Skilling

Nearly everything you do on the isles trains a skill. Every action gives experience (XP); enough XP raises a skill's level, all the way to 999. Two milestones matter on that road: level 100 is skill mastery — the point where a skill's full toolkit is yours — and the long climb beyond it, to level 999, is legendary mastery: prestige for the devoted, and the number the hiscores remember. Higher levels open up better tools and rarer resources, and let you craft stronger gear for the tougher content ahead.

Your total level is the sum of all twenty-two skills — the number the hiscores rank you by. There's no wrong order: train what you enjoy, and the rest of the isles opens up as you go.

The twenty-two skills fall into three families — combat, gathering, and production.

Combat skills

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  Attack — Your melee accuracy and which weapons you can wield. Higher Attack lands more hits with stronger weapons.
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  Strength — How hard you hit in melee — the main driver of melee damage.
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  Defense — Your resilience and which armour you can wear. Higher Defense means fewer blows land on you.
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  Constitution — Your health and staying power. It rises as you fight; if it hits zero you're sent back to respawn.
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  Archery — Combat with bows and arrows, striking from a safe distance.
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  Faith — Blessings and protections drawn from the isles' shrines — grown by burying bones and honouring the fallen.
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  Arcana — Spellcraft from the isles' spellbooks: damage, curses, enchantments, and travel, powered by runes.

Gathering skills

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  Botany — Gather wild herbs and cleanse them for use in brews and wards.
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  Cultivation — Plant seeds, tend your crops, and harvest the yield.
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  Firemaking — Light logs for fires to cook over, and keep furnaces fuelled.
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  Fishing — Catch fish at fishing spots with the right rod and bait; higher levels land better catches. Feeds Cooking.
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  Beastbane — Track, trap, and slay the isles' beasts — from snared game to hunted horrors.
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  Mining — Swing a pickaxe at rocks for ore; better pickaxes and higher levels reach richer veins. Feeds Blacksmithing.
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  Seafaring — Crew and captain vessels between the isles; higher levels brave rougher waters and farther shores.
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  Thievery — Light fingers and lighter feet: pick pockets, lift locks, and liberate the well-guarded.
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  Woodcutting — Chop trees for logs; higher levels fell tougher trees. Feeds Firemaking and Woodworking.

Production skills

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  Blacksmithing — Smelt ore into bars at a furnace, then hammer bars into tools and gear at an anvil.
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  Construction — Raise buildings and furnishings at build sites across the isles.
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  Cooking — Turn raw food into meals on a fire or range; meals restore your Constitution in combat. Burnt food happens less as you level.
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  Tailoring — Cut and sew cloth and hide into garments and gear.
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  Warding — Craft runes and lay enchantments — the maker's side of the arcane arts.
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  Woodworking — Plane logs into planks, fittings, and furniture.

Gathering feeds production

The isles' skills pair up: what you gather is the raw material for what you craft. Train a pair together and you'll rarely run short of materials.

Mining → Blacksmithing
Mine ore, smelt it into bars, forge gear.

Fishing → Cooking
Catch fish, cook them into healing meals.

Woodcutting → Firemaking
Chop logs, burn them for fires to cook over.

Woodcutting → Woodworking
Chop logs, plane them into planks and furniture.

Ready to see where you stack up? Check the hiscores, or read the New Player's Guide to get started.