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RS3 · Guide

Coming Back to RS3 in December 2026: What's New and Where to Start

Jagex is opening the doors to returning players on 2 December 2026. That day brings the new Adventure Guide, the first part of the Remastered Journey and, in Jagex's words, "a host of other improvements", plus a 10-day free members trial. Here's who gets the trial, what has changed since you last played, and what to do in your first hour back.

The short versionUpgrade to a Jagex Account before you try to log in, check your character qualifies for the trial (no membership since 2 June 2026), then follow the Adventure Guide or the Wiki's returning-player checklist. Look yourself up on The Codex to see where your levels stand.

The free trial: 2 to 12 December

  • Who gets it. New characters, and existing characters with no active membership since 2 June 2026. If you've been a member at any point since then, you're not eligible.
  • What you get. RuneScape members' worlds and content for the 10 days, with no purchase or subscription needed.
  • What's not included. Old School RuneScape members' worlds.
  • Timings. Jagex's terms give 2 to 12 December 2026, with exact times still to be confirmed. After the trial you need membership again for members' worlds.

The same post cancelled RuneScape Reignited; the trial and the 2 December updates go ahead without it, with no split worlds.

What's coming on 2 December

Preview of the RuneScape Adventure Guide interface
The Adventure Guide interface as previewed at RuneFest 2026 (image: RuneScape Wiki).
  • The Adventure Guide is a new part of the Hero interface. The Wiki describes it as a "golden path" through the game for new and returning players. Each node is a goal, such as a number of quest points, a particular quest or a skill level, and you can pin paths and nodes. It's optional: you don't have to use it to progress.
  • The Remastered Journey starts with the early player journey. The Wiki's RuneFest 2026 page lists the kind of work the remasters cover: new looks for Tutorial Island, Seers' Village, Camelot and Elvarg's lair, boss mechanics and health bars for Demon Slayer, Vampyre Slayer and Dragon Slayer, clearer skill interactions and skill guides, fewer settings and less UI clutter. That page doesn't say which of these arrive in the first part.

Before then, Jagex says its Late-Game Rebalance launches in late November, with significant drop-rate improvements across a number of bosses and Slayer creatures.

Before you log in: Jagex Accounts

From 17 November 2026, every old-style login has to move to a Jagex Account. If you haven't upgraded by then, you can't log in until you do; your characters are kept safe in the meantime. You need your username or login email and password, and Jagex says it takes a few minutes.

  • One Jagex Account holds up to 50 characters, and your characters keep their names.
  • You get modern security: stronger passwords, multi-factor authentication, login emails and backup codes.
  • If you log in through Steam, Apple, Google or Game Center, you can still log in that way, but you need a Jagex Account to use the Launcher or website features like Support.

Names are being released too. Jagex is freeing up names from abandoned characters: inactive for at least two years and either permanently banned, never a member, or with bond-only membership that ended at least five years ago. Its current aim is a first batch (names starting with A) on Thursday 5 November at 11am UTC, then a batch each weekday through November. To claim one you must be a member with a skill total of at least 900 in RuneScape (800 in Old School).

What changed while you were away

  • Necromancy (7 August 2023) is the fourth combat style and the first combat skill to go to 120. You start it in the City of Um, north of Draynor. Free players can train it to 20. Our Necromancy guide covers it.
  • Archaeology (30 March 2020) goes to 120 and gives relic powers, passive buffs for combat and skilling. Free players can train it to 20.
  • Higher level caps. The Wiki's Skills page now lists 13 skills that go to 120, including Herblore, Farming, Slayer, Construction (July 2026) and five combat skills: Attack, Strength, Ranged, Magic and Necromancy. Defence, Constitution and Prayer stay at 99. More now go to 110, starting with Mining and Smithing in August 2024.
  • Combat changes. A March 2024 update brought Necromancy's mechanics over to melee, ranged and magic, and Combat Style Modernisation followed on 2 March 2026.
  • Treasure Hunter is gone. It left the game on 19 January 2026, and Jagex stopped selling direct XP and skilling items. This is part of the Road to Restoration, the 2026 roadmap that also brought a cleaner UI, a daily-chore overhaul, the removal of all auras (April, with their effects moved into other parts of the game) and rebalances of the early and mid game. Since July 2026, all boss instances are free.
  • Havenhythe is a new area expansion (March 2026, with Part 2 in September), listed by the Wiki as a low-level starting area.
  • Plugins arrived on 19 October 2026: third-party add-ons for the official client, installed from the Plugins interface in the Settings ribbon.

Your first steps back

These come from the RuneScape Wiki's guide for returning players (which the Wiki marks as needing clean-up):

  1. Set up your interface the way you like it. If the modern layout feels wrong, the Wiki points to Classic Interface Mode.
  2. Sort out your action bar. The Wiki advises returning players to start with Revolution, where the game fires your basic abilities for you. Revolution+ adds threshold and enhanced abilities, and Revolution++ adds ultimates too.
  3. Do the Achievement Paths in Burthorpe, which the Wiki recommends because some skill mechanics have changed.
  4. Do the tutorials for skills that are new to you. For Archaeology, talk to Acting Guildmaster Reiniger east of the Archaeology Guild.
  5. Visit War's Retreat, the bossing hub. You can go in with combat level 60 or 1,000 total level (enter through War's Insignia, north of the Draynor lodestone); its teleport spell needs 10 boss kills. Its training dummies are where the Wiki suggests practising your abilities.
  6. Pick early goals. The Wiki's bossing-focused list includes level 70 in your combat skills (Prayer included), the Camelot quest series for Excalibur and level 70 prayers, the tier 70 God Wars armour, and The Mortal Cup relic.

How The Codex helps

Sources

References courtesy of the RuneScape Wiki.