can no longer fly into towers through walls and closed doors near the Imperial District in Menaphos.
• The Thaler Shop no longer deducts currency if a purchase fails due to a full Backpack.
• Upon using the Luminite Injector, all the forges and furnaces in the area will now change colour from orange to blue, as expected.
• The Slomo Walk override will now consistently display your worn main-hand and offhand items.
• Fixed a blocking issue with Trindy and Ali the Wise at the Archaeology Guild.
• The Greater Fury ability will now work in PvP encounters.
• Skeletons spawned during the Taraket boss fight will now trigger the Ruthless perk if killed by a player.
• The latest fruit trees will no longer give players Double XP when the Farming Skill Cape is equipped.
• Using the Reaper Portal while on a Kerapac task will now correctly teleport players to the Colosseum gateway.
• Melee Area-of-Effect abilities will now correctly hit NPCs larger than 5x5 squares when attacking them away from the southwestern ‘corner’ of the NPC’s hit box.

Wednesday August 11th | 16:00 Game Time | Digging Into Senntisten Archaeology

Grab your hard hats and discover our newest mini-site in this preview stream!

Watch live on Twitch!

RuneTube

This week on RuneTube, Maikeru RS has a handy guide for all you folks who are struggling to beat Kerapac! You can watch the whole thing below, or head to Maikeru’s channel to see more!

Magnificent Memes

We can tell you’re enjoying The Nodon Front (and indeed, The Nodon Back!), because the official subreddit has exploded with memes! Here are a few of our favourites:

Awesome Art

Of course, we couldn’t forget our awesome artists, who also got in on the memey action. We were especially tickled by this comic from Prezleek. Poor old Lucien just can’t catch a break!

Pink Skirts

Each week the Pink Skirts put on a selection of fun activities that everyone can join. Here are this week’s highlights:

Town Square Q&A

• Hosted by: Steve20058, Lynxlynx & Saphhirra
• Date/Time: Mon 9 Aug 2021, 20:15 - 21:15
• World: 3
• Location: Varrock West Bank

King Black Dragon Boss Mass

• Hosted by: Naruto 1001 & JacobDaPleb
• Date/Time: Sun 15 Aug 2021, 19:00 - 20:00
• World: 11
• Location: Edgeville Lodestone

If neither of those take your fancy, take a look at the full events schedule here. There’s sure to be something you’ll enjoy!

Scaper's Screenshots

This week's screenshots come from Reddit!

Community Shout-Out

This week’s shout-out goes to the Official RuneScape Subreddit! It’s a real melting pot of players, old, new, and everything in-between. Post your wins, share your art, or ask for help – but most importantly, be kind and have fun!