What's going on guys, my name's Theoatrix, and today I'm going through every skill in Old School, showing the most AFK methods for each one.
These would work great with OSRS Mobile, or if you're planning to play at work, or while you watch videos. Obviously not every skill out there seems like it would be AFK, but you'll be surprised that in this guide, you'll see that every skill has at least a few AFK or low effort methods.
I'm showing the skills in no particular order, but I'll start off with everyone's favourite, Runecrafting.
Runecrafting
At any Runecrafting level, you can craft runes at the Ourania Altar south of Ardy. If you're on the official Ourania world, you can use an item on a player that's running ahead of you to run all the way to the altar for an AFK period of around 25 seconds.
When crafting Astral Runes, if you have GPU mode active on RuneLite and extend your render distance, you can click almost the entire way to the altar, giving you an AFK time of around 30 seconds.
The most AFK Runecrafting method out there is Zeah Runecrafting.
When you're mining Dense Essence, it's possible to AFK for up to and over a minute at a time, although sometimes the rock depletes fairly fast, so a little bit of focus is needed.
Herblore
The next skill is Herblore, and there's three main AFK methods.
First is creating Tars, and one full inventory takes around 45 seconds completely AFK.
Next is potions that have stackable ingredients.
This includes things like stamina, extended antifire, and compost potions, and with these you can AFK for 30 seconds.
Last for Herblore is cleaning herbs, and recently Jagex added auto-cleaning, where if you click one, it automatically cleans them all in your invent.
It's a lot slower than clicking on each one yourself, but it's still AFK for around 30 seconds.
Hunter
Next is Hunter, and maniacal monkeys are probably the most AFK viable hunter method out there.
After setting up a trap, there's usually around a 30 second to 1 minute wait time until you catch a monkey, and when you catch one, you get 1000 hunter XP, making it fairly fast as well.
Birdhouse runs are more of a passive training method, but could be considered AFK if you're playing on mobile and just check in every 50 minutes.
Crafting
Next is crafting, and there's a number of AFK crafting methods.
Blowing glass lets you AFK for 50 seconds at a time, while training very inexpensively and decently quickly.
Cutting an inventory of gems takes 32 seconds, which is pretty good considering how fast the XP is.
Crafting vambraces lets you AFK for 50 seconds at a time, although you are better off making bodies since they're cheaper and a lot faster.
Crafting gold or silver base jewelry allows you to AFK for 50 seconds as well, while making some decent profit.
Smithing
Now for smithing, and by far the most AFK smithing method is creating cannonballs, letting you AFK for 2 and a half minutes at a time.
The XP is minimal though, so it should only really be done as a money maker.
Smelting iron or gold bars at a furnace is another decent AFK method, letting you AFK for a minute and 10 seconds per invent.
You can also smith items that only require 1 bar at a time, like darts, bolts or knives, and these are usually profitable and let you AFK for over a minute as well.
Woodcutting
Woodcutting is one of the more AFK skills out there, and redwood trees are probably the most AFK.
Unlike normal trees, redwoods have a 1 in 11 chance of being cut down, so it's possible to AFK for minutes at a time, although on the flip side, you can get unlucky and deplete the tree on your first cut.
The other trees out there have a 1 in 8 chance of depleting, so the best way to AFK is cut the highest level tree you can, since you'll get the most experience out of them before they're cut down.
Sulliusceps mushrooms are also great for AFK, although when you're moving between mushrooms, there is a period where you need to be focused.
They have a 1 in 16 chance of being cut down, so once you actually start cutting the tree, you can expect to AFK for at least a minute.
Fishing
Fishing is another AFK skill in general.
Almost all of the training methods are fairly AFK.
Most fishing spots in old school move after 168 to 312 seconds, with the absolute bare minimum being 168, so at places like barbarian fishing, lobsters, sharks or monkfish, there's a minimum AFK period of 168 seconds if you start at a fresh fishing spot.
There's a few types of spots that move less frequently though.
Karambwan spots never move, meaning you can AFK here until you get a full inventory.
Anglerfish move far less frequently than the standard ones as well, with the minimum time before it moves being around 4 minutes.
Infernal eels and sacred eel fishing spots also don't move as frequently, and they're both decent money makers.
Fletching
Next is fletching, and the best AFK fletching method out there is simply cutting a full inventory of logs into bows.
You can AFK for 50 seconds by doing this, but there is one method that is slightly more AFK.
Cutting gems into bolt tips lets you AFK for 65 seconds at a time, but the XP you get is very minimal.
Cooking
All aspects of cooking are fairly AFK as well.
Cutting a full inventory of fish or food takes 68 seconds, so a little over a minute
of AFK time.
When making wines, which is one of the best ways to train to 99, you can AFK for 25 seconds per invent, which isn't too bad as well.
Combat
Let's talk about combat, and there's a huge range of AFK methods.
At low levels, and for pures, sand crabs are great, allowing you to AFK for 10 minutes before they won't attack you anymore.
Bandits in the desert are even more AFK, where if you wear a Saradomin or Zamorak item, you can AFK for 20 minutes before you stop attacking and log out.
The nightmare zone is very AFK as well, and the same 20 minute time period applies, since you'll always have aggression from the monsters.
As a defense pure, with level 1 attack and strength, you can AFK at the monks in the monastery for 20 minutes at a time as well.
You never kill the monk, since they heal themselves for more than you can damage, so you can stay here pretty much endlessly.
Chinning is great for range AFK as well, and it's possible to AFK for a few minutes at a time if you wear high prayer bonus gear, although it is very important to keep an eye on your prayer points, because upon death, your chins do run away permanently.
The same concept could work with bursting with magic, and it is a little safer to AFK this, since if you die, you can collect all of your runes and gear from your gravestone.
With magic, you can splash for 20 minutes at a time, before your character stops casting automatically.
If you move your mouse or camera though, you'll start again.
Splashing on Kraken is far more cost effective and better XP, where your spells give full experience as if they're actually hitting on Kraken.
With magic, there's a lot of non-combat AFK methods too.
The String Jewelry spell lets you AFK for 50 seconds per full inventory.
Charging Orbs lets you AFK for even longer, with each full inventory taking a minute and 35 seconds to fully charge.
Prayer
Prayer is another AFK skill in general.
A full inventory of bones at the Gilded Altar takes 50 seconds to complete, and gives some of the best XP in the game.
Training with Ensouled Heads is also fairly AFK, where you only need to click on the spell once every 20 to 30 seconds.
Slayer
With Slayer, there's three main AFK ways that you can train.
The first is very simple and self-explanatory, and that is on any task where the monster is aggressive, and you can AFK for 10 minutes before they lose aggression.
The second is with a Dwarf Multicannon, and if you want to AFK the longest, you should stand underneath your cannon, so it only uses cannonballs to hit the monsters once, rather than constantly shooting.
Lastly, if monsters aren't aggressive, and you can't cannon them, but they're in a multi-combat area, you can use High Defense Gear or Protection Prayers, and attack a lot of them at once to AFK for a few minutes at a time.
Firemaking
Next is Firemaking, and the only real AFK method out there is the Wintertodt, and particularly soloing the Wintertodt.
When you solo, you aim to keep the Wintertodt's energy below 20%, and with that, the Wintertodt will barely deal any damage to you, which allows you to AFK for far longer.
When you get damaged, it stops certain actions that you're doing, but it never stops if you're woodcutting, so the woodcutting portion of the minigame is always fairly AFK.
Mining
Now for Mining, and at a low mining level, the Rune Essence Mine provides fairly decent XP for a few minutes of AFK time.
The best AFK mining method out there though, is the upper level of the Motherlode Mine.
The upper level veins work differently to the lower level ones, where instead of depleting after a certain amount of pay dirt is mined, they're set on a timer that goes down while you mine.
The timer ranges from 15 to 30 seconds, which isn't that long compared to other skills, but it's still the best AFK mining method out there.
Farming
Next is Farming, and farming trees could somewhat be considered AFK, but it's more of a passive training method.
There is an AFK farming method though, which is within the Chambers of Xeric.
You can train by planting and picking the herbs within the Chambers, and at a high farming level, you can get around 50k XP per hour, with AFK intervals ranging from 20 to 40 seconds at a time.
This method is decent for Ironmen as well, since you don't need to collect seeds, and it's particularly great for Ultimate Ironmen.
Thieving
Now for Thieving, and there's no real AFK method out there for Thieving, although there are ways to train without focusing at all.
With this program, called Teamplayer 4, you can plug in a second mouse to your PC, and control two at once.
This allows you to pickpocket NPCs with one hand, and continue using your computer normally on the other hand, with zero focus on your Thieving training.
This video isn't sponsored by Teamplayer by any means, it's just a very useful program. Of course, you can also just use a standard single mouse, and watch a TV show on the side, without having to focus.
Agility
Next is Agility, and the only real AFK training method out there is Barbarian Fishing, although the experience that you get is very minimal.
A method that requires very little focus is the Monkey Bars in Edgeville Dungeon.
If you set your camera angle down low, you can spam click in the one location to get 30k Agility XP per hour.
A similar method can be done at the Brimhaven Agility Arena, with the Rockfall Obstacle.
Doing this, you can get over 40k XP per hour, although at a lower level, you will fail a lot and need to eat.
Construction
The final skill is Construction, and there's almost no AFK or even low focus methods out there, except for one.
In the Nightmare Zone, if you choose monsters that drop big bones upon death, they have a chance of dropping long or curved bones, which you can exchange in the Dorgesh Kaan City for loads of Construction XP.
In terms of bosses that drop big bones, there's the Skeleton Hellhound, Dad, Arg and the Black Knight Titan, and when you do get a long or curved bone drop, it actually stays on the ground for 10 minutes, which is longer than the standard 3 minutes.
You might be thinking that these bones are really rare, so is there much point in doing this?
Well if you're going for max combat stats in the Nightmare Zone, you can expect to be there for at least 250 hours, and in those hours, you'll get at least 200 curved and long bones, which translates to over a million Construction XP, completely for free.
So that's all of the best AFK methods out there for every skill in Old School.
Obviously, some skills are far more AFK than others, but if you're solely a mobile player, or if you play while you're at work or doing other things, it's great to know that each skill has an AFK or Low Effort method.
Thanks for reading, and have a nice day.
