So you want to do quests in Old School RuneScape. Maybe you're starting a fresh account and don't know where to begin. Maybe you've got three quest points and you're staring at the quest list like it's a final exam you didn't study for. Or maybe you're actually insane and you're going for a Quest Cape because you hate having a healthy sleep schedule.

Whatever your situation, I've got you covered. I've done the quest grind more times than I'd like to admit, and I've made every mistake in the book so you don't have to. This guide is gonna walk you through the optimal quest order that'll get you the unlocks you actually care about, the XP rewards that matter, and eventuallyâif you're brave enoughâthat sweet, sweet Quest Cape.

Let me be real with you: quests in OSRS are the fastest way to skip the grinding equivalent of like 200 hours of skilling. But they're not all created equal. Some are absolute masterpieces that tell incredible stories. Others will test your patience, your clicking finger, and your will to live. We're gonna hit all of them in the right order so your account progresses smoothly and you're not doing a 47-step puzzle quest when you can barely afford runes.

Why Quest Order Actually Matters (Spoiler: It's Not Just Vibes)

Here's the thing that new players don't realize: the order you do quests in completely changes your account progression. Some quests unlock areas that make OTHER quests easier. Some give you early combat XP that lets you tackle harder content. And someâlooking at you, Recipe for Disasterâgate the entire mid-game behind them.

The biggest example? Barrows gloves. They're the best free gloves in the game until you hit endgame. But getting them requires you to complete the ENTIRE Recipe for Disaster quest chain, which itself requires like 12 prerequisite quests. If you do them out of order, you're gonna waste time grinding requirements you didn't need yet.

Same deal with the Quest Cape. You need to complete all 273 quests to get it. Not recommended for your first playthrough, but if you're actually going for it, you need a roadmap or you'll burn out during quest 89 when you realize you're doing 40 minutes of dialogue just to unlock something useless.

Here's what a good quest order gets you:

Early combat levels without grinding Chickens (yikes)
Key area unlocks that open up training spots and money-making methods
Essential gear that carries you through mid-game
Actual progression that feels rewarding instead of random

Now let's break this down into phases. I'm gonna walk you through exactly which quests you should do, when you should do them, and why they matter. No filler, no spreadsheet energyâjust honest advice from someone who's done this way too many times.

Phase 1: Fresh Account - The Foundation (Quests 1-8)

When you've literally just entered Gielinor and your attack level is a whopping 1, you're gonna want to get some basic stuff done. These quests are short, they give solid early XP, and they unlock areas you'll need for pretty much everything else.

Restless Ghost (Quest #1)

Yeah, it's the tutorial quest. But it takes like 5 minutes and gives you some prayer XP. Don't skip it.

Priest in Peril (Quests #2)

This one unlocks the eastern route through Morytania without having to pay tolls. Seems small, but trust me, you'll appreciate not paying gp to pass through gates 50 times.

Waterfall Quest (Quests #3)

This is the first real XP dump we're hitting. 91 attack XP, 91 strength XP. For an account that just started, that's honestly huge. Takes about 15 minutes if you follow the Quest Helper, and you'll be level 3-4 attack/strength after. It's literally the best XP-per-time quest in the game early on.

Witch's House (Quests #4)

Another quick one. 325 attack XP, 325 strength XP. More free levels. Plus it's genuinely easy and kinda wholesome as far as OSRS quests go.

Fight Arena (Quests #5)

Alright, this one requires 40 range and 40 melee to finish, but you've got those at this point. It's a bit grindyâlots of NPCs to fightâbut the XP reward is solid and it's not complicated. Unlock the ability to equip the Fighter Torso later, which is decent.

Restless Ghosts... wait, I already did this one? No, that was Priest in Peril. Look, here's the real Phase 1 lineup:

You know what, let me be straight with you. The actual "Phase 1" quests are:

Vampire Slayer - 20 attack XP, unlocks a cool weapon, 10 minutes. Easy.

The Grand Tree - This is where things get interesting. Requires 30 agility and 25 crafting, which sucks to grind, but once you have them, the quest itself is fun and unlocks Gnome Stronghold. You'll use that place forever.

Tree Gnome Village - Short, gives agility XP, lets you use the agility shortcut in the Village (which you'll need for The Grand Tree anyway).

Look, I'm gonna level with you: the "optimal" Phase 1 is basically just "do every short quest under 20 minutes that you have the stats for." The order doesn't matter too much here. The real phase 1 priority is just getting some base stats and unlocking areas.

Phase 2: Early Unlocks (20-40 Combat Range)

Okay, now we're getting into the quests that actually matter. You've got some base stats, you're not completely hopeless in combat, and you're ready to unlock the gear and abilities that'll carry you through the next 50 levels.

Animal Magnetism

Seriously, do this one early. You need 40 range and ranged attack to finish it, which you should have by now. The quest gives you Ava's Attractor, which automatically picks up your ranged ammo. That's not just convenientâit straight-up saves you thousands of gp every single day. Free money is free money, and every gp you save on ammo is a gp you can spend on important stuff.

Lost City

Now we're talking. This is the gateway quest to dragon equipment. Requires 36 WC and 10 attack. Takes about 20 minutes. Unlocks fairy rings (without finishing Fairy Tale I, which is a whole thing). You'll use this place constantly. Getting the shortcut through Entrana is one of the best early QoL improvements you can make.

Monkey Madness I

Okay, here's the thing about Monkey Madness: it's not actually that hard, but it feels like a lot. You've gotta navigate through a dungeon, do some platforming, fight some enemies. Takes about an hour if you know what you're doing. But you get the Dragon Scimitar, which is one of the best one-handed weapons in the entire game. It carries you from ~30 attack all the way to like 70+. That's insane value for one quest.

Plus, Monkey Madness I is required for Monkey Madness II later, which is an absolute powerhouse of content. Do it now, don't put it off.

Fairy Tale Part I + Start Part II (But Don't Finish)

Fairy Tale I is like 45 minutes of fetch quests and annoying platforming. But here's why you do it: it gives you access to fairy rings without the agility requirement. More importantly, once you START Fairy Tale II (don't finish it, that's a nightmare), you get the Dramen Staff effect without needing to equip it. Basically, you get to use fairy rings without the weight penalty.

This is a weird one to explain, but trust me: do Fairy Tale I all the way through, then do just enough of Part II to unlock that effect. You'll thank me later.

Phase 3: Mid-Game Essentials (40-60 Combat)

This is where the real account progression happens. These quests unlock the gear and abilities that define mid-game OSRS.

Recipe for Disaster (The entire chain, but prioritize it)

Alright, I'm not gonna sugarcoat this: Recipe for Disaster is the most important quest chain in the entire game. It takes forever. It requires a ton of prerequisites. It's grindy as hell.

But you NEED Barrows Gloves.

Barrows Gloves are the best free gloves in the game until you hit endgame PvM content. They're +12 to every single melee stat. You'll wear them for hundreds of hours. No other single item gives you that much value for the effort.

Here's the breakdown: Recipe for Disaster itself requires completion of:

Goblin Diplomacy
Pirate's Treasure
Witch's House (already done)
Fight Arena (already done)
Shadow of the Storm
The Knight's Sword
Dragon Slayer
Demon Slayer
The Holy Grail
And like five mini-quests

Yeah, it's a chain. Yeah, you'll want to pull your hair out around quest #8 of the chain. But push through it. Barrows Gloves are THAT important.

One tip: do it in phases. Don't try to do all 7 Recipe for Disaster chapters in one sitting. Do one chapter, take a break, do another. Your sanity will thank you.

Lunar Diplomacy

This is the quest that unlocks Lunar Spells, which are genuinely useful. Magic Imbue is one of the best utility spells in the game. Plank Make saves you tens of thousands of gp if you're doing construction. Heal Group lets you heal your entire clan during group activities.

Takes about 90 minutes, requires 40 magic and 40 defense. Totally worth it.

Dream Mentor

Unlocks lunar dream spells and some decent melee gear. Also opens up Armour Shop (Achievement Diary stuff). Not as critical as some others on this list, but solid if you're at the stats.

Desert Treasure I

Here's the big one: Ancient Magicks. This is THE spell book for PvM content. Ice Burst for slayer tasks, Teleport spells that are faster than regular teleports, damage-boosting prayers. You absolutely need this unlocked for endgame.

Desert Treasure is a proper quest too. There's dungeon crawling, some puzzle solving, a couple of annoying platforming sections (thanks, Pollnivneach), and a boss fight. Takes about 2 hours if you're moving at a decent pace. Definitely worth it.

One tip: bring a bunch of range gear because some of the boss fights favor that, and bring something to heal with. You'll thank me.

Phase 4: Late-Game Content Unlocks (60+ Combat)

Alright, you're in the big leagues now. You've got decent gear, decent stats, and you're ready to start unlocking the content that makes OSRS actually fun at the endgame level.

Dragon Slayer II

Dragon Slayer II is genuinely one of the best quests in the game. The story is incredible. The boss fight against Vorkath is actually engaging and feels epic. And once you finish it, you unlock Vorkath as a whole, which is one of the most profitable PvM activities in the game.

The quest itself requires 200 quest points (so you've gotta do a LOT of other quests first), 75 attack, 75 strength, 75 defense, 40 range, and 40 magic. The actual fight is harder than it sounds because Vorkath has some annoying mechanics, but it's doable.

The rewards are absolutely worth it. You get the Dragonbone Necklace (which is amazing), unlock Vorkath (the boss), and gain access to a ton of mid-tier gear. This is the quest that takes you from "grinding slayer" to "actually doing interesting PvM."

Honestly, after you unlock Vorkath, you're gonna spend a bunch of time killing him. He's that fun. So many people camp Vorkath for weeks straight because the money is good and the loot is useful.

Song of the Elves

This is THE big questline for unlocking Prifddinas, the most advanced city in the game. Takes multiple quests to get here (you need the entire Elf questline done), but once you finish Song of the Elves, you get access to:

The Gauntlet (endgame solo dungeon)
Prif itself (the whole city with shops, training spots, etc.)
Crystalline weapons (some of the best gear in the game)

If you're serious about getting far in OSRS, this is your gateway to endgame. It takes a while to build up to, but it's absolutely essential.

Monkey Madness II

So you already did Monkey Madness I, right? Good. Now do Part II. This quest is LONG. We're talking 3+ hours if you're moving at a reasonable pace. But you unlock:

Demonic Gorillas (one of the best mid-tier slayer tasks)
Zenyte Shards (essential for crafting endgame gear)
Ape Atoll Agility shortcuts

It's grindy, it has a bunch of puzzle sections, and there's a ton of combat. But the unlocks are so good that it's absolutely worth it. Demonic Gorillas alone will keep you busy for weeks.

A Night at the Theatre

This is the questline that unlocks Theatre of Blood, one of the most challenging PvM activities in the entire game. You need to complete several quests first, including Priest in Peril, The Fremennik Trials, Darkness of Hallowvale, and a couple others.

Theatre of Blood is endgame content, so you need like 80+ in your combat stats. But once you unlock it, you've got access to some of the rarest, most valuable drops in the game. Scythes, Rapiers, Gownsâall the top-tier gear comes from here.

Beneath Cursed Sands

This is the newest raid quest (well, relatively new), and it unlocks Tombs of Amascut. Another endgame PvM activity that drops insane loot. Similar stats required to ToB, but the quest chain isn't quite as painful to complete.

Phase 5: The Quest Cape Push - For the Brave and Slightly Unhinged

Okay, so you've done like 100 quests now. You've got all the good unlocks. Your account is strong. And now you're thinking: "What if I just... did all of them?"

Welcome to Quest Cape Hell. Population: people who don't value their free time.

Completing all 273 quests takes an UNGODLY amount of time. We're talking 300+ hours for a new player, maybe 150-200 for someone who knows what they're doing. Some quests take 5 minutes. Others take 4+ hours.

But if you're actually considering it, here's what you need to know:

The hardest quests are saved for last because they're the most annoying or require the highest stats. These include:

Mourning's End Part II (platforming nightmare)
One Small Favour (50 steps of fetch quest hell)
The Tourist Trap (annoying crafting requirements)
Ratcatchers (just weird and gross)
Wanted! (kinda long and boring)

The ones that require the most stats:

What Lies Below (requires 40+ in multiple stats)
The Fremennik Isles (65 thieving is rough)
Lunar Diplomacy (mentioned earlier, but it's late because it takes a while)

Here's a real tip: do the annoying quests in batches. Knock out 2-3 super annoying quests, then do 4-5 easy ones to stay sane. You need the mental breaks.

Also, use the Quest Helper plugin. I'm gonna talk more about this later, but seriously, Quest Helper is what makes Quest Cape grind actually doable. Without it, you're just clicking around trying to figure out what the hell NPCs want.

Most Rewarding Quests by XP - The Skill-Grinding Shortcuts

Here's the thing about quests: some of them give you INSANE XP rewards in specific skills. If you're smart about it, you can skip literally thousands of hours of grinding just by doing quests in the right order.

Let me break down the quests that give you the most XP per skill:

Attack/Strength (Melee XP):

Waterfall Quest: 91 Attack, 91 Strength (early game, borderline broken)
Fight Arena: huge rewards
Monkey Madness I: solid XP
Dragon Slayer II: actually decent melee XP too

Magic:

Lunar Diplomacy: 65k Magic XP
Desert Treasure I: 35k Magic XP
Priests in Peril: weird, but magic-adjacent

Ranged:

Animal Magnetism doesn't give range XP (which is annoying), but lots of range-focused quests do

Farming:

Jungle Potion: 11.5k Farming XP early
My Arm's Big Adventure: decent farming XP

Cooking:

Recipe for Disaster: genuinely huge Cooking XP across the chain

Crafting:

Sheep Herder: decent Crafting XP if you're desperate

Prayer:

Restless Ghost: early prayer XP (tiny)
Priest in Peril: early prayer XP

Here's the reality: you're never gonna skip Slayer by doing quests. Combat skills are where quests shine. If you do every quest up through Dragon Slayer II, you're gonna have way more combat XP than someone who just grinded Combat to those levels.

Quests You Can Actually Skip (But Probably Shouldn't)

Okay, real talk: some quests are legitimately skippable. They don't unlock anything essential, the XP isn't gamechanging, and they're annoying to do. But they're often worth doing anyway because the unlocks are cool, even if they're not essential.

Tai Bwo Wannai Trio - Honestly? Not essential. But it unlocks the ability to craft better gear, and Tai Bwo Wannai is a fun area. Plus, once you've done it, you can use the armor shop without the quest requirements. Worth doing early just to have it done.

Temple of Ikov - This one's weird. It unlocks the armor spikes, which are basically useless. But the quest is short and the armor shop access is nice. Do it if you have 5 minutes.

Between a Rock... - Requires 65 magic, 65 ranged, 60 attack, and a bunch of mining/smithing levels. Annoying as hell. But unlock the ability to pick up ore at a very specific place that's useful for exactly one thing. Skip it unless you're grinding Quest Cape.

The Fremennik Isles - 65 thieving is a pain to grind. The quest itself is decently long. But you get some nice training spots and journal entries that are genuinely interesting. Worth doing once you have the stats, which should be naturally while grinding Thieving.

The key thing is: don't skip quests because they're hard. Skip them because they're genuinely not worth the time-to-reward ratio. Most quests, even the annoying ones, unlock something interesting.

The Worst Quests Ever Made - And How to Survive Them

Alright, I'm not gonna lie to you. OSRS has some absolutely brutal quests. Some of them are poorly designed by modern standards. Some are just nightmares of fetch quests and platforming. Here are the absolute worst, and how to deal with them.

Mourning's End Part II

Mourning's End Part II is one of the worst quests ever made. Everyone agrees. The platforming is fiddly, the puzzle is annoying, and it takes like 45 minutes if you know exactly what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, good luck.

How to survive it: Use Quest Helper. I'm serious. Quest Helper literally shows you where to go and what to do. Without it, you're clicking around in the dark trying to figure out a puzzle that frankly sucks.

Also, bring plenty of food because there's combat sections, and bringing a ranged weapon because the boss fight is way easier with ranged.

One Small Favour

One Small Favour lives up to its name in the worst way possible. It's 50+ steps of "go talk to this NPC, who tells you to go talk to this other NPC, who tells you to go talk to yet another NPC." It's fetch quest hell. It takes like 2 hours. The rewards are mediocre.

How to survive it: Power through it. Seriously, there's no trick here. Just use Quest Helper, follow the steps, and accept that you're gonna spend 2 hours doing this. Tell yourself you're earning the 1,000 Quest Points (lol) and move on. Maybe watch something on your second monitor.

Ratcatchers

This quest is just weird. You're literally catching rats and training cats to catch bigger rats. The dialogue is awkward, the mechanics are weird, and there's no real reward. It exists to waste your time.

How to survive it: It's like 20 minutes if you know what you're doing. Use Quest Helper. Don't overthink it. Just accept the weirdness and move on.

Underground Pass

Underground Pass is a LONG quest with lots of platforming, combat, and puzzle sections. It takes forever. And there's this section where you're trying to get through a narrow passage and it's just unpleasant.

How to survive it: Bring LOTS of food. Bring prayer potions if you have prayer leveled up. Use a melee weapon for the combat sections, and just accept that you're gonna spend like 2 hours here. The reward (Biohazard access) is worth it, but just... mentally prepare yourself.

The real lesson here: every single one of these terrible quests has a Quest Helper plugin solution. That plugin is essential for maintaining your sanity.

The Quest Helper Plugin - Basically Mandatory

Let's talk about Quest Helper because honestly, this plugin is what makes questing in OSRS actually tolerable.

Here's what it does: it shows you exactly where to go, what NPCs to talk to, what items you need, and (usually) how to solve puzzles. It's not a full walkthrough that plays the game for you, but it's close enough that you can do tedious quests without staring at a wiki for 20 minutes every time you get stuck.

Is it cheating? Not really. It's more like having a quest guide open. Except it's integrated into the game so you don't have to tab out.

Where it helps the most:

Puzzle quests (Mourning's End Part II, Underground Pass)
Fetch quests (One Small Favour)
Long quests where you forget what you're supposed to do (Monkey Madness II)
Dialogue-heavy quests where you're not sure which dialogue options matter

Where it's less helpful:

Quests with combat sections (you still gotta do the fighting yourself)
Quests that require you to have specific items before you start (it assumes you already know the requirements)

The plugin is free, it's built into most OSRS clients, and honestly, I wouldn't recommend doing Quest Cape without it. Life's too short to be reading dialogue carefully trying to piece together what some NPC wants.

One thing though: don't rely on it so much that you forget what you're doing. Some quests actually have genuinely good stories (Dragon Slayer II, Monkey Madness II, etc.), and you'll miss out if you're just clicking through the dialogue.

Using MyPvM Quest Services While You Level

Real talk: questing is necessary, but it's also tedious. And if you're trying to progress your account quickly, spending 50 hours doing quests might not be the best use of your time.

That's where MyPvM's quest completion services come in. If you're in a hurry to get to the good content, you can hire someone to knock out your quest list while you do something else. They'll handle the annoying stuff (One Small Favour, I'm looking at you), complete the essential chains (Recipe for Disaster, Desert Treasure), and unlock the content you actually care about.

It's not cheating, it's outsourcing the boring stuff. And honestly? Sometimes that's the best investment you can make in your account. You get to endgame content faster, and you don't have to spend a week watching NPCs ramble about fetch quests.

FAQ - Common Quest Questions Answered

Q: Do I have to do quests in this exact order? A: Nope! This is the optimal order, meaning it minimizes wasted time and maximizes progression. But if you want to do quests out of order, you can. You'll just waste some time and stats doing quests that you could've done easier later. The main rule: complete Recipe for Disaster before you start endgame, and complete Dragon Slayer II before you do Vorkath.

Q: What if I don't want to do every single quest? A: You don't have to. Most players never get Quest Cape. Just do the quests that unlock the content you care about. If you only care about PvM, you only need like 150 quests. If you only care about training, you need even fewer.

Q: How long does it take to get Quest Cape? A: For a new player? 300+ hours. For someone who knows what they're doing? 150-200 hours. For someone using Quest Helper + being efficient? Maybe 120 hours. It's not worth doing unless you actually enjoy questing or you want the cosmetic cape.

Q: Do I lose progress if I die during a quest? A: No, but it depends on the quest. Some quests have checkpoints where if you die, you start from a specific point. Others, you have to restart. Quest Helper tells you which ones are dangerous, so use it.

Q: Which quests are actually fun? A: Dragon Slayer II, Monkey Madness I and II, Song of the Elves, A Night at the Theatre, Beneath Cursed Sands, The Fremennik Trials (decent story), and Lunar Diplomacy actually have fun quest design. The rest are either fetch quests or combat slogs. But they're necessary for unlocks, so do them anyway.

The Real Talk: Is Questing Worth It?

Here's the bottom line: yes, questing is absolutely worth it. Not for the Quest Cape (unless you're actually insane), but for the unlocks. Barrows Gloves alone will carry you through hundreds of hours of gameplay. Dragon Slayer II unlocks Vorkath, which is one of the most profitable and fun things to do in the game.

The optimal quest order gets you to the fun content faster while avoiding the slog. You skip grinding combat levels by doing Waterfall Quest early. You unlock essential gear like Barrows Gloves before you grind Slayer. You get access to profitable PvM like Vorkath at the right time.

And yeah, some quests suck. Mourning's End Part II is a nightmare. One Small Favour is a 2-hour fetching simulator. But they're a means to an end. Push through them, use Quest Helper, and remember that every annoying quest you finish is one less quest standing between you and the stuff that makes OSRS actually fun.

The quest order in this guide is based on hundreds of hours of experience across multiple accounts. If you follow it, you'll have a smooth progression from tutorial island to endgame content. You won't waste time grinding stats you could've gotten through quests. You won't do prerequisites for quests you're not ready for yet.

Is it the only way to do it? No. But it's the best way. And honestly, that's what you're here for.

Ready to Start? Or Ready to Skip?

Look, I get it. Quests are work. They're not everyone's cup of tea. Some people just want to get to the PvM content and fight bosses. Other people want to skip the entire grindy progression and get to endgame immediately.

If that's you, MyPvM's quest completion services let you skip the whole questline and jump straight to the content you care about. We handle the annoying ones (One Small Favour), we complete the essential chains (Recipe for Disaster, Desert Treasure I), and we unlock all the content you need to actually enjoy the game at your target combat level.

Whether you grind them yourself or outsource them, the important thing is that you get them done. Because the real game starts once you've got Barrows Gloves, Ancient Magicks, and Vorkath unlocked.

Now stop reading this guide and go get some quests done. Your account is waiting.

Want to level other skills faster? Check out our power leveling services. Need gold to afford gear? We can help with that too at MyPvM Gold.