These are the best methods we’ll be talking about:
Magpie Impling jars (Fastest method by far, but also most expensive) Hellhounds (Best non-boss source) kotizo (Guaranteed drop, limited attempts) Sarachnis (Easiest boss, many good drops) Vyrewatch Sentinels (Most-AFK, very profitable) Tackling Organized Crime (Hourly event)
To complete a hard Clue Scroll, players are tasked to solve a series of puzzles, which may come in the form of anagrams, coordinates, maps, and many other various cryptic hints. Along with 4 other different tiers of clues, these hard clue scrolls are part of an activity called Treasure Trails, and they each reward the player with a casket filled with treasures that correspond to the tier of the solved clue. Some of the most sought-after items from hard Clue Scrolls are:
Third Age armour Gilded armour Blessed dragonhide armour Various Ornament Kits
And many more other treasured items!
Best Hard Clue Scroll Methods
Magpie Impling Jars
Just like medium clues, the best way to get the hard ones is through opening a bunch of impling jars, only this time we’ve got our eyes on the Magpies. Cracking open one of these jars has a 1/50 chance of giving you a hard clue, which is a very high rate when you compare it to most other sources. You might look at Ninja Implings and see that they have a 1/25 chance, which is literally double that of Magpies, so why aren’t we opening them? Well, the answer is cost. While a Ninja jar costs almost twice as much as a Magpie, the average loot you get from it doesn’t reflect its price tag at all (in fact, the Magpie has better overall loot, which is funny). Don’t get me wrong, you’re still losing money opening these jars, just not as much. Another method, albeit slower and less reliable, is hunting the implings yourself at Puro Puro. I say slower because “rare” implings like the Magpies and Ninjas don’t have a set spawn point and time, so you’re gonna have to hop around different worlds, and catch any of them that you may come across. Hunting these imps requires a minimum of 65 Hunter for Magpies, and 74 for Ninjas.
Hellhounds
Hellhounds are the monsters (outside of bosses and superiors) with the best hard clue droprate at 1/64. They are aggressive, cannonable, and attack only with melee, so they’re a pretty great afk way to get clues from. Additionally, wearing an imbued Ring of Wealth will make hellhounds in the Wilderness drop hard clues at a rate of 1/32.
Skotizo
Skotizo is a special case. He’s the only boss/monster in the game with a guaranteed 100% hard clue drop rate. The problem is, unlike other bosses where you can just stay in the room and fight them again after they respawn, you need to use a Dark Totem for every single kill. A Dark Totem is untradeable and needs to be personally assembled, by getting its individual parts as drops from other monsters residing inside the catacombs. This makes Skotizo a very slow, but reliable way of getting a hard clue for when you’re craving a treasure hunt.
Sarachnis
Up next, we’ve got another boss. And this time it’s a creepy, and I mean creepy crawly. Sarachnis has an outstanding droprate of 1/40 for hard clues, putting it above basically every other boss that isn’t Skotizo. It’s also a mid-level boss with a relatively decent loot table (average drop is worth 30K), so you’ll never feel like you’re wasting your time while killing her. Plus, you might get lucky and snag the rare pet and have something to show for!
Vyrewatch Sentinels
Now if you really want to afk while getting hard clues, these next monsters are ideal for you. While Vyrewatch Sentinels might have a lower clue droprate than the rest of our already mentioned methods, they’ve got one thing going for them that no other monster has. They are always aggressive! You can slap on your Justiciar or prayer gear, put on “protect from melee”, and go do something else for the next few minutes, leaving your character slaughtering endless hordes of vampyres. The best thing about the Vyres is that you can make them as afk as you want them to be, with more attention being paid directly translating to higher hourly profits. Don’t forget to set an alarm on Runelite to notify you incase you get a very pricey Blood Shard. Completion of the master quest “Sins of the Father” is required to fight these monsters.
Tackling Organized Crime
I know that at first sight this might look like a joke suggestion, but hear me out. The Gang members and bosses that you fight during this activity have an incredible clue drop rate of 1/64 (same as hellhounds), and are so weak that a high level player can kill them in a couple of hits. The only “problem” is that you’ll realistically be able to kill 20 of them every hour (give or take a few) every hour, so it’s more of a “I’m not really doing anything right now, so might as well go and check” thing. Still, it’s a pretty good technique to try out once in a while. Note: 40% Shayzien favour is required to partake in this activity.
Treasure Hunting Tips
Looking to take your treasure hunting to the next level? Then you should definitely know about these tips:
Completing a tier of Combat Achievements will increase the droprate of the corresponding tier of clues by 5% (doesn’t work for implings though). You can have multiple reward caskets, but only a single clue of every tier at any given time. Make sure to complete your clue before wasting a Dark Totem! On a similar note, all superior creatures in the Catacombs of Kourend always drop a Dark Totem piece. If hunting implings, try using the Magic Butterfly Net and freezing spells like Entangle to ensure they don’t run away. Nature implings can give hard clue scrolls too, but at a rate of 1/100. At the time of writing this article, Magpie Implings are slightly better, but prices do fluctuate!
