Latest Update: September 15, 2026 – Categories: Runescape: Dragonwilds
In this guide we review every skill in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, every unlock at every level, and the fastest ways to level each one.
Related Dragonwilds
RuneScape: Dragonwilds brings the iconic skill-based progression system from the original RuneScape into a co-op survival crafting world where every skill levels up through use. At 1.0 launch the game has a full roster of skills across four categories: Combat (Attack, Magic, Ranged, and Prayer), Gathering (Woodcutting, Mining, Farming, Fishing), Artisan (Runecrafting, Construction, Artisan, Cooking), and Support (Agility). Each skill can be leveled up to 99 through repeated use. The most powerful unlocks for every skill are spread through the first forty or so levels, so the early and mid game grind for each skill is where the most meaningful progression happens.
Quick Summary: RuneScape: Dragonwilds has skills across Combat, Gathering, Artisan, and Support categories. Every skill levels passively through use and unlocks active spells and abilities at key levels. The most important early unlocks are Parry at Attack level 5, Tempest Shield at Attack level 11, Rocksplosion at Mining level 11, Axtral Projection at Woodcutting level 11, and Windstep at Runecrafting level 8. Magic and Ranged skill trees were added post-early access launch and are fully functional in 1.0.
How Skills Work in Dragonwilds
Skills level through repeated actions tied to that specific skill. You gain skill XP in RuneScape: Dragonwilds by performing the relevant action: chop a tree for Woodcutting XP, mine a rock for Mining XP, hit an enemy for Attack XP, cast a spell for Magic XP. Every level provides either a flat passive bonus, such as reduced stamina cost or increased critical chance, or unlocks a new active spell or ability at specific breakpoint levels. Harder materials and tougher enemies reward substantially more XP per action than basic ones.
Every skill cap is level 99. The level bonuses below cover the major active unlocks and most impactful passive bonuses up to level 40, which covers the range most players will reach during a standard playthrough.
Runescape Dragonwilds Skills List
| Skill | Category | Description | Named Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | Combat | Improves melee combat with new techniques, weapon enchantments, and defensive abilities including Parry and Tempest Shield | 12 |
| Magic | Combat | Unlocks Air, Water, and Fire spellcasting with crowd control, AoE damage, and self-healing | 13 |
| Ranged | Combat | Improves bow and crossbow combat with elemental arrows, traps, and burst damage abilities | 13 |
| Prayer | Combat | Not yet available. Confirmed as a future update | TBD |
| Mining | Gathering | Improves ore and stone gathering with mass-blast abilities, gem drops, and hidden wall access | 12 |
| Woodcutting | Gathering | Improves tree felling efficiency with line-cut spells, auto-processing, and vine-clearing access | 10 |
| Farming | Gathering | Grows crops for food, potions, and crafting materials | 19 |
| Fishing | Gathering | Catches fish for food and materials, with enchanted rods, bulk catch spells, and the Fishnado at level 55 | 13 |
| Artisan | Artisan | Improves crafting efficiency with transmutation, field repairs, and station speed boosts | 5 |
| Construction | Artisan | Expands base building with new shapes, furniture, fly-cam placement, and remote chest access | 13 |
| Cooking | Artisan | Prepares food for health and combat buffs, with buff resets and bone transmutation | 15 |
| Runecrafting | Artisan | Converts Rune Essence into rune types that enable spells across every other skill in the game | 27 |
| Agility | Support | Improves movement and exploration with Double Jump, Air Dash, Recall teleportation, burrow networks, and carry weight bonuses | 26 |
Combat Skills
Attack
The Attack skill tree is focused on improving melee combat, unlocking new combat techniques, and enchanting your weapons with elemental power. Every level passively reduces stamina costs for melee attacks, and key unlocks like Parry, Tempest Shield, and Weapon Expertise make it the most powerful melee toolkit in Dragonwilds.
How to Level: Fight and defeat enemies with melee weapons. Every melee hit generates Attack XP. Tougher enemies in higher-level areas like the Fractured Plains and Stormtouched Highlands reward significantly more XP per hit than basic enemies near the starting area.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Reduced Melee Stamina Drain | Passive | Reduces the cost of stamina using melee weapons by 0.5% per level. |
| 5 | Parry | Passive | Parry attacks by blocking at the last moment to stagger your enemies and deal increased damage! |
| 8 | Melee Weapon Special Actions | Passive | Unlocks unique special actions for melee weapons! |
| 11 | Tempest Shield | Spell | Conjure a shield of air magic that prevents all damage for a limited time while blocking, triggering a powerful burst when spell ends. Attack levels increase duration. |
| 13 | Sprint Attacks | Passive | Unlocks the ability to perfrom a Unique Sprint Attack action after sprinting for a short distance. |
| 16 | Weapon Expertise | Passive | Unlocks additional attacks for all melee weapons. |
| 20 | Enchant Weapon: Fire | Spell | Enchant your current melee weapon with the power of fire! Apply Burning to enemies with critical hits! |
| 23 | Adaptability | Passive | Evading or blocking no longer interrupts your combos when using a melee weapon! |
| 27 | Weapon Rack | Recipe | Unlocks the ability to build a weapon rack to display your weapons. |
| 30 | Enchant Weapon: Air | Spell | Enchant your current melee weapon with the power of air! Increases your melee weapon’s attack speed. |
| 34 | Lesser Attack Potion | Recipe | Unlock the recipe for the lesser Attack potion at the brewing cauldron. |
| 37 | Training Dummy | Recipe | Unlocks the ability to build a training dummy to test your melee weapons on. |
| 40 | Whetstone | Recipe | Allows crafting of whetstones at the crafting table, which can be used to sharpen melee weapons for increased damage! |
| 50 | Enchant Weapon: Water | Spell | Enchant your current Melee weapon with the power of Water! Strike enemies with Water damage and occasionally create healing orbs to restore your health. |
| 65 | Tempest Shield Upgrade | Passive | Your shield now lasts longer. |
| 99 | Attack Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Attack Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Parry at level 5 immediately changes how melee combat feels. Tempest Shield at level 11 is the most important defensive ability in the game. Weapon Expertise at level 16 significantly increases your damage output per turn by adding an extra attack to every combo. Enchant Weapon: Fire at level 20 adds Burning to critical hits and is especially strong against enemies with fire weakness.
Magic
The Magic skill tree unlocks elemental spellcasting across Air, Water, and Fire schools, giving you powerful crowd control, AoE damage, and self-healing options that no other combat style can replicate. It is the most versatile and complex of the three combat skills, and its most powerful abilities like Greater Confuse define how strong a dedicated Mage can be in group content.
How to Level: Cast spells or defeat enemies with magic. Magic and Ranged were added after the initial early access launch and both have full skill trees in 1.0.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Reduced Magic Stamina Cost | Passive | Reduces the cost of magical stamina drain by 0.5% per level. |
| 1 | Air Magic | Passive | Summon the unrelenting force of air! Equip air runes to unleash the power of wind against an enemy, dealing high single target damage and knocking your enemies down! |
| 5 | Magic Special Actions | Passive | Unlocks unique Special Actions when casting spells with a Staff! |
| 7 | Water Magic | Passive | Conjure the supportive power of water! Equip water runes to damage and slow your enemies while also healing yourself and your allies. Kills with water magic have a chance to spawn water orbs. |
| 11 | Surge | Spell | Channel arcane power into your dodges, travelling further and evading longer as a result. |
| 16 | Arcane Expertise | Passive | Unlocks an additional powerful magical attack at the end of staff magic combos. |
| 20 | Runic Refund | Passive | Your greater understanding of magic gives you a 30% chance to preserve runes when attacking with magic. |
| 21 | Fire Magic | Passive | Wield the destructive forces of fire. Equip fire runes to deal medium damage to enemies in a large area and build up Burning on them to reduce them to ash |
| 25 | Afterimage | Passive | Distract your enemies by leaving behind an illusionary image for a short time when you use your first Surge charge. |
| 30 | Confuse | Spell | Twist the minds of lesser enemies, making them unable to distinguish between friend and foe for a limited time. |
| 34 | Magic Potion | Recipe | Unlock the recipe for the magic potion at the brewing cauldron. |
| 39 | Magic Focus | Recipe | Allows crafting of magic focus at the crafting table, which can be used to imbue magic staves to increase their damage! |
| 44 | Greater Confuse | Passive | The Confuse spell now works on a wider variety of creatures. |
| 61 | Enfeeble | Spell | Weakens the attacks of the targeted opponent. |
| 80 | Vengeance | Spell | Is being vindictive a virtue? I think so! A spell that reflects your enemie’s damage right back at them. |
| 99 | Magic Skillcape | Unlock | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Magic Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Arcane Expertise at level 16 meaningfully increases your damage per cast window. Runic Refund at level 20 is essential for sustaining Magic use without constantly running out of runes. Greater Confuse at level 45 is the ability that defines late-game Magic as the strongest crowd control style in Dragonwilds.
Ranged
The Ranged skill tree is focused on improving bow and crossbow combat, unlocking elemental arrow types, and adding utility tools like poisoned traps to your kit. It delivers the highest burst damage in the mid game and is the safest solo combat style for exploration and boss fights with limited grounded windows.
How to Level: Defeat enemies using bows, crossbows, or other ranged weapons.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Ammo Recovery Chance | Passive | Increases the chance to recover ammo (bolt/arrow) from your enemy’s loot per level. |
| 3 | Quick Action | Passive | Perform Quick Actions with ranged weapons using the Primary Action button. |
| 5 | Archery Target | Recipe | Build an archery target to practice your Ranged accuracy against. Shoot the bullseye for a surprise! |
| 8 | Trick Shot | Passive | After firing a fully drawn arrow, release follow-up shots at exactly the right time for 15% increased damage! |
| 12 | Snare | Spell | Conjure earth magic at your feet and lay a trap for your enemies! Those caught inside become rooted in place for a short time. |
| 15 | Toxic Behaviour | Recipe | Unlocks the recipe for weapon poison, which can be used to imbue melee weapons with Poison or to craft Poisonous arrows. |
| 18 | Hunter’s Sense | Passive | Crouch for a short time to activate your Hunter’s Sense, allowing you to sense nearby creatures and enemies. |
| 22 | Make ‘Em Bleed | Recipe | Unlocks the recipe for weapon barbs, which can be used to imbue melee weapons with Bleed or to craft Barbed arrows. |
| 25 | Spectral Arrows | Spell | Enchant your equipped bow with astral magic, causing arrows to penetrate multiple targets. |
| 30 | Crossbow Trick Shot | Passive | Trick Shot now applies to crossbow weapons. Fire at the right time to instantly finish reloading and ready your next shot! |
| 35 | Enchanted Crossbow Bolts | Recipe | Unlocks the ability to craft Enchanted Crossbow Bolts. Enchanted bolts have a chance of triggering unique magical effects when fired! |
| 40 | Venomous Trapper | Passive/spell | The Snare Trap now triggers a cloud of poison when activated, causing enemies stuck inside it to become poisoned over time. |
| 45 | Fire Starter | Recipe | Unlocks the fire oil and fire arrows recipes, giving you new ways to burn your enemies to ash! |
| 60 | Lucky Bolts | Passove | Increases the chance for enchanted crossbow bolts to trigger their magical effects. |
| 99 | Ranged Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Ranged Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Trickshot is your primary burst damage tool and worth unlocking as early as possible. Fire Starter at level 45 dramatically increases sustained damage output against enemies with fire weakness and stacks with base arrow damage rather than replacing it.
Gathering
Mining
The Mining skill tree is focused on gathering ore, stone, clay, and gems from deposits across Ashenfall, with upgrades that make bulk gathering much faster and open up blocked paths throughout the world. Rocksplosion at level 11 is the defining ability that turns Mining from a slow individual-node process into a gathering powerhouse.
How to Level: Mine ore, clay, or stone with a pickaxe, or gather loose stones from the ground. Clay and ore reward significantly more XP than stone. Tougher ore deposits grant more XP per hit.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Increased Mining Critical Chance | Passive | Increase mining Critical Hit Chance by 0.3% per level |
| 5 | Lift With Your Hips | Passive | The weight of stone, clay and sand raw material is reduced by 25% |
| 11 | Rocksplosion | Spell | Conjure a powerful blast to break apart stone boulders and ore. |
| 16 | Gem Prospector | Passive | Mining ore now sometimes produces previous gemstones. |
| 20 | Mine Crumbled Walls | Passive | Allows you to knock down crumbled walls with a pickaxe, granting access to hidden or blocked areas. |
| 24 | Summon Stone Spirits | Spell | Call on stone spirits to guide you to the nearest rocks you can mine! |
| 36 | Not-So-Heavy Metal | Passive | The weight of metal ores is reduced by 25%. |
| 62 | Ore & Stone Storage | Recipe | Unlocks ore & stone storage building piece. |
| 69 | Ultimate Burst | Passive | Increased Rocksplosion area of effect. |
| 71 | Ingot Weight Reduction | Passive | Reduces the weight of ingots by 50% |
| 80 | Divine Rock | Spell | Turn 5 ores on the ground into a personal mining vein. |
| 90 | Accelerated Veins | Passive | Chance for Divine Rock to drop gemstones. |
| 99 | Mining Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Mining Skillcap.e |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Rocksplosion at level 11 is the most efficient Mining skill in the game. It breaks all nearby boulders and ore in a single cast and generates huge Mining XP chunks per use. The Whispering Swamp is the best early grinding location for Rocksplosion because of its dense clay deposits. Detect Ore and Clay at level 24 is the best quality-of-life Mining unlock, functioning as a GPS for nearby ore nodes.
Woodcutting
The Woodcutting skill tree is focused on gathering wood resources more efficiently, with key spells that let you fell entire lines of trees and automatically process fallen logs without individual chopping. It also unlocks exploration paths blocked by thorny vines, giving it a useful secondary function beyond raw resource gathering.
How to Level: Chop down trees or collect logs from the ground. Stronger trees like oak give more XP per strike. Fallen logs still give XP when processed.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Increased Woodcutting Critical Chance | Passive | Increases Woodcutting Critical Hit Chance by 0.3% per level. |
| 4 | Overhead Chop | Ability | You can now perform an overhead chop, which deals greater damage against fallen logs, but very little against trees. |
| 11 | Axtral Projection | Spell | Conjoures an astral axe and launches it forward, instantly chopping down trees in its path. |
| 16 | Bird Nests | Passive | It is now possible to find bird nests while felling trees. Bird nests can contain useful items. |
| 20 | Chop Thorny Vines | Passive | Allows you to cut down thorny vines with a hatchet, granting access to hidden or blocked areas. |
| 27 | Splinter | Spell | A powerful spell that chops fallen trees into wood logs. |
| 50 | Trunk Totem | Spell | Transmute scattered trees into a single totem. |
| 59 | Lumber Backpack | Recipe | Stylish? Yes! But not only that… A highly functional backpack that improves your luck with rare wood resource drops. It also lightens the weight of carried wood, and gives a gentle boost to woodcutting progression. |
| 67 | Lumber Storage | Recipe | Unlocks Lumber Storage, a high-capacity storage for logs and planks. |
| 78 | Axtral Projection Upgrade | Passive | Now it conjures three spectral axes, carving through even more trees along their path. |
| 88 | Wood Weight Reduction | Passive | Reduces the weight of wood by 50%. |
| 99 | Woodcutting Skillcape | Passive | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Woodcutting Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Axtral Projection at level 11 and Splinter at level 27 are the two skills that completely change how Woodcutting works. Axtral Projection cuts down entire lines of trees in one cast, and Splinter automatically processes the fallen logs. Together they make large-scale deforestation nearly effortless. Chop Thorny Vines at level 20 doubles as an exploration utility, opening paths blocked by vine barriers throughout Ashenfall.
Farming
The Farming skill tree is focused on growing crops for food, potion ingredients, and crafting materials, giving you a reliable renewable resource supply without relying entirely on exploration drops. It was introduced in the December 2025 Fellhollow update and provides a passive income of ingredients that compounds across the mid and late game.
How to Level: Grow and harvest crops at farming plots.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Seed Gathering | Passive | Increases the chance to gather seeds from all plants by 0.3% per level, up to 29.4% at level 99. |
| 3 | Plant Cure | Recipe | Unlocks the ability to create plant cures at the cooking range. Use plant cures to heal your plants from disease. |
| 6 | Rain Catcher | Recipe | Collects and filters rain water into usable clean water over time. |
| 10 | Compost Bin + Bucket | Recipe | Unlocks the compost bin and compost bucket recipes. These allow for creating and using Normal compost to boost the yield and disease resistance of your plants. |
| 15 | Uproot | Spell | Channelling the power of the earth, summon a spectral surge that gently coaxes ripe plants from the soil. Within a small radius, all fully grown crops and wild plants are instantly harvested and drawn towards you. |
| 20 | Tree Farming | Passive | You are skilled enough at farming to now grow trees. Trees can be planted directly into the ground and seeds can be found while chopping down trees and from birds nests. |
| 24 | Water Barrel | Recipe | Unlocks the water barrel, which stores Clean or dirty water collected from watering cans for later use. |
| 28 | Humidify | Spell | Conjure water magic to create a rain cloud that travels forward, instantly watering any farming plot that it passes over with clean water. |
| 32 | Well | Recipe | Unlocks the ability to build a well! A well provides a limited amount of clean water per day. Wells refill in the morning. |
| 36 | Harvester | Passive | With greater mastery over the land, the caster’s reach extends even further. Harvester expands Uproot’s range to a wider radius. |
| 39 | Speedy Farmer | Passive | You’ve become more adept at watering and composting your plants. You can now do so with less penalty to your movement speed! |
| 42 | Iron Secateurs | Recipe | A pair of gardening Secateurs that boost your harvesting yield while equipped. |
| 46 | Large Water Barrel | Recipe | Unlocks the large water barrel, which stores even more Clean or dirty water collected from watering cans for later use. |
| 50 | Cleansing Rain | Passive | Upgrades the Humidify spell, causing the conjured rain cloud to cure any diseased plants it passes over while watering them. |
| 55 | Scarecrow | Recipe | Unlocks the scarecrow for protecting your farm from feathered annoyances. |
| 60 | Super Compost Bin | Recipe | Unlocks the super compost bin which produces super compost, for an even better yield boost and disease resistance of your plants. |
| 74 | Rapid Growth | Spell | Advances plant growth by one stage. Cannot be reapplied until the plant grows further. |
| 80 | Mucksplosion | Spell | Not for the squeamish gardener! This spell harnesses Earth magic to summon a bubbling compost volcano, showering your beloved plots with rich, nourishing fertilizer. |
| 90 | Overgrowth Aura | Passive | Increases the range of the Rapid Growth spell. |
| 99 | Farming Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Farming Skillcape. |
Fishing
The Fishing skill tree is focused on catching fish for food and materials, with a progression that moves from basic rod crafting through enchanted rods, rare fish, bulk storage, and eventually summoning tornados to pull entire schools of fish from the water at once. It rewards long-term investment with some of the most creative ability unlocks in the game.
How to Level: Catch fish using a fishing rod at water sources throughout Ashenfall.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Increased Fish Stamina Drain Rate | Passive | Increases the stamina drain rate of the fish by 1% per level. |
| 3 | Fishing Rod | Passive | Unlocks the ability to craft fishing rods. |
| 10 | Fishing Frenzy | Spell | Enchant a fishing node. Each successful catch provide an additional fish of the same type while the effect lasts. |
| 17 | Pristine Fish | Passive | Unlocks the ability to catch rare pristine fish, which yields more food when cooked, or can be used as a decoration. |
| 23 | Fish Weight Reduction | Passive | Reduces the carry weight of all fish by 25%. |
| 30 | Infernal Rod | Spell | Enchant your currently equipped rod with fire for 2 minutes. All fish caught with that rod during the effect are instantly cooked. |
| 34 | Fish Barrel Storage | Passive | Unlocks the fishing barrel structure. A very high capacity storage for fishes. |
| 39 | Tackle box | Passive | Unlocks the recipe to build a storage box for your baits. |
| 43 | Troubled Waters | Passive | Fishing Frenzy now reduces fish’s maximum stamina by 15% while spell is active. |
| 49 | Increase Net Fishing Catch Chance | Passive | Increase the net fishing catch chance to 75%. |
| 55 | Fishnado | Spell | Conjure a tornado that pulls out up to 5 fish from a fishing node. |
| 60 | Greater Fishnado | Passive | Reduces the cooldown for the Fishnado spell. |
| 70 | Experienced Angler | Passive | Unlock the recipe for a fishing hat. While worn, you have a 10% chance per catch to not deplete a fish in the fishing spot. |
| 99 | Fishing Skillcape | Passive | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Fishing Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Fishing Frenzy at level 10 is the most impactful early unlock, doubling your catch yield from any enchanted node and making every fishing session significantly more efficient. Infernal Rod at level 30 is the quality-of-life highlight of the tree, auto-cooking every fish you reel in for two minutes and removing the need to visit a Campfire after a fishing run.
Artisan
Runecrafting
The Runecrafting skill tree is focused on converting Rune Essence into the rune types required for spells across every other skill in the game, making it an essential support skill for any build that uses active abilities. Its mobility unlock Windstep at level 8 is the earliest active ability in the entire skill list and immediately useful for exploration.
How to Level: Craft runes at a Rune Altar using Rune Essence gathered from glowing deposits throughout Ashenfall. Harvesting Rune Essence nodes with a pickaxe, including floating rocks you can shoot down with a bow, provides both Runecrafting materials and passive XP. Crafting many runes at once at a Rune Altar generates Runecrafting XP in large batches.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Attunement Phase Duration | Passive | Increases the attunement phase duration of Runecrafting by 0.6% every level, up to a maximum of 58.8% at level 99. |
| 1 | Air Rune | Recipe | Unlocks recipe for Air Runes,which can be crafted at the rune altar. |
| 3 | Astral Rune | Recipe | Unlocks recipe for Astral Runes, which can be crafted at the rune altar. |
| 11 | Water Rune | Recipe | Unlocks recipe for Water Runes, which can be crafted at the rune altar. |
| 15 | Earth Rune | Recipe | Unlocks recipe for Earth Runes, which can be crafted at the rune altar. |
| 17 | Lesser Infusion Duration | Passive | Reduces the infusion phase duration of Runecrafting. |
| 19 | Summon Elemental Spirits | Spell | Call on wisps to guide you to nearby anima vents that you can siphon! |
| 22 | Air Efficiency | Passive | Get a better yield when auto-crafting air runes. |
| 25 | Fire Rune | Recipe | Unlocks recipe for Fire Runes, which can be crafted at the rune altar. |
| 27 | Home Teleport | Spell | Teleport safely back to your bed and enjoy a peaceful, undisturbed night’s sleep. |
| 30 | Astral Efficiency | Passive | Get a better yield when auto-crafting astral runes. |
| 34 | Pure Essence | Passive | Unlocks a chance of the Pure Essence Stone eruption while siphoning. It’s hard to catch… But the reward is a burst of runes… |
| 38 | Nature Rune | Recipe | Unlocks recipe for Nature Runes, which can be crafted at the rune altar. |
| 42 | Fire Spirit | Spell | Conjure forth a fire spirit to light your way. |
| 46 | Lesser Anima Siphoning | Passive | Each anima vent siphon consumes 1 rune essence to produce 12 runes. |
| 48 | Better Infusion Duration | Passive | Reduces the infusion phase duration of runecrafting. |
| 50 | Law Rune | Recipe | Unlocks recipe for Law Runes, which can be crafted at the rune altar. |
| 53 | Essential Strength | Passive | The weight of rune essence is reduced by 50%. |
| 58 | Water Efficiency | Passive | Get a better yield when auto-crafting water runes. |
| 61 | Rune To Rune Efficiency | Spell | Too many runes of the wrong type and no essence around? Throw your runes on the ground and this spell will draw out their magic, leaving you with 40% of the rune essence. |
| 64 | Greater Elemental Spirits | Spell | The Summon Elemental Spirits perk now also indicates which anima vents are Concentrated. |
| 68 | Earth Efficiency | Passive | Get a better yield when auto-crafting earth runes. |
| 71 | Greater Anima Siphoning | Passive | Each anima vent siphon consumes 1 rune essence to produce 15 runes. |
| 75 | Fire Efficiency | Passive | Get a better yield when auto-crafting fire runes. |
| 78 | Greater Infusion Duration | Passive | Reduces the infusion phase duration of runecrafting. |
| 81 | Runes To Rune Essence Upgrade | Spell | As your mastery grows, so does your yield. You can now extract 60% of the rune essence. |
| 87 | Nature Efficiency | Passive | Get a better yield when auto-crafting nature runes. |
| 94 | Law Efficiency | Passive | Get a better yield when auto-crafting law runes. |
| 99 | Runecrafting Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Runecrafting Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Unlocking each rune type as you level is the core function of the tree, since Earth Runes, Fire Runes, Law Runes, and Nature Runes each enable different spells across Attack, Magic, Artisan, and other skills. Essential Strength at level 27 makes high-volume Rune Essence gathering practical by halving the carry weight, which is the single biggest quality-of-life improvement for sustained Runecrafting sessions.
Construction
The Construction skill tree is focused on building and upgrading your base, with unlocks that expand available building shapes, furniture types, and quality-of-life tools like a fly-cam building mode and remote chest access. It is the most resource-hungry skill to level but its highest unlocks like Personal Chest are among the most impactful in the game for long-term survival efficiency.
How to Level: Build structures and furniture. One of the hardest skills to level because it consumes large quantities of resources per XP gain. Level Woodcutting and Mining first to build the material stockpiles needed for efficient Construction grinding.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Middle Ground | Recipe | Unlocks medium-sized building pieces. |
| 5 | Fine Details | Recipe | Unlocks small building pieces. |
| 8 | Sacred Geometry | Recipe | Unlocks triangular building pieces. |
| 11 | Eye of Oculus | Spell | Become the mystical Eye of Oculus and build structures easier and with a whole new perspective! |
| 16 | Creature Comforts | Recipe | Unlocks an assortment of furniture and decorations. |
| 18 | Mighty Oak | Recipe | Unlocks the next tier of building pieces. |
| 20 | Summon Shelter | Spell | Construct a temporary shelter through the power of astral magic. It even has a bed! |
| 22 | Countryside | Recipe | Unlocks Thatched Roofs. |
| 30 | Bastion | Recipe | Unlocks additional stone building pieces. |
| 35 | Baroque Stone | Recipe | Unlocks additional stone building pieces |
| 40 | Personal Chest | Spell | Access your personal storage chest from anywhere. |
| 45 | Desert Dweller | Recipe | Unlocks additional Kharidian building pieces. |
| 53 | Construction Material Weight Reduction | Passive | Reduces the weight of Construction Materials. |
| 62 | Eye of Oculus Upgrade | Passive | Now magnetizes materials into your inventory. |
| 99 | Construction Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Construction Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Eye of Oculus at level 11 changes how base building feels, giving you a free-camera placement mode that makes complex builds dramatically easier.
Artisan
The Artisan skill tree is focused on crafting weapons, armor, and tools, with key unlocks that let you repair gear in the field, speed up crafting stations, and transmute resources from one type to another. It is one of the harder skills to level but its mid-level unlocks like Magical Mending meaningfully change how long you can stay out exploring without returning to base.
How to Level: Craft weapons, armor, and tools at crafting stations. One of the harder skills to level because you do not craft new equipment frequently. Crafting large amounts of armor is the most reliable method.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Durability Loss on Equipment | Passive | Reduces the durability loss on equipment by -0.5% per level, up to -49% at level 99. |
| 11 | Bark To Bones | Spell | Use Alchemy to transmute a tree into a stack of bones for all your grisly needs. |
| 20 | Superheat | Spell | Cast on fire-based stations to empower them and boost their processing speed for a while |
| 28 | Storage Ledger | Recipe | Unlocks the Storage Ledger building piece. |
| 40 | Decorated Adventurer | Recipe | Unlocks the Armour Mannequin and Cape Rack, allowing you to display all of your armour sets and capes with pride! |
| 48 | Overdrive | Spell | Cast on mechanical-based processing stations to empower them and boost their processing speed for a while. |
| 56 | Magical Mending | Spell | Throw your items down and repair them instantly through the power of nature magic. |
| 66 | Superheat Upgrade | Passive | Speed Boost now lasts even longer. |
| 80 | Overdrive Upgrade | Passive | Speed Boost now lasts even longer. |
| 90 | Magical Mending Upgrade | Passive | Speed Boost now lasts even longer. |
| 99 | Artisan Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Artisan Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Bark to Bones at level 11 is a key cross-skill utility, converting trees into bones on a cooldown for Runecrafting and Cooking use. Magical Mending at level 27 eliminates the need to visit a repair station, letting you fix all gear in the field mid-exploration. Superheat at level 20 meaningfully speeds up production at smelters and forges once your base is established.
Cooking
The Cooking skill tree is focused on preparing food for health recovery and combat buffs, with each level adding a passive chance to produce higher-quality meals and key unlocks that let you reset buffs on demand and transmute otherwise useless bones into food. It levels naturally during normal survival play and rarely needs dedicated grinding.
How to Level: Cook food at Campfires and Cooking Pots. Levels naturally during normal play because survival requires eating regularly. Each level increases the chance to produce delicious quality food by 1%.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Burn Chance | Passive | Reduces the chance to burn ingredients. |
| 1 | Culinary Confidence: Power Level 1 | Passive | Reduces the chance to burn power level 1 ingredients by -50% |
| 11 | Fancy Cookware | Recipe | Unlocks furniture piece pan rack in the building menu. |
| 12 | Culinary Confidence: Power Level 2 | Passive | Reduces the chance to burn power level 2 ingredients by -50% |
| 14 | Teamonger | Recipe | Unlocks a collection of perk-granting recipes at the stone range and Range. |
| 16 | Amateur Culinaromancer | Recipe | Unlocks a collection of perk-granting recipes at the stone range and Range. |
| 20 | Internal Alchemy | Spell | Refreshes any active food and drink buffs with a spectacular display of culinary appreciation. |
| 26 | Grill Master | Recipe | Unlocks the grill. |
| 27 | Culinary Confidence: Power Level 3 | Passive | Reduces the chance to burn power level 3 ingredients by -50% |
| 28 | Bones to Peaches | Spell | Transmute unwanted bones on the ground into fresh peaches for your consumption. Inhumane? Yes… but delicious! |
| 36 | Adept Culinaromancer | Recipe | Unlocks a collection of perk-granting recipes at the stone range and Range. |
| 40 | Yes, Chef! | Recipe | Unlocks recipe for chef’s hat, which can be crafted at the Crafting Station |
| 41 | Culinary Confidence: Power Level 4 | Passive | Reduced the chance to burn power level 4 ingredients by -50% |
| 50 | Culinary Confidence: Power Level 5 | Passive | Reduced the chance to burn power level 5 ingredients by -50% |
| 75 | Culinary Confidence: Power Level 6 | Passive | Reduced the chance to burn power level 6 ingredients by -50% |
| 99 | Cooking Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Cooking Skillcape. |
Best Skills to Prioritize: Internal Alchemy at level 20 is the strongest practical Cooking unlock for active players, letting you reset food buffs so you can reapply them at full duration before a boss fight or raid attempt rather than waiting for them to expire naturally. Bones to Peaches at level 27 is a useful survival tool that converts bones dropped by enemies into a reliable food source when other food is scarce.
Support
Agility
The Agility skill tree is focused on improving movement, traversal, and exploration efficiency, with unlocks that add a double jump, aerial dash, fall damage negation, burrow network fast travel, remote teleportation, and carry weight increases. It is one of the most broadly useful skill trees in the game regardless of combat style, and its mobility unlocks change how the entire world of Ashenfall feels to navigate.
How to Level: Run agility courses found across Ashenfall’s regions, including Brynmoor, Ghornfell, Fellhollow, Dowdun Reach, and Umbral Sands. Passive exploration XP is also earned through the Nomad and Trailblazer passives at higher levels.
| Level | Ability | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Sprinting Stamina Reduction | Passive | Reduces stamina drain of sprinting by 0.085% per level until 8.415% at level 99. |
| 1 | Brynmoor Courses | Unlock | Unlocks Brynmoor courses. |
| 5 | Windstep | Spell | Reclassified from Runecrafting to Agility. At higher levels, landing creates an air blast that knocks down nearby enemies. |
| 10 | Double Jump | Ability | Perform a second jump mid-air. Can be chained directly into an Air Dash. |
| 15 | Ghornfell Courses | Unlock | Unlocks Ghornfell courses. |
| 22 | Hopper | Passive | Reduces stamina cost of jumping. |
| 27 | Common Burrower | Shortcut | Allows the use of Brynmoor and Ghornfell burrow networks. |
| 30 | Fellhollow Courses | Unlock | Unlocks Fellhollow courses. |
| 32 | Air Dash | Ability | Execute a short, horizontal aerial dash to cross gaps and evade attacks in combat. |
| 35 | Breakfall | Passive | Automatically roll out of high falls to reduce landing damage. |
| 40 | Wind Stomp | Ability | Stagger nearby enemies when landing from Windstep. |
| 42 | Wild Burrower | Shortcut | Allows the use of Fellhollow burrow network. Additionally, the chance of taking damage and the received amount are reduced. |
| 44 | Phase Dash | Spell | Allows the use of a second dash while airborne. |
| 48 | Nomad | Passive | Increases the amount of passive experience gained while exploring from 50 to 200. |
| 50 | Backpacker | Passive | Maximum carry weight increases by 75. |
| 51 | Dowdun Reach Courses | Unlock | Unlocks Dowdun Reach courses. |
| 53 | Stamina Potion | Recipe | Unlocks the recipe to craft stamina potions that can stop stamina drain while running. |
| 54 | Greater Breakfall | Passive | Further reduces fall damage. |
| 55 | Dark Burrower | Shortcut | Allows the use of the Dowdun Reach burrow network. |
| 57 | Recall | Spell | Leaves a runic marker on the ground; recasting teleports you back to it. Taking a fatal fall while tethered teleports you back safely and consumes the tether. |
| 65 | Umbral Sands Courses | Unlock | Unlocks Umbral Sands courses. |
| 67 | Desert Burrower | Shortcut | Allows the use of the Umbral Sands burrow network. |
| 70 | Reactive Recall | Spell | Recall now automatically triggers upon receiving fatal fall damage, protecting the caster. |
| 75 | Explorer | Passive | Maximum carry weight increases by an additional 75. |
| 80 | Razor-backed Burrower | Shortcut | Further reduces the chance of taking damage and the amount received while travelling through the kebbit burrow network. |
| 85 | Trailblazer | Passive | Increases the amount of passive experience gained from exploration from 200 to 400. |
| 99 | Agility Skillcape | Recipe | A true showcase of Skill Mastery. Unlocks the ability to craft and wear the Agility Skillcape. |
The Final Word
Every skill in RuneScape: Dragonwilds rewards consistent use more than dedicated grinding sessions. The most efficient approach across the full skill list is to level multiple skills simultaneously during normal exploration: chop wood while running to an enemy camp, mine every ore node on the way to a dungeon, cook food from whatever drops you pick up along the route. The skills that most reward deliberate early investment are Attack for the Tempest Shield at level 11, Runecrafting for Windstep at level 8 and the rune recipe unlocks, and Mining for Rocksplosion at level 11. Get those three skills to their key breakpoints as fast as possible and the rest of the game opens up considerably. For build recommendations that make the most of each skill tree, see our RuneScape: Dragonwilds Best Class guide.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds Skills FAQ
1. How many skills does Dragonwilds have at 1.0?
The game has skills across four categories at 1.0: Attack, Magic, and Ranged in Combat (with Prayer listed as a future update); Woodcutting, Mining, Farming, and Fishing in Gathering; Runecrafting, Construction, Artisan, and Cooking in Artisan; and Agility in Support.
2. What is the fastest skill to level in Dragonwilds?
Runecrafting levels the fastest if you have a large Rune Essence stockpile, since batch-crafting many runes at once generates multiple levels per session. Cooking is the easiest to level passively because boiling water at a Campfire counts as cooking and provides unlimited practice material.
3. What is the most useful skill unlock in the game?
Tempest Shield at Attack level 11 is the most impactful single unlock for combat. Rocksplosion at Mining level 11 and Axtral Projection at Woodcutting level 11 are the most impactful for gathering efficiency. Personal Chest at Construction level 40 is the most powerful quality-of-life unlock overall.
4. Do skills carry over between worlds or servers?
Skills are tied to your character and carry forward into any world or server you join, as long as you are using the same character. Switching to a different character starts a fresh skill progression.
5. Is there a skill cap in Dragonwilds?
Yes. Every skill caps at level 99, matching the classic RuneScape maximum level. Reaching level 99 in any skill is a significant long-term goal that requires sustained grinding well beyond what is necessary to complete the main Kuldra’s Saga storyline.
6. Do you have to choose which skills to level, or can you max all of them?
Every character can level all skills to their maximum. There is no class selection that locks you out of any skill, and there are no competing skill points that force you to choose between options. The only limit is time: each skill requires dedicated use to level, so reaching high levels across the full skill list is a long-term commitment rather than something that happens passively.
