Exploration is a pretty simple skill. It doesn't serve much purpose at the moment, but like all skills, it needs its own guide. So here it is.
1-60/99 - Beacons[]
If you haven't heard of beacons, check out Beacons article.
Since beacons give moderate experience for beginners, it's recommended to do them right off the bat. You might want to wait for an XP boost event, to make the most of your first beacon run.
Beacon runs can take around 15-20 minutes to complete, with teleports, minimal movement and extreme speed potions. It is not possible to do 6 beacon runs in 24 hours because of the time it takes to do each run.
The table below displays XP rates for beacon runs in certain situations:
| Event | Exp. per run | Exp. per day(3 runs) | Exp. per day(5 runs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| First discovery (only once) | 15,600(16,200)[1] | - | - |
| First discovery + Double XP (only once) | 31,200(32,400) | - | - |
| Normal discovery (most common) | 7,800(8,100) | 23,400(24,300) | 39,000(40,500) |
| Normal discovery + Double XP | 15,600(16,200) | 46,800(48,600) | 78,000(81,000) |
[1] - Al-kharid Desert beacon is currently unavailable due to area reconstruction.
People who dedicate themselves to beacon runs(I'm proud of you :p) can get up to 40.5k Exploration XP per day, which is a good amount in lower levels. Even though it will have less impact when you reach 60+, it's still advised to keep doing runs on a daily basis.
Routes[]
Beacon runs can be completed faster if following a certain order, which will increase efficiency in the long run.
Below are the best routes(In my opinion) to complete beacon runs with & without teleports.
TIPS: In addition to Espeeds, bring also super stamina potions and 60 coins(for Karamja). High Agility and Magic levels are recommended as well. You might want to thieve all the mobs on the way too, for extra Thieving experience.
| Route(w/ teleports) | Route(w/o teleports) |
|---|---|
|
1. Lumbridge Beacon: -335 | 81 | 166 2. Lumbridge Swamp Beacon: -251 | 73 | 355 3. Wizards' Tower Beacon: -159 | 85 | 501 4. Draynor Beacon: -470 | 69 | 574 5. Draynor Manor Beacon: -745 | 71 | 572 6. Port-Sarim Beacon: -392 | 92 | 740 7. Karamja beacon(30 to sail to karamja + 30 back): -219 | 67 | 1211 8. Ice Caves Beacon: -137 | 28 | 893 9. Rimmington Beacon: -277 | 69 | 995 ~~Teleport to Falador~~ (55 Magic) 10. Falador Beacon: -701 | 73 | 933 ~~Teleport to Edgeville~~ (48 Magic) 11. Edgeville Beacon: -1162 | 72 | 669 12. Barbarian Village Beacon: -926 | 70 | 627 13. Goblin Village Beacon: -1204 | 62 | 991 ~~Teleport to Taverley~~ (60 Magic) 14. Taverley Dungeon Beacon: -918 | 51 | 1124 15. Catherby Beacon: -1049 | 69 | 1367 ~~Teleport to Camelot~~ (45 Magic) 16. Seers Village Beacon: -1233 | 69 | 1517 ~~Teleport to Taverley~~ 17. Taverley Beacon: -1206 | 80 | 1143 18. Dragonspire Beacon: -2425 | 108 | ~~Teleport to Lumbridge~~ (Free) 19. Al-kharid Beacon: -243 | 70 | -37 20. Al-kharid Desert Beacon: N/A ~~Teleport to Varrock~~ (25 Magic) 21. Varrock Beacon: -928 | 71 | 288 22. Varrock Museum Beacon: -1045 | 73 | 85 ~~Teleport to Canifis~~ (70 Magic) 23. Canifis Beacon: -1192 | 75 | -665 24. Slayer Tower Beacon: -1361 | 102 | -466 ~~Teleport to Canifis~~ 25. Mort'ton Beacon: -637 | 72 | -670 26. Burgh de Rott Beacon: -305 | 74 | -578 ~~Teleport to Edgeville~~ 27. Wilderness Beacon(Risky): -1815 | 224 | |
1. Lumbridge Beacon: -335 | 81 | 166 2. Lumbridge Swamp Beacon: -251 | 73 | 355 3. Wizards' Tower Beacon: -159 | 85 | 501 4. Draynor Beacon: -470 | 69 | 574 5. Draynor Manor Beacon: -745 | 71 | 572 6. Port-Sarim Beacon: -392 | 92 | 740 7. Karamja beacon(30 to sail to karamja + 30 back): -219 | 67 | 1211 8. Ice Caves Beacon: -137 | 28 | 893 9. Rimmington Beacon: -277 | 69 | 995 10. Falador Beacon: -701 | 73 | 933 11. Barbarian Village Beacon: -926 | 70 | 627 12. Edgeville Beacon: -1162 | 72 | 669 13. Goblin Village Beacon: -1204 | 62 | 991 14. Taverley Dungeon Beacon: -918 | 51 | 1124 15. Catherby Beacon: -1049 | 69 | 1367 16. Seers Village Beacon: -1233 | 69 | 1517 17. Taverley Beacon: -1206 | 80 | 1143 18. Dragonspire Beacon: -2425 | 108 | 733 ~~Teleport to Lumbridge~~ (Free) 19. Al-kharid Beacon: -243 | 70 | -37 20. Al-kharid Desert Beacon: N/A 21. Varrock Beacon: -928 | 71 | 288 22. Varrock Museum Beacon: -1045 | 73 | 85 23. Slayer Tower Beacon: -1361 | 102 | -466 24. Canifis Beacon: -1192 | 75 | -665 25. Mort'ton Beacon: -637 | 72 | -670 26. Burgh de Rott Beacon: -305 | 74 | -578 27. Wilderness Beacon(Risky): -1815 | 224 | 469 |
Estimated finish time for teleport route is 15-20 minutes, while without teleports is 20-30 minutes. Either way, 5 beacon runs is the most that can be done per day.
60-99 - Jobs[]
A job master.
| As of Season 2 Week 5 update, Jobs no longer grant double experience rewards during double exp events. |
Jobs are a series of tasks assigned by any job master, who can be found wandering in major cities.
Jobs' quality both depends on your overall stats and your Exploration level, Meaning the higher level you are the more rewarding jobs will be. Thus, it's only worth starting jobs when you have moderate stats(50 or 60 base stats at least).
Your Exploration level also has to be at least 5 levels lower than a certain skill to have a certain tier of assignments(For example, You need to have 70 Mining & 65 Exploration to be assigned with a job including mining Adamant).
Job efficiency[]
To make jobs quicker and efficient, there are multiple things needed to be taken into consideration:
- Saving up materials - It's important to save up all the materials you gather for the sake of making future jobs easier. Let's say you need to fish monkfish, but decide to throw them afterward. Your next job includes cooking monkfish, but since you threw them away you have to go fish for some more. Do you see what I'm saying? Better have extra than nothing :p
- Job locations - Look at each of your assigned tasks, and try to form an order of which to do first, to avoid going back and forth more than necessary. For example, the job displayed on the image shows 3 gathering tasks and 2 cooking tasks. Cooking tasks can be easily done if you got logs and fish in store at any bank. Adamant ores can be found at Rimmington mine, maple logs can be found near Falador, and Oak logs can be found pretty much everywhere. The solution is to use Falador teleport and start gathering maple logs while gathering oak logs, then running to Rimm and mining Adamant.
60/80-99 - Clue scrolls[]
| For increased efficiency, obtain a clue pouch as soon as possible, as it allows to store 9 additional sealed clues in the players' inventory. |
Elite/Master clues are the tiers players should be aiming for, as by the point players can do them, they already know the game well enough to complete them quickly(Teleports are a must have). They each give 1.5k and 3.5k Exploration experience, respectively, and can potentially provide decent xp rates.
You can always ask the community for help regarding solving uncleared steps, but in case you can't/ don't want to, use the methods below:
Anagrams[]
An anagram solver tool is your best way to solve anagram clues, as it almost guarantees clarification(This one is pretty good)
Ciphers[]
Like anagrams, cipher tools can be used to solve cipher clues (This one might help). Although, Elites/Masters don't contain cipher clues, so you won't need to use cipher tools.
Hot-and-Cold(Master only), Beacons & Item requests[]
These are pretty self-explanatory. Use the device to pinpoint the location you need to go to, but don't spam it, as it damages you each time you use it(up to 5% of the players' maximum health).
Beacons can be easily found either through their respective article or using the second page of the clue.
For item requests, its best to not throw items you don't think are needed as they might be requested by NPCs later on. They can be brought noted as well.
Chests[]
Some of the riddles used are the same ones used for keys that are on the wiki, but you can either estimate the location by solving the riddle yourself or ask players who have already encountered them.
Maps(Elite only)[]
A good method of recognizing map clues is to look at the surroundings and compare them to places with a similar environment using -568 / 64 / -288.
Puzzles[]
Puzzle clues might seem a bit tricky, but there's a good method for completing them.
First, solve the entire 1st and 2nd row. Then, solve the left 2x2 grid on the 3rd and 4th rows. From then just play with the three remaining tiles until you solve the puzzle.
Here's a visual guide, for clearing misunderstandings. (Credit to Grote_Knuppel)
Light boxes(Master only)[]
Play with the buttons and try to spot bulbs that are only changed using one button. After you found said bulbs, refrain from using its respective button again. After you spot all the single button bulbs, just play with the button again until all the bulbs are lit.
Questions[]
Requires basic game and general knowledge, shouldn't be hard.
POIs[]
Points of Interests is a system that rewards the player 80 Exploration Exp. for every 5 areas they visit(Cities, caves, mountains and more..). Although this can be used as a training method, I advise to not train it due to the ridiculously low XP rates and the high usage of runes.
End[]
I try my best to provide clear information regarding the methods above. If you can't understand the guide, feel free to edit it or ask the community for help.