If you don’t know what to level first, learning the cheapest skills to train in OSRS might be helpful.
Old School RuneScape is an MMO where you can currently level up to 23 skills, even though that will change as Jagex plans to bring one new skill to OSRS this year. Leveling each skill is a unique and individualized experience, each with its own training methods. Some skills are slow to level while others are fast, and of course, some skills are cheap or even profitable while others are expensive to level.
Even though many of the skills, even the expensive ones, can be leveled by using either a fast and expensive route or a slow but cheaper route, some skills are cheap or inexpensive regardless of what method you use to train them, so if you want to save your OSRS GP and gain levels, you should consider leveling one of these skills.
Table of Contents
Attack/Defense/Strength
While other combat skills might be more expensive, training your melee skills (attack, defense, and strength) is cheaper. All you need is some combat potions (optional as well) and an excellent spot to AFK train these skills. Some popular options are sand, rock, or ammonite crabs. If you want to double you’re AFK periods to up to 20 minutes, you’ll have first to complete quests and then go train inside the Nightmare Zone, where you’ll be able to have more extended AFK periods than with the crabs, but it will cost you the entry fee each time you re-enter the dream state.
Agility
If you don’t want to worry about the OSRS gold price or about making money before leveling a skill, Agility is a skill to go for. There’s no way to speed up the skill; regardless of your level, the XP will come in slowly. It’s an excellent quality of life skill that doesn’t offer much in terms of alternative training methods currently. Except for occasionally using stamina potions to keep your run energy up at all times and maybe the cost of runes for teleport spells that could be useful for specific rooftop courses, such as the Camelot teleport for the Seers Village rooftop Agility course, you won’t be spending for training this skill.
Gathering Skills
There are 6 gathering skills in Old School RuneScape, and they all represent cheap skills to train because you will, worst case scenario, just gain nothing and won’t have to spend much for them.
Mining
The mining skill investment is minimal as the only equipment you can buy is the pickaxe. Starting with 61 mining and 60 attack, you’ll be able to wield the dragon pickaxe, which is one of the best for training mining alongside the internal variant and crystal pickaxe, which due to needing charges, is not worth using for training the skill.
The pickaxe costs under two mil on the grand exchange, but you can also get it from the wilderness bosses, KBD, the Kalphite queen, or the volcanic mine.
Woodcutting
Woodcutting is another gathering skill that’s cheap to train or could even be profitable depending on your training method, but most methods involve dropping your inventory. You’ll have to invest in a dragon axe once you reach the level, which is cheap on the grand exchange. However, if you’re an ironman, you might need help to obtain it from the Dagannoth kings or, if you’re lucky, from Wintertodt.
Fishing
Fishing is another slow skill you can train for very little. For fishing, you will need to use consumables such as feathers or fishing bait unless you’re training at Tempoross, where you might want to invest in an infernal or crystal harpoon for high efficiency.
Thieving
Thieving is considered another gathering skill since you’ll get stuff while thieving. You don’t need to invest anything to train the skill, and with high levels, you’ll be able to unlock new ways to profit through thieving. You’ll even profit more if you get the thieving outfit which will double your gains for any pickpocketing activity.
Runecraft
Runecraft is another cheap skill where you only need a little to train. Even the most efficient methods are not expensive, but some players pay others to bring them essences for even faster XP gains. You should get your uniques from the GOTR minigame for an even more profitable runecraft training.
Hunter
Hunter can also be considered a gathering skill in OSRS though because of its various training methods, it can also be placed into other categories. The investment for the hunter is as well minimal, so it represents one of the cheapest skills to train while at the same time being able to bring you decent profits depending on the training method used. For example, birdhouse trapping is a really AFK but profitable way to train the Hunter skill.
Hitpoints
Even though hitpoints are an individual skill, you will train it on the side while training your other combat skills with a few exceptions. For example, if you splash to train magic, you won’t train hp as well.