This page was last updated for (v1.2.2).
Cartography


Before Starting Cartography

There are a few bonuses that come from other skills that can boost Cartography. Due to Cartography's 5s Base Interval, it's advised to grab as many of the Interval and Survey reductions as possible to minimize the amount of time you spend surveying. The   Superior Cartography Skillcape gives -30% Survey Interval which makes Skill XP boosts very valuable if you wish to go for full map mastery since this will reduce the time it takes to reach level 120.

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    Nysa
    , unlocked at
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    Level 45
    , provides upwards of +8% Skill XP and -5% Survey Interval at
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    Mastery Level 60
    .
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    River Crossing
    , unlocked at
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    Level 10
    and requiring
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    Level 15
    , provides -5% Survey Interval and +5% Skill XP.
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    Ocean Drifting
    , unlocked at
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    Level 80
    and requiring
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    Level 70
    and
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    Level 70
    , provides -5% Cartography Interval.

Cartography has 8 Temporary -2% Survey Interval Points of Interest that last for 10 moves. It's important that you know where these are located since they can only be discovered once. The locations can be seen in the image in the second goal section.

You may want to gather the materials required to purchase all Ship Upgrades from the

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Shop

before starting. It is not necessary to do so however it may reduce the amount of times you need to swap obstacles.

Training Cartography

Since Skill XP boosts will change the pathing of this guide, this guide will be using the following to setup. Note this is not the most optimal setup. Check the XP Table and Interval Table below for other boosts.

This gives a total of 26% Skill XP out of the maximum 54% in the Base Game and 57% with  .

Getting the   Old Spyglass and
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Cartographer's Enhancement

 
Visual Representation for Steps 1-4

An image has been supplied as a visual aid on where to go. The step numbers align with the numbered point on the map.

  1. Follow the Red Path to the Port at (12, 19) and Survey this hex until you are level 10. You will not fully survey the Port yet
    • Make sure to Discover   Old Village at (13, 17)
    • If you Survey   The Southern Lighthouse at (12, 18), make sure you do not Discover this POI. The temporary -2% Survey Interval Discovery Reward will be used later
  2. Follow the Blue Path until you Discover   Monuments at (6, 11)
  3. If you are not
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    Level 50
    , get the Shop Purchase in step 4 then return for this step. Follow the Green Path and Discover   Coral Wreckage at (7, 22). You are mainly looking for 1-2 key items from   Coral Wreckage
    1. The   Old Spyglass for -10% Survey Interval
    2. If travel costs are an issue, you may also get   Sailor's Compass for -6% Travel Costs
    • With a 4.25s upgrade interval, upgrading the map will take 2h 16m (while standing on   The Monolith, not including any paper making time) while getting the Spyglass will take on average 1h 38m without upgrading and 35 minutes with upgrading. This means upgrading the map will not save you any time however you may want to consider it as it will benefit you later when you do Archaeology.
    • After obtaining the   Old Spyglass, you will want to Discover   The Vibrant Coral Gardens at (6, 22) which rewards the 500   Coral needed for
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      Ocean Drifting
      , which will be built later
  4. Follow the Purple Path which will Discover   The Jagged Labyrinth at (5, 7) and unlock the ability to purchase
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    Cartographer's Enhancement
    for 3,000,000 . Upon reaching
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    Level 60
    , you will be able to purchase   Ship Anchor Upgrade
  5. Follow the Orange Path towards   The Pirate's Treasure Trails at (10, 6) and Discover this hex. It is important this POI gets discovered before Surveying the entire map.

Fully Surveying all of the Temporary POI Hexes

 
Visual Representation for Steps 5-10

An image has been supplied as a visual aid on where to go. The step numbers align with the numbered point on the map.

Do not Discover the following POIs unless otherwise stated. The goal is to Survey them, not Discover them.

  1. Follow the Blue Path and Survey   The Pink Kraken at (4, 16) and   The Western Lighthouse at (1, 18)
    • The Port at (2, 19) can be Discovered which can help reduce the travel costs later
  2. Follow the Green Path and Survey   The Southern Lighthouse at (12, 18),   The Watchful Ship at (14, 20) and   A Sadge Kraken at (12, 21)
    • The Port at (12, 19) can be Discovered which can help reduce the travel costs later
  3. The next POIs will be towards the South side of the map along the Purple Path. Survey   The Sea Noodle at (23, 25). You will need to Discover   Fisherman's Enclave at (22, 22) before Surveying the entire map
    • Along the path to   Fisherman's Enclave, there is a Port that can be Discovered at (21, 20)
    • At
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      Level 70
      , you will unlock the Shop Purchase   Ship Rudder Upgrade as well as the Agility Obstacle,
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      Ocean Drifting
      . It is recommended you get both of these if possible
  4. Next up is the Orange Path. You will want to Discover both   Old Mine at (23, 14) and   The Abandoned Vein Mine at (22, 15). These POIs need to be Discovered before Surveying the entire map
  5. Along the Gray Path, Survey   Capital City Lighthouse at (27, 13), and   The Pushy Sailor at (29, 9)
    • The Port at (27, 14) can be Discovered which can help reduce the travel costs later. You may grab this before heading to   The Pushy Sailor

Fully Surveying the Map

Moving to   The Edge of Darkness will cost around 50m GP. If you wish to cut this cost down, you can Survey ONE of the following 2 POIs then Survey   The Shimmering Sands Outpost at (18, 15).

  1.   Seashade Village at (7, 20) which is conveniently located above   Coral Wreckage
  2.   Rosedale at (27, 18). While this would take a bit longer, it's along the way to   Bandit Hideout which is good if you plan to do some Thieving

When you are ready to get the interval POIs, Discover one of the first 2 POIs for -5% Cartography travel costs, THEN Discover   The Shimmering Sands Outpost for -10% Cartography travel costs.

With all of the Temporary -2% Survey Interval POIs fully Surveyed, it's time to Discover all of them without traveling to any unnecessary hexes in between. These boosts will only last for 10 moves and there are 8 POIs (+2 if you chose to decrease travel costs). Even though you have 2 spare moves, it is important you do not waste these. You will need to move once at

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Level 100

and again after fully Surveying the North East corner. The order for the first 7 POIs is not important however you want to make sure you end on   The Pushy Sailor at (29, 9). Start Auto Surveying at (26, 8). This will require you to Survey (28, 9) and (27, 8) first. The purpose of this is so Auto Survey will reach the higher level hexes at the top of the map. At

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Level 90

you will want to restart the Auto Survey at (28, 12) so the Level 90 Hexes around (30, 16) get Surveyed. At

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Level 85

  Ship Keel Upgrade can be purchased and at

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Level 99

  Ship Crow's Nest Upgrade can be purchased. Upon reaching

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Level 100

, you want to manually Survey towards the East wall of the map then upwards, leaving the last hex so you can start Auto Surveying without moving. Ideally you want to be active here so you can immediately move when   The Edge of Darkness at (31, 0) is fully surveyed so you don't have to move to start Auto Surveying again. This will unlock the Shop Purchase,

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Cartographer's Knowledge

for 50,000,000 . Traveling to this hex will also cost somewhere around 50m GP.

After moving to   The Edge of Darkness, Auto Survey until the map is fully surveyed and the level 100 hexes in the corner you are standing in are fully mastered. When you reach (25, 3) you will want to move from this location.

To reach level 120 you will have to move 2-3 more times to areas with higher exp. Hex experience is based on the level of the hex, therefore the best exp is in the high level areas This map can help visualize where the high exp zones are.

  1. The first location you will want to move to is the snowy area in the bottom middle, around (17, 25) since this is a dense, compact area
    • Upon reaching
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      Level 110
      , the final Ship Upgrade,   Ship Combat Overhaul, can be purchased
  2. The top middle is going to be the second location, around (12, 2) so you can grab the level 80 and 90 hexes to the East and West
  3. The last location will be the center of the map, around (16, 11) and start surveying the higher level hexes in the area, ignoring the level 35 hexes. You may utilize Auto Survey here

Upon reaching

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Level 120

, you will want to purchase and equip the   Superior Cartography Skillcape then Auto Survey until all 944 hexes have been Mastered.

Boosters

Ship Upgrades

Other Shop Purchases

Upgrade Name Level Cost Purchase Requirement X Y Modifiers
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  Cartographer's Enhancement 3,000,000  Discover   The Jagged Labyrinth 5 7 +2% Cartography Skill XP
-5% Cartography survey interval
-5% Cartography travel costs
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  Cartographer's Knowledge
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Level 100
50,000,000  Discover   The Edge of Darkness 31 0 +2% Cartography Skill XP
-5% Cartography survey interval
-5% Cartography travel costs
    Travel Token
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Level 80
  100,000 Donate 150 Artefacts to the Museum -10% Cartography travel costs
    Cartographer's Knowledge
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Level 50

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Level 50
  10,000 Donate 75 Artefacts to the Museum When combined with   Old Spyglass
+5 Cartography Sight Range
+4 Cartography Survey Range
-10% Cartography travel costs

XP

The following things can be used to increase the amount of Cartography XP received.

Action Time

This table lists boosts to Survey, Map Upgrade, and Paper Making intervals.


Melvor Idle Skill Guides
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Combat
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Prayer
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Farming
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Township
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Woodcutting
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Fishing
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Firemaking
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Cooking
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Mining
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Smithing
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Thieving
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Fletching
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Crafting
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Runecrafting
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Herblore
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Agility
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Summoning
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Astrology
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Alternative Magic
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Cartography
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Archaeology
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Harvesting