It looks like we’ve been good girls and boys this year because Santa has brought us presents early in RuneScape. This week more alchemical onyx jewelry was released and there seems to be something for everyone. Skilling, combat, and adventuring are all covered in this update. This was a Game Jam project by Mod Timbo and after much anticipation, it is finally here and living up to expectations. It’s great to see December starting on such a positive note especially given the feeling of a dry fourth quarter. This month we’ll take a look at the new alchemical onyx jewelry and find out what it is, what it does, and why it’s actually a bigger deal than you might think.

First off, we have The Ingenuity of the Humans. This is a sigil item that guarantees your next spell or ability will hit. You craft it using an alchemical onyx, 10 stunning components, 750 smooth parts, and 50 direct components. It lasts for 6 seconds when activated or until an ability or spell is cast and has a 90-second cool down. It comes with 1,000 charges and can be recharged using fortunate components. One fortunate component is worth 25 charges so it will require 40 fortunate components to recharge fully at a cost of roughly 11K per charge. As many of you already know, I am not a big PvM guy. The places that this sigil will be most useful are definitely out of my skill level. That being said the high-level PvM community seems to be very happy with it and there is a lot of talk about using it in conjunction with a Statius warhammer to lower the boss’ defense. That is just one of many situations I am sure the PvM community will find this useful. It is great that it is using fortunate components to recharge. These components come from breaking down clue scroll rewards and thus will keep their price high enough to make clue scrolls worth it. It is also important to note this item is tradeable at 100% charged. All and all it is a nice addition to the game. Next, let’s look at The Passage of the Abyss.

The Passage of the Abyss is a pocket slot item in which you can add teleportation jewelry to it. To make one you need an alchemical onyx, 50 magic parts, and a teleportation compacter. It also requires an invention level of 118 to make. It can hold up to 6 pieces of compactable jewelry and has a maximum of 5,000 charges. Like The Ingenuity of Humans, The Passage of the Abyss can be recharged with fortunate components. In this case, one component is 500 charges. They are tradeable until their first use, after that they are permanently untradeable. This item seems to be perfect for people doing clue scrolls or farming runs. It makes getting around super easy and in a way can save your bank space. Unfortunately, I can’t find much use for it outside of those circumstances but I’m sure the community will find more useful places you can teleport to using it. This puts The Passage of the Abyss in the last place of the new items in my book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great item; it’s just that getting around the map has never been as easy as it is now, so it may be overlooked. It is also important to note you can change its color allowing you to have multiples with different teleports on them.

Last but certainly not least is The Grace of the Elves. This is a skilling necklace and is the best item of the entire update. To make it you need an alchemical onyx and the level 6 enchant spell. It is tradeable until it is first equipped and after that is permanently untradeable. It also is non-degradable. The Grace of the Elves has many uses. One of the most beneficial uses is that you can use porters on it and have it act as a sign of the porter when equipped. That frees up your pocket slot so that is nice. Of course, that’s not all, it also can teleport you to the places you have your max garden portals attuned to. If you don’t have this unlocked yet, you get a one-time pick to attune the necklace. Both of these uses are beneficial and cool, however, that is not what is groundbreaking with The Grace of the Elves. Oh but wait, there is still more before we get to that. It also halves the prayer drainage rate when using Seren prayers like light form, superheat form, and chronicle absorption. Finally, we get to the really cool part. If you are wearing this necklace while training a gathering skill, you will have a chance to get a Seren sprite. When you click on one of these sprites, it will drop an item from the rare drop table in your bank or inventory if the bank is full. This means you have a chance to receive a Hazelmere signet ring while skilling. This is the coolest thing to happen for skillers since well, forever. All of these mechanics make this the best new alchemical item of the update.

This update has been a great way to finish out 2018. All and all the new alchemical jewelry is a hit. It has something for all players no matter what you like to do in the game. I am more of a skiller so The Grace of the Elves is hands down the one I couldn’t live without, however, if I were a player that focuses on clues or PvM then maybe one of the other two would be my favorites. I am curious to see what will happen in the future now that skillers have access to the rare drop table. Honestly, I am a bit surprised that there hasn’t been some push back by some players who don’t think skillers should have access to the rare drop table. Thankfully, I haven’t come across that at all and that is great. The fourth quarter has felt a little sparse with updates and I must give Jagex credit on this one. It wasn’t broken, overpowered or just plain trash and the balancing is spot on. This will definitely give us something to play with until the next year when the full mining and Smithing rework is released in January. Until then I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and a wonderful New Year; Happy RuneScaping.