Varrock
| Varrock | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Released | 4 January 2001 (Update) | |||
| Also called | Avarrocka | |||
| Members | No | |||
| Location | Misthalin | |||
| League region |  Misthalin✓ | |||
| Inhabitants | Humans | |||
| Teleports | Varrock Teleport | |||
| Music | • Adventure • Garden • Medieval • Spirit | |||
| Map | ||||
| <mapframe align="center" frameless="" plane="0" width="300" y="3448" x="3210" height="350" zoom="1" mapID="0">
[] </mapframe> | ||||
| Advanced data | ||||
| Type | settlement | |||
| Location on World Map | ||||
| Wilderness | ||||
| ↑ | ||||
| Barbarian Village | ← | Varrock | → | Digsite |
| ↓ | ||||
| Lumbridge | ||||
Varrock (Jagex pronunciation: vah-ROCK) is the capital of the kingdom of Misthalin. It is one of the largest cities in Old School RuneScape, and the largest city available to free players. In addition to being popular due to its proximity to the Wilderness, the city hosts the massive Grand Exchange, through which players can trade any item they wish, and features in many of the quests throughout the game.
Varrock can be entered from all sides, and each entrance has non-aggressive level 21 guards surrounding it. The city is safe for all players, although care should be taken when coming from Lumbridge through the south entrance, as there are aggressive level 7 and 20 dark wizards.
History
Prior to holding its current name, the city was known as Avarrocka, and came into being in the year 700 of the Fourth Age. During this time, the races that had survived the God Wars began to compete for land without the direct aid of gods, and most of humanity lived in small nomadic tribes. One of these tribes, looking to settle in the forest, discovered a young boy during their travels who was about two years of age. The boy stood nearly a foot taller than most his age, and was already quite strong; the wanderers, taking the boy's strength as a good omen, chose that place to made a camp.
Ten years since the initial settlement, the baby remained unnamed, and the elders decided to send the child on a quest to find one. The child eventually stumbled upon a tribe of goblins that planned to attack the settlement. When the goblins saw him, they attacked, screaming "arrav," a word from their language. The goblins were defeated by the boy, who returned to Avarrocka and recounted the tale, and was thenceforth known as "Arrav." As Arrav grew, so did Avarrocka; this caused Zemouregal, a powerful Zamorakian Mahjarrat necromancer, to set his sights on the city.
Attempting to ward off Zemouregal, Arrav sought out a mythical shield. During his journey to find this shield, he travelled across the realm, but upon his return, he found Avarrocka burned to the ground. However, the city was able to rebuild. About a century into Avarrocka's existence, however, Zemouregal invaded with an army of zombies. While his army was slain, the battle cost Arrav his life, and Zemouregal retreated with an undead version of Arrav. Shortly after, the people of Avarrocka began expanding, eventually forming the first human nation, Misthalin, and later becoming a monarchy.
As centuries passed, creatures from Morytania attacked Misthalin. In a great battle, seven priestly warriors eventually defeated them and blessed the River Salve, making it impassable to creatures following Zamorak. Not all was peaceful for Varrock, however; the fabled shield that Arrav used to save the city was eventually stolen by the notorious Phoenix Gang, who would later split in two, with the Phoenix gang taking over much of the residential district of the city, and the Black Arm Gang hiding in the city's industrial section. A young adventurer was eventually able to retreive the shield and later use it to defend off Zamouregal's second attempt at the city, but it's anyone's guess when the evil necromancer may return...
It is not exactly known when was Avarrocka renamed to Varrock. Some, such as the barbarians, still call it Avarrocka; other languages have their own name for the city, such as the gnomes, who refer to it as Lemanto Andra ("Man City").
Transportation
- Players with level 25 Magic can cast Varrock Teleport.
- The balloon transport system has a stop south of the Lumber Yard.
- There is also a spirit tree to the Grand Exchange, and a fairy ring just north-west of Varrock, using the code DKR.
- The canoe transport system also has three landing points near Varrock, stopping at the Champions' Guild, and the bridges to Barbarian Village and Edgeville.
- Players can use a charged combat bracelet or buy a Chronicle and teleport cards from Diango's Toy Store to teleport to the Champions' Guild, south-west of the Varrock south gate.
- The skills necklace can be used to teleport to the Cooks' Guild just west of the Grand Exchange.
- The ring of wealth can be used to teleport to the Grand Exchange.
- The ring of the elements can be used to teleport near to the Earth Altar entrance found north-east of Varrock.
- The Quetzal Transport System offers a stop east of the tea stall and across the Varrock wall after completing Twilight's Promise.
- The diary cape can be used to teleport to Toby for players who have completed all achievement diaries.
Locations
Stores
Varrock has many stores, most of which are located in or around Varrock Square:
| Store | Description |
|---|---|
| Aubury's Rune Shop | A store selling most types of runes. Players can also speak to Aubury here to be teleported to the Rune Essence mine. |
| Baraek's fur stall | A stall ran by Baraek, the fur trader in Varrock Square. |
| Estate Agent | The agent offers player-owned house services such as relocation and redecoration, and can sell players their house. |
| Fancy Clothes Store | Another clothes shop, found in the south-eastern part of the city. This store features heavily in the Hunter skill, and it is here that furs can be made into camouflage and other hunter armour. |
| Hairdresser's | Emma and Suzie's hairdresser salon ( ) can be found north of the museum. Changing the player's hairstyle and colour at the hairdresser is free of charge. Male characters can also have the colour and style of their beards changed.
|
| Horvik's Armour Shop | A store where can buy platebodies and chainbodies as well as platelegs and some leather armour. |
| Lowe's Archery Emporium | A store which sells items for the Ranging skill, such as bows, crossbows, and their corresponding ammunition. |
| Speedrunning Reward Shop | A stall run by Eliza, who sells rewards in exchange for points from Quest Speedrunning. |
| Thessalia's Fine Clothes | A store selling robes, capes, gloves, and boots. Thessalia will also change a player's default clothing for free. Players who have lost their scythe or bunny ears may reclaim it from here if lost.
Frog tokens from the frog random event can also be exchanged for either a frog mask, a royal frog costume, or a lamp at this shop. |
| Varrock Apothecary | Home of a scientist who makes strength potions and energy potions for free-to-play players with the proper ingredients. |
| Varrock General Store | One of the most popular stores in the game. New players can buy a newcomer map here, which can help them find their way around the free version of RuneScape.
Players can sell whatever they wish to the store, but it's typically filled with low-level items. It's often hard to sell items to this general store as many people sell their items here, causing the store's inventory limit to be reached very easily. |
| Varrock Herald | The newspaper of Varrock, sold by Benny for 50 coins. |
| Varrock Swordshop | A place for players to buy bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril and adamant daggers, swords and longswords. |
| Ye olde Tea Shoppe | A small stall where the tea seller sells tea for 10 coins. |
| Zaff's Superior Staffs | A store where players can purchase staves for Magic. He also sells battlestaves for use in the Crafting skill to players who have completed What Lies Below, and additional battlestaves upon completion of the Varrock Diaries. |
Pubs
Varrock and the surrounding area has four pubs. Most Varrockian pubs sell only beer, but the Rat Pit Bar also sells stew.
| Bank | Description |
|---|---|
| Blue Moon Inn | The most popular pub in Varrock. A couple NPCs reside here besides the bartender, which include an unnamed barbarian warrior, the ex-vampyre Slayer master Dr Harlow, a tramp in the back room of the store, and Johnny the Beard. |
| Dancing Donkey Inn | This bar is unknown to most of Varrock because it's found in the corner of the city. Whilst there, players may stumble upon the three drunken NPCs: Hops, too drunken to speak, Da Vinci, who hates free players, and Chancy, who loves to gamble. |
| Jolly Boar Inn | A large inn outside the city walls. The inn hosts the very tired Johnathon, involved in the Family Crest quest. There are a lot of other NPCs here, including one woman, two men, and a black knight. |
| Ratpit Bar | This very little known pub can be found down the manhole in south-east Varrock, in the area that is cordoned off. It is very small and is mostly occupied with gamblers taking a break from the Rat Pits mini-game. |
Banks
Varrock has two banks, located near the east and west gates.
| Bank | Description |
|---|---|
| Varrock east bank | A small, two-story bank found south of the Varrock Museum. |
| Varrock west bank | A large bank just south of the Grand Exchange. This bank is frequently used by players training Smithing on the nearby anvil. |
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Residential and community buildings
| Building | Description |
|---|---|
| Aris' tent | The tent of Aris Maye, a fortune-teller who sees the player's future as a defender of Varrock. |
| Champions' Guild | A prestigious guild offering tough battles, rune weapons and green dragonhide armour, and intense quests. |
| Cooks' Guild | A guild for master chefs, requiring 32 Cooking to enter. The guild also offers a pie shop and a hopper for grinding wheat from the nearby field. |
| Gertrude's house | The well-kept house of Gertrude, a busy mother with four sons and lots of cats. |
| Leptoc Mansion | A large mansion where Juliet Leptoc resides, admired from afar by Romeo. |
| Training house | An open building immediately north of the east bank with attackable dummies. Players can train up to level 8 Attack here. |
| Varrock Rat Pits | An area where players can sic their cat on the invasive rats living below the city. |
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Resources and utilities
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Altars | Varrock has a total of three altars within its walls:
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| Anvils | Varrock has three anvils:
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| Farming patches | There is a bush patch near the Champion's Guild, and a tree patch in Varrock Castle courtyard. |
| Ranges | Many ranges are found in small houses all over Varrock. |
| Trees | Inside the city are four yew trees, and to the south of the city are some willow and oak trees. To the east of the city are some more yew trees. |
| Water sources | Players can obtain water from sinks in the castle and in fountains outside the castle and near the east bank. |
Skill training areas
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| South-east Varrock mine | A mine located directly east of Varrock's southern entrance. It contains tin, copper, and iron rocks. |
| South-west Varrock mine | A mine located near the Champion's Guild. It contains clay, tin, silver, and iron rocks that can be mined with the Mining skill. |
| Varrock Rooftop Course | A course used to train Agility. It requires level 30 Agility to traverse, starts at the rough wall behind the general store, and ends behind the archery shop. |
Varrock Museum
The Varrock Museum plays a role in and after many quests. Players earn kudos after quest completion, and can take the natural history quiz in the basement section of the museum. Players who have completed Bone Voyage may also bring fossils to the museum to complete displays for further rewards.
Grand Exchange
The Grand Exchange is a massive trading system for players to purchase and sell tradeable items in Old School RuneScape. Using the Grand Exchange replaced the trading post and the older marketplaces in Varrock and Falador, because traders do not need to advertise, meet each other, or even wait at the Grand Exchange for trades to finish. Coins and items from fully and partially finished trades can be collected at any bank or deposit box. Additionally, players will receive a message in their chatbox when the status of a trade offer is updated.
Varrock Palace
The Varrock Palace is the focus of many quests, and features a number of different personalities:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Monk of Zamorak | There is a single monk of Zamorak found trapped in a cage near the palace entrance, making him great for safe magic and ranged training. |
| Skill training areas | Yew trees and a tree patch can be found within the castle walls. |
| Queen's garden | A garden featured heavily in Garden of Tranquillity. |
| Varrock Library | A library ran by Reldo. |
In the Demon Slayer quest, there is a drain on the north-east part of the palace. Inside, there is a key to retrieve. To get it, players must pour water down the drain by getting a bucket (there is one conveniently located near the stairs that leads into the kitchen on the 1st floor[UK]2nd floor[US]), filling the bucket with water, and pouring the water down the drain. The key will then slosh down to the Varrock Sewers, which is on the east side of the palace.
Varrock Sewers
Underneath the palace are the Varrock Sewers, a large sewer system that hosts monsters and bosses such as Scurrius and Bryophyta.
Outside city walls
Several major locations exist within Varrock's vicinity, but outside the city's walls:
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Digsite | An archaeological excavation area just east of the gates marking Varrock's city limits. Players need to proceed far enough into The Dig Site quest in order to fully use it. |
| Edgeville dungeon shed | A shed leading to the Edgeville Dungeon. Players must obtain the brass key to open it. |
| Lumberyard | A sawmill that allows players to turn logs into planks. |
| South Varrock farm | A large farm just south of Varrock's walls. |
| Stone circle | A stone circle near the eastern entrance to the city featuring many dangerous level 20 and level 7 dark wizards. This is where Delrith is summoned during the Demon Slayer quest. |
| Tolna's Rift | A dungeon just outside of Varrock's city limits where a young boy's terrified mind manifested some strange and deadly monsters. |
| Tunnel of Chaos | A safe shortcut to the Chaos Altar found in the Wilderness. |
| Paterdomus Temple | An ancient temple in Silvarea protecting the River Salve. The temple is owned by Drezel, and sits just outside city limits. |
Quests
Many quests can be started in or around Varrock:
| Quest | Connections | Members? |
|---|---|---|
| A Soul's Bane | Launa's son disappeared down a rift just outside of Varrock. Can the player help find him? | 
|
| Bone Voyage | The Varrock Museum enlists the player's help to explore a large island east of the continent. |
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| Children of the Sun | The kingdom of Varlamore has decided to finally open their gates to the world, and sends an envoy to Varrock. |
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| Daddy's Home | Marlo tasks the player with helping his father renovate his home in south Varrock. |
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| Demon Slayer | Aris reveals to the player their fate: to save the city of Varrock. | 
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| Defender of Varrock | Varrock is (once again) under attack. This time, the player will need to do more than just fight a demon to save it... |
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| Desert Treasure I | Players visit the nearby Digsite in hopes of finding information about a fabled treasure in the desert. |
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| The Dig Site | Long ago, a mighty kingdom stood east of the city now known as Varrock. What can excavations find about this long-lost community? |
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| Dragon Slayer I | The Guildmaster of the Champions' Guild tasks the player with slaying the mighty dragon Elvarg. |
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| Elemental Workshop II | Players must help use the expertise of the Digsite to learn about mysterious elemental ores. |
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| Family Crest | Dimintheis is a man of noble heritage, but he needs the player's help to trace it. |
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| Garden of Tranquillity | Queen Ellamaria is making a garden for her husband. An experienced farmer is needed to make the dream come true. |
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| Gertrude's Cat | Players help Gertrude find her missing cat, and learn about the city of Varrock along the way. |
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| The Golem | Players use the Digsite staff's knowledge to explore another desert secret. |
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| Romeo & Juliet | Romeo is helplessly in love with Juliet, and needs the player's help. |
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| Shield of Arrav | Reldo the librarian tells the story of the fabled shield of Arrav, tasking the player with helping find it. |
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| Priest in Peril | King Roald needs an adventurer's help in restoring an old temple, one which helps preserve the very sanctity of the River Salve. |
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| Ratcatchers | Gertrude has a job for players who helped her find her cat, this time involving getting rid of rats. |
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| What Lies Below | Zamorakian mages have resided in Varrock for centuries. |
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Monsters
- Rats (Level 1)
- Men and Women (Level 2)
- Mugger (Level 6)
- Barbarian Woman (Level 8)
- Thieves (Level 16)
- Guards (Level 22)
- Outlaws (Level 32)
- Black Knights (Level 33)
- Lucien (Level 14, only fought during Temple of Ikov)
- Giant rat (Level 3 or 6)
- Bear (Level 21)
Music
| Name | Unlock information | Music track |
|---|---|---|
| Adventure | Unlocked within the city walls. | File:Adventure.ogg |
| Garden | Unlocked within the city walls. | File:Garden.ogg |
| Looking Back (Varrock Museum) | Unlocked in the museum basement. | File:Looking Back.ogg |
| Medieval | Unlocked within the city walls. | File:Medieval.ogg |
| Spirit | Unlocked within the city walls. | File:Spirit.ogg |
| Doorways | Unlocked outside the city walls. | File:Doorways.ogg |
| Expanse | Unlocked outside the city walls. | File:Expanse.ogg |
| Greatness | Unlocked outside the city walls. | File:Greatness.ogg |
| Still Night | Unlocked outside the city walls. | File:Still Night.ogg |
Changes
| Date | Changes |
|---|---|
| [[{{#explode:15 June 2022| |0}} {{#explode:15 June 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:15 June 2022| |2}}]] (update) |
The door to the Zamorakian Chapel in Varrock now swings in the opposite direction. |
| [[{{#explode:12 November 2015| |0}} {{#explode:12 November 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:12 November 2015| |2}}]] (update) |
Improved the routefinding in the southern part of Varrock West bank. |
| [[{{#explode:3 September 2015| |0}} {{#explode:3 September 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:3 September 2015| |2}}]] (update) |
The roof of the anvil building no longer turns transparent when in the upstairs of the west bank. |
| [[{{#explode:26 February 2015| |0}} {{#explode:26 February 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:26 February 2015| |2}}]] (update | poll) |
The Grand Exchange is now located north-west of Varrock, west of Varrock Palace. |
| [[{{#explode:22 January 2015| |0}} {{#explode:22 January 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:22 January 2015| |2}}]] (update | poll) |
The north side of Varrock west bank has now been opened up to allow easier access to the nearby agility shortcut. |
| [[{{#explode:6 February 2014| |0}} {{#explode:6 February 2014| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:6 February 2014| |2}}]] (update) |
A stray anvil map icon has been removed from the palace wall near Varrock's western bank. |
| [[{{#explode:30 January 2014| |0}} {{#explode:30 January 2014| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:30 January 2014| |2}}]] (update | poll) |
A shortcut has been added north of Varrock west bank, allowing easier access to the spirit tree. |
| [[{{#explode:29 May 2007| |0}} {{#explode:29 May 2007| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:29 May 2007| |2}}]] (update) |
Varrock was graphically updated. (This update created the modern look of Varrock.) |
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