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Following the huge launch of Archaeology in March, a brand new digsite named Orthen is on the way. Located on the island Anachronia, this comes with a wealth of new items and mysteries for players to enjoy. We caught up with some of the developers working on this area to find out more about what to expect.
Osseous
Much like Kharid-Et, Orthen will have its own community event. This will see players coming together to excavate skeleton fragments of the ancient dinosaur called Osseous.
Collecting 100% of these bone remains will result in players receiving the special Roar of Osseous buff. This will have an impact on activities across Anachronia.
With this activated, users will receive an extra 25% XP for taking part in Hunter activities, such as Big Game Hunter, Anachronia butterfly catching, golden warbler snaring and trapping jadinkos, grenwalls, pawyas and salamanders.
In addition, players will gain an extra 25% XP when training Slayer, using the Agility course and excavating for Archaeology.
If that wasn't enough, there's a 10% increase in rare item drop rates in Big Game Hunter, Slayer, Archaeology materials and Agility course codex pages.
If the Roar of Osseous is active when you teleport to Anachronia, a T-Rex skull will appear on your buff bar.
"When 100% of skeleton fragments are collected, the buff will be active for 65 minutes. We've giving you an extra five minutes so that you can see the announcement, go to the Bank, equip your preset and whatever you need, and then you still have an hour of gameplay." ~ Mod Orion
Relics
In addition to a new community event, Orthen introduces three new Relics for players to use around the world of Gielinor. This is, in part, to give people more reason to excavate this new digsite.
The first of these new Relics is Evil Bob's Catspaw. Don't worry; this is a replica. No animals – least of all a certain sinister feline – were harmed in the creation of this item.
With this Relic equipped, while Fishing, anything you can catch that can be cooked will be caught as such. This is a callback to Evil Bob's Island in the parallel world of ScapeRune.
The second Relic, Soma, is Archaeology-centric. This increases the base precision of mattocks by 20% but comes at the cost of players not receiving soil while excavating. Of course, some might see as a bonus in and of itself…
Meanwhile, the third and final Relic is the magical dragonkin staff, Kaladanda. This is a combat item that notes all bone and ash drops from combat, and is particularly useful for training Slayer and Prayer skills.
"The rules for Relic powers are the same as the original Archaeology launch. They're always active and aren't chance-based." ~ Mod Rowley
Potions
As if that wasn't enough, the team has created five new potion recipes that can be found during excavation at the Orthen digsite.
First up is Holy Aggroverload, which requires level 98 Herblore. This combines Overload, Aggression and Prayer Renewal potions into one delicious sip.
The second is the imaginatively-named Archaeology Potion, which provides a +3 boost to Archaeology and allows players to obtain unlocks a bit earlier. Players need level 78 Herblore to use this.
Summoning Renewal, as the name suggests, renews Summoning points for six minutes, as well as some special move points. This requires level 88 Herblore.
The Powerburst of Opportunity – level 103 Herblore – doubles all damage to Mining rocks in rockertunities and doubles precision in Archaeology excavation for 10 seconds after players swig it.
Finally, Spirit Attraction is an autocollector for Seren spirits, fire spirits as well as blessings of the gods, chronicles. It lasts for six minutes and requires level 116 Herblore.
"These are potion recipe tablets that you are going to need to unlock. It's very similar to codex pages; you have to find four fragments during excavation. The completed tablets are tradable, while the individual fragments are not." ~ Mod Rowley
Skilling Offhands
The final addition for the Orthen digsite is two skilling offhands: Orthen Furnace Core and Artificer's Measure. Both of these require level 99 Smithing and level 102 Archaeology to make, while players also need level 5 Firemaking to create the former.
Orthen Furnace Core provides Firemaking and Smithing bonuses and allows people to use Superheat without a Prayer.
It also means that the Scroll of Efficiency reward from Dungeoneering now provides a 2.5% chance to save a bar, compared to 2% before.
If players receive the Pyromaniac or Breakdown perks, they also gain the Furnace Core buff. This increases Firemaking and Smithing XP by 5% for five minutes.
Fire spirits have also been replaced with a new clickable called forge phoenixes, which come with a superior drop table.
Artificer's Measure is focused on bonuses for the Crafting and Construction skills.
Much like Orthen Furnace Core, it augments the resource-saving effects of Scrolls of Dexterity and Proficiency from Dungeoneering, giving them an extra 25% chance to occur.
Whenever Dexterity or Proficiency proc for players, they will also gain a stack of a buff called Artificer's Focus. This can occur up to 10 times.
"We made these quite identifiable and unique-looking so that players could very clearly see what they are when they're walking around with them on. The Orthen Furnace Core has a really nice fire animation, while the Artificer's Measure makes use of the new material system we introduced last year." ~ Mod Orion
The RuneScape Team
