The short version
30-second read- Waterfall Quest is the best early XP. It has no skill requirements, everything can be evaded, and it pays 13,750 XP in both Attack and Strength.
- Do skill-unlock quests before training those skills. Druidic Ritual switches Herblore on, and The Knight's Sword gives 12,725 Smithing XP on a fresh account.
- Priest in Peril and Lost City come early. Between them they unblock more later content than any other pair, opening Morytania, Zanaris and the dramen staff.
- The quest cape costs 99,000 coins. The Wise Old Man in Draynor Village sells it once every quest except miniquests is done, which is 343 quest points today.
Overview
The optimal quest order starts with the free Lumbridge quests, then Waterfall Quest, Tree Gnome Village, Witch's House and The Knight's Sword before you train any combat by hand. Those four alone pay 13,750 Strength, 25,200 Attack, 6,325 Hitpoints and 12,725 Smithing XP. The full first 25 are in the table below.
Past that point the right order depends on what you want to unlock. Three things make a quest worth doing early: it gives combat XP you would otherwise grind, it unlocks travel you will use hundreds of times, or it is a prerequisite for a long chain you will need anyway.
The rest of this page ranks the early game by those three tests, with the actual XP numbers, so you can decide for yourself.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Quests in the game | 184, worth 343 quest points (24 free, 160 members) |
| Best XP-per-minute early quest | Waterfall Quest: 13,750 Attack and 13,750 Strength, no skill requirements |
| Most useful early unlock | Lost City, for Zanaris and the first step toward fairy rings |
| Biggest prerequisite gate | Dragon Slayer II at 200 quest points |
| Longest single chain | Recipe for Disaster: an intro, eight subquests and a final boss |
| Skill a quest can switch on entirely | Herblore, via Druidic Ritual |
The First 25 Quests in Order
This sequence follows the opening of the OSRS Wiki optimal quest guide as of October 2026, which orders quests so you do as little direct skill training as possible. Gertrude's Cat at number 10 is the first members quest on the list.
| # | Quest | Why it sits here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Learning the Ropes | The tutorial quest. You cannot reach the mainland without it |
| 2 | Cook's Assistant | 300 Cooking, all inside Lumbridge |
| 3 | Sheep Shearer | 150 Crafting |
| 4 | Misthalin Mystery | 600 Crafting |
| 5 | Prince Ali Rescue | 3 quest points |
| 6 | The Restless Ghost | 1,125 Prayer. Animal Magnetism and Ghosts Ahoy both need it later |
| 7 | Rune Mysteries | Switches Runecraft on |
| 8 | Imp Catcher | 875 Magic |
| 9 | Witch's Potion | 325 Magic |
| 10 | Gertrude's Cat | 1,525 Cooking |
| 11 | Children of the Sun | No requirements, opens Varlamore |
| 12 | Dwarf Cannon | 750 Crafting |
| 13 | Waterfall Quest | 13,750 Attack and 13,750 Strength |
| 14 | Tree Gnome Village | 11,450 Attack and spirit tree travel |
| 15 | Doric's Quest | 1,300 Mining, toward the 10 Mining for The Knight's Sword |
| 16 | Witch's House | 6,325 Hitpoints |
| 17 | The Knight's Sword | 12,725 Smithing. Needs 10 Mining (boostable) |
| 18 | The Tourist Trap | 4,650 XP twice in Agility, Fletching, Smithing or Thieving. Train Fletching to 10 first |
| 19 | Black Knights' Fortress | 3 quest points |
| 20 | Druidic Ritual | Switches Herblore on |
| 21 | Recruitment Drive | About 1,000 XP each in Agility, Herblore and Prayer |
| 22 | Goblin Diplomacy | 5 quest points and 200 Crafting |
| 23 | Sleeping Giants | 6,000 Smithing and the Giants' Foundry. Needs 15 Smithing |
| 24 | Fight Arena | 12,175 Attack and 2,175 Thieving |
| 25 | Plague City | 2,425 Mining, and the start of the West Ardougne chain |
On a free account, do quests 1 to 9 plus Doric's Quest, The Knight's Sword, Black Knights' Fortress and Goblin Diplomacy from this list, then add Vampyre Slayer for 4,825 Attack.
Quests That Pay for Themselves in XP
Combat XP from quests is the cheapest combat XP in the game, and several of these have no skill requirements at all. On a fresh account this block alone will carry you past the point where most training methods become viable.
| Quest | XP given | Requirement to worry about |
|---|---|---|
| Waterfall Quest | 13,750 Attack and 13,750 Strength | None — you evade rather than fight |
| The Grand Tree | 18,400 Attack, 7,900 Agility, 2,150 Magic | 25 Agility, boostable |
| Fight Arena | 12,175 Attack, 2,175 Thieving | None — everything can be safespotted |
| Tree Gnome Village | 11,450 Attack | None — the warlord can be safespotted |
| The Knight's Sword | 12,725 Smithing | 10 Mining, boostable |
| Vampyre Slayer | 4,825 Attack | None |
| Death Plateau | 3,000 Attack, plus climbing boots | None |
| Animal Magnetism | 2,500 Woodcutting and 1,000 each Crafting, Fletching and Slayer | 18 Slayer, 19 Crafting, 30 Ranged and 35 Woodcutting, none boostable |
Quests That Unlock Travel You Will Use Forever
Travel unlocks compound. Every one of these saves you a small amount of time on every future trip, and the ones near the top of this list will save you more hours over an account's life than any single training method choice.
| Quest | What it unlocks | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Lost City | Zanaris and the dramen staff | Fairy rings also need Nature Spirit, Fairytale I and part of Fairytale II, but Lost City is the first step and gates a lot of later content |
| Priest in Peril | Canifis and Morytania | Required by a long list of later quests, so it blocks more than it looks like |
| Ghosts Ahoy | The Ectophial | A free, unlimited, one-click teleport to Port Phasmatys |
| The Grand Tree | Gnome gliders | Fast access to the Feldip Hills, Karamja and the Digsite region |
| Tree Gnome Village | Spirit trees | Combines with the Grand Tree for cheap coverage of western Gielinor |
| Death Plateau | Climbing boots | Cheap, permanent Strength bonus for early combat |
| Animal Magnetism | Ava's device | Changes ranged training from an ammunition problem into a non-problem |
| Below Ice Mountain | Camdozaal | Free-to-play skilling area, and a Desert Treasure II prerequisite |
Quests That Switch a Skill On
- Druidic Ritual: you cannot use Herblore at all until this is done, and Herblore 70 is a quest cape requirement
- Rune Mysteries: the entry point to Runecraft and to a long chain of later quests
- X Marks the Spot: raises the clue scroll stack limit by one on every tier and unlocks scroll boxes
- The Knight's Sword: 12,725 Smithing XP, which is most of the way to a usable Smithing level on a fresh account
These are worth doing before you plan any training around the skill, because doing them afterwards means you trained toward a ceiling that was about to move.
The Chains That Gate Everything Late
Four chains account for most of the late-game blocking. If you know where you are eventually going, start these earlier than feels necessary.
| Gate | What it blocks | When to start it |
|---|---|---|
| 200 quest points | Dragon Slayer II | It arrives naturally, but check your total before planning DS2 |
| Secrets of the North chain | Desert Treasure II | Early, because it sits behind Making Friends with My Arm, The General's Shadow, Devious Minds and Hazeel Cult |
| Priest in Peril and the Myreque chain | Sins of the Father, Darkmeyer access, Araxxor route | Early, because Priest in Peril alone unblocks a large amount of content |
| Recipe for Disaster subquests | The barrows gloves, and a quest cape | Treat it as a standing project and pick off subquests when you happen to meet the requirements |
| Song of the Elves | Prifddinas, the Gauntlet, Zalcano, crystal gear | When you can see 70 in Agility, Construction, Farming, Herblore, Hunter, Mining, Smithing and Woodcutting, none boostable |
A Reasonable Order for a New Account
If you want a default rather than a decision, this order works for most accounts and does not lock you out of anything.
- Free-to-play quests you can clear without stopping, for the quest points and the early XP
- Waterfall Quest, then Tree Gnome Village, Fight Arena and The Grand Tree for combat XP and travel
- Druidic Ritual, Rune Mysteries and X Marks the Spot to switch skills and clue tiers on
- Priest in Peril and Lost City, the two biggest access unlocks in the early game
- Ghosts Ahoy once you have Priest in Peril, 25 Agility and 20 Cooking (both boostable), and Animal Magnetism once you also have Ernest the Chicken, 18 Slayer, 19 Crafting, 30 Ranged and 35 Woodcutting, none boostable
- Recipe for Disaster subquests, opportunistically, whenever you happen to meet a requirement
- The Fremennik and Elf chains as your skills reach the 60s
- Grandmasters last: Monkey Madness II, Dragon Slayer II, Song of the Elves, While Guthix Sleeps, Desert Treasure II
If Your Goal Is the Quest Cape
The quest cape needs every quest except miniquests, 343 quest points today, and the Wise Old Man in Draynor Village sells it for 99,000 coins. The order above handles the quests. What decides how fast you finish is the skill requirements: most accounts stall on one or two skills, not on a quest.
| Requirement | Level | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Firemaking | 75 | Desert Treasure II |
| Magic | 75 | Dragon Slayer II and Desert Treasure II |
| Slayer | 74 | The Blood Moon Rises |
| Woodcutting | 74 | The Blood Moon Rises |
| Cooking and Smithing | 72 | The Blood Moon Rises |
| Thieving | 72 | While Guthix Sleeps |
| Mining | 72 boostable, but 70 unboosted for Song of the Elves | Making Friends with My Arm |
| Fishing | 62 boostable, but 60 unboosted for The Fremennik Exiles | Swan Song |
| Sailing | 62 | Fallen From Grace |
| Combat level | 85 | Dream Mentor |
Every other skill tops out at 70 or lower. Mining and Fishing are the only two you can boost, and even then you need 70 real Mining and 60 real Fishing for the unboosted quests, so plan on training to those and boosting the last two levels.
Start Slayer early. Its XP only comes from killing monsters on an assigned task, so you cannot switch to a faster method the way you can with Firemaking or Magic, and running tasks from day one also covers most of the combat levels.
- A new quest release unequips the cape until you finish that quest. If your inventory is full at that moment it goes to your bank, and if the bank is full too it is lost and you buy it again
- The cape has an unlimited teleport to the Legends' Guild gates, the second-closest teleport to a fairy ring after your house
- Trimming it needs every achievement diary
For how the whole project breaks down from a fresh account, see How Long Does an OSRS Quest Cape Take From a Fresh Account?.
FAQ
Should I follow the OSRS Wiki optimal quest guide exactly?
It is the best default if your goal is a quest cape with the least manual training, and the first 25 quests above follow it. Break from it when you want a specific unlock sooner, for example Lost City for Zanaris or Priest in Peril for Morytania, because the guide places some of those later than a bossing or skilling plan would.
What is the single best first quest on a new account?
Waterfall Quest. It has no skill requirements, everything can be evaded rather than fought, and it gives 13,750 XP in both Attack and Strength, enough to skip the slowest part of early combat training entirely.
Should I follow the quest journal order?
No. The journal groups quests by difficulty band and then alphabetically, which has nothing to do with prerequisites or geography. Group by region and by chain instead.
Which quest unlocks the most other content?
Priest in Peril, by a wide margin, because it opens Morytania and appears in a long list of later requirement chains. Lost City is second for the travel alone.
When should I start Recipe for Disaster?
As soon as you can do any part of it. It is ten parts (an introduction, eight subquests and the Culinaromancer fight), each with its own requirements, so treating it as a standing side project is far less painful than trying to clear it in one run.
Do I need 200 quest points before Dragon Slayer II?
Yes, and it is the only quest with a quest point requirement that high. Check your total before you start planning the rest of DS2's requirements.
What order should the grandmasters go in?
Whichever order your skills allow, but Desert Treasure II last is usually easiest, because it needs 75 Firemaking, 75 Magic, 70 Thieving, 62 Herblore, 60 Runecraft and 60 Construction all unboosted, plus the Secrets of the North chain.
What is the fastest way to get the quest cape?
Quest in the order on this page and train the tallest requirements as you go: 75 Firemaking and Magic, 74 Slayer and Woodcutting, and combat level 85. Start Slayer early, leave the grandmasters for last, then buy the cape from the Wise Old Man in Draynor Village for 99,000 coins.
Still stuck on a mechanic? Ask the team on our Discord, it is free.
Bottom Line
Do Waterfall Quest, The Grand Tree, Fight Arena and Tree Gnome Village before you train combat, and Druidic Ritual, Rune Mysteries and X Marks the Spot before you plan training in those skills. Those seven quests change what the rest of the account looks like.
Then get Priest in Peril and Lost City done, because between them they unblock more later content than any other pair of quests in the game.
Grandmasters last, and start the Secrets of the North chain long before you think you need it. Quest and level totals verified against the OSRS Wiki on 13 October 2026.
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