Thieving

RSCRS

This article is about the Thieving skill. For information on training Thieving, see Thieving training.

Thieving
Also known as	Thief
Release date	30 April 2002 (Update)
Members only?	Yes
Players with 99	34,245 as of 20 April 2019
Players with 200M XP	264 as of 20 April 2019

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 music (link)

The first music that can be played when levelled up.

Thieving level-up music (link)

The second music that can be played when levelled up.

Pickpocketing

A player pickpocketing a cornered 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 stun you for four seconds, which will take off a couple of your Hitpoints. Because of the possibility for damage, it is recommended that players bring food. The equipment that a player wears does not affect the success rate, aside from H.A.M. clothing, Dodgy necklace, Ardougne cloak or Gloves of silence. However, equipping a bow without arrows makes it impossible to accidentally attack an NPC.

Contrary to common belief, the player does NOT need to wait until the pickpocket animation is finished before pickpocketing again. The NPC may be pickpocketed as soon as the sound of the item stolen entering your inventory is played. This could effectively double your experience per hour if you were previously waiting for the animation to finish.

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 turns the Attack NPC left-click into pickpocket NPC left-click for most NPCs.

Thievable NPCs

Picture	NPC name	Level	Exp.	Possible loot/Notes	Stun time (seconds)	Stun damage
	Man/Woman	1	8	3 coins	5	1
	Farmer	10	14.5	9 coins, 1 potato seed	5	1
	Female H.A.M. member	15	18.5	Buttons, rusty sword, damaged armour, feathers, bronze arrow, Clue Scroll (Easy), bronze axe, bronze dagger, bronze pickaxe, cow hide, iron axe, iron pickaxe, leather armour, logs, thread, raw anchovies, raw chicken, iron ore, coal, steel arrows, steel axe, steel pickaxe, grimy herbs, knife, needle, steel dagger, tinderbox, uncut jade, uncut opal, Ham boots, Ham gloves, Ham cloak, Ham shirt, Ham robe, Ham logo, Ham hood, coins. Wearing H.A.M. clothing reduces chances of being jailed, but does not increase the success rate	4	1-3
	Male H.A.M. member	20	22.5	Buttons, rusty sword, damaged armour, feathers, bronze arrow, Clue Scroll (Easy), bronze axe, bronze dagger, bronze pickaxe, cow hide, iron axe, iron pickaxe, leather armour, logs, thread, raw anchovies, raw chicken, iron ore, coal, steel arrows, steel axe, steel pickaxe, grimy herbs, knife, needle, steel dagger, tinderbox, uncut jade, uncut opal, H.A.M. boots, H.A.M. gloves, H.A.M. cloak, H.A.M. shirt, H.A.M. robe, H.A.M. logo, H.A.M. hood, coins. Wearing H.A.M. clothing reduces chances of being jailed, but does not increase the success rate	4	1-3
	Warrior woman/Al-Kharid warrior	25	26	18 coins, Warrior women can be found in the back main level rooms of varrock palace.	5	2
	Rogue	32	35.5	25/40 coins, lockpick, iron dagger(p), wine, 8 air runes. Found deep in Wilderness southwest of Mage Arena, or in far northeast wilderness at Rogues' Castle.	5	2
	Cave goblin	36	40	Coins, iron ore, tinderbox, swamp tar, oil lantern, torch, green gloop soup, frogspawn gumbo, frog burger, coated frogs' legs, bat shish, fingers, bullseye lantern, cave goblin wire	5	1
	Master Farmer	38	43	All allotment, hop, herb, bush and flower seeds, cactus seed, belladonna seed, mushroom spores. Rarity increases with the farming level of the seed.	5	3
	Guard	40	46.8	30 coins	5	2
	Fremennik Citizen	45	65	40 coins	5	2
	Bearded Pollnivnian Bandit	45	65	40 coins	5	5
	Desert Bandit	53	79.5	30 coins, antipoison, lockpick	5	3
	Knight	55	84.3	50 coins	5	3
	Pollnivian Bandit	55	84.3	50 coins	5	5
	Yanille Watchman	65	137.5	60 coins, 1 bread	5	3
	Menaphite Thug	65	137.5	60 coins	5	5
	Paladin	70	151.75	80 coins, 2 chaos runes	5	3
	Gnome	75	198.5	300 coins, 1 earth rune, gold ore, Fire orb, swamp toad, King worm	5	1
	Hero	80	275	200/300 coins, 1 blood rune, 1 diamond, wine, 2 death runes, fire orb, gold ore	6	4
	Elf	85	353	280/350 coins, 3 nature runes, diamond, wine, 2 death runes, fire orb, gold ore	6	5
	TzHaar-Hur	90	103.5	3-14 Tokkul, uncut sapphire, uncut emerald, uncut ruby, uncut diamond	5	4

Master Farmer

When pickpocketing a Master Farmer the seed type is rolled first. Once selected, the seed itself is rolled.

Picture	Seed	Drop Rate	Value
	Potato seed	17.8%	1
	Onion seed	13.3%	1
	Cabbage seed	6.9%	1
	Tomato seed	6.4%	1
	Sweetcorn seed	2.23%	2
	Strawberry seed	1.21%	5
	Watermelon seed	0.55%	71
	Barley seed	5.5%	1
	Hammerstone seed	5.5%	1
	Asgarnian seed	4.1%	2
	Jute seed	4.1%	2
	Yanillian seed	2.7%	3
	Krandorian seed	1.31%	2
	Wildblood seed	0.70%	53
	Marigold seed	4.5%	1
	Nasturtium seed	3.0%	1
	Rosemary seed	1.96%	4
	Woad seed	1.45%	2
	Limpwurt seed	1.15%	30
	Redberry seed	3.88%	1
	Cadavaberry seed	2.7%	1
	Dwellberry seed	1.9%	2
	Jangerberry seed	0.77%	2
	Whiteberry seed	0.28%	4
	Poison ivy seed	0.106%	18
	Mushroom spore	0.2%	67
	Belladonna seed	0.15%	57
	Cactus seed	0.1%	98
	Guam seed	1.53%	9
	Marrentill seed	1.0%	5
	Tarromin seed	0.7%	10
	Harralander seed	0.48%	31
	Ranarr seed	0.33%	45,466
	Toadflax seed	0.22%	795
	Irit seed	0.15%	47
	Avantoe seed	0.105%	1,675
	Kwuarm seed	0.072%	379
	Snapdragon seed	0.048%	54,551
	Cadantine seed	0.0336%	1,034
	Lantadyme seed	0.024%	2,358
	Dwarf weed seed	0.0144%	423
	Torstol seed	0.0096%	58,385

Stalls

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

There are a large number of stalls throughout RuneScape, although many of them are in the Ardougne Market. Unlike pickpocketing NPCs, stealing from stalls have 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. It should be noted you may not interact with the stall owner for up to 10 minutes (while logged in) after the last theft from his or her stall. Time spend logged out will not help remove the NPC interact restriction.

Thievable stalls

Stall	Level	Exp.	Items	Location	Respawn Time
Vegetable stall	2	10	Onion, cabbage, potato, tomato, or garlic	Miscellania, Etceteria	2 seconds
Baker's Stall	5	16	Cake (62%), chocolate slice (9%), or bread (27%) *percentage based on 1000 stolen times rounded down	Ardougne, Keldagrim	2 seconds
Crafting Stall	5	16	Chisel, ring mould, or necklace mould	Ape Atoll, Keldagrim	7 seconds
Monkey Food Stall	5	16	Banana	Ape Atoll	7 seconds
Monkey General Stall	5	16	Pot, hammer, or tinderbox	Ape Atoll	7 seconds
Tea Stall	5	16	Cup of tea	Varrock	7 seconds
Silk stall	20	24	Silk	Ardougne, Keldagrim	5 seconds
Wine Stall	22	27	Jug of water, jug of wine, grapes, empty jug, bottle of wine	Draynor	10 seconds
Fruit Stall	25	28.25	Cooking apple, strawberries, bananas, redberries, jangerberries, strange fruit, lime, lemon, pineapple, papaya, Golovanova fruit top	Logava Gricoller's Cooking Supplies	2 seconds
Seed Stall	27	10	Potato, onion, cabbage, tomato, sweetcorn, strawberry, watermelon, barley, hammerstone seed, asgarnian Seed, jute, yanillian seed, krandorian, wildblood, marigold, rosemary, nasturtium	Draynor, n the market just south of the pig pen	9 seconds
Fur Stall	35	36	Grey wolf fur	Ardougne, Rellekka	10 seconds
Fish stall	42	42	Raw salmon, raw tuna, or raw lobster	Rellekka, Miscellenia, Etceteria	10 seconds
Crossbow Stall	49	52	Bronze bolts (3), bronze limbs, wooden stock	Keldagrim	9 seconds
Silver Stall	50	54	Silver ore	Ardougne, Keldagrim, Great Kourend	30 seconds
Spice Stall	65	81	Spice	Ardougne	80 seconds
Magic Stall	65	100	Air, earth, fire, water, or law rune	Ape Atoll	80 seconds
Scimitar Stall	65	160	Iron scimitar	Ape Atoll	80 seconds
Gem Stall	75	160	Uncut sapphire, uncut emerald, uncut ruby, uncut diamond	Ardougne, Keldagrim	180 seconds
Gem Stall	75	160	Uncut sapphire, Sapphire, Uncut emerald, Emerald, Uncut ruby, Ruby, Uncut diamond, Diamond, Uncut dragonstone	Mor Ul Rek	180 seconds
Ore Stall	82	180	Iron ore, Coal, Silver ore, Gold ore, Mithril ore, Adamantite ore, Runite ore	Mor Ul Rek	60 seconds

Chests

There are chests scattered throughout RuneScape. Some chests will have traps on them, to discover what lay inside of them, the trap must be disarmed using the Thieving skill, click on the chest and select "Search for traps" from the drop down menu to allow your character to disarm the trap and obtain the items inside. After a player thieves from a chest, he will need to wait for a short period of time before he can again thieve from the chest. If "Search for traps" is not selected when attempting to thieve from a chest, the player will attempt to open the chest and take damage, this damage scales off of your current health down to a minimum.

Once chests had dual traps: the initial trap disarmed by the Thieving skill, and a secondary trap that released Poison Gas into the air, so lower level players required caution. Poison Gas was removed in an update.

Thievable chests

Chest	Level	Exp.	Items	Location	Respawn Time
10 Coin Chest	13	7.8	10 coins	East Ardougne (two): The second chest up the ladder in the house with the just south of the north bank The chest in the empty house east of the east Baker's Stall	7 seconds
Nature Rune Chest	28	25	3 coins, nature rune	East Ardougne (two): The first chest up the ladder in the house with the just south of the north bank North most chest upstairs in the empty house just east of the Gem Stall	15 seconds
50 Coin Chest	43	125	50 coins	Ardougne, Axe Hut	50 seconds
Arrow Tip Chest	47	150	5 steel arrow tips	Hemenster, Rellekka	210 seconds
Dorgesh-Kaan (Average chests)	52	200	About 100-300 coins, bullseye lantern, oil lantern, cave goblin wire, mining helmet, clue scroll (easy)	Dorgesh-Kaan	210 seconds
Blood Rune Chest	59	250	500 coins, 2 blood runes	Chaos Druid Tower	135 seconds
Paladin Chest (King Lathas Chest)	72	500	1,000 coins, raw shark, adamant ore, uncut sapphire	Ardougne Palace	400 seconds
Dorgesh-Kaan (Rich chests)	78	650	Uncut sapphire, uncut emerald, uncut ruby, uncut diamond, uncut opal, uncut jade, uncut red topaz, bullseye lantern, cave goblin mining helmet, frog armour, iron bar, Dorgeshuun light orb, empty light orb	Dorgesh-Kaan	300 seconds
Rogues' Chest	84	100	1,000 coins, 30 death runes, 30 fire runes, 25 mind runes, 40 chaos runes, 6 sapphires, 5 emeralds, 1-3 diamonds, 10 sharks, 20 pike, 15 raw tuna, 25 ashes, 10 iron, 13 coal, 3 tinderboxes, 2 cut dragonstones, clue scroll (hard)	Rogue's Castle	~10 seconds

Doors

Certain doors in RuneScape can not 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.	Location
Door to 10 Coin Chest	1	3.8	East Ardougne; the door to the empty house east of the east Baker's Stall
Door to Nature Rune Chest	14	15	East Ardougne; the door to the empty house just east of the Gem Stall
Ardougne House Door	16	15	East Ardougne; the door to the house with the just south of the north bank
H.A.M. Trapdoor	17	4	East of Draynor
Axe Hut Door	32	25	Level 54 Wilderness
Ardougne Sewer Gate	32	25	Ardougne Sewers
Pirate Hall	39	35	Level 54 Wilderness
Chaos Druid Tower	46	37.5	North of Ardougne
Paladin Door	61	50	Ardougne Palace
Yanille Dungeon Door	82	50	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"
Candle table north of altar in Entrana church	20	20	Candle	1	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

• For levels 1-5, pickpocket men in Edgeville (3 coins/pick).
• For levels 5-21, steal cakes from the Baker's Stall in Ardougne.
• 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 you can get clue scrolls while pickpocketing them; similarly, from level 38, pickpocketing Master Farmers provides a chance to collect valuable seeds.

Temporary boosts

Image	Name	Boost	Level to obtain/use	Notes
	Bandit's brew	1	None	None.
	Spring sq'irk juice	1	25	10% run energy boost.
	Autumn sq'irk juice	2	45	15% run energy boost.
	Summer sq'irk juice	3	65	20% run energy boost.
	Yellow spicy stew	-5 to +5	25	-5 and +5 are rare

Random events

A player is trapped in a pillory.

There are four different random events that are specific to thieving.

• Watchman - A watchman may attempt to arrest a player and begin to attack him or her. This event has been discontinued.
• Poison Gas - When thieving from a chest, a poison cloud may appear, which will poison your character. This event has been discontinued.
• Pillory - It is possible that your character will be teleported to a pillory in Yanille, Varrock, or Seers' Village, where shapes must be matched in order to pick the lock and return to where your character was thieving. It is possible for players to throw food at the trapped player, although it wont do any damage.
• When picking pockets in the HAM Dungeon, it is possible to get slightly concussed from the blow (Higher Agility prevents this from happening as often). Get concussed 3 times, and you will be knocked out and thrown out of the dungeon.

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. 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.
• 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. Has four levels each giving increased experience at levels 1, 25, 45, and 65. Bring empty beer glasses (can be obtained for free at the shelves in the sorcerer's house).

Quests rewarding Thieving experience

Quest	Experience reward	Thieving req.	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	-
Death to the Dorgeshuun	2,000	23	23
The Queen of Thieves	2,000	20	-
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	-	-
Darkness of Hallowvale	6,000	22	5 , 20 , 26 , 32 , 33 , 40
Grim Tales	6,000	58	45 , 52 , 59 , 71
Contact!	7,000	-	-
Dragon Slayer II	15,000	60	200 , 75 , 70 , 68 , 62 , 60 , 50 , 50
The Feud	15,000	30	-
Monkey Madness II	15,000	55	69 , 70 , 60 , 55
Mourning's Ends Part I	25,000	50	60
Total	123,512

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
Client of Kourend	500 twice	Any	-
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	-
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
Curse of the Empty Lord (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 50	Some players will need 31
The Tourist Trap	4,650 twice		10 , 20
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 , 48 , 50 , 53 , 53 , 25 , 59 , 40 , 50 , 40 , 40 , 10 , 10 , 36
Legends' Quest	7,650 four times		107 , 50 , 50 , 45 , 56 , 52 , 42 , 50 , 50 , 50 , 50
Total	114,400

Trivia

• Thieving is one of the only skills that does not require any items for training, unless the player is blackjacking.