These are the Top 15 best skills to unlock first in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, ranked by impact across every skill tree.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds gives you access to every skill from the moment you arrive in Ashenfall. What the game does not tell you is which specific skills inside each tree are worth reaching first, and which ones can wait until you have addressed the bigger priorities. The difference between a player who unlocks the right skills early and one who levels up evenly across the board without a plan is huge!
Runescape: Dragonwilds Skills Overview
RuneScape Dragonwilds has nine skills available at 1.0 launch across Combat, Gathering, Artisan, and Support categories, with Prayer listed as a future update. Every skill can be leveled by all players simultaneously. Leveling your Woodcutting Skill does not slow down your Attack Skill or vis versa. The only cost of leveling multiple trees at once is time, which means the question is never which skills to ignore but which ones to reach for first.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds Best Skills Ranked (Top 15)
15. Snare (Ranged Level 12)
Conjures earth magic at your feet to lay a trap that roots enemies in place for a short time. Snare is the earliest crowd control tool available to any build and works regardless of whether you are playing Melee, Magic, or Ranged as your primary style. Rooting a target buys time to reposition, finish off another enemy, or line up a Trick Shot without taking a hit in the process.
14. Trick Shot (Ranged Level 8)
After firing a fully drawn arrow, you release follow-up shots at exactly the right time for 15% increased damage. Unlocked at level 8, this is one of the earliest high-impact skills in the game and defines how Ranged combat feels from that point forward. Crossbow Trick Shot at level 30 extends the same mechanic to crossbows, and most Ranged players build their entire combat rhythm around this timing window.
13. Surge (Magic Level 11)
Channels arcane power into your dodges, making them travel further and last longer. Surge benefits every combat style equally because better dodges reduce hits taken across every fight regardless of your weapon. Unlike most Magic unlocks it requires no runes to use, making it the easiest Magic unlock to maintain from the moment you get it.
12. Weapon Expertise (Attack Level 16)
Unlocks additional attacks for all melee weapons, permanently extending every combo without increasing stamina cost proportionally. This is the best passive unlock in the Attack tree for sustained damage output and applies to every melee weapon you equip from level 16 onward, making it a permanent baseline improvement to melee combat efficiency for the rest of the game.
11. Superheat/Overdrive (Artisan 20/48)
Superheat and Overdrive are spells that increase your processing and production speeds for specific stations, helping you craft faster. This is extremely important as some items and materials can take quite a long time to process fully, especially when you need to create multiple smaller pieces then combine them together into a larger item.
10. Splinter (Woodcutting Level 27)
A powerful spell that automatically chops fallen trees into processed wood logs. Costs 5 Nature Runes and 10 Earth Runes. Combined with Axtral Projection, Splinter completes a fully automated woodcutting loop where Axtral Projection fells entire rows of trees and Splinter processes all the fallen logs without a single individual swing required. Lumber Storage is another related unlock, providing very high capacity storage once this loop is generating wood faster than standard chests can hold.
9. Axtral Projection (Woodcutting Level 11)
Conjures an astral axe and launches it forward, instantly chopping down every tree in its path. Costs 5 Astral Runes and 10 Air Runes. The wood demand in Dragonwilds is relentless across base building, crafting, and construction, and Axtral Projection is what makes keeping up with that demand feel effortless rather than like a chore. The level 88 upgrade fires three spectral axes simultaneously for a significantly wider area of effect. Paired with Splinter at level 27, the two together represent the single most efficient resource gathering combination in the game.
8. Magical Mending (Artisan Level 27)
Throw your items on the ground and repair them instantly through the power of nature magic. Costs 10 Nature Runes and 20 Earth Runes. The ability to repair all gear anywhere in the field without returning to a crafting station changes how long you can stay out exploring more than almost any other single unlock. It is the strongest quality-of-life skill in the game for sustained dungeon runs, and the community consistently ranks it among the most impactful artisan unlocks regardless of build.
7. Confuse (Magic Level 30)
Twists the minds of enemies, making them unable to distinguish between friend and foe for a limited time. Greater Confuse at level 44 expands this to work on a wider variety of creatures. Confuse is the strongest crowd control ability in the game, removing the most dangerous target from a fight and converting it into a temporary ally with no additional cost. No other skill in any tree replicates this effect, and in group content it is the ability that makes a dedicated Magic player genuinely irreplaceable.
6. Personal Chest (Construction Level 40)
Access your personal storage chest from anywhere in Ashenfall. Costs 20 Law Runes and 15 Astral Runes. Remote storage access removes the single most common reason players cut expeditions short, which is running out of carry weight with no way to deposit without returning to base. The ability to deposit, retrieve, and reorganize your inventory from any location in the world changes how the entire late game is played and compounds in value with every hour you spend exploring.
5. Eye of Oculus (Construction Level 11)
Build structures from a free fly-cam perspective for easier placement. Costs 3 Astral Runes. Eye of Oculus transforms base building from a frustrating process of placing pieces at awkward angles into a precise, overhead system where you can see exactly where every piece lands before committing. It is the unlock that makes serious base building genuinely enjoyable rather than a chore, and it arrives early enough at Construction level 11 that you have it for the majority of your time in Ashenfall.
4. Double Jump (Agility Level 10)
Perform a second jump mid-air, chainable directly into an Air Dash. Double Jump at Agility level 10 is one of the most impactful movement unlocks in the game and arrives just five levels after Windstep. Together the two form the most powerful early movement pairing in any skill tree: Windstep gets you into the air and higher than normal, and Double Jump extends that aerial time and opens up the full vertical dimension of Ashenfall. Community guides consistently recommend reaching Agility level 10 as one of the first priorities for any new player, specifically to unlock this pairing.
3. Windstep (Agility Level 5)
Summons Air Magic to jump higher and descend slower. At higher levels, landing creates an air blast that knocks down nearby enemies. Windstep is the earliest active ability in the entire game at Agility level 5, and it immediately changes how you move through Ashenfall, opens vertical routes that are otherwise inaccessible, and adds a crowd control option through the landing knockdown at higher ranks.
2. Rocksplosion (Mining Level 11)
Conjures a powerful blast that breaks all stone boulders and ore deposits within its radius simultaneously. Costs 15 Earth Runes and 5 Fire Runes. Rocksplosion is the most efficient single gathering cast in the game and transforms Mining from a slow individual-node process into a mass-resource operation. Every player needs metal and stone constantly across every gear tier, and every minute spent mining without Rocksplosion is a minute spent less efficiently than you could be. Reach Mining level 11 as fast as possible on every character, every playthrough.
1. Tempest Shield (Attack Level 11)
Conjures a shield of Air Magic that blocks all incoming damage while active, then triggers a powerful burst when the spell ends. Attack level increases duration. Costs 15 Air Runes. Tempest Shield is a complete damage block and an AoE counter in one cast, accessible at Attack level 11 before most players leave the starting region, and it remains the most impactful defensive tool from the earliest dungeons through the Scorned Wilderness raid. If you unlock nothing else early, unlock this.
Best Attack Skills
The Attack Skill tree is the highest priority for any player who plans to engage in melee combat, which is everyone in Runescape: Dragonwilds at some point given that melee weapons are the most reliable close-range option. The attack level unlocks that matter most are concentrated in the first forty levels and cover defensive mechanics, combo extensions, and weapon enchantments. Every level also reduces the stamina cost of using melee weapons by 0.5%, which compounds across an entire fight for meaningful endurance gains before you have access to any of the active unlocks.
Parry (Attack Level 5)
Parry attacks by blocking at the last moment to stagger enemies and deal increased damage in return. At Attack level 5 this is one of the first unlocks in the entire game, and it quickly changes how melee combat feels. A successful parry stuns the enemy briefly, opening a free hit window that makes every fight faster and more controlled. It does not require any runes or resources to use. Master this as soon as you unlock it.
Tempest Shield (Attack Level 11)
Mentioned as part of our overall Top 15, conjures an Air Magic shield around your current melee weapon user that prevents all incoming damage while blocking for a limited time, then triggers a powerful burst when the spell ends. This is the single most important defensive ability in the game. Tempest Shield costs 15 Air Runes per cast, which is manageable once your Runecrafting is producing air runes at the rune altar. The two-part function of blocking all damage and then detonating for area damage on nearby enemies makes it a useful panic button and an offensive tool in the same cast.
Melee Weapon Special Actions (Attack Level 8)
Unlocks unique melee weapon special actions that are specific to each weapon type. Different melee weapons have their own special actions, so unlocking this ability at attack level 8 opens up a secondary attack option that adds meaningful variety to the melee combat toolkit before you have access to enchantments or potions.
Weapon Expertise (Attack Level 16)
Weapon Expertise unlocks additional attacks at the end of every melee weapon combo, effectively extending the number of hits per chain without increasing stamina cost proportionally. This is a permanent passive that applies to all melee weapons you equip from that point forward, making it one of the best passive ability unlocks in the attack tree for sustaining damage output across a full fight.
Enchant Weapon: Fire (Attack Level 20)
Enchant your current melee weapon with fire to apply Burning on critical hits. Costs 15 fire runes and 5 Astral Runes per cast. Against enemies with fire weakness, which covers a significant portion of the mid-game enemy roster, Burning from critical hits compounds directly with the weapon’s base damage for noticeably higher sustained output. Enchant Weapon: Air at level 30 follows the same pattern, enchanting the current melee weapon with astral magic to increase the melee weapon’s attack speed at the cost of the same rune types. Both enchantments require you to cast spells from the Attack tree’s active rotation, so maintaining a supply of the relevant runes at your rune altar is essential.
Lesser Potion of Attack (Attack Level 34)
Unlocks the Lesser Potion recipe at the Brewing Cauldron. The lesser potion of attack temporarily boosts your melee weapons’ effectiveness, and having the recipe available means you can produce a supply before boss encounters or raid attempts rather than relying on exploration drops. Potions are one of the few pre-combat preparation options in runescape dragonwilds that stack with enchantments and food buffs simultaneously.
Whetstone (Attack Level 40)
Unlocks the recipe to craft a Whetstone at the crafting table to sharpen melee weapons for increased damage. Whetstones are a direct damage boost applicable to any of your melee weapons and are one of the best late-game crafting unlocks in the attack tree for players who want to squeeze more output from their current weapon tier before reaching the next gear level.
Training Dummy (Attack Level 37)
Unlocks the Training Dummy structure so you can test and practice melee weapons at your base. This is a quality-of-life unlock rather than a combat one, but having a weapon rack next to a training dummy at your base makes it significantly faster to evaluate new weapons without traveling to an enemy area.
Best Mining Skills
Lift With Your Hips (Mining Level 5)
Reduces the carry weight of stone, clay, and sand by 25%. In the early game before you have access to carry weight bonuses from Agility, the weight of raw materials is the primary limit on how much you can gather per trip. Lift With Your Hips makes early mining runs meaningfully more efficient by letting you carry more stone and clay before needing to return to base.
Rocksplosion (Mining Level 11)
Conjures a powerful blast to break apart stone boulders and ore within its radius simultaneously. Costs 15 Earth Runes and 5 Fire Runes. Rocksplosion is one of the best skills in the game regardless of which category it is in. Breaking multiple ore deposits and stone boulders simultaneously with a single cast generates both resources and Mining XP at a rate that individual pickaxe swings cannot match. The Whispering Swamp’s dense clay deposits are the best early location to use it. Rocksplosion also clears stone boulders that block paths, giving it an exploration utility on top of its gathering function.
Gem Prospector (Mining Level 16)
Mining ore now sometimes produces precious gemstones as an additional resource. Gems are used in specific crafting recipes and can be sold, and Gem Prospector provides them passively without any additional effort beyond normal ore mining. This is a set-and-forget passive that pays out across every mining session from level 16 onward.
Mine Crumbled Walls (Mining Level 20)
Allows you to knock down crumbled walls blocking hidden or blocked areas using your pickaxe. Many locations across Ashenfall have crumbled walls concealing loot, shortcuts, or quest areas, making Mine Crumbled Walls a significant exploration upgrade that opens parts of the world you cannot otherwise reach.
Detect Ore and Clay (Mining Level 24)
Invokes the power of the Stone Spirits to guide you toward the nearest ore and clay deposits. Costs 5 Astral Runes and 5 Earth Runes. This functions as a GPS for mining resources and is the most time-efficient gathering utility unlock in the Mining tree, eliminating the need to wander the environment looking for ore nodes.
Best Woodcutting Skills
Axtral Projection (Woodcutting Level 11)
Launches an Astral Axe forward that instantly chops down every tree in its path, allowing you to fell entire rows of trees in a straight line. Costs 5 Astral Runes and 10 Air Runes. This is to woodcutting what Rocksplosion is to Mining: a single cast that replaces many individual swings and dramatically accelerates how quickly you gather raw materials. Chopping trees one at a time after unlocking Axtral Projection feels like a significant step backwards. Use it on hillsides so all cut logs roll to the same spot for easy cleanup.
Bird Nests (Woodcutting Level 16)
Felling trees now sometimes produces bird nests containing useful items as a bonus resource. Bird nests can contain seeds for Farming, gems, and other materials that you would otherwise need to source separately, making chopping trees a multi-resource activity rather than a pure wood gathering run.
Chop Thorny Vines (Woodcutting Level 20)
Allows you to cut thorny vines blocking paths throughout Ashenfall using a hatchet, granting access to hidden or blocked areas behind them. Thorny vines block a surprising number of routes and locations across the continent, and Chop Thorny Vines at level 20 opens them all simultaneously, functioning as a key for a large number of locations you have likely been unable to reach.
Splinter (Woodcutting Level 27)
Chops fallen trees into processed wood logs automatically. Costs 5 Nature Runes and 10 Earth Runes. Combined with Axtral Projection, Splinter completes the woodcutting loop: Axtral Projection fells entire rows of trees instantly, and Splinter handles the log processing, instantly chopping fallen trunks into usable materials without individual interaction. Lumber Storage at level 40 is the companion unlock, providing very high capacity storage specifically for logs and planks that becomes essential once Axtral Projection and Splinter are generating wood faster than standard chests can hold it. The second lumber storage unlock is worth building even before you need the space, since wood surplus compounds quickly with this workflow.
Best Artisan Skills
Bark to Bones (Artisan Level 11)
Uses nature magic to transmute a tree into a stack of bones using alchemy. Costs 10 Nature Runes and 10 Earth Runes. Bones are a key crafting material for early and mid game gear, and sourcing them in bulk from enemy drops is slow. Bark to Bones converts trees, which you already gather in large quantities, directly into bones on a cooldown basis. Use it whenever the cooldown expires.
Magical Mending (Artisan Level 27)
Throw your items on the ground to repair them instantly using nature magic. Costs 10 Nature Runes and 20 Earth Runes. This eliminates the need to return to a crafting station to repair gear, which in practice means you can stay in the field significantly longer between base visits during extended dungeon runs or exploration sessions. Magical Mending at level 27 is one of the most impactful quality-of-life unlocks in the game.
Superheat (Artisan Level 20)
Cast on fire-based stations to empower them and boost their processing speed for a duration. Costs 15 Fire Runes and 5 Air Runes. Superheat is most valuable at the crafting table and smelter once your base is producing gear regularly, reducing wait times on processed materials during active crafting sessions. Being able to cast spells directly at fire based stations to speed them up is a uniquely efficient production loop that makes Artisan one of the more satisfying trees to invest in once the early game gathering crunch is behind you.
Best Construction Skills
Eye of Oculus (Construction Level 11)
Build structures from a fly-cam perspective for easier placement. Costs 3 Astral Runes per use. Eye of Oculus changes how base building feels by giving you a free overhead camera that makes precise placement of medium-sized building pieces — what the game calls medium sized building pieces — and triangular building pieces dramatically easier. Before this unlock, placing complex roof sections or structural elements at height requires significant trial and error. It is one of the most underrated unlocks in the full skill list for players who engage seriously with the building menu.
Summon Shelter (Construction Level 20)
Constructs a temporary shelter including a bed anywhere in the world. Costs 10 Astral Runes and 10 Earth Runes. Summon Shelter is one of the most practically valuable skills in the game for active explorers, providing the Rested buff anywhere in Ashenfall without needing to return to your main base. The building menu for this shelter includes the basic elements needed to rest, which means you can reapply stamina and recovery bonuses mid-expedition without losing your position in a dungeon or exploration area.
Personal Chest (Construction Level 40)
Access your personal storage from anywhere in the world. Costs 20 Law Runes and 15 Astral Runes. Personal storage access from any location means you can deposit materials, reorganize your carry weight, and retrieve items without physically returning to base. It is the single most powerful quality-of-life unlock in the Construction tree and one of the strongest in the entire game.
Best Cooking Skills
Internal Alchemy (Cooking Level 20)
Resets all active food and drink buffs so you can reapply them fresh. Costs 10 Nature Runes. The cooking range does not produce buffs with fixed durations that reset themselves. Internal Alchemy lets you deliberately clear expiring buffs and reapply fresh ones before a boss encounter, ensuring you enter every major fight at maximum buff duration rather than with buffs half-expired from the journey there.
Bones to Peaches (Cooking Level 27)
Transmute unwanted bones on the ground into peaches using nature magic. Costs 10 Nature Runes and 5 Earth Runes. Bones drop from nearly every enemy in Dragonwilds and pile up faster than Bark to Bones can consume them. Bones to Peaches converts that excess into a reliable food supply without any farming, fishing, or hunting required, which is particularly useful during long dungeon runs where conventional food sources are exhausted.
Chef’s Hat Recipe (Cooking Level 40)
Unlocks the chef’s hat recipe at the crafting station. The chef’s hat is a wearable item that provides cooking-related bonuses while equipped, and the chef’s hat recipe is the highest level unlock in the Cooking tree before the skillcape at level 99.
Best Runecrafting Skills
Runecrafting is a support skill that enables every other skill’s active abilities by producing the rune types those spells consume. Without rune essence converted into specific rune types at the rune altar, most of the best skills on this list cannot be cast. Runecrafting is not optional for any build that uses active spells.
Earth Runes (Runecrafting Level 11)
Unlocks the Earth Rune recipe at the rune altar. Earth Runes are required by Rocksplosion, Magical Mending, Splinter, Detect Ore and Clay, and Bark to Bones, among others. Earth Runes are the most broadly demanded rune type across the entire skill list, making this the most important Runecrafting unlock for enabling other skills.
Fire Runes (Runecrafting Level 13)
Unlocks the Fire Rune recipe at the rune altar. Fire Runes are required by Enchant Weapon: Fire, Rocksplosion, and Superheat. The weight of rune essence required to produce Fire Runes in bulk is the primary limit on how frequently you can use fire-based spells, which is why Essential Strength at Runecrafting level 27 matters: it halves the carry weight of rune essence and makes bulk crafting runs at the rune altar twice as efficient.
Nature Runes (Runecrafting Level 18)
Unlocks the Nature Rune recipe at the rune altar. Nature Runes enable Internal Alchemy, Bark to Bones, Bones to Peaches, Splinter, and Magical Mending, covering the full range of Cooking and Artisan active abilities. Nature Runes are the second most broadly demanded rune type after Earth Runes.
Law Runes (Runecrafting Level 16)
Unlocks the Law Rune recipe at the rune altar. Law Runes are required for Personal Chest at Construction level 40, which is one of the best quality-of-life skills in the game. Reaching Law Runes at Runecrafting level 16 should be timed alongside Construction progress so both unlock windows align.
Fire Spirit (Runecrafting Level 20)
Conjures a Fire Spirit to generate light. Costs 10 Fire Runes. Fire Spirit is the most useful non-rune unlock in the Runecrafting tree for practical play, providing light in dark underground areas and dungeons without burning a torch slot.
Best Agility Skills
Windstep (Agility Level 5)
Summons Air Magic to jump higher and descend slower. At higher levels, landing creates an air blast that knocks down nearby enemies. Windstep is the earliest active ability unlock in the entire skill list at Agility level 5, and it immediately improves both traversal and combat. The ability to jump higher opens vertical routes that are otherwise inaccessible, and the knockdown on landing at higher ranks adds a combat application that makes repositioning mid-fight actively dangerous for enemies nearby.
Double Jump (Agility Level 10)
Performs a second jump mid-air that chains directly into an Air Dash. Double Jump at level 10 is one of the most impactful movement unlocks in the game, opening up the entire vertical dimension of Ashenfall’s environments in ways that Windstep alone cannot cover. The combination of Windstep and Double Jump at Agility levels 5 and 10 is the most important two-skill pairing to reach in the early game across all thirteen skill trees.
Recall (Agility Level 57)
Places 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. Recall is the most powerful utility spell in the game for deep exploration, functioning as a personal teleport anchor that eliminates the risk of losing progress to a fatal fall in a difficult area.
Backpacker and Explorer (Agility Levels 50 and 75)
Backpacker adds 75 carry weight at level 50. Explorer adds another 75 at level 75, for a combined 150 total carry weight bonus from Agility alone. For players who spend significant time gathering raw materials across multiple resource types, these two passives are the most impactful carry weight unlocks in the game.
The Final Word
The best skills in RuneScape: Dragonwilds are the ones that change what you can do rather than improve what you already do by a percentage. Tempest Shield at Attack level 11, Rocksplosion at Mining level 11, Axtral Projection at Woodcutting level 11, and Windstep at Agility level 5 are examples that fundamentally change how the game feels. For the full list of every unlock in every skill tree, see our RuneScape: Dragonwilds All Skills guide.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds Best Skills FAQ
1. What is the best skill to level first in Dragonwilds?
Attack to level 11 for Tempest Shield is the single highest-priority unlock in the early game because it is the most important defensive ability in the game. Agility to level 5 for Windstep and level 10 for Double Jump are close behind for movement. If you only have time to reach two breakpoints quickly, Attack 11 and Agility 10 together change the game more than any other combination.
2. Do you have to choose specific skills or can you level all of them?
You can level all skills on the same character simultaneously. There is no skill point system that forces you to choose between trees. The only limit is time, which is why reaching the most impactful breakpoints in multiple trees early is better than maxing one tree before touching another.
3. Which skills work best together?
Axtral Projection and Splinter from Woodcutting work together to fully automate the tree felling and log processing loop. Rocksplosion from Mining and Detect Ore and Clay work together to find and mass-harvest ore deposits efficiently. For melee builds, Tempest Shield from Attack and Windstep from Agility work together to give you both a defensive panic button and aerial repositioning, and equipping strong melee weapons alongside these runescape dragonwilds skills is where the melee playstyle reaches its full potential.
4. What is the most useful skill for base building?
Eye of Oculus at Construction level 11 for fly-cam placement and Summon Shelter at Construction level 20 for temporary shelters are the two most useful early Construction unlocks. Personal Chest at level 40 is the strongest long-term unlock, giving remote access to your personal storage from anywhere in Ashenfall.
5. Which single skill unlock has the biggest impact on the game?
Tempest Shield at Attack level 11 is the most impactful single unlock in the game for combat, but Magical Mending at Artisan level 27 is the strongest argument for a different answer: the ability to repair all your gear instantly from anywhere in the field without returning to a crafting station changes how long you can stay out exploring more than almost any other single unlock in any tree.
