OSRS Thieving Money Making: Best Methods by Level (38–85)

Overview

The best Thieving money maker is pickpocketing elves in Prifddinas at 85 Thieving after Song of the Elves. The wiki lists about 4.2M gp an hour at 99 Thieving and about 3.1M at 85, almost all of it from enhanced crystal teleport seeds and crystal shards. Below that, vyres in Darkmeyer (82 Thieving, Sins of the Father) pay about 2.9M at 99, and master farmers make about 1.15M from 94 Thieving, with seeds available from level 38.

Those figures use wiki prices from 12 October 2026 and assume full rogue equipment, the Thieving cape where relevant and the hard Ardougne Diary. Without them you fail more, eat more and earn less, so read the "What changes your rate" section before you pick a target.

For XP routes and unlocks, use the Thieving 1–99 guide. This page treats Thieving as a GP method: targets, setup, costs and when to stop.

Thieving Money Makers by Level

• Elves: enhanced crystal teleport seeds drop at 1 in 1,024 per pickpocket and make up most of the value, with crystal shards second.
• Vyres: blood shards drop at 1 in 5,000 per successful pickpocket and are worth more than everything else combined. Vallessia von Pitt's house, near the Hallowed Sepulchre bank, is the usual spot.
• Master farmers: ranarr (1 in 302), snape grass (1 in 260) and snapdragon (1 in 2,083) seeds are 92.7% of the profit. At 94 Thieving with the hard diary you stop failing, which makes this the most relaxed option.
• Paladins: most of the value is chaos runes, whose price barely moves, so the rate stays steady.
• Rogues' Castle chests: the wiki method involves dying on purpose and warns that up to 500k of profit can be lost to PKers.

What Changes Your Rate

• Rogue equipment: each piece adds 15% to the chance of double pickpocket loot, and all five pieces make it 100%. It comes from the Rogues' Den and effectively needs 50 Thieving and 50 Agility.
• Dodgy necklace: a 25% chance to avoid the stun and damage on a failed pickpocket. It has 10 charges and only uses one when it saves you.
• Shadow Veil: an Arceuus spell (47 Magic, A Kingdom Divided) that gives a 15% chance to avoid the stun and damage. Together with a dodgy necklace that becomes 36.25%. It lasts 0.6 seconds per base Magic level, which is why low Magic burns more cosmic runes.
• Ardougne Diary: medium gives 10% more pickpocket success inside Ardougne and a 56 coin pouch cap. Hard makes the 10% apply everywhere and raises the cap to 84, and elite raises it to 140. The elf, vyre and master farmer rates here assume the hard diary.

Setup

Setup is food, necklaces and a world where you are not fighting five people for one NPC.

1. 1

   Confirm the target on the Wiki money making page for your level.

2. 2

   Stack dodgy necklaces, food and cosmic runes for a full session.

3. 3

   Wear rogue equipment and the Thieving cape if you have it.

4. 4

   Park near a bank or a free food source, like the Ardougne Baker's Stall for paladins.

5. 5

   Trap the NPC in a building where possible so you are not chasing it around.

Route and Process

Pickpocket, manage stuns, bank the loot, repeat. Paladin loot all stacks, so you never need to bank there. Elves and vyres also drop gems and other unstackable items, so plan a bank or drop rule (vyres pair well with a gem sack).

1. 1

   Warm up until your fail rate settles.

2. 2

   Open coin pouches before you hit your pouch cap.

3. 3

   Replace necklaces before they run out mid-streak.

4. 4

   Drop or alch junk on a fixed rule so you stop thinking about it.

5. 5

   End on a timer and value the loot.

Costs to Subtract

Thieving costs are food, necklaces and Shadow Veil runes.

• Food or wine used while stunned
• Dodgy necklaces consumed (about 16 an hour on elves at 99 in the wiki's numbers)
• Cosmic runes for Shadow Veil (300 an hour at 99, up to 640 at 47 Magic)
• GE tax on seeds, shards and other loot
• Death costs if you thieve in the Wilderness

How to Calculate Realistic Profit

Rare drops dominate most Thieving money methods, so price them every session and average over several hours.

1. 1

   Note starting necklaces, food and runes.

2. 2

   Thieve for a fixed time at your real click rate.

3. 3

   Value coins, seeds, shards and other loot at conservative GE prices.

4. 4

   Subtract consumables used.

5. 5

   Compare with the wiki.

   Over one or two hours a missing seed or shard swings the result a lot.

Ironman Relevance

For irons, Thieving is a seed and rune source first. Master farmers feed your herb runs, and elves supply crystal shards.

Pick targets that drop what your account needs next.

Common Mistakes

Below the no-fail level, most lost GP is stun time, which is what dodgy necklaces and Shadow Veil are for.

• Thieving without rogue equipment when you have 50 Thieving and Agility
• Using expensive food when wine or cake keeps you up
• Wilderness chests without a risk plan
• Skipping the Ardougne Diary tasks that raise your success rate
• Skipping the Thieving 1–99 guide and learning on a poor target

When to Move On

Switch when one of these is true:

• Seed or shard prices make your timed session worse than a gathering skill you like more.
• You have unlocked a higher target (vyres at 82, elves at 85) and confirmed it pays after costs.
• You need AFK more than GP. See AFK activities or a passive method.

FAQ

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