Hey everyone, Theoatrix here, and welcome to your comprehensive, updated guide to achieving level 99 Fletching in Old School RuneScape (OSRS).
Fletching is renowned as the fastest skill to reach 99 in OSRS, a testament highlighted by Sherlockness’s record-breaking feat of hitting 99 Fletching just two and a half hours after creating a brand new account.
Quick Guide Navigation
- Methods Overview
- Passive Fletching
- Fletching Costs
- Low-Level Fletching Training
- Fastest Fletching Methods
- AFK Fletching Methods
- Profitable Fletching Methods
- Ironman Fletching Guide
For those who prefer visual learning, a video version of this guide is available. Otherwise, keep reading for the in-depth OSRS 1-99 Fletching guide.
Fletching Methods Overview
There are seven primary categories when it comes to fletching training methods in OSRS, each offering different experience rates, costs, and levels of attentiveness required.
Bows
Fletching bows provides moderate experience rates but is generally a profitable training method.
Stringing the most profitable bows all the way to level 99 can net you a profit of approximately 13.6 million GP, although it will take around 60 hours of game time.
Darts
Fletching darts offers the absolute highest experience rates in OSRS, making it the fastest way to 99 Fletching, but it comes at a significant cost.
The peak experience rates are achieved using Windows Mouse Keys, the technique employed by Sherlockness to secure the fastest 99 Fletching record.
Bolts
Similar to darts, fletching bolts provides very high experience rates and is another rapid way to train Fletching.
In some cases, training with bolts can be more cost-effective than darts.
Arrows
Fletching arrows can yield over 650,000 experience per hour when using dragon arrows, making it a very fast method.
Arrows are a lower-cost training option that still offers a degree of AFK (away from keyboard) training.
Javelins
Making javelins is another fast and semi-AFK fletching method for players looking for efficient training.
However, javelins suffer from low trade volumes on the Grand Exchange, and they are not a cheap method either.
Tipping Bolts
Adding gem tips to bolts provides decent experience and can be a profitable fletching method in certain cases.
Tipping bolts can also be considered a semi-AFK training method.
Weaponry
Fletching allows you to create various weapons, including the Toxic Blowpipe, crossbows, and the Webweaver Bow.
Some weaponry fletching methods can be profitable, and we will delve deeper into these in the profitable methods section of this guide.
Passive Fletching
Fletching is a skill that lends itself well to passive training. This means you can effectively train fletching while engaging in other activities throughout RuneScape.
Integrating fletching into other gameplay, like during quests or while training other skills, is often the most efficient way to train as you are making progress on multiple fronts simultaneously.
Here are five examples of when you can train fletching passively:
- Agility Training: Fletch bolts or darts between agility obstacles.
- Low-Level Hunter: Utilize the waiting time between trap placements to fletch.
- Farm Runs: Fletch darts or bolts while traveling between crop patches.
- Wintertodt: Fletch in between rounds at Wintertodt.
- Questing & Achievement Diaries: Fletch while running during quests or achievement diary tasks.
Cost of Fletching
The cost of fletching training can vary significantly and is subject to market fluctuations. It’s highly recommended to consult a dedicated OSRS fletching calculator before committing to any training method. This will help you determine the most cost-effective approach at any given time.
Low Level Training (Levels 1-30)
For players starting at level 1 Fletching, there are four primary training methods available to get you started on your path to 99.
These include:
- Bronze Arrows
- Headless Arrows
- Arrow Shafts
- Questing
Bronze Arrows are the fastest method for leveling fletching at the very beginning. You can achieve approximately 55,000 fletching experience per hour from level 1, which is exceptionally fast for such a low-level skill. This method requires purchasing headless arrows and bronze arrowtips.
To train, use the bronze arrowtips on the headless arrows and select to create ’10 Sets’. Your character will automatically process 10 sets of 15 arrows. Repeat this process continuously for rapid early level gains.
Headless Arrows present a profitable alternative to bronze arrows, still offering fast experience, around 45,000 xp per hour. Given its profitability, training with headless arrows is advisable if you are concerned about the cost of training Fletching early on.
To make headless arrows, you need feathers and arrow shafts. Use feathers on arrow shafts and select to process ’10 Sets’ of headless arrows, repeating the process after each set of 10 is completed.
Cutting Logs into Arrow Shafts is another low-level fletching method. However, it is quite slow and can be expensive if you purchase logs from the Grand Exchange. This method is only recommended if you are woodcutting the logs yourself, making it a more self-sufficient approach.
If you are starting with very little money, this could be a viable, albeit slower, option. To make arrow shafts, use a knife on logs and select to create arrow shafts. This method is relatively AFK compared to others but provides significantly less experience per hour.
Questing is a final option for early fletching levels. Completing quests like Animal Magnetism, Zogre Flesh Eaters, and Temple of Ikov will boost you from level 1 to level 28 Fletching.
However, questing is not a commonly favored path for training fletching at low levels due to the time investment. For instance, fletching bronze arrows for just 10-15 minutes can yield the same experience as completing all these quests.
Fastest Fletching Methods (Level 1-99)
Let’s dive into the fastest possible route to achieve level 99 Fletching in OSRS.
Below is an outline of the fastest training pathway, including experience rates, estimated costs, and required quantities of materials.
At current market prices (September 2024), this path costs approximately 287 million GP and will realistically take between 6 to 8 hours if you utilize Windows Mouse Keys or a touchscreen for rapid input.
The initial 6 levels are best achieved by fletching bronze arrows, the quickest method until you unlock bronze darts. You can then use a Dragonfruit Pie to boost your Fletching level by 4, allowing you to create bronze darts at level 10 instead of level 14. Throughout this fast track, leveraging Dragonfruit Pies will allow you to access each subsequent method 4 levels earlier than normally required, significantly speeding up your progression.
Notably, there are no quest prerequisites to fletch darts. The Tourist Trap quest is only needed to unlock the ability to smith dart tips. This means you can follow this entire pathway from Tutorial Island onwards.
Darts are created using feathers and dart tips. To maximize efficiency, disable the ‘Make-X for darts and bolts’ option in your game settings.
With this setting off, each click crafts only one set of darts, but allows you to continuously fletch as many as your inventory allows without interruption. This requires rapid, repeated clicking to achieve the highest experience rates.
Windows Mouse Keys for Enhanced Speed
Windows Mouse Keys can significantly boost your clicking speed and reduce strain. Jagex permits 1:1 input actions, meaning one keyboard input can correspond to a single in-game action, like a mouse movement or click.
Windows Mouse Keys allows you to map actions to the numeric keypad on your keyboard. The keys 4, 8, 2, and 6 move the mouse cursor, and 5 acts as a left-click.
Setting Up Mouse Keys:
- Search for “Mouse Keys” in your computer’s search bar and open the Mouse Keys settings.
- Enable Mouse Keys.
- In settings, turn on the ‘Control’ setting to adjust speed and acceleration.
- Hold ‘Ctrl’ and use keypad inputs: 4-5-6-5-4 for horizontal, or 2-5-8-5-2 for vertical training.
- Consider enabling ‘Sticky Keys’ to keep ‘Ctrl’ continuously active.
Tablet Training on OSRS Mobile
An alternative to Mouse Keys is training Fletching on a tablet using OSRS Mobile. This can be more comfortable and allows for greater flexibility in training locations.
Dart Fletching Alternatives
Instead of switching between different dart types as you level, you can choose to stick with one type of dart all the way to level 99. This is slightly slower but still faster than most other fletching methods.
- Mithril Darts: A solid option, costing approximately 110 million GP to go from level 1 to 99.
- Steel Darts: An even cheaper, though slower, alternative.
- Amethyst Darts (Level 90+): A cheaper alternative to Rune and Dragon darts at higher levels, while still providing very fast experience rates.
Bolt Fletching for Fast XP
Bolts, similar to darts, are made in sets with each click, making them suitable for fast experience training with Windows Mouse Keys, and they can be efficiently combined with training other skills. Bolts are generally less expensive than darts but provide slightly lower experience rates.
As seen in the table, bolts generally offer less experience than their dart counterparts. Popular bolt choices include Broad bolts and Dragon bolts, the latter sometimes being a break-even method.
To make bolts, you need ‘unfinished bolts’ and feathers. For example, to make bronze bolts, you would use bronze bolts (unfinished) and feathers together.
Arrow Fletching for Semi-AFK Fast Training
Fletching arrows is another fast training method that offers a semi-AFK experience. While not as fast as darts or bolts, you can still achieve at least 100,000 experience per hour from level 15 onwards.
The pathway above outlines a cost-effective and fast arrow training route to level 99, taking approximately 28 hours and costing around 58 million GP. Steel and amethyst arrows are particularly economical options. Avoid adamant and rune arrows due to significant financial losses.
The process for making arrows is the same as described in the low-level section: combine arrowtips with headless arrows. The AFK processing time for arrows is 12 seconds, which is short but significantly less click-intensive than darts or bolts.
Javelin Fletching for Fast, Expensive Training
Fletching javelins offers similar experience rates to arrows, but javelins are generally more expensive. They have very low Grand Exchange trade volumes, and Dragon javelins are typically the only type worth making. Recently, however, the cost of dragon javelins has increased, making the 92-99 stretch cost around 82 million GP and take 9-10 hours.
To fletch javelins, you need javelin heads and javelin shafts. Combine them and confirm to make 10 sets of javelins at a time.
AFK Fletching Methods (Semi & Fully AFK)
Now, let’s explore AFK and semi-AFK fletching methods, which include fletching bows, battlestaves, celastrus bark, and antler bolts.
Bow Fletching for Profitable AFK Training
Fletching logs into bows is a popular pathway to 99 Fletching because it can be profitable and AFK. However, if your primary goal is speed and you have the budget, darts, bolts, or arrows are faster training methods.
Creating a bow involves two steps:
- Cutting logs into an unstrung bow.
- Stringing the bow with a bowstring.
Both actions provide fletching experience. Stringing bows offers faster experience than cutting logs into unstrung bows but is less AFK because you can only process 14 bows at a time.
The pathway above details profitable bow fletching. Stringing is currently more profitable than cutting unstrung bows, and stringing magic longbows will be your primary method from level 85 to 99. From level 85 to 99 fletching, cutting magic longbows can yield approximately 4 million GP in profit.
Celastrus Bark Battlestaves (Level 40+)
Starting at level 40 Fletching, you can cut celastrus bark into battlestaves. This method offers similar AFK time to cutting logs but provides higher experience rates for a level 40 method. The downside is that it is a loss-making method, currently costing about 340 GP per bark.
To use this method, purchase celastrus bark from the Grand Exchange and use a knife on the bark to convert it into battlestaves.
Antler Bolts (Semi-AFK)
Making antler bolts is another semi-AFK fletching method with an AFK interval of 18 seconds. These are currently profitable to make, although this profitability may not last. The experience rates are not exceptional.
To make antler bolts, use a chisel on the respective antler, yielding 12 bolts per antler. The experience rates are low, making this more of a profit-oriented method, though its profitability is subject to change.
Semi-AFK Arrows and Javelins
Fletching arrows and javelins can also be considered semi-AFK methods.
Both arrows and javelins have an AFK interval of about 12 seconds, allowing you to multitask while watching videos, attending lectures, or doing other PC tasks.
Overall, most of these ‘AFK’ fletching methods are semi-AFK, with fletching logs into bows being the closest to truly AFK training.
Profitable Fletching Methods
For those looking to make money while training Fletching, several methods offer potential profits.
Bow Stringing for Profit
Stringing bows is a consistently profitable way to train Fletching. Currently, maple, yew, and magic longbows are all profitable to string.
Stringing the best profitable bows from level 1 to 99 can yield a profit of around 13.6 million GP.
Bolt Tipping for Profit and XP
Tipping bolts with gem tips is another profitable fletching method. While lower-level gem bolt tips may have low trade volumes and potential losses, bolts like ruby, diamond, dragonstone, and onyx are generally profitable training methods.
XP rates are also quite high, reaching up to 280,000 XP per hour with onyx bolts. To tip bolts, use gem tips on bolts and select to make 10 sets. Dragon bolts can be even more profitable than regular bolts, but be mindful of lower trade volumes for some types. Popular and liquid dragon bolts like ruby and diamond remain good options.
Cutting Gem Bolt Tips for Massive Profit (Slow XP)
You can also cut gems into bolt tips for fletching experience. While this is not efficient fletching XP per hour, it can be highly profitable. For example, cutting ruby bolt tips from rubies from level unlock to 99 Fletching could net over 480 million GP in profit. However, this would take approximately 1500 hours, translating to an hourly profit of only about 300,000 GP.
To make gem bolt tips, use a chisel on a cut gem. Avoid dragonstone or onyx gems for this method as they are generally loss-making. Always check a fletching calculator to verify current profitability.
Weaponry Fletching for Top Profits
Fletching weaponry is the most profitable fletching category in OSRS, but it requires significant capital and patience with Grand Exchange transactions.
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Light Ballista (Level 47+): Making light ballistae is currently profitable, providing 330 experience per ballista.
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Heavy Ballista (Level 72+): Making heavy ballistae using an unstrung heavy ballista and a monkey tail provides double the experience of light ballistae but is typically less profitable.
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Crossbows (Rune & Dragon): Crafting crossbows becomes profitable starting with rune crossbows at level 69. Solely stringing rune crossbows to 99 Fletching can net around 120 million GP in profit at current prices. Dragon crossbows are also profitable but require more starting capital and patience to trade.
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Sunlight Hunter’s Crossbow: A newer item, the sunlight hunter’s crossbow, is also currently profitable. It’s made by combining a sunlight antelope antler with a regular hunter’s crossbow using a chisel. This method provides zero fletching experience and is purely for money making.
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Toxic Blowpipe (Level 78+): Turning a tanzanite fang into a toxic blowpipe at level 78 can be profitable if you are patient with Grand Exchange sales. This requires significant starting capital as each fang costs over 4 million GP, and provides only 120 XP per blowpipe, slower than ballistas.
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Webweaver Bow (Level 85+): Another profitable weapon, the webweaver bow, is made by combining a fang of venenatis with a craw’s bow. Requiring 85 Fletching, it can be very profitable for patient traders.
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Wintertodt (Firemaking & Fletching): Training at Wintertodt provides fletching experience based on your current Fletching level. Higher levels yield more XP per hour. This method is recommended if you also need to train Firemaking.
Reaching level 99 Firemaking from 50 at Wintertodt can take you from level 1 to around 50 Fletching if you fletch every log you chop. Starting with level 20 Fletching and going to 99 Firemaking will get you to approximately level 70 Fletching.
Ironman Fletching Guide
For Ironman accounts, Fletching remains a fast skill to train, especially if you have the resources.
Early Ironman Fletching
For early levels without significant resources, cutting trees and fletching the logs is a common starting method for Ironmen. Wintertodt can also provide early fletching experience.
The fastest way to level fletching early on as an Ironman is by buying arrow shafts and feathers from shops and creating headless arrows.
Feathers can be purchased from fishing shops, and arrow shafts are available from the Ranged Guild shop (requires 40 Ranged). Before reaching 40 Ranged, willow logs can be cut and fletched for arrow shafts.
Broad Arrows for Mid-Level Ironman Fletching
The primary goal for Ironmen is to unlock broad arrows, which are a fast and relatively cost-effective training method. This requires the ‘Broader Fletching’ slayer unlock, costing 300 slayer points.
Broad arrows offer around 450,000 XP per hour at a cost of approximately 2.8 million GP per hour (almost 6 GP per XP), making them the fastest Ironman fletching method by a significant margin. Broad arrowhead packs can be purchased from any slayer master.
Maple Longbows & Alching for Ironman
Another common fletching route for Ironmen is gathering maple logs from Miscellania, then cutting them into maple longbows and optionally stringing them.
These longbows can then be alchemized for money back and magic experience, providing a more resource-efficient training approach.
Trouble Brewing for Ironman Fletching
The recently updated Trouble Brewing minigame offers up to 200,000 Fletching XP per hour from a low level, requiring only the Cabin Fever quest.
In Trouble Brewing, cut ‘scrapey trees’ for logs and spam-fletch these logs with a knife. Each log provides 160 XP, and the rate does not scale with your Fletching level.
High-Level Ironman Ammunition Fletching
For higher-level Ironmen, a significant portion of fletching experience will come from creating ammunition needed for raiding and bossing activities.
For example, fletching darts for your Toxic Blowpipe can contribute a substantial amount of fletching experience over time as you engage in combat activities.
