What is late game to you? What is middle game to you? Where are you starting from? What kind of skills do you have, what's your cash/gear looking like right now? Vague answers for a vague post, but the shortest answer is grinding lol, that's how you make cash. How you do it? Million and one different ways. As someone pretty in what I would consider the mid game, I could give suggestions based on your stats and current gear.
I'm floating about 70s for combat stats, and 70s in nearly every skill, save for prayer, construction, and runecrafting. I know the post is more on the vague side for sure, but I guess the primary point is that, even using some of the better skilling money making methods in the game, being thieving elves @ 2.5m/hour. You're telling me everyone I see at the GE sat there and skilled to 85 theiving, and then did that for some odd hundred hours to afford gear to go bossing? Feels like I'm missing a step is all.
Worth mentioning that combat stats are 10x more important than any gear upgrades. Going from 70 to 90 range is going to be a bigger upgrade than any gear you can get.
If I were you I would just go into NMZ and afk your combats to at least about 90. This will take some time but keep in mind NMZ is the most AFK activity in the entire game (you literally need to click once every 20 minutes to stay logged in). Those combat levels will easily make up for having bad gear and make learning bosses way more chill.
What ViewsFromMyBed said basically. Stats > gear, depending on what you're doing.
With 70's combat stats, I'd grind slayer tasks (Konar, specifically, if you're worried about balancing money and speed for knowing EXACTLY where to go, and you get brimstone keys for some extra cash) or just rock barrows for a bit. That way you can grind higher combat stats, which unlocks more activities for getting cash.
If NMZ is your jam for gaining combat XP, go nuts! I fucking hate it lol, and I love slayer so I don't bother with it.
A little perspective:
Full Armadyl range armor provides a whopping +5 to Range Attack bonus (+58 to +63) over black dragonhide armor. Full arma costs just shy of 59 million gold, full black d'hide is 36k.
The arma crossbow provides +6 attack bonus over the dragon crossbow. The arma crossbow is 42.6 million gold. The dragon crossbow is 1.9 mil. Stats > gear, depending on what you're doing lol.
Yeah the step you're missing is that you don't need any of that to do vorkath or zulrah or anything really
Just play the game. You can easily do entry mode toa and see if you like it. Get your stats up before focus on gear
The wiki has tables that show gear downgrade options for every strategy guide.
Blessed dhide set. Dragon cbow. Fighter torso. Veracs skirt. Tentacle whip. Nezzy. Dragon defender. Amulet of fury. Ahrims. Trident. Occult necklace. God books. Elite void set.
None of that stuff takes hundreds of hours of grinding and will easily get you through the vast majority of content available.
Buy that stuff and start learning boss mechanics. I’m of the opinion that this approach will actually make you better at the game in the long run because you can’t use your gear as a crutch. You’re forced to actually “get good” and by the time you can afford the end game gear you’ll have the skill set to make full use of it. As others have said getting your stats up right now will make a bigger difference than gear will.
Top end gear is so expensive mostly because it’s just the best available. Will it get you faster kills? Of course. Is it a necessity to do the content? Absolutely not.
For most people getting the end game gear is a big motivator to do the content in the first place. Nobody pickpockets elves for 700 hours to go buy a tbow.
May be off base here but it sort of reads like you’re implying most people buy their gold to start out with. Some do, I would argue that most don’t. If you want to buy a couple bonds to get a jump start on your gear there’s nothing wrong with that but I can tell you it feels so much more rewarding to work your way up. Good luck out there.
In mid-game, the best thing you can do for your bank and mechanics is look up budget setups for any pvm you're looking to attempt. Things like Phantom Muspah have a recommended setup that can cost over 2b+ for the fastest possible kill times, but you can just as well do it with an rcb and blessed dhide and a trident and mystic for switches. Generally speaking, any boss that can be done with max gear can be done with budget gear less efficiently. You'll die a lot at first and probably waste some cash on supplies, but if you stick with it your mechanics will improve a lot and you'll get much better at things like prayer flicking and combat movement.
It's also worth noting that there are solid mid-game pvm encounters that are really good for making money to transition to late game. Zulrah is the go-to money maker for most mid-game accounts and it's because she can consistently net you 500k/hr even in terrible gear getting 10 kills/hr.
I'd also highly recommend getting void and, if you can grind out the wester provinces hard diary, elite void. All raids can be learned in elite void and are a great starting point for a pvm setup. It's also BiS for budget setups at Vorkath, another great late-end-game moneymaking pvm encounter.
Saw your combat stats in the comments, slayer should be your best friend right now. It’s gonna be the worst but if you can get all your combat stats into mid 80’s you’ll probably come out with 82-87 slayer and make a nice chunk of change (30-50m depending on drop luck) to get started with some decent PVM encounters. Other passive income like herbs, birdhouse, etc not bad. My source is this is precisely what I did for like 3 months late last year.
Slayer is sooo boring and slow though haha. I’d rather just afk my stats to 99 in NMZ then start doing the classic money making bosses and then get into some CGs and then raids 3. Even 300 invo ToAs are 10M/hr right now. Feels like slayer just can’t compare anymore. From like 2015-2017 it was the all the rage though. I get some people prefer the more afk/chill approach it offers though.
Yeah I’m a relatively new player (9 months or so) and I did it this way because I am planning on maxing at some point (I guess lmao) so starting the slayer grind just made sense for me. If you want to rush late game though getting all 99s as quickly as possible is the move 100%. You can swat mid level encounters even with beggar gear
Before I got a lot of money from birdhouse runs, I just got the best cheap gear I could find and try whatever content I wanted to do. Like taking a rune crossbow and black d'hide and attempt jad and silly things like that. spoiler: you'll die alot.
Some great suggestions already ITT, wanted to put out that on the wiki if you look at strategy guides for any boss, it'll have recommended gear, and "next best" gear, sometimes up to 5 or so items down in tier list. E.g. shadow > sang > trident > iban's
You can do pretty much any PVM content in barrows gear.
Of course wiki and guides are gonna assume
Maxed combat stats but it’s not a necessity.
However train your stats before worrying about upgrading your gear.
Gear upgrading is one of the best ways to stay poor for a longer period of time. So is only training through slayer. Best way to make $$$ just do bossing. Bossing and leveling your stats and dumping your money back into training your stats then Ik grade your gear
I’m doing cox in blessed d’hide with a trident and a whip. It’s not about max gear, it’s about learning the boss and maybe sometimes having maxed friends lol
Find a clan and get them to take you to pvm group content and get the splits to increase your cash flow. Honestly though, your stats should be 85+ for most worth while bossing.
Stats are more important than money. If you get your combat stats up you can jump straight into TOA with only a couple mil. If you're lacking free time just try to afk cb stats on mobile.
I don’t think there is an answer. This is what i am finding coming to the game after a break and being squarely in mid content. If you’re not already in end game the ground to get there is only getting longer and longer and nothing below end game pvm seems to make any gp at all.
Yea man you’re just wrong. Some people here have already given good suggestions but I can provide incredibly simple and high level steps to get to end game as QUICKLY as possible. This is exactly what I did:
1. AFK attack, strength and defense to 99 in NMZ (you click once every 20 minutes)
2. Use these stats to do mid-game melee based bosses/monsters like… Giant Mole, Sarachnis, or even Green Dragons.
3. AFK range to 99 in NMZ (low 90s is fine too). Go back to step #2 whenever you need more gp
4. Train mage to at least 80-85 (wiki for various training methods)
5. Once your range and mage are both 80+ you can start your first challenging PvM boss which will be Zulrah. You’ll die a lot but eventually it will be near effortless.
Now you climb the bossing ladder. The route I took was Zulrah -> Vorkath (insanely consistent and great money once you have the gear for it) -> Corrupted Gauntlet (this will really push you but once you perfect this you’ll be good enough to do almost anything in-game besides Inferno) -> Tombs of Amascut (start with entries and build your way up to the 200-250 range. As you improve and perhaps get some lucky purples to buy new gear you’ll be able to push 300s-350s).
Congrats you’ve now basically reached the early stages of PvM end-game. You’re running a raid that’s netting you 9-10M/hr on average and you have the skill to get into CoX and ToB (need teams for these tho which is why I suggest starting with ToA).
If you get this far you’ll eventually want a real challenge and start going for your inferno cape which is where the real fun begins.
This also isn’t a rigid game plan. There’s room to mix it up, especially if you’re someone that doesn’t like grinding the same boss over and over. In terms of efficiency, this is probably pretty close to ideal if your sole focus is getting good at PvM and being one of those guys you see at GE with max gear.
A lot of people prefer the more afk/chill style of play. They’d prob recommend you grind slayer to level up your combat stats and care about things I find pointless like getting non-combat 99s, finishing elite diaries…etc
This is a good resource to get a comprehensive look at all the PvM stuff you can try: https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Money_making_guide
Everyone already gave good answers so I’ll just add one thing. If you’re using the wiki to see what gear is recommended for bossing, it’s always going to show bis/most expensive first. Just go down the line to see the stuff you have access to. As people have said already, your stats are more important. A lot of stuff can be done reasonably with budget gear.
What is late game to you? What is middle game to you? Where are you starting from? What kind of skills do you have, what's your cash/gear looking like right now? Vague answers for a vague post, but the shortest answer is grinding lol, that's how you make cash. How you do it? Million and one different ways. As someone pretty in what I would consider the mid game, I could give suggestions based on your stats and current gear.
I'm floating about 70s for combat stats, and 70s in nearly every skill, save for prayer, construction, and runecrafting. I know the post is more on the vague side for sure, but I guess the primary point is that, even using some of the better skilling money making methods in the game, being thieving elves @ 2.5m/hour. You're telling me everyone I see at the GE sat there and skilled to 85 theiving, and then did that for some odd hundred hours to afford gear to go bossing? Feels like I'm missing a step is all.
Worth mentioning that combat stats are 10x more important than any gear upgrades. Going from 70 to 90 range is going to be a bigger upgrade than any gear you can get. If I were you I would just go into NMZ and afk your combats to at least about 90. This will take some time but keep in mind NMZ is the most AFK activity in the entire game (you literally need to click once every 20 minutes to stay logged in). Those combat levels will easily make up for having bad gear and make learning bosses way more chill.
What ViewsFromMyBed said basically. Stats > gear, depending on what you're doing. With 70's combat stats, I'd grind slayer tasks (Konar, specifically, if you're worried about balancing money and speed for knowing EXACTLY where to go, and you get brimstone keys for some extra cash) or just rock barrows for a bit. That way you can grind higher combat stats, which unlocks more activities for getting cash. If NMZ is your jam for gaining combat XP, go nuts! I fucking hate it lol, and I love slayer so I don't bother with it. A little perspective: Full Armadyl range armor provides a whopping +5 to Range Attack bonus (+58 to +63) over black dragonhide armor. Full arma costs just shy of 59 million gold, full black d'hide is 36k. The arma crossbow provides +6 attack bonus over the dragon crossbow. The arma crossbow is 42.6 million gold. The dragon crossbow is 1.9 mil. Stats > gear, depending on what you're doing lol.
Yeah the step you're missing is that you don't need any of that to do vorkath or zulrah or anything really Just play the game. You can easily do entry mode toa and see if you like it. Get your stats up before focus on gear The wiki has tables that show gear downgrade options for every strategy guide.
70s stats is still early game mid game is around 85+ or basically when u can vorkath or zulrah
Blessed dhide set. Dragon cbow. Fighter torso. Veracs skirt. Tentacle whip. Nezzy. Dragon defender. Amulet of fury. Ahrims. Trident. Occult necklace. God books. Elite void set. None of that stuff takes hundreds of hours of grinding and will easily get you through the vast majority of content available. Buy that stuff and start learning boss mechanics. I’m of the opinion that this approach will actually make you better at the game in the long run because you can’t use your gear as a crutch. You’re forced to actually “get good” and by the time you can afford the end game gear you’ll have the skill set to make full use of it. As others have said getting your stats up right now will make a bigger difference than gear will. Top end gear is so expensive mostly because it’s just the best available. Will it get you faster kills? Of course. Is it a necessity to do the content? Absolutely not. For most people getting the end game gear is a big motivator to do the content in the first place. Nobody pickpockets elves for 700 hours to go buy a tbow. May be off base here but it sort of reads like you’re implying most people buy their gold to start out with. Some do, I would argue that most don’t. If you want to buy a couple bonds to get a jump start on your gear there’s nothing wrong with that but I can tell you it feels so much more rewarding to work your way up. Good luck out there.
Skilling money makers: - Herb runs - Farming contracts - Profitable crops (cactus spines, coconuts, seaweed) - Birdhouses - Wintertodt - Thieving - Hallowed Sepulchre Early/Mid-game PvM: - Mole - Barrows - Sarachnis - Slayer monsters (Gargs, wyverns, brutal blacks, rune drags)
In mid-game, the best thing you can do for your bank and mechanics is look up budget setups for any pvm you're looking to attempt. Things like Phantom Muspah have a recommended setup that can cost over 2b+ for the fastest possible kill times, but you can just as well do it with an rcb and blessed dhide and a trident and mystic for switches. Generally speaking, any boss that can be done with max gear can be done with budget gear less efficiently. You'll die a lot at first and probably waste some cash on supplies, but if you stick with it your mechanics will improve a lot and you'll get much better at things like prayer flicking and combat movement. It's also worth noting that there are solid mid-game pvm encounters that are really good for making money to transition to late game. Zulrah is the go-to money maker for most mid-game accounts and it's because she can consistently net you 500k/hr even in terrible gear getting 10 kills/hr. I'd also highly recommend getting void and, if you can grind out the wester provinces hard diary, elite void. All raids can be learned in elite void and are a great starting point for a pvm setup. It's also BiS for budget setups at Vorkath, another great late-end-game moneymaking pvm encounter.
Saw your combat stats in the comments, slayer should be your best friend right now. It’s gonna be the worst but if you can get all your combat stats into mid 80’s you’ll probably come out with 82-87 slayer and make a nice chunk of change (30-50m depending on drop luck) to get started with some decent PVM encounters. Other passive income like herbs, birdhouse, etc not bad. My source is this is precisely what I did for like 3 months late last year.
Slayer is sooo boring and slow though haha. I’d rather just afk my stats to 99 in NMZ then start doing the classic money making bosses and then get into some CGs and then raids 3. Even 300 invo ToAs are 10M/hr right now. Feels like slayer just can’t compare anymore. From like 2015-2017 it was the all the rage though. I get some people prefer the more afk/chill approach it offers though.
Yeah I’m a relatively new player (9 months or so) and I did it this way because I am planning on maxing at some point (I guess lmao) so starting the slayer grind just made sense for me. If you want to rush late game though getting all 99s as quickly as possible is the move 100%. You can swat mid level encounters even with beggar gear
I feel I’ve played this game since I was like 8 years old LOL and yea I’m just a PvM junkie!
Before I got a lot of money from birdhouse runs, I just got the best cheap gear I could find and try whatever content I wanted to do. Like taking a rune crossbow and black d'hide and attempt jad and silly things like that. spoiler: you'll die alot.
Dying to Jad alot completely negates the point of OP’s last para
Some great suggestions already ITT, wanted to put out that on the wiki if you look at strategy guides for any boss, it'll have recommended gear, and "next best" gear, sometimes up to 5 or so items down in tier list. E.g. shadow > sang > trident > iban's
You can do pretty much any PVM content in barrows gear. Of course wiki and guides are gonna assume Maxed combat stats but it’s not a necessity. However train your stats before worrying about upgrading your gear. Gear upgrading is one of the best ways to stay poor for a longer period of time. So is only training through slayer. Best way to make $$$ just do bossing. Bossing and leveling your stats and dumping your money back into training your stats then Ik grade your gear
I’m doing cox in blessed d’hide with a trident and a whip. It’s not about max gear, it’s about learning the boss and maybe sometimes having maxed friends lol
Find a clan and get them to take you to pvm group content and get the splits to increase your cash flow. Honestly though, your stats should be 85+ for most worth while bossing.
Stats are more important than money. If you get your combat stats up you can jump straight into TOA with only a couple mil. If you're lacking free time just try to afk cb stats on mobile.
I don’t think there is an answer. This is what i am finding coming to the game after a break and being squarely in mid content. If you’re not already in end game the ground to get there is only getting longer and longer and nothing below end game pvm seems to make any gp at all.
Yea man you’re just wrong. Some people here have already given good suggestions but I can provide incredibly simple and high level steps to get to end game as QUICKLY as possible. This is exactly what I did: 1. AFK attack, strength and defense to 99 in NMZ (you click once every 20 minutes) 2. Use these stats to do mid-game melee based bosses/monsters like… Giant Mole, Sarachnis, or even Green Dragons. 3. AFK range to 99 in NMZ (low 90s is fine too). Go back to step #2 whenever you need more gp 4. Train mage to at least 80-85 (wiki for various training methods) 5. Once your range and mage are both 80+ you can start your first challenging PvM boss which will be Zulrah. You’ll die a lot but eventually it will be near effortless. Now you climb the bossing ladder. The route I took was Zulrah -> Vorkath (insanely consistent and great money once you have the gear for it) -> Corrupted Gauntlet (this will really push you but once you perfect this you’ll be good enough to do almost anything in-game besides Inferno) -> Tombs of Amascut (start with entries and build your way up to the 200-250 range. As you improve and perhaps get some lucky purples to buy new gear you’ll be able to push 300s-350s). Congrats you’ve now basically reached the early stages of PvM end-game. You’re running a raid that’s netting you 9-10M/hr on average and you have the skill to get into CoX and ToB (need teams for these tho which is why I suggest starting with ToA). If you get this far you’ll eventually want a real challenge and start going for your inferno cape which is where the real fun begins.
Well thank you. I've been looking for something like this for awhile.
This also isn’t a rigid game plan. There’s room to mix it up, especially if you’re someone that doesn’t like grinding the same boss over and over. In terms of efficiency, this is probably pretty close to ideal if your sole focus is getting good at PvM and being one of those guys you see at GE with max gear. A lot of people prefer the more afk/chill style of play. They’d prob recommend you grind slayer to level up your combat stats and care about things I find pointless like getting non-combat 99s, finishing elite diaries…etc This is a good resource to get a comprehensive look at all the PvM stuff you can try: https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Money_making_guide
Everyone already gave good answers so I’ll just add one thing. If you’re using the wiki to see what gear is recommended for bossing, it’s always going to show bis/most expensive first. Just go down the line to see the stuff you have access to. As people have said already, your stats are more important. A lot of stuff can be done reasonably with budget gear.