OSRS 1–99 Fletching Guide: Bows, Darts & Vale Totems

Reviewed 24 October 2026 · Members’ training guide

For a simple Fletching route, start with early arrow assembly, unlock bows, and progress through the bow tiers at a bank. Choose darts when you want more active training and can afford the supplies, or try Vale Totems from level 20 for an activity with useful equipment rewards. You can reach 99 through more than one route; the right choice depends on attention, budget and what your account needs.

This guide separates cutting, stringing and ammunition assembly so that each XP figure has a clear meaning. Fletching is a members’ skill, even though some finished bows can be used on free-to-play worlds.

Choose a route that fits your session

1. Understand the production stages

Cutting: one log becomes one unstrung bow using a knife. Stringing: one unstrung bow and one bow string become a finished bow. These are two separate actions with separate XP and market values.

A stringing-only rate assumes the unstrung bows are already available. If you cut them yourself, count both stages and both inventories. If you buy them, include their purchase price. Do not value a finished bow as the output of a log-cutting-only session.

Ordinary supplies are straightforward: a knife and logs for cutting; matched unstrung bows and strings for stringing; or matched ammunition components for assembly. A chisel is used to cut gems into bolt tips, which is a Crafting step. Enchanting tipped bolts is a Magic step. Neither should be added to your Fletching XP total. Skill and materials reference.

2. Levels 1–20: a repeatable starting plan

This worked route starts at zero XP. Headless arrows give 1 XP each; the shortbow cutting step gives 5, and the longbow cutting step gives 10. Carrying the surplus forward gives 4,475 XP, just above the 4,470 XP required for level 20. It uses 485 normal logs, plus the bought or previously obtained shafts and feathers. No stringing, shaft-cutting, quest XP or boosts are included.

First inventory and checkpoints

1. Use feathers on arrow shafts and select the headless-arrow quantity. Normal sets contain 15 arrows; 26 full sets produce 390.

2. At level 5, bank the stack. Withdraw a knife and 27 normal logs.

3. Use the knife on a log, select shortbows, and let the batch finish. Bank the unstrung output and repeat.

4. At level 10, select longbows instead. Continue until level 20.

5. Keep any remaining logs and headless arrows rather than treating them as waste. Check your next method before buying more.

If you already have XP, recalculate the remaining amount instead of following these quantities exactly. Another starting option is cutting arrow shafts: a normal log gives 5 Fletching XP and 15 shafts. Attaching feathers then gives additional XP, so do not count both a headless-arrow-only supply target and a full shaft-cutting target as if starting from zero twice.

Quest rewards can also replace early training. Choose quests for their account unlocks as well as the XP, and check their actual prerequisites. An early-quest reward list does not mean every listed quest can be completed on a fresh level-1 account.

3. A simple bow route from 20–99

This is a deliberately simple progression with fewer product changes, rather than a claim to the fastest possible route. Intermediate shortbows unlock at 35, 50, 65 and 80. You can switch earlier if their costs, output and XP suit you. The levels and stage values can be checked in the Fletching experience table.

Choose an accessible bank you can use consistently; buying and selling at the Grand Exchange is convenient for a main. Withdraw your knife and logs, select the intended bow, let the inventory finish, then deposit only the output. Repeat until the next checkpoint. An item unlocking does not require you to buy a large stack immediately.

Stringing as an alternative

Without a spool, withdraw 14 unstrung bows and 14 bow strings. Use a string on a bow, select the quantity, finish the batch and bank. You do not need to keep a knife in the stringing inventory. With a loaded bow string spool, one slot holds the strings and the remaining 27 can hold bows.

Check the exact stringing XP before using a cutting figure in a calculation. For example, a maple longbow gives 58.3 XP when cut and 58.2 XP when strung, for 116.5 total. Its item page confirms that small difference even where a training comparison rounds the stages together. Maple longbow stages.

4. Equipment that changes the comparison

Fletching knife

The Fletching knife is an untradeable Vale Totems reward. It reduces supported Fletching actions by one game tick after the first item in a batch; ordinary bow cutting changes from three ticks to two. It does not make every Fletching action faster or increase XP per bow.

Keeping it in your inventory is the straightforward setup for cutting. If equipped, its benefit remains active, but you still need a knife in your inventory to initiate the action on logs. You can obtain it randomly from offerings or buy it for 350 Vale research points. Knife mechanics and acquisition.

Bow string spool

The spool holds strings in one inventory slot, reducing banking interruptions when stringing bows. It starts with capacity for 250 strings; combining additional spools increases capacity. Fill it before starting, then use it on an unstrung bow.

5. Bow XP benchmarks with clear assumptions

These calculations use the published action-count assumptions in the training reference. They are stage-specific benchmarks, not Onyx gameplay tests. They assume sustained bank-side production, exclude gathering supplies and learning the method, and should not be treated as guaranteed session rates.

Measure XP from before the first withdrawal to after the last deposit. A three-tick cutting batch of 27 bows takes about 48.6 seconds of processing, whereas 14 bows string in about 16.8 seconds; banking adds time to both. Lower input per inventory and higher XP per hour are different advantages.

6. Darts: active training with a supply budget

Take matched stacks of tips and feathers, use one on the other, and test your input setting before scaling up. Sets contain ten darts, so ten adamant darts give 150 XP, not 15 XP for the whole set. Requirements and per-dart values: Dart reference.

The in-game settings allow a Make-X interface or repeated two-item actions. Make-X uses fewer inputs but cannot reproduce a rapid manual rate. A fast recorded manual session is not a realistic estimate for automatic batches. Learn the control mode you intend to use, then measure that mode.

The Tourist Trap is required to smith dart tips, not simply to attach feathers to tips you have obtained. Buying tips bypasses their Smithing production stage, not the Fletching requirement. Supply limits, price movement and the capital tied up in components can matter more than the tier name.

7. Vale Totems from level 20

Complete Children of the Sun for Varlamore access, then the Vale Totems miniquest in Auburnvale at 20 Fletching. Bring a knife and either logs or an axe to gather suitable wood. A quetzal route requires its own transport unlocks; use the World Map and available paths rather than assuming every teleport is ready on a new account.

Totem tiers unlock at oak 20, willow 35, maple 50, yew 65, magic 80 and redwood 90. These are Fletching requirements, not the Woodcutting levels for their trees. For your first attempt, choose a tier whose wood and decorations you can actually supply. Activity requirements.

Try a short route before a full circuit

1. At Auburnvale bank, take a knife, four matching logs and sixteen matching unstrung bows. This is enough for four totems.

2. Use the map’s totem icons to reach an available site.

3. Build the totem with one log. Look at the three nearby animal spirits and choose matching carvings.

4. Add four compatible decorations. For this starter setup, their wood type matches the totem.

5. Continue to nearby sites, then return to the bank when the four sets are used.

6. Watch for offerings left by visiting ents, collect them and rummage them for rewards and research points.

Wrong carvings reduce XP and offerings. Check the spirits again if they change instead of mechanically repeating the previous site’s choices. A shield uses two logs to make, so a shield-decorating supply plan differs from this bow-based starter.

Once comfortable, try making decorations while travelling: twenty logs cover four totems when each needs one construction log plus four single-log decorations. A full eight-site bow-based circuit uses forty logs. A log basket helps carry a full circuit’s supply; without one, plan bank stops rather than running short halfway round.

Crossing both tiles in an ent-trail pair boosts the next four build/carving actions by 15% and doubles that ent’s offerings at its next activated totem. Running can skip a tile, so make sure both are touched. This bonus does not apply indiscriminately to every XP action. Routing and trail mechanics.

Compare premade decorations with fletching while moving. Buying them makes the route simpler but adds cost; making them en route adds Fletching actions and attention. Different setups produce different XP rates, so do not import a full-loop benchmark into your first four-site trip.

8. Broad arrows, bolts and other alternatives

Broad arrows for an account with the unlock

At 52 Fletching, broad arrows require Broader Fletching, unlocked for 300 Slayer reward points. Use broad arrowheads on headless arrows: the tipping stage gives 10 XP per arrow, or 150 per full set of fifteen. Making headless arrows beforehand is another stage with its own supplies and XP.

Broad arrows are untradeable. They can be useful training for an Ironman with shop access and spare coins, but there is no ordinary GE sale of the finished stack to refund the expense. Do not spend Slayer points on the unlock without checking your next Slayer priorities. Broad arrow requirements.

Bolts and specialised products

Feathering unfinished bolts and attaching gem tips to existing bolts are different recipes. Match the exact unfinished item, tip and level before buying materials. In a cost comparison, state whether prices and XP are per individual bolt or per set. Enchanting the output must be evaluated separately.

Battlestaves from celastrus bark and redwood shields are additional bank-side choices. They are worth comparing if you already have the resources, but their trade volumes and input costs can make a high-looking XP figure misleading. Start with a small buy-and-sell batch rather than filling your bank with a slow-selling product.

9. Calculate your target and real cost

Items needed = round up (remaining XP ÷ XP per item for the stage). For a 100,000 XP stringing target with yew longbows at 75 XP each, you need 1,334 unstrung bows and 1,334 strings. That does not include cutting the bows. If supplying them yourself, calculate the cutting XP before deciding how much stringing remains.

Net cost = actual input cost − net proceeds from selling the output. Suppose an illustrative stringing batch costs 180 GP per unstrung bow plus 90 GP per string, and sells for 250 GP net after selling costs. One thousand bows would cost 20,000 GP overall and give 75,000 Fletching XP: about 0.267 GP per XP. These prices are a worked example, not live quotes.

Use actual completed purchases and sales, including any tax or fees. Guide prices are not guaranteed fills. Keep enough working capital for the next batch, and compare the expected time saving before paying more per XP for an upgrade.

10. Ironman and multitasking adjustments

On an Ironman, add time spent gathering logs, obtaining feathers and supplying strings. Bought-main and self-supplied rates answer different questions. Vale Totems can use locally gathered wood; broad-arrow supplies use coins and an unlock. Choose the bottleneck you can reasonably sustain.

Stackable ammunition can fit into familiar travel or downtime. It still takes input and can distract you from the main activity. Try it first during a comfortable, non-dangerous routine. “Zero-time” is an efficiency term for overlapping work, not a claim that Fletching happens without actions.

Common questions

Do I need to string every bow I cut?

No. Keep, sell or decorate with the unstrung output according to your plan. Compare stringing as another method with its own margin and time.

Is the highest dart tier always the best choice?

No. Compare the cost per XP, supply availability and the input pace you can maintain. A cheaper tier can be the sensible choice for a longer target.

Should I get the Fletching knife before training further?

It is worth considering for substantial supported production. You can start with an ordinary knife, try Vale Totems, and compare the reward detour with your remaining target rather than delaying all progress.

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