The Abyss is an extra dimension in the world of RuneScape that can be very helpful for runecrafting. It allows quick access to all the runecrafting alters without the need for travelling, or a talisman/tiara for that alter. However, its huge benefits come with great risks. Members can access it by doing a small miniquest.

The miniquest

Players have to talk to the Zamorakian Mage in the Wilderness (level 5) after completing the Rune Mysteries Quest. His exact location is at the end of the river north of Edgeville, it is advised to follow the river on the east side for minimal pker risk. He will tell the player to meet him in the Varrock chaos temple, this is located south of the rune store. The player will then receive the assignment to teleport to the rune essence mine from three different locations (named in the Essence section of the Runecrafting guide) while carrying an orb given to them by the Mage. After the orb has been returned to the Mage, he will share his research with the player and the player receives an Abyssal book explaining about the Abyss and a small pouch along with 1000 runecrafting experience. They can now also access a rune store and the Abyss by right-clicking on the Mage in level 5 Wilderness.

Pouches

There are four different types: small, medium, large, and giant. After completing the Abyss miniquest players automatically receive a small pouch, the others can be obtained by killing abyssal monsters inside the Abyss and they will be 2/3 full of essence when found. A player can only have one of every type of pouch. Every pouch holds multiple rune essences, thus allowing players to carry more than their actual inventory space of essences. While being used for carrying essence, the largest kind of pouch a player is using may degrade, in that case the Dark Mage sitting in the center of the two Abyssal rings can be talked into repairing them at no cost. When a player loses any of the pouches, they can kill Abyssal monsters again and eventually receive the pouches as a monster drop.

Pouch Name	Amount of Essence it Holds	Runecrafting Level Required to Use
Small	3	1
Medium	6	25
Large	9	50
Giant	12	75

The Abyssal Space

The Abyss can be reached by right-clicking on the Zamorakian Mage in the Wilderness and selecting "teleport". Players are advised to have prayer potions, a teleport option, and good armor with them if they plan on entering the Abyss for any reason. Inside the Abyss, the player is skulled and all their prayer points are drained to zero automatically. The abyss consists of two rings. It is worth noting that the Abyss is not part of the Wilderness and pking is not possible inside it. Once at the alter, a player cannot return through the Abyss, and so teleport methods are advised, especially a teleport that will get the player back to Edgeville such as an Amulet of Glory or Ancient Magicks.

Abyssal Inner Ring

In the inner ring are the portals to all the runecrafting alters, including entrances for the not yet existing blood and soul alters (these cannot be entered). The portals are labelled by a sign on them but it is better to hover the mouse over them and see which one it is because some of the icons are very similar. No talismans or tiaras are needed to enter the portals. In the center of this ring is the Dark Mage who will repair broken pouches.

Abyssal Outer Ring

This is the danger factor. It is filled with three kinds of very aggressive creatures all of which will attack players as soon as they enter. It is also a multi-combat area. Prayer potions are advised so a player can restore their drained prayer points and use the "protect from melee" prayer to keep themselves safe. The monsters are level 41, 59, and 81 and they all drop rune essence, binding necklaces, ashes, elemental talismans (access to air, water, earth, and fire alters, cannot be made into a tiara), and pouches. It is advised to kill the level 41 monsters to obtain the last three pouches and leave the others well alone as there's no real need to fight them. When killing Abyssal monsters, only 1/4 of the normal skill experience is received to the combat skill the player is using. To get from the outer ring to the inner, players can use one of 11 entrances. One of these can just be walked through without problems, the others pose more of a challenge. The options for the other 10 are: squeeze gap (uses agility), distract eyes (uses thieving), burn boil (tinderbox needed, uses firemaking), chop tendrils (woodcutting axe needed, uses woodcutting), and mine rock (pickaxe needed, uses mining). Players can bring pickaxes, tinderboxes, and woodcutting axes to use the last three types of entrances. The entrances rotate around so players may have to use any one of them to get to the inner ring quickly.

Strategy For Abyss Crafters

For most crafters the following setup would be wise. You can modify as you see fit.
1. The best magic defence you can get, dragonhide would be good.
2. Any pickaxe for mining through rocks.
3. Boots of lightness.
4. A one click teleport (for escaping pkers), ectophial or elf crystal.
5. A charged glory ammy.
6. All the pouches that you are capable of using.
7. Some food if lower than about 95 combat (1 lobster would do).
8. Fill the rest with rune essence.

Start at the Edgeville bank. Run north to the Zamarok mage and use the "teleport" option. When you're in the abyss, use the nearest available way to get into the inner ring that you can use. Exit through whichever rift you want to craft in (I wouldn't suggest anything lower than chaos). Craft your runes and teleport back to Edgeville. Rinse and repeat. If your pouches go black speak to the Zamarok mage to get them fixed. It helps to have multiple (3 and upwards) glory ammys to save time recharging.