Hunter

Hunter
What’s going on guys! My name is Theoatrix, and welcome to my updated level 1–99 Hunter Guide for OSRS.

Methods Overview

The fastest pathway from 1 to 99 Hunter, takes around 75 hours. This includes a range of training methods like hunting birds, salamanders, kebbits, and chinchompas.

After the fastest pathway I’ll cover alternative training methods which have their own benefits, but are not the fastest Hunter XP. There are the new Tecu Salamanders, Red Chinchompas, Herbiboar, Aerial fishing, and Drift Net fishing.

I'll also talk about the new AFK methods, like Pyre foxes, which are unlocked at level 51. Maniacal monkeys are great for AFK experience, but they do require Monkey Madness 2.

Afterwards, I’ll cover Birdhouse runs, which are an efficient Hunter method if done quickly, then I’ll cover the new Hunter Rumours in Varlamore and after, the Ironman Hunter training.

Over the years, Hunter has become less click-intensive with Runelite, and the addition of Herbiboar, Maniacal monkeys, and more. With this guide, I suggest following the fastest pathway.

Fastest Pathway

  • Level 1-9: Varrock Museum (0.1 hours)
  • Level 9-12: Copper Longtails (0.1 hours)
  • Level 12-20: Copper + Ruby harvests (0.3 hours)
  • Level 20-26: Perilous Moons Quest (0.5 hours)
  • Level 26-27 Moss Lizards (0.1)
  • Level 27-29: Eagles Peak Quest (0.4 hours)
  • Level 29-39: Swamp Lizards (1 hours)
  • Level 39-43: Embertailed Jerboa (0.8 hours)
  • Level 43-57: Falconry Spotted Kebbits (2.5 hours)
  • Level 57-60: Falconry Dark Kebbits (1 hours)
  • Level 60-67: Red Salamanders (3 hours)
  • Level 67-73: Black Salamanders (3.2 hours)
  • Level 73-99: Black Chinchompas (54-64)

All Required Items

These are all of the items you'll need for this pathway. You'll need different types of traps, some teleports, and some potions.
  • Bird Snares
  • Butterfly Net
  • Butterfly Jars
  • Ropes
  • Small Fishing Nets
  • Box Traps
  • Coins
  • Hunter Potions
  • Stamina Potions
  • Various Teleports

1-9: Varrock Museum

  • To get started, make your way to Varrock, northeast to the museum.
  • Head 1 level downstairs and speak to Orlando Smith to start the natural history quiz.
  • Then, go around clockwise or anti-clockwise and answer the questions correctly on all of the display cases on this floor (Runelite highlights the correct answers by default).
  • Once you've completed them all, you return to Orlando Smith and he rewards you with 1000 Hunter and Slayer experience, getting you straight to level 9 Hunter.

9-12: Copper Longtails

The easiest way there is with a Piscatoris teleport scroll which you can buy off the Grand Exchange.

Requirements

  • a butterfly net
  • 3+ Hunter Potions
  • 2 bird snares
  • 2+ butterfly jars
  • 4 stamina potions
  • Piscatoris teleport

How to get there

  • Piscatoris Teleport Scroll
  • AKQ Fairy Ring
  • Western Banner

Make your way to the western fence of the falconry, and set up a bird's snare in the darker patch on the map. Next, you wait a little while, until a bird is lured over. And you check the trap, then reset it, and wait again.

You'll repeat this until level 12, which is going to take 5 to 10 minutes.

12-20: Copper + Ruby

I suggest using Runelite to tag the butterflies with the NPC indicators plugin. You hold shift and right click a butterfly and select tag all.

At level 12 Hunter, you can boost with a Hunter potion to catch Ruby Harvest butterflies. These almost triple your XP rate if you catch them while you hunt birds. The best location to do this is in the area shown, and here, there are a number of birds near butterfly spawns.

How to

  • Set up a bird snare.
  • Take a sip of a Hunter potion, and a sip of a stamina potion.
  • Click the closest butterfly to catch it.
  • Once caught, you can hold shift and click on the butterfly jar to release the butterfly, and that only works if you have shift drop enabled.
  • Then, you continue clicking butterflies, and repeat.

You'll want to keep an eye on your bird snare as well, and reset it as soon as it's ready. This is the fastest way to train Hunter from level 12 to 20 and will take under 30 minutes to get there.

20-27/39: Moss Lizards

At level 20, moss lizards give the fastest XP. These are caught within the Moons of Peril, so you need to complete the Perilous Moons quest to hunt them. If you don’t have the stats for the quest, you should continue with Crimson Swift birds and Ruby Harvest butterflies until level 27.

The Perilous Moons quest rewards you with a 5k Hunter experience, which will get you from level 20 to 26 Hunter. So you really only have to do moss lizards from 26 to 27 Hunter to reach the next goal.

However, moss lizards are actually on par with the next training methods until level 39. So you could continue with these until 39, but I'm including both pathways in this guide in case you don’t have the stats for Perilous moons.

Requirements

  • 1 rope
  • stamina potions

If you’re an Ironman, there's a place to replenish run in the area.

Getting There

  • Calcified Moth
  • Quetzal transport to Teomat
  • Quetzal transport (can take you to the entrance of Cam Torum, if you've built the landing site.)

Inside Cam Torum

  • Once you’re in Cam Torum, run all the way north to enter the Moons of Peril.
  • When inside, take the northwestern pathway to enter the earthbound cavern.
  • Then follow your way around until you reach the moss lizards' hunter area.

‎ How To

  • Firstly set up the traps by clicking on each of the rocks.
  • Then, you rustle the nearby bush to send off moss lizards into your traps.
  • For the next time you set up the traps, you should follow the 1, 3 then 2, 4 pattern.

Catching these is the fastest experience from when you unlock them, although the combat requirement of the quest may be too tough for some accounts. So otherwise, you should just stick to the previous method, birds and butterflies until level 27.

27-29: Eagles Peak Quest

At 27 Hunter you can complete the Eagles Peak quest for 2.5k Hunter XP. This quest unlocks box trap hunting and is required for future methods on this pathway. It's a fairly short quest, and with the Hunter XP reward, you can go from level 27 to 29 which unlocks the next training method.

I've linked slayermusiq's eagles peak quest guide for you to enjoy.

29-39: Swamp Lizards

At 29, you unlock swamp lizards in Morytania. For these, you need to have completed the Priest in Peril quest. That’s a quest that almost every account should complete, so if you haven't done it yet, its worth doing just for the swamp lizards' hunter method.

Requirements

  • 3+ ropes
  • 3+ small fishing nets
  • food if you're low level

How to get there

  • Kharyrll Teleport
  • ALQ fairy ring - run south west
  • Ectophial
  • Fenkenstrain Teleport

At level 29 Hunter, you can use 2 traps at a time, and the best location to do 2 traps is this area here.

How to

  • First set up both traps, then wait until a trap is triggered by a lizard.
  • If you successfully catch the lizard, you just click the trap to get your Hunter XP and the lizard. If you fail to catch it, you'll need to pick up your rope and net from the ground, then click to reset the trap.

At level 37 Hunter, you can boost to use 3 traps at a time with Hunter potions. So you should do this from 37 to 39 Hunter.

39-43: Embertailed Jerboa

Once you reach level 39, you can catch Embertailed Jerboa. To access them, you need to complete the Children of the Sun quest to enter Varlamore. It's a short and easy quest with low requirements.

Requirements

  • Eagle's Peak Quest
  • box traps

You can buy box traps off the Grand Exchange, or if you’re an Ironman, the Hunter shop in Yanille is easily accessible and sells them. You should bring a few extra box traps in case you go AFK.

How to get there

  • AJP Fairy Ring
  • Civitas Teleport - run south
  • Quetzal to Hunter Guild

How to

 At level 39 you can only set up 2 traps at a time, but as soon as you reach level 40 you can set up 3.

  • Without tick manipulation, you should turn off menu entry swapper to ensure that the "check" option on the box trap is the left click option.
  • If you want more AFK experience, you can swap "check" with "reset", which checks your traps and sets up another one automatically, but at a slower rate.
  • You can also use tick manipulation to set up box traps more quickly. At a low Hunter level though, you won't benefit as much from tick manipulation since your catch rate is slower.
  • So, if you want to learn about 3ticking Hunter, I talk all about it in the black chinchompa's section.

43-57: Falconry Spotted Kebbits

Once you reach level 43, you can partake in the falconry.

Requirements

  • 500+ coins to hire a falcon

How to get there

  • Piscatoris Teleport Scroll
  • AKQ Fairy Ring
  • Western Banner

How to

  • Talk to Mattias near the entrance and ask if you can have a go with his bird.

The idea of the falconry is you set your bird off to catch kebbits for you, and then you retrieve the bird to claim the Hunter experience.

  • If you focus and play actively, you can get decent XP rates here for such a low Hunter level.
  • So you'll start with targeting the spotted kebbits at level 43, and this is the best area to stand in for the fastest experience.

It's handy to use Runelite at the falconry so that you can tag the right kebbits.

57-60: Falconry Dark Kebbits

At level 57, you'll continue at the falconry, but you'll switch to dark kebbits for the fastest experience.

The process is the same as spotted kebbits, except now this is the best area to stand in, since there's 2 kebbit spawns.

60-67: Red Salamanders

At level 60 Hunter you should move onto Red salamanders. These are actually unlocked at level 59, but since you can only use 3 traps at 59, the falconry is faster, so you should wait until level 60 Hunter.

Requirements

  • small fishing nets
  • ropes
  • Graceful Outfit

How to get there

  • Castle Wars Teleport
  • Ourania Teleport (Lunar Spellbook)
  • Spirit Tree
  • Ring of Dueling

How to

This is the best spot to catch them and at level 60 Hunter, you can use all 4 traps in this area. You should turn on Shift Drop to release the salamanders more easily after you catch them, and you should follow the same process as I mentioned for swamp lizards.

You can also catch these with 4 traps at 57 Hunter, with a Hunter potion boost.

67-73: Black Salamanders

At level 67, the fastest experience is with black salamanders. These are located in the Wilderness, so you should never bring any valuables with you while doing black salamanders, and hardcore ironmen should try an alternative method or birdhouse runs, which I’ll show soon.

How to get there

  • Burning Amulet
  • Wilderness Obelisk
  • Carrallanger Teleport
  • Ring of Dueling

It's not a super popular PK area, mostly because PKers don’t usually get any loot here, but you will still need to keep an eye out for people just to save you from having to come back here and waste time.

How to

The process is the same as other salamanders. You firstly set up all of the traps, then wait until one catches one or gets dismantled. Then you check the trap or pick up the rope and net, then you click to reset the trap.

Overall you can get up to 125k Hunter XP per hour here which is quite fast.

73-99: Black Chinchompas

At level 73 Hunter, you unlock the fastest training method in the game, black chinchompas.

Requirements

  • Eagles Peak Quest
  • box traps

How to get there

  • Hunter Skillcape Teleport
  • Revenant Cave Teleport
  • Wilderness Obelisk
  • Games necklace to Corp
  • Ring of Dueling to Ferox

These are located in the Wilderness and its pretty common for PKers to come here.

How to

Black chinchompas are the fastest experience in the game normally but can be an even faster experience if you tick trap placement and kill stray chinchompas, you can get up to and over 250k Hunter XP per hour.
  • You can set up your traps in most of the Hunter areas between the trees, but I prefer setting up traps in this area here.
  • You can hunt these without 3 ticking, and it’s the same as Embertailed Jerboa where you can either check or reset the box traps.

Fastest Experience - 3 Ticking

You should 3 tick trap placements. To 3 tick, you need items that can start a 3 tick cycle, and those options are all on the screen now. I recommend using herb and tar since you can bring grimy herbs with you incase you accidentally finish the action.

Items you can use

  • herb, tar, pestle
  • teak logs, knife
  • kebbit claws, vambraces
  • collecting snow

How to 3 tick

  • Use menu entry swapper to set the left click option for box traps to "reset".
  • Then you wait until a trap has caught a chinchompa and you go to reset it, and as soon as it disappears, so as soon as you’ve collected the chinchompas, you start the 3 tick action.
  • Then your character will set up the trap faster than you normally would. So then you can click on the next box trap, and repeat the process.

This also works when the box trap gets dismantled, so when you reset it, you can 3 tick to speed it up.

Useful Tip

  • Bringing a bow and arrows with you is useful for killing the stray chinchompas.
  • If you have an alt account with membership, you can speed up your training even further so that you can kill while hunting.
  • As soon as a chinchompa spawns, there's a chance that it will target one of your box traps. But if it doesn’t, you should kill the stray chinchompa so that it respawns nearby and has another chance of going into your box trap.

Alternative Methods

With Varlamore, came a great alternative Hunter method, Tecu Salamanders.

79-99 Tecu Salamanders

These give around 150k Hunter XP per hour at 99 Hunter, and are unlocked at level 79. These are the XP rates you can expect from Tecu Salamanders.

You get about 95k XP per hour with 4 traps, but as soon as you reach level 80 with 5 traps, it jumps to 110k XP per hour.

Experience

  • Level 79: 95k xp/ph
  • Level 80: 110k xp/ph
  • Level 90: 125k xp/ph
  • Level 99: 150k xp/ph

Requirements

  • Children of the Sun quest
  • small fishing nets
  • ropes

How to get there

  • Quetzal to Cam Torum
  • Quetzal to Teomat
  • Quetzal Whistle
  • Civital Teleport

These are the trap locations you should use. While hunting here, you mostly get immature Salamanders, but at a rare rate, you can get a Tecu Salamander, which you can use for combat or sell for a profit.

They're a decent money maker at the moment since they're selling for over 200K each.

80-99: Red Chinchompas

At level 80 Hunter, once you can place 5 traps, Red Chinchompas become a fairly efficient Hunter training method, all the way to 99.

Experience with tick manipulation

  • Level 70: 90k xp/ph
  • Level 80: 140k xp/ph
  • Level 90: 170k xp/ph
  • Level 99: 195k xp/ph

Experience without tick manipulation

  • Level 70: 65k xp/ph
  • Level 80: 100k xp/ph
  • Level 90: 120k xp/ph
  • Level 99: 140k xp/ph

Your XP rates with red chinchompas really depend on whether you use tick manipulation to reset your traps. You can get up to 195k XP per hour with tick manipulation or 140k XP per hour without.

Where to hunt

  • Feldip hills hunting area
  • Private hunting grounds with the Hard Western Provinces Diary -The entrance to this is located to the south in the Feldip hills.

How to get there

  • Feldip Hills teleport scroll
  • AKS fairy ring,
  • Spirit Tree

Overall, Red Chinchompas are particularly useful for Ironmen, but still provide a fast way to train Hunter for regular accounts.

80-99: Herbiboar

An excellent alternative method, which is far less click intensive, is hunting Herbiboar. This is done on Fossil Island so this requires the Bone Voyage Quest, along with 80 Hunter.

Experience

The XP rates at herbiboar are higher than red chinchompas but lower than black chinchompas. You can get up to 170k Hunter XP per hour here, at 99.

  • Level 80: 135k xp/hr
  • Level 90: 155k xp/hr
  • Level 99: 170k xp/hr

Recommended Items

  • magic secateurs
  • herb sack
  • Runelite Herbibore Plugin

How to

  • Find a starter object and just click on it.
  • Your player will search it and start a trail, which you can follow to search the next object.
  • You continue searching objects until you reach the end of the trail, where a Herbiboar will spawn.
  • You can then click on the Herbiboar to harvest herbs off its back.

Overall, this is a less click-intensive, but it’ll be a fast way to train Hunter, and I would strongly recommend at least trying it on your journey to 99 Hunter.

35-99: Aerial fishing

If you're looking to train fishing as well as Hunter, aerial fishing is a decent option. This is done on Molch Island on Zeah, which has no requirements to access, except you do need 35 Hunter and 43 fishing to partake.

Experience

Your XP rates reach up to 80k Hunter while getting 60k fishing at the same time. At lower levels, its still decent, giving 28k Hunter XP per hour when you unlock it.

  • Level 35: 28k xp/hr
  • Level 51: 30k xp/hr
  • Level 68: 40k xp/hr
  • Level 87: 65k xp/hr
  • Level 99: 80k xp/hr

(plus fishing experience)

How to

  • Talk to Alry the Angler On Molch Island. They give you a cormorant, a bird.
  • Then, get bait by picking up king worms on Molch Island, then you can use a knife on the fish you catch to get more bait.
  • You make your way to the edges of the island, and click on the fishing spots to send your bird out to catch fish.
  • You repeatedly do this for consistent fishing and Hunter experience.

Overall, aerial fishing is not the most efficient training method for Hunter, but it can be worth doing if you need to train fishing as well. Its also great for the rewards, or to switch up your training.

44-99: Drift Net Fishing

Another alternative method is drift net fishing, and drift netting is a very efficient training method in terms of XP rates.

Experience

You get up to 115k Hunter and 87k fishing XP per hour at 99. If you consider that you’re getting both of those at the same time, its actually the most efficient Hunter and fishing training method in the game.

  • Level 50: 80k xp/hr
  • Level 70+: 115k xp/hr

Requirements

  • 44 Hunter
  • 47 Fishing
  • Bone Voyage Quest
  • Fishbowl Helmet
  • Diving Apparatus from Freeing Pirate Pete
  • Flippers
  • Trident
  • Numulites

How to get there

  • Digsite Necklace

From the diving spot on Fossil Island, make your way north Into the drift net fishing area.

How to

For this method, you do need drift nets which you can buy off the Grand Exchange, or ironmen can make them with jute fibres.

You use about 100 drift nets per hour here. There's an NPC in the area called Anette which you can store drift nets with. So if you’re just getting started, bring noted drift nets to give to her, then you can withdraw them for free while you train.

  • Make your way north Into the drift net fishing area.
  • Set up the two drift nets.
  • Click on the fish around the area to chase them into the drift nets.
  • Once the net is full, you click it and can send the fish straight to the bank with numulite.

This is the most efficient Hunter and fishing training method in the game. Overall, I recommend drift net fishing if you’re looking to efficiently max, but if you’re going for 99 Hunter the fastest, this is not your best option.


AFK Methods

There's only 2 viable Hunter training methods that can be considered AFK, and they are maniacal monkeys or pyre foxes.

51-99: Pyre Foxes

Pyre foxes are unlocked at level 51 and are found on Varlamore, so you need the Children of the sun quest to access them.

The AFK intervals at pyre foxes last around 20 to 40 seconds.

Experience

The XP rates for these reaches only 40k XP per hour at 99 so I would only recommend foxes if you can't complete Monkey Madness 2, because maniacal monkeys are a fair bit faster.

  • 20-40k xp/hr

Requirements

  • knife
  • logs
  • axe

How to get there

  • AJP Fairy Ring
  • Quetzal Whistle
  • Quetzal to Hunter Guild
  • Civitas Teleport

How to

  • Click to set up the trap (you can only set up 1 trap at a time at all levels)
  • Wait until you catch a fox
  • Click it to get XP
  • Click again to reset your trap.

60-99: Maniacal Monkeys

So at level 60 Hunter, you unlock the best AFK Hunter method in the game, maniacal monkeys.

Experience

Maniacal monkeys provide 50k XP per hour when you unlock them, and it scales to over 100k XP per hour at higher levels.

  • 50-110k xp/hr

Requirements

As a main account, you can buy baskets of bananas off the Grand Exchange, and you can bring an inventory of those for the most AFK training.

  • Monkey Madness II Quest
  • bananas
  • bones to bananas spell (or the tablets)
  • Kruk greegree

How to get there

  1. Make your way to a gnome glider, and the easiest way to one is using a royal seed pod teleport and going to the top of the Grand Tree.
  2. Take the glider to ape a toll. Then run to the hidden trapdoor in the trees.
  3. From the ladder, run north To the monkey bars, and here, you'll need to equip the Kruk monkey greegree to go across.
  4. Then run further north And go into the crevice In the wall.

5. Now you're at the maniacal monkey Hunter area.

6. If there's another player here, I would recommend hopping worlds since you get the maximum XP if you're training here alone.

  1. Now you're at the maniacal monkey Hunter area.
  2. If there's another player here, I would recommend hopping worlds since you get the maximum XP if you're training here alone.
  3. Then run to the loading bays and mount a gorilla, and you need to be on a gorilla to be able to hunt here.
  4. Next, you click on a boulder to set up a trap with a banana.

  1. Then, you can go AFK for 30 seconds to a minute, and then you click the trap to check it, and click it again to reset it, then you can go AFK again.

Take note, if you’re using bones to bananas, you do have to run outside of the arena to cast the spell since your spellbook is hidden when you're wearing a greegree.


Birdhouse Runs

Birdhouse runs are a time-based Hunter training method, where every 50 minutes you can set up bird houses to collect birds nests and Hunter experience.

Birdhouse runs are great for people that enjoy routine based methods, and these give fairly competitive XP rates if you convert it to an hourly rate.

BUT that’s only if you do really fast birdhouse runs, and quickly return to what you were doing previously. You can see that if you do 1 minute 30 runs, your XP rates are quite high when they’re hourly.

Experience

Requirements

  • 4 birdhouses which you can buy off the Grand Exchange (or you can make one with clockwork and logs).
  • seeds
  • chisel
  • hammer

I recommend hops, flower or allotment seeds, you'll need 10 Per birdhouse.

How to get there

  • Digsite teleport

How to

  • Take the Mushroom Teleport System to the Verdant Valley
  • Click on the birdhouse Hunter spot. Then you Use seeds on it to set it up fully. Then you click on the second spot in verdant Valley and do the same thing.
  • Then using the Mushtree teleport system, teleport to Mushroom Meadow.

  • And go to the birdhouse spot to the north.
  • Then once you’ve done that you run down south towards the swamp to the final birdhouse.
  • Then you can teleport out and get back to whatever you were doing.


Hunter Rumours

With the release of Varlamore, Jagex introduced Hunter rumours. These are sort of like contracts, where you're assigned a monster to hunt.

Requirements

  • 46 Hunter
  • At First Light Quest

Rumour Tiers

Each give a different amount of experience and reward value at the end.

  • Novice: Level 46
  • Adept: Level 57
  • Expert: Level 72
  • Master: Level 91

Rewards

From Rumours, the rewards include the new guild Hunter outfit, which increases your chances of catching a Hunter monster, effectively increasing your Hunter XP rates.
  • Hunter Outfit
  • Quetzal Whistle
  • Quetzal Pet

Overall, Hunter rumours provide very competitive XP rates if you do them efficiently, and they’re a great way to train if you don’t like doing the same Hunter method over and over again. Rumours allow you to experience a range of different Hunter techniques and monsters around the game.

How to

  • You start off by going downstairs in the Hunter's guild and speaking to a guild Hunter for a rumour.
  • Then head to the bank upstairs to get the required teleport and items for hunting.
  • Then I make my way to Tecu Salamanders which are my Hunter task
  • Then I catch these until I received the salamander claw, which is the unique item needed to complete the Hunter rumour.
  • Then I head back to the Hunter's Guild and return to the Guild Hunter Wolf (Master) to complete it, and I’m rewarded with a Hunters loot sack reward.

You can block certain rumours by getting the monster assigned by a lower level guild master which is key to getting the best XP rates.


Ironman Hunter

As an Ironman, training Hunter is similar to training it on a main account. You can follow the fastest pathway that I showed in this video, except there are a few key differences.
  • Chinchompas are great to have on an Ironman for both bossing and training, so consider prioritizing training at red or black chinchompas.
  • Herbiboar is also excellent on an Ironman, for the source of herbs and decent Hunter experience.

Hardcore Ironmen should avoid doing Black Salamanders and Black Chinchompas obviously because of the Wilderness, so Red Chinchompas or Tecu Salamanders are an inviting option for Hardcores.


Anyway, that’s my updated level 1 to 99 Hunter guide for Old School. Thanks for reading! - Theoatrix

If you would prefer to watch a video version of this guide, you can watch that below: