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The fastest active route
| Levels | Creature | XP/hr | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-9 | Natural History Quiz | 1,000 XP | Varrock Museum basement |
| 9-15 | Feldip weasels | 13,000 | Noose wand |
| 15-21 | Ruby harvests and copper longtails | 20,000 | Butterfly net, jars, bird snares |
| 21-39 | Red crabs | 31,000 | Partial Pandemonium, 10 Construction |
| 39-43 | Embertailed jerboas | 50,000 | Partial Eagles' Peak (box traps) |
| 43-49 | Falconry, spotted kebbits | 60,000 | 500 coins to hire a gyr falcon |
| 49-73 | Razor-backed kebbits | 100,000 | Stamina potions push it to about 130,000 |
| 73-99 | Black chinchompas | 145,000 | Wilderness; 225,000 solo by 99 |
Rates are for the first level of each band. Hunter scales hard with traps per level and with your own attention, so the top of each range comes from players who reset traps the moment they trigger. The hunter calculator works out catches needed from your current XP.
Two quest gates shape this route. Box traps need you to reach the point in Eagles' Peak where you learn them, and red crabs need you to be partway through Pandemonium, the Sailing intro quest. Both are quick and you will want them anyway.
Traps and levels
Most of the route above is trap hunting, so your trap limit matters as much as the creature. You can set two traps from level 1, three at 40, four at 60 and five at 80. Black chinchompas and black salamanders in the Wilderness allow one extra trap on top of that, which is part of why black chins pull ahead of everything else from 73. Temporary boosts such as hunter potions count, so a two-level boost just below 40, 60 or 80 is worth using.
Carry stamina potions on any trap method. Walking between traps is most of the work, and run energy is what limits the quoted rates. Graceful helps for the same reason.
Bird houses: Hunter while you do something else
Bird house runs on Fossil Island need Bone Voyage and are the most efficient Hunter XP for time spent up to around level 80. A full run takes 73 to 90 seconds, and the four houses fill while you train something else. XP per run scales with the house type, from 112 XP for four regular bird houses at level 5 to 4,800 XP for four redwood houses at 90. You also get bird nests with seeds, which are a useful Farming supply and sell well; the bird nest price shows what empty and seed nests trade for today.
If you only ever do bird houses between other activities, a mid-level account picks up Hunter levels without ever training it actively. Plan your runs with the birdhouse calculator, which shows logs, seeds and runs needed.
Hunters' Rumours at the Hunter Guild
The Hunter Guild sits outside Civitas illa Fortis and needs 46 Hunter (not boostable) plus access to Varlamore through Children of the Sun. Guild Scribe Verity hands out rumours, a bit like Slayer tasks: you hunt a set creature until it drops a rare part, then hand it in for XP and a loot sack.
| Tier | Hunter level | XP modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Novice | 46 | 50 |
| Adept | 57 | 50 |
| Expert | 72 | 55 |
| Master | 91 | 60 |
Each rumour gives your Hunter level plus 5, multiplied by the tier modifier. In practice that works out at about 160,000 XP/hr at 72, 195,000 at 91 and 250,000 at 99, if you move quickly between creatures. That is close to black chinchompas without the Wilderness. Loot sacks can give the guild hunter outfit and the huntsman's kit, and after ten rumours Soar Leader Pitri gives you a quetzal whistle blueprint for travel.
Black chinchompas (73-99)
Black chinchompas in the Wilderness are the fastest Hunter XP from 73 and also profitable. Solo, expect about 145,000 XP/hr at 73, 167,000 at 80, 197,000 at 90 and 225,000 at 99. With an alt supplying traps and tick manipulation, the cap is around 300,000. You need partial Eagles' Peak for box traps, and the hard Wilderness diary is strongly recommended.
The risk is real. Player killers know where the hunting ground is, so bring only what you can afford to lose and bank catches often. Many players prefer Hunters' Rumours from 72 for this reason, giving up a little XP for peace of mind.
Lower-effort and AFK options
- Herbiboar (80+): on Fossil Island, needs 31 Herblore to harvest. Each catch gives 1,950 XP at 80, rising to 2,461 at 99, for about 115,000-128,000 XP/hr with stamina potions. You also get free herbs and Herblore XP, see Herblore training.
- Moonlight moths (75+): 84 XP each in the caverns under Varlamore. Each jarred moth restores Prayer points when released, so there is steady demand for them; check the moonlight moth price.
- Maniacal monkeys (60+): one of the most AFK methods once you have Monkey Madness II, with long gaps between resets.
- Red chinchompas (63+): the safe alternative to black chins, outside the Wilderness. Slower, but the catches are in steady demand for Ranged training; the red chinchompa price shows what each one fetches today.
Train Hunter with another skill
Drift net fishing needs 44 Hunter, 47 Fishing and Bone Voyage. At 70 Hunter it gives about 116,725 Hunter XP and 88,550 Fishing XP an hour, more combined value than either skill alone. Nets cost money every hour, so stop once one of the two skills reaches your goal. The Fishing training page covers the Fishing side.
Aerial fishing at Lake Molch needs 35 Hunter and 43 Fishing. Slower, cheap, and it can give angler's outfit pieces.
Quest XP
| Quest | Hunter XP | Hunter needed |
|---|---|---|
| Eagles' Peak | 2,500 | 27 |
| Shadows of Custodia | 4,000 | 36 |
| At First Light | 4,500 | 46 |
| Perilous Moons | 5,000 | 20 |
| Defender of Varrock | 15,000 | 52 |
| Secrets of the North | 40,000 | 56 |
| Song of the Elves | 40,000 | 70 |
| Monkey Madness II | 50,000 | 60 |
| The Ascent of Arceuus | 1,500 | 12 |
The Natural History Quiz (1,000 XP) and The Ascent of Arceuus (1,500 XP at 12) cover the very start. Monkey Madness II is the biggest single reward, with Song of the Elves and Secrets of the North close behind, but all three sit late in an account's quest order.
Making money from Hunter
Black chinchompas are the main earner, since Ranged trainers buy them in bulk and you are catching them at the fastest XP in the skill. Red chins earn less but carry no risk. Herbiboar herbs, moonlight moths and bird nests all sell steadily, and rumour loot sacks add a little on top. None of these prices are fixed, so compare them on the method table before deciding between XP and gold for a session.
Why Hunter is worth levelling
Hunter gives you black and red chinchompas for Ranged, herbiboar herbs, bird nests for Farming, moonlight moths that restore Prayer points, and the gloves of silence at 54, which help with pickpocketing. The Hunter Guild adds travel through quetzal whistles. It is also a gate for Song of the Elves (70) and several other high-level quests, so most accounts train it eventually.