Prayer training
OSRS Prayer 1–99 Guide
Buy the next prayer you will use before buying a cape. Protection prayers change what you can fight; later unlocks improve damage and let each potion dose go further. The best training method depends on where your bones come from and how you want to use them.
Updated
Choose where to offer your bones
Prayer unlocks protection prayers and powerful combat boosts. The way you use a bone matters much more than its burial XP: altars and bone shards can stretch your supplies considerably. Aim for an unlock you will use, with 43 being a useful early combat goal for accounts that train Prayer.
Starting at level 1? See the quest route ↓Quest from 1 to 18 Prayer
Optional quest route · order, requirements and next training method
These three quests give your first Prayer levels while opening up more of the account. This route is for accounts that want Prayer XP; do not use it on a build keeping Prayer at 1.
Level 1 → 9 +1,125 Prayer XP
The Restless Ghost
Before you start: No skill requirements.
Speak to Father Aereck in Lumbridge church. Get the ghostspeak amulet from Father Urhney in the swamp, recover the skull and return it to the ghost’s coffin.
Level 9 → 15 +1,406 Prayer XP
Priest in Peril
Before you start: Be able to defeat the temple guardian and a monk of Zamorak.
Start with King Roald in Varrock Palace. Take combat supplies for the temple east of Varrock; finishing the quest opens Morytania.
Level 15 → 18 +1,000 Prayer XP
Recruitment Drive
Before you start: Druidic Ritual and Black Knights’ Fortress completed; the latter requires 12 quest points.
Speak to Sir Amik Varze in Falador’s White Knights’ Castle and complete the Temple Knights’ tests.
Continue from level 18
From 18, offer bones at an altar towards 43 for Protect from Melee and the other protection prayers. A hosted gilded altar avoids Wilderness risk; the Chaos Altar stretches the bone stack further if you accept that risk.
Go to the training instructions →Holy Grail gives another 11,000 Prayer XP, but also forces 15,300 Defence XP and requires 20 Attack and Merlin’s Crystal. Leave it out on a 1 Defence pure; for a capped build, count the Defence reward before training that stat.
Levels count the XP listed above from a fresh start. Making your own supplies, quest fights or optional lamps can put you further ahead.
For a main or Iron without a Prayer restriction, aim first for 43 to unlock all three protection prayers. Level 70 alone does not unlock Piety: you also need 70 Defence and King’s Ransom followed by the Knight Waves training. Rigour at 74 and Augury at 77 need their prayer scrolls and 70 Defence.
Bury bones you find while starting out if it saves a bank trip, but do not buy thousands of valuable bones just to bury them. You can offer ordinary dragon bones at an altar from level 1; superior dragon bones require 70 Prayer.
Fastest Prayer training
Use manual offerings when speed is the priority. The bone tier, banking route and whether another player supplies bones all change the rate.
Levels 1–99: Big bones without an altar
A fallback when you have no altar access. This is mostly useful for bones gathered along the way or a free-to-play account.
Getting there
Hill giants in the Edgeville Dungeon are accessible with a brass key through the hut west of Varrock; the key spawns inside the dungeon. The Giant’s Den in Kourend is a members’ alternative.
Bring and unlock
Combat equipment if gathering the bones. If using a bought stack at a bank, take full inventories and bury them.
- Kill giants and bury the bones as you collect them, or bank for your intended altar method.
- For a banked stack, withdraw, bury and repeat. Compare the value of altar access before committing to a long burial grind.
The 1,000-bones/hr budget here is for already-banked bones. Killing giants takes additional time.
Bury big bones for a straightforward F2P method at any level. Members should use an altar or another offering method for a bought bone stack: burying throws away much of the XP each bone could give.
Levels 1–99: Gilded altar with both burners lit
Use bones on a gilded altar with both incense burners lit for 3.5 times their burial XP. You can offer automatically for a longer break between inventories, or use each bone manually to train faster. Both ways give the same XP from each bone.
Getting there
For a hosted altar, go to Rimmington’s house portal on an official house-party world and use the advertisement board to find a host. Phials in the general store unnotes bones for 5 GP each. An Iron needs their own altar; another player’s house is not available.
Bring and unlock
Noted bones, coins and room for an inventory of unnoted bones. A host needs 75 Construction to build the altar, which is boostable. If maintaining your own burners, bring marrentill, a tinderbox and 30 Firemaking.
- Check that both incense burners are lit. Without them, the XP per bone falls below the rate used here.
- Use a bone on the altar and let the inventory offer automatically, or use individual bones manually for faster offerings. Keep the altar and inventory close on screen to shorten each mouse movement.
- Unnote or bank for another inventory, re-enter and repeat. If you maintain your own altar, relight both burners on each trip.
Levels 1–99: Dragon bones at the gilded altar
252 XP each time you offer a bone. Manual and automatic offering give the same XP per bone.
Levels 70–99: Superior dragon bones at the gilded altar
525 XP each time you offer a bone. Manual and automatic offering give the same XP per bone.
Automatic offering is a perfectly usable longer-inventory option, but it is much slower: the reference is about 1,070 bones/hr versus 2,550 with efficient manual use and banking.
2,550 manual offerings/hr reference with efficient banking. Automatic offering is closer to 1,070/hr, about 42% of this manual pace.
Offer dragon bones from 1 and keep using them to 99 for a straightforward route. Superior dragon bones become available at 70 and save time, but cost more per bone. Compare the cost per XP before switching.
Levels 1–99: Chaos altar: get more XP from each bone
Offer bones at the Wilderness Chaos altar for the same XP per offering as a fully lit gilded altar. Its chance to preserve a bone lets you offer that bone again for more XP, but player killers can interrupt the trip. Begin with one unnoted inventory so the risk stays manageable.
Getting there
The altar is in the small Chaos Temple in level 38 Wilderness, west of the Lava Maze. A burning amulet to Lava Maze gives a straightforward approach; Ghorrock Teleport on Ancient Magicks and Cemetery Teleport on the Arceuus spellbook are alternatives.
Bring and unlock
Start with one inventory of bones and a cheap teleport to the area. The temple is multi-combat Wilderness. Only bring noted stacks if you deliberately choose that risk, and keep Protect Item and your escape plan in mind.
- Offer bones on the altar. Each offer gives the same XP as a fully lit gilded altar, but half the offers preserve the bone on average. Keep using a saved bone until it is consumed.
- Watch for other players while offering. A small-inventory route limits the bones lost in an encounter; it does not make the activity safe for a Hardcore.
- Return to a bank when empty and repeat. An alternative is unnoting with the Elder Chaos druid for 50 GP per bone, but that exposes the carried stack.
Levels 1–99: Dragon bones at the Chaos altar
252 XP each time you offer a bone. A bone can be offered again when the altar saves it.
Bring only bones you can afford to lose. Start with one unnoted inventory per trip; carrying noted bones saves trips but makes each death more expensive.
2,000 offerings/hr reference, normally consuming 1,000 bones before losses. Use a lower pace for banking each inventory or frequent interruptions.
Use dragon bones at the Chaos Altar from 1 to 99 if you accept Wilderness risk. There is no required later switch. Keep trips small enough that a death does not wipe out the savings from many successful inventories.
Levels 30–99: Dragon bones into sunfire shard offerings
Each dragon bone becomes 58 shards. Sunfire wine gives 6 XP per shard, for 348 Prayer XP per bone before outfit savings.
Getting there
Take the quetzal to the Teomat and head up Ralos’ Rise. Activate the statue of Ates at Ralos’ Rise to unlock its pendant teleport. Charge the pendant with frozen tears for later visits.
Bring and unlock
30 Prayer, a chisel, noted bones, coins and sunfire wine. The exposed altar blesses both bones and wine; the libation bowl is where the Prayer XP is awarded.
Bless the bones at the exposed altarUse the exposed altar on the mountain. Then break the blessed bones into shards with a chisel.
Prepare the wine for offeringBless your sunfire wine at the exposed altar too. Follow the path north to the Teomat and use the libation bowl to offer the shards.
- Unnote bones with Virilis for 10 GP each, bless them at the exposed altar, then break them into shards with a chisel. Bank or keep the stack while processing the rest.
- Bring the shards and unblessed sunfire wines, then bless the wines at the exposed altar. Blessed wine cannot be banked, so only bless what you will use.
- Fill the libation bowl and sacrifice shards. Each wine funds 400 shard offerings; each action sacrifices up to 100 shards and drains two Prayer points.
- Restore Prayer at the Shrine of Ralos as needed. Manual clicks speed up offerings; allowing the automatic action gives longer pauses at a lower rate.
Already have shards? Divide their quantity by 400 for the wine budget and multiply by 6 for XP with sunfire wine. Do not buy extra dragon bones for that stack. Two sunfire splinters turn a normal wine into sunfire wine if making it yourself is cheaper.
From 30, bless wine and sacrifice bone shards for a safe route to 99. Use shards you have gathered, or break down bones for a bought-supply route. The preparation is part of the method, so allow time for it as well as the offering.
Offering bones manually at a gilded altar can reach about 2,550 bones per hour solo. Another player delivering bones lets you offer more, but adds their time or payment to the method.
Low-attention Prayer training
Automatic offering trades XP per hour for an inventory that continues after one click. The XP from each bone stays the same.
Automatic gilded-altar offerings. Check both burners, start offering and let the inventory finish before banking. The reference is about 1,070 bones per hour, well below fast manual use. This is a useful option when you can return for each inventory but do not want continuous clicks. See automatic gilded-altar offerings.
Automatic shard offerings. With prepared shards and blessed wine, let the bowl offer automatically and return to refill wine or restore Prayer. Watch the Prayer drain: the action ends when the supplies or Prayer points run out. See automatic shard offerings.
The Wilderness Chaos altar is a value route, not a low-attention recommendation. Looking away can expose your carried bones to a player killer.
Other worthwhile methods
Use supplies from other activities or choose the altar that stretches your bones.
Levels 1–99: Reanimate ensouled dragon heads
A combat-based way to turn heads into Prayer XP. The spell costs runes each time and the monster must die before you receive the Prayer reward.
Getting there
Banked or bought heads must be reanimated near the Dark Altar in Arceuus. Fairy ring CIS provides a nearby approach once unlocked; otherwise travel north through Arceuus.
Bring and unlock
90 Magic, the Arceuus spellbook, Master Reanimation runes and combat gear. Bring any defensive supplies your chosen combat style needs. Lower-tier heads use lower-level reanimation spells.
- Cast Master Reanimation on one ensouled dragon head near the Dark Altar.
- Kill the reanimated dragon, then cast on the next head. Use a combat style which handles the kills reliably rather than wearing only Magic gear for the initial cast.
- Bank and return when the heads or runes run out. Include those trips when entering kills per hour.
Heads you obtain during Slayer can be reanimated near where they dropped until you bank or trade them. Bring the runes for the reanimation spell if your task and inventory leave room.
Dragon heads can train Prayer at any level, but the spell needs 90 Magic and you must kill each reanimated dragon. Use a lower head tier if you do not have the spell; this is a combat-and-Prayer option, not an early-account shortcut.
Use the Prayer XP your account already earns
Keep dragon bones and worthwhile ensouled heads from Slayer and bossing. Banking everything has a travel cost, so decide whether a nearby reanimation or an offering spell is more useful than another bank trip.
Calcified rocks, Hunter rumours and several Varlamore activities build a shard stack while advancing other goals. This can make the Teomat a convenient finish to a training stretch. The Mining hours are still real time if you mine solely for Prayer.
An Iron cannot use another player’s gilded altar. The Chaos altar works without Construction; Varlamore avoids Wilderness risk; a personal altar becomes an option as your house develops. The Ectofuntus is slower but useful when earning ecto-tokens for ghostly equipment or quest needs.
Offering spells and useful side rewards
Sinister Offering uses the Arceuus spellbook at 92 Magic to consume up to three bones per cast for three times their burial XP. Demonic Offering at 84 does the equivalent for ashes. The rune cost is per cast, so consuming three eligible remains is more efficient than repeatedly casting on one.
These spells can turn drops into Prayer XP during a task without banking. That convenience is different from an altar’s bone-saving effect: the spell consumes the remains and Zealot’s robes do not save them. Check the soul and wrath rune supply before committing on an Iron.
Cremating shades is worth considering for Zealot’s robes and collection rewards. The full outfit saves 5% of eligible materials, including ensouled heads, but obtaining it is an activity of its own. Do not delay a small protection-prayer goal to grind an outfit which saves only a few bones.
Time and cost for your goal
For every comparison, use the same offering method and include its material savings. A Chaos-altar inventory can produce more XP than a gilded-altar inventory; it does not change the XP awarded by each individual offering.
Plan your Prayer route or compare method quantities and costs.
Choose bones by the cost of the goal
The price per bone is only half the comparison. Divide the price by the XP it produces at your selected altar, then compare the hours needed. Superior dragon bones can be worthwhile when finishing sooner matters more than their extra GP per XP.
Chaos altar savings are an average across many offerings, not a promise that a particular inventory will last twice as long. A 10% loss allowance needs roughly 11% more purchased bones to replace the missing tenth. Food, teleports and time spent returning still belong in the session budget.
The calculator lets you compare other bones and offering methods. Keep its altar setting aligned with where you will actually train; a gilded-altar quantity is not a burial quantity.
Clicks and client settings
Use bones on the altar with a normal click
These RuneLite plugins are included with the client. Find them in the plugin configuration sidebar, turn them on and open their settings.
Menu Entry Swapper: Use instead of Bury
Enable RuneLite’s Menu Entry Swapper and its Bury swap. It makes Use the normal click on bones, so you can select a bone and then the altar without opening the inventory menu. On mobile, long-press a bone, open the menu editor and move Use to the top. Test one bone at the altar before starting the rhythm.
Click a bone, then the altar. Keep both close together on screen to make repeated offerings easier.
Choose your next goal
Open the Prayer Training Planner for your method switches and time budget, or compare one method’s quantities in the Prayer Calculator.