Level 1-99 Hunter Guide for OSRS | OSRS Tips and Tricks
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How Hunter Works

There are now 10 categories when it comes to getting hunter experience.

The majority of the methods involve setting up a trap and waiting for prey to be caught. Some involve tracking an animal down, or even using an eagle to catch your prey, either in the falconry or through aerial fishing.  Hunter is a skill that can now be trained fairly passively aswell with birdhouse runs, which are doable from level 5. It can also be a highly profitable skill, with higher level methods giving millions of coins per hour.

Hunter potions are readily available on the grand exchange at a price of about 1k per sip, and these are extremely useful for training since you can boost to use better methods. The best example of this is with birdhouses, if youre 3 levels off the next tier, have a sip of a hunter potion and you can place and fill the birdhouse.

Hunter.png

Level 1 to 9 Hunter

The fastest way to level 9 is through the Varrock Museum and every account should do this. Doing the Vquiz gives you 1000 Hunter XP and 1000 Slayer XP, from level 1 to 9.. To start it, you have to go to the basement of the Varrock Museum and speak to Orlando. You are asked to answer the quizzes on each display case located on each of the 4 sides of the underground museum. Runelite will automatically show you the correct answer, but if you're playing on mobile or don’t want to use runelite, the answers are going to show up on the screen. Youll need to pause to read them for each section, and once you have answered them all correctly, go speak to him, and he will give you your XP.

Varrock Museum Quiz

Birdhouse Runs

You need to have completed the bone voyage quest to use birdhouses, and the first birdhouse is unlocked at level 5 hunter. The concept is similar to farming, in that it’s a passive way to train, where you set up a trap and wait 50 minutes until its complete, then you receive hunter xp and bird's nests.

The average full birdhouse run takes 1 minute and 20 seconds if you're efficient, and theres 4 birdhouse locations per run making the maximum possible xp per run, using redwoods, 4.8k hunter xp.

 

There's 4 birdhouse trap locations, and all are easily accessible using the giant mushroom teleportation system, which only requires you to go to the mushroom once to unlock. Using the digsite pendant found cleaning finds in the varrock museum, you can teleport right next to a mushroom. You then start your run by going to the verdant valley, filling the 2 trap locations there, then use the mushroom to the mushroom meadows and theres one slightly north and far down south.

 

You can create birdhouses from wooden to redwood through the crafting skill, by using a hammer and chisel with logs and a clockwork. On your first birdhouse run, you'll need complete birdhouses, but on every run after that, youll receive the clockwork back, so you only need to take logs and tools with you. This does mean you'll need the crafting level requirement for the type of birdhouse youre doing. To speed things up you can take one clockwork with you on a new run and while youre going to the next location, you can make the birdhouse, making the pickup and placement really fast. After placing a birdhouse, they need to be filled with seeds, and 10 of any hop seed or herb seed works, with hops seeds being the cheapest, ones like barley seeds or hammerstones.

Level 12 to 15 Hunter

From level 9 to 15 theres 3 routes I like. Firstly, questing.  as I said before you can use a hunter potion to boost to level 12,  then complete the ascent of arceuus quest, giving xp to level 15. The quest is started at Mori, east of the magic trees in arceuus and takes only around 15 minutes. Down in the description is a link to Slayermusiq's recent quick-guide on how to do it.

Quest: Ascent of Arceuus

Level 9 to 15 Hunter

Another route from level 9 was birdhouses, and youd need only one birdhouse run to get from 9 to 12, then one full oak birdhouse run with a hunter potion will get you through to 15.

Birdhouse Runs

Level 9 to 15 Hunter

The route that I recommend most is to get started with traditional hunter training, and youll be starting with copper longtails.

To get started, you should grab a piscatoris teleport scroll, some stamina potions, hunter potions, coins and a ring of duelling, then teleport to castle wars using the ring. Make your way to the Yanille Hunter shop, and here you can buy a bird snare, butterfly net and fill the rest of your invent with butterfly jars, which are hard to get on the grand exchange. Next you need to head to the piscatoris hunter area and the most readily available teleport for normal accounts is the teleport scroll off the ge. Alternatively you can use the AKQ fairy ring, a spirit tree to the grand tree and walk, or teleport to ardy or barbarian assault and walk from there.

Make your way slightly south of the fairy ring teleport icon, and here at a group of trees, theres 5 or 6 copper longtails circling around. Set up a bird snare and wait until a bird is trapped, and youre likely to fail quite a few times. You'll need to catch 11 copper longtails until level 12 hunter, and from here you can use hunter potions to boost to level 15, where you can catch ruby harvest butterflies.

Copper Longtail Birds

Level 15 to 29 Hunter

Directly east of the trees we were just training at, therell be 4 or 5 red butterflies flying around. Theyre pretty hard to click but you can make it a lot easier by using runelite and tagging them, by holding shift and right clicking them. In this small area, theres 3 butterfly spawns, so by using your hunter potion to boost to 15, and using stamina potions, you can constantly run and catch them. You can start moving as soon as the butterfly appears in the jar in your inventory, so to get the max xp rate you'll need to be pretty focused. At level 15 youll get over 25k xp per hour, you should continue doing this through to level 29, which should take under half an hour. You'll need to get pretty good with your clicks because removing the butterflies is always a right click option. At level 27 hunter, or level 24 if you use a hunter potion, you can do the eagle's peak quest which takes around 20 minutes and gives 2.5k hunter xp but also allows you to use Box Traps, which youll want later down the track if youre going for 99.

If you start the quest at 27, youll end up at 29 hunter, which unlocks the next training method, swamp lizards.

Ruby Harvest & Copper Longtails

Level 29 to 43 Hunter

Lizards are caught with net traps, so you'll need rope and small fishing nets, I recommend getting at least 10 of each in your bank. To catch green salamanders or swamp lizards, you need to go south east of canafis. The fastest way there is to use the BKR fairy ring and run east. Alternatively you can buy a salve graveyard teleport tablet off the grand exchange, or teleport to kharryl using ancient magic.

At low levels, you will be aggressive to the Snails in the area, and there are also some Ghasts around that will damage you from time to time. So at a low level, you need some food with you.

With 29 hunter you can only place 2 traps, so your xp rate will cap at 35 to 37k xp per hour. Once you reach level 40, you can place 3, which greatly speeds  your xp to up to 50k xp per hour at high concentration. It’s a good idea to move to the front of a trap when you see a swamp lizard starting to go into it, because you can only replace a trap if youre standing on the tile opposite of the tree. It saves you walking around it after dismantling.

Swamp Lizards

Level 43 to 47 Hunter

So you should catch these until level 43, and At level 43, you unlock Spotted Kebbits in the Piscatoris Falconry. By paying 500 coins, you can rent a Falcon, which you can use to target the Kebbits in the fenced off area. Depending on how focused you are the whole time, you can get up to 55 000 XP per hour catching spotted kebbits. The biggest tip I can give you for the falconry is to only catch kebbits within 5 tiles of your player, and run next to the kebbits before you catch them. This is to reduce the amount of flying time for your falcon, because youll notice sending your falcon a long distance takes much much longer to get the kebbit and come back.

 It’s a good idea again to tag the kebbits, and youll find that they have specific spawn locations, so you can camp at a location with 2 spawns and consistently train there.

Falconry Spotted Kebbits

Level 47 to 59 Hunter

At level 47, you unlock Orange Salamanders which are located east of the shantay pass in the kharidian desert. The fastest ways there are using a desert amulet teleport, necklace of passage teleport to the eagle's

Again, with salamanders youll need nets and small fishing nets, and since theyre in the desert youll need some waterskins and desert clothing to protect yourself from the desert heat. Desert clothing, including the boots, dramatically helps with desert heat, and you can bring a knife along to cut the nearby cacti for water or use humidify on the lunar spellbook. Alternatively you can teleport out and bank for more waterskins. This with the desert elite diary can use the desert amulet 4 which removes the need for waterskins. Through from 47 to 59 Hunter, you can get up to and over 65k XP per hour with good focus.

Orange Salamanders

Level 59 to 67 Hunter

At 59 you can catch red salamanders, and at level 60 you have the ability to set 4 traps, so I recommend taking some hunter potions to have access to 4 traps at a lower level.

The Red Salamanders are located near the Ourania Altar, you can use a duelling ring to castle wars and walk north, an ourania teleport on the lunar spellbook or a good way there is by using a Spirit tree to the Khazard Battlefield and walking west.  You should train all the way to the west, focusing mainly on these 3 traps, and running to the fourth when theres nothing going on with these 3. With 4 traps, you can easily achieve 100k xp per hour, and you can get higher with focus. It really helps if you have graceful or a high agility level for run energy.

Red Salamanders

Level 67 to 73/80 Hunter

At level 67, you unlock Black Salamanders, which are located in the Wilderness near the Green Dragons and the Hill Giants. The fastest way there is to use a burning amulet to the chaos temple and run north east or alternatively using a games necklace and running east works. Theyre under level 30 wilderness, meaning it is possible to teleport out, but its pretty unlikely to get pked here since you wont be risking much at all. You can get up to and over 150 000 XP per hour here with some focus and utilising as many traps as possible. In the wilderness, you can place 1 extra trap, so with level 67 through to 80 you can place 5 instead of 4.. To be the most efficient you should be clicking onto the next trap or clicking to set up the trap while youre doing the previous action. You can see my character can start the next action earlier than when the animation finishes, so don’t wait for it.

Black salamanders are actually the fastest hunter xp available until level 80 hunter, where other methods become faster.

Black Salamanders

Level 80 to 99 Hunter

You unlock red chinchompas at level 62 hunter, but its highly recommended to wait until 80 hunter, where you can place 5 box traps at once, and the catch rate is much higher.

To catch chinchompas you need to complete the eagle's peak quest, to use box traps. 

Red chinchompas can be found in the new gwenith hunter area in priffdinnas, and more easily accessed at feldip hills where you can use a feldip hills teleport scroll or aks fairy ring to quickly get there.

The red chinchompas are found near the hunter icon on the map.

If you do the Western Provinces Hard Diary, you have access to the Red Chinchompa Hunting Ground where the dungeon icon is, and there are a lot more Chinchompa spawns, and the normal areas are usually quite crowded with bots and other low level players.

Normally training at level 62, youll get under 100k xp per hour, and  about 140 000 XP per hour at level 80 which is decent. But, using ticking manipulation to set up your box traps, you get about 20% more XP per hour, boosting you up to an average of 170k XP per hour, and even higher at higher levels.
Placing a box trap normally, theres a period of time where its on the ground, then turns into an active trap. After you place a trap, youll notice that the next traps you place pop up a lot faster. The same thing occurs when you use herb tar or fletch a teak log (since theres only 1 option). So this means players can use herb tar or fletch a teak on the first trap they place, then since they’ve started a placing cycle, the next traps will place faster. 

 All the way through from level 80 – 99 Hunter, you will make about 65 mil from Red Chinchompas making it a great way to get to 99 for profit and xp.

Red Chinchompas

Level 80 to 99 Hunter

At level 73, you can catch black chinchopmas, although again, having 80 helps for the extra box trap.

Black chins are located in the wilderness, southwest of lava dragon isle. The fastest way to them is using a wilderness obelisk on your house to the level 35 one, or you can use a rev cave tele, burning ammy to the lava maze, or games necklace to corp and run north.  Since theyre in the wilderness you can place 1 extra trap, but since black chins are so expensive, pkers are always hunting you down. So this means youll need to be banking every 50 to 100 chins, and youll also want to take high tanking gear, such as the dinhs bulwark and phoenix necklaces. You should again be using herbtar or fletching to sett up traps faster. The xp rate for black chins varies a lot depending on how often you get pked, but these are the average exp rates accounting for a few different things, firstly normal catching, adding tick manipulation, and then adding an alt account to kill stray chinchompas. If you bring an alt to shoot any of the black chins that run away from your traps, you can get upwards of 280k xp per hour with little pkers. Normally catching black chins at level 73 will net you about 150k xp per hour making black salamanders better until level 80. Going through to 99 catching black chinchompas will net you 110 mil if you never die from level 80 .

Black Chinchompas

Level 80 to 99 Hunter

Another method that you unlock at level 80 Hunter is tracking Herbiboars on Fossil Island. To do this, you need to have completed the Bone Voyage quest, and you can catch them around the mushroom meadow area.. With Stamina Potions and focus, you can get up to 150 000 Hunter XP per hour. On top of that, you will get an extra 10k or so in Herblore XP per hour for harvesting the Herbiboars. While you are catching the Herbiboars, you also have a chance of getting the Herbi pet, which has a 1 in 6500 drop rate. Using runelite is strongly recommended for herbiboars since it shows you the trail of where to click and start tracking.

Herbiboars

Level 80 to 99 Hunter

This requires almost full completion of monkey madness 2.  The method is within kruks dungeon, and you can easily bypass all of the obstacles by using kruks greegree and climbing the monkey bars. You then enter the wall and can go and mount on a stunted demonic gorilla. Then by using bananas as bate, you can catch these guys for 1000 XP per monkey and a 1 in 5000 chance of getting a monkey tail. Youll need bones to bananas runes and you can pick up bones everywhere around the floor. You cant use bones to bananas inside a greegree, so youll need to dismount and go outside, and cast it. You can also take baskets of bananas with you. What is so good about this method is that is it far less click intensive. You will not be making as much XP per hour or GP per hour. But, there is a lot less focus involved, which makes this a very inviting method to some players.

Maniacal Monkeys

Fastest Methods from 80

So the 4 best options were Red Chins, Black Chins, Herbiboars and Maniacal Monkeys.

Red chins are the fastest method in a safe area, although without the western hard diary, youll be competing with a lot of bots. Black chins are the fastest method in the game if you use an alt.

Herbiboars offer more benefits for ironmen, in that you can get loads of herbs on the way to 99 hunter, helping your herblore training. And maniacal monkeys should be done if you prefer afk training, each catch of a maniacal monkey gives the equivalent xp of a full yew birdhouse.

The Hunter Skillcape

 The hunter skillcape at 99 offers a neat feature, it gives 5 teleports to either the red chinchompa hunter area or black chinchompas.

HOW HUNTER WORKS
BIRDHOUSE RUNS
1-9: VARROCK MUSEUM
9-15: BIRDHOUS RUNS
9-15: COPPER LONGTAILS
12-15: ASCENT OF ARCEUUS
15-29: COPPER & RUBY
29-43: SWAMP LIZARDS
43-47: SPOTTED KEBBITS
47-59: ORANGE SALAMANDERS
59-67: RED SALAMANDERS
67-80: BLACK SALAMANDERS
80-99: RED CHINCHOMPAS
80-99: BLACK CHINCHOMPAS
80-99: HERBIBOARS
80-99: MANIACAL MONKEYS
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