OSRS Combat Training Guide: Level 1 to 60 for Beginners

How Combat XP Works

Every hit you land gives XP based on damage dealt. That's it. Weapon speed, opponent level, and armour don't change your XP rate — only how fast you can land damage.

Combat level is a single number combining all seven combat stats: Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Ranged, Magic, and Prayer.

Attack styles — Every weapon has 4 attack styles. Set them in the Combat tab (F1):

| Style | XP goes to |

|-------|-----------|

| Accurate | Attack |

| Aggressive | Strength |

| Defensive | Defence |

| Controlled (spears / etc.) | All three, split |

Every style also gives Hitpoints XP as a passive.

Recommendation: Train Attack and Strength to your target level first, then Defence. Defence is the "boring" stat that lets you wear better armour — you want it high, but not at the expense of hitting harder.

The Beginner Training Path (F2P)

Level 1–20 combat: Chickens & Cows

• Chickens — Behind Lumbridge Castle. They hit 0, they can't kill you. Perfect while you learn the interface. Loot: feathers (worth 3–5 gp each — save them, Fishing needs them).
• Cows — North of Lumbridge Castle or Falador. Bit more XP than chickens, drop cowhides (~100 gp each on the GE) and raw beef (cook it for food).

Wear whatever you have. Bronze armour → iron once you can afford it (~1k gp).

Level 20–30: Al-Kharid Warriors / Hill Giants F2P

• Al-Kharid warriors in the Al-Kharid palace — decent XP, no drops worth noting.
• Hill giants in Edgeville Dungeon (through the wilderness — dangerous entry) or Varrock Palace basement. Drop big bones (~200 gp each) — massive Prayer XP source and steady GP.

At level 40 Attack you can equip rune weapons — the F2P damage ceiling. A rune scimitar (~14k gp) is the best F2P weapon for XP and stays useful until level 60+ Attack.

Gear Progression (F2P)

Your gear stack ladders like this. Buy on the GE — do not craft (Smithing at low levels is loss-making).

Level 1–20 combat

| Slot | Item | Requirement |

|------|------|-------------|

| Weapon | Iron scimitar | Level 1 Attack |

| Body | Iron platebody | Level 1 Defence |

| Shield | Iron kiteshield | Level 1 Defence |

| Helm | Iron full helm | Level 1 Defence |

| Amulet | Amulet of accuracy | None |

Total cost: ~2k gp.

Level 20–40 combat

Swap to steel across the board (~5k gp total). At level 20 Defence unlock the amulet of power (~10k gp) — best F2P amulet stat-wise.

Level 40+ combat

Rune scimitar and full rune armour — the F2P endgame stack. Full set: ~80k gp.

Two-handed alternative: A rune 2h sword hits harder but slower. Better for boss training, worse for sustained XP.

The Members Fast Track

The moment you go P2P, do these three quests. In under 3 hours you'll go from level 20 combat to level ~50 combat with almost no grinding.

1. Waterfall Quest

• Requirements: None (just start it).
• Reward: 13,750 Attack XP + 13,750 Strength XP.
• How: Talk to Almera north of Baxtorian Falls. Follow the quest guide on the wiki carefully — there are 2 pieces of hidden inventory management.

2. Fight Arena

• Requirements: None.
• Reward: 12,175 Attack XP + 12,175 Strength XP + 1,000 gp.
• How: Start in Ardougne. Involves combat but nothing you can't handle at level 30.

3. Vampyre Slayer + Witch's House

Both together add another ~10k Attack XP and Hitpoints XP.

Combined: These three quests will put you around level 40 Attack + Strength from a fresh account. Every hour saved is worth the questing time.

Best F2P XP Spots by Level

| Combat Level | Where | XP/hour | Notes |

|-------------|-------|---------|-------|

| 3–20 | Chickens (Lumbridge) | 5–10k | Safe, feathers |

| 20–40 | Hill giants (Edgeville) | 20–30k | Big bones = Prayer XP |

| 40–60 | Ogress warriors (Corsair Cove) | 40–50k | Members preferred |

| 40–60 F2P | Moss giants (Varrock sewers) | 20–35k | Battlestaff drops |

| 60+ | Sand crabs / Ammonite crabs | 35–50k | Ultra-AFK, Members |

AFK training — Sand crabs (Zeah, Members) and ammonite crabs (Fossil Island, Members) are OSRS staples for AFK combat. They aggro you, hit 0s, and reset every ~10 minutes. You can literally train for hours with a hit every 60 seconds to keep aggro.

Prayer, Ranged, and Magic

Combat isn't just melee. Round out your combat kit:

Prayer

• Bury every bone. Big bones (200 XP), dragon bones (Members, 252 XP each) are the standard training path.
• Prayer 43 unlocks Protect from Melee/Ranged/Magic — required for most bosses.
• Prayer 44 unlocks Piety-adjacent boosts later (level 70 with the Piety prayer itself).

Ranged

• Train at cows or hill giants with bronze/iron arrows until level 40.
• Level 40 → maple shortbow (Members) or willow shortbow (F2P).
• Ranged is generally faster XP than melee at low levels — consider it for your first 30 levels if you're impatient.

Magic

• Level 1–35 is painful in OSRS. Fire strike on the Wizard's Tower golems for ~30 hours = level 55.
• Better path: Splashing — deliberately fail low-level spells on cows for 100% AFK Magic XP. Slower per hour but zero attention.
• Once you hit level 55 Magic, High Alchemy is the standard XP method and pays for itself.

Common Beginner Mistakes

❌ Training Defence too early. Defence adds nothing to your damage output. Get Attack and Strength to your goal first.

❌ Fighting monsters way above your level. XP doesn't scale with monster difficulty. A level 40 hill giant gives the same XP as a level 10 cow if you hit the same damage. Fight what you can kill fastest without dying.

❌ Ignoring food. Bring 20+ pieces of food to any training spot. Trout / lobsters / swordfish are the standard early foods. Dying is a huge time sink.

❌ Skipping quest XP. Quest rewards give you effectively free levels. Every questing hour is worth 3+ hours of straight grinding at low levels.

❌ Wearing a helmet with hair sticking out. Cosmetic only. But you'll know.