Big bones

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Big bones
Detailed
Release	13 August 2001 (Update)
Members	No
Members	No
Quest item	No
Quest item	No
Tradeable	Yes
Tradeable	Yes
Equipable	No
Equipable	No
Stackable	No
Stackable	No
Disassembly	Unknown
Disassembly	Unknown
Noteable	Yes
Noteable	Yes
Value	1 coin
Value	1 coin
High Alchemy	0 coins
High Alchemy	0 coins
Low Alchemy	0 coins
Low Alchemy	0 coins
Destroy	Drop
On death	Unknown
On death	Unknown
On death	Unknown
Exchange	203 coins (info)
Buy limit	10,000
Weight	0.8 kg
Examine	Ew, it's a pile of bones. Bury for Prayer XP.
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Big bones are items associated with the Prayer skill. They are an intermediate level bone, although they are arguably the best training option for free-to-play. Big bones give 15 experience points when buried normally. The experience can be increased to 37.5, 45, 52.5, or 60 via several progressively more effective members-only abilities. When used in a player-owned house on the gilded altar big bones produce 37.5 experience, with one incense burner lit they will produce 45, and with both incense burners lit they produce 52.5. The maximum that can be produced by a Big bone is when they are worshipped at the Ectofuntus, producing 60 experience each, although this is often considered to be far more tedious than necessary. They also give 60 experience when used on an altar in Daemonheim while Dungeoneering. Big bones currently give the highest experience points of any bone in free-to-play excluding the quest-reward-only ancient bones, of which the player can only ever receive five.

When buried normally these bones give over three times as much experience as bones, making big bones an extremely popular and the best method of training Prayer in free-to-play. They are usually dropped by abnormally large monsters, such as any type of giant, including giant frogs, and ogres. The only free-to-play monsters that drop big bones are hill giants, moss giants, giant skeletons, and ice giants, along with the mastyxes and other large creatures of Daemonheim.

Previously the price skyrocketed for big bones, most likely because of the introduction of high level curses. Collecting them in the Wilderness Bone Yard and selling them is one of the quickest ways to make money available for non-members.

Members can get big bones from the 'gamble' option when purchasing rewards at the Soul Wars arena, but it is not likely to get them. If they do get them, they will likely get them in quantities of 60 or more. They can also get them from the Rare Drop Table, ranging from 150-500 at a time from any monster eligible for it.

Since 17 November 2009, big bones can be used with the Bones To Bananas and Bones To Peaches spells.

Disassembly

Disassembly XP	0.1
Item quantity required	1
Material count	? (edit)
Base junk chance	? (edit)
Possible materials

Defined properties:

[FAQ] • [doc]

Dropping monsters

For an exhaustive list of all known sources for this item, see here.

Source	Combat level	Quantity	Rarity
Moss giant	28; 51; 61	1	Always
Hill giant	28; 44	1	Always
Giant frog	44	1	Always
Ice giant	51	1	Always
Ogre	56; 67; 86	1	Always
Cyclops	57; 63; 68; 91	1; 2	Always
Glod	68	2	Always
Suqah	73; 74; 79	1	Always
Mountain troll	75	1	Always
Giant Roc	77	1	Always
Fire giant	85	1	Always
Cyclossus	89	1	Always
Ice troll	89	1	Always
TokTz-Ket-Dill (monster)	92	1	Always
Acheron mammoth	135	2	Always
Mature grotworm	98	1	Always
Bork	107	1	Always
Giant skeleton	120	1	Always
Giant mole	230	1	Always
Nex	1001	1	Always
Chaos Elemental	305	3	Common

Other sources

For an exhaustive list of all known sources for this item, see here.

Source	Combat level	Quantity	Rarity
Rare drop table	N/A	150–180	Uncommon

Cost and XP Analysis

	Bury	Gilded altar or Chaos Temple	Ectofuntus	Cremation
Experience	15	52.5	60	67.5 (Total)	37.5 (Prayer) + 30 (FM)
Cost per XP	−13.5	−3.9	−3.4	−3 (Total)	−5.4 (Prayer) or −6.8 (FM)

• It is assumed that two burners are lit while using the gilded altar and does not include the cost of clean marrentill.

A player choosing to use big bones all the way from 1-99 Prayer, using a gilded altar with lit burners and no other experience boosts, would, if all the bones were bought at the current medium price on the Grand Exchange, spend 50,399,799.87.

• Additionally the first two bones would take them straight to level 2 Prayer.
• Using the Ectofuntus would cost 44,099,824.88, but would take far longer to do. Simply burying the bones would cost 176,399,299.53.

Tips

• For members who have completed the Biohazard quest, there is an incredibly fast way to get big bones, which is even faster with 51 Magic. In the Training Ground North of Ardougne, many players train Ranged quickly, so they leave the big bones from the ogres on the ground. Enough ogres are killed that there will be a massive supply of big bones. Another quick way is the cyclopes at the Warriors Guild. Using the multi-token option will allow you to have 2 noted big bones per kill.

• For free-to-play players, the fastest way to get big bones is from hill giants located in the Edgeville Dungeon. In order to get easy access to these hill giants, the player needs a brass key which can be found inside the Edgeville Dungeon or bought from the Grand Exchange. You could also just buy the bones themselves off the Grand Exchange. The additional Resource Dungeon added on 19 July 2010 created even more hill giant spawns and also limpwurt root spawns. This requires 20 Dungeoneering to enter.
• It is possible to bury bones in combat just as you swing your weapon. If timed right, there will be no usual burying animation and the weapon swing will not be interrupted. This is useful while training in crowded areas, such as at the hill giants and moss giants.

Trivia

• Shades and zombies from historical random events could drop over 10 big bones a time.
• There was a glitch that did not allow the player to pick up big bones, even with an empty inventory. "You cannot take that at the moment" would appear in the chatbox when the player tried to pick up big bones. Some players were not able to pick up only big bones, but others were not allowed to pick up any drops. The glitch also prevented players from accessing the Grand Exchange, joining clans, and looking at their friends list. It is supposedly caused by a new anti-bot protection by Jagex that makes detected botters not able to pick up items. It is possible to get rid of the glitch by logging out, waiting for a few moments and logging back in. The glitch is fixed.