Well, the good news is that we recently got our long-awaited buff to solo Dungeoneering xp. I've been holding out for this update for a long time now. Dungeoneering in teams doesn't really appeal to me, but I still need to train the skill in order to get the chaotic equipment I want, and solo xp rates are dismal -- or at least, they were, until this update. They're much more reasonable now. As a result, I've started plumbing the depths of Daemonheim in earnest.

It's slow going, but I really only have myself to blame for that, since I've been dilly-dallying gathering all the resources. I really need to get that mining level for promethium ore--it's frustrating having 99 summoning and having to settle for the second-best bloodrager familiar because I can't get the materials to summon the best one.

The Evolution of Combat is going to shuffle everything around, of course, so that's going to take some readjustment. The new combat abilities will take some getting used to--I'm fairly sure the correct play is not to just use Momentum and kick back. I thought about switching to a one-handed weapon bind, but it turns out the ring classes have changed to refer to one-handed and two-handed weapons rather than aggressive and accurate stances, and all my Berserker levels would go to waste if I didn't stick to a two-handed weapon. That's okay; it also turns out that the celestial surgebox (which I would have wielded in my offhand slot) has been moved to the quiver slot, so I can still hold it at the same time as a two-handed weapon. Phew.

I've been shuffling my bank around in preparation as well. For ranging, I picked up a crystal bow, an Armadyl crossbow, and an archer ring; I already have a set of Armadyl that should serve pretty well, and I can sell my old Karil set since I won't be wearing it while meleeing anymore. For melee, I bought a Bandos helmet and a warrior ring. For magic, I decided to go ahead and fill up the Ancient Book--it looks like it might actually the best of the god books now. I don't know if I'm necessarily going to end up dual-casting, but if I do, it offers a good prayer boost with some armor, HP, and crit tossed in. I do still have my arcane spirit shield, which is getting a lovely buff to be the mage equivalent of the divine spirit shield; I expect that'll come in handy if I need a shield.

I have 22k loyalty points to spend on new auras. I want to spend them all because value. I think Quarrymaster is on my list this month, since I do need that 90 mining. (The ability bar should make it nice and easy to drop my gold ore, so good timing.) Then I might go for Inspiration or Greater Invigorate--boosting adrenaline seems pretty good. Not sure, though.

I also need to think about using my instakill darts. One for the fire cape seems reasonable. Do I keep going and try for the full Har-Aken kill? Or maybe the whole minigame is just going to be easier enough after the combat update that I won't even need them, and I should just get a few Nex kills? Hmm.