Summoning Mark help

[facingnyc]

Throughout the long process of leveling summoning (I'm now at lvl 90) I've had to grapple with a lot of questions about basic dynamics of this skill. Over and over I've had to scour the internet, the wiki and discussions here for any kind of guidance, and in some case there are just no clear answers. It would really be extremely helpful if someone would put together a basic guide describing some basic mechanics for each mark.

For example: I can't get the hitpoints (dragon) mark to unlock. I've killed now many thousands of mobs over hours but I really have no idea if this is what I need to do to get the initial mark. I really don't understand if the optimal strategy is to kill big mobs slowly or tiny mobs quickly, or if killing mobs is even what unlocks the mark. Do I need to lose/gain hitpoints for the mark to unlock, in which case small mobs that dont damage me would not generate marks? Once I get the mark to unlock, what is the optimal strategy to level this mark?

While some of the marks seem straightforward - for example fishing marks obviously drop when I am fishing - some of the details are very murky. Will I get fishing marks while fishing for Raw Skeleton Fish for prayer points? Is there a higher drop rate for higher level fish? Should I fish for useful whales or just rapidly farm shrimp?

For the higher level marks, which have a radically lower drop rate, these kinds of questions become much more urgent. Also, some of the higher level marks have more confusing dynamics: to get herbology marks, do I need to be MAKING potions or USING potions? To get Prayer marks do I need to be MAKING prayer points (burying bones) or USING prayer points in combat? For Slayer Marks do these come from slayer area or from slayer tasks or both? Do they drop from kills or from hits? None of this appears to be explained anywhere. Would be nice if there were a basic guide, some updates to the wiki, or even some tooltips.

[counterintel]

Summoning is confusing compared to the other skills for sure. I'll try to share what I can to help.

As far as I understand, unlocking marks has a chance to occur when you are performing an activity that grants xp for the parent skill it is associated with, or gain xp in that skill via combat for combat skills.

Unlocking marks can take quite some time, don't expect to bang all of them out in a session. Some are easier than others. Dragon took quite a while to get and then max out relative to some others for me as well. I feel like (based on nothing) that dragon is a lower chance than other combat familiars to get marks because every single combat action you take grants HP xp, albeit, very little.

Once you have unlocked the mark at all, the first time, you *do not gain any more marks* until you have crafted at least one tablet for that mark. Those tablets can just sit in your bank, and do not need equipped/used to meet this requirement

However, equipping the mark while performing an activity that gives xp for its parent skill doubles or triples the mark drop rate, i dont remember which.

In your specific examples:
Any fish type will give fishing marks, as long as you are catching fish
Bear Marks for herbalism are only from crafting potions
Prayer marks are only gained when spending prayer xp in combat
Slayer marks im hazy on, whether its just killing monsters that give slayer xp (which give slayer xp whether or not you have a slayer task for them, as long as theyre in a slayer area) or if you only get marks while doing a task. When maxing out Cyclops I made sure I just did slayer tasks to cover both bases.

Regarding higher chance/higher xp items/activities, i have a theory based on nothing but confirmation bias that higher xp or mastery xp awarding tasks have a higher chance for marks. This is based on no factual evidence other than my trying the mentioned method of banging out cheap/easy/faster items/enemies to burn through marks but felt it was a step backwards. This would also possibly explain dragons seemingly slower rate of mark discovery, as xp per hit for HP skill is much lower than xp per hit for the standard combat skills.

Im no expert, just sharing what i believe to be the case. If any better educated nerds want to correct me, please do.

[facingnyc]

Thanks for your advice! Would be great if we could turn this info into a clear mark-by-mark guide which the more advanced coding/stat-parsing wonks could correct as necessary