Thieving

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

This article has a calculator here.

Calculators determine experience and costs based on real-time prices from the Grand Exchange Market Watch.

This article has skill training guides: Members

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

Thieving
Released		30 April 2002 (Update)
Also called		Thief
Members		Yes
Type		Utility
Statistics
Players with 99		120,794 as of 1 September 2023 - update
Players with 200M XP		895 as of 29 August 2023 - update

Thieving is a members-only skill which allows players to obtain coins and items by stealing from market stalls, chests, or by pickpocketing non-player characters. This skill also allows players to unlock doors and disarm traps.

	Thieving level up - normal
The music that plays when levelling up.

	Thieving level up - with unlocks
The music that plays when levelling up and unlocking new content.

Pickpocketing

A player pickpocketing a guard.

This is the act of walking up to an NPC and right-clicking them, then selecting Pickpocket. If successful, you will gain Thieving experience and possibly coins or various items. However, it is possible for the NPC to notice a pickpocket, in which case the NPC will yell "What do you think you're doing?" or some other surprised saying and hit the player, dealing a small amount of damage and stunning them for several seconds, during which time the player cannot continue pickpocketing or move. Because of the possibility for damage, it is recommended that players bring food - cheap foods such as wine work well.

Coins obtained via pickpocketing are obtained via coin pouches. Players can have a stack of up to 28 coin pouches in their inventory, after which they must open them before they can pickpocket more. Players can quickly open a stack of coin pouches with a single left-click. After completion of the Ardougne Achievement Diaries players are able to stack more than 28 pouches, with the max being 140 after completion of the Elite Diary.

Tips & Tricks

NPCs may be pickpocketed every 2 ticks (1.2 seconds). There is no need to wait until the pickpocket animation is finished before pickpocketing again. Another attempt may be performed as soon as the sound of the item entering the player's inventory is played and the experience is given. Knowing this tip could potentially double a player's experience per hour if they were previously waiting for the animation to finish.

Eating food while stunned will extend the time before you can pickpocket again by the food's attack delay. To avoid losing time because of this delay, time eating directly after successfully pickpocketing.

A useful trick that allows pickpocket spamming is by going to the Controls (Joystick) settings tab and changing the attack option priority to 'Always right-click'. This effectively changes the left-click option from "Attack" to "Pickpocket" for most NPCs.

For NPCs with a right-click "Pickpocket" option unaffected by the previous tip, such as elves, the player may change their game client layout to "Resizable", then orient their camera so that the NPC is close to the bottom of their screen. In the correct position, the player should be able to right-click to open the interaction menu, then left-click to pickpocket without moving their mouse down to select the option.

Alternatively, just use Runelite's menu entry swapper to save yourself the headache.

Equipment

The equipment that a player wears mostly does not affect pickpocketing, aside from several exceptions listed below. Note, however, that equipping a bow without arrows makes it impossible to accidentally attack an NPC. The direction the NPC faces also appears to have no effect.

• Players who wear the rogue outfit have a chance of getting double loot when successfully pickpocketing NPCs. This chance is guaranteed if the full outfit is worn. It does not increase success rate.
• While wearing parts of H.A.M. outfit, players are slightly less likely to be kicked out of the H.A.M. Hideout when failing to pick the pockets of H.A.M. members.
• Gloves of silence reduce your chance of failure while pickpocketing by 5%. Degrade, but can be repaired. Requires Hunter level 54 to wear.
• Dodgy necklace provides a 25% chance to avoid being stunned and taking damage when failing a pickpocket. Each necklace has 10 charges.
• Wearing either the Thieving cape or Max cape will provide an additional 10% chance of being successful when pickpocketing NPCs.

Other effects

The Shadow Veil spell from the Arceuus spellbook provides a 15% chance to avoid being stunned and taking damage when failing a pickpocket. Requires Magic level 47 and duration scales with magic level.

Thievable NPCs

Loot from these NPCs is located on their respective pages.

Name		Level	Experience	Stun time	Stun damage	Notes
	Man/Woman	1	8	5 seconds	1	Found all around Gielinor.
	Farmer	10	14.5	5 seconds	1	Commonly found in Lumbridge farms and north of Ardougne.
	H.A.M. Member	15	22.2	4 seconds	1-3	Wearing H.A.M. clothing reduces chances of being jailed, but does not increase the success rate.
	Warrior/Al-Kharid warrior	25	26	5 seconds	2	Warriors are commonly found in East Ardougne, as well in the back of the Varrock Palace.
	Villager	30	8	5 seconds	2	Partial completion of The Feud to use blackjacks.
	Rogue	32	36.5	5 seconds	2	Found deep in Wilderness south-west of Mage Arena or in far north-east wilderness at Rogues' Castle.
	Cave goblin	36	40	5 seconds	1	Found in Dorgesh-Kaan after completion of Death to the Dorgeshuun.
	Master Farmer	38	43	5 seconds	3	Rarity increases with the Farming level of the seed.
	Guard	40	46.8	5 seconds	2
	Fremennik Citizen	45	65	5 seconds	2	Must complete The Fremennik Trials
	Bearded Pollnivnian Bandit	45	65	5 seconds	5	Partial completion of The Feud to use blackjacks.
	Desert Bandit	53	79.4	5 seconds	3
	Knight of Ardougne	55	84.3	5 seconds	3
	Pollnivian Bandit	55	84.3	5 seconds	5	Partial completion of The Feud to use blackjacks.
	Yanille Watchman	65	137.5	5 seconds	3
	Menaphite Thug	65	137.5	5 seconds	5	Partial completion of The Feud to use blackjacks.
	Paladin	70	151.8	5 seconds	3
	Gnome	75	198.3	5 seconds	1
	Hero	80	273.3	6 seconds	4
	Vyre	82	306.9	6 seconds	5	Completion of Sins of the Father to access Darkmeyer.
	Elf	85	353.3	6 seconds	5	Partial completion of Mourning's End Part I to access Lletya.
	TzHaar-Hur	90	103.4	6 seconds	4	Requires a Fire cape to access the inner city of Mor Ul Rek. Ice gloves are recommended to reduce damage taken.

Stalls

An example of a silk stall found in the East Ardougne marketplace.

There are a large number of stalls throughout RuneScape, many of which can be found in the Ardougne Market. Unlike pickpocketing, stealing from stalls has a 100% success rate as long as you are not in the line of sight of the stall owner or any of the nearby guards; if you are, the stall owner will call over a guard who will begin to attack you.

After successfully stealing from a stall, their respective owners will refuse to interact the player until 10 consecutive in-game minutes have passed since the last theft from their stall. Time passed while logged out does not count toward removing this restriction. Curiously, this extends to any NPC that owns the same type of stall, not just the one you stole from.

It should be noted that it is possible for multiple players to steal from the same stall, both receiving XP and rewards; provided they do so on the same Game tick.

Thievable stalls

Loot from these stalls is located on their respective pages.

Stall		Level	Experience	Location(s)	Respawn Time	Exp./ Hour
	Vegetable stall	2	10	Miscellania, Etceteria	2 seconds	18,000
	Bakery stall	5	16	Ardougne, Keldagrim, Kourend Castle	2 seconds	28,800
	Crafting stall	5	16	Ape Atoll, Keldagrim	7 seconds	8,228.5
	Monkey food stall	5	16	Ape Atoll	7 seconds	8,228.5
	Monkey general stall	5	16	Ape Atoll	7 seconds	8,228.5
	Tea stall	5	16	Varrock, Kourend Castle	7 seconds	8,228.5
	Silk stall	20	24	Ardougne, Kourend Castle, Prifddinas	5 seconds	17,280
	Wine stall	22	27	Draynor Village	10 seconds	9,720
	Fruit Stall	25	28.2	Hosidius, Kourend Castle	2 seconds	39,046
	Seed stall	27	10	Draynor Village	9 seconds	4,000
	Fur stall	35	36	Ardougne, Rellekka	10 seconds	12,960
	Fish stall	42	42	Rellekka, Miscellenia, Etceteria	10 seconds	15,120
	Crossbow stall	49	52	Keldagrim	9 seconds	20,800
	Silver stall	50	54	Ardougne, Keldagrim, Kourend Castle, Prifddinas	30 seconds	6,480
	Spice stall	65	81	Ardougne, Prifddinas	80 seconds	3,645
	Magic stall	65	100	Ape Atoll	80 seconds	4,500
	Scimitar stall	65	160	Ape Atoll	80 seconds	7,200
	Gem stall	75	160	Ardougne, Keldagrim, Mor Ul Rek, Kourend Castle, Prifddinas	180 seconds	3,200
	Ore stall	82	180	Mor Ul Rek	60 seconds	10,800

Chests

There are chests scattered throughout RuneScape. Some chests will have traps on them, which must be disarmed using the Thieving skill in order to loot them. This is achieved by selecting the "Search for traps" option from the drop down menu, allowing your character to disarm the trap and obtain the items inside.

After a player steals from a chest, they will need to wait for a short period of time before they can do so again. If "Search for traps" is not selected when attempting to open a trapped chest, the player will attempt to open the chest and take damage; this damage scales off of your current health down to a minimum.

Thievable chests

Loot from these chests is located on their respective pages.

Chest		Level	Experience	Location(s)	Respawn Time
	10 coin chest	13	7.8	East Ardougne, Magic axe hut, Pirates' Hideout, Rellekka, Rogues' Den	3.5 seconds
	Nature rune chest	28	25	East Ardougne, Pirates' Hideout, Rellekka	8 seconds
	Isle of Souls chest	28	150	Isle of Souls Dungeon	0 seconds
	50 coin chest	43	125	Ardougne, Mourner Tunnels, Pirates' Hideout	45 seconds
	Steel arrowtips chest	47	150	Hemenster, Rellekka, Mourner Tunnels	75 seconds
	Dorgesh-Kaan average chest	52	200	Dorgesh-Kaan	90 seconds
	Blood runes chest	59	250	Chaos Druid Tower	120 seconds
	Stone chest	64	280	Lizardman Temple	0 seconds
	Ardougne Castle chest	72	500	Ardougne Castle	240 seconds
	Dorgesh-Kaan rich chest	78	650	Dorgesh-Kaan	300 seconds
	Rogues' Castle chest	84	100	Rogues' Castle	10 seconds

Doors

Certain doors cannot be opened by players unless the lock is picked. In order to pick a lock, right-click on a door and select "Pick Lock". If the player has the required Thieving level, the door will then be opened. Some doors will require a lockpick to successfully pick the lock.

Pickable doors

Door	Level	Exp.	Lockpick	Location
Door to 10 Coin Chest	1	3.8	No	East Ardougne; the door to the empty house east of the east Baker's Stall
H.A.M. Trapdoor	1	4	No	East of Draynor
Door to Ross's House	13	15	No	East Ardougne; the door to the house with the just south of the north bank
Door to Nature Rune Chest	16	15	No	East Ardougne; the door to the empty house just east of the Gem Stall
Axe Hut Door	23	25	Yes	Level 54 Wilderness; north-east of the Ardougne lever
Ardougne Sewer Gate	31	25	No	Ardougne Sewers
Pirate Hall	39	35	Yes	Level 54 Wilderness; west of the Mage Arena
Chaos Druid Tower	46	37.5	No	North of Ardougne
Grubby Chest	57	10	No	Forthos Dungeon
Paladin Door	61	50	No	Ardougne Castle
Yanille Dungeon Door	82	50	Yes	Yanille

Other

Name	Level	Exp.	Possible Loot	Stun Time (seconds)	Stun Damage
Steal cowbells from dairy cows	15	16	Cowbells	4.8	1 - "The cow kicks you and stuns you"
Steal candles from the candle stand, north of the Entrana altar	20	20	Candle	4.8	1 - "A higher power smites you"
Steal wire from the Dorgeshuun Wire machine	44	22	Cave goblin wire	4	5
Crack wall safes in Rogues' Den	50	70	Coins, Uncut gems	2	2 - 6

Training strategies

Main article: Thieving training

• For levels 1-5, pickpocket men in Edgeville (3 coins/pick).
• For levels 5-21, steal cakes from the Baker's Stall in Ardougne. Another option is the tea stall in Varrock.
• For levels 21-55, loot urns at the Pyramid Plunder minigame.
• For levels 55-91, pickpocket Ardougne knights. Bandits and Menaphites are also viable.
• For levels 91-99, return to Pyramid Plunder.
• For levels 15 and up, pickpocketing H.A.M. Members can prove to be profitable because they can provide clue scrolls; similarly, from level 38, pickpocketing Master Farmers provides a chance to collect valuable seeds.
• For levels 42-49, steal fish in Rellekka (42xp/pick) from the south-west stall standing south of the western most barrel situated there. When attacked by the Market Guards, run south, then north, west and south again around the stall in an anticlockwise direction. Guards are then trapped behind barrels of fish and cannot attack until the player moves away. This can be repeated to trap multiple guards. Cook fish on the fire in the hall with the Quest Icon, (The Fremennik Trials). Once fish are cooked, bank them through Peer the Seer after gaining Fremennik sea boots (Easy Achievement Diary).

Thieving minigames

There are a number of minigames which are based on or include Thieving.

• Pyramid Plunder - the desert city Sophanem has a pyramid where you can thieve for artefacts. As you get further into the pyramid, higher Thieving is required but it brings increasing amounts of Thieving experience. This is one of the fastest methods to train Thieving.
• Blackjack - another Thieving activity in the desert.
• Rogues' Den - Traverse a maze with Thieving and Agility obstacles. Modest experience. More interesting for thieves is to open the safes in the dungeon. Good for experience and for the gems that you obtain as loot. Completing the maze also has a chance of rewarding you with the Rogue outfit, which when worn will double the loot you receive from pickpocketing.
• Sorceress's Garden - An interesting game where you dodge guards and try to get fruit. Requires patience, a bit of skill, and experience, but yields excellent experience. It has four levels, each giving increased experience at levels 1, 25, 45, and 65. Bring a pestle and mortar and a large amount of empty beer glasses (can be obtained for free at the shelves in the Sorcerer's house).
• Stealing artefacts - located in Port Piscarilius, players with level 49 Thieving and 75% Piscarilius favour can talk to Captain Khaled to engage in stealing artefacts from those living in the residential district. It's a good way to train Thieving while fletching ammo or alching. Requires a lockpick or a hair clip to steal artefacts, and experience rate scales based on level.

Thieving pet

Main article: Rocky

Rocky is a skilling pet that can be obtained when training the Thieving skill. This includes stealing from stalls, pickpocketing from NPCs, picking fruit in the Sorceress's Garden and looting grand gold chests within Pyramid Plunder. The chances of getting it are dependent on the player's Thieving level, and the person/object the player is stealing from.

Temporary boosts

Main article: Temporary skill boost

Boost		Level increase	Visibility	Other info
	Thieving cape	1	Visible	Activating the cape's effect will increase the corresponding skill by 1.
	Poison chalice	1	Visible	Has a variety of beneficial and disastrous effects.
	Bandit's brew	1	Visible	Hitpoints 1 Attack 1 Defence - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.06) - 3 Strength - floor(CurrentLevel * 0.06) - 3
	Spring sq'irkjuice	1	Visible	10% run energy boost.
	Autumn sq'irkjuice	2	Visible	15% run energy boost.
	Summer sq'irkjuice	3	Visible	20% run energy boost.
	Spicy stew (yellow spice)	±0-5	Visible	Hitpoints 11 Depending on type of stew, any skill except Hitpoints can be boosted or reduced by 0 to 5 levels randomly.

Quests

Quests requiring Thieving

Quest	Thieving requirement	Other requirements
The Lost Tribe	13	13 , 17
The Giant Dwarf	14	12 , 16 , 33
Watchtower	15	15 , 25 , 14 , 40
Cold War	15	10 , 30 , 30 , 34
The Hand in the Sand	17	49
Tribal Totem	21	-
Darkness of Hallowvale	22	5 , 20 , 26 , 32 , 33 , 40
Death to the Dorgeshuun	23	23
Creature of Fenkenstrain	25	20
The Dig Site	25	10 , 10
The Golem	25	20
The Feud	30	-
The Slug Menace	30	30 , 30 , 30
Spirits of the Elid	37	33 , 37 , 37
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	40	49 , 57
Temple of Ikov	42	40
Land of the Goblins	45	38 , 40 , 48
Legends' Quest	50	50 , 50 , 45 , 56 , 52 , 42 , 50 , 50 , 50
Mourning's End Part I	50	60
A Kingdom Divided	52	54 , 38 , 50 , 35 , 42 , 52
Desert Treasure I	53	50 , 50 , 10
Monkey Madness II	55	70 , 69 , 60 , 55
The Path of Glouphrie	56	60 , 56 , 47 , 45
Grim Tales	58	45 , 52 , 59 , 71
Dragon Slayer II	60	200 , 75 , 70 , 68 , 62 , 60 , 50 , 50
Secrets of the North	64	69 , 56
Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire	70	75 , 75 , 62 , 60 , 60

Quests rewarding Thieving experience

Main article: Quest experience rewards

Quest	Experience reward	Thieving requirement	Other requirements
Tower of Life	500	-	10
Creature of Fenkenstrain	1,000	25	20
The Golem	1,000	25	20
The Hand in the Sand	1,000	17	49
Spirits of the Elid	1,000	37	33 , 37 , 37
Biohazard	1,250	-	-
The Giant Dwarf	1,500	14	12 , 16 , 33
Hazeel Cult	1,500	-	-
Tribal Totem	1,775	21	-
The Queen of Thieves	2,000	20	20% Port Piscarilius favour
Death to the Dorgeshuun	2,000	23	23
Fight Arena	2,175	-	-
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	2,500	40	49 , 57
The Fremennik Trials	2,812	-	25 , 40 , 40 if crafting your own lyre
The Slug Menace	3,500	30	30 , 30 , 30
Icthlarin's Little Helper	4,500	-	-
Ratcatchers	4,500	-	-
The Path of Glouphrie	5,000	56	60 , 56 , 47 , 45
Darkness of Hallowvale	6,000	22	5 , 20 , 26 , 32 , 33 , 40
Contact!	7,000	-	-
Land of the Goblins	8,000	45	38 , 40 , 48
The Feud	15,000	30	-
Grim Tales	25,000	58	45 , 52 , 59 , 71
Mourning's End Part I	40,000	50	60
Dragon Slayer II	50,000	60	200 , 75 , 70 , 68 , 62 , 60 , 50 , 50
Monkey Madness II	50,000	55	69 , 70 , 60 , 55
Secrets of the North	50,000	64	69 , 56
Total	285,512

Skill choice

Upon completing any of the following quests, players may choose to allocate experience to Thieving. 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
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
The Tourist Trap	4,650 twice		10 , 20
A Kingdom Divided	10,000	Any skill above 40	54 , 52 , 52 , 50 , 42 , 38 , 35
Architectural Alliance (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 40	None
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
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
Sins of the Father	15,000 six times	Any skill above 60	62 , 60 , 56 , 52 , 50 , 50 , 49
Total	331,600

Changes

Date	Changes
4 May 2017 (update)	Corrected some grammar on the message given when attempting to pickpocket without the required level.
14 May 2015 (update)	Filtered some game messages relating to pickpocketing.
5 March 2015 (update | poll)	You now get the following for the completion of Ardougne Diaries: 10% increased chance of thieving stalls in Ardougne for the easy diary. 10% increased chance of pickpocketing in Ardougne for the medium diary. 10% increased chance of pickpocketing in all of Gielinor for the hard diary.
27 March 2014 (update)	Rogues' Castle chests now appears in the Thieving skill guide.
4 July 2019 (update)	The Grubby Chest chest door pick-lock now appears in the Thieving skill guide.

Trivia

• Thieving is one of the few skills that does not require any items for training, unless the player is blackjacking.
• Picking locks has a random chance of numbing your fingers, which will result in a temporary debuff to your thieving skill. It takes roughly 1 minute per point lost to wear off.