Old School RuneScape (OSRS) is a game that has captured the hearts of millions of players due to its nostalgic, old-school appeal and its depth in gameplay. One of the most defining aspects of the game is its extensive skill system, which features a total of 23 different skills. These skills range from combat-focused abilities like Attack and Strength to skilling-focused activities like Woodcutting and Crafting. The breadth and variety of these skills are one of the main draws for both new and returning players, but some skills are far more useful and efficient than others, depending on your goals within the game.
In this article, we will break down OSRS’s 23 skills and categorize them in a tier list, helping players understand which skills are considered the most useful, efficient, and beneficial for overall progression in the game. Whether you’re looking to make gold, level up your account, or just want to know which skills are worth prioritizing, this tier list will provide a comprehensive guide.
S Tier: Essential and Overpowered Skills
These skills are extremely beneficial for players of all levels and serve as the backbone of RuneScape gold . They often provide consistent returns in terms of experience gain, in-game rewards, and player convenience.
1. Prayer
Prayer is arguably one of the most important skills in the game. It’s directly linked to combat, as it grants access to powerful prayers that enhance your damage, defense, healing, and ability to resist certain attacks. The ability to protect yourself from damage, restore health, and boost your stats makes this skill invaluable, especially for high-level bosses and PvP content.
Why it’s S Tier: Prayer significantly boosts your combat effectiveness, and the skill’s benefits are essential for both PvM (Player vs. Monster) and PvP (Player vs. Player) activities. Additionally, it’s often a key factor in boosting combat efficiency and is required for access to some of the game’s best content.
2. Herblore
Herblore allows players to create potions and mixtures that give stat boosts, healing, and other helpful effects. From restoring hitpoints to providing stat boosts for combat or skilling, this skill is crucial for both combat efficiency and general survival in the game. Many end-game activities, like raids and bossing, require potent potions to succeed.
Why it’s S Tier: High-level Herblore gives access to some of the best potions in the game, making it indispensable for high-end combat activities. Potions such as Saradomin brews, Prayer potions, and super restore potions make a massive difference in your overall performance.
3. Runecrafting
Runecrafting can be a highly profitable skill, especially if you’re able to create valuable runes such as Rune essence or Nature runes. Not only does this skill provide experience gains, but it also offers great potential for making in-game money, particularly if you utilize efficient training methods like the ZMI altar or Nature rune crafting.
Why it’s S Tier: It’s one of the best money-making skills in the game, especially when trained efficiently. It’s vital for using magic and crafting runes, a key resource in combat and PvM. It can be a slow grind, but the rewards are worth it for both experience and profit.
A Tier: Very Useful and Worth Training
Skills in this tier are generally considered extremely useful for a variety of activities. They either make significant contributions to player efficiency or unlock key game content, but aren’t as universally critical as S-tier skills.
4. Agility
Agility provides players with stamina boosts, faster movement, and access to agility shortcuts across the map. This skill significantly enhances overall mobility, making it a must-have for skilling, questing, and exploring the world of Gielinor. It also reduces the time it takes to traverse large distances, making activities like Barbarian Assault or Theatre of Blood more efficient.
Why it’s A Tier: Agility helps you conserve run energy and speeds up various activities, which is a massive quality-of-life improvement for players. Higher Agility levels make activities like slayer or bossing far smoother due to faster traversal.
5. Slayer
Slayer is a skill that combines combat with exploration. By training Slayer, players gain access to unique monsters that drop valuable loot and experience. Slayer is crucial for training combat stats and is necessary for unlocking some of the most powerful weapons, items, and resources in the game.
Why it’s A Tier: Slayer is one of the most popular skills for combat-focused players and is essential for unlocking high-level content such as Abyssal Sire and Cerberus. It’s both a rewarding and profitable skill, providing a consistent source of loot, and experience.
6. Smithing
Smithing allows players to create weapons, armor, and tools out of ores. While some methods may be slow, it can be a highly profitable skill, especially with items like Rune platebodies or cannonballs. At higher levels, the ability to create some of the game’s best equipment makes Smithing an essential skill for endgame content.
Why it’s A Tier: Smithing can be a highly rewarding skill for those looking to make significant in-game wealth, especially when creating cannonballs for profit. Additionally, creating high-level gear and equipment is vital for a wide range of in-game activities.
7. Cooking
Cooking is a straightforward skill with a quick experience gain. It also provides important utility for both combat and skilling, as it allows you to cook food that restores health. From low-level salmon to high-level Saradomin brews, Cooking plays a major role in PvM and PvP content. High-level cooking is especially beneficial in boss fights.
Why it’s A Tier: It provides essential food for combat and allows players to craft useful restorative items for different activities. Plus, it can be a lucrative skill, especially for making high-level food like Sharks and Anglerfish.
B Tier: Good Skills with Specific Uses
Skills in this tier are useful in specific scenarios but may not always be as universally beneficial as the ones in A or S tiers. However, they are still worth training, especially if you have a particular goal in mind.
8. Woodcutting
Woodcutting is one of the most iconic skills in OSRS. It allows you to chop down trees for resources, which can be used for various purposes such as Fletching, Firemaking, or simply gathering logs for construction or money-making. High-level Woodcutting provides access to some of the game’s most profitable methods, including chopping Yew or Magical logs.
Why it’s B Tier: Although it’s a somewhat passive skill, it remains one of the most iconic and profitable skilling activities in OSRS. It’s also vital for training other skills, like Fletching and Firemaking.
9. Fishing
Fishing shares similar benefits to Woodcutting. You catch fish to either use them for combat (as food) or to make money. Certain high-level fish like Sharks and Anglerfish are valuable resources for end-game content.
Why it’s B Tier: Fishing is useful for stockpiling food resources for PvM or PvP, and it can be profitable when using methods like Barb fishing or Trident fishing. However, it is not as critical as some other skills when it comes to overall progression.
10. Crafting
Crafting allows you to create a variety of items, such as jewelry, leather armor, and potions. High-level Crafting is needed for activities such as creating amulets of glory and crafting high-level jewelry.
Why it’s B Tier: Crafting is an essential skill for many activities, such as creating jewelry for teleportation and charging amulets. However, it’s more of a niche skill that doesn’t always provide the same immediate benefits as other skills.
11. Thieving
Thieving is a skill that focuses on stealing from NPCs to gather resources or money. It’s often used to make quick profits through activities like pyramid plunder or pickpocketing.
Why it’s B Tier: While Thieving can be profitable and offer useful resources, it’s not an essential skill for overall game progression. However, it is important for some quests and provides a unique way of making gold in the game.
C Tier: Niche Skills or Skills That Are More Situational
These skills are either not as impactful for general progression or are more situational. While they can still have their uses, they are not as crucial for the majority of buy OSRS gold.
12. Fletching
Fletching allows players to craft arrows, bolts, and bows, which are useful for ranged combat. While it’s important for creating ammunition, it doesn’t provide as much utility in the grand scheme of things, especially compared to other skills in the game.
13. Construction
Construction is necessary for building houses and other structures within the game. While it’s useful for teleports and creating altars, its necessity is more niche and dependent on your personal goals in the game.
14. Firemaking
While Firemaking is often used for creating light sources or achieving some experience gains, it’s generally considered a more passive skill with fewer high-level applications than other skills.
Conclusion
Old School RuneScape offers a diverse and extensive skill system, and each skill has its unique strengths and weaknesses. Whether you’re a combat-focused player or someone who enjoys skilling and making money, understanding the importance and utility of each skill can help you maximize your efficiency and progress through the game.
The skills in the S and A tiers are generally seen as essential for overall gameplay, whether you’re focusing on combat, exploration, or money-making. Meanwhile, the B and C tiers represent skills that might be more situational or niche but can still offer significant rewards when trained appropriately. Ultimately, the best skills to train depend on your personal goals within the game and the type of content you want to experience.
