OSRS Thieving Guide for 1-99 - Only the best methods to reach max level

OSRS Thieving Guide for 1-99 - Only the best methods to reach max level

Being a thief can be a very profitable profession in OSRS, especially since it is a f2p game. Not only will you be able to gain an astounding amount of gold on your account by doing this, but you will also gain a nice thief skill cape which you can then flaunt in front of your friends. However, players often do not know how to go about it and waste a lot of time trying to level from level 1-99. This guide will provide a lot of helpful tips and tricks to reach max level in no time, even allowing you to skip some of the leveling altogether. You will also learn to avoid some of the more common mistakes which a lot of players make. The guide is based on info from 2018, but it is still fully valid in 2019/2020. Let's get into the OSRS thieving guide.

The early levels

Almost every new player struggles with the first couple levels while leveling thieving. Making it all the way from level 1 to level 2 and then to level 5 can be a massive pain in the neck. Why would you waste your precious time while you can skip this hassle and proceed to high levels in a matter of minutes! "How?" you'd ask? The answer is extremely simple – questing! Not only will you unlock a lot of the endgame content while questing, including plenty of new areas to visit, but you will also gain thieving levels without having to do any extra work.

You may also like this link: OSRS Gold 

As you progress through the game, make sure to finish the Fight Arena quest. The quest can be completed as soon as you leave the Tutorial Island as it has no requirements, and will not only raise your attack experience by a considerable amount but also level up your thieving skill up to level 14, saving you hours of tedious work. Try to get as many runes for Fire Strike as possible, as these will surely come in handy while doing the quest.

Afterward, consider doing some of the quests which have a thieving requirement lower than 31. It is best first to finish the lower level quests, as later on, those quests will provide diminishing rewards when compared to the higher-level ones. Some of the best quests to try early on, after you complete the Fight Arena, are Death to the Dorgeshuun, Darkness of Hallowvale, the Feud, and the Slug Menace. If you want to know more quests useful to complete while skilling thieving, make sure to click through the OSRS wiki.

Maximizing your exp gain

After finishing the quest mentioned above, you might notice that trying to level up your thieving skill is taking an immense amount of time to accomplish. While the journey to reach level 99 is always going to be a long and painful one, there are a couple of methods that can help reduce the time needed to level up. First of all, getting a couple of items is highly recommended.

One of the easiest things to get for now will be the Dodgy Necklace. The necklace gives you a 25% chance to avoid a stun when you fail a pickpocket attempt, and it will work for ten attempts, after which it gets destroyed. However, the necklace is quite expensive, especially when you have just begun your journey. Avoiding the stun is not necessary, but it will make it more enjoyable to pick NPC's pockets, as you won't have to deal with a couple of seconds of downtime after you fail. Remember to switch them when they exhaust.

If you have a bit higher level, try to finish the Ardougne Diaries, at least on medium or higher (easy won't do). After you complete the diaries, you unlock access to a special cape which increases your chances of successfully pickpocketing an NPC by 10%. What's more, you won't even have to wear it – the bonus is going to be always active, and you can wear something else.

The next step in collecting your thieving gear is going to be the Rogue Equipment set, which can be found in Burthorpe as a reward for completing the Rogue's Den minigame. The full outfit will give you a bonus of double loot from pickpocketing Ardougne Knights.

The last of the required items is going to be the Gloves of Silence. The gloves possess 62 charges, which grant you an additional 5% success chance when thieving, however, you are going to need to level up your hunter skill to 54 before you are able to lay your hands on them. Keep in mind that if you have finished the hard and elite segments of the Ardougne Diary, you should probably just skip this item. The two bonuses do not stack, and the reward from the diary is better anyway (10% as opposed to only 5%).

Leveling step-by-step

Here comes the part you are probably looking forward to the most. By following these steps, you will find yourself at 99 thieving as soon as possible. Keep in mind that the journey is still going to take you some time and do not expect to be finished with it in a day or two. Sign off every couple hours of gaming and take a break – it's good for your health!

If you have finished the Fight Arena quest, you are going to be already at lvl 14 thieving. However, if, for some reason, you do not want to finish this quest, we suggest pickpocketing random NPCs until you hit lvl 5 or stealing from Varrock tea stall. After that, you can proceed to Ardougne Market, which should suffice until lvl 20. When at Ardougne Market, steal cakes from cake stall - this won't provide any coins or seeds, but you will profit simply in terms of food. Cakes are great consumables as they have few portions that take only one slot in the inventory.

After you reach lvl 20, it is time to finish with the cakes and get started stealing from the Ardougne Market Silk Stall. Not only does that grant a lot more XP than stealing cakes, but you will also collect a lot of money while doing so (approximately 30k per hour). It may seem a bit boring, so try to talk with people on the chat in the meantime.

East Ardougne is a real heaven for thieves. Here you can make Ardougne Cloak, begin pickpocketing Knights of Ardougne, steal from Cake Stalls, knock down some easier NPCs and do various other alternative methods. If you are looking for a place where many farms are located near each other, then this spot is what you are looking for. 

Now, once you reach lvl 25, you should move out of the Ardougne Market, as this method is going to get slower and slower. The next thing you want to do is reach 15% favor with house Hosidius, which can be done quite easily by plowing their farm fields. However, since you have gained some money while stealing from the silk stall, you can give an NPC there a super compost, which will earn you favor much faster.

After gaining the favor, you are now "allowed" to steal from their fruit stalls. You can keep training thieving very quick this way, as there are two stalls close to each other, meaning you won't have to wait or walk far. An excellent tip to remember is to try and lock the guard dogs inside the house, which will make it far easier to steal from the stalls. Continue doing this until you reach lvl 30. At level 30, you can try to do the Feud quest, which will immediately boost you to lvl 37.

Well, here the pretty tough part of the guide begins, but do not worry – at this point, you have already unlocked blackjacking. Keep doing the fruit stalls until lvl 45 and then proceed to Pollnivneach and look for the bandits. You can begin knocking the bandits out with your blackjack all the way to level 55 (select blackjack hidden under NPC attack option in right-click menu), which will also grant you a decent sum of free gold (visit bank often to store it). Always try to keep your targets trapped inside a building, near walls and objects so they won't move - it will make training much more comfortable.

At lvl 55, it is time to change the bandits you are going to blackjack. Search for the stronger bandits, wearing scimitars, and keep blackjacking them until you reach level 65. This method will also net more XP and gold than the previous one, and the bandits will only attack you a single time if you get caught, so you can avoid combat. You have also already got the hang of the details of blackjacking at this point, making it a little easier.

Now, this is going to be the most extended portion of the journey. You need to keep knocking out Menaphite thugs, which, as always, gives you even more gold and experience per blackjack than other thugs. Here is the catch, though – you will have to repeat that all the way until lvl 91 since it is the fastest method. It is going to take a lot of time, so be prepared to face some frustration. Rogue equipment might improve your success rate and let you raise the Thieving level at a faster pace, so make sure to pick that up from your bank. To be successful, you won't need to fill your inventory with food. Just bring noted consumables and unnote them with money that you got from blackjacking. It will let you easily cover received damage.

But do not worry! We are almost finished. At this point, you should already have lvl 91 after spending hours upon hours of knocking out the Menaphite thugs. The good news is, you are officially finished with blackjacking, at least when it comes to leveling. What you want to do now is to access a quest called Icthlarin's Little Helper. You are probably beyond rich at this point in the game, so if you want you can buy a Pharaoh's Scepter, which will teleport you to the entrance. There, play the minigame called the Sophanem's Pyramid Plunder (Recommended level 71 +). It is the top possible method of leveling in the game, but make sure you wear a lot of weight-reducing gear, some antidotes and stamina potions, and prayer potions. It will allow you to maximize your experience gain and save precious time.

If you are looking for fast rates in terms of experience making, then Pyramid Plunder and Blackjacking are your go-to choices. If you don't care about your personal level and you just want to be rich quickly, then start opening Rogue Chests in Wilderness or pickpocket loot from an NPC Master Farmers. Choose the method that suits you the best. If you feel like tasks that you do are too tedious or if you are failing, don't mind switching your leveling method.

The end of a long journey

Congratulations, your journey has been completed! If you have followed each step of the guide to the point, you should be now at lvl 99 thieving. You can now relax and try leveling your other skills. You can check our other guides if you need additional help. Also, you are free to steal whenever you wish. We hope that this Old School Runescape 1-99 thieving guide increases your thieving experience per hour. If the guide has proven helpful, make sure to share it with your friends and check our social media channels! If not, or if you have any ideas to improve it, contact us – we are open to suggestions from our community. 

Summary for OSRS Thieving guide

If you do not have time to read through the whole guide (which we wholeheartedly recommend), try to watch one of the videos of the famous OSRS Theoatrix, whose video tutorials have become the go-to guides to thousands of new and old players of Runescape. He will teach you how to play with the game controller, gain experience in your most desired skills, and show new methods of becoming better at OSRS.