1–99 Prayer Guide (OSRS)

Prayer is one of the most impactful skills in Old School RuneScape. Higher Prayer levels unlock protection prayers, offensive boosts, increased combat level, and longer-lasting prayers. With modern training methods, Prayer can be trained extremely fast — or safely and cheaply — depending on your goals.

At-a-Glance: Prayer Training Options

• Fastest XP: Gilded Altar (Superior Dragon Bones)

• Cheapest: Chaos Altar

• Safe & Ironman-Friendly: Bone Shards

• Passive: Bonecrusher, Ash Sanctifier

Why Train Prayer?

Every 8 Prayer levels grant 1 combat level, meaning 99 Prayer provides a significant combat boost. Higher Prayer levels also increase potion restoration values and reduce drain rate, making all prayers last longer.

Key milestones include:

• Level 43: Protection prayers

• Level 77: All prayers unlocked

Prayer Training Methods Compared

Bone Shards (Valamore)

Bone Shards are a modern Prayer method that offers high XP per bone in a safe environment. This method requires access to Valamore and a minimum of 30 Prayer.

Bone Shards are obtained by mining, converting blessed bones, or completing Valamore activities. When combined with blessed wines, players can AFK or click actively for faster XP.

• Safe training

• Excellent for Ironmen

• High XP per bone

Gilded Altar

Using bones on a Gilded Altar with two lit incense burners provides 3.5x Prayer XP. Most players use house-hosting worlds to avoid building their own altar.

Manual use (one-ticking) significantly increases XP per hour.

Chaos Altar

The Chaos Altar offers the same XP multiplier as a Gilded Altar, with a 50% chance to save bones. This dramatically reduces cost but introduces Wilderness risk.

• Cheapest method overall

• Risk of PKers

• High XP if one-ticked

Ensouled Heads

Reanimating ensouled heads provides Prayer XP after defeating the spawned creature. This method is slower but cheaper and also grants combat XP.

A Dwarf Multicannon greatly improves efficiency.

Offering Spells

After completing advanced Kourend progression, offering spells consume bones or ashes for 3x Prayer XP while also granting Magic XP.

This method is best used with ashes due to cooldowns.

Passive Prayer Training

• Bonecrusher: Automatically grants Prayer XP from crushed bones

• Ash Sanctifier: Converts ashes into Prayer XP

• Ectoplasmator: Grants XP from spectral creatures

• God Eggs: Exchange for Prayer XP

Ironman Prayer Training

Ironmen spend most of their time collecting bones rather than using them. Safe and efficient options are preferred.

Low-Level Ironman

• Quest rewards

• Bone Shards

• Ectofuntus

• Chaos Altar (risk-reward)

Mid to High-Level Ironman

• Blue Dragons (safe)

• Forthos Dungeon Red Dragons

• Slayer drops

• Boss drops (Hydra, Dagannoth Kings)

Free-to-Play Prayer

Prayer training in free-to-play is slow and expensive. The best method is burying big bones while scattering vile ashes simultaneously.

Most players choose to unlock membership for more efficient Prayer training.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Training past level 77 without a clear goal

• Using bones inefficiently

• Ignoring bone-saving methods

• Risking too much GP in the Wilderness

FAQ

What is the fastest way to train Prayer?

Superior Dragon Bones on a Gilded Altar with one-ticking.

What is the cheapest Prayer method?

The Chaos Altar due to its bone-saving effect.

Is 99 Prayer worth it?

For PvM and PvP-focused accounts, the combat and sustain benefits are significant.

Is Prayer AFK?

Prayer is mostly click-intensive, but Bone Shards and passive methods reduce effort.

Efficiency Note

Players with limited playtime often prioritize efficient Prayer unlocks rather than full completion. Trusted services like ArgenGaming support this approach by focusing on safety, reliability, and structured progression instead of rushed training.