OSRS Prayer Training Guide: Efficient P2P Methods (Altars & More)

Level up your OSRS Prayer skill efficiently! This guide covers P2P methods like Gilded Altars, Chaos Altar, Ectofuntus, Ensouled Heads, and cost analysis.

Published on: June 17, 2025 by Tons of XP Team

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OSRS Pay-to-Play Prayer Training Guide

Prayer is a vital combat support skill in Old School RuneScape, unlocking powerful overhead protection prayers, offensive stat boosts, and utility effects. Training Prayer is notoriously expensive, but essential for tackling high-level content. This guide covers the most efficient pay-to-play (P2P) methods for leveling Prayer.

Starting Off: Questing

Completing quests is the best way to gain early Prayer levels for free. Key quests include:

The Restless Ghost (1,125 XP)
Priest in Peril (1,406 XP)
Recruitment Drive (1,000 XP)
Holy Grail (11,000 XP - requires Attack 20)
Rag and Bone Man I & II (500 + 5,000 XP)
Ghosts Ahoy (2,400 XP)

Completing just these can get you to level 30+ Prayer, unlocking basic protection prayers.

Active Training Methods (Fastest XP)

These methods require actively using bones or ashes on an altar/special location.

Gilded Altar (Player-Owned House - POH)
- Requires: Access to a POH with a Gilded Altar (requires 75 Construction, boostable) and two lit Incense Burners (any tier, requires 30 Firemaking & Marrentills). Players often use host houses on specific worlds (e.g., W330 Rimmington).
- Method: Use bones directly on the altar. With both burners lit, grants 350% of the bone's base burial XP.
- XP Rate: Fastest guaranteed XP. Up to ~2,550 bones/hr manually clicking (~1,340k XP/hr with Superior Dragon Bones, ~643k XP/hr with Dragon Bones). Much faster with runners/alts.
- Cost: Very expensive. Standard cost benchmark.
- Banking: Use PvP world Camelot bank chest (closest safe bank to teleport) or Phials in Rimmington (un-notes bones for a fee) when using host houses.
Chaos Altar (Wilderness)
- Requires: Access to Level 38 Wilderness.
- Method: Use bones on the Chaos Altar. Grants 350% base XP AND has a 50% chance to not consume the bone.
- XP Rate: Theoretically highest potential XP per bone (700% average bonus). Actual XP/hr is slightly lower than Gilded Altar (~860k XP/hr with Dragon Bones, ~1.8M XP/hr with Superior Dragon Bones using noted bones) due to banking time/risk management. Can be much lower if frequently interrupted by PKers.
- Cost: Most cost-effective active method (roughly half the cost of Gilded Altar per XP point).
- Risk: High risk of being killed by PKers. Strategies include low-level suicide runs (1 inventory at a time), high-defence tank gear (3-4 iteming), or careful world-hopping and logout tactics. Elder Chaos Druid nearby un-notes bones for 50gp each (increased risk).
Libation Bowl (Teomat - Varlamore)
- Requires: 30 Prayer, access to Teomat (Varlamore questline).
- Method: Bless bones at the nearby Exposed Altar, chisel them into Blessed Bone Shards, fill the Libation Bowl with Blessed Wine (or Blessed Sunfire Wine for +20% XP), then sacrifice shards.
- XP Bonus: Base bonus is 400% (more than Gilded). With Blessed Sunfire Wine, becomes 480%.
- XP Rate: Potentially very high (1.1M-1.4M+ XP/hr sacrificing shards with Sunfire Wine), but the overall XP/hr is lower when factoring in the time to bless/chisel bones and make/bless wine. Less click-intensive during the sacrificing step than altars.
- Cost: Can be cost-effective depending on bone/splinter prices, generally cheaper than Gilded Altar but potentially more expensive than Chaos Altar. More complex setup than altars.
Ectofuntus (Morytania)
- Requires: Priest in Peril, Ghosts Ahoy recommended for Ectophial.
- Method: Worship the Ectofuntus after offering ground bones (requires pots of slime) and collecting ecto-tokens.
- XP Bonus: 400% base XP.
- XP Rate: Significantly slower than altars due to the multi-step process.
- Cost: Cheaper than Gilded Altar per bone, but much slower XP/hr makes it less time-efficient. Morytania Diary rewards improve speed slightly.

Other Training Methods

Ensouled Heads (Arceuus Spellbook)
- Requires: Access to Arceuus spellbook, appropriate Magic level for reanimation spell.
- Method: Use reanimation spell on an Ensouled Head (dropped by various monsters), kill the reanimated creature near the Dark Altar (CIS fairy ring).
- XP Rate: Moderate XP rates (~200-350k/hr depending on head type). Requires combat stats to kill monsters quickly.
- Cost: Generally cheaper than using high-tier bones on altars, but requires obtaining heads and runes. Good way to train combat stats simultaneously.
Offering Spells (Arceuus Spellbook - Post-A Kingdom Divided)
- Requires: A Kingdom Divided quest completion.
- Method: Cast Sinister Offering (bones) or Demonic Offering (ashes) directly from inventory. Consumes 3 items per cast.
- XP Bonus: Triple the base bury/scatter XP.
- XP Rate: Slower than altars (~24k-810k/hr depending on item tier) but grants Magic XP alongside Prayer XP. Can be done anywhere.
- Cost: Relatively high GP/XP compared to Chaos Altar but convenient.
Passive Methods (Bonecrusher / Ash Sanctifier)
- Requires: Bonecrusher (Morytania Diary Hard), Ash Sanctifier (Kourend Diary Hard), charges (Ecto-tokens/Death Runes).
- Method: Automatically crushes bones/scatters ashes from monster drops, granting 50% base XP (100% with Elite diaries).
- XP Rate: Very slow, entirely dependent on monsters killed (e.g., during Slayer).
- Cost: Very cheap, essentially free XP during other activities.

Cost vs. Speed: The Efficiency Trade-off

Fastest: Gilded Altar (manual clicking).
Cheapest (Active): Chaos Altar (Wilderness).
Balanced: Libation Bowl (Varlamore), Ensouled Heads.
Slowest (Passive/Free): Bonecrusher/Ash Sanctifier.

Consider how much you value your time versus your GP. If you can make more money per hour than you save by using a slower method, the faster (more expensive) method is often more "efficient" overall. For example, saving 1 hour by using Gilded Altar instead of Chaos Altar might cost an extra 5-10M GP. If you can earn >10M GP/hr, the time saved is worth the extra cost.

Conclusion

Training Prayer in OSRS is a significant investment, but crucial for account progression. The Gilded Altar offers the fastest reliable XP, while the Chaos Altar provides the best cost-efficiency at the cost of risk. Ensouled Heads and the Libation Bowl offer alternative active methods, while passive options like the Bonecrusher supplement training during other activities. Choose the method that best aligns with your budget, risk tolerance, and desired speed.

Need help funding your Prayer grind? Secure OSRS Gold safely. Want to unlock quests for better methods or complete diaries for passive XP boosts? Check out our OSRS Quest Services and OSRS Diary Services.

Frequently Asked Questions

+What is the fastest Prayer XP in OSRS?

Offering bones on a Gilded Altar in a Player-Owned House (POH) with two lit incense burners provides the fastest guaranteed Prayer XP (350% bonus). Using high-tier bones like Superior Dragon Bones can yield over 1,300,000 XP/hr with efficient clicking and banking.

+What is the cheapest Prayer training method in OSRS P2P?

Offering bones at the Chaos Altar in the Wilderness (Level 38 Wildy) is generally the most cost-effective active method. It gives the same 350% XP bonus as a Gilded Altar but has a 50% chance to not consume the bone, effectively doubling your XP per bone (700% average bonus). However, it carries significant risk from PKers. Passive methods like using a Bonecrusher/Ash Sanctifier during Slayer are also very cheap but slow.

+What bones should I use for Prayer training?

Dragon Bones offer a good balance of cost and XP. Superior Dragon Bones (req 70 Prayer) provide the highest XP rates but are much more expensive GP/XP. Babydragon Bones or Wyrm Bones can be budget options. Use online calculators to compare current GP/XP rates.

+How does the Ectofuntus compare for Prayer training?

The Ectofuntus provides a 400% XP bonus (more than a Gilded Altar baseline) but is significantly slower due to the process of grinding bones and collecting slime. It's generally not recommended for speed but is cheaper than Gilded Altars if not factoring in the time spent. The Morytania Diary rewards improve its viability slightly. Need help with quests or diaries? See our OSRS Quest Services and OSRS Diary Services.