TruthScape.com  9  TruthScape Skill Secrets       9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Herblore            9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Herblore - Techniques for Obtaining Vials, Secondary Ingredients and Special Items                 9  Obtaining Vials, Vials of Water and Vials of Coconut Milk

Sources for Obtaining Water-Filled Vials Making or Buying Vials of Coconut Milk

While not all of the potions you make will use a vial of water, nearly all will. For that reason, most herblorists consider empty vials as only a stepping stone on the way to getting vials of water, the real base items used to make most potions. With so many options, though, which makes the most sense? Are you better off getting vials of water directly or filling them yourself? And in the latter case, which method is preferable for getting empty vials, and which is best for filling them?

This is another classic case of there being trade-offs between time and money: some methods get you vials faster but at a higher cost, while others save money but take more time. To compare them, I start with the simplest, fastest and most expensive option as a base, which is buying vials of water on the Grand Exchange. I then figure out how much money you save with other methods, and how much time they take. Using this, we can figure out roughly how much equivalent value you are gaining per hour with the slower methods, and you can decide whether it’s worthwhile.

For purposes of this comparison, I will use 93 gp as the GE price of a vial of water; this is the average price I’ve calculated for it since the start of the year as part of the TWIRP project. For empty vials I will use the average price I’ve seen while writing this guide, which is 75 gp. This, of course, means that the savings per vial to buy empties instead of water vials is 18 gp.

As mentioned in my discussion of getting vials of water, you can run 2,680 vials of water per hour from the store to the bank if you use Obli’s General Store in Shilo Village (Figure 207). The vials cost 11 gp, and every four trips requires that you use two 4-dose energy potions, which cost about 250 gp each (though you can save the vials after drinking them). This works out to an average cost of about 14.2 gp, so the savings per vial is 78.8 gp. Multiply that by 2,680 and you get a figure of 211k saved per hour compared to buying water vials on the GE.

I admit that I was surprised myself that the figure was this high! Of course, doing this is incredibly boring and gives no XP whatsoever, but it’s still more than I expected.

If you run for vials in Ardougne instead, the savings comes to a less attractive 170k per hour, but that’s still quite a bit of money for an easy chore.

You can fill 3,360 vials per hour at the sink in the basement of Lumbridge Castle. With an 18 gp differential in the cost of full and empty vials, this represents a savings of about 60k per hour. Clearly, this is not worthwhile: you are better off running water vials back and forth in Shilo.

This is the most interesting method, and also the one that’s most complex to analyze. Assuming the case with no steam battlestaff, we can fill 10,400 vials of water per hour with 400 casts of the Humidify spell. With an 18 gp savings on regular vials, this comes to a savings of 187k per hour compared to buying water vials in bulk—pretty decent.

On the other hand, we have to consider the cost of runes to cast the spell. Astral runes are currently around 150 gp and fires are 9 gp each. At 400 casts per hour, the cost of runes is 63.6k, which reduces the savings to about 123k per hour.

Now, that’s less of a savings than some other options (like buying water vials at Shilo), but remember that this is an option that gives 26,000 Magic XP per hour. The combination of money savings and Magic XP makes Humidify a viable option.

Based on the test results, and the emphasis I place on the value of time, my recommendations for getting vials of water are as follows:

• If you want to work the Herblore skill without wasting time fussing around, just buy water-filled vials in bulk.
  
  
• If you want to save some money on vials and get some Magic XP, the Humidify spell is a decent option if you can cast it. In contrast, filling empty vials at a sink is a waste of time and gives no XP—don’t bother.
  
  
• If you are low on cash and cannot find a way to make at least 211k per hour on productive activities you enjoy, you can save that much buying water vials at Shilo Village and running them back and forth to the bank. This is grunt work of the worst sort, however, and given that you can make more than that even with other grunt activities like collecting Herblore seconds, I suggest avoiding vial-running whenever possible.

Now, if you do want to use the Humidify method, you’ll need quite a few empty vials. Make use of ones you’ve saved up, of course, but you’ll still require many more, and the only practical way to get them in quantity is to buy them on the Grand Exchange. You can craft them if you want, and this is a decent way to get some Crafting XP while remaining self-sufficient, but bear in mind that it’s not the best use of molten glass. Whatever you do, don’t waste time buying “junk vials” to empty, which is tedious and slow and saves you very little money.If you prefer to not buy items from other players, do Humidify unless you can’t cast it or don’t want the XP; otherwise, do Shilo Village.

Sources for Obtaining Water-Filled Vials Making or Buying Vials of Coconut Milk