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Note: Rewards for Evil Tree (an invisible Woodcutting boost) lasts for a set amount of time after it is granted. This is in-game time; if you log out, that time will only continue to count down once you log back in.
Beware its thrashing roots!
Nature is a curious beast: ordinarily, you can expect plants and animals to grow quite plainly, as they always have; on the odd occasion a sheep is born with two heads, or a unicorn without a horn, but for the most part these aberrations are harmless. Leprechauns rather like looking after plants, or at least watching them grow, and the first burst of life is a beauteous thing to them.
Sometimes, however, things don't follow the natural order of things. Whether it is because of some ancient, buried evil far below the ground, the influence of a savage god or demon, or simply the whim of nature itself, evil trees are known to appear from time to time, forever tainting the soil in which they grow. Leprechauns usually don't notice that the tree is evil until it is too late, and aren't much good at dealing with the problem as their small hands cannot grip a decent hatchet, and tinderboxes confound them.
This is where wandering adventurers come in handy...
Requirements
Evil trees occur in a variety of forms, some of which are harder to deal with, so good Farming, Woodcutting and Firemaking levels are an advantage. You do not need to bring anything with you, as the leprechaun will supply you with a hatchet and a tinderbox when the tree exhibits its evil tendencies. On the other hand, you can use any hatchet you have on you to hack away at the tree and its roots. Any machete can also be used to cut the roots of the evil tree, but does not need to be wielded to do so.
Note that you can only nurture or attack two evil trees per day, so if you have already performed two actions, you will need to wait until midnight (game time) to perform more.
Getting Started
A spirit tree offers advice
Evil trees sprout around common Woodcutting areas and close to major paths, but are not terribly obvious until they reach maturity (at which point their terrifying visage makes them difficult to miss). If you are passing by an area in which one is growing, you may notice a small root burst from the ground and attempt to grab your ankles. Aside from being a malicious thing to do, this is an indication that one is close by.
You can also talk to the spirit trees to discover where one is likely to be, and when it has reached maturity, they will offer to teleport you directly to the arborist's nightmare. If there are no evil trees currently menacing the lands of RuneScape, however, they won't have much to say on the subject.
Players who have completed the Easter 2011 Event can use the sunbeam and icicle crown to contact the Queen of sunrise and the Queen of snow as an alternative to talking to spirit trees. The crowns also have the ability to teleport the player to an evil tree, but at the cost of one charge. The crown also gives more detail about saplings, by telling the player the type of sapling that has sprouted.
The first stage of an evil tree's growth is as a sapling (which is entirely unsurprising: it may well be wicked and vicious, but it is still a tree). During this time, the leprechaun will merrily wander about asking passing adventurers to help nurture it. Anyone with the required Farming level can nurture the sapling without any tools simply by clicking on it.
There are five growth stages before the sapling expresses its true nature, at which point you should discover that its thrashing roots prevent you from directly harming the tree itself. In order to get access to the tree, you will need to use a hatchet to hack the roots away.
Each set of roots cut back will become kindling, which you can then use to set a fire at the base of the tree in order to cause it more harm. The roots will grow back after some time, knocking back anyone attacking the tree nearby. Note that kindling can be kept for future use if you do not use it all.
When the tree is denuded of some of its roots, you can set fires as noted above or use your hatchet to hack into its bark. Harming a tree in either way requires a Woodcutting or Firemaking level, which you can see below:
| Image |
Type |
Farming Level to Nurture* |
Firemaking Level to Burn |
Woodcutting Level to Hack |
 |
Normal |
1 (20xp per stage) |
1 |
1 |
 |
Oak |
7 (45xp per stage) |
15 |
15 |
 |
Willow |
15 (66xp per stage) |
30 |
30 |
 |
Maple |
22 (122xp per stage) |
45 |
45 |
 |
Yew |
30 (173xp per stage) |
60 |
60 |
 |
Magic |
37 (311xp per stage) |
75 |
75 |
 |
Elder |
42 (688xp per stage) |
85 |
85 |
* Note that despite a lower level requirement to nurture a tree, you will need to have the specified level in woodcutting or firemaking if you wish to harm the tree after you have nurtured it.
If the tree takes too long to die, nature will attempt to rid itself of the tree by striking it with lightning. The first strike will send the tree to 50% health, the second strike to 25% health, and the third strike will kill the tree.
Eventually, after some concerted efforts beating back thrashing roots and flailing bits of tree, it will die and the adventurers who have aided in its defeat will be able to claim their rewards. Your reward depends on how much you contributed to the fight and you can check this by right-clicking and inspecting the tree. Inspecting will stop you from harming the tree - you are busy, after all - so try not to do this too often. Once you reach 100% reward there is no more you need to contribute to the fight so if other players have yet to reach 100% reward, it will not benefit them for you to continue attacking. It is therefore considered polite to stop harming the tree until everyone is at 100%. After this, you can start again to help harm the tree more quickly if you like.
Warning: While the evil tree cannot attack your character for life points damage, it can spawn in areas with hostile creatures.
Locations
A list of possible locations can be found here.
Rewards
In addition to the experience earned while dealing with the evil tree, you may receive a few items the tree dredged up from the earth through its massive root network or parts of the tree itself. This includes tree seeds, bird's nests, key halves, level 1 treasure trail clues, morchella mushroom spores and fellstalk seeds. You will always get gold and noted logs of the evil tree's type (elder trees offer noted yew, magic, teak or mahogany logs).
Further to this, you will also receive a temporary Woodcutting ability (lasts between 5 and 30 minutes dependant on the type of evil tree) that makes your logs automatically go to your bank if your inventory is full. This will affect normal, oak, willow, maple, yew and magic trees.
On top of this, each time you get some logs, there is a significantly reduced chance of the tree being felled, which should show a marked increase on your training efficiency. This reduced felling effect will not work on trees you have grown yourself in Farming patches.
Development Team
| Content: |
Developer:
Patrick N
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| Graphics: |
Graphics:
Wayne M, Chris W, Mark B, James W, Daniel J, Wing F C
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| Quality Assurance: |
QA:
James H, Dan O'R, Dan G
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| Audio: |
Audio:
Chris J
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