osrs fletching guide

There are many different ways to reach 99 fletching. In this complete 1-99 osrs fletching guide we will be laying out the most profitable way, the fastest way, and some alternative methods you can use to reach the max level.

Depending on the method you use, fletching can be the fastest skill currently in old school runescape. For example, player EVscape managed to get from 1-99 fletching in just 3 hours and 9 minutes! Of course, he spent over 150M doing this method, so it’s up to you whether you’re willing to waste money on the fletching skillcape. 

Want to learn how train your fletching in OSRS? Keep reading!

Boost Fletching Exp/hr

Dragonfruit Pie (+4 Fletching level boost)

dragonfruit pie osrs fletching guide

I always start these skill guides by mentioning useful items that boost EXP/hr. For Fletching, only one EXP Booster exists: Dragonfruit Pies.

Dragonfruit Pies boost your fletching by 4 levels when consumed. This is helpful to unlock training methods 4 levels earlier, and thus unlock higher experience rates sooner.

Furthermore, Dragonfruit pies aren’t super expensive, costing about 225 coins per boost when bought from the Grand Exchange (1 pie = 2 boosts).

A dragonfruit pie boost lasts 4 minutes, losing 1 level per minute. So if you need a +4 boost, you will need to eat half a pie every minute, or 30 pies per hour.

At the time of writing, it costs about 15K GP per hour to boost with Dragonfruit Pies.

Choose a Fletching Path

There are many ways to train Fletching. Some methods are much faster than others, but that comes at a price. That’s why I’ve designed 3 paths for you to take. A recommended path, which covers a training method accessible to all players. Next, we have the fastest path, which rushes the Fletching skill but this is very expensive. And finally, options for the Ironmen out there.

Select your preferred path and let’s continue with the guide. 

Recommended Fletching Path
Fastest Fletching Path
Ironman Fletching Path

I recommend you make bows all the way to 99 Fletching if you don’t want to lose any money on the way. I believe this is what most players are looking for, hence why we’re starting off with this method.

This method is profitable, allowing you to earn up to 16M on your way to 99 Fletching.

For the few of you with a ton of money to drop on this skill, you can skip ahead to the next method which covers the fastest way to 99 Fletching.

Fletching Bows or Stringing Bows?

Both cutting logs into unstrung bows and stringing unstrung bows offer the same experience rate. So it’s up to you which method you want to take:

  • Cutting logs into unstrung bows is more AFK, but provides worse XP/hr and less profit
  • Stringing bows offers better XP/hr and more profit, at the cost of being much less AFK

There is also a third option, where you cut logs into unstrung bows, and then string them with bowstrings.

Below I’ll provide tables for each method with information regarding the resources, exp rate, profit, and approximate time.

Cutting Logs into Bows (most AFK)

cutting unstrung bows is a good way osrs fletching money making method.

Cutting logs into unstrung bows is a common method players take to reach 99 because it is very AFK and a good way to make money with fletching. You can easily do this method while watching a movie, playing an ALT account, or focussing on other work.

To maximize efficiency:

  • Put your knife in your inventory
  • Put logs in a separate bank tab and fill the tab with bank fillers
  • Set Withdrawal Quantity to all

And fletch away! It will take you about 94 hours to get 99 Fletching this way.

tutorial: bank tab setup for fletching via the stringing method

Note: Cutting logs into bows is slower than stringing and makes less profit but is more AFK overall.

LevelsMethodExp per bowAmount of bowsEXP RateProfitApprox Time
1-10Arrow Shafts52318k/hr-19K8 minutes
10 – 20Longbow (u)1033215K/hr-19k13 minutes
20 – 25Oak Shortbow (u)16.520525K/hr-10K8 minutes
25 – 35Oak Longbow (u)2558340K/hr-20K20 minutes
35 – 40Willow Shortbow (u)33.2544650K/hrBreak-even15 minutes
40 – 50Willow Longbow (u)41.51,54570K/hr50K55 minutes
50 – 55Maple Shortbow (u)501,30780K/hr100K45 minutes
55 – 70Maple Longbow (u)58.259,80390K/hr770K6 hours
70 – 85Yew Longbow (u)7033,613120K/hr3.2M20 hours
85-99Magic Longbow (u)91.5106,840150K/hr200K65 hours
Total Profit4.2M
Total Time93 hours

Stringing Bows (most Profitable)

stringing bows old school runescape fletching guide

Even though the process of stringing bows gives the same amount of experience as cutting a bow, the stringing method is much faster. For this method you’ll need bowstrings and unstrung (u) bows which you can get from the Grand Exchange.

For maximum efficiency:

  • Add your bowstrings and unstrung bows in a separate bank taband fill the tab with bank fillers
  • Place your materials in a good spot and change the withdrawal quantity to 14.

And fletch away! It will take you about 68 hours to get 99 Fletching this way.

tutorial: bank tab setup for fletching via the stringing method

Note: Stringing bows offers faster exp/hr than cutting logs and provides more profit, at the cost of being more click-intensive.

Fletching LevelsMethodExp per bowAmount of bowsEXP RateProfitApprox Time
10 – 20Longbow (u)1033223K/hr-16K8 minutes
20 – 25Oak Shortbow (u)16.520540K/hr-14K5 minutes
25 – 35Oak Longbow (u)2558360K/hr-29K15 minutes
35 – 40Willow Shortbow (u)33.2544680K/hr-30K12 minutes
40 – 50Willow Longbow (u)41.51,545100K/hr-50K30 minutes
50 – 55Maple Shortbow (u)501,307115K/hr26K30 minutes
55 – 70Maple Longbow (u)58.259,803130K/hr830K4 hours
70 – 85Yew Longbow (u)7033,613180K/hr3.1M14 hours
85-99Magic Longbow (u)91.5106,840200K/hr12.6M49 hours
Total Profit16.4M
Total Time68.5 hours

Combination Method

Using the combination method, you make bows from scratch. Buy your logs and bowstrings from the Grand Exchange. This method will take you about 81 hours in total.

Note: this method holds no extra benefit other than mixing things up.

Fletching LevelsMethodExp per bowAmount of bowsProfitApprox Time
10 – 20Longbow (u)20116-17K10 minutes
20 – 25Oak Shortbow (u)33103-12K6 minutes
25 – 35Oak Longbow (u)50292-25K17 minutes
35 – 40Willow Shortbow (u)66.5232-14K16 minutes
40 – 50Willow Longbow (u)83773-2k40 minutes
50 – 55Maple Shortbow (u)10065462K37 minutes
55 – 70Maple Longbow (u)116.54,902803K5 hours
70 – 85Yew Longbow (u)15016,8073.2M17.5 hours
85-99Magic Longbow (u)18353,4206.4M57 hours
10.4M
Total Time81.5 hours

Fastest Way to get 99 Fletching

The fastest way to 99 fletching in osrs is by fletching darts all the way to 99.

Fletching darts from 1-99 fletching is the fastest method currently in Oldschool Runescape to train your fletching. Taking this method to 99 can give you realistic experience rates of up to 1.5M per hour.

Ideal for you speedrunners out there!

Total Time: 12 to 18 hours (realistically).

The current world record is held by EVScape: 1-99 fletching in 3 hours and 9 minutes using only darts.

Total Cost: 189M

Grand Exchange Buy Limits

Fletching darts is not only super expensive, it’s also limited through the buy limits imposed by the Grand Exchange.

You can only buy 13,000 Dart Tips and 30,000 feathers every four hours. It is however possible to buy different metal darts, so e.g. you can buy 13K mithril and 13K addy darts in the same 4-hour period.

Since you can easily fletch 1,000 darts per minute, you’ll need at least 60k dart tips per hour, and that can be difficult to come by.

You can ask friends, clan members, or strangers at the Grand Exchange to help you out.

TIP: Fletch Darts on OSRS Mobile

you can download osrs mobile from app store
You can download OSRS Mobile from the App Store/Play Store

The reason Fletching Darts offers such stupid high experience rates is that you can spam-click your inventory. The faster you click, the faster you make the darts.

You can do this with your mouse on PC, but it’s faster to fletch darts using the OSRS mobile app.

Tapping your screen allows you to fletch much faster than you could clicking your mouse. So if you have OSRS mobile installed, it might be worth giving it a shot!

get fastest fletching experience using osrs mobile

It takes some time to get the timing right, but you can get insane experience rates Fletching Darts on OSRS mobile.

Fletching Darts 1-99

The fastest way to 99 fletching in osrs is by fletching darts all the way to 99.

Darts offer the fastest experience in osrs and exp rates are dependent entirely on your clicks/taps. You don’t need any requirements to fletch darts (Tourist Trap Quest is NOT needed, that’s only required if you smith the dart tips yourself).

Here’s a table to help you out with the number of dart tips you’ll need to buy between each level, and an approximate of your cost.

TIP: skip Rune Darts as these are a money drain.

LevelsMethodExp per DartAmount (of Darts)EXP RateMoney Lost
10 – 22Bronze Darts1.8248472K/hr – 108k/hr– 47K
22 – 37Iron Darts3.85750150k – 230K/hr– 115K
37 – 52Steel Darts7.512,825300K – 450K/hr– 650K
52 – 67Mithril Darts11.237,884450K – 670K/hr– 3.4M
67 – 81Adamant Darts15109,658600K – 900K/hr– 18M
81 – 90Rune Darts18.8349,933750k – 1.1M/hr– 86M
90-95Amethyst Darts21163,106900k – 1.1M/hr-43M
95 – 99Dragon Darts25170,5151M – 1.5M/hr– 38M
Total loss:–189M

It’s smart to boost via Dragonfruit Pies to unlock faster experience rates earlier. (e.g. unlock Dragon Darts at level 91).

Fletching Darts 1-99 with Dragonfruit Pie Boost

fletching darts is cheaper with dragonfruit boosting

You might think it’s more expensive to train Fletching while boosting with dragon pies, but it is the opposite, you lose much less money when using Dragon Pies to boost! (This is because Rune Darts are so expensive, Dragonfruit Pies allow you to boost past them faster)

Using Dragon Pies, you can save around 20M on your way to 99 Fletching.

The table below considers +4 dragon pie boosts.

Levels (dragonfruit pie)MethodExp per DartAmount (of Darts)EXP RateMoney Lost
6 – 18Bronze Darts1.81,67372K/hr – 108k/hr– 31K
18 – 33Iron Darts3.83,875150k – 230K/hr– 77K
33 – 48Steel Darts7.58,636300K – 450K/hr– 440K
48 – 63Mithril Darts11.225,499450K – 670K/hr– 2.2M
63 – 77Adamant Darts1573,799600K – 900K/hr– 12.2M
77 – 86Rune Darts18.8112,884750k – 1.1M/hr– 58M
86 – 91Amethyst Darts21109,764900k – 1.1M/hr-29M
91 – 99Dragon Darts25285,2641M – 1.5M/hr– 63M
Total loss:–165M

Save Money Fletching Cheaper Darts

you can save some money fletching darts by sticking to cheaper darts

You may have noticed that even lower-level darts offer really good experience rates while requiring less monetary input. For example, steel darts easily double the best conventional fletching method.

So you could conceivably fletch lower-level darts and save some money on your way to max Fletching.

Here’s a table that shows what it would cost to fletch every dart type up to Adamant all the way to 99.

LevelsMethodExp per DartAmount (of Darts)EXP RateMoney Lost
10 – 99Bronze Darts1.87,240,71072K/hr – 108k/hr-137M
22 – 99Iron Darts3.83,428,634150k – 230K/hr-68M
37 – 99Steel Darts7.51,734,262300K – 450K/hr-89M
52 – 99Mithril Darts11.21,152,748450K – 670K/hr-103M
67 – 99Adamant Darts15832,432600K – 900K/hr-140M

Keep in mind that you will have to buy a lot of dart tips and grand exchange buy limits will make this very difficult for you.

Fletching Steel Darts to 99

You can Fletch Steel Darts all the way from levels 37-99.

In total, you’ll need to Fletch 1,734,262 darts to get 99 Fletching. Fletching Steel Darts gives you an experience rate between 300-450K experience per hour so it will take you anywhere between 28 and 43 hours.

This method will cost you 89M in total.

Fletching Mithril Darts to 99

If you opt to Fletch Mithril Darts from levels 52-99, you will need to fletch a total of 1,152,748 mithril darts. You can count on experience rates of 450-670K per hour so it will take you anywhere between 19 and 28 hours.

This method will cost you 103M in total.

Fletching Adamant Darts to 99

Finally, you can opt to Fletch Adamant Darts from levels 67-99. You’ll need to fletch 832,432 total Adamant Darts and you can count on experience rates between 600-900k per hour. Depending on your clicks, it would take you 14 – 21 hours to get 99 Fletching via Adamant Darts.

This method will cost you 140M in total.

Ironman Fletching Methods

tips for ironman fletching training

You didn’t think I would forget about the Ironmen accounts, did you?

Fletching is a skill that Ironman can train very efficiently, here are some methods to help you out.

Follow our Ironman Guide

Fletching is covered in our Efficient Ironman Guide, here’s a little breakdown:

  • Levels 1 – 10 Arrow Shafts
  • Levels 10 – 15 Bronze Arrows
  • Levels 15 – 22 Wintertodt
  • Levels 22 – 50 Iron Darts
  • Levels 50 – 55 Maple Shortbows (u)
  • 55 – 99 Maple longbows (get maple logs from Kingdom of Miscellania)

If you follow along with the Ironman guide, you basically never have to worry about training your fletching!

I’ll sum up some alternative methods below.

Woodcutting, Fletching & Magic for Profit

One of my personal favorites is to combine Woodcutting, Fletching, and Magic for some crazy profits on the ironman!

This method allows me to chop AFK on the Ironman while grinding away on my main. Once I have a bunch of logs, I fletch them into longbows.

Next, I grind out the temple trekking minigame as this is the best source for bow strings, and fletch my higher-tier (maple/yew/magic) unstrung bows into bows.

Finally, I high alch them for profit.

Here’s how much you can make:

  • Magic Longbows high alch for 1536 GP each (1356 profit per alch)
  • Magic Shortbows high alch for 960 GP each (780 profit per alch)
  • Yew Longbows high alch for 768 GP each (588 profit per alch)
  • Yew Shortbows high alch for 480 GP each (300 profit per alch)

You get the picture. You train Woodcutting AFK, Fletching AFK, and finally, you make a ton of money and train your Magic simultaneously. Ironman mode = easy. 😛

Levels 50 – 99 Maple long/short bows (Kingdom of Miscellania)

From Levels 50 onward, you can collect maple logs from your Kingdom of Miscellania and Fletch those into maple shortbows (u) and later maple longbows (u).

Note: this requires the Throne of Miscellania quest and monetary input.

get passive maple logs through kingdom of miscellania

Once you have a ton, you can grind out temple trekking for bow strings to fletch them into longbows.

Next, you can high alch the longbows for profit:

  • Maple shortbows high alch for 240 coins each, so you may 60 GP profit per alch
  • Maple longbows high alch for 384 coins each, so you make 204 GP profit per alch

Combine Smithing & Fletching to make Darts

Eventually, you are going to have a blowpipe, and you’re going to need a lot of darts.

So for efficiency’s sake, it’s wise to consider this before starting any other fletching method on your ironman account.

Here’s an option for you:

  • Buy Mithril/Adamant ores from the Ore Seller at Blast Furnace
  • Smelt them into Mithril/Adamant Bars
  • Smith those into Dart Tips (requires Tourist Trap Quest)
  • Fletch into Darts

An even better but higher requirement method is to mine Amethyst and smith Amethyst darts.

Levels 52 – 99 Broad Arrows

If you absolutely want to speedrun Fletching as an ironman (I really don’t recommend this) you can buy broad arrow packs and fletch Broad Arrows for insane Experience per hour. This method is fine if you need a couple of Fletching levels on the ironman, but it’s really not efficient and a huge money drain.

Note: you need to unlock ‘Broader Fletching’ with Slayer Points to unlock the ability to fletch Broad Arrows/Bolts.

Fletching Training Tips…

Create your own training path

Since prices change so quickly there will always be new methods that become profitable and old methods that will result in a loss. To stay on top of this, use the fletching calculator alongside the methods in this osrs fletching guide to create your ideal path to 99.

Combine fletching with other skills

Some zero time methods such as creating darts and bolts can easily be done while doing other activities. These fletching methods require just two inventory slots and you can spam-click them between certain activities and skills such as agility, questing, etc.

Summary

Hopefully, this OSRS Fletching Guide will help you get 1-99 Fletching as quickly as possible. Training Fletching is very low-effort as you can AFK-train the skill while doing Quests, NMZ, or Skilling on an alt account. (Or you can watch a movie if you aren’t a sweaty gamer)

Unless you plan to spend a ton of money, our recommended path is probably going to be most helpful to you. Consider cutting logs only if you want a more AFK method. But if you want to get the best EXP/hr and make a small profit, stringing bows is the best option for you.

Remember: you can buy dragonfruit pies from the grand exchange to boost your fletching levels by 4 so you can get access to higher darts/bows and achieve higher fletching experience rates. Stash these in the same bank tab for efficiency.

Definitely check out OSRS Mobile if you plan on training via darts all the way to 99, it really is faster. Let me know if any information is missing so we can keep this OSRS Fletching Training Guide as updated as possible.

Editor’s note: This Guide was updated on October 13, 2023. It was originally published on August 15, 2020.

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