OSRS More Gathering Efficiencies (Oct 14): Infernal Tool Toggle, Runite Golem Buffs and Every Change Explained

Jagex was not supposed to ship a game update this week. The Fractured Archive opens next Tuesday, and the October 14 newspost says it plainly: the team had "initially not planned on having a game update this week" before the raid. We got one anyway. More Gathering Efficiencies is a surprise Wednesday update with a fresh batch of skilling quality-of-life changes, plus a round of fixes for Pete Kayer's Challenges at Ferox Enclave.

This guide covers the gathering side change by change, in player terms. For each one you get what actually changed, who should care, and what to do differently on your next session. Every detail below comes from Jagex's October 14 newspost unless I say otherwise. Where Jagex did not publish a number, I say so instead of guessing one.

If you have been following the series, this is the third live batch since September. Our September 23 Gathering Efficiencies live guide covered the Daeyalt changes, and our earlier Gathering Efficiencies rollout preview laid out the full poll package. Several items from that preview's "still to come" list landed today.

Everything in the October 14 Gathering Efficiencies batch

Here is the whole gathering list from the changelog, sorted by how much it changes a normal session.

The rest of this guide goes through each one. The Pete Kayer changes, the Mining and Smithing survey, the other fixes and the PvP world rota are covered briefly near the end.

Infernal tools: recharge any time and switch off auto-burn

These two changes reach the most accounts, because Infernal tools are a standard upgrade on mid and late-game skilling accounts. Both apply to the Infernal pickaxe, Infernal harpoon and Infernal axe.

Recharging before the charges run out

Until today you could only recharge an Infernal tool once its charges were fully used up. That pushed players into an awkward choice: either burn through the last few charges on purpose before a long session, or start the session knowing the tool would drop back to its base behaviour partway through. Jagex's own wording is "No more XP-waste exhausting the charges!"

Now you can recharge without depleting first. The April proposal described this as using a Smoldering Stone while the tool still has charges left, so you can top up whenever you are running low.

What to change in your routine:

• Before a long Mining, Fishing or Woodcutting session, top the tool up at the bank instead of checking how many charges are left.
• Stop doing "charge dump" trips just to get the tool to zero.
• If you keep a spare stone in the bank, you can now recharge when it suits you rather than when the tool forces you.

Jagex did not list any change to how many charges a recharge gives, so assume the charge amounts themselves are the same as before.

The new auto-burn toggle

This is the change a lot of fishers have wanted for years. Infernal tools automatically process part of what you gather: the harpoon cooks fish, the axe burns logs for Firemaking experience, and the pickaxe smelts ore. The changelog lists the three functions as cook, light and smelt. That is great when you want the bonus experience and terrible when you want the raw resource.

You can now toggle the auto-burn effect off. Details from the newspost:

• The toggle is in the tool's right-click menu.
• Turning auto-burn off does not change your current charge count.
• The setting stays the same between sessions, so you do not have to redo it after logging out.
• Jagex's example is "No more smoked swordfish when you're wanting to stockpile your resources without having to lug around two pieces of equipment."

The second point matters. Before this, the workaround was carrying a second, non-Infernal tool for the days you wanted raw drops. Now the Infernal version does both jobs.

Who should switch it off:

• Fishers stockpiling raw fish for Cooking later, or for selling raw.
• Woodcutters who want logs for Fletching, Construction or a Log Basket, rather than Firemaking experience.
• Miners who want ore for Smithing later or for selling, rather than smelted bars mid-trip.

Who should leave it on: anyone who was happy with the free secondary experience before. Nothing about the default behaviour changed except that it is now optional.

Runite Golems: more reliable ore and Wilderness Diary bonus rolls

Runite Golems in the Wilderness Resource Area got three separate buffs. If you ever gave up on Golems because they respawned before you got anything, this is the section to read.

Better odds of at least one ore

Jagex says it has "increased the chance to receive a Runite ore from a defeated golem, so you can more reliably get your hands on at least one ore before the golem respawns." The newspost does not give the old or new success rate, so I cannot tell you how big the change is. What you can expect is fewer trips where the Golem comes back before your first ore.

Bonus ores based on your Wilderness Diary

This is the bigger one for diary-complete accounts. A chance-based system now gives additional Runite ore on a successful mining action, scaled by your Wilderness Diary tier:

• Wilderness Medium Diary: chance to receive 2 total ores per successful mining action
• Wilderness Hard Diary: chance to receive 3 total ores
• Wilderness Elite Diary: chance to receive 4 total ores

The key word is chance. These are not guaranteed amounts, and Jagex did not publish the odds of each bonus roll. The April proposal used the same wording ("chance to receive up to 2," "up to 3," "up to 4"), so treat these as ceilings rather than averages.

Expert Mining Gloves now work on Golems

The Expert Mining Gloves' chance to prevent ore depletion now applies to Runite Golems, the same way it already did for normal Runite rocks. Jagex adds an important catch. A killed Runite Golem turns into a mineable rock for one minute (that has always been true). The gloves may stop the rock depleting once, but they will not stop the Golem from respawning. So the gloves can give you an extra mine inside that one-minute window, not an endless rock.

What to change in your routine:

• Check your Wilderness Diary progress. If you are one tier short, Golems are now a real reason to finish it.
• Wear Expert Mining Gloves on Golem trips if you own them.
• Remember the one-minute window. Kill, mine fast, move on.
• The Wilderness Resource Area is still the Wilderness. None of these changes make the trip safer, so bring only what you are willing to lose.

Tackle box: knife and hammer storage

You can now store a knife and a hammer in the Tackle box. The April proposal tied this directly to Sacred and Infernal Eels, where you need a knife or hammer to process the catch. Jagex puts it as "giving you more space for your catch of the day."

That is two inventory slots back on every eel trip. Load both into the box once and leave them there.

One thing that did not ship today: the April proposal also asked to let you use bait straight from the Tackle box while fishing. It is not in the October 14 changelog. X user @r__jay replied to Jagex's announcement: "I'm still waiting to be able to fish using bait out of mine." Fair point, and Jagex says more of these changes are still coming.

Miscellania: Kingdom Management bonus resource rounding

Jagex has "adjusted the 'bonus resource' rounding on the Kingdom Management activity in Miscellania, effectively providing the player with more bonus resources."

The October 14 newspost does not spell out the new formula. The April proposal explained the problem it was meant to fix. Bonus resources were given on a fixed threshold, for example one Bird Nest per 100 logs, and anything over the threshold was rounded down, so 150 logs still gave exactly one nest. The proposal wanted leftover progress to give a percentage chance at an extra reward instead. Its example was 150 logs giving one guaranteed Bird Nest and a 50% chance at a second.

I am not going to promise that today's change works exactly like that example, because the October 14 post only says the rounding was adjusted to give more bonus resources. The direction is clear, though. If you already run Kingdom Management, keep doing what you were doing. You just lose less to rounding now.

Jagex's X post put it this way: "Extra resources from Kingdom Management." In a reply, @OneThiccThresh asked Jagex to "please let misc gather Hunter meats." That is not part of this update, but it shows how many players still treat Miscellania as a passive income check-in.

Fossil Island: deposit fossils without a Bank PIN

On Fossil Island you can now put fossils into the fossil storage crates by using the fossil on the crate. You no longer have to enter a Bank PIN. Jagex adds that this "will respect the Bank Deposit Box item quantity check setting," so whether you get asked how many to deposit depends on the setting you already use for deposit boxes.

This matters most for players who log in, do a short Fossil Island loop and log out. Before, the PIN prompt got in the way of every quick deposit. Now it is one item on one crate.

Small skilling fixes worth knowing

Three more gathering-adjacent fixes shipped in the same batch.

Colossal pouch level-up messages

The Skill Guide and the Runecraft level-up messages at levels 50, 75 and 85 now tell you that the Colossal pouch can hold more essence. Nothing changed about the pouch itself. The game just tells you about the capacity jumps now, which helps newer Runecrafters who had no idea the pouch scales.

Roe left-click is now Use

The left-click option on Roe from Barbarian Fishing is now Use instead of Eat. If you cut fish for Herblore secondaries, you will no longer eat a stack of roe by misclicking. The April proposal noted you can swap it back if you want the old behaviour.

Farm patch icons on Official Client and mobile

Two changes for Official Client and mobile only (RuneLite has its own plugins for this):

• The E icon no longer shows when a farm patch is empty.
• The compost icon was moved because it sometimes covered the planted seed.

Both are follow-ups to the compost overlay that shipped on September 23 (it is covered in our live guide linked above). If you play on mobile, patches should look cleaner and taps should be easier to hit.

How the Gathering Efficiencies rollout has gone so far

Gathering Efficiencies passed as a poll package earlier this year, and Jagex has been shipping it in pieces between bigger updates. This is what has landed since the April proposal, based on each official newspost.

Jagex closed today's section with this line: "That's everything in this batch of Gathering Efficiency updates. We'll be taking a break from these to focus on The Fractured Archive next week, but we'll be back with more before long!"

So more is on the way, but not next week. If you are waiting on an April proposal item that is not in the table above, such as bait from the Tackle box, check the Old School Wiki before you assume it is in the game. Do not take forum memory as proof.

The rest of the October 14 update

The gathering changes are the main reason to log in today, but the newspost has more.

Pete Kayer's Challenges fixes

Pete Kayer arrived at Ferox Enclave last week, and Jagex shipped a list of changes, some today and some as hotfixes last week. Highlights:

• Pete's attack range, HP and chance to plant Mithril seeds during his Final Challenge are all reduced.
• Pete's combat level in his final challenges is lowered to 126 to match the max player combat level.
• Pete's attack delay after healing in the Final Challenge now matches the player's.
• Special attack energy keeps regenerating after you leave the Special Attack PvP Challenge.
• Completing the Easy Wilderness Diary is no longer needed to claim Pete's PvP Challenge rewards.

Jagex says the first three changes "reduce RNG reliance" in the Final Challenge and admits the fight "was overtuned on release." It also says it is "leaning towards" moving the Imbued ancient cape cosmetic to the Penultimate Challenge, with a smaller reward or trim for the Final Challenge. That is not final yet. Our Pete Kayer PvP Challenges guide covers the challenges themselves.

Other changes

• Barbarian Assault now checks for dragon arrows and arrows in Dizana's quiver before letting you in. Normal arrows you drop inside are no longer destroyed without warning.
• Pets now follow you through teleports such as Fairy Rings and POH exits.
• The buy limit on empty butterfly jars now matches empty vials and impling jars.
• Active Daeyalt Essence now stands out more.
• Net trapping messages now tell you how to make a net trap (use a rope on a net).
• Assorted visual fixes, including stray fences near the Colossal Wyrm and dungeon wall gaps.

Mining and Smithing survey and PvP rota

Jagex is also asking players to fill in its Mining and Smithing survey, which feeds into the planned Mining and Smithing: Reforged. You can find it at a Poll Booth or in your Account Settings tab. Jagex says none of the survey ideas are decided yet.

The PvP world rota has moved to Period B, and the PvP Arena is using Zerker loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.

The Fractured Archive is next week

Briefly, since it explains why this was a surprise update: Jagex says Old School's fourth raid, The Fractured Archive, is aiming to open on October 20, 2026 at 11:00 UTC, which is 6:00 AM CT (CDT). Jagex says it will announce any change ahead of time. Our Fractured Archive overview has the wider context, and we will cover the raid properly once it is live.

For gatherers, the timing matters a little. If you are banking up supplies before raid week, the auto-burn toggle and early recharging make it easier to stock raw fish or ore without switching tools.

Your updated skilling checklist

Here is the short version of what to change after today's update:

• Recharge your Infernal tools before long sessions instead of running them to zero.
• Right-click your Infernal pickaxe, harpoon or axe and decide whether auto-burn should be on or off. The setting stays between sessions.
• Put a knife and hammer in your Tackle box if you fish Sacred or Infernal Eels.
• Check your Wilderness Diary tier before planning Runite Golem trips, and wear Expert Mining Gloves if you have them.
• Use fossils directly on the Fossil Island storage crates, no PIN needed.
• Keep running Miscellania. Leftover progress now pays out more often.

Time saved on skilling is the whole point of this batch, and it adds up on any account built around gathering, which is why skiller and main accounts with Wilderness Diaries already done get a bit more appealing this week.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the OSRS More Gathering Efficiencies update come out?

Jagex published the More Gathering Efficiencies newspost on October 14, 2026, as a surprise update ahead of The Fractured Archive. Jagex's announcement on X went out at 4:49 AM CT.

Can you recharge Infernal tools before they run out of charges now?

Yes. The Infernal pickaxe, harpoon and axe can now be recharged without being fully depleted first, so you no longer have to burn the last charges before topping up.

How do I turn off auto-burn on the Infernal pickaxe, harpoon or axe?

Use the right-click menu on the tool. The toggle turns off the cook, light and smelt effects, does not change your charge count, and stays set between sessions.

How many Runite ores can you get from a Runite Golem now?

With a chance-based system tied to the Wilderness Diary, you have a chance at 2 total ores per successful mine with the Medium Diary, 3 with Hard and 4 with Elite. Jagex did not publish the odds for each roll, so treat these as maximums.

Do Expert Mining Gloves work on Runite Golems?

Yes. Their chance to prevent ore depletion now applies to Runite Golems. They can stop the rock depleting once during its one-minute window, but they do not stop the Golem respawning.

Can the Tackle box hold a knife and hammer?

Yes. You can now store a knife and a hammer in the Tackle box, which frees two inventory slots for Sacred and Infernal Eel fishing. Using bait directly from the Tackle box is not part of this update.

What changed with Kingdom Management in Miscellania?

Jagex adjusted how bonus resources are rounded, which it says effectively gives you more bonus resources. The October 14 newspost does not publish the exact new formula.

Do you still need a Bank PIN to store fossils on Fossil Island?

No. You can now use a fossil on the fossil storage crate to deposit it without entering a Bank PIN. It follows your Bank Deposit Box quantity setting.

Are there more Gathering Efficiencies changes coming?

Yes. Jagex says it is taking a break from these batches to focus on The Fractured Archive next week, but will be back with more before long. It did not give a date.

When does The Fractured Archive release?

Jagex is aiming for October 20, 2026 at 11:00 UTC, which is 6:00 AM CT, and says it will give notice if that changes.