OSRS Account Progression Guide: What to Do Next

Old School RuneScape has no linear path, which is a strength and a problem. The strength is that you can do anything in any order. The problem is that a new account has no idea what "anything" contains.

This is a rough map of the stages most accounts pass through and what makes each one meaningfully different from the last. It is not an efficiency guide — it is an orientation.

Stage one: getting off the ground

Roughly: fresh account to combat 60, a few hundred thousand GP

The aim here is to stop being blocked by trivial things. Enough combat to kill something, enough GP for supplies, enough quest points to open the next tier.

Priorities:

• Knock out the no-requirement quests. They are quick, they give experience worth far more than the time, and several are prerequisites for things you want later.
• Waterfall Quest if you are a member. Nothing required, levels 1 to 30 in Attack and Strength.
• Dragon Slayer I for rune platebody. Still the defining free-to-play milestone.
• Enough of a money-making method to fund supplies. See how to make your first million.

Stage two: opening the game up

Roughly: combat 60–85, 1M to 20M

This is where the account stops feeling constrained. The unlocks matter more than the levels.

Key targets:

• Priest in Peril — opens Morytania, Slayer masters and Barrows. An enormous amount of content sits behind this one short quest.
• Lost City — dragon weapons and fairy ring access.
• Monkey Madness I — dragon scimitar and 70,000 combat experience.
• Prayer 43 for protection prayers, then 70 for Piety.
• Animal Magnetism if you intend to train Ranged. Ava's device changes the cost of the skill completely.
• Slayer, seriously. It is the backbone of mid-game income and unlocks content nothing else reaches.

Money at this stage typically comes from Slayer, Barrows, or a skilling method like Wintertodt or herb runs.

Stage three: becoming self-sufficient

Roughly: combat 90–110, 20M to 200M

The account can now fund itself. The question shifts from "how do I afford this" to "what do I want to do".

• Dragon Slayer II — a substantial quest with steep requirements, and the gateway to Vorkath, one of the most dependable money makers in the game.
• Desert Treasure I — Ancient Magicks. Ice Barrage transforms high-level Slayer and the fastest Magic training in the game.
• Recipe for Disaster — Barrows gloves, which you equip once and never replace.
• Learn a boss properly. Vorkath and Zulrah are the standard choices, both entirely learnable.
• Void or Barrows gear, then upgrades as income allows.

Stage four: end-game

Roughly: combat 110+, high skills, 200M+

At this point progression is about specific goals rather than general advancement.

• Song of the Elves — the largest single content unlock available from a quest.
• Raids. Chambers of Xeric, Theatre of Blood, Tombs of Amascut. Group content with the highest rewards in the game.
• Skill mastery. 99s, the 200M grinds, the achievement diaries.
• Collection log and pets, if that is what motivates you.

There is no finish line here. Most long-term players are working toward something self-defined rather than completing a checklist.

The parallel track: capital

Something worth saying explicitly, because it does not fit the combat-level ladder: trading scales with money, not levels, and it is available at every stage above.

An account at stage one with 500,000 GP can flip exactly as effectively per GP as an account at stage four. The technique is identical; only the size changes. For players who enjoy the market side of the game, this is a progression track that runs entirely independently of everything above.

If you find yourself checking prices more often than kill counts, that is worth knowing about yourself early. Our flipping guides cover it properly.

What actually determines progress

Two things, neither of which is efficiency:

Quest points and unlocks, because they open content that changes what is possible, whereas levels mostly change how fast you do what you already could.

Whether you enjoy what you are doing. An account that plays for two hours a night for a year progresses further than one that follows an optimal route for a fortnight and stops. Pick the content you find interesting and let the levels follow.

Milestones that actually change the game

Progress feels vague because levels arrive one at a time. These are the points where what you can do changes rather than improves.

Aiming at these rather than at round-numbered levels keeps progress legible. Sixty Attack is not a milestone; the content it unlocks is.

Doing the next thing rather than the obvious thing

1. Ask what is blocking you, not what is lowest

   The instinct is to train whatever level looks worst. The useful question is which single level is stopping you doing something you want.

2. Check whether a quest gives it

   Quests are the most efficient experience in the early and middle game by a wide margin, and most players under-use them badly.

3. Prefer unlocks that keep paying

   A level that opens a money maker, a teleport or a shortcut earns for the rest of the account's life. A level that only raises a number does not.

Three accounts, three next steps

If you have neither, the answer is quests: they are the only thing in the game that gives capability without requiring either.