So, you got itchy fingers, eh? Thieving is a RuneScape 3 skill in which you dive deep into the pockets of others to gather their forgotten pennies. This highly rewarding skill is an easy to train distraction from the usual XP grind, with level 99 being reachable in a mere 30 hours or so of work!
Follow our guide below for some of the most graceful fingered experiences you’ll ever steal.
1-99 Thieving guide - RS3 Members Guide
Level 1-5: Pompous Merchants
- Location: Taverly lodestone
- 6000 XP/hr
- about 5 minutes
Pompous merchants are so overdressed that you shouldn’t feel guilty about taking their cash. These upper-class merchants stand around all day just waiting for adventurers like yourselves to reach into their pockets and take their cash. Just five minutes of this should take you to level 5.
Level 5-14: Bakery Stalls
- Location: South of Catherby Bank / Ardougne Market
- 11000 XP/hr in Catherby, 4500 XP/hr in Ardougne
- about 10 minutes in Catherby, about 25 minutes in Ardougne Market
I advise taking as much cake as you possibly can from Catherby before the salty sea breeze there makes it stale! Stealing from the Cake Stall in Catherby has the advantage of no guards if you hide behind the cart, as shown.
In Ardougne, the guards will attack you if they see you stealing from the stall, therefore slowing your experience rates as you have to stop thieving to whack them to death with your newly acquired loaf of bread.
Level 14-15: Quest - Buyers and Cellars
- Location for quest start: Speak to Darren Lightfinger in his cellar found just north of Lumbridge furnace.
- Time to complete the quest: about 5 minutes
- Rewards:
It’s time to join the Thieving Guild, this quest awards a nice 525xp, boosting you straight to level 15.
Level 15-35: Thieves Guild - Opening Doors (North only, world-hopping)
- Location: Thieving Guild
- 61000 XP/hr
- About 20 minutes
So your career is taking off aye? We all know good streaks must come to an end; therefore, it’s time to prepare for the inevitable jailbreak. Opening these doors is a little click intensive, but practice makes perfect!
You’ll be opening the top three doors, as shown. Once all three are open, it takes around 5 minutes for them to reset, so make use of the ‘hop worlds’ button and jump straight back in.
Keep hopping worlds while doing this for a tasty 61000xp per hour! - Better than the cake from earlier!
Level 35-62: Thieves Guild - Opening Doors (all doors, requires: Lockpick)
- Location: Thieving Guild
- 83000 - 140000 XP/hr, depending on your level
- About 3 hours 15 minutes
And so it continues. At this point is where you may find that the dark dungeon underneath Lumbridge starts to feel like home, well, that’s because it’s the Thieves Guild after all.
This time you’ll require a lockpick, easily obtainable from the Grand Exchange for a few thousand coins. Start opening all six doors and hopping worlds; it’ll be over sooner than you think, I promise.
Level 62-76: Misthalin Safecracking (requires: Thieves Guild Caper Quests, Lockpick, Lodestone network, Wicked Hood)
- Safe locations: Varrock Castle, Edgeville General Store, Wizards Tower, Lumbridge House, Lumbridge Bob’s Brilliant Axes Shop
- 250000-300000 XP/hr
- about 4 hours
Note: Hand in your loot bag in Lumbridge Thieving Guild for more experience!
So, we’ve been hands deep in others’ pockets, jailbroke ourselves out of prison, ate more than our fair share of the cake.
But do you know what we haven’t found yet? REAL TREASURE. Well, now it’s time to look in all of those secret stashes that the wealthy keep. It’s time to break into their safes!
Safecracking requires you to complete all of the Thieves Guild Caper Quests, these shouldn’t take too long, but we highly suggest completing them before you start this section of your training.
Head to each of the safe locations listed above, crack the safe, then move onto the next before you’re caught! Once you’ve finished the last crate, return to the first one again, rinse, and repeat.
We like to use our teleports for quicker travel, and this is where using the wicked hood to reach the Wizard’s Tower can save you some time.
Level 76-83: Asgarnian Safecracking (requires: Thieves Guild Caper Quests, Lockpick, Quest - Death of Chivalry item: Skull of Remembrance, Lodestone network
- Safe locations: Black knights castle, Burthope castle, Port Sarim Jewelry store, and Forge.
- 400000 XP/hr
- about 4.5 hours
Note: Hand in your loot bag in Lumbridge Thieving Guild for more experience!
Using the Skull of Remembrance allows you an immediate teleport into the Black Knight’s Castle, allowing you to complete this safecracking run in around 5 minutes per run. Therefore, acquiring this deathly artifact before starting is highly worth your time. Just complete the ‘Death of Chivalry’ quest.
Level 83-90: Kandarin Safecracking (requires: Thieves Guild Caper Quests, Rune pouch with Air, Water and Law runes for teleporting, Magic level 51, Lodestone network)
- Safe locations: Camelot Castle, Arouduge Market House - West, Arouduge Market House - North (ignore other Aroduge safes), Yanille Wall by Lodestone, Yanille Pub to the East of Lodestone
- 530000-5750000 XP/hr
- about 5.5 hours
Note: Hand in your loot bag in Lumbridge Thieving Guild for more experience!
Level 90-94: Active Safecracking Route (requires: Thieves Guild Caper Quests, Quest - Summers End item: Jennica’s Ring, Rune pouch with Air, Water and Law runes for teleporting Magic level 51)
- Safe locations: Rogue’s Den in level 51 Wilderness, Camelot Castle, Arouduge Market House - West
- 800000xp/hr
- about 3.5 hours
Note: Hand in your loot bag in Lumbridge Thieving Guild for more experience!
Level 94+: Active Safecracking Route for maximum XP/hr (requires: Thieves Guild Caper Quests, Quest - Summers End item: Jennica’s Ring, Quest - Fairy Tale 2 or 3, Quest - Ritual of Mahjarrat, Abyssal Lurkers)
- Safe locations: Zanaris, Zemourigal’s Fort, Rogues Castle in level 51 Wilderness, Yanille Wall by Lodestone, Yanille Pub to the East of Lodestone
- 900000-1000000 XP/hr
- about 5.5 hours to reach level 99
Note: Hand in your loot bag in Lumbridge Thieving Guild for more experience!
Using Jennica’s ring allows you to teleport from level 51 wilderness to Yanille using the Lodestone network - wild!
This makes this safecracking run one of the best methods of actively training the Thieving skill, with around 1million XP per hour!
Level 90-99 AFK method: Wilderness Safecracking (requires: Thieves Guild Caper Quests, Hard Wilderness Diary Tasks, Lockpick)
- Safe locations: Rogue’s Den in level 51 Wilderness
- 600000 XP/hr
- about 13 hours
Note: Hand in your loot bag in Lumbridge Thieving Guild for more experience!
This AFK method allows you to become a master thief while watching your favorite TV show (which, of course, is Breaking Bad). If you want to be a little more active, you can always pickpocket some of the Rogues while you wait for the safes to reset.
Other noteworthy high-level training methods
- Level 90+ Dwarf Traders
- Level 93+ Priffandas Elves
