If you’re just a casual player looking to try out Old School Runescape’s League game mode, then there’s really nothing much to sweat about. However, all of these special mechanics in Raging Echoes can understandably be a bit overwhelming, and choice paralysis is a very real issue that many seem to be facing.
To help you out with that particular dilemma, I’ve got a few tips that might help you out. Just to get it out of the way, no, this is not a guide on how to rush for a quick dragon trophy, and racing for highscore spots is an exercise in futility at this point if rank is what you’re after.
This is just a bit of insight from somebody who has been completely winging it (I did zero planning) and still making pretty decent progress. If you want to make the most out of this temporary game mode without sweating it for hours on end, this is for you. And no, it isn’t too late to hop into it. In fact, it’s better now since early areas aren’t hilariously overcrowded anymore.
Prioritize Fun Over Hyper-Efficiency
I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to be efficient, since efficiency can be fun too, but focusing only on that will burn you out quickly. In terms of your relics and region choices, go for whichever you think looks fun rather than what most people say are “the best”.
EXP gains are going to be pumped up to ridiculous degrees, especially as you unlock certain tiers. Because of this, even “inefficient” methods will still be extremely fast compared to the regular game.
Picking Your Regions
Before we get to the relic choices, what you should figure out first are the three regions you plan on picking. Unlocking anything past the first one is going to take you some time, but knowing which ones you’re gunning for will help with your relic choices for various reasons.
My personal advice is to choose an “easy” region first (Varlamore or Kourend, in my opinion) and then follow it up with something that you want to learn in the main game, if any. Finally, cap it off with a region that you find interesting. Even better if the last choice benefits a lot from having late game stats.
For example, here’s how my choices are looking like at the moment and my reasoning for each:
- Area #1. Varlamore – I chose Varlamore as my first unlock because I’ve recently just returned and missed most of the new stuff they added with the part 2 update to the region. It also has a bunch of good training methods and early to late game PVM content!
- By the way, you can get an alternative to prayer potions in this region.
- Area #2. Desert – Desert has various minigames that I kinda like, but more importantly, I picked it cause I want to learn how to run the Tombs of Amascut raid solo without using up supplies in the main game.
- Area #3. Tirannwn(?) – As of writing this, I haven’t unlocked my last region yet, but Tirannwn is my tentative choice right now as I just like that area in general. I’m also going to use this as a way to learn Zulrah with training wheels on (I still can’t consistently kill it in the main game, even though CG is hilariously easy for me now)
EDIT 12/3/24: I ended up going for Asgarnia as my 3rd pick. I’ve barely done GWD bosses and haven’t tried Cerberus yet due to my slayer not being high enough in the main game. I’ll take some fresh new faces over Hunleff again, since I’m still grinding for a Bow of Faerdhinen in the normal mode. This gives me access to Whisperer too, which was my favorite Desert Treasure 2 boss!

One thing to note is that you should probably avoid going for Tirannwn, Fremennik, or Morytania first. They’re good 2nd or 3rd choices, but your progress towards the next unlock is going to be much slower if you start with them as a casual player since their tasks are more tailored towards higher level content.
By the way, the Wilderness is supposedly completely safe, so if you wanted to try out stuff in there, this is the time to do it! Other players can still kill you, but they don’t really gain anything nor do you lose any items.
Finally, echo bosses might seem like they should be a major factor in your choices, but these aren’t something you’ll be beating quickly as a casual player anyway, especially if you aren’t familiar with the base versions. Unless certain drops are really appealing to you, this shouldn’t dictate your region choices.
Choosing Your Relics
When choosing your relics, there really isn’t a “wrong” choice, though a few can be objectively better than their alternatives in terms of utility. It all depends on activities/skills you enjoy doing and the training methods available in your desired regions.
You don’t need to plan ahead too much, though. Just read what they do whenever you unlock a tier and decide from there. Rather than giving you a tier list or whatever, take a look at my current and later choices (I’m at T7 since my latest edit to this) and my rationale for picking them instead:
- Tier 1: Animal Wrangler – This relic ensures that food is never going to be an issue because fishing is slightly faster, some of the catches are cooked (with EXP too), and they’re all sent to the bank automatically. It lets me fully AFK karambwans as their nodes never move.
- Tier 2: Dodgy Deals – Thieving is an annoying and click-intensive skill to train, and Dodgy Deals solves that by turning it into a one-click activity that never fails. With my Varlamore choice, I can also use this to indirectly train crafting through the gem stalls in the market (stalls do not deplete when you have this).
- Tier 3: Clue Compass – This is the only time I’ll say that something’s straight up better than the others. Aside from instantly sending you to clue steps, you can also teleport to stash units. It can take you right beside a bank through the Shilo Village option, and I haven’t used a single normal TP spell since I’ve gotten it.
- Tier 4: Golden God – You essentially get infinite gold with this, and it has already gotten me to 99 magic with literally no effort at all. On top of that, the money can be used to train prayer, which saves a lot of time and is completely AFK as long as you have the cash stack for it.
- Tier 5: Treasure Arbiter – Paired with Clue Compass, you’ll be drowning in useful gear with this. It’s a whole lot of easy tasks and points too!
- Tier 6: Banker’s Note – This trivializes certain skills as you can note/unnote stuff wherever you are. Since I didn’t take Power Miner in tier 1, this lets me train mining quickly without needing to drop or bank ores. This also helps with a lot of other skills, such as runecrafting and fletching!
- Tier 7: Pocket Kingdom – Grimoire doesn’t appeal to me that much, and Overgrown isn’t particularly great as I have very few farming plots. Pocket Kingdom, on the other hand, will result in a lot of passive herbs and more essentially for free due to Golden God.
- Tier 8: Last Stand – It’s a free full heal with brief invulnerability that also beefs up your stats for a few seconds when it triggers. That’s really all I need to say lol.

As you can see, there’s a bit of synergy in a lot of these. I’m just winging it, and I’m sure you can easily do so too if you get out of the mindset that you have to pick “correct” choices, because there really aren’t any if you aren’t min-maxing like crazy. Just pick what makes sense for your habits and prior choices.
For instance, Production Master is better than Treasure Arbiter if you don’t care too much about clues. This makes a lot of skills a breeze to train, as long as you have the resources to support them. Clue Compass is still just better than the other two in its tier, though, because it offers the same stuff and more.
What About Combat Masteries?
This league introduces the combat mastery mechanic, and you can unlock a total of ten mastery points by completing certain PVM-related tasks. As usual, it all boils down to personal preference, but it’s worth noting that the full ranged mastery line seems to be ridiculously strong compared to the other two styles.
With the sixth and final node of the ranged masteries, you basically never hit zeroes no matter what. Combined with the fast attack speed and the guaranteed small heals with every few hits, you’re going to be an absolute unit in almost any bit of content.
Again, though, just pick whichever style you find the most fun. Some people prefer whacking stuff with large but sluggish weapons, and you can make that a perfectly viable way to kill things quickly with the melee masteries. I’ve even seen some creators pick the mage line too, and it doesn’t seem all that bad.

Just Send It
At the end of the day, the leagues mode in Old School Runescape is just a limited-time thing that lets you do all kinds of silly stuff completely risk-free. Unless you do enjoy following the “meta” and are only in it to get the top trophies, you’re going to have way more fun just setting your own goals and doing goofy things that you normally wouldn’t be able to get away with.
This is also the perfect opportunity to try out any bits of PVM content that you find intimidating, whether it be something iconic like Jad, the dreaded Inferno, or even easier stuff, such as Scurrius or Moons of Peril. This league lets you learn mechanics with training wheels on, and it’s good fun all around.
It’s even great as an AFK side activity, and I mean that in the most literal sense rather than the “Runescape definition”. While working, I’ve had OSRS open on the side to train stuff up in leagues, and it’s how I’ve progressed as fast as I have. My account is at the point where it can repeatedly clear Scurrius completely hands-free, and the spines that drop can be exchanged for huge combat EXP gains.

So yeah, just have fun with the dang mode. We typically get a new league just once a year, and it’s great for players of any skill level. My first and only prior experience was the Twisted League, and that happened around the time I wrote a sort of review for the game after returning from a long hiatus.
Now that I’ve returned after a long hiatus once more, it did seem a bit overwhelming at first with the entire map (kinda) being included in the game mode. But nah, it’s actually really easy to get into as a casual player. All you have to do is take the leap.