Why AFK training still wins

The best AFK method isn’t the one you can ignore the longest, it’s the one that gives the most XP every time you click. Old School RuneScape lets you decide how hard you want to work, and a huge part of the playerbase would rather train on a second monitor during work calls than tick-manipulate for hours.

2026 is a great year for that crowd. The logout timer can now stretch to a full 30 minutes, Sailing brought a wave of new idle-friendly content, and recent quests added methods that barely need you at all. This guide walks through the rules that limit AFK play, then the strongest skilling and combat options right now.

The three timers that cap your AFK

Before picking a method, know what will interrupt you. Three separate limits decide how long you can really leave the client alone:

• Logout timer — 30 minutes. The hard ceiling for everything. On RuneLite, open the Logout Timer plugin and raise it to 30 minutes so the client doesn’t kick you early.
• Aggression timer — 10 minutes. Most monsters stop attacking you after about 10 minutes in an area. You then have to walk far enough away and come back to reset it. A handful of monsters stay aggressive forever, which is why they show up so often in AFK guides.
• Combat timer — 20 minutes. Even against permanently aggressive enemies, your character stops fighting back after 20 minutes without input. Any combat method is therefore capped at 20 minutes per click.

Skilling only answers to the 30-minute logout timer, which is why the very longest AFK sessions are all non-combat.

Measure XP per click, not just minutes

Raw AFK time is a misleading number. The Blast Furnace pump keeps you busy for 30 minutes, but each session only gives around 6,000 Strength XP. Clicking a Gemstone Crab once every 10 minutes gives roughly 16,000 XP per click instead. You’d gain far more from the crab with fewer total interactions — so throughout this guide we rank methods by XP per AFK: the experience you earn for each time you have to come back to the screen.

Skilling: the longest sessions in the game

Infected roots (Woodcutting) — the true 30-minute method

If you literally can’t touch the client, this is it. Infected roots unlock with The Final Dawn and need 80 Woodcutting. They sit deep in the Tenali caverns east of Tal Teklan, just before the entrance to the Doom boss area.

Most of what you get here is stackable demon tears. Actual logs only drop now and then and go straight into your log basket, so it takes ages to fill your space. An infernal axe burns some of those logs and stretches the session even further.

• Bring: dragon or better axe, log basket, infernal axe (optional)
• AFK time: up to 30 minutes
• Rates: roughly 9k XP/h, around 4.5k XP and ~100k GP per session

The hourly XP is poor, but for a work-from-home session it’s unmatched.

Ironwood trees (Woodcutting) — the best XP for the effort

Sailing added Ironwood trees, and they quietly became one of the strongest woodcutting methods in the game. You need 80 Woodcutting and 72 Sailing to reach the lowest-level island that has them, and you’ll have to sail there yourself (or use the teleport-to-boat spell).

Forestry trees now fall on a fixed timer, so every tree gives a predictable four minutes of chopping — about how long it takes to fill your log basket and inventory. A buildable chest on the island lets you deposit logs without dropping them.

• Bring: dragon felling axe, log basket, forestry kit, forester’s rations
• AFK time: ~4 minutes, every time
• Rates: up to 100k XP/h, about 6.6k XP per click

That beats Rosewood and Redwood trees on XP per click, at a much lower Woodcutting level.

Cave eels (Fishing) — the underrated pick

The cave eel spot in the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon (fairy ring AJQ) never moves. Left-click it with a fish barrel equipped and you’re set for around five minutes.

• Bring: fish barrel, light source, fishing rod and bait, plus a bank teleport and a way back to the fairy ring
• AFK time: ~5 minutes
• Rates: about 40k XP/h, 3.3k XP per click, a little profit

Compared with Karambwans, you get similar XP with a longer, steadier session — you just give up most of the profit.

Crewmate salvaging (Sailing) — the boat works while you don’t

Sailing lets you hire crew who do jobs for you. Park your boat between two shipwrecks, assign two crewmates to your salvaging hooks, and they’ll keep pulling salvage into your cargo hold until the logout timer hits.

• Requirements: 55 Sailing for two crewmates; it gets much better at higher levels and higher-tier wrecks (the numbers below use Merchant wrecks)
• Ship upgrades: your best cargo hold (when it’s full, the AFK stops), two of your best salvaging hooks, and a salvaging station
• Crew: whoever has the highest deck-handling stat

You then choose what to do with the haul. Dropping it gets you straight back to AFK, at roughly 15–16k XP/h. Sorting it at the salvaging station costs you five or more minutes of active play but roughly doubles the rate to about 30k XP/h.

Shooting stars (Mining) — the classic

Stars got shorter a few years ago, when depletion speed was standardised no matter how many players mine them. The upside: you no longer need to hunt for a specific busy star. Just grab the highest-tier one close to a teleport. Star-tracking sites list fresh landings by world and location.

• Bring: your best pickaxe; the prospector outfit helps but isn’t required
• AFK time: about 7 minutes per tier
• Rates: around 30k XP/h, about 3.6k XP per click, plus stardust

Slow, but relaxing, reliable and profitable enough that plenty of players take it all the way to 99.

Combat: 20 minutes at a time

Nightmare Zone (any style) — still a powerhouse

Monsters in NMZ are permanently aggressive, so you get the full 20 minutes of combat per click. Requirements depend on how many of the quest bosses you’ve unlocked, but the setup is the same for every style:

1. Buy your combat boost potions (or bring your own if you have no NMZ points) and fill the rest of your inventory with absorption potions.
2. Start a customisable normal rumble with low-Defence bosses that have no special mechanics — think Count Draynor, the Tree Spirit, King Roald, the Sand Snake and similar picks.
3. Inside, drink your absorptions, drop to 1 HP with a dwarven rock cake or locator orb, then drink your combat potion.

At 1 HP you burn through far fewer absorptions. With a Venator bow and cheap amethyst arrows, Ranged rates reach around 150k XP/h — about 50k XP per click. Skip dragon arrows; they aren’t worth the cost here.

Vyrewatch Sentinels — XP and money at once

Sentinels in Darkmeyer have always been a strong AFK spot, since they stay aggressive unless you wear the Vyrewatch disguise. They require Sins of the Father and drop blood shards, which makes this one of the few AFK methods that is also a real money-maker.

Blood Moon Rises made them better with a new best-in-slot weapon for the job — and one catch: finishing the quest makes them stop being aggressive. You can restore that with an item from a werewolf just south of the Darkmeyer teleport.

• Gear: stack Prayer bonus to stretch your Protect prayer
• AFK time: about 12–13 minutes in typical prayer gear, close to the 20-minute cap with maxed Prayer gear or prayer regeneration potions
• Rates: roughly 80k combat XP/h with the new weapon, around 20k XP and 200–250k GP per click

Brutus — pet hunting on autopilot

Brutus, a boss added this year after The Ides of Milk, respawns on his own, so aggression never runs out. If your account can reliably kill him in three hits, he rarely gets a special attack off and you can leave him for 20 minutes.

• Setups: strong melee gear for consistent three-hit kills; a blood fury or Guthan’s makes it safer at the cost of money or speed
• Rates: around 50k XP/h, about 18k XP per click, plus a shot at the pet

It isn’t fully consistent, so set your logout timer to 20 minutes as a safety net.

Crabs — the beginner’s choice

Sand, Ammonite and Gemstone Crabs all give about 100k XP/h at high levels with zero cost. They’re capped by the 10-minute aggression timer (Gemstone Crab just needs a re-click), but at around 16k XP per click they still beat most skilling methods.

At a glance

Sorted by XP per click. Rates are approximate and assume high levels and good gear — expect lower numbers on a mid-level account.

Method	Skill	Key requirement	AFK per click	XP/h	XP per click
Nightmare Zone (Ranged)	Ranged	NMZ quests	20 min	~150k	~50k
Vyrewatch Sentinels	Melee	Sins of the Father	12–20 min	~80k	~20k
Brutus	Melee	The Ides of Milk	20 min	~50k	~18k
Gemstone / Sand Crabs	Any combat	None (Gemstone: Children of the Sun)	10 min	~100k	~16k
Crewmate salvaging	Sailing	55 Sailing	30 min	15–30k	~7.5–15k
Ironwood trees	Woodcutting	80 WC, 72 Sailing	4 min	~100k	~6.6k
Infected roots	Woodcutting	80 WC, The Final Dawn	30 min	~9k	~4.5k
Shooting stars	Mining	10 Mining	7 min	~30k	~3.6k
Cave eels	Fishing	38 Fishing	5 min	~40k	~3.3k

Figures combine the OSRS Wiki AFK guide with in-game testing.

Final tips

• Can’t touch the client at all? Infected roots or crewmate salvaging — both run the full 30 minutes.
• Checking in every few minutes anyway? Ironwood trees give the best XP per click among skilling methods.
• Want combat XP? NMZ for raw rates, Vyrewatch Sentinels if you want to make money at the same time.
• Always raise your logout timer to 30 minutes, and lower it to 20 for risky combat methods like Brutus.

AFK training won’t win any races, but it turns hours you’d spend away from the game anyway into real progress. Pick the method that fits how often you can glance at the screen, and let the XP stack up.