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The Importance of Planning Ahead and Multitasking in Non-Combat Skills How to Avoid Skilling Burnout

One way that Jagex has taken pity on those of us who hate to level certain skills is by providing special methods outside normal skill training to get experience in them. Even better, in many cases the player can choose which skill gets the XP. There aren’t many of these—too much experience gained this way would be unbalancing—but the ones that do exist can be a nice help.

Let’s start out with a brief look at various generic ways that exist to get XP as bonuses. There are more than you might have imagined… J

User-Chosen Quest XP Rewards

Most quests provide specific skill rewards, but there are also a few that give “wildcard” rewards that let you train skills of your choice. There are usually restrictions with these, either in terms of which skills are allowed for the reward, or the minimum level needed in a skill to select it. Table 12 shows these quests and the rewards they provide.

* Monkey Madness has odd rules about its rewards. You can choose either:

20,000 XP to each of Attack and Defence, and 35,000 XP to each of Hitpoints and Strength

or

35,000 XP to each of Attack and Defence, and 20,000 XP to each of Hitpoints and Strength

Random Events

Annoying they may be, but the silver lining is that most random events give you a gift of some sort once you deal with them. Even better, there are two randoms that will reward you with items that can be used to give you bonus XP in a skill of your choice.

The first is the genie. He gives you a lamp that, when rubbed, gives you XP in an amount equal to 10 times the level of the skill you select. So if you choose Farming and have level 41 in that skill, you get 410 Farming XP.

The second is a newer random: Mr. Mordaut and his classroom. Answer his questions correctly and you get a book of knowledge that gives 15 times your level in the skill of your choice. So at level 70 Construction you would get 1,050 XP.

Achievement Diaries

There are currently two achievement diaries, for Karamja and Varrock, each of which requires you to complete three sets of tasks in order to get various rewards. One of the rewards at each level is an antique lamp that grants experience in the skill of your choice. When you complete all of the easy tasks in a diary you get 1,000 XP; for the medium tasks you get 5,000 XP; and for the hard tasks, 10,000 XP.

Thus, if you complete all of both diaries, that’s a nice total of 32,000 XP towards whichever skill you desire.

The Varrock Museum

During the course of completing tasks in the Varrock Museum, you will be given three antique lamps, which can be used to get 1,000 XP in any skill that is at least level 20. If you complete all tasks and get 153 kudos, you get another lamp that grants a further 10,000 XP to a skill of your choice level 50 or greater.

Tears of Guthix

This is a simple minigame that can be used regularly once you have finished the matching Tears of Guthix quest. You visit Juna, a serpent guardian of the god Guthix, deep in the caverns below the Lumbridge Swamps. Entertain her and she lets you into a small chamber to collect the tears of Guthix that flow from the walls, as you can see in Figure 145; you gain tears from the blue streams and lose them from the green. When your time has expired, you are granted a certain amount of XP in whichever of your skills has the least, based on how many tears you gathered.

I’m not going to try to write a minigame guide to Tears of Guthix here, but I’ll give you a few quick tips:

• You can use the minigame once a week, but in the time since you last collected tears you must have gained at least one quest point or 100,000 XP (all skills combined).
  
  
• You need inventory space to remove any weapons or hand armor in order to hold the bowl.
  
  
• You can get to Juna faster and more easily by using the path from the basement of Lumbridge Castle, after you’ve completed the quest The Lost Tribe.
  
  
• Remember to bring a covered light source like a bullseye lantern. If coming from the Lumbridge Swamps (not the castle) you should wear a spiny helmet to protect against wall beasts.
  
  
• Unsure if you have waited long enough or have gained enough quest points or XP since your last visit to the cavern? Go to the quests list in the game and click on the entry for Tears of Guthix. Near the bottom of the text you will be told if you are eligible to go back again.

Some players find it easy to decide which skill to select for bonus XP from lamps and other open XP rewards, but for others, it is a difficult choice. As I see it, there are three potential motivations for choosing a skill here:

• Saving Time on Slow Skills: Skills like Slayer and Runecrafting are notoriously slow to level up, so some people like to use XP lamps and tomes on them for that reason.
  
  
• Saving Money on Expensive Skills: Examples here include Construction, Prayer and Summoning.
  
  
• Avoiding Annoying Skills: This is entirely a matter of personal taste, but some people prefer to use their XP bonuses just to avoid having to deal with skills that they don’t care for.

I’m in the last group: I use nearly all XP bonuses on Agility, which is easily my least favorite skill. Sorry, Agility fans, but running around in circles over and over is not my idea of fun. J

The Importance of Planning Ahead and Multitasking in Non-Combat Skills How to Avoid Skilling Burnout