OSRS Fletching Guide 1-99 (2026): Vale Totems, Darts and Arrows

Quick summary

• Quest skip: Animal Magnetism, Big Chompy Bird Hunting and Zogre Flesh Eaters give 3,262 Fletching XP. All five Fletching quests give 14,074 XP, enough for level 30 (OSRS Wiki; level is our arithmetic).
• Fastest: arrows. At the wiki's 3,000 actions an hour, steel to dragon arrows take about 21 hours from 1 to 99 by our arithmetic. It's also the most expensive route.
• Best cheap route: Vale Totems from 20 (needs Children of the Sun). It's about 37 hours from 20 to 99 with a log basket and Fletching knife, by our arithmetic from the wiki's full-loop rates. Yew and above run slower than the table because totems need time to reset.
• Zero-time: darts while doing something else. GE buy limits, not your clicking, decide how fast you get there.
• AFK at a bank: cutting unstrung bows takes about 57 hours from 5 to 99 with a Fletching knife, or 85 hours with a normal knife (our arithmetic).

This OSRS Fletching guide covers members' Fletching from 1 to 99. Rates come from the OSRS Wiki's Fletching training page and Vale Totems page, checked on October 28, 2026. 99 needs 13,034,431 XP, and every hour estimate below is our arithmetic on the wiki's rates. It's about Old School RuneScape, not RuneScape 3.

Pick your route

Route	Levels	Methods	Time (our arithmetic)	Trade-off
Fastest	1-99	Headless and bronze arrows, then steel 30, mithril 45, adamant 60, rune 75, amethyst 82, dragon 90	About 21 hours	The most expensive route. Arrowtip supply and buy limits slow you down
Fast, mid-cost	52-99	Broad arrows (Slayer reward)	About 29 hours	Needs the "Broader fletching" Slayer unlock
Cheap and moving	20-99	Vale Totems, oak to redwood	About 37 hours (table rates)	Needs Children of the Sun and the miniquest. Yew+ is slower than the table
Zero time	10-99	Darts during Agility, Slayer, quests or farm runs	Limited by buy limits	High cost per XP, lots of clicking
AFK at a bank	5-99	Cut unstrung bows	About 57 hours (knife), 85 hours (normal knife)	Cheapest attention, cheap or profitable at some tiers
Mid-level boost	40-80	Battlestaves	About 14 hours (Fletching knife), 18 hours (normal knife)	Large capital tied up in orbs and staves

Hours divide the XP for each bracket by the wiki's XP/h figure for that method. They assume you keep going without breaks. Real sessions are slower.

Quests that give Fletching XP

Quest	Fletching XP	Fletching requirement	Other skill requirements
Big Chompy Bird Hunting	262	5	Ranged 30, Cooking 30
Animal Magnetism	1,000	None	Slayer 18, Crafting 19, Ranged 30, Woodcutting 35
Zogre Flesh Eaters	2,000	30 only if you fletch your own comp ogre bow	Smithing 4, Herblore 8, Ranged 30
The Fremennik Trials	2,812	25 (as listed on the wiki)	Woodcutting 40, Crafting 40
Temple of Ikov	8,000	None	Thieving 42, Ranged 40
Total	14,074

Quest order (step by step):

1. Make headless arrows to 5 (the wiki's headless arrow rate is 45,000 XP/h), or do Animal Magnetism first to reach 9.
2. Do Big Chompy Bird Hunting at 5+.
3. Do Zogre Flesh Eaters. Buy the comp ogre bow if you're below 30.
4. If you have the stats, do Temple of Ikov and The Fremennik Trials and land on 30. That skips the shortbow and longbow stages entirely.

Fletching 54 is also one of the listed requirements for The Graveyard, the Fremennik quest the OSRS Wiki lists for November 2026 that unlocks a new Agility course; see our Agility guide.

Step 1: 1-20 at a bank

Levels	Method	XP per action	Wiki XP/h
1-5	Headless arrows (shafts + feathers, 15 per action)	1 per arrow	45,000
1-10	Arrow shafts from normal logs	5 per log	10,000
5-10	Shortbows (unstrung)	5	9,000 (13,500 with Fletching knife)
10-20	Longbows (unstrung)	10	18,000 (27,000 with Fletching knife)

Headless arrows are the fastest and simplest opener. The wiki notes they can be profitable. If you plan to do darts, keep making headless arrows to 10. If you plan Vale Totems, you need 20 to start.

Step 2: Vale Totems from 20 (best cheap route)

Unlock checklist

1. Complete Children of the Sun (Varlamore).
2. Have 20 Fletching and a knife.
3. Talk to Ranulph in north-western Auburnvale to start the Vale Totems miniquest. Bring oak logs or better and four fletched items of the same wood. It's Novice difficulty and very short (OSRS Wiki).
4. Get a log basket from the Forestry Shop (Friendly Forester) if you can. It holds 28 logs, which lets you build all eight totems per loop instead of five.

How a loop works (from the wiki): there are eight totem sites in Auburn Valley. At each site you build a totem, carve it to match three of the nearby spirits, then decorate it with four fletched items of the same wood: shortbows, longbows, their unstrung versions, crossbow stocks, shields or hiking staves. Ents visit totems every 80 ticks and admire yours for 14 ticks, then leave offerings. Stepping on a pair of ent trails doubles that ent's next offerings. You fletch the decorations while you run to the next site.

Full-loop XP rates (OSRS Wiki, unstrung bows):

Level	Wood and decoration	XP per loop	XP/h (knife)	XP/h (Fletching knife)
20	Oak shortbow (u)	2,568	34,240	36,979
25	Oak longbow (u)	2,840	37,867	40,896
35	Willow shortbow (u)	6,090	81,195	87,690
40	Willow longbow (u)	6,352	84,693	91,469
50	Maple shortbow (u)	9,664	128,853	139,162
55	Maple longbow (u)	9,930	132,395	142,986
65	Yew shortbow (u)	15,216	202,880	219,110
70	Yew longbow (u)	15,456	206,080	222,566
80	Magic shortbow (u)	27,494	366,592	395,919
85	Magic longbow (u)	27,757	340,853	368,122
90	Redwood hiking staff	30,634	408,448	441,124

A full loop takes 40 logs (five per totem). The wiki's footnote says the rates don't include waiting for totems to reset, so yew and above will be lower in practice. Strung bows give more XP per loop but less per hour, because stringing takes extra time.

Vale Totems route (our arithmetic from the table above, Fletching knife rates):

Bracket	Decoration	Hours
20-35	Oak shortbows, then oak longbows from 25	About 3.0
35-50	Willow shortbows, then willow longbows from 40	About 2.2
50-65	Maple shortbows, then maple longbows from 55	About 2.6
65-80	Yew shortbows, then yew longbows from 70	About 5.9
80-90	Magic shortbows	About 6.3
90-99	Redwood hiking staves	About 16.5
20-99		About 37 hours

From 90 to 99 that's about 251 full loops and about 10,000 redwood logs (our arithmetic: 7,688,099 XP ÷ 30,634 XP per loop, × 40 logs).

Rewards worth chasing first: the Fletching knife (cuts bows in 2 ticks instead of 3, with the same XP per bow) and the bow string spool (string 27 bows per inventory instead of 14). Both come from the Vale Research Points shop or can be rummaged from offerings. Get the knife first: it raises the bank bow rates by 50%.

Step 3: the fastest route with arrows (1-99, about 21 hours)

Arrows are made in sets of 15, one set every two ticks. The wiki assumes 3,000 actions an hour.

Level	Arrow	XP per arrow	Wiki XP/h	Arrows to the next tier (our arithmetic)
1	Headless	1	45,000	—
1	Bronze	1.3	58,500	—
15	Iron	2.5	112,500	—
30	Steel	5	225,000	About 9,600 to 45
45	Mithril	7.5	337,500	About 28,300 to 60
52	Broad (Slayer unlock)	10	450,000	About 1.29 million to 99
60	Adamant	10	450,000	About 93,700 to 75
75	Rune	12.5	562,500	About 96,900 to 82
82	Amethyst	13.5	607,500	About 216,700 to 90
90	Dragon	15	675,000	About 512,500 to 99

Our arithmetic for hours: 1-30 is under 1 hour, 30-60 under 1 hour, 60-75 about 2.1 hours, 75-82 about 2.2 hours, 82-90 about 4.8 hours and 90-99 about 11.4 hours. That's about 21 hours in total.

Arrowtips are the bottleneck. Dragon arrowtips are expensive and the wiki lists limited trade volume for some tiers. Many players mix arrows with Vale Totems or broad arrows to control the cost. Broad arrows need the "broader fletching" Slayer reward. From 52 they give 10 XP per arrow and 450,000 XP/h, which is about 29 hours from 52 to 99 by our arithmetic.

Step 4: darts for zero-time XP

Darts take two clicks per set of ten and don't stop your movement, so you can make them during Agility laps, farm runs, questing or Slayer (OSRS Wiki). Since the Easter 2023 update the default may open a Make-X menu. If you want two-click darts, change it in the game settings.

Level	Dart	XP per dart	Dart tips per GE buy limit (our arithmetic from the wiki's XP per buy limit)	Darts to the next tier (our arithmetic)	Buy-limit windows needed (our arithmetic)
10	Bronze	1.8	13,000	About 2,500 to 22	Under 1
22	Iron	3.8	13,000	About 5,750 to 37	Under 1
37	Steel	7.5	13,000	About 12,800 to 52	About 1
52	Mithril	11.2	20,000	About 37,900 to 67	About 2
67	Adamant	15	20,000	About 320,000 to 90	About 16
81	Rune	18.8	11,000	Optional	—
90	Amethyst	21	11,000	About 163,000 to 95	About 15
95	Dragon	25	11,000	About 170,500 to 99	About 16

GE buy limits reset every four hours. Adamant darts alone need about 16 limit windows from 67 to 90, so plan purchases days in advance, or make your own tips with Smithing (the Tourist Trap unlocks dart tip smithing; you don't need it to attach feathers). On mobile, two-finger tapping can make 2-4 sets per tick, per the wiki. Darts are the most expensive per XP. Rune darts in particular cost far more per XP than the tiers either side of them in the wiki's table.

Never take a big tip stack into the Wilderness just to fill downtime. Anything you carry there can be lost.

Example: a player training Agility on rooftops makes adamant darts on every lap. The XP costs nothing extra in time, so the only question is price per XP. Our Agility guide covers which courses leave the most downtime, and the Smithing guide covers making your own dart tips.

Step 5: bolts, gem tips, javelins and ascension bolts

These work while running or between actions too, but they're slower per click than darts.

Method	Level	XP per item	Wiki XP/h
Rune bolts (unf + feathers)	69	10	300,000
Dragon bolts	84	12	360,000
Diamond-tipped adamant bolts	65	7	210,000
Onyx-tipped runite bolts	73	9.4	282,000
Amethyst-tipped broad bolts (Slayer unlock)	76	10.6	318,000
Rune javelins (3 speeds)	77	12.4	558,000 / 744,000 / 1,116,000
Dragon javelins (3 speeds)	92	15	675,000 / 900,000 / 1,350,000
Ascension bolts (chisel shards)	86	140 per shard	365,000

Gem tips and the Jeweller's chisel. On 19 August 2026 Jagex changed the Jeweller's chisel to cut bolt tips in 2 ticks instead of 5, with a 1 in 10 chance of cutting two gems at once. A hotfix then made the first gem in a batch slightly slower. Cutting tips gives little Fletching XP (0.33-0.68 per tip) and is mainly a margin play. Cutting the gems themselves is Crafting; our Crafting guide covers gem XP rates, and amethyst for amethyst tips comes from Mining (our Mining guide).

Javelins: the three XP/h figures are the wiki's rates for restarting the cycle never, after two sets, or after every set. The fastest one needs constant attention. Ascension shards have a buy limit of 100 per four hours, so you need to stockpile them before you can train with them.

Step 6: AFK bows at a bank (5-99)

Levels	Bow	XP	Wiki XP/h (knife)	Wiki XP/h (Fletching knife)	Wiki XP/h (stringing)
5-10	Shortbow	5	9,000	13,500	12,250
10-20	Longbow	10	18,000	27,000	24,500
20-25	Oak shortbow	16.5	29,700	44,550	40,425
25-35	Oak longbow	25	45,000	67,500	61,250
35-40	Willow shortbow	33.3	59,940	89,910	81,585
40-50	Willow longbow	41.5	74,700	112,050	101,675
50-55	Maple shortbow	50	90,000	135,000	122,500
55-65	Maple longbow	58.3	104,940	157,410	142,835
65-70	Yew shortbow	67.5	121,500	182,250	165,375
70-80	Yew longbow	75	135,000	202,500	183,750
80-85	Magic shortbow	83.3	149,940	224,910	203,350
85-99	Magic longbow	91.5	164,700	247,050	224,175

The wiki assumes 1,800 bows an hour with a knife, 2,700 with the Fletching knife and 2,450 strung. An inventory of unstrung bows takes 48.6 seconds with a normal knife. Stringing takes 2 ticks per bow, which makes an inventory 16.8 seconds.

Our arithmetic, 5-99: about 85 hours cutting with a knife, 57 hours with the Fletching knife, or 62 hours stringing. 85-99 alone takes about 107,000 magic logs. The wiki lists some tiers as profitable and others as a loss, depending on log and bow prices, so check the GE before you commit.

Two niche options:

• Battlestaves, 40-80: 80 XP each, 110,000 XP/h (143,000 with the Fletching knife), about 24,400 staves for the bracket (our arithmetic). Very capital-heavy.
• Redwood shields, 92-99: 216 XP each, 168,000-193,000 XP/h. The wiki lists them as a loss.

Ironman and returning players

Ironmen. You can't buy tips, so the wiki's ironman route is mostly what you can make yourself. Do the quest skip, then Vale Totems with logs you chop: it trains Fletching and gives you the knife and spool. Make broad arrows or broad bolts from your Slayer unlock for useful ammo (our Slayer guide covers the points). Use the darts and bolts you smith or loot as zero-time XP. Keep redwood logs for 90+ totems. Check our Woodcutting guide for log routes, and the Farming guide for growing yew and magic trees you can chop yourself.

Returning players. Three things changed:

1. Vale Totems (Varlamore) is now the go-to cheap route from 20.
2. The Fletching knife makes bank bows 50% faster.
3. Since 19 August 2026 the Jeweller's chisel cuts bolt tips in 2 ticks.

Two-click darts may need a settings change since Easter 2023.

Fletching pairs naturally with Woodcutting, Smithing and Slayer; browse those and every other guide on the OSRS hub.

Want a hand with this?

If you would rather not grind this part yourself, OSRS skill-leveling services are listed on FullBoosts. Read Jagex's Rules of Old School RuneScape before you buy any service from anyone, FullBoosts included — a marketplace listing isn't publisher permission.

FAQ

What is the fastest way to get 99 Fletching in OSRS? Arrows. With the wiki's rates (3,000 sets an hour), steel to dragon arrows take about 21 hours from 1 to 99 by our arithmetic. It's the most expensive route.

What's the cheapest good way to train Fletching? Vale Totems from 20, after Children of the Sun. It's about 37 hours from 20 to 99 with a log basket and Fletching knife, by our arithmetic from the wiki's table. Yew and above will be slower.

How do I get the Fletching knife? From Vale Totems: spend Vale Research Points, or rummage it from offerings (OSRS Wiki). It cuts bows in 2 ticks instead of 3.

Are darts zero time? Yes. They take two clicks per set and don't stop you moving, so you can make them while training Agility or doing farm runs. The limit is buying enough tips, since GE limits reset every four hours.

Which quests give the most Fletching XP? Temple of Ikov (8,000) and The Fremennik Trials (2,812). All five Fletching quests give 14,074 XP, enough for level 30.

What's the best AFK Fletching? Cutting unstrung bows at a bank. Magic longbows from 85 give 164,700 XP/h, or 247,050 with the Fletching knife.

Related guides

• OSRS hub
• OSRS Sailing guide 1-99
• OSRS money-making guide
• OSRS Agility guide 1-99
• OSRS Woodcutting guide 1-99
• OSRS Hunter guide 1-99
• OSRS Crafting guide 1-99
• OSRS Farming guide 1-99
• OSRS Slayer guide