Where Is The Best Place To Find Volcanic Ash In Osrs?
Volcanic ash is a semi-rare item in Old School RuneScape that is primarily used for making potions related to farming and herblore. It is a key ingredient in compost potions and ultracompost, which are very useful for farmers looking to increase their crop yields and health. Despite its rarity and utility, volcanic ash can be obtained relatively easily if you know where to look.
With the right methods, any player can gather enough volcanic ash to make potions for their farm runs or train herblore. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about collecting volcanic ash in OSRS.
Mining Ash
Volcanic ash is obtained from mining ash piles found around the Fossil Island Volcano in Old School RuneScape. Doing so requires level 22 Mining, and grants 10 experience per ash mined (Volcanic ash).
Some of the best locations to mine ash piles include:
- Along the north-west shore of Fossil Island, near the Volcanic Mine.
- Inside the Volcanic Mine itself, which contains many ash piles.
- Around Evil Dave’s basement in Edgeville.
- In the TzHaar area near the Fight Caves and Inferno.
Mining ash piles is relatively fast at around 70,000 XP per hour at higher levels. Players can obtain around 300 volcanic ash per hour through this training method.
Prifddinas
One of the best places to mine volcanic ash in OSRS is in Prifddinas, the city of the elves unlocked after completing the Song of the Elves quest. There is a volcanic ash mining spot located just north of the mine within the city (requires having unlocked Prifddinas). This spot contains ash piles that can be mined at level 22 Mining for volcanic ash. Each ash pile grants 10 Mining experience when mined.
The Prifddinas ash pile never depletes, so it is an excellent renewable source of volcanic ash. The convenience of having an unlimited ash mining spot so close to a bank makes Prifddinas one of the top locations to obtain volcanic ash. Players who have completed Song of the Elves should take advantage of this ash pile for all their volcanic ash needs.
Fossil Island
The volcanic ash piles at Fossil Island were released with the Bone Voyage quest in 2017. To access the ash piles, players must complete the quest which allows travel to Fossil Island. There are several ash piles located around the base of the volcano on the north side of the island.
Mining the ash piles requires level 22 Mining and grants 10 Mining experience per ash collected. This is one of the fastest methods to obtain volcanic ash in Old School RuneScape. The ash respawns quickly so players can mine continuously at a decent rate. With a high Mining level and stamina potions, over 1,000 volcanic ash per hour can be obtained.
Some players prefer mining ash here over other locations because the island has good accessibility with the digsite pendant and rowboat transportation options after Bone Voyage. Players also visit Fossil Island for birdhouse runs and other training activities, making ash mining a convenient secondary activity.
Evil Dave’s Basement
After completing the Basement quest in Old School RuneScape, players gain access to Evil Dave’s basement dungeon located under his mother’s house in Edgeville. Evil Dave’s basement contains piles of volcanic ash that players can mine for a decent supply of ash (Magmarina Ash | Davemadson enterprises inc. Wiki – Fandom).
The basement area is instanced, so players do not have to compete with others for the ash piles. There are around 6 ash piles scattered around the basement that respawn quickly. Each ash pile gives around 12 volcanic ash per click, making Evil Dave’s basement one of the fastest ways to collect volcanic ash in OSRS.
With the completion of Basement and access to Evil Dave’s dungeon, players looking to stock up on volcanic ash can simply teleport to Edgeville via skills necklace and run south to Evil Dave’s house for a consistent ash mining method.
Castle Wars
Castle Wars is a popular player-versus-player minigame where players try to capture each other’s flags. Located north of Yanille, Castle Wars has several volcanic ash piles nearby that players can mine (Source 1). The ash piles respawn quickly so players can continuously mine ash without having to switch worlds or locations.
The area near Castle Wars contains around 10 accessible ash piles, providing a decent concentration of mining opportunities. This makes it one of the more convenient locations to mine volcanic ash, especially since Castle Wars tends to be highly populated with players. The ash piles are located just southwest of the Castle Wars lobby, along the southern wall (Source 2).
Some players choose to mine ash here while waiting for their Castle Wars game to start. It provides a nice activity to gain some resources during downtime between games. The ash piles’ proximity to the bank also makes it easy to deposit ash while playing Castle Wars.
Other Methods
In addition to mining ash piles on Fossil Island, there are a couple other ways to obtain volcanic ash in OSRS:
Some monsters drop volcanic ash as loot, such as gargoyles, nechryaels, and abyssal demons. While not as efficient as dedicated mining, killing these monsters for their other drops can net you some volcanic ash over time.
You can also receive volcanic ash from Managing Miscellania, if you select mining as one of the activities for your subjects. The amount received is random but provides a passive way to accumulate volcanic ash while focusing your efforts elsewhere.
For players who don’t have access to Fossil Island, monster drops and Miscellania offer alternate methods of obtaining modest amounts of volcanic ash. However, actively mining ash piles will yield much greater quantities over time.
Uses
Volcanic ash has several uses in Old School RuneScape. The most common use is making compost potions by using one volcanic ash on a harralander potion (unf) (Source). Compost potions are useful for farmers, as they convert supercompost into ultracompost when used on a compost bin or bottomless compost bucket.
Volcanic ash is also used to make various types of dynamite for the Blast Mining minigame on Lovakengj House. To make dynamite, volcanic ash is combined with juniper charcoal, steel nails and dynamite compounds. The different dynamite recipes produce dynamites with varying mining strength.
In addition, volcanic ash can be used with amythest and limestone to create fertile soil. Fertile soil is used on the island of Anachronia to help plants grow. Players looking to harvest resources from the island’s base camp will need volcanic ash to create fertile soil.
Volcanic ash also has some niche uses like making locust meat, volcanic sulphur, and potion ingredients for herblore. Overall, it is a versatile resource for members in Old School RuneScape.
Tips
There are a few tips to keep in mind when mining volcanic ash in OSRS for maximum efficiency:
Wear weight-reducing clothing like Graceful outfits, Boots of lightness, and Spottier capes to increase running energy. The less weight you carry, the longer you can mine before having to rest or replenish run energy.
Consider using Stamina potions to restore run energy more quickly while mining ash. This allows you to mine for longer periods efficiently.
Use teleports like the Digsite pendant and Max cape to quickly return to mining spots after banking ash. Saving time traveling means more time efficiently collecting ash.
Equip a Lumberjack hat for a chance of ash piling up in your inventory as you mine. This results in faster collection of ash piles.
Mine ash during Voice of Seren in Prifddinas for improved mining success rates while she is active.
Place your bank in southeast Prifddinas to minimize the distance you need to travel when banking ash piles.
Consider playing on low population worlds to minimize competition at crowded ash mining spots.
Summary
To recap, some of the best places to find volcanic ash in OSRS are Prifddinas, Fossil Island, Evil Dave’s basement, and Castle Wars. Volcanic ash is one of the most useful secondary ingredients in Herblore, and is used to make potions like superantipoison, weapon poison, and super energy potions. It can also be used to make ultracompost for your farms. With methods ranging from mining to thieving, volcanic ash is readily available all across Gielinor. Focus your volcanic ash collecting efforts on Prifddinas and Fossil Island for a more afk experience, or Evil Dave’s basement and Castle Wars minigame for a more active method. Whatever your playstyle, collecting volcanic ash is a useful way to train skills, earn gold, and stock up on this valuable resource.