It wouldn't be a RuneScape game without level grinding, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds mixes XP grinding into the usual open-world survival game formula. Leveling up skills makes you more efficient at collecting materials and killing enemies and improving your skills also unlocks powerful spells that make so many parts of the game easier.
It can be tough to level up skills in Dragonwilds, though, especially some of the less common ones like Runecrafting or Artisan. Thankfully, there are ways to speed things up and grind XP without putting in too much effort.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds skill tree
You gain skill XP in RuneScape: Dragonwilds by performing actions related to that skill. To level up Woodcutting, you cut some wood. To level up Mining, you mine some rocks. If you ever forget which actions are related to each skill, you can press K to open the skill tree and it will tell you how to earn XP with a handy tooltip.
Harder enemies and rarer resources grant much more XP, too, so seeking out tough bosses and precious ores is worth the effort. You can sit there and mine stone all day, but the Mining grind will be much faster if you just go find some clay. The same goes for skills like Attack. You're not going to hit the level cap fighting rats unless you have all the time in the world.
Attack
Attack is one of the most straightforward skills to level up in RuneScape: Dragonwilds. All you need to do to get XP is, well, attack! Kebbits and chickens in particular are great for early game players since they're weak and spawn in large numbers.
Every melee blow you land on an enemy will net you some XP for the Attack skill. Notice how we said melee, though. Ranged and Magic are different skills, so bows and staves have separate progression systems which actually aren't currently implemented in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, so you can only level up melee weapons right now.
Tougher foes reward more XP per hit, so seek out goblin camps and roam the more difficult regions of Ashenfall like the Fractured Plains or Stormtouched Highlands to catch the strongest of hands. You'll need decent gear to survive in these regions, so I recommend leveling up the Artisan skill alongside Attack so you can be adequately prepared.
Level | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
5 | Parry | Parry attacks by blocking at the last moment to stagger your enemies and deal increased damage. |
8 | Melee Special Action | Unlocks unique Special Actions for melee weapons. |
11 | Tempest Shield | Conjure a shield of Air Magic that prevents all damage while blocking for a limited time, triggering a powerful burst when the spell ends. (Requires 15 Air Runes) |
16 | Weapon Expertise | Unlocks additional attacks for all melee weapons. |
20 | Enchant Weapon: Fire | Enchant your current melee weapon with fire to apply burning with critical hits. (Requires 15 Fire Runes, 5 Astral Runes) |
23 | Adaptability | Evading or blocking no longer interrupts your combos when using a melee weapon. |
27 | Weapon Rack | Unlocks the ability to build a weapon rack to display your weapons. |
30 | Enchant weapon: Air | Enchant your current melee weapon with the power of air to increase attack speed. (Requires 15 Air Runes, 5 Astral Runes) |
34 | Lesser Potion of Attack | Unlock the recipe for Lesser Potion of Attack at the Brewing Cauldron. |
37 | Training Dummy | Unlocks the ability to build a training dummy. |
40 | Whetstone | Allows crafting whetstones at the crafting table to sharpen melee weapons for increased damage. |
Mining
Anything you can harvest with a pickaxe will give you Mining XP. Stone is the most basic material, but clay and ore will grant much more XP per strike.
While you can just run around Bramblemead Valley mindlessly mining stone, there's an even better way to farm Mining XP. At Mining level 11 you unlock a spell called Rocksplosion. This is your new best friend. It automatically breaks all boulders and ore within the casting radius, which grants huge chunks of Mining XP at a time. It has a really low Rune cost, too, so you don't have to waste too much Rune Essence to afford each cast.
The Whispering Swamp is an outstanding grinding spot for this since it has a bunch of tightly-packed clay deposits. Walk around the swamp, blow up rocks with Rocksplosion, and watch the XP roll in.
Pro tip: At Mining level 24, you unlock a spell to detect clay and ore nodes, essentially giving you a GPS for mining XP.
Level | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
5 | Lift With Your Hips | The weight of stone, clay, and sand material is reduced by 25%. |
11 | Rocksplosion | Conjure a powerful blast to break apart stone boulders and ore. (Requires 15 Earth Runes, 5 Fire Runes) |
16 | Gem Prospector | Mining now sometimes produces precious gemstones. |
20 | Mine crumbled walls | Allows you to knock down crumbled walls with a pickaxe, granting access to hidden or blocked areas. |
24 | Detect ore and clay | Invoke the power of the Stone Spirits to guide you to the nearest ore and clay rocks. (Requires 5 Astral Runes, 5 Earth Runes) |
36 | Not-so-heavy metal | The weight of metal ores is reduced by 25%. |
Woodcutting
You'll earn woodcutting XP from chopping down trees. That's all there is to it. Stronger trees like oak reward more XP per strike. Even though it seems simple at first glance, Woodcutting actually has some fancy tricks that you can use to your advantage to gather resources and grind XP faster.
At Woodcutting level 11 you unlock the Axtral Projection spell. This conjures a magic axe that cuts down all trees in a straight line in front of you and you can line up three or four trees at a time once you get the hang of it. You still have to individually chop the fallen logs, but Axtral Projection saves so much time.
Once you hit Woodcutting level 27—which actually doesn't take too long—you unlock another helpful spell called Splinter. Splinter automatically harvests wood from fallen trees. Combined with Axtral Projection, you can commit acts of deforestation that would send a chill down the Amazon Rainforest's spine.
Pro tip: Use Axtral Projection on hills so all the logs roll down to the same spot for easy clean up with Splinter.
Level | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
4 | Overhead Chop | You can perform an overhead chop that deals greater damage against fallen logs but little against trees. |
11 | Axtral Projection | Conjures an Astral Axe and launches it forward, instantly chopping down trees in its path. (Requires 5 Astral Runes, 10 Air Runes) |
16 | Bird nests | You can find bird nests containing useful items when felling trees. |
20 | Chop thorny vines | Allows you to cut down thorny vines with a hachet, granting access to hidden or blocked areas. |
27 | Splinter | Chops fallen trees into wood logs. (Requires 5 Nature Runes, 10 Earth Runes) |
40 | Lumber Storage | You can build a high capacity lumber storage for logs and planks. |
Artisan
Level up the artisan skill by crafting weapons, armor, and tools. It's one of the hardest skills to level up since you don't craft new equipment very often and some of the materials are frustrating to farm.
The best way to grind Artisan XP is just to craft a bunch of armor. You need a lot of Coarse Thread, Leather, and Bones to craft most equipment in Dragonwilds, and there's not an easy way to farm these. I recommend running around Bramblemead Valley and collecting Flax (the pretty blue flowers) since they can be converted one to one into Coarse Thread at a Spinning Wheel.
While you're on the hunt for Flax, grind some Attack XP in the process by smacking every cow, rat, and Kebbit you see. You should have a decent stock of hides and scraps that you can convert into Leather at a Tannery.
You'll also get a few Bones during this process. It's best to use the Bark to Bones skill unlocked at Artisan level 11 to transform trees into bundles of Bones. It has a long cooldown, so use this spell whenever you can.
Level | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
11 | Bark To Bones | Use alchemy to transmute a tree into a stack of bones. (Requires 10 Nature Runes, 10 Earth Runes) |
20 | Superheat | Cast on fire-based crafting stations to power them and boost speed. (Requires 15 Fire Runes, 5 Air Runes) |
27 | Magical Mending | Throw your items down and repair them instantly. (Requires 10 Nature Runes, 20 Earth Runes) |
40 | Decorated Adventurer | Unlocks the armor mannequin where you can mount a full set of armor. |
Construction
Construction is the other hardest skill to level up in RuneScape: Dragonwilds since you get XP from placing structures and furniture. You need to burn a ton of resources to level Construction, so it's best to focus on it after leveling up Woodcutting and Mining to increase your gathering efficiency.
The best way to get Construction XP fast is to build a bunch of stuff from the Decoration tab of the build menu. More specifically, you should focus on building barrels. These are basically resource dumps for you to get rid of any excess stone and wood, which you should have a ton of if you've been leveling up Woodcutting and Mining. Barrels of Stone in particular give a bunch of XP for very little effort if you have the Rocksplosion spell unlocked.
Level | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
3 | Middle Ground | Unlocks medium-sized building pieces. |
5 | Fine Details | Unlocks small building pieces. |
8 | Sacred Geometry | Unlocks triangular building pieces |
11 | Eye of Oculus | Build structures easier from a fly-cam perspective. (Requires 3 Astral Runes) |
16 | Creature Comforts | Unlocks more furniture and decorations. |
18 | New material: Oak | Unlock the next tier of building pieces. |
20 | Summon Shelter | Construct a temporary shelter including a bed. (Requires 10 astral Runes, 10 Earth Runes) |
40 | Personal Chest | Access your personal storage chest from anywhere. (Requires 20 Law Runes, 15 Astral Runes) |
Cooking
You get Cooking XP in RuneScape: Dragonwilds from the Campfire and Cooking Pot. You'll level this up naturally over time because you have to cook and eat food to survive, but there's actually a super easy "exploit" that you can use to passively gain Cooking XP without any hassle.
All you have to do is find a river, place a bunch of Campfires down, and then boil as much water as you can. You can collect Dirty Water as fast as you can press the E key, so you basically have access to an unlimited supply of things to cook since boiling water counts as cooking. The only hard part is chopping down enough trees to keep the fires burning.
Level | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
11 | Fancy Cookware | Unlocks the Pan Rack furniture piece. |
20 | Internal Alchemy | Resets any active food and drink buffs. (Requires 10 Nature Runes) |
27 | Bones to Peaches | Transmute bones on the ground into peaches. (Requires 10 Nature Runes, 5 Earth Runes) |
40 | Yes, Chef! | Unlocks the recipe for Chef's Hat in the crafting station. |
Runecrafting
You gain Runecrafting XP in RuneScape: Dragonwilds by crafting Runes at a Rune Altar and harvesting Rune Essence from glowing deposits throughout Ashenfall. You can craft a bunch of Runes at once, so you'll likely level up Runecrafting a few times whenever you use a Rune Altar.
To power level Runecrafting, run around the wilderness and stop at every glowing Rune Essence deposit you see. Mine the Rune Essence from the ground with a pickaxe and shoot the floating rocks out of the air with a bow so you can mine them too. Then, just take all the Rune Essence to a Rune Altar and mass craft whatever Runes you need for your favorite spells. That's all there is to it!
Level | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|
8 | Windstep | Summons air magic to jump higher and descend slower. (Requires 5 Air Runes) |
11 | Earth Runes | Unlocks Earth Rune recipe for the Rune Altar. |
13 | Fire Runes | Unlocks the Fire Rune recipe for the Rune Altar. |
16 | Law Runes | Unlocks the Law Rune recipe for the Rune Altar. |
18 | Nature Runes | Unlocks the Nature Rune recipe for the Rune Altar. |
20 | Fire Spirit | Conjure a fire spirit to generate light. (Requires 10 Fire Runes) |
27 | Essential Strength | The weight of rune essence is reduced by 50%. |
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