RuneScape: Dragonwilds News

[p]2026 is shaping up to be a monumental year for us on RuneScape: Dragonwilds. From our initial launch, we've been floored by the support and enthusiasm we've seen. Bringing something new (and, more frighteningly, DIFFERENT) to the world of RuneScape was always going to be a challenge and our modest team has been continually thrilled, motivated and humbled by the support, passion and creativity we've seen. We've continued to iterate from our release into Early Access (what we referred to as our 0.7 build) and since then we've released three updates to bring us to 0.10, with the release of Fellhollow. If you've not played Fellhollow yet, I would encourage you to stop reading at once and go get involved, it's really rather good if we can say so ourselves.[/p][p]But, since Fellhollow launched, we've not been bankstanding. We're focused on delivering our promise of small but still impactful updates. These "Minor" updates (using Steam's naming conventions, here) deliver more quests, more rewards and new activities for you to discover and complete. If you're waiting between Major Updates to jump into game, you'll have hours of content waiting for you if you need to grind your way up to the next Dragon General and progress forward. These include new quests and activities that will take you across Ashenfall, reward the curious and test the brave. If you're revisiting between updates, you'll be able to snag rewards like new gear, capes and decorations to celebrate your progress. I wish I got a cape to celebrate my progress. [/p][p]We aim to deliver these Minor Updates month on month, with the Quest and Activities Team building out more for you to get stuck into while other parts of the Dragonwilds team are building out our next expansion. These may vary in size or content, but the intent is to ensure that we're growing the world and expanding our wealth of content month after month, while you gear up for the next fight. Speaking of which... [/p][p]Once Imaru has been toppled, your focus will turn towards the ominous gatehouse that lurks in the far corner of Fellhollow. [/p][p]A vast, interconnected fortress awaits. Once a stronghold of Zamorakian worship, this imposing keep has collapsed into a frenzy of ruin and madness. Truly, Chaos reigns. From community feedback, we know that you've been excited to see more interiors, explore more buildings and battle your way through a more densely packed area with hidden paths, secrets and side quests. Good news - Dowdun Reach has you covered. You'll plunge into the heart of a keep fraught with danger, mystery and magic. Oh joy.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Black Knights walk these halls, and they hold the line against their once-trusted allies - Zamorakian Mages. As paranoia and fear eroded the shared bond of this place, and the shadows lengthened, the Keep is now fragmented. Splinter groups of each order hold their ground with cruel ferocity, and they certainly won't like someone just walking in and nosing around. Drawing on the rich history of Zamorakian lore in Gielinor, Dowdun Reach is bringing a new challenge to our adventurers to see if they're truly ready for what lies ahead. We'll be sharing more about the kinds of rewards and gear you'll uncover throughout March, on the Road to Dowdun.[/p][p]As part of Dowdun Reach, we'll be actioning a long-requested community feature. We'll be raising the level cap of all skills to 99 - even though the skills aren't finished yet. We've heard from you about wanting to grind out levels and not waste XP, even with the content still due to be added as we continue to grow and develop Ashenfall. With that in mind, we'll be raising the level cap and then continually backfilling content into these skills. If you've already reached the required levels, these will automatically unlock as we add the content in. Enjoy not worrying about XP waste! And, yes, of course - you'll be able to claim a Skill Cape when you get that final ding![/p][p]That's not all - we're also refactoring Runecrafting to be more of an activity. We've all spent plenty of time in the Rune essence mines or the Runespan or generally farming Rune Essence and filling chest after chest with delicious, moreish runes. Between you and me, I reckon they've got the texture of shortbread. We're creating a more dynamic experience where your inputs and actions affect your yield. Beyond that we've added Anima Vents. These are attuned to particular elemental types of the Anima that surges forth from the heart of Ashenfall, and you'll be able to use these to your advantage, hone your skills and produce a wealth of runes as a result.[/p][p]Coming this summer, our next Major Update brings you to the Umbral Sands. In the sand oceans beyond Dowdun Reach, the Red Dragon reigns supreme. [/p][p]From the very beginning, Gielinor has had its fair share of desert regions and we want to honour the heritage of these wonderful regions of RuneScape. We're drawing heavily from the rich history of Kharid-Et, Menaphos, and Sophanem to create a ruined landscape that feels innately RuneScapey, while offering you something different. [/p][p][/p][p]In the daytime, the sun itself is the greatest threat. It's corrupted rays drain life with every moment of exposure. Only shade or night offer safety. Build shelter, move carefully, and plan your steps carefully under the burning sky - but beware... Fuzan, the fiery Red Dragon rules with tempestuous, incandescent fury. The winged monstrosity that rules the night isn't the only thing you need to worry about, though.[/p][p][/p][p]These once thriving lands now shiver with the chittering whispers of Kalphites - great chitinous insects that burrow within the sands of Ashenfall, and emerge to pluck unsuspecting victims from the surface. RuneScape players will know Kalphites well, but for those of you new to all this - they're mean, green, biting machines. Fighting through the life-sapping sun and overcoming the Kalphite brood will bring you to Fuzan's Tower, rising from the heart of a volcano. A dark spire encircled by rivers of magma and obsidian, and at the base, a cavern, rife with Kot-Haar. Golem-like creatures of living stone, wrought into existence by an Elder God's magic. [/p][p][/p][p]There are also a handful of NPCs that will offer some respite from the isolation of the dunes. A sect of Garou, weathered against the inclement and Anima-infused weather have driven into the Sands and have forged a life in the desert. Earn the trust of these hardened nomadic travellers who have endured, take on quests and arm yourself for battle, or... just mine Adamant Ore and gather Yew Wood and arm yourself. [/p][p][/p][p]There are whispers of a place lurking within the Umbral Sands, twisted by the sinister corruption of the sun, where evil lurks in innumerable droves and great warriors have fallen in battle. Those seeking the glory of combat call it... The Nightmare Crucible. More on that later this year.[/p][p]The end of Kuldra's Saga is coming - but we're still very early in developing our ideas here. We want this to represent a cataclysmic site of ancient power, where Anima has ravaged the landscape and uprooted the very elements from the earth. What form that takes, and how it challenges you, is something we're developing, testing and exploring as you read this very blog. What we can tell you is this: Kuldra must die. [/p][p][/p][p]Face off against the God-Eater and bring down their tyrannical reign as you muster your allies, drive into the wilderness to acquire Rune Armour and delve into the heart of the Anima storm. We're very excited to bring players along for the ride with how we round out Kuldra's Saga, and we'll be sharing more as we get a clearer vision of what this looks like. [/p][p]We've set ourselves a challenge with this year's roadmap. It's ambitious, exciting and the kind of roadmap we can be really proud of. We have a vision for what we want RuneScape: Dragonwilds to become and it's been informed and guided by your feedback, discussions and suggestions. What comes after is the next chapter of Dragonwilds, and we can't wait to share more with you at RuneFest. For your feedback, support and being part of this community - thank you so much.[/p]

[h2]We'll be looking back at our journey, and ahead to everything coming your way in 2026! [/h2][p][/p][h3]Live on Twitch, Steam and YouTube on January 29th, 10AM PST / 1PM EST / 6PM GMT. [/h3][p][/p][h3]We'll be drawing the winners of our Giveaway there too! [/h3][p][/p][h3]See you there! [/h3]

• [p]Chests are back! We've resolved an issue where chests across the game were no longer spawning in the intended locations.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue affecting crafting amulets. [/p]

[h3]Note:[/h3][p]We're still investigating the source of the issue affecting crafting station sliders and we'll deploy a fix as soon as we have it - either today or Monday. [/p]

[p]Helloooooooo Adventurers! Introducing our first Minor Update of 2026! Wowee, what a day![/p][p]These updates are designed to target feedback and bug fixes, while also adding extra side quests and activities to complete to help fill out the continent of Ashenfall. You'll be able to see these stacking up over time and enjoy more rewards and pieces coming in as we continue to deliver more of these Minor Updates throughout Kuldra's Saga. Big shout out to the Quests and Activities team who have joined the Dragonwilds team to help make more of these updates possible![/p][h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• [p]Added two new gameplay quest: "Doric's Quest" and "Things That Go Boom in the Night" [/p]
  • [p]Added new rewards for completion of activities including the Chinchompa Cape. [/p]
• [p]Added three new activities to the game.[/p]
  • [p]As a reminder, these are smaller standalone gameplay moments that we'll continue to expand on, but they aren't replacing our major updates every quarter! [/p]
  • [p]Spectral Platforming: Soul-Rift and get jumping to find rewards.[/p]
  • [p]Spectral Birds have started appearing in the Fellhollow region. Hunt them down for Soul Fragments![/p]
  • [p]Buried Treasure has emerged - relax, clue chasers, not like that. Look for patches of disturbed ground. Dig them up, and find hidden chests!  [/p]
• [p]Added Tooltip Descriptions for Status Effects.[/p]
• [p]Added new craftable decorations/furniture. [/p]

[p]Let's talk about Ranged. [/p][p]We spoke about this at the end of last year (Happy new year, by the way!) [/p][p]Hello everyone![/p][p]Mod Pointy here, Lead Designer for Player Gameplay on Dragonwilds. I wanted to share some context around the ranged balance changes in Fellhollow, why they happened, and what we’re doing about them in this patch.As part of the Fellhollow update, ranged damage was reduced across the board by a significant amount. This change wasn’t because we intended to nerf the playstyle heavily, instead it was because we uncovered a deeper issue in how ranged damage was being calculated. Between ammo base values, Power Level scaling, and multiple damage multipliers all stacking together, ranged damage was increasing far more aggressively than we intended.[/p][p]This wasn’t obvious early on, but by late Ghornfell, players were crushing bosses like Velgar in record time using Ranged Weapons, and by Fellhollow it was clear that the damage numbers had gone off the rails.To address this, we changed how ranged damage is calculated, which has given us much more consistent results and far clearer data to balance around going forward. However, adjusting the system in this way meant rebalancing ranged damage from scratch, and while the goal was to stop ranged from trivialising encounters, we pushed things too far in the opposite direction. The end result was ranged being far weaker than it should have been.We’ve been closely monitoring your feedback and gameplay data since, and it’s been clear that we needed to course-correct.[/p][h3]What we’re doing now
[/h3][p]The good news: Mod Arclaw and I have been hard at work bringing Ranged Damage back up to where it should be, plus a couple extras! Based directly on your feedback, he’s made the following changes:[/p]

• [p]Increased the damage of Ranged projectiles (bolts and arrows). These are specific number changes (e.g. 17 → 24) but these then form the basis of damage calculations, so here's the percentages you'll see, and hopefully feel, going live:[/p]
  • [p]+41% on Longbow full-draw shots.[/p]
  • [p]+40% on Shortbow full-draw shots. [/p]
  • [p]+25% on Shortbow quickshots. [/p]
  • [p]+29% on Crossbows.[/p]
• [p]Reduced the draw time of Longbows from 2.25s to 2.05s. (9% decrease) [/p]
• [p]Reduced the draw time of the Crystal Bow from 2.0s to 1.65s (18% decrease)[/p]
• [p]Adjusted the Crystal Bow's basic attack damage bringing it in line with other PL3 bows.[/p]
• [p]Trick-shots for the Crystal Bow will now deal the intended amount of damage.[/p]
  • [p]Power Level 5 bows are out there in Fellhollow if you want to ramp up and deal even more damage!  [/p]

[p]Ammo & Crafting Costs[/p]

• [p]Crafting Crossbow Bolts now produces 33 Bolts per Craft (up from 15)[/p]
• [p]Arrows no longer require a region-specific wood to craft. Ash wood, feathers and a metal of choice will suffice! [/p]
  • [p](Ash wood + feathers + metal of choice is enough!)[/p]
• [p]Ammo recovery chance from ranged perks has more than doubled[/p]
• [p]At higher levels, you’ll recover a meaningful amount of arrows and bolts[/p]

[p]Quality of Life[/p]

• [p]Moving your character no longer cancels Hunter’s Sense[/p]

[p]
What’s next?
Our internal playtests show these changes feel strong and much closer to where ranged should be, but we'll continue to monitor feedback and data and make further adjustments if needed, so please keep your feedback coming in.[/p][p]Thank you
Finally, I want to personally thank everyone who shared feedback with us on this, especially those who brought numbers, examples, and detailed breakdowns with it. We know how frustrating it is to see your favourite playstyle weakened heavily, and your input was crucial in helping us understand exactly what went wrong here. Your patience and trust with us has been very much appreciated. Your feedback didn’t just help towards fixing Ranged damage, it also highlighted other issues, like ammo recovery and bolt crafting costs. The changes you’re seeing now are a direct result of that collaboration between yourselves and us, and are a prime example of the community we wanted to create.Happy Hunting!
[/p][p]-Mod Pointy & Mod Arclaw[/p][p][/p][h3]Audio[/h3]

• [p]Improved dismount SFX[/p]
• [p]Audio iteration pass on Terrorbirds.[/p]
• [p]Mixing for Sprint SFX.[/p]
• [p]Vocalisation and footstep improvements.[/p]
• [p]Added additional SFX to the Imaru boss encounter.[/p]

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Velgar will no longer randomly appear once he has been defeated in your world at least once.[/p]
• [p]Trees no longer grow back through your base's foundations in Fellhollow.[/p]
• [p]Some Willow tree variants no longer drop ash logs. [/p]
• [p]Thorny Irit Seeds will correctly yield seeds when harvested.[/p]
• [p]Added accessibility option to disable controller vibration under Settings->Controls[/p]
• [p]Added accessibility option to disable screen shake under Settings->Gameplay[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the composter UI would grey out items that were valid to compost.[/p]
• [p]Improved crafting on gamepad by making it a two-step process that first allows players to select desired quantity before crafting.[/p]
• [p]Split stacks UI can now be controlled with D-Pad on controller.[/p]
• [p]Build menu tooltips now anchor to the left of the menu so they do not overlap the icons on gamepad.[/p]
• [p]Status effect names are now displayed alongside their icons when the inventory is open.[/p]
• [p]Panel navigation has been streamlined. Switching panels in instances where the inventory and another window panel is open (such as crafting) is now handled with a click of the right stick only.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where chest name and private/linked fields could be accessed while moving items within a chest.[/p]
• [p]Resolved cases where some input tooltips were incorrectly indicating that the input was a “hold” type.[/p]
• [p]Zone-level information (visible in the inventory) can now be accessed using a controller.[/p]
• [p]Localised versions of our latest Roadmap are now accesible in game! [/p]

[p]We're going to be taking a much-deserved break as we enter the Holiday season. We're looking back on a truly excellent year, and we're so excited for what's to come. For now, with Fellhollow released, and an amazing year of content to come, the team are taking a little bit of time to reset. [/p][p]We're going to be sat at our tables, with our Wintumber trees, just like you can be in Ashenfall - but hopefully with less burned food. Levelling up cooking is tricky, don't forget. [/p][p]We're truly thankful for your support this year, and we're so excited to be back soon with more of our plans for 2026, for 0.10.1 and beyond. There's a lot to be excited about, and we'll be sharing more every step of the way. [/p][p]For now, raise a glass, put your feet up and have a Wonderful Wintumber, Happy Holidays, and a Merry Christmas. We'll see you in Ashenfall. [/p]