OSRS Optimal Quest Guide: The Most Efficient Path in 2025

Questing is the backbone of any successful Old School RuneScape account. It's the key to unlocking powerful gear, new training methods, and entire continents. But with hundreds of quests, knowing which to do and when can be daunting. An optimal quest guide provides a strategic path, ordering quests to maximize efficiency, minimize travel, and use XP rewards to skip the slowest parts of the early-game grind.

This guide outlines a proven, step-by-step quest order designed to get your account powerful and mobile as quickly as possible, laying the perfect foundation for your entire OSRS journey.

The Guiding Principles of an Optimal Path

This quest order isn't random; it's built on a few key ideas:

  • XP Rewards: Use large XP rewards from quests to bypass the painfully slow early levels of combat and other skills.
  • Unlock Transportation: Prioritize quests that unlock travel methods like Spirit Trees, Fairy Rings, and key teleports to drastically reduce time spent running.
  • Access Key Content: Get to game-changing content like your Player-Owned House, Ava's Devices, Morytania, and Ancient Magicks as soon as the requirements are met.
  • Logical Grouping: Complete quests that take place in the same geographical area in one trip to save time.

Phase 1: The Lumbridge & Varrock Foundation

This initial block is all about quick, easy quests around the starting areas to get your first few levels and Quest Points under your belt.

  1. Cook's Assistant: Your very first quest. Incredibly simple and gets you to level 4 Cooking.
  2. Sheep Shearer: A quick trip north of Lumbridge for some easy Crafting XP.
  3. Misthalin Mystery: Another fast quest near Lumbridge for more Crafting XP.
  4. The Restless Ghost: An easy introduction to Prayer located right in Lumbridge church.
  5. Rune Mysteries: Unlocks the Runecraft skill and access to the Wizards' Tower.
  6. Imp Catcher: A quick fetch quest for your first few Magic levels.
  7. Witch's Potion: Another simple fetch quest for more Magic XP.
  8. Gertrude's Cat: Unlocks the ability to have a pet cat, which is useful for a later quest (Recipe for Disaster).
  9. Children of the Sun: Your gateway to the continent of Varlamore. Unlocks new travel methods.
  10. Natural History Quiz: A zero-requirement miniquest in the Varrock Museum that instantly gets you to 9 Slayer and 9 Hunter.
  11. Daddy's Home: A miniquest that unlocks and gives you your first Player-Owned House for free.

Phase 2: The Combat Catapult

This is where your account's power level skyrockets. These quests provide massive, direct combat XP, allowing you to skip the tedious grind of killing cows and goblins.

  1. Dwarf Cannon: Grants access to the Dwarf Multicannon, a key Ranged training tool.
  2. Waterfall Quest: The single best early-game quest. This will take you from level 1 to 30 Attack and 30 Strength, letting you wield a rune scimitar almost immediately.
  3. Tree Gnome Village: More Attack XP and, crucially, unlocks the Spirit Tree transportation network.
  4. The Grand Tree: More huge XP rewards in Attack, Agility, and Magic, and unlocks the gnome glider transportation system.
  5. Witch's House: A dangerous but rewarding quest that gives a massive chunk of Hitpoints XP.
  6. Fight Arena: Another huge boost to your Attack level.

After this block of quests, you will be a formidable combatant, ready to take on more challenging foes.

Phase 3: Unlocking the World

With your combat stats boosted, this phase is all about opening up the rest of the map and unlocking essential skills and content.

  1. Druidic Ritual: Unlocks the all-important Herblore skill.
  2. Plague City & Biohazard: A two-part questline that grants access to the city of Ardougne and the Ardougne teleport.
  3. Priest in Peril: A crucial quest that unlocks the entire region of Morytania.
  4. Fairytale I & II (to unlock Fairy Rings): Start Fairytale I - Growing Pains and then immediately begin Fairytale II - Cure a Queen. You only need to progress Fairytale II to the point where you gain access to the Fairy Ring network. This is arguably the most important transportation system in the game and will revolutionize your ability to travel.
  5. The Lost Tribe & Death to the Dorgeshuun: Unlocks the Dorgeshuun cave system and access to powerful early-game crossbows.

Phase 4: The March to Barrows Gloves

From this point on, your main goal should be the completion of one of the most important quests in the game: Recipe for Disaster. Finishing all its sub-quests rewards you with the Barrows Gloves, the best all-around gloves in OSRS.

This is a long-term goal that will require you to complete dozens of other quests and train your skills. Key milestones along this path include:

  • Animal Magnetism: Unlocks Ava's Devices, which automatically pick up your arrows.
  • Desert Treasure I: Unlocks the powerful Ancient Magicks spellbook.
  • Horror from the Deep: Unlocks the God Books.
  • Monkey Madness I: Unlocks access to Ape Atoll and the Dragon Scimitar.

Conclusion

Following an optimal quest guide is the smartest way to build a powerful account in OSRS. It turns a confusing web of adventures into a clear, efficient path. By strategically using quest rewards and prioritizing key unlocks, you'll save hundreds of hours of grinding and get to the exciting endgame content much faster.

Don't have the time to work through hundreds of quests? Our expert team can handle the entire journey for you.

→ OSRS Questing Services
→ Learn about the end goal with our Quest Cape Guide