After establishing strong combat stats, Woodcutting is a natural next step. It's highly AFK and synergizes well with Forestry, which offers small amounts of RuneScape gold experience in Construction, Hunter, Thieving, Fletching, and Farming through various events. While the bonus XP is minor, every bit helps on the path to maxing.

Using an Infernal Axe also provides passive Firemaking experience, which reduces the grind later.

Firemaking follows naturally after Woodcutting. Whether through saved logs or Wintertodt, Firemaking is one of the fastest 99s in the game. Wintertodt also provides small amounts of Construction and Fletching experience and can even generate profit, making it an efficient stop along the journey.

Fishing Before the True Pain Begins

Fishing is another long but manageable grind. Barbarian Fishing is one of the best methods for reaching 99 without tick manipulation and offers passive Strength and Agility experience along the way. This helps chip away at Agility, one of the most dreaded skills.

For players who prefer profit over efficiency, methods like karambwan fishing are slower but provide consistent income.

Runecrafting and Agility: The Hardest Grinds

Runecrafting is unavoidable and notoriously slow. While painful, it does have a silver lining: methods like Blood and Soul runes provide excellent profit and offer passive Mining and Crafting experience. Completing Runecrafting earlier makes the rest of the journey feel significantly lighter.

Agility follows next. Sticking to Hallowed Sepulchre not only makes the grind more engaging but also provides passive Construction, Thieving, and Prayer experience, along with solid profit. While still slow, it's one of the most rewarding ways to train the skill.

Mining and the Turning Point

Mining is slow, but it's also highly AFK and profitable. By this stage, passive experience gained from Runecrafting helps soften the grind. Once Mining is complete, most of the worst skills are officially out of the way.

This marks a turning point in the maxing journey.

Utility and Profit Skills

Construction and Crafting are best tackled next due to the immense utility of their skill capes. Construction grants unlimited access to a fully upgraded Player-Owned House, while Crafting provides one of the most convenient bank teleports in the game.

After these expensive skills, profit-oriented options like Thieving and Hunter help rebuild OSRS gold reserves. These skills also prepare players for Prayer and Herblore, both of which can be costly.

Prayer should be completed once resources allow, as it remains crucial for high-level combat and late-game PvM.

The Final Stretch

At this point, only Herblore, Cooking, Smithing, and Fletching remain. Herblore is often completed first due to its high cost, followed by Smithing, which can offer small profits depending on the method used. Cooking and Fletching are among the fastest skills to train and make for a satisfying finish to the maxing journey.

Final Thoughts

Maxing in OSRS is as much a test of patience as it is efficiency. Tackling the slow, mentally draining skills early prevents burnout when the goal is finally in sight. Following a structured order not only saves time and money but also makes the second half of the journey feel dramatically easier.

With the hardest grinds behind you early, the final push toward the Max Cape becomes far more enjoyable-and far more achievable.

OSRS: New Training Methods You Should Know for 2026
Old School RuneScape continues to evolve at a surprising pace, and heading into 2026, players have more training options than ever before. Major updates like Sailing, the Valamore questline finale, and new regions have introduced an unprecedented number of alternative training methods across nearly every skill. Whether you're chasing level 99, pushing an ironman account, or just looking to escape the monotony of traditional grinds, these newer methods offer fresh ways to progress. Having enough OSRS gold can also be very helpful.

Below is a breakdown of some of the most notable training options added recently, what they offer, and where they fit into the broader OSRS training meta.

Combat and Slayer: New Monsters, New Opportunities

One of the standout additions for combat and Slayer training comes in the form of new dragon and griffin variants. Regular griffins, often overlooked compared to their stronger counterparts, offer respectable Slayer experience with relatively low effort. With proper weight management and the right combat style, they're fragile enough to kill quickly and can provide consistent Slayer XP without heavy requirements.

Frost dragons, unlocked through Sailing progression, are another major highlight. Despite lacking a Slayer level requirement, they can still be assigned as tasks by select masters. Their strong elemental weakness to fire makes them ideal for Magic training, especially when paired with fire-boosting gear. Frost dragons strike a strong balance between relaxed gameplay, solid Magic XP, and valuable drops that remain in steady demand.

Prayer: New Bones, Questionable Efficiency

The introduction of new creature types also brought new bones into the game. While these bones technically offer high Prayer experience when used on gilded altars, their current market prices make them inefficient for most players. Traditional dragon bones remain a better balance of cost and XP.

That said, passive Prayer experience through bonecrusher use while killing new monsters provides a steady trickle of XP with no added cost, making it a sensible long-term option rather than a primary training method.

Runecrafting: Faster Astral Access

Runecrafting didn't receive direct new content, but clever optimization has improved existing methods. Using Sailing-based teleports to reach the Astral altar cuts down travel time significantly compared to older routes. With RS gold the full Runecrafting outfit and proper teleport management, Astral runecrafting now offers solid experience rates alongside reliable profit, especially appealing given the low cost of essence.