OSRS Beginner Guide 2025: The Complete Start-to-Finish Walkthrough

CHAPTER 01What Is Old School RuneScape?

Old School RuneScape (commonly abbreviated as OSRS) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed and published by Jagex Ltd., a UK-based game studio. It is a version of the classic RuneScape game as it existed in August 2007 — before major graphical overhauls and gameplay changes transformed the game into what is now known as RuneScape 3.

OSRS runs in your browser (via the official Jagex Launcher or NXT Client) and is also available as a fully-featured mobile app on iOS and Android. You can play on PC and mobile with the same account simultaneously if you choose.

🌍What Kind of Game Is OSRS?

OSRS is a sandbox MMORPG. Unlike games with linear story progression or mission systems, OSRS gives you a vast open world and lets you choose your own path. You can:

• Train any of the 23 skills from Mining and Woodcutting to Herblore, Runecrafting, and Construction
• Complete 293+ quests ranging from simple fetch quests to epic multi-part storylines
• Fight hundreds of monsters from low-level goblins to endgame raid bosses
• Participate in Player vs Player (PvP) combat in the Wilderness and dedicated arenas
• Join clans and Clan Chats for group content, raids, and community
• Trade freely with other players via the Grand Exchange
• Play dozens of minigames for unique rewards and XP

📊Key Facts About OSRS

CHAPTER 02F2P vs P2P: Free to Play or Members?

One of your very first decisions as an OSRS player is whether to play Free to Play (F2P) or Members (P2P). Here is a full, honest breakdown of both options so you can make the right decision for your situation.

💡Our Recommendation

Spend your first 1–3 days in F2P to learn the basics, complete the early F2P quests, and reach 40+ combat. Then get members as soon as possible. The difference in content availability is enormous — F2P is a fraction of the full OSRS experience. Many players consider F2P the demo version. If you enjoy the game at all, membership is absolutely worth it.

Alternatively, you can pay for membership in-game using Bonds — which can be purchased with OSRS gold. If you buy gold from RuneHeaven, you can fund weeks of membership immediately without spending any real money beyond your initial gold purchase.

CHAPTER 03Account Types: Choose Your Path Before You Start

Before you create your OSRS account, you need to decide what type of account you want to play. This is one of the most important decisions in the game — some account types are very difficult or impossible to change later. Here is a full overview of every account type.

CHAPTER 04Tutorial Island: Your First 30 Minutes

Tutorial Island is the mandatory introduction zone every new OSRS account completes before accessing the main game. It takes approximately 20–45 minutes and teaches you the basic mechanics of every skill. Do not rush it — the knowledge you gain here is genuinely important.

🏝️What Tutorial Island Covers

Tutorial Island guides you through a hands-on introduction to every core game system in order. Here is what you will learn and do:

⚙️Important Settings to Enable Immediately After Tutorial Island

• Entity highlighting (Alt+1): Makes items on the ground and interactable objects glow. Essential for gameplay.
• Bank PIN: Go to your bank and set a 4-digit PIN. This protects your account if it is ever compromised.
• Authenticator (2FA): Enable two-factor authentication in your account settings on the Jagex website. Critical for security.
• Run energy: Click the run icon to toggle running. Always run when exploring — it is significantly faster.
• HD Client or RuneLite: Consider switching to the RuneLite third-party client (officially approved by Jagex) which offers HD graphics, plugins, and quality-of-life improvements. It is free, safe, and used by the vast majority of players.
• Chat settings: Configure your chat filters so Clan, Trade, and Public chat are set to your preferences.

CHAPTER 05Your First Week: Exactly What to Do

The biggest mistake new OSRS players make is aimlessly wandering the world without a plan. The game offers almost infinite freedom, but a structured first week will establish you with a solid foundation far faster than random exploration.

📋First Week Priority Checklist

• Complete Tutorial Island fully — don't skip anything
• Set a bank PIN and enable 2FA on your Jagex account immediately
• Download and set up RuneLite (the best OSRS client)
• Complete Sheep Shearer quest in Lumbridge for early Crafting XP
• Complete Vampire Slayer quest — huge early Attack XP reward
• Complete Waterfall Quest — enormous Attack and Strength XP (takes you to ~30+)
• Complete X Marks the Spot — unlocks a clue scroll for Treasure Trails
• Walk to Varrock and unlock the Grand Exchange
• Train combat to 40 Attack, 40 Strength, 40 Defence on cows or goblins
• Get members (P2P) as soon as you can afford it or decide to commit
• (Members) Complete Priest in Peril to unlock Morytania and Slayer
• (Members) Get your first Slayer task from Turael in Burthorpe
• (Members) Complete Knight's Sword for massive Smithing XP boost
• Set up your first herb run (buy Ranarr seeds from GE, plant at any herb patch)
• Join a beginner-friendly Clan Chat for community support

CHAPTER 06All 23 OSRS Skills Explained

OSRS has 23 skills divided into Combat, Gathering, Artisan, and Support categories. Understanding what each skill does and why it matters is fundamental to building your character effectively.

⚔️Combat Skills

⛏️Gathering Skills

🔨Artisan Skills

🏃Support Skills

CHAPTER 07The OSRS Combat System Explained

OSRS combat can look simple at a glance — click the enemy and watch numbers go up — but there is a sophisticated system underneath that determines every fight. Understanding it is the difference between dying repeatedly and bossing efficiently.

⚙️How Combat Works

OSRS uses a tick-based combat system. The game updates every 0.6 seconds (one "tick"). Almost every action in the game takes a specific number of ticks — attacks, spells, movement, prayers. Understanding this is essential for advanced play but not critical for beginners.

During combat, your character and the enemy alternate attacks based on their respective weapon speeds. A standard weapon attacks every 4 ticks (2.4 seconds). Faster weapons attack every 3 ticks; slower ones every 5–6 ticks. Your damage per tick depends on your accuracy (determining hit or miss) and your strength (determining the hit value).

🎯Attack Styles

Every melee weapon has 3–4 attack styles that train different skills with different bonuses:

For most new players, the recommended approach is: train Attack to your target level on Accurate, then switch to Aggressive to build Strength. Strength has the biggest impact on overall DPS.

🔢Combat Level Formula

Your Combat Level is a single number from 3 to 126 that summarises your combat strength. It is calculated from all your combat stats. Higher combat levels allow you to participate in more content and are the primary measure of character progression that other players use to gauge your account.

CHAPTER 08The Combat Triangle: Melee, Ranged & Magic

Understanding the OSRS combat triangle is essential for choosing the right attack style against every enemy. The triangle determines which combat style deals more damage and which armour provides the best defence against each attack type.

🧩Practical Application of the Combat Triangle

In practice, the triangle matters most in two situations:

• PvP combat: Using the combat style your opponent is weak to gives a significant accuracy bonus and reduces the accuracy of their attacks against you.
• PvM bossing: Many bosses have explicit weaknesses to specific attack styles. Using the correct style can improve your kill speed by 20–40%. Always check the OSRS Wiki for a boss's specific weakness before fighting it.

For most general content (Slayer tasks, low-level bosses), the combat triangle is less critical — your stat levels and gear quality matter more. But for high-level bossing, always bring the right attack style.

CHAPTER 09Prayer & Special Attacks: Game-Changing Mechanics

✨The Prayer Skill

Prayer is one of the most impactful skills in OSRS. It provides powerful boosts and protections that fundamentally change what you can survive and how effectively you can deal damage. Prayer is trained by burying bones dropped by monsters — or more efficiently, by offering them at a Gilded Altar in a player-owned house.

Essential Prayer Milestones

The most important Prayer milestone for new players is 43 Prayer, which unlocks all three Protect prayers. These prayers block nearly all damage from the specific combat type when used in PvM, making content that would otherwise be difficult straightforward.

⚡Special Attacks

Many weapons in OSRS have a Special Attack — a powerful ability that consumes energy from the Special Attack bar (which holds up to 100% energy and recharges over time). Special attacks range from guaranteed hits to accuracy boosts to defence reductions on your target.

Key special attacks every player should know:

• Dragon Dagger (DD): Two rapid hits. One of the strongest PvP special attacks for finishing opponents.
• Dragon Claws: 4 hits with increasing accuracy. The gold standard PvP finisher — extremely powerful in the right hands.
• Bandos Godsword (BGS): Drains target's Defence stats permanently for that fight. Essential for maximising DPS at high-defence bosses.
• Dragon Warhammer (DWH): 30% chance to reduce target Defence by 30%. BIS spec weapon for any raid or high-Defence boss.
• Abyssal Bludgeon: Extra damage based on missing Prayer points. Useful in very specific PvP contexts.
• Volatile Nightmare Staff: High-damage Magic special attack. One of the strongest PvP specs in the game.

CHAPTER 10The Grand Exchange: OSRS's Stock Market

The Grand Exchange (GE) is located in Varrock and is the heart of the OSRS economy. It is an automated marketplace where players list buy and sell offers for items, and the GE matches buyers to sellers. You do not need to trade with specific individuals — the GE handles everything.

📊How to Use the Grand Exchange

1. Walk to the Grand Exchange in Varrock (north of Varrock, west of Edgeville)
2. Click any of the exchange booths to open the GE interface
3. Select "Buy" to buy items: enter the item name, quantity, and your offer price
4. Select "Sell" to sell items: click an item from your inventory or bank, set quantity and price
5. Your offer is listed and automatically matched when a matching offer exists
6. Collect your items or gold from the completed offers at any GE booth

💡Grand Exchange Tips for New Players

• Use the mid-price for quick trades: Buying at 5–10% above the listed price and selling at 5–10% below ensures fast transactions without waiting for exact matches.
• GE Tax: A 1% tax is applied to all sales over 100 GP per item. This reduces your sell revenue slightly — always factor this into profit calculations.
• Buy limits: Every item has a 4-hour buy limit. You cannot buy more than the listed limit of any item within a 4-hour window. Limits reset at :00 on the clock every 4 hours.
• Price check items: Before selling anything, check the current GE price to avoid selling something valuable for far less than it is worth.
• OSRS Wiki has live GE prices: The official OSRS Wiki shows real-time Grand Exchange prices for every item — bookmark this page.
• Never trust unsolicited trades: If a player approaches you outside the GE and offers to trade without using the GE (especially for gold), be extremely cautious — this is often a scam setup.

CHAPTER 11Quest Priority Guide: What to Complete First

Quests in OSRS are not optional side content — many are mandatory for accessing key areas, skills, and gear. Completing the right quests early transforms your account's power level. Here are the most important quests to complete in priority order for new players.

🏆Tier 1: Complete These First (No or Low Requirements)

⭐Tier 2: Complete After 40+ Combat (Essential Unlocks)

CHAPTER 12Gear Progression: From Starter to BIS

Understanding the gear progression ladder in OSRS is essential. Wearing the wrong gear tier wastes stats and gold. Here is the complete melee gear progression from Tutorial Island to Best-in-Slot.

CHAPTER 13Stat Milestones: Goals to Work Toward

Having clear stat targets keeps your progression focused. Here are the most important stat milestones for a new OSRS Main account and why each one matters.

CHAPTER 14Achievement Diaries: Powerful Rewards You Cannot Afford to Skip

Achievement Diaries are sets of tasks organised by region of Gielinor and difficulty tier (Easy, Medium, Hard, Elite). Completing diary tasks unlocks permanent, account-wide upgrades that improve your efficiency in significant and sometimes extraordinary ways.

🏅Most Important Diary Rewards for New Players

Work toward Easy and Medium diaries for each region as you naturally pass through them. Hard and Elite diaries become priority targets once your combat stats reach 80+.

CHAPTER 15First Bosses to Kill: Your Bossing Progression

Bossing is where OSRS's endgame truly begins. Here is the recommended bossing progression for a new Main account, in approximate order of accessibility.

CHAPTER 16Money Making for Beginners: Building Your First Bank

As a brand-new player your starting bank is zero GP. Here is a realistic, honest guide to building your first significant bank without spending real money — though purchasing starter gold from RuneHeaven remains the fastest path to an equipped, capable account.

💰The Fastest Legitimate Starting Methods

• Completing early quests for GP rewards: Quests like Witch's House, Dragon Slayer I, and The Feud award decent GP directly as quest rewards. Always complete quests for their XP and GP rewards before anything else.
• Tanning Cowhides (F2P/Early P2P): Kill cows south of Lumbridge, collect their hides, run to Al-Kharid Tanner, tan them into soft leather, and sell at the GE. Each hide yields 50–150 GP profit. Repetitive but effective as an absolute beginner.
• Collecting Wine of Zamorak: With 33 Magic and Telegrab spell, collect Wine of Zamorak from the Chaos Temple (F2P players use Edgeville Wilderness dungeon). Each wine sells for 1,800–2,200 GP. Can earn 400K–600K GP/hr.
• Herb runs (as soon as possible): Getting into herb runs at 32 Farming fundamentally changes your financial situation. Ranarr runs can earn 200K–400K GP every 80 minutes with minimal effort. Set these up and forget about them — they earn while you play normally.
• Doing Slayer tasks: Slayer tasks kill multiple birds with one stone — combat XP, Slayer XP, and monster drop income. Slayer at Abyssal Demons (85 Slayer) yields Abyssal Whips worth 2M+ GP. Getting Slayer started early is the long-term key to sustained income.
• Purchasing starter gold from RuneHeaven: The fastest and most direct path. A modest investment (5–20M GP) provides enough capital to buy starter gear, fund early skill training, and cover all consumables for weeks. Buying from RuneHeaven's verified sellers lets you skip the early money-making grind entirely and invest that time in learning the game.

CHAPTER 17Common Beginner Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

These are the most expensive and time-consuming mistakes that new OSRS players make — many of which cannot be easily undone. Read this section carefully.

CHAPTER 18Pro Tips & Essential Game Settings

CHAPTER 19Using RuneHeaven as a New Player

RuneHeaven is specifically designed to solve the problems that new OSRS players face most frequently — slow early progression, confusing skill training paths, and locked content that requires hours of prerequisite grinding. Here is how RuneHeaven can accelerate your experience as a new player in particular.

💰Buying Starter Gold

The biggest barrier for new OSRS players is the early gold grind. Without gold, you cannot buy potions, gear, or training supplies — which means slower progression across every skill. Purchasing a modest amount of starter gold from RuneHeaven's verified sellers (typically 5–20M GP for new players) provides:

• Funding for starter gear appropriate to your current stats
• Budget for skill training supplies (bones for Prayer, materials for Herblore, planks for Construction)
• Ability to buy members via in-game Bonds without spending additional real money
• Starting capital for Herb run seeds, which generate passive income immediately
• Peace of mind to focus on learning the game rather than grinding for gold

📜Quest and Skill Services

Some OSRS quests and skill milestones are notorious barriers that prevent new players from accessing content they want. RuneHeaven connects you with skilled players who can complete these barriers on your behalf:

• Dragon Slayer I and II: Critical quest unlocks that require specific gear and boss kills. Service providers complete them safely and quickly.
• Recipe for Disaster: A multi-quest saga culminating in the Barrows Gloves — one of the most important gear upgrades in the game. The full quest service saves dozens of hours.
• Desert Treasure and Monkey Madness: Complex, multi-stage quests with difficult bosses. Getting these done early opens up significantly better combat options.
• Prayer leveling to 43 or 70: Prayer is one of the most expensive and time-consuming skills. A Prayer leveling service handles the bones, the Gilded Altar, and the grind — delivering a specific level directly to your account.
• Fire Cape service: The Fight Cave is one of the first major combat challenges new players encounter. A Fire Cape service provides the cape (and the Slayer Helm imbue upgrade it enables) without the stress of 62 waves of combat.

CHAPTER 20Frequently Asked Questions

Your OSRS Adventure Starts Now

Old School RuneScape is a game that reveals more of itself the deeper you go. The Tutorial Island that felt overwhelming becomes trivial in weeks. The Barrows that seemed impossibly hard becomes a comfortable farming spot in months. Content that felt out of reach — raids, the Inferno, the Wilderness — all of it becomes achievable with the right knowledge and the right progression path.

This guide gives you that knowledge. The rest is your story. Log in, complete Waterfall Quest, set up your herb runs, get your first Slayer task, and start building the account you want. The world of Gielinor is one of the richest gaming experiences ever created — and it has been waiting for you.

And whenever you need gold, services, quest completions, or any kind of support on your journey, RuneHeaven is your trusted OSRS community marketplace — built by players who have walked every step of this road before you.

Continue Your OSRS Education