Hitpoints

For a list of all requirements and unlockables within the Hitpoints skill, see Hitpoints/Level up table.

This article has skill training guides: Members / Ironman / UIM / Free-to-play

Skill training guides document optimal XP/hour methods to train a skill, as well as alternate passive or less expensive methods.

Hitpoints
Released		4 January 2001 (Update)
Also called		HP
Members		No
Type		Combat
Statistics
Players with 99		713,825 as of 1 April 2026 - update
Players with 200M XP		2280 as of 2 April 2026 - update

Hitpoints (also known as "health" or "HP") represent a player's health. If they reach zero, the player will die. Hitpoints is the only skill for which players start with any experience initially - with 1,154 experience points, placing them at exactly level 10 on Tutorial Island.

	Hitpoints level up - levels 11-49
The music that plays when achieving levels 11-49.

	Hitpoints level up - levels 50-99
The music that plays when achieving levels 50-99.

Types of damage

Players can experience damage to their hitpoints through:

• Combat
• Self-inflicted (see below)
• Disease
• Environment (see below)
• Poison
• Venom
• Bleed
• Burn

Fighting

While fighting, both the player and their opponent have a bar over them. This bar represents their Hitpoints.

There are two colours on the bar; green and red. The green part of the bar represents how many Hitpoints a character has left and the red part represents how many Hitpoints they are missing, i.e. the net damage they have suffered. So if a player is low on Hitpoints, then the bar over them would be mostly red, meaning they are near death. Players often refer to "being redbarred" when barely surviving or only just getting a kill for this reason.

Death

Main article: Death

When a player's Hitpoints reach zero, they die. Managing hitpoints to avoid this outcome is a crucial skill in Old School RuneScape.

The penalties and losses from dying depend on where the player was located and what kind of combat they were engaged in. Players should familiarize themselves with the Death page if they wish to learn more about what happens after hitpoints are depleted.

Recovering Hitpoints

A player can heal to restore their Hitpoints up to, or occasionally above, their maximum in several ways.

Regeneration

Players regenerate 1 Hitpoint per minute. This can be boosted with the following effects:

• The Rapid Heal Prayer or the Hitpoints cape double the regeneration rate, healing an additional 1 Hitpoint per minute. These effects do not stack with each other.
  • The Regen bracelet also doubles the regeneration rate. This can stack with either of the above effects, resulting in a regeneration rate of 4 Hitpoints per minute.
• The Lunar spell Dream will incapacitate the player, ending only once the caster reaches full health, and increase the regeneration rate to 3 Hitpoints per minute.

Restoration

Main article: Food

• Food is the most common and reliable method of restoring Hitpoints. Food can restore large amounts of Hitpoints quickly and cheaply.
  • Because of how important food is, unlocking access to stronger tiers of food is often considered a significant milestone.
• Saradomin brews can restore more Hitpoints per inventory slot than food, but have unique drawbacks to be considered. They are often used when inventory space or sustainability is a concern.

Situational

• The monks at the Edgeville Monastery will heal players when asked. They heal 2 + 20% of the player's current Hitpoints, except Abbot Langley, which heals 4 + 12% of the player's current Hitpoints.
• Two Neltas and the Cuali located at the church south of the Varlamore bazaar will heal 20% of the player's current Hitpoints.
• Litlihui, Teoki of Ralos located directly next to Fairy ring (AIS) in Auburn Valley. Heals 2 + 20% of the player's current Hitpoints.
• The nurses at the Emir's Arena hospital will heal players when asked. They heal 2 + 20% of the player's current Hitpoints.
• The Elidinis Statuette in Nardah fully restores a player's Prayer points, completely heals them, restores their run energy and special attack energy, cures poison, and gives a temporary Hitpoints boost depending on the player's Hitpoints level. Players who have completed the Elite Desert Diary can take advantage of the desert amulet 4, which provides unlimited Nardah teleports and teleports the player close to the statue. It is also directly south of a Fairy ring (DLQ). This statue can only be used after Spirits of the Elid is complete.
• Drinking from an ornate rejuvenation pool in a player-owned house or a pool of refreshment at the Ferox Enclave restores all of a player's Hitpoints.
• Entering the Free-for-all portal in the Ferox Enclave and then exiting will restore all of the player's Hitpoints and drained stats.
• Entering the Gauntlet or Corrupted Gauntlet in Priffdinas and then exiting will restore all of the player's Hitpoints and drained stats.
• Before starting Fairytale I, Fairy Nuff will offer to heal some of the player's hitpoints in exchange for cut gems

Items

• Phoenix necklaces automatically restore the wearer's Hitpoints by 30% of their maximum if their Hitpoints drop below 20% of their maximum.
• Ring of life while not strictly a recovery, can prevent accidental deaths by automatically teleporting the player safely back to their respawn point if they take a hit which causes them to fall to or below 10% of their maximum Hitpoints; as long as that hit does not kill them outright.

Healing from others

• Heal Other is a Lunar spell which transfers up to 75% of the caster's current Hitpoints to the targeted player.
• Heal Group is a Lunar spell which reduces the caster's current Hitpoints by 75% and heals up to five injured players.
• The Snowy knight butterfly restores another player's Hitpoints by 15.

Life Leech

Main article: Life leech

The following methods can provide a percentage of damage dealt as Hitpoints restoration, commonly referred to as life leech.

Life leech can occur actively through some special attacks or more passively through chance on-hit effects.

Item	Name	Type	Leech %	Method
	Guthan's warspear	Passive	25%	Equipping a full Guthan's set grants a 25% chance to heal for 100% of damage dealt. Additionally, with an amulet of the damned equipped, the leech effect allows for over-healing Hitpoints up to 10 above the current maximum.
	Guthan's helm
	Guthan's platebody
	Guthan's chainskirt
	Blood Rush	Passive	25%	Blood spells heal for 25% of damage dealt. An ancient sceptre increases this by 2.5%. Each piece of Bloodbark armour increases it by 2% for a total of 10% with a full set. A blood ancient sceptre allows for over-healing Hitpoints up to 10% above the current maximum.
	Blood Burst
	Blood Blitz
	Blood Barrage
	Sanguinesti staff	Passive	8.33%	The built in spell has a 1/6 (~16.6%) chance to heal for 50% of damage dealt.
	Amulet of blood fury	Passive	6%	Melee attacks while wearing this amulet have a 20% chance to heal for 30% of the damage dealt.
	Onyx bolts (e)	Passive	2.75%	Hits with these bolts have a 11% chance (12.1% with completion of the Hard Kandarin Diary) to heal for 25% of damage dealt.
	Onyx dragon bolts (e)
	Toxic blowpipe	Special	50%	Heals for 50% of damage dealt.
	Saradomin godsword	Special	50%	Heals for 50% of damage dealt, always restoring a minimum of 10 Hitpoints. (Also restores 25% of damage as prayer points)
	Ancient godsword	Special	100%	Marks a target. If the target fails to move far enough away within 8 ticks (4.8 seconds) then 25 damage is dealt, and the player is healed for 15% of the target's hitpoints level, up to a cap.

Overhealing

Temporary hitpoints boosts can be obtained through several means, but none provide a permanent boost to hitpoints. Boosted hitpoints levels above a player's maximum Hitpoints level decay at a rate of one per minute, identically to other temporary boosts. This timer can be restarted through activating the Rapid Heal prayer or through logging out, allowing a player to remain at a boosted Hitpoints level for longer.

Losing Hitpoints

Self-inflicted damage

Players can damage themselves with some interactions with the following items. Non-lethal items cannot kill the player under normal circumstances. When using a non-lethal item which damage would result in taking lethal damage, either no damage will be dealt or the item cannot be used. However, lethal items can still be used to take lethal damage. Damage from non-lethal items may still result in death if it is taken at the same time as damage from another source. One example would be guzzling a dwarven rock cake or feeling a locator orb, both to inflict more than 50+ damage whilst drinking a dose of an overload potion. Using this mechanic may be beneficial for using the maximum set effect of wearing all pieces of Dharok's armour set during Nightmare Zone.

Non-lethal

• Cave nightshade
• Chemical compound
• Divine potions
• Dwarven rock cake
• Explosive potion (Soul wars) (Song of the Elves)
• Ground bat bones combined with guam potion (unf)
• Limestone (when smelted without appropriate gloves)
• Locator orb
• Mixed chemicals
• Nitroglycerin
• Overload (all variants)
• Poison chalice
• Poison karambwan
• Quicklime (when ground with a pestle and mortar without an empty pot)
• Rock cake
• Scorching bow (when attempting to create without 74 fletching)
• Soulreaper axe (while attacking without using special attack)
• Toxic powder and naphtha
• Zamorak brew

Lethal

• Araxyte venom sack
• Enchanted symbol
• Strange device
• Lit strange object
• Sea slug (item)

Scenery

Interacting with various scenery objects can damage or kill the player.

• Picking nettles without wearing gloves
• Triggering various Thieving traps
• Failing Agility shortcuts/obstacles
• Taking from a rat trap
• Taking from a beehive without protective equipment

Environment

Main article: Area effects

Players can experience passive damage over time (and eventually die) through the environment at either the Kharidian Desert, or inside greater fog whilst participating in Last Man Standing.

Kharidian Desert

Players who are in the Kharidian Desert will experience Desert heat, except for those who have completed the Elite Desert Diary and are wearing their Desert amulet 4. Players will need to bring Waterskin and wear desert-friendly clothing to prevent the player from taking up to 10 damage every 30-90 seconds (depending on the type of armour worn).

Last Man Standing

Players who participate in Last Man Standing will encounter fog markers; this will drive all of the remaining players into the middle of the minigame. If players are less than 16 tiles into the fog, they will take 1-3 damage every other tick, ramping up over 6 ticks. Players 16 or more tiles into the fog will be subject to greater fog, which can deal up to 10 damage every other tick. To prevent this, it is important to strategise by moving to a place that provides cover and concealment from both the fog and other players.

Other

Earning experience

To earn experience in Hitpoints, a player has to fight, complete quests which reward Hitpoints experience, or rub experience lamps.

When fighting, be it Melee, Ranged, or Magic, a player will earn Hitpoints experience whenever damage is dealt. By default, for every point of damage dealt, 1.33 experience points are given to the player's Hitpoints. However, certain monsters may yield either increased or greatly reduced experience due to e.g. their ability to regenerate.

Temporary boosts

Main article: Temporary skill boost

Boost		Level increase	Visibility	Other info
	Hitpoints cape	1	Visible	When the Hitpoints cape is equipped, the player's natural Hitpoints regeneration rate is doubled to 2 Hitpoints per minute instead of the natural rate of 1 Hitpoint per minute.
	Bloody bracer	2	Visible	Prayer - (CurrentLevel * 0.04) - 2
	Guthix rest	5	Visible	Also restores 5% of run energy and reduces venom to poison or reduces poison damage by 1.
	Elidinis Statuette	7	Visible	Requires completion of Spirits of the Elid. Any lost Hitpoints are restored prior to the boost. Fully restores prayer points and special attack.
	Haddock	2-10	Visible	Does not overheal if the player is in combat in a PvP area.
	Amulet of the damned	10	Visible	When wearing the amulet with the Guthan's set, the player is able to heal for up to 10 points above their maximum health.
	Armadyl brew	2-11	Visible	Ranged 4 + floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) Hitpoints 2 + floor(StaticLevel * 0.1) Attack - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) - 2 Strength - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) - 2 Defence - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) - 2 Magic - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) - 2 Hitpoints can rise above base level with this boost.
	Abidor Crank	15	Visible	Only found in the Temple Trekking minigame.
	Saradomin brew	3-16	Visible	Defence 2 + floor(StaticLevel * 0.2) Hitpoints 2 + floor(StaticLevel * 0.15) Attack - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) - 2 Strength - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) - 2 Magic - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) - 2 Ranged - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.1) - 2 Hitpoints can rise above base level with this boost.
	Nectar	4-17	Visible	Hitpoints 3 + floor(StaticLevel * 0.15) Attack - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.05) - 5 Defence - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.05) - 5 Magic - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.05) - 5 Ranged - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.05) - 5 Strength - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.05) - 5 Only usable within the Tombs of Amascut
	Smouldering pile of flesh	?-18	Visible	Hitpoints can rise above base level with this boost. This stat boost scales at an unknown rate with level and the listed one is the boost received at level 99.
	Honey locust	20	Visible	Prayer 7 + (StaticLevel * 0.25) Only usable within the Tombs of Amascut
	Anglerfish	3-22	Visible	For details see Anglerfish. Does not overheal if the player is in combat in a PvP area.
	Ambrosia	4-26	Visible	Hitpoints 2 + floor(StaticLevel * 0.25) Prayer 5 + floor(StaticLevel * 0.2) Any lost Hitpoints or prayer points are fully restored prior to the boosts. Only usable within the Tombs of Amascut

Quests

Quests requiring Hitpoints

Quest	Hitpoints requirement	Other skill requirements
Dragon Slayer II	50	75 , 70 , 68 , 62 , 60 , 60 , 50

Quests rewarding Hitpoints experience

Main article: Quest experience rewards

Quest	Experience reward	Hitpoints requirement	Other requirements
A Soul's Bane	500	-	-
In Search of the Myreque	600	-	25
Nature Spirit	2,000	-	18
The Fremennik Trials	2,812	-	25 , 40 , 40 if crafting a lyre
Heroes' Quest	3,075	-	55 , 53 , 53 , 25 , 50
Recipe for Disaster/Freeing Sir Amik Varze	4,000	-	107
Grim Tales	5,000	-	45 , 52 , 58 , 59 , 71
Royal Trouble	5,000	-	40 , 40
Witch's House	6,325	-	-
Dream Mentor	15,000	-	32 (boostable), 85 , 61 , 40 , 49 , 5 , 65 , 60 , 55
Camelot training room (minigame)	20,000	-	45 , 65
Mourning's End Part I	25,000	-	60 , 50
Total	89,312

In addition, there is a chance that the Observatory Quest may award 875 Hitpoints experience.

Skill choice

Upon completing any of the following quests, players may choose to allocate experience to Hitpoints. These rewards usually come in the form of items, such as lamps or books, and are independent of any experience rewards directly received for completing the quest.

Quest	Experience reward	Skills available	Skill requirements
X Marks the Spot	300	Any	None
Client of Kourend	500 twice	Any	None
The Ides of Milk	1,000		None
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	2,500	Any skill above 30	49 , 57
A Tail of Two Cats	2,500 twice	Any skill above 30	None
The Great Brain Robbery	5,000	Any skill above 30	16 , 30 , 50
King's Ransom	5,000	Any skill above 50	65
Darkness of Hallowvale	2,000 three times	Any skill above 30	5 , 20 , 22 , 32 , 33 , 40
A Taste of Hope	2,500 three times	Any skill above 35	48 , 40 , 40 , 45 , 38
A Kingdom Divided	10,000 twice	Any skill above 40	54 , 52 , 52 , 50 , 42 , 38 , 35
In Search of Knowledge (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 40	None
Curse of the Empty Lord (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 50	Some players will need 31
Shadow of the Storm	10,000		30
Contact!	7,000 twice		None
Dream Mentor	15,000		32 , 85 , 61 , 40 , 49 , 5 , 65 , 60 , 55
The Fremennik Isles	10,000 twice		20 , 40
A Night at the Theatre	20,000 four times		90 recommended
One Small Favour	10,000 twice	Any skill above 30	36 , 25 , 18 , 30
Recipe for Disaster (The final battle)	20,000	Any skill above 50	175 , 70 , 48 , 50 , 53 , 53 , 25 , 59 , 40 , 50 , 40 , 40 , 10 , 10 , 36
Legends' Quest	30,000 four times		107 , 50 , 50 , 45 , 56 , 52 , 42 , 50 , 50 , 50 , 50
Monkey Madness I	35,000 & 20,000		None
Sins of the Father	15,000 six times	Any skill above 60	62 , 60 , 56 , 52 , 50 , 50 , 49
Dragon Slayer II	25,000 four times		200 , 75 , 70 , 68 , 62 , 60 , 60 , 50 , 50
Into the Tombs (miniquest)	50,000		95 recommended
The Final Dawn	55,000		66 , 52 , 52 , 85 recommended
Monkey Madness II	50,000 twice		69 , 70 , 60 , 55 , 55 , 60
Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire	100,000 three times		75 , 75 , 70 , 62 , 60 , 60
Total	1,102,300

Level up messages

This article on a skill has an associated transcript page for level up messages. Click here for the transcript.

Changes

Date	Changes
2 June 2016 (Update)	Corrected the capitalization in the hitpoints skill guide.
15 December 2015 (Update)	Anchovy Pizzas now have the correct placement in the HP skill guide. Sea turtles now state the correct healing amount in the HP skill guide.
10 December 2015 (Update)	The Hitpoints skill guide now includes a list of food and how many Hitpoints each type of food heals.
15 January 2015 (Update)	The Hitpoints skill guide now mentions venom.
17 December 2013 (Update)	The health-bars that appear during combat should now always show at least one pixel of green whenever the player or NPC has some health left; you should no longer see a completely red health-bar until their health reaches zero.

Trivia

• In RuneScape Classic, all players started with level ten Hits and 1,000 experience - slightly fewer experience than would be required for level ten in all other skills. When RuneScape 2 was released, accounts that had not gained the Hits experience needed to reach level ten or higher had their Hitpoints stat "corrected" to level nine. The only way to have level nine Hitpoints was to have created an account prior to the release of RuneScape 2 and not to have trained the Hitpoints skill since. The minimum combat level is still three for those players. However, since all accounts in Old School RuneScape start fresh, no player in Old School has nine Hitpoints.
• Also in Classic, botters and rulebreakers were punished by having all their stats reset to one, resulting in a Hits level of one. This created level one accounts, which still exist in RuneScape today.

See also

• Hitpoints/Experience table, a list of all Hitpoints experience sources
• Hitpoints/Level up table, a list of all requirements and unlockables within the Hitpoints skill