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RuneScoop.com  >  The RuneScoop Skill Optimization Guide for RuneScape       >  The RuneScoop Skill Optimization Guide for RuneScape - Prayer            >  The RuneScoop Skill Optimization Guide for RuneScape - Prayer - Activity Descriptions

The RuneScoop Skill Optimization Guide for RuneScape - Prayer - Ectofuntus (Manual) - Ourg Bones The RuneScoop Skill Optimization Guide for RuneScape - Prayer - Shades of Mort’ton - Loar Shades with Regular Pyre Logs

Shades of Mort'ton is a relatively little-used minigame that is of relevance to this guide because it can be used to train the Prayer skill. This is a somewhat complex minigame with several steps, and a full explanation of it is beyond the scope of this training guide, but I'll briefly summarize it for you and then explain how a part of the minigame can be used to earn Prayer and Firemaking XP.

In a nutshell: you help build the temple at Mort'ton, which earns you sanctity that you can use to convert olive oil to sacred oil. This is then poured onto logs to make pyre logs, which are put onto a funeral pyre along with shade remains, obtained by killing shades. You light the pyre, which gives you Prayer and Firemaking XP, and also rewards you with either a key or a stack of coins. The keys open chests in the shade catacombs under Mort'ton, giving you rewards such as coins, runes, bars, armor, weapons, jewelry and even clue scrolls. You can also get fine cloth from the chests, a special item using to create splitbark maging armor.

The first part of the activity—making sacred oil—grants Crafting XP and is thus described as part of the Crafting skill optimization guide. We are interested in the actual cremation of the shades, which is what gives the Prayer XP, along with the rewards. Most of the items used in Shades of Mort'ton are tradeable, including the sacred oil, pyre logs and shade remains. However, buying pre-made pyre logs is difficult to do, so I assume the inputs to this activity are sacred oil, shade remains, and logs.

The amount of Prayer XP you get when burning a shade depends mostly on the level of shade—loar, phrin, riyl, asyn or fiyr, in ascending order of difficulty and value—and somewhat on the type of logs used. The rewards received also depend on the type of shade, with higher-level ones giving more coins when coins are rewarded, and better keys that give superior items and a greater chance at fine cloth. The Firemaking XP received depends strictly on the type of logs, not the shades used on them. To maximize XP, you should use the highest level logs you can, and burn the highest level shades you can burn on those logs. However, in some cases it may be more cost-effective to burn lower level logs and/or shades, especially for players on a budget.

Shades of Mort'ton has not been updated in many years, and many of the items it gives as rewards have their value tied to high alch figures. Splitbark armor is also not in nearly as high demand as it once was. As a result of all of this, the minigame is now unprofitable in most of its incarnations, depending on the combination of logs and remains used. It is possible to make money on the task overall, if you collect shade remains yourself and also make your own sacred oil. But of course, doing this means you get less Prayer XP per hour as well.

There are literally dozens of items you can get from the shade chests, some of which are valuable and others, well, junk. To avoid even further complicating things, I have only explicitly listed rewards that are normally sellable on the Grand Exchange, and whose prices vary over time. Many of the rewards are low or mid level armor and weapons, which you won't usually sell on the GE; these are listed collectively as "Other drops", using their low alch value or high alch value. Cheap items like mithril daggers, steel items below platelegs/skirts, and (plain) magic staves, should be sold to the general store in Mort'ton. Razmire will give you low alch prices, which is decent. Better items like decent mithril and adamant armor, spears and rune med helms, should be alched; alternately, they can be sold on the GE for roughly their high alch price less half the value of a nature rune.

For a complete explanation of these pages, please consult the reference manual.

The RuneScoop Skill Optimization Guide for RuneScape - Prayer - Ectofuntus (Manual) - Ourg Bones The RuneScoop Skill Optimization Guide for RuneScape - Prayer - Shades of Mort’ton - Loar Shades with Regular Pyre Logs