Introduction

Zmi has been the go-to low-intensity runecrafting method for a long time now, but with the release of sins of father’s quest, he’s become much more similar to zeah runecrafting. 

Daeyalt Essence Mining

Daeyalt essence mining was recently added and allowed you to mine daeyalt essence, which, when used for runecrafting, provides 50% more XP. This is amazing with the zmi altar, specifically because zmi offers 170% more XP per essence. 

This stacks multiplicatively with daeyalt essence for 255% more XP per essence 85% more XP for daeyalt essence than the regular 50% percent. You combine more than 4 thousand essences an hour, which lasts about an hour and a half at ZMI. 

This method is just slightly worse runecrafting XP an hour than regular zmi runecrafting but much more afk. This is also an incredibly good option for early ironman builds as it can be tough to get essence early on an ironman.

Equipment

For equipment, it’s recommended to bring the prospectors outfit if you have it. This provides a minimal amount of mining XP.

You can also receive gems from mining essence, and a charged glory will increase the rate at which you received them. Swap the outfit and medallion for prospector and glory when you get there. The essence is stackable, so as long as you have one inventory space, you’re good.

ZMI Location

Teleport a theatre of blood with the dragon’s medallion and talk to the vyrewatch by the bank; it will ask if you want to get sent to the mines, which we’re gladly going to do. 

Talk to a vyre in the mines while wearing the outfit to be immediately released and then crawl through the northern wall walking down the stairs just inside dirt mire.

There are three essence mining spots here where one at a time will light up. This indicates the spot is mineable. 

You can typically mine for about 30 seconds before it jumps to another pillar, and you have to mine it there. A black pickaxe would be significantly slower than a dragon pickaxe, and the better you pickaxe, the better your rates will be. You get two to three essences per successful mine. You can send your shards to the bank as essence by talking to the NPC Noranna Tytanin.

After you are done mining you can go to the ZMI altar and start runecrafting.

Cons

There are some downsides to daeyalt’s essence. You get a bit less XP overall an hour at zmi than you would with pure essence. You also receive less profit in total from runecrafting and half of the pet chance. Still, these downsides are worth accepting to make early runecrafting more tolerable if you’re doing zmi anyway. 

Zmi is a more complicated method than other runecrafting methods but much less intensive. To do zmi effectively, you will need to have completed lunar diplomacy for the lunar spellbook as you need it for Ourania teleport and NPC contact to repair your pouches. 

It’s also recommended not to start until you have a high agility level and a graceful outfit as you will be doing a ton of running. You might have no runecrafting requirement, but it scales with your runecrafting level, so the higher it is, the more XP and better rings you’ll receive. The transfer of better runes only increases every ten levels.

Gear setup

You need to prioritize run energy bonuses and then defensive bonuses. There are so many people at zmi now that you rarely get attacked by the dungeon’s enemies.

Here’s one of the most recommended gear setups:

• Full graceful
• Glory – for the defensive bonuses, a fury would be better if you have one
• Dust pedal staff
• Dragon fire shield – this isn’t necessary, but it’s better to have one anyway
• Elysian Spirit Shield- which is technically best in the slot for this area, but if you don’t have it, bring the best shield you have defensively
• Explorers ring – for the run restoration
• A blessing – in case you need prayer

The best slot ring here now is the endurance ring that just came out with a vampire quest, obtainable from the hallowed sepulcher. There’s around 40 mil right now, so if it comes down a bit, it’s recommended to grab one and to use it. It allows you to use two doses of stamina and reduces your run energy drain rate by 15%. The effect of reducing the energy train rate is unique to the ring and incredibly useful, especially at zmi, so if you can afford it, that’s the priority. An imbued ring of suffering is also a good choice for its extra defensive bonuses.

Inventory

For inventory, you will need a ring pouch with cosmic, astral, and mind runes. These runes let you use NPC contact and Ourania teleport. The mine runes are for opening the bank as they are currently the cheapest in the game.

You can alternatively use law runes in place of cosmic sand pull out a cosmic rune when you need to repair your pouches with NPC contact. Skip the law runes as you almost always craft at least one law rune at the altar.

If you don’t have all the pouches, it becomes more likely you won’t get a room. It’s also recommended to talk to the dark mage in the abyss and receiving the abyssal book as this will skip a dialogue option with him an NPC contact.

You’ll also need a good supply of stamina potions. Make sure your spellbook is set to lunar and use Ourania teleport and go down the north ladder. It’s recommended to mark the ladder as it makes it easier to click on. If it’s your first time, talk to the banker right near the ladder and ask about quick payment deals. 

Select mind runes, so whenever you left-click the banker, he will make a payment of 20 mine runes and open the bank for you. You will use the bank three times a run if you use a giant pouch or two times without. 

Make sure you remove placeholders on your pouches, and wear the pouch and fill your bank with bank fillers as this allows you to quickly bank all of the runes you will be crafting.

Many people follow other players to afk through the run to the altar. It’s recommended to use something on a player like a piece of the essence as this improves your player’s passing and prevents you from getting stuck on pieces of the geometry. Click on the altar to craft runes. Empty your pouches and craft the rest of the runes.

Once you have crafted all your runes, teleport back to Ourania and start another run.