Old School RuneScape (OSRS) is well-known for its expansive skill system, with 23 different skills that players can level up as they progress through the game. While many of these skills can be trained relatively easily with time and effort, others come with hefty price tags due to the resources and materials required for leveling up. For those players looking to train specific skills or achieve high-level goals in OSRS, it’s crucial to understand which skills demand the most financial investment.
In this article, we’ll be diving into the 8 most expensive skills in RS gold, looking at the resources, materials, and strategies needed to train each skill, as well as why these skills come with such high costs.
1. Herblore
Herblore is one of the most expensive skills in OSRS due to the high cost of buying and using herbs, secondary ingredients, and potions. Players train this skill by making potions, which can range from basic healing potions to high-end combat-enhancing brews like Saradomin brews and Super restore potions.
Why It’s Expensive:
The primary cost for training Herblore comes from the price of herbs and the secondary ingredients needed to craft potions. High-level potions, such as Prayer potions and Super combat potions, require herbs that are costly on the Grand Exchange. Additionally, purchasing secondary ingredients like snape grass, toadflax, or wine of zamorak for certain potions only adds to the total cost.
At higher levels, Herblore requires a large quantity of herbs, and the cost only increases when training with experience-boosting methods such as chaos runes or making super potions. As of 2025, the cost of training Herblore to level 99 is around 50-70 million GP, depending on the training method used.
Training Methods:
Making Prayer Potions: Using Ranarr weed and Snape grass is a common method for profit or efficient experience, though it can still cost millions.
Super Restore Potions: High experience rates but also high cost due to the need for Red spiders’ eggs.
Saradomin Brews: Very expensive to make but provides high experience gains, making it a popular choice for players looking to invest in the skill.
2. Construction
Construction is another skill that demands high financial investment, mainly because it involves using costly materials like planks and buckets of sand. The most expensive components for this skill include the Mahogany planks and Teak planks, which can only be obtained through purchasing from the Grand Exchange or through high-level methods, including Chopping or Plank-making.
Why It’s Expensive:
Training Construction requires building various items in your house, such as furniture, altar rooms, and skilling areas. The materials needed to build these items, especially mahogany, teak, and oak, are incredibly expensive and required in large quantities for each construction action. For example, constructing items such as oak larders (a popular method for training the skill) can cost several thousand GP per build.
The overall cost of training Construction to level 99 can easily range from 50 million GP to 200 million GP depending on how much money the player spends on items such as oak planks and mahogany planks.
Training Methods:
Building Larders: Players can train Construction by building oak larders in their player-owned houses. This method is efficient and commonly used, but requires a high level of GP to sustain.
Using Dragonstone Jewelry: Creating Dragonstone jewelry is another method of gaining experience efficiently but can be quite costly, especially when using high-level gems.
Decorating Rooms: Some players opt for more expensive decorative items like oak shelves, though this is a more costly method.
3. Runecrafting
Runecrafting is one of the most expensive skills due to the large quantities of runes required to train it and the high costs of using rune essence and other supplies for the higher-level altars. At higher levels, players can craft nature runes, law runes, and other runes that are incredibly valuable, driving up the cost for training Runecrafting.
Why It’s Expensive:
The cost of runes and rune essence (or pure essence) is high, especially at high levels, where players opt for more efficient methods like the ZMI altar or double rune crafting methods. The combination of rune costs, as well as the need for additional items like pouches and talismans, adds up quickly. High-level Runecrafting, particularly at the Abyss or ZMI Altar, can cost millions per hour, making it one of the priciest skills to level up.
Reaching level 99 in Runecrafting is estimated to cost around 40 million GP to 100 million GP depending on the method used.
Training Methods:
ZMI Altar: This method requires access to the ZMI altar, which provides a good experience per hour but can be quite expensive due to the use of essence and the need to pay for the altar’s operation.
Abyss Runecrafting: Players use the Abyss tocraft runes efficiently, but the cost of using the Abyss can quickly add up due to the need to use the prayer and inventory slots.
4. Fletching
Fletching is another high-cost skill, mainly because players are required to buy expensive resources like broad arrowheads, adamant bars, mithril bars, and bolt tips to create arrows and bolts for ranged combat. While Fletching offers a relatively quick and easy way to level up, the costs associated with the skill are not insignificant.
Why It’s Expensive:
Training Fletching at high levels involves creating various items like broad arrowheads or royal bolts, all of which require significant quantities of materials that are either time-consuming or expensive to obtain. Players can spend millions crafting items to reach level 99, and at high levels, the costs escalate.
The total cost to reach level 99 in Fletching can be anywhere from 20 million GP to 50 million GP, depending on the chosen method.
Training Methods:
Creating Broad Arrowheads and Bolts: These items can be crafted at higher levels for a fast experience rate, but they require significant resources and are expensive to make.
Crossbows and Arrows: Creating crossbows and arrows at high levels also requires a large investment in bolts and bars, resulting in high costs.
5. Crafting
Crafting is a versatile skill that allows players to craft a wide variety of items, including jewelry, armor, and potions. However, it can also be one of the most expensive skills due to the costs of raw materials and the high-value items needed for crafting, such as dragonstone, onyx, and gold bars.
Why It’s Expensive:
At high levels, players need to craft Dragonstone jewelry or onyx rings to maximize experience per hour. The materials for these items, such as gold bars and dragonstone, can be quite costly. In addition, making high-level battle staves and gems for crafting boosts the overall cost of training the skill.
Reaching level 99 in Crafting will cost anywhere from 40 million GP to 90 million GP depending on the methods used and the items crafted.
Training Methods:
Creating Dragonstone Jewelry: Crafting Dragonstone jewelry and creating onyx rings are both efficient but expensive ways to level up.
Battle Staves and Pottery: High-level Crafting can involve creating battle staves or cutting gems, which can be profitable but come at a steep price.
6. Smithing
Smithing can be an expensive skill depending on the training methods you choose. Players need ores like iron, gold, and mithril, as well as expensive methods like cannonball crafting or bars for armor-making.
Why It’s Expensive:
The cost of ores, bars, and resources needed to create high-level items like Rune items and cannonballs can be very high. Some methods, like crafting rune items or mithril items, are both profitable and efficient, but they require a significant initial investment.
The overall cost to reach level 99 in Smithing can range from 20 million GP to 50 million GP, depending on how you train.
Training Methods:
Making Cannonballs: This method is highly efficient and profitable but requires substantial resources.
Smelting Rune and Mithril Bars: These can be expensive and require large quantities of ore.
7. Fishing
Fishing is one of the most expensive skills when it comes to certain high-level fish such as Sharks or Anglerfish. The demand for high-level food for bosses, PvP, or skilling-related activities drives the prices of these fish.
Why It’s Expensive:
The cost of training Fishing at higher levels is driven by the requirement to catch Sharks, Anglerfish, and Monkfish, which can be both time-consuming and expensive to obtain at high quantities. While it’s not necessarily as expensive as Herblore or Runecrafting, it still requires a fair investment of GP to catch these valuable fish.
The cost of training Fishing can be anywhere from 10 million GP to 20 million GP depending on your fishing method.
8. Woodcutting
Woodcutting is a skill that involves chopping trees for logs. While it can be profitable, the resources used, such as Magic logs and Yew logs, require a significant investment in time and money for high-level training.
Why It’s Expensive:
High-level logs like Magic logs and Yew logs are required for experience boosts and for various other uses, such as fletching or firemaking. These logs can be extremely costly to obtain, especially when they are in high demand on the Grand Exchange.
Reaching 99 in Woodcutting can cost anywhere from 15 million GP to 30 million GP, depending on your training method.
Conclusion
Training skills in cheap RuneScape gold often requires a substantial investment in terms of both time and money. The most expensive skills in the game demand a large financial outlay due to the costs of necessary resources, materials, and high-end training methods. For players looking to reach level 99 in these skills, it’s crucial to understand the costs involved and plan accordingly. Whether you’re training Herblore, Construction, or Runecrafting, the investment will pay off in the long run, unlocking access to some of the best rewards, items, and content in the game.