OSRS Thieving Training Guide: Most Profitable Methods To Level 99 - Rune Fanatics (2024)

Thieving is a members-only skill that lets you steal gold coins and items from chests, market stalls, or various NPCs. Moreover, it allows you to disarm traps and picklock doors, so you can access new areas. Thieving is an exciting skill in OSRS because of the wide variety of training methods. Also, it’s one of the most profitable skills, which means you’ll make millions on your path to level 99.

Leveling up the skill can become frustrating if you don’t have the necessary knowledge. Luckily for you, we’ve done the research, so you won’t have to. This guide will go over the most profitable methods combined with the fastest to achieve 99 thieving. Also, we’ll go over the top quests and items that give the best thieving bonuses.

Why Train Thieving?

Training the skill could be done for several reasons. At high levels pickpocketing specific NPC’s can generate upwards of 1 million GP per hour. Those who seek high XP rewards and want their name in the high scores, can train thieving and get 200-300k XP consistently per hour. The skill is fast to train, which is what makes it desirable.

Moreover, the skill unlocks a lot of new content. The most notable is the Achievement Diary Tasks, which provide desirable rewards. To complete all the tasks for the diary, you’ll need level 91 thieving. Also, thieving is a requirement in a lot of must-complete quests:

• The Lost Tribe – level 13
• The Giant Dwarf – level 14
• Cold War – level 15
• Watchtower – level 15
• The Hand In The Sand – Level 17
• Tribal Totem – Level 21
• Darkness of Hallowvale – level 22
• Death To The Dorgeshuun – level 23
• Creature of Frenkenstrain – level 25
• The Dig Site – level 25
• The Golem – level 25
• The Feud – level 30
• The Slug Menace – level 30
• Spirits Of Te Eild – level 37
• Fairytail II: Cure A Queen – level 40
• Temple of Ikove – Level 42
• Legends’ Quest – level 50
• Mourning’s End part I – level 50
• Desert Treasure – level 53
• Monkey Madness II – Level 55
• Grim tales – level 58
• Dragon Slayer II – level 60

Some players only increase their thieving level so they can complete important quests. For example, to unlock Ancient Curses, you’ll need to complete The Temple at Senntisten. However, the requirements for that quest are completing the Morning’s End series and Desert Treasure, which require a total thieving level of 66.

What Equipment Do You Need To Train Thieving?

Unlike other skills, thieving requires no items to get started. Therefore, low-level players can begin training the skill to earn experience and money. As you progress to higher levels, you’ll unlock new methods to gain XP, such as pick locking doors, chests, and safes. Some locked doors or chests do not require a lockpick to open them. However, using them greatly increases the speed of opening them.

Martin Thwait sells picklocks for 20 GP, and he can be found inside the Rogues’ Den, which is located in Burthorpe. However, you must have level 50 agility and thieving to have the ability to buy them.

Also, some training options will require you to have a blackjack, which is a wieldable item. You can get them by talking to the Blackjack Seller who stays in the town center of Pollnivneach. He can be found between the North of the camel man and South of the kebab shop.

How to Train Thieving

Thieving is very easy to train compared to the other skills in RuneScape. You simply walk up to an NPC, market stand, chest, or door and right-click. You’ll either see pickpocket or unlock, depending on the training method. Select the relative option, if successful, you’ll gain experience and various items or gold coins.

However, it’s possible that the pickpocket will be unsuccessful, in which case the NPC will turn around and yell “What do you think you’re doing?”. Afterward, they will hit and stun you for small damage. Due to the possibility of failing multiple times during a session, it’s recommended to bring food.

You don’t need to wait until the pickpocket animation is finished before starting again. Players can attempt another pickpocket as soon as items and experience are gained. Doing this can improve experience rates per hour because the number of pickpockets is increased.

Some of our training methods will include blackjacking. This is a wieldable item that is used to lure or certain knockout NPCs. Once the NPC is knocked out, you can spam-click them until they get back up. Getting as many clicks in is crucial for achieving high hourly experience rates.

Tip:

Go to the options menu and select the game controller at the top right. Then, hit “hidden” under “NPC attack options”. This will make pickpocketing more convenient because now you will only need to left-click. This will let you spam click and maximize experience per hour.

Useful Thieving Items

As a rule of thumb, if there are any items or equipment that can ease the grind, you should pursue them. Fortunately, thieving has 4 unique items that will help with increasing successful pickpockets and experience points.

• Gloves of Silence: These gloves increase your pickpocketing success rate by 5%. However, they require level 54 hunter to equip. The item is super easy to obtain because you can buy them from the Grand Exchange for around 2k GP. If you’re an iron man account, you can use 2 dark kebbit furs at the Fancy Clothes Store in Varrock to receive a Gloves of Silence.

It’s recommended to get multiple pairs of gloves because they get damaged by unsuccessful pickpocketing attempts. After 62 failed attempts, the gloves will disappear. However, if you have multiple pairs of gloves, unequip them at 61 failed tries and use a new pair. This is because after a pair disappear, all the other gloves that have 61 unsuccessful attempts will be restored.

• Dodgy necklace: this piece of equipment gives you a 25% chance of not being stunned after a failed pickpocket. The necklace has 10 charges and can’t be recharged. Each necklace will save you around 50 HP and 40-60 seconds of being stunned. At the early levels, you’ll want at least five of these in your inventory. This is because you’ll fail many attempts, and getting stunned decreases the experience rate per hour.
• Shadow Veil: players can use the Shadow Veil spell to gain a 15% chance to avoid being stunned. The spell works well in combination with the Dodgy necklace to give a total of 36.25% chance to avoid getting stunned.
• Rouge equipment: while wearing components of rouge equipment, there’s a chance to pickpocket an NPC twice. Equipping the full set guarantees double loot. While the XP rates are the same, wearing the rouge outfit doubles the money you make per hour. The set consists of:
  • Rouge top
  • Rouge trousers
  • Rouge mask
  • Rouge boots
  • Rouge gloves

These items and be found while looting the safe at the end of Rouges’ Den minigame. There’s a 1/8 chance of obtaining a piece, and you need 50 thieving to access the game.

Furthermore, you can complete the Ardougne diary to receive the Ardougne cloak. It provides many useful features like unlimited teleports to the Ardougne farm patch. Completing the medium diary will give players an extra 10% chance of successful pickpocketing in Ardougne. However, you’ll want to complete the hard tasks because the buff extends to all of Gielinor.

Questing For Fast Experience

Like any skill, the beginning is very slow, so you’ll want to complete a few quests. This gives players the best of both worlds because they can explore Gielinor and receive thieving XP simultaneously. Also, some of these quests are requirements for harder quests. Here are the best quests that have low requirements:

• Biohazard
• Hazeel Cult
• Tower of Life
• Tribal Totem
• The Queen of Thieves
• The Giant Dwarf
• Death to the Dorgeshuun
• The Golem
• Creature of Frenkenstrain
• The Feud

Finish these quests to receive 29,700 XP, which will take you straight to level 37 thieving. This will make the skill faster because you won’t have to hassle with getting stunned at the lower levels every few seconds.

Level 1-99 OSRS Thieving Guide

Now that you know what to prepare before starting the skill, it’s time to go into the best training methods. This guide will showcase a fast and profitable method of obtaining mastery in the skill. Also, we’ve provided level brackets, so feel free to find the relevant section.

Levels 1-5: Men/Women

From levels 1 to 5, the top option is to pickpocket men or women. The best location is outside of Lumbridge Castle gates. Head north to the furnace, and you should see men and women walking around. Players who have their spawn point set at Lumbridge don’t need food because it takes a few seconds to get back to the training spot after dying.

Furthermore, Drayoner Village has a house located by the agility course that has a man walking inside. You can trap him by closing the door, which makes it easier as he can’t walk away. Getting to level 5 is super fast as it takes 49 successful pickpockets.

Levels 5-25: Varrock Tea Stalls

Next, you’ll want to head over to the fountain at the center of Varrock. Afterward, go Eastern until you reach the bank. Then Southeast until you should see a tea stall. The benefit of this method is that you have no chance of getting caught compared to cake stalls. Doing this method will give you 15-20k XP per hour.

Alternatively, you can go to East Ardougne to the market. There’s plenty of stalls to steal from to gain experience. However, plenty of guards are walking around and can catch you. Therefore, slowing down XP rates per hour as you’ll be stunned regularly.

Alternative – Levels 1-25: Chambers of Xeric

If you don’t want to use the conventional methods, you can try the Chambers of Xeric. Players can lockpick chests inside the thieving room for decent experience. Currently, there are no requirements for this method. However, it’s recommended to bring a lockpick to increase the chance of success. Also, take stamina or super energy potions as you’ll be running a lot.

To start, find a raid that begins with the thieving room first. Then, quickly run to any chest and begin lockpicking, if the lockpicking is successful, you’ll find a cavern grub and gain 40 thieving experience. Some chests will damage you slightly, so avoid them as you’ll gain no XP.

The Chambers of Xeric is an enormous cave underneath Mount Quidamortem. The easiest way to get there is by using the mine cart system at Lovakengj’s house.

Levels 25-38: Fruit Stalls Or Silk Stalls

From levels 25-38, there are a few methods that you can do. Stealing from fruit stalls is the best option because it gives you 30k thieving experience per hour. Make sure to get 15% Hosidus House Favour to get the best hourly XP. Make your way to Zeah and head over to the Hosidus section of the map. You should see a well with a fruit stand next to it.

Alternatively, you can go to the Ardougne market and steal from the silk stall. You’ll receive roughly 25k XP per hour. The market has guards watching, so you’ll get caught a few times. Make sure to bring food because reaching level 38 will take a few hours.

Levels 38-45/55: Master Farmers/Warrior Women

Now, from levels 38-45 or 55, there are two main methods that you can do. The first option is great for money-making, and you’ll make about 50-100k GP per hour. You’ll be pickpocketing master farmers for 20-25k experience per hour. The best location to find master farmers is Ardougne near the farming location.

The next method is pickpocketing warrior women since you won’t get stunned as much. Make sure to complete the Ardougne Diaries and equip the Gloves of Silence to increase the chances of successful pickpockets. This option won’t generate as much gold but will give 30-35k XP per hour. You can find warrior women next to the baker’s stand in the East Ardougne marketplace.

Levels 45-55: Fremennik Fish Stalls/Blackjack Bearded Pollnivnian Bandits

The methods mentioned above work great for levels 38-55. However, at level 45 thieving, you unlock another quick method. You’ll be stealing from the fish stalls in Rellekka, which is about 50k XP per hour. The stalls are located at the center of Rellekka in the market. To gain access to this location, you’ll need to complete the Fremennik Trials Quest.

Moreover, a great benefit of this method is that players will receive raw fish to cook. Therefore, you won’t need to bring any food because you can use one of the many fires around Rellekka to cook the fish.

Alternatively, you can blackjack bearded Pollnivnian bandits. It’s a click-intensive option but provides 15-75k XP per hour. The range is wide because it depends on your micro and internet connection. However, you must complete The Feud Quest to gain access to these NPCs. The bandits can be found in the Northern buildings in Pollnivnian.

Levels 55-61: Regular Pollnivnian Bandits

Once level 55 thieving is achieved, you can blackjack regular Pollnivnian bandits. They offer excellent XP rates of 150k per hour. Although very click intensive, you’ll blow by these levels. The NPCs are located in the same location as bearded bandits, in the Northen building of Pollnivnian.

Levels 61-65 or till 99: Ardougne Knights

A less click-intensive method to train thieving is pickpocketing Ardougne knights. The XP rates are not the best, but you’ll receive a respectable 60k XP per hour. As you level up, the chances of getting stunned are minimized, so the XP rates increase. Make sure you completed the Ardougne diary to increase successful attempts.

This can become a semi-AFK method because you can trap the knight inside the castle and spam-click them. You can do this method until level 99 since the XP rates get a lot better. At level 80 thieving, you’ll be getting 160k experience per hour, provided you’ve completed the diary. You can find the Ardougne knights in the castle located on the Eastern side of Ardougne.

Level 65-99: Pyramid Plunder

When you hit level 65 thieving, there is no better option than going to Pyramid Plunder. It’s a thieving minigame located inside a pyramid. You can find it in the far southern area in the Kharidian Desert.

The game is simple to play and has amazing XP rates. During the minigame, a player has 5 minutes to plunder the contents of Jalsavrah. The pyramid has 8 rooms that get progressively harder. Every 10 levels you gain in thieving a new room can be unlocked. Your inventory will be filled with artefacts like ivory combs and golden statuettes. The most valuable item is the Pharaoh’s Sceptre, which is valued at 7 million GP. You’ll find them deep inside the pyramid, so you’ll need a high thieving level of 71+ to access those rooms.

• Levels 65-71: 90k per hour
• Levels 71-81: 130k per hour
• Levels 81-91: 190k per hour
• Levels 91-99: 260k per hour

As you can see, Pyramid Plunder has the best XP rates of any thieving training method. After a few sessions of the minigame, you’ll improve your plunder times, thereby increasing XP and gold per hour.

FAQ

Final Thoughts

So that’s our essential handbook for getting level 99 thieving in OSRS. The guide is made so that you blow by the early levels and make huge profits later on. Make sure that you use all the useful thieving equipment to give yourself the best experience rates. Let us know what you think of this guide, and as always, thanks for reading!