Thieving, in some ways, is the best non-combat moneymaking skill. Don't get me wrong; easy, quick, and profitable skills like Cooking and Fletching are great, and the slower but much more profitable Fishing is even better. But they all share a common weakness: time.
Markets change with time, as does the price of goods. Fletching is still profitable, but not nearly as much as years ago. But with Thieving, you don't need to worry about time or market shifts since 99% of your profit is straight GP. Can you say cha-ching?
Let's go over the best ways to five-finger discount your OSRS account to level 99 Thieving.
Recommendations
#1 - Rogue's Outfit
Wearing the Rogue's Outfit will double your loot while pickpocketing. Since Thieving is all about making the money, you very much want this. You can acquire the outfit pieces from the Rogue's Den. You need at least level 50 Thieving and Agility to play the Rogue's Den minigame.
#2 - Ardougne Diary Completion
One of the best endgame Thieving training methods is in Ardougne, and completing the Ardougne Diary gives notable Thieving bonuses. Completion of the medium Ardougne Diary gives you a +10% pickpocket success rate within Ardougne. Completing Ardougne Hard Diary extends that bonus to all across Gielinor but has some fairly steep requirements.
#3 - Contact! Quest
Completing the Contact! quest gives you access to Sophanem's bank, which will speed up the fastest Thieving training method.
#4 - Dodgy Necklaces
Dodgy necklaces give you a 25% chance of avoiding stuns and damage after failed pickpocket attempts. You're going to fail a lot on your way to level 99, so these saves add up. A dodgy necklace can save you ten times before it crumbles to dust. I recommend having a decent supply of them.
#5 - Gloves of Silence
Gloves of Silence give a +5% bonus to your pickpocket success chance. They do not stack with the Ardougne Diary bonuses and conflict with the Rogue's outfit gloves. But they do have their uses in certain scenarios.
#6 - Food
As mentioned above, you're going to get hit a lot while training Thieving, so you'll need food to keep yourself from dying. Multi-heal foods like pie, pizza, and cake are great options.
#7 - Stamina potions
Some of these training methods involve a bit of running around, so stamina potions will be helpful.
Recommended Thieving Training Options
Levels 1-5: Men/Women
Start your Thieving journey by pickpocketing men or women anywhere across Gielinor. You need to successfully pickpocket men/women 49 times to reach level 5.
Levels 1-20: Questing
By completing Fight Arena, Hazeel Cult, and Biohazard, you can immediately jump to level 20 Thieving. These quests are difficult or time-consuming to complete, even at a low level.
Levels 5-25: Bakery Stalls
From levels 5 to 25, start stealing from bakery stalls in the Ardougne market. If you stand under the baker himself, the guards won't be able to catch you. The cakes you steal from this stall will come in handy later when you go back to pickpocketing. Dropping all loot will increase EXP rates to around 19K EXP/hour, so unless you're an Iron Man account, it's probably best to drop the cakes.
Levels 25-45: Hosidius Fruit Stalls
From levels 25 to 45, you should steal from the fruit stalls in Hosidius. There's a house in the far east side of Hosidius near the beach that has two fruit stalls inside. Alternate between stealing from these two stalls for the fastest training. Doing so will net you about 42,000 EXP/hour if you drop everything you loot. If you only thieve from one stall, the EXP rates drop to around 35,000 EXP/hour. If you're an Iron Man, you may want to keep strange fruit, Golovnova fruit tops, and papayas.
You need at least 15% Hosidius favour to steal from Hosidius fruit stalls.
Levels 45-49/91: Blackjacking
To begin blackjacking, you must first complete The Feud quest. After you've done this, head to Pollnivneach. You will be blackjacking level 41 bearded Pollnivnian bandits. First, lure one of the Lure bandits into a house, then bait them into a sealed-off area, like between two crates. Next, use your blackjack to knock them out. Pickpocket the knocked-out bandit twice, then knock him out again. Repeat the process as long as needed.
From levels 45-55, knock out bearded Pollnivnian bandits. From levels 55 to 65, knock out level 56 Pollnivnian bandits. At level 65 Thieving, you can move on to Menaphite Thugs.
At level 45, EXP rates start at around 100K EXP/hour. After hitting level 65 and training on Menaphite Thugs, those increase to over 200K EXP/hour. However, this is a very click-intensive method that's no longer the best EXP. It's also not the best GP either. But it's definitely a viable option to 99 if that's what you want to do.
Levels 45-55/65: Stealing Artefacts
For this method, you'll be stealing in Port Piscarilius. You need at least 75% Piscarilius favour to do this method and a lockpick.
To begin, speak with Captain Khaled, who will give you a job. Go to the house Khaled told you about, and steal the artefact inside. Make your way back to Khaled while avoiding patrolling guards to receive your reward of Thieving EXP. Rinse and repeat.
EXP rates start at around 150,000 EXP/hour at level 49 and scale to around 260,000 EXP/hour at level 99. Stealing artefacts is far less click-intensive than blackjacking, but you still need to pay attention due to guard patrols. The EXP rates are also significantly inferior to blackjacking Menaphite Thugs starting at level 65 and don't even out until around level 85 Thieving.
Levels 55-99: Ardougne Knights
At level 55, you can start pickpocketing Ardougne Knights. First, join the Friend Chats ThievingWorlds or Splashworlds. These are dedicated Thieving FCs. You can use these to find a world where someone is splashing an Ardougne Knight in the bank.
This classic form of training Thieving is very simple. Wear your Rogue's Outfit, dodgy necklace, and spam click pickpocket. If you steal from Ardougne Knights from level 55 to level 99 Thieving, you can get around 15 million GP.
Do note that Ardougne Knights are considerably worse EXP than blackjacking and stealing artefacts at level 55. If starting at level 55, you'll only be getting around 60,000-65,000 EXP/hour. The EXP rates do get considerably better after level 85. The biggest pros to pickpocketing Ardougne Knights are the GP and how relaxed a training method it is.
Levels 71/91-99: Pyramid Plunder
The best Thieving training method in the game is Pyramid Plunder starting at level 91 Thieving. To begin, you either need a Pharoh's sceptre, which is about 3 million GP or have started Icthlarin's Little Helper.
If starting at level 71 Thieving, loot everything in the level 71 room and as much as you can in the level 61 room. Ignore the other rooms. If beginning at level 91 Thieving, steal everything from the level 91 room and as much as possible from the level 81 room.
At level 71 Thieving, you can expect EXP rates of around 120,000-125,000 EXP/hour. That's significantly worse than blackjacking, but I can't stress enough how click-intensive blackjacking is.
From levels 80-91, the EXP rate jumps to around 190,000 EXP/hour. From level 91 onwards, you should be able to get around 260,000-270,000 EXP/hour.
Alternative Thieving Training Options
Levels 71/94-99: Master Farmers
You can begin pickpocketing Master Farmers at level 38 Thieving, but it's not worth doing yet because you will fail a lot. It's recommended to be at least level 71 by stealing from these guys. If you start at level 94 Thieving and have completed the Ardougne Diary, you will never fail pickpocketing Master Farmers.
Master Farmers is purely a for-profit Thieving training method. At level 94 Thieving, you'll only get around 125,000-130,000 EXP/hour, but you'll also get 750,000-800,000 GP/hour.
Levels 82-99: Pickpocketing Vyres
If you have completed Sins of the Father and have at least level 82 Thieving, you can thieve vyres. Vyres have a 1/5000 chance of dropping blood shards, currently worth 5.4 million GP. The double loot bonus from the Rogue's Outfit applies to blood shard drops as well.
Pickpocketing vyres will net you anywhere from 120,000-180,000 EXP/hour and 1,500,000-1,900,000 GP/hour.
Levels 85-99: Pickpocketing Elves
If you have at least level 85 Thieving and have completed Song of the Elves, you can pickpocket Elves. Like vyres, they have a valuable item drop that does fall under the Rogue's Outfit's double loot bonus, the Enhanced crystal teleport seed. These are currently worth around 1.9 million GP and drop at a 1/1024 chance.
Pickpocketing elves is worse EXP/hour but better profit. You should have no problem getting around 2 million GP/hour pickpocketing elves. EXP/hour caps at around only 150,000/hour.
Conclusion
Ironically enough, Thieving might be the best level 99 skill to have if, Guthix forbid, you fall victim to a hacker. If a hacker cleans out your bank and you've got nothing but the default outfit on your back, you can get enough Rogue's Outfit, pickpocket some Master Farmers, and you're back in business. And, as I mentioned at the beginning, since most of your loot from Thieving is raw GP, you'll never need to worry about inflation or market shifts.
Thieving is also a pretty important skill to have for some high-level quests, so it's best to train it sooner rather than later. So go out and start taking what isn't yours.
Only in OSRS, of course.
