OSRS Beginner Guide: What to Do First in Old School RuneScape
Old School RuneScape can feel overwhelming at first: 23 skills, hundreds of quests and no clear path. The trick is to let quests do the heavy lifting early on. This guide gives you a simple plan for your first weeks.
Last updated: Beginner guide · Oct 18, 2026 · 2 min read
Secure your account first
Set up an authenticator and a bank PIN before you do anything else. Scammers target new players with fake trades, 'double your money' offers and phishing links. Jagex staff never ask for your password, and no legitimate player needs it.
Use quests to skip slow training
Many quests reward large amounts of experience in skills that are slow to train, and they unlock areas, items and teleports you'll use for years. A few good early ones:
- Waterfall Quest: lots of Attack and Strength experience for a low-level character.
- Fight Arena and Tree Gnome Village: more combat experience early on.
- The Restless Ghost and Priest in Peril: Prayer experience and access to Morytania.
- Monkey Madness I and Lost City: key unlocks for mid-level training and gear.
Train combat efficiently
Melee is the simplest style to start with. Train Attack, Strength and Defence on monsters around your level, upgrade your weapon every few levels and use the Slayer skill once you have some combat levels: Slayer tasks give direction, extra experience and better drops. Wintertodt is a popular early stop to train Firemaking safely and earn supplies.
Is membership worth it?
Free-to-play is a good way to learn the game, but membership unlocks most of the map, many more skills and nearly all of the content people talk about. Many players pay for membership with bonds bought using in-game gold once their money making is going.
Install a quest helper and plan goals
Official RuneLite plugins such as Quest Helper show exactly where to go next, and the OSRS Wiki has optimal quest guides. Set a few goals — a quest cape, a fire cape, a first boss kill — and work towards them; OSRS is a marathon, and clear goals keep it fun.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do first in OSRS?
Secure your account with an authenticator and bank PIN, then do quests like Waterfall Quest and Fight Arena that give big early combat experience.
Should I play an ironman as a beginner?
Ironman removes trading, which makes it harder. Most players learn on a normal account first; you can always start an ironman later.
Do I need RuneLite?
No, but most players use it. It's an approved third-party client with plugins such as Quest Helper and ground item markers that make the game easier to learn.