Rune dragon

Rune dragons are metal dragons that can be found on Mount Firewake, in Kethsi. Ritual of the Mahjarrat and Fate of the Gods are required to access the dragons, and they are accessible through the World Gate. (☀ It is accessed by the World Gate and right-clicking it for quick access.)  They won the first RuneLabs poll, alongside adamant dragons, and were first announced in the June 2015 Behind the Scenes.

Rune dragons are found in the remains of Mount Firewake, where the Kethsians kept the Stone of Jas, until it was overused and awakened the Dragonkin. Also located in this area is the laboratory of the Dactyl Forcae, a disciple of Kerapac that created the adamant and rune dragons.

With the Patch Notes on 22 June 2015, rune dragons received a number of changes, including increased combat and slayer experience, a greater number of spawns, non-aggressiveness, and reduced damage from enhanced dragonfire.

Upon death, players' gravestones will spawn near the World Gate.

Strategy
Rune dragons have a total of three phases that must be completed with each kill, with the first phase requiring the use of dragonbane bolts or arrows in order to break through their metallic armour and with the second being unreachable with melee weapons.

In addition to magic and melee attacks, rune dragons use a very powerful dragonfire attack during their second phase that cannot be completely blocked even by a Dragonfire shield or Super antifire potions; however, full protection will reduce the damage to around 450. Their ranged attack will freeze the player for one second.

Armoured phase

 * Starts with 68,250 life points
 * Dragonbane ammunition is essentially required on this phase, as all other attacks, including those of familiars, will deal dramatically reduced damage.

Flying phase

 * Starts with 45,045 life points
 * The dragon will begin flying, during which time it is immune to melee attacks. Dragonbane is no longer required to deal full damage. If the dragon was damaged below this life point threshold, it will heal back to 45,045. In addition, it will stop using melee attacks and replace its standard dragonfire attack with the enhanced version.
 * Throughout this phase, the rune dragon may breathe a bright blue plume of enhanced dragonfire onto your character, dealing magic damage. This attack will still deal a portion of its full damage even if the player is protected by a super anti-fire or wyrmfire potion (a minimum of 425 magic damage). However, if the player is far enough from the dragon, a small cloud appears under the player indicating the enhanced dragonfire is being used and can be avoided by moving away from it.

Enrage phase

 * Starts with 22,522 life points. If the dragon was damaged below this threshold, it will heal back to 22,522.
 * The rune dragon will gain a blue aura about its head crest after landing, indicative of this phase beginning.
 * The dragon will land, making melee possible again. It will get stronger with every attack, so killing it quickly is important.
 * The dragon will stop using enhanced dragonfire and instead use standard dragonfire. It will also start using its melee attacks again.

Unique
These drops are only available while killing them on a slayer task.

Trivia

 * Upon release, there was a bug that caused Rune Dragons to build up their rage outside of combat, due to players leaving combat during the 3rd phase. This caused them to easily kill players in a single hit. This bug was patched the following day.
 * There is currently a glitch where damage from a dwarf multicannon will deal full damage for phase one of the fight, even though dragonbane ammo is required in order to harm them.