How the Gameplay Loop Works
On the forgotten continent of Ashenfall, dragons have awoken. You gather, build, skill, and craft in a co-operative survival adventure, and only by mastering survival and uncovering ancient secrets can you hope to face the ferocious Dragon Queen.
Your moment-to-moment actions are chopping trees, mining rocks, crafting equipment, cooking, building, and fighting to survive, and every action deepens your mastery. Each action grants experience (XP) that levels you up through Skill Trees with active and passive unlocks, including Skill Spells that transform how you play.
Health and healing were reworked so you can tick-eat food like the other RuneScape games for optimal survivability in combat. Wardstone was removed so your health bar more clearly represents your survivability, and Sanguine Urns around the world permanently increase your Max HP by 10 for each unique one you find and use.
Parrying now restores 50% of your max stamina, letting you turn the tide with a burst of energy if you time it correctly, which raises the risk and reward of getting the timing right.
Magic gives you a choice of pace: wands are a more mobile, fast-paced way to deal damage at comparatively lower output, while a staff lets you hang back and lay down more damage. Both still apply the knockdowns, burns, and slows you expect from Air, Fire, and Water magic.
Skill Spells can be cast to change how you gather and fight. Enchant Weapon: Water enchants your current Melee weapon with Water damage and occasionally creates healing orbs, costing 15x Water and 5x Astral Runes with a 300s cooldown. Enfeeble weakens the attacks of the targeted opponent for 20x Astral and 20x Water Runes with a 75s cooldown.
First-Session Progression Steps
- Start by gathering: chop trees and mine rocks so you have the raw materials for crafting, cooking, and building.
- Turn those materials into equipment and food, then cook so you have healing available before you take on fights.
- Build out your survival setup and keep fighting, because every action grants XP that levels you through Skill Trees.
- Spend Skill Tree unlocks on active and passive rewards, including Skill Spells that change how you gather and fight.
- In combat, tick-eat food to keep your health up, and time your parries to restore 50% of your max stamina.
- Hunt down Sanguine Urns and use each unique one you find to permanently raise your Max HP by 10.
- Prepare runes for your Skill Spells: Enchant Weapon: Water needs 15x Water and 5x Astral Runes, and Enfeeble needs 20x Astral and 20x Water Runes.
- Keep pushing toward the Dragon Queen, since mastering survival and uncovering ancient secrets is what lets you face her.
Major Systems Added Across Updates
Fellhollow added Farming, a building kit, two NPCs, a Soul Fragment shop, the Castle kit, Steel gear, terrorbird mounts, and the Imaru the Revenant Dragon encounter with unique rewards.
Fishing arrived with Cook's Assistant, Animal Magnetism, and A Room with a Garou, plus mounted fish trophies, auto-run, nearby-item magnetising, a helmet visibility option, and calmer Chickens, Cows, and Kebbits.
Umbral Sands added a flying carpet, a desert region, the Kalphite Queen, Fuzan, the Kot'Haar, and the Nightmare Crucible, alongside Adamant, Red Dragonhide, Infinity, and Obsidian gear plus expanded Mining and Woodcutting trees.
Combat changes buffed certain attacks and reduced their stamina costs while limiting how frequently those attacks can be used.
The Water Barrel, Rain Catcher, and Compost Bin now use a one-tap delete action after the hold-to-delete control was reverted.