The Arc Guide!

Since a ton of clannies (and our lovely allies) were confused about the arc and I saw that there was no guide on the forums, I figured I should make a short one in case there were more people that were confused and/or missed our mini discussion in the clan chat. Feel free to add anything below (or correct too!) if there's something missing. This is just a short summary, not a full detailed guide.

.:THE ARC GUIDE!:.
To access: must complete Impressing the Locals quest
(not required but recommended: Flag Fall miniquest)
Skill requirements: http://prntscr.com/u9rjpb (straight from the RS wiki)

Note: for simplicity, resources will be classified as "lower tier" vs "higher tier" resources.
Lower tier resources include:

• Woodcutting: bamboo
  
• Fishing: tarpon, seerfish, silago
  
• Farming: rumberry or exuberry bushes, mushroom clusters (on the 7 islands)
  
• Hunting: tortles
  
• Mining: salty crablets
  
• Divination: positive + negative energy
  

Higher tier resources include:

• Woodcutting: golden bamboo
  
• Fishing: wobbegong
  
• Hunting: ornate tortles
  
• Mining: alaea crablets + idol crablets
  
• Divination: ancestral energy
  

i. Arc Islands
There are 7 islands that you can travel to in the Arc where you can train your skills for lower tier resources only

• Waiko: central island where bank, marketplace (for resources), rewards and ports shop, supplies and contracts can be obtained/accessed - some lower tier resources can be found here too such as bamboo
  
• Whale's Maw: fishing
  
• Tuai Leit: farming
  
• Aminishi: slayer
  
• Goshima: divination and farming
  
• The Islands that Once were Turtles: divination
  
• Cyclosis: divination
  

ii. Unchartered Isles
Unchartered isles have 3 various sizes (small, medium and large) with various high tier resources that are randomly generated; lower tier resources can be seen as well. The amount of high tier resources you see will be based on the size you choose to visit. Below indicates what you will encounter (from the wiki):

• Small (costs 5 supplies): 0-1 high tier resources
  
• Medium (costs 12 supplies): 2-3 high tier resoruces
  
• Large (costs 20 supplies): 3-5 high tier resources
  

This is where the Flag Fall miniquest completion comes in handy! If you completed this miniquest, you can actually claim one unchartered isle at a time (if you find one that you like with the resources you want on it) by planting a flag on the ground of the island. Note: do not remove the flag from the ground or you will lose your island.

By claiming this unchartered isle, you will not lose it even if you leave and go on more voyages. You can return to this island anytime you like, for a lower supply cost (yay!). The best thing about this feature is that the resources on your claimed island will be replenished at reset, so you can visit every day and skill! Keep in mind that if you decide to claim another island, your previously claimed island will be lost -- this happens when you plant a flag on a new island or remove the flag from your claim island then leave. It is possible to have multiple flags in your bank but you can only claim one island at a time so choose wisely!

iii. Currency -- Chimes, Unlocks, Supplies
The main currency of the Arc are chimes which can be used to unlock various rewards or buy supplies for unchartered isles voyages. To obtain chimes, you sell the various resources that you have obtained from skilling to the appropriate vendor at the marketplace. However, you can earn more chimes by converting certain resources:

• Bamboo/Golden bamboo: fletch into bundles
  
• Fishing: cook fish into fish oil (low tier) or wobbegong oil (high tier)
  
• Slice mushrooms from mushroom clusters into mushroom slices
  
• Craft tortle shell bowls/shiny tortle shell bowls from shell clippings
  

Doing this should help cover the costs (and provide a bit extra) of chimes needed to buy more supplies depending on your luck with the high tier resources found.
Fun fact: certain items can be transmuted to another item via ancestral energy! For example, you can convert an alaea sea salt to wobbegong oil for 20 ancestral energy. Wobbegong oil can be converted to shiny tortle shell bowl for 10 ancestral energy. This can be handy if you want to make shark soups (discussed below).

Best method to obtain chimes according to the wiki is creating shark soups which requires the following:

• Bundle of golden bamboo
  
• Sliced mushrooms
  
• Shiny tortle shell bowl
  
• Alaea sea salt
  
• Wobbegong oil
  

Tip: You don't necessarily need to have all 5 high tier resources on an island (woodcutting, farming, fishing, hunting, mining). As long as you have at least golden bamboo, alaea sea salt and mushroom clusters on any island (and a little bit of ancestral energy) then you'll be set!

Taijitu is a secondary currency that cannot be obtained but required to unlock shop rewards -- they can be found in chests (or on the ground) when roaming around the unchartered isles so keep an eye out for them!

Supplies are the "currency" used to the travel on the unchartered isles but requires chimes to purchase. Simply talk to Rosie (at Waiko Marketplace) to buy supplies -- you can even claim 5 free supplies a day (stacks up to 50) by looting her crate. If lucky, you should be able to earn enough chimes from a long voyage to cover the costs of supplies.

iv. Miscellaneous/Tips
Miscellaneous
Contracts - can be purchased from Sojobo (north of Rosie), Hubbub (Whale's Maw) or Ling (Aminishi) to complete which gives extra experience and chimes! Only a certain amount of contracts can be completed in a day but can be increased if the reward is unlocked from the rewards shop. Contracts can be toggled or rerolled as well - https://runescape.wiki/w/Contract (for more information)

You can obtain an unchartered island map (blue) occasionally through skilling or doing any activity on Runescape. This will let you travel for free to an unchartered island containing 3-5 high tier resources. You cannot obtain another one until the one you have is used. You can also only find one map once every two days.

Tips
Prioritize purchasing certain unlocks in the shops such as supplies cost reduction (2 tiers) and commodity sell price increase (2 tiers) to help reduce the supplies cost when travelling to unchartered isles, and earning more chimes when selling to vendors!

You can also buy a green unchartered map from the travelling merchant for 800k everyday which will take you to an island containing 4-6 high tier resources compared to the normal 3-5. If you're lucky enough, you could receive a red unchartered map which will lead you to finding Tavia's fishing rod! (yay huge gp gains!)

THE END!
If you read this far then thank you! I hope you all enjoyed this simple guide to the arc and now have a better understanding on what to do here. Good luck on whatever skilling or achievement goals you want to complete!

thanks for the guide, kermen

I'll definitely be using this. I'm totally lost when I get over there.

Great guide!

Thanks again Arc Sensei

omg ILY! thank you for this!

Yes thank you for this, I feel like all the guides I watch for the Arc and I still can't figure it out. You da best Kermie!

Np everyone, glad it will be of use for you all

Oooo woahh!!!! Very detailed! Thanks so much for all the work you put into this Kermit! This must've taken you quite a while! I greatly appreciate all the detail you put into this

Np mel