OSRS Hunter Guide 1-99 (2026): Fastest, AFK and Rumours Routes

Quick summary

• Do the Natural History Quiz first. It gives 1,000 Hunter XP, taking you from 1 to 9 (OSRS Wiki).
• Birdhouses are no longer a training method for most levels. Jagex's 19 August 2026 update cut their XP by 15-60% (redwood unchanged) and raised nests by about 50%. Do them for nests, not levels.
• Fastest active route to 73: Feldip weasels, ruby harvests, red crabs, embertailed jerboas, falconry, then razor-backed kebbits (up to about 130,000 XP/h). That's about 9 hours by our arithmetic.
• 73-99: black chinchompas in the Wilderness are fastest and pay well, but you will meet player killers. Hunters' Rumours from 72 give similar XP outside the Wilderness. Both are about 60 hours to 99 by our arithmetic.
• Low-effort options: maniacal monkeys from 60, herbiboar from 80 and stymphikes from 82.
• 99 needs 13,034,431 XP. Hour estimates are our arithmetic from the wiki's rates, not wiki figures.

This OSRS Hunter guide covers members' Hunter from 1 to 99 as the game stands after Jagex's Summer Sweep Up Hunter and skilling update of 19 August 2026. Rates come from the OSRS Wiki's Hunter training page, which still lists some pre-update birdhouse and deadfall numbers, so where the two differ we follow Jagex's changelog. It's about Old School RuneScape, not RuneScape 3, and Hunter is members-only.

Pick your route: fastest, AFK or profit

Route	Levels	Methods	Time to 99 (our arithmetic)	Trade-off
Fastest	1-99	Quiz, active ladder to 73, black chinchompas solo	About 70 hours	Wilderness, PKers, you risk your gear
Fastest outside the Wilderness	1-99	Quiz, ladder to 72, Hunters' Rumours	About 69 hours	Rates assume the full guild hunter outfit, a good block list and teleports
Profit at high levels	80-99	Herbiboar, or carnivorous chinchompas	About 70 hours (herbiboar), about 90 hours (red chins without tick manipulation from 73)	Slower, steadier gold and herbs
Low effort	60-99	Maniacal monkeys	About 137 hours	Needs Monkey Madness II

The fast routes use the wiki's solo rates and our averages between its table rows. If you use tick manipulation, or a second account to shoot stray chinchompas, rates are higher.

Trap limits and when to boost

Hunter level	Traps	In the Wilderness
1	2	3
40	3	4
60	4	5
80	5	6

Before the August 2026 update you had one trap until 20; now you get two from level 1 (Jagex). The wiki recommends using hunter potions to boost a level early before 40, 60 and 80 so you get the extra trap sooner. You can also boost to catch a creature a level or two before you're ready.

Gear and boosts for Hunter training

• Hunter potions add 3 Hunter levels (OSRS Wiki). They need 53 Herblore to make from an avantoe and kebbit teeth dust, so the OSRS Herblore guide is worth a look if you brew your own. From 37, 57 and 77 a potion reaches the next trap a few levels early. Rumour level requirements can't be boosted.
• Guild hunter outfit. The full four-piece set adds 2.5% to your catch rate and 5% to the chance of a rare creature part on Hunters' Rumours (OSRS Wiki). Each piece has a 1 in 50 chance from any Hunters' loot sack above the basic tier, in the order headwear, top, legs, boots. It's a good reason to start Rumours before you need their XP.
• Rings of pursuit show the whole trail for kebbit tracking, and a huntsman's kit in your house stores spares.
• Stamina potions keep active methods such as razor-backed kebbits and black chinchompas running.
• Weight-reducing gear (graceful or similar) helps on every running-heavy method.

Quests that give Hunter XP

Quest	Hunter XP	Hunter level needed
Natural History Quiz (Varrock Museum)	1,000	None
The Ascent of Arceuus	1,500	12
Eagles' Peak	2,500	27
Shadows of Custodia	4,000	36
At First Light	4,500	46
Perilous Moons	5,000	20
Defender of Varrock	15,000	52
Secrets of the North	40,000	56
Song of the Elves	40,000	70
Monkey Madness II	50,000	60
While Guthix Sleeps	50,000	62
Total	213,500

Eagles' Peak is the important one: you need to partly complete it to use box traps, which you need for jerboas and all chinchompas. At First Light is needed for Master Rumours at 91, per OSRS Compass. The Blood Moon Rises needs 65 Hunter and opens Vampyrium, home of the stymphikes below and the boss in the OSRS Maggot King guide. Bone Voyage gives no Hunter XP, but it unlocks Fossil Island, which you need for birdhouses, drift net fishing and herbiboar.

Step 1: 1-9 with the Natural History Quiz

Go to the basement of Varrock Museum and talk to Orlando Smith. Answer the questions at each display case and return to him. That's 1,000 Hunter XP, enough for level 9 (969 XP). OSRS Compass notes you get 1,000 Slayer XP too.

Step 2: the active ladder from 9 to 73

These are the wiki's recommended steps. The XP rates are the wiki's, and the wiki flags that early rates may predate the August 2026 deadfall changes.

Levels	Creature	Where	What you need	Wiki XP/h
9-15	Feldip weasels	Feldip Hunter area (Feldip Hills teleport scroll, run south)	Noose wand, rings of pursuit	About 13,000
15-21	Ruby harvests and copper longtails	Piscatoris Hunter area (fairy ring AKQ)	Butterfly net, jars, bird snare	Up to 20,000 with two traps
21-39	Red crabs	The Pandemonium	Partial Pandemonium, 10 Construction to build traps, fish offcuts	About 31,000 with two traps
39-43	Embertailed jerboas	Locus Oasis (fairy ring AJP)	Box traps (Eagles' Peak)	Up to 50,000 with three traps
43-49	Spotted and dark kebbits (falconry)	Piscatoris falconry area	A small fee to rent a gyr falcon, empty weapon, shield and gloves slots	60,000-70,000 (spotted)
49-73	Razor-backed kebbits	Piscatoris Hunter area	Noose wand, rings of pursuit, stamina potions	Up to 130,000

By our arithmetic from these rates, 9 to 49 takes about 2.2 hours and 49 to 73 about 6.9 hours.

How to do each step

Feldip weasels (9-15). Inspect a burrow to start a trail, follow the tracks to the end, then attack the bush with your noose wand. A ring of pursuit shows the whole trail. Since the update it also works on a trail you've already started (Jagex).

Ruby harvests (15-21). Keep a bird snare going on copper longtails and catch ruby harvest butterflies while you wait. Release butterflies from the jar so you can reuse it.

Red crabs (21-39). Build two crab traps once (hammer, saw, planks, nails, buckets), then bait them with fish offcuts. A bank is nearby.

Embertailed jerboas (39-43). Place box traps near the spawns at Locus Oasis. Boost to 40 with a hunter potion for the third trap.

Falconry (43-49). Rent the falcon from Matthias. Stay near the three spotted kebbit spawns in the south-east corner. Since the update you can walk around while the falcon chases, and it still catches when your inventory is full. Wear a bonecrusher necklace for the bones.

Razor-backed kebbits (49-73). Use the eastmost burrow each time, which the wiki says gives the least downtime. Each catch is 348.5 XP. Wear weight-reducing gear, keep stamina potions up, and fletch the long kebbit spikes into bolts between catches for Fletching XP (the OSRS Fletching guide covers where that fits). Store spare rings of pursuit in the huntsman's kit.

Alternatives if you don't like tracking

• Sapphire glacialis (25-39): Rellekka Hunter area (fairy ring DKS), about 28,500 XP/h at 25.
• Swamp lizards (29-43): net traps near Slepe, 20,000-28,000 XP/h, or 40,000-45,000 with three traps.
• Orange salamanders (47-59): Uzer or the Necropolis area. Bring waterskins and desert clothing.
• Red salamanders (60-67): south of the Ourania Cave, 80,000-105,000 XP/h with four traps.
• Black salamanders (67-73): Wilderness Bone Yard, 90,000-125,000 XP/h with five traps. The wiki says few PKers go there, but it's still the Wilderness.

Step 3: birdhouses after the August 2026 nerf

Birdhouses on Fossil Island used to be the standard way to train Hunter to 80. Jagex's update cut XP for every tier except redwood. The table below combines the wiki's pre-update values with Jagex's percentage cuts (our arithmetic). Our numbers match OSRS Toolkit's post-update table.

Birdhouse	Hunter level	Old XP per run (4 houses)	Cut	New XP per run
Regular	5	448	60%	179.2
Oak	14	672	60%	268.8
Willow	24	896	60%	358.4
Teak	34	1,120	60%	448
Maple	44	1,476	55%	664.2
Mahogany	49	1,920	50%	960
Yew	59	2,448	40%	1,468.8
Magic	74	3,876	15%	3,294.6
Redwood	89	4,800	Unchanged	4,800

Nest rolls went from 10 to 5 with triple the chance per roll, which Jagex says works out to about 50% more nests, and more consistent. So birdhouses are now mostly about nests (seeds, rings and eggs), and those seeds feed the tree runs in the OSRS Farming guide. At magic and redwood they still give a decent bit of passive XP. Each birdhouse is built from logs, so cutting your own (see the OSRS Woodcutting guide) and building them (see the OSRS Crafting guide) keeps runs cheap.

A run: bring a digsite pendant, hammer, chisel, 4 logs (or built houses), 40 seeds and 1 spare clockwork. Teleport to Fossil Island, Mushtree to Verdant Valley (2 houses), Mushtree to Mushroom Meadow (1 house), then run south to the Sticky Swamp entrance (1 house). The wiki says a run takes 73-90 seconds. On your first run, unlock the Mushtrees and the pendant's Fossil Island teleport as described on the wiki.

Step 4: 73-99, black chinchompas or Rumours

Black chinchompas (73-99)

Black chinchompas live in the Wilderness Hunter area, at level 32-36 Wilderness. You need box traps (Eagles' Peak). The wiki's rates assume tick manipulation and being attacked by a PKer every 1-2 hours.

Hunter level	Solo XP/h	With a shooting alt XP/h
73	145,000	157,000
80	167,000	197,000
90	197,000	233,000
99	225,000	265,000

Getting there: a Wilderness obelisk to level 35 (from your house or east of the Corporeal Beast lair), a revenant cave teleport, or a waka canoe from Edgeville. The hard Wilderness diary gives faster access. Shooting a stray chinchompa that wanders off makes a new one spawn, and that one usually walks into a trap faster. Black chinchompas sell as Ranged ammunition, so they pay while they train; the OSRS money-making guide lays out the other earners, including birdhouse runs, by account stage.

PKers. The wiki recommends high Defence and Magic, Augury (77 Prayer), a phoenix necklace, anti-venom or a serpentine helm, and a tank setup such as a Dinh's bulwark or staff of the dead with an elysian or spectral spirit shield. Bring only what you're willing to lose. Nothing makes the Wilderness risk-free.

Hunters' Rumours (72-99)

Rumours are tasks from guild hunters in the Hunter Guild. You hunt a creature until a rare part drops, then hand it in. Rumours open at 46, Expert rumours at 72 and Master rumours at 91 (Master also needs At First Light). The wiki recommends waiting for Expert at 72.

Hunter level	Wiki XP/h
72	160,000
91	195,000
99	250,000

These rates assume the full guild hunter outfit, a block list focused on XP and good teleports. The XP for each rumour scales with your level and tier (modifier 50 for Novice and Adept, 55 for Expert, 60 for Master). Two guild hunters never give the same creature, so you can block a task by holding it with one hunter while you do others. Guild Scribe Verity can turn on back-to-back rumours. Since the update, butterfly and moth rumour parts drop at 1 in 40 instead of 1 in 75 (Jagex).

Low-effort and profit methods

Method	Levels	Requirement	Wiki XP/h	Notes
Maniacal monkeys	60-99	Monkey Madness II, Kruk greegree	51,000 at 60 to 110,000 at 99	One inventory of banana baskets lasts about 50 minutes. Still one trap after the update
Herbiboar	80-99	31 Herblore, Bone Voyage	137,000 at 80 to 171,000 at 99	About 3,300 Herblore XP/h if you harvest herbs
Carnivorous chinchompas	63/80-99	Eagles' Peak, Children of the Sun	115,000 at 80 to 155,000 at 99 without tick manipulation	Tlati Rainforest, outside the Wilderness
Moonlight moths	75-99	Access to Neypotzli	100,000+	Click-intensive. A Hunter Guild basement spot is near a bank
Rainbow crabs	77-99	Crab traps and fine fish offcuts	About 122,000 (4 traps), 155,000 (5 traps)	Doesn't scale with level
Stymphikes	82-99	The Blood Moon Rises, letvek bait	Theoretical max 143,175	3 clicks every 45 seconds
Drift net fishing	44-99	47 Fishing, Bone Voyage, Pirate Pete gear	60,145 at 44 to 116,725 at 70 (Hunter)	Gives Fishing XP too
Aerial fishing	35-99	43 Fishing	Split XP	Easier since the update
Pyre foxes	57-99	Varlamore access, knife and logs	No wiki XP/h; 177.6 XP per catch	Deadfall traps in the Avium Savannah. Jagex cut each catch from 222 XP in August 2026
Tecu salamanders	79-99	Varlamore access, net traps	No wiki XP/h; 344 XP per catch	South-east of Ralos' Rise. Immature salamanders are common catches

The XP-per-catch figures for pyre foxes and tecu salamanders come from their OSRS Wiki creature pages. The training page has no hourly rate for them, so treat them as variety picks rather than benchmarks.

Hunter pets

Three pets come from Hunter. The baby chinchompa can drop from any chinchompa catch, with odds that improve with level. Herbi drops at 1 in 6,500 per herbiboar harvest. Quetzin comes from Expert and Master Hunters' loot sacks at 1 in 1,000 each (OSRS Wiki).

Ironman and returning players

Ironmen. Make your own birdhouses (they need Crafting) and do runs for nests: seeds feed Farming. Red chinchompas and black chinchompas give you Ranged ammo. Herbiboar gives herbs for Herblore. Drift net fishing trains Fishing and Hunter together.

Returning players. Check the 19 August 2026 changes. Birdhouse XP is down, deadfall traps are better (two traps, 75% log preservation, catching from 8 ticks instead of 15), and you get two traps from level 1. Chompy bird kills now give 30 Hunter XP.

For the other skills and bosses on the same account, the Old School RuneScape hub is the starting point.

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 Hunter in OSRS? Black chinchompas from 73, after the museum quiz and the active ladder. That's about 70 hours from 1 by our arithmetic with the wiki's solo rates. Hunters' Rumours are about as fast and stay outside the Wilderness.

Are birdhouses still worth doing in OSRS? For nests, yes. Since 19 August 2026 they give 15-60% less XP (redwood unchanged) and about 50% more nests, per Jagex, so they are a seed and nest run now rather than a way to level.

When should I start Hunters' Rumours? At 72, when Expert rumours open, if you only care about XP. Starting at 46 is still useful for the guild hunter outfit, which raises catch rates and rare-part chances.

What's the best AFK Hunter method in OSRS? Maniacal monkeys from 60 (after Monkey Madness II) or stymphikes from 82 (after The Blood Moon Rises). Herbiboar is a lower-effort profit option from 80.

Can you train Hunter in free-to-play? No. Hunter is a members-only skill in Old School RuneScape, and every method in this guide needs membership.

How many traps can I set at each Hunter level? 2 from level 1, 3 at 40, 4 at 60 and 5 at 80, with one extra in the Wilderness. A hunter potion (+3) gets you each extra trap three levels early.

Related guides

• OSRS Herblore guide 1-99
• OSRS Farming guide 1-99
• OSRS Woodcutting guide 1-99
• OSRS Fletching guide 1-99
• OSRS money-making guide
• OSRS Sailing guide 1-99