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Update: Rubium and smithing nerfs

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Update: Rubium and smithing nerfs

Update: Rubium and smithing nerfs
Type Update
Videos 2 (first 2026-05-22, latest 2026-05-26)
Main source RUBIUM NERFED AGAIN (OSRS)

Update: Rubium and smithing nerfs is an update topic that Gnomonkey covers in 2 videos between 2026-05-22 and 2026-05-26. This article is a stub: his statements are grouped by type, repeated ones merged.

Contents

Tips

  • The nerfs had not taken effect yet and would apply next update, so players wanting to use the tick-manipulated Rubium mining had until then.1

Gnomonkey's opinion

  • Gnomonkey agrees overall that the Rubium and incendiary cannonball rates were too much and should have been tested more thoroughly, and says skilling cannot be both good at GP and XP because of market implications.2
  • Gnomonkey says he understands why people ask how Jagex missed the Rubium rates, as players in the beta posted high 50k rates, and says Jagex's QA could be improved quite a bit and is a big sore spot.3
  • Gnomonkey says that as a PvM player he has seen Jagex QA problems such as two of the Yama contracts being literally impossible to complete and Doom of Mokhaiotl being a very buggy PvM release, and wants more QA for cleaner updates.4
  • Gnomonkey summarises the revision as the same XP as before, no tick manipulation, no AFK increase and fewer splinters, which he sarcastically calls a very based change in response to Reddit wanting more XP.5

Events

  • This week Jagex launched the Red Reef, the second quest in the Tortugan storyline, and after monitoring feedback and reviewing XP from Rubium mining and smithing, put out a blog about nerfs to both.6
  • Jagex said it should have discussed changes of this scale to existing mining and smithing methods with players first, and compared Rubium to Duke mining and shooting stars as cases where XP rates did not align with long-term skill progression.7
  • After Reddit feedback that the first proposed Rubium nerfs went too far, Jagex published a revised proposal; Gnomonkey considers the revision effectively a second nerf.8
  • In the revised proposal Jagex reverted the planned Rubium mining XP cut, so Rubium keeps granting 30 XP per successful mining interaction instead of the proposed 24 XP, but tick manipulation at Rubium rocks is still removed.9
  • Jagex dropped its plan to raise the guaranteed number of successful Rubium mining attempts before the rock depletes from two to three, so AFK time is unchanged.10
  • Following concerns that more splinters would reduce their value, Jagex changed the guaranteed Rubium splinters based on mining level to cap at two instead of three.10
  • Jagex said that its original smithing proposal of 2 to 5 XP would be replaced with meaningful but lower smithing XP from incendiary and chain shot cannonballs, positioning the activity as a viable lower-intensity smithing training method.11
  • Jagex said it wants smithing XP per bar to be in a much healthier spot, which Gnomonkey considers an odd argument because Giants' Foundry already gives XP twice for a bar.12

Revision history

Date Video Change
2026-05-26 RUBIUM NERFED AGAIN (OSRS) Added: 7 statements (event, opinion)
2026-05-22 HUGE RUBIUM AND SMITHING CHANGES (OSRS) Page created: 6 statements (event, opinion, tip)
## See also

References

  1. HUGE RUBIUM AND SMITHING CHANGES (OSRS), 2026-05-22. ▶ 10:43 ↩

  2. HUGE RUBIUM AND SMITHING CHANGES (OSRS), 2026-05-22. ▶ 0:07 ↩

  3. HUGE RUBIUM AND SMITHING CHANGES (OSRS), 2026-05-22. ▶ 12:42 ↩

  4. HUGE RUBIUM AND SMITHING CHANGES (OSRS), 2026-05-22. ▶ 13:48 ↩

  5. RUBIUM NERFED AGAIN (OSRS), 2026-05-26. ▶ 1:35 ↩

  6. HUGE RUBIUM AND SMITHING CHANGES (OSRS), 2026-05-22. ▶ 0:22 ↩

  7. HUGE RUBIUM AND SMITHING CHANGES (OSRS), 2026-05-22. ▶ 2:04 ↩

  8. RUBIUM NERFED AGAIN (OSRS), 2026-05-26. ▶ 0:00 ↩

  9. RUBIUM NERFED AGAIN (OSRS), 2026-05-26. ▶ 0:31 ↩

  10. RUBIUM NERFED AGAIN (OSRS), 2026-05-26. ▶ 1:02 ↩↩

  11. RUBIUM NERFED AGAIN (OSRS), 2026-05-26. ▶ 4:06 ↩

  12. RUBIUM NERFED AGAIN (OSRS), 2026-05-26. ▶ 4:34 ↩

Updates

Leagues 6: Demonic Pacts • Update: Yama • Update: Doom of Mokhaiotl rewards • Update: Blood Moon Rises • Update: Raids 4 rewards blog • Update: Demonic Spade • Update: Project Rebalance • Update: Summer Sweep-up • Update: Yama contracts • Poll: Bronzeman Mode • Update: Rubium and smithing nerfs • Forestry • Update: Varlamore fletching activity • Project Zanaris • Update: Sailing 10k XP hotfix • Update: Sailing Salvaging revert • Player Island Competition • Update history 2016-2023 • Update: Sailing pirate combat • Golden Gnome Awards • Update: Metal dragons task • Update: Nex • Update: Sunfire splinters removed from Doom of Mokhaiotl • Bugs and hotfixes (Doom of Mokhaiotl) • Poll: Mokha rewards • Update: Entry Mode CM CoX • Update: Membership price increase • Update: Sailing launch • Update: Sailing slayer monsters • Update: Sailing week 2 • Update: Slayer block lists per master • Update: Tombs of Amascut changes • Update: Wyrmscraig

Category: Updates