The short version
30-second read- Four quests reach level 18 for free. Druidic Ritual, Jungle Potion, Recruitment Drive and The Dig Site take a fresh account there without a single herb.
- Saradomin brews are the usual pick from 81. They give 450,000 XP an hour at about 9 gp per XP, against about 34 for ancient brews and 15 for Armadyl.
- Boosted levels count when mixing. A Botanical pie at 77 lets you make Saradomin brews, and at 86 super combat potions.
- Magic potions beat Zamorak brews on cost. From 76 they cost about 8.6 gp per XP against 23 for Zamorak brews, for about 6,000 fewer XP an hour.
Herblore 1–99 at a Glance
Herblore is fast and expensive. Saradomin brews give about 450,000 XP an hour from 81, yet most potions lose money on each dose, while four quests take a fresh account to level 19 without a single herb. It is a members-only skill, so there is no F2P route.
XP figures below come from the OSRS Wiki’s Herblore training page, checked on 14 October 2026. They do not change with prices. What you pay for herbs and secondaries does, so price your next 10 levels on the wiki before you buy.
Pick Your Method
Rates are the wiki's figures for efficient play: about 2,500 potions an hour, 2,750 for ancient and Armadyl brews, 2,166 for super combats. GP per XP is the wiki's live calculation on 14 October 2026; minus means the potion loses money.
| Method | Level | XP/hr (wiki) | GP per XP | Attention | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning grimy herbs by hand | 3+ | 25,000 (guam) to 150,000 (torstol) at 10,000 herbs/hr; 30% of that on auto-clean | Profit: about +11 to +14 on irit and snapdragon | High by hand, AFK on auto-clean | Money, not levels |
| Guthix rest | 18 | 82,600 | +7.6 | Medium | Low-level profit; needs part of One Small Favour |
| Prayer potions | 38 | 218,750 | −2.2 | Low | Cheap XP and PvM supplies |
| Super energy | 52 | 293,750 | −3.3 | Low | Cheap mid levels |
| Super defence | 66 | 375,000 | −4.0 | Low | Cheap mid levels |
| Magic potions | 76 | 431,250 | −8.8 | Low | Cheaper than Zamorak brews |
| Saradomin brews | 81 | 450,000 | −8.4 | Low | The standard 81–99 |
| Menaphite remedies | 88 | 500,000 | −9.3 | Low | Faster than brews for about the same GP |
| Armadyl brews | 89 | 563,750 | −14.4 | Low | Fastest, at a price |
| Ancient brews | 85 | 522,500 | −31.1 | Low | Rarely worth it |
| Super combat potions | 90 | 324,900 | +0.1 (about break-even) | Low | Making supplies you use or sell |
| Mastering Mixology | 60 (all recipes at 81) | Up to 105,000 (training page); about 70,000 active or 45,000 passive (minigame page) | Herbs only, no secondaries | Medium | Goggles and alchemist's amulet; ironmen short on secondaries |
Verdict: prayer potions and super defences are the cheap stops, Saradomin brews or Menaphite remedies take you to 99, and Armadyl brews only make sense when hours matter more than GP.
Herblore Training by Level
Herblore training is bankstanding: add a secondary to an unfinished potion, around 2,500 potions an hour if you bank quickly. The potion sets your XP per hour, so the table below is really a list of what to make at each level.
| Level | Potion | XP each | XP/hr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Attack potion | 25 | 62,500 |
| 5 | Antipoison | 37.5 | 93,750 |
| 12 | Strength potion | 50 | 125,000 |
| 22 | Restore potion | 62.5 | 156,250 |
| 26 | Energy potion | 67.5 | 168,750 |
| 30 | Defence potion | 75 | 187,500 |
| 38 | Prayer potion | 87.5 | 218,750 |
| 45 | Super attack | 100 | 250,000 |
| 52 | Super energy | 117.5 | 293,750 |
| 55 | Super strength | 125 | 312,500 |
| 63 | Super restore | 142.5 | 356,000 |
| 66 | Super defence | 150 | 375,000 |
| 72 | Ranging potion | 162.5 | 406,250 |
| 76 | Magic potion | 172.5 | 431,250 |
| 78 | Zamorak brew | 175 | 437,500 |
| 81 | Saradomin brew | 180 | 450,000 |
| 85 | Ancient brew | 190 | 522,500 |
| 88 | Menaphite remedy | 200 | 500,000 |
| 89 | Armadyl brew | 205 | 563,750 |
| 90 | Super combat potion | 150 | 324,900 |
Jungle Potion, Recruitment Drive and The Dig Site take you from level 3 to 19 without a single herb, so do them before you make any attack potions. Super combats give less XP an hour than brews because each one takes four ingredients.
From 60 Herblore, with Children of the Sun done, Mastering Mixology is the slower alternative. The training page puts it at up to about 105,000 XP an hour once every recipe opens at 81, while the minigame's own page estimates about 70,000 with all speedups and 45,000 played passively. You still feed it herbs, but its shop sells the alchemist’s amulet and prescription goggles, which cut potion costs for the rest of the grind.
Herblore 1–99 Level Path
Herblore breaks into five stages between level 1 and 99. Quests do the first stretch, and from 38 you are mostly picking between the newest potion you unlocked and the one before it on GP per XP.
- 1
1–3: Druidic Ritual gives 250 XP, which is level 3.
- 2
3–19: Jungle Potion, Recruitment Drive and The Dig Site (4,025 XP in total with Druidic Ritual), then attack potions and antipoisons if you are short.
- 3
19–63: strength and restore potions, then prayer potions at 38, super attacks at 45 and super strength at 55.
- 4
63–81: super restores, super defence at 66, ranging potions at 72 and magic potions at 76.
- 5
81–99: Saradomin brews, Menaphite remedies from 88, ancient brews from 85 or Armadyl brews from 89 if you will pay more per XP, or super combats from 90 if you want four-dose potions to use or sell.
The Two-Step Potion Chain and the Amulet of Chemistry
Herblore is a two-step skill and most of the planning mistakes come from ignoring the first step. A clean herb goes into a vial of water to make an unfinished potion; a secondary ingredient then finishes it into three doses.
| Item | Role in the chain |
|---|---|
| Grimy herb | Must be cleaned before it can be used, unless you wear the Herblore cape, which turns grimy herbs straight into unfinished potions |
| Vial of water | Turns a clean herb into an unfinished potion (0 XP) |
| Secondary ingredient | Finishes the unfinished potion, producing three doses |
| Amulet of chemistry | Five charges. Each has a 5% chance of producing a four-dose potion instead of three, with no extra experience |
The amulet does nothing for potions that already always output four doses, which includes super combat potions, super antifire, antidote+ and antidote++, and the anti-venom+ line. Save the charges for the three-dose brews. The alchemist’s amulet from Mastering Mixology raises the chance to 15%.
Because unfinished potions and cleaned herbs are both tradeable, you can split the grind: buy the step that is cheap this week and make the step that is expensive.
Cleaning Herbs vs Unfinished Potions: Profit vs XP
Cleaning a herb gives a little XP and sometimes a little money. Turning it into an unfinished potion gives no XP at all (Toadflax potion (unf) lists 0 experience, like every unf). Finishing the potion is where Herblore XP comes from. Here is what each step is worth.
| Step | Herblore XP | Speed | Money | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clean a grimy herb yourself | 2.5 (guam) to 15 (torstol) per herb | Up to 10,000 an hour clicking; auto-clean gives 30% of that rate | Clean price minus grimy price: about +121 per irit, +136 per snapdragon, +26 per torstol | The only XP in the herb half of the chain |
| Zahur cleans it | 0 | Instant | −200 coins per herb | Unnoted herbs; noted ones too after the hard Desert Diary |
| Herb + vial of water = unfinished potion | 0 | About 4,000 an hour (Zahur page's estimate) | Unf price minus herb and vial | Tradeable, so buy it when the margin is thin |
| Zahur makes the unf | 0 | Instant | −200 coins per potion | Needs the hard Desert Diary or a worn Herblore cape; clean herbs only, noted or unnoted |
| Herblore cape: grimy straight to unf | The cleaning XP | One step instead of two | Saves the cleaning step | Only at 99 |
| Unf + secondary = finished potion | 25 to 205 per potion | About 2,500 an hour | Usually a loss: about −2 to −31 GP per XP on common potions | Where the levels actually come from |
How to check the margin
- 1
Pull the grimy and clean price for the herb.
The wiki's herb cleaning table on Herblore training uses live GE prices and shows trading volume next to each.
- 2
Cleaning margin = clean price − grimy price, minus the GE tax when you sell.
Check the volume first: thinly traded herbs can show a loss, as huasca did on 14 October 2026 at about −535 a herb.
- 3
Unf margin = unf price − (clean herb + vial of water).
If it is under the 200 coins Zahur charges, buy unfinished potions; if it is well over, make them yourself.
- 4
Potion margin = three quarters of the 4-dose price after tax (you make 3-dose potions and decant) − unf − secondary. This is the number the wiki's GP per XP column is built from.
- 5
Recheck every few days.
Herb prices move more than most secondaries.
Clean to fund mixing: the real maths
Say you buy 1,000 grimy kwuarms, clean them and make super strengths. Cleaning gives 11,300 XP; the potions give 125,000. Cleaning is about 8% of the XP that herb is worth, so it is a money step with some XP stapled on, not a way to level.
Verdict: clean herbs for money or when you already own them grimy; buy unfinished potions when you want XP per hour; pay Zahur only when your time is worth more than 200 coins a herb.
Fastest XP Methods
Saradomin brews (81, 450,000 XP an hour) are the usual high-level choice. Menaphite remedies (88, 500,000) are faster for about the same cost, roughly 9.3 GP per XP against 8.4 on 14 October 2026 wiki prices. Ancient brews (85, 522,500) and Armadyl brews (89, 563,750) are faster again but cost more per XP: about 31 and 14 GP per XP. Below 81, the newest potion you have unlocked is nearly always the fastest.
Bank organisation matters as much as the recipe. The wiki’s 2,500 an hour assumes quick banking with 14 unfinished potions and 14 secondaries per inventory.
The amulet of chemistry does not speed anything up or save secondaries. It gives a 5% chance of a fourth dose per potion, so it lowers your cost per dose and nothing more.
Hours and GP to 99
Hours are the XP gap on the Experience table divided by the wiki rate; GP uses the wiki's live GP per XP on 14 October 2026, so treat it as a ballpark that moves with herb prices.
| Route | Levels | Hours | GP (about) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The level path above, ending on Saradomin brews | 19–99 | 30 | 105M |
| Saradomin brews | 81–99 | 24 | 90M |
| Menaphite remedies | 88–99 | 17 | 81M |
| Armadyl brews | 89–99 | 15 | 118M |
| Ancient brews | 85–99 | 19 | 304M |
| Super combat potions | 90–99 | 24 | About break-even |
| Mastering Mixology | 81–99 | 103 at 105,000/hr, 155 at 70,000/hr | Herbs only |
| Cleaning snapdragons only, by hand | 59–99 | 108 | Profit on paper, but over 1M herbs |
Level 70 to 99 on super defences, ranging potions, magic potions and then brews is about 28 hours and roughly 102M at the same prices. The last 18 levels are about 83% of the XP in the skill, so the potion you pick at 81 decides most of the bill.
Cheapest / Budget Approach
Herblore is a major cash sink. Price 1 to 99 before you buy 20,000 herbs.
The newest potion is not always worth it. At wiki prices on 14 October 2026, Zamorak brews at 78 cost about 23.7 GP per XP, while magic potions from 76 cost about 8.8 and give only about 6,000 fewer XP an hour.
The cheap stops on the way are prayer potions at 38 (about 2.2 GP per XP), super attacks and super energies (about 3.2 to 3.3) and super defences at 66 (about 4.0). Guthix rest at 18 made a profit on the same day, about 7.6 GP per XP, if you have started One Small Favour.
Your own herb runs cut the cost hard, because the herbs are the expensive half of almost every potion.
AFK & Lower-Intensity Options
Herblore is bankstanding: no risk, but the listed rates need fast banking.
You can slow down and treat it as semi-AFK, and the XP drops in step with your click rate. Auto-cleaning grimy herbs is the most AFK option in the skill at about 30% of the hand-cleaning rate, and Mastering Mixology played passively gives about 45,000 XP an hour at 81.
Practical Tips That Actually Matter
- Hard diaries and disease-free patches help the herb supply chain.
- Nightmare Zone points buy herb boxes at 9,500 points each, up to 15 a day. Ironmen cannot buy them there, but can get them from Tithe Farm for 30 points.
- Make potions you will use, such as Saradomin brews and super restores, so the GP comes back as supplies.
Ironman Notes
Herblore is the clearest example of a skill that consumes rather than produces. Every potion needs a herb and a secondary, which means your real Herblore level is set by your Farming herb runs and by whatever drops your combat is producing. Irons who train Herblore first end up with a level they cannot use and no stock to use it on.
The practical order is herb patches unlocked and running, then cleaning and unfinished potions banked in bulk, then a single long Herblore session. Doing it that way also means you make the potions you actually need rather than whatever your current level allows.
The wiki's Ironman Herblore guide counts 9,350 XP from Druidic Ritual, Jungle Potion, Recruitment Drive, Zogre Flesh Eaters, The Dig Site, Shades of Mort'ton and Heroes' Quest, which is level 26 and energy potions without making a potion. It expects about 67–69 Herblore by the time all hard diaries are done if you make every potion you collect.
Where ironmen get herbs
| Source | Requirement | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| Herb runs | The Farming level for each herb | 10 herb patches, about 80 minutes a crop. Magic secateurs add 10% yield and the Farming cape 5%; use ultracompost, since herbs cannot be protected by gardeners |
| Farming contracts | 85 Farming for hard contracts | The ironman guide's best long-term seed source |
| Master Farmers | 94 Thieving with the hard Ardougne Diary (or the Thieving cape) for no failed pickpockets | Up to about 70,000 Herblore XP worth of seeds an hour, and plenty of ranarr seeds |
| Herbiboar | 80 Hunter (boostable), 31 Herblore, Fossil Island | 59–66 catches an hour with stamina potions, 1–3 herbs each (2–4 with magic secateurs); herb quality scales with your Herblore level |
| Tithe Farm | 34 Farming | Herb boxes for 30 points with no daily cap: seven rolls on the herb drop table, where guam alone is 32/128. The herb sack (58 Herblore) holds 30 of each grimy herb |
| Managing Miscellania | Throne of Miscellania | Passive herbs; the guide suggests keeping 10 workers on herbs |
| Slayer and bosses | Combat | Nechryael, dagannoth and aberrant spectres drop herbs and seeds; Zulrah, Chambers of Xeric (plus dark relics) and the Wilderness bosses, which rarely drop 100 noted snapdragon, ranarr or toadflax, are the bulk drops |
| Wintertodt | Firemaking | Early herbs and seeds that scale with your Herblore and Farming levels |
Ironman order of operations
- 1
Druidic Ritual and the herb quests (up to 9,350 XP, level 26) before you spend a single herb.
- 2
Herb runs from day one; clean while you run to the next patch.
- 3
The hard Desert Diary early:
Zahur then turns noted clean herbs and vials into noted unfinished potions for 200 coins each.
- 4
Make the potions you drink, mainly prayer potions, super restores and brews, rather than the best XP potion of the moment.
- 5
Mastering Mixology from 60 for the goggles and alchemist's amulet.
The ironman guide suggests feeding it herbs whose potions you need least: harralander for mox, avantoe for lye, lantadyme or dwarf weed for aga.
- 6
Get your combat going for Slayer herb and seed drops; the ironman combat guide covers the base you need.
UIM and HCIM
- UIM: clean herbs before noting them at a tool leprechaun. Per the UIM Herblore guide, Zahur is the only way for a UIM to get noted unfinished potions, and Bob Barter's decanting at the Grand Exchange turns finished potions back into notes.
- UIM: make throwaway potions next to Arnold Lydspor in the Piscatoris Fishing Colony, who works as both a bank and a general store.
- HCIM: Herblore itself is risk-free bankstanding. The risk sits in the supply chain, mainly the Wilderness bosses and white berries on Lava Dragon Isle.
Common Mistakes
- Cleaning herbs for XP. A grimy kwuarm gives 11.3 XP cleaned and 125 as a super strength; cleaning is a money step, not a training method.
- Making unfinished potions and expecting XP. The herb-and-vial step gives 0 XP, so buy unfs or pay Zahur when the margin is thin.
- Jumping to the newest potion without checking GP per XP. On 14 October 2026, Zamorak brews cost about 23.7 GP per XP against 8.8 for magic potions, and ancient brews about 31 against 8.4 for Saradomin brews.
- Skipping the free quest XP. Druidic Ritual, Jungle Potion, Recruitment Drive and The Dig Site are 4,025 XP, level 19, before you buy a herb.
- Spending amulet of chemistry charges on potions that already make four doses, such as super combats, super antifire and the anti-venom+ line.
When Paid Training Makes Sense
Saradomin brews from 81 to 99 take about 24 hours at 450,000 XP an hour, and at about 8.4 GP per XP on 14 October 2026 that is roughly 90M GP in toadflax and crushed nests. Super combats from 90 are slower at 324,900 XP an hour but roughly broke even on the same day's prices.
Tell us which potion you want made and your current level. The Herblore page lists what we need, and every potion is mixed by hand.
FAQ
What is the best Herblore boost?
Botanical pie, at +4. It is made at 52 Cooking with a golovanova fruit top and heals 7 per bite. Mature Greenman’s ale gives +2 and drains only Attack and Strength, by 2. Greenman’s ale gives +1 and drains Attack, Strength and Defence by 3. Spicy stew with brown spice rolls up to 5 levels up or down at random, and the Herblore cape counts as +1.
Can you boost Herblore to make a potion early?
Yes. A boosted level counts when mixing, so a Botanical pie at 77 lets you make Saradomin brews (81), and at 86 super combat potions (90). Eat a fresh pie when the boost drops off, since it falls back by one level at a time.
Which potion to 99?
Saradomin brews for most players: 450,000 XP an hour from 81 at about 8.4 GP per XP on 14 October 2026. Menaphite remedies from 88 (500,000) cost about the same per XP and save a couple of hours; ancient brews (522,500) and Armadyl brews (563,750) are faster but cost more per XP. Below 81, take the best GP per XP you can afford at each bracket and recalculate every few levels.
Does making unfinished potions give Herblore XP?
No. Putting a clean herb in a vial of water gives 0 XP. The XP comes from cleaning (2.5 to 15 per herb) and from adding the secondary (25 to 205 per potion). The one exception is the Herblore cape, which turns a grimy herb straight into an unfinished potion and still awards the cleaning XP.
Is cleaning herbs worth it?
For money, sometimes. On 14 October 2026 the wiki's live table showed about +121 per irit and +136 per snapdragon, roughly 1.2–1.4M an hour at the 10,000 herbs an hour a fast clicker manages, though buy limits and volume cap that. For XP it is slow: about 118,000 an hour on snapdragons by hand and 30% of that on auto-clean, against 450,000 for Saradomin brews.
How long does 99 Herblore take?
About 30 hours of potion making from 19 to 99 at wiki rates, 24 of them on Saradomin brews from 81, and roughly 105M GP on 14 October 2026 prices following the level path above. Menaphite remedies or Armadyl brews shave a few hours off the end for more GP.
Should irons delay Herblore?
Delay the grind, not the setup. Start herb runs, the herb quests and the hard Desert Diary early, then make potions in batches you will use, because raids and PvM run on prayer potions, restores and brews. The wiki's ironman guide expects about 67–69 Herblore by the time your hard diaries are done if you make every potion you collect.
Still stuck on a mechanic? Ask the team on our Discord, it is free.
Final Takeaway
Herblore turns GP or herb runs into XP: the potion sets the speed, the herb sets the cost, and cleaning or unf-making only moves the margin. Do the free quests to 19, use prayer potions and super defences as cheap stops, and take Saradomin brews or Menaphite remedies to 99.
Browse Herblore training, more skill guides, or the full blog for related progression help.
Sources
Numbers and mechanics on this page come from these 12 OSRS Wiki pages:
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