Pay-to-play Fletching training

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See also: Free-to-play Fletching training

This article gives tips about training the Fletching skill in a members-only world.

Helpful quests

Some quests give Fletching experience as a one-time quest reward.

• Big Chompy Bird Hunting - 260xp
• Animal Magnetism - 1,000xp
• Zogre Flesh Eaters - 2,000xp
• Fremennik Trials - 2,813xp
• Devious Minds - 5,000xp
• Catapult Construction - 5,000xp
• Temple of Ikov - 8,000xp
• In Pyre Need - 12,500xp
• The Branches of Darkmeyer - 40,000xp
• River of Blood - 50,000xp

Some other quests not listed give a generic experience lamp that could be used on Fletching if the player intended to do so, however, Fletching is known to be a "fast skill" to train up, so generic experience lamps are typically better used on other skills.

General notes

• This guide focuses on the creation of bows, as that is the most common method of training the Fletching skill and therefore the materials are easiest to get hold of.
• Xp/hr rates in thus article are generated using the base experience. Boosting your experience, for example by having bonus experience, wearing all or part of the fletcher's outfit, or using a portable fletcher, will increase the experience gained for each action and reduce the cost of training Fletching.
• Xp/hr rates given in this guide are a maximum amount possible; they assume that you will be fletching steadily, with quick banking and few to no distractions in game or in real life. Many players will, realistically, not achieve these amounts. Note: to significantly speed up the banking process it is recommended that players use presets. This is especially important if stringing bows, as it will only take one click to swap the bows in your inventory with 14 unstrung bows and 14 bowstrings. Set up the preset to include whichever materials you are going to use and set it to either '1' or '2' for quick access. This quickly adds up and saves a lot of time.
• Likewise, this guide assumes that you will be buying/gathering the materials for your Fletching before starting, rather than doing so as you go. Doing the latter will severely impact how much Fletching experience is gained per hour.
• All calculations in this guide are rounded up; this may result in you needing slightly fewer materials than stated.
• The Proto-tool reward from Stealing Creation can potentially be a useful item for level 40+ fletchers, as its knife form can be drained to gain 20k bonus experience in fletching. However, the time taken to obtain one must be balanced against its usefulness; combat games are twenty minutes long, and non-combat clan games are typically 10–15 minutes long, which is time you may prefer to spend fletching instead.
• Grand Exchange prices are the median price. Materials may cost more than the prices stated, and finished products sell for less.
• Fletching an inventory of unstrung bows from logs takes 50 seconds an inventory. Stringing an inventory of 14 bows to make the finished product takes 15 seconds. These have been rounded up to 60 seconds and 20 seconds respectively to account for banking time.
• Experience for fletching a bow from a log and stringing that same bow gives the same experience. With this in mind, the number of logs and bowstrings should be halved if you decide to both fletch and string.
• A calculator that shows the costs of making bows and ammunition can be found here: Calculator:Fletching/Items.

Helpful items

Fletching potion

The fletching potion boosts Fletching by +3. It is one of the few Fletching boosts available, aside from god banners, spicy stews, and advanced pulse cores.

Sacred and volatile clay fletching knives

The volatile and sacred clay fletching knives obtained from Stealing Creation respectively give 29,340 and 24,450 bonus experience to Fletching.

Crystal knife

The crystal knife is obtainable by Crystal Singing or elves that do that for you. The knife has two effects:

• 5% chance of getting double arrow shafts from fletching logs,
• 5% chance of giving a strung bow instead of an unstrung bow when fletching unstrung bows.

The crystal knife has 28 uses outside of Prifddinas and 56 inside.

Portable fletcher

The portable fletcher is a Treasure Hunter reward that can be bought on the Grand Exchange. It lasts for 5 minutes and can be used by other people. It has multiple boosts:

• 10% experience boost.
• 10% chance to save logs when fletching bows or crossbows up to, but not including, elder logs; this effect also applies when fletching protean logs, but does not apply when burning them.
• 10% chance to save arrowheads and headless arrows when making arrows.
• 10% chance to save unfinished bolts and feathers when making bolts.

Fletcher's outfit

Each piece of the fletcher's outfit increases your experience by 1%, for a total of 6% while wearing all 5 pieces (you gain an additional 1% for wearing the whole set). Each piece can be obtained for 100 reward points from Stealing Creation.

Wise perk

The wise perk on a weapon or tool in the main or off-hand slot can give up to 3% more experience.

Level 1-99

This section will show the time and number of either logs or unstrung bows and bowstrings needed to reach level 99 if switching to each newly unlocked bow type you can fletch as soon as possible, along with the prices of the materials involved; logs, bowstrings, unstrung bows and finished bows.

Level 1-5 - Arrow shafts

The best way to get from level 1 to level 5 is using arrow shafts, which give 5 experience each.

• Experience needed - 388
• Logs needed - 78
• Time - 150 seconds
• Logs cost = 22,116
• Arrow shafts = 18,240
  • Total profit = −3,876

Level 5-10 - Shortbows

Between level 5 and 10 you should either fletch or string shortbows. Both methods give 5 experience.

• Experience needed = 766
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 154
• Time = 6 minutes (fletch) OR 4 minutes (string)
• Logs cost = 44,814
• Shortbow (u) cost = 58,828
• Bowstrings cost = 58,982
  • Shortbow (u) and bowstrings total = 117,810
• Shortbows = 187,110
  • Total profit (stringing) = 69,300
  • Total profit (fletching) = 14,014

Level 10-20 - Shieldbows

At this point you should switch to making shieldbows, which give 10 xp for fletching the shieldbow (u) from logs or adding the string to make a finished bow.

• Experience needed = 3,316
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 332
• Time = 12 minutes (fletch) OR 8 minutes (string)
• Logs cost = 96,612
• Shieldbow (u) cost = 73,704
• Bowstrings cost = 127,156
  • Shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 200,860
• Shieldbows = 361,548
  • Total profit (stringing) = 160,688
  • Total profit (fletching) = −22,908

Level 20-25 - Oak shortbows

You can now work with oak to make bows. Oak shortbows give 16.5 experience for fletching or stringing them.

• Experience needed = 3,372
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 210
• Time = 7 minutes (fletch) OR 5 minutes (string)
• Oak logs cost = 124,110
• Oak shortbow (u) cost = 43,050
• Bowstrings cost = 80,430
  • Oak shortbow (u) and bowstrings total = 123,480
• Oak shortbows = 131,040
  • Total profit (stringing) = 7,560
  • Total profit (fletching) = −81,060

Level 25-35 - Oak shieldbows

You can now make oak shieldbows, for 25 experience for fletching or stringing.

• Experience needed = 14,564
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 583
• Time = 21 minutes (fletch) OR 14 minutes (string)
• Oak logs cost = 344,553
• Oak shieldbow (u) cost = 34,980
• Bowstrings cost = 223,289
  • Oak shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 258,269
• Oak shieldbows = 363,209
  • Total profit (stringing) = 104,940
  • Total profit (fletching) = −309,573

Level 35-40 - Willow shortbows

Willow shortbows are now available. These give 33.3 experience for fletching from willow logs or stringing them.

• Experience needed = 14,818
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 445
• Time = 16 minutes (fletch) OR 11 minutes (string)
• Willow logs cost = 110,360
• Willow shortbow (u) cost = 53,400
• Bowstrings cost = 170,435
  • Willow shortbow (u) and bowstrings total = 223,835
• Willow shortbows = 227,840
  • Total profit (stringing) = 4,005
  • Total profit (fletching) = −56,960

Level 40-50 - Willow shieldbows

Now you can make willow shieldbows, which give 41.5 experience for fletching or stringing.

• Experience needed = 64,109
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 1,545
• Time = 55 minutes (fletch) OR 37 minutes (string)
• Willow logs cost = 383,160
• Willow shieldbow (u) cost = 103,515
• Bowstrings cost = 591,735
  • Willow shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 695,250
• Willow shieldbows = 517,575
  • Total profit (stringing) = −177,675
  • Total profit (fletching) = −279,645

Level 50-55 - Maple shortbows

Now you can make maple shortbows, for 50 experience each when fletching from maple logs or stringing.

• Experience needed = 65,303
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 1,307
• Time = 47 minutes (fletch) OR 32 minutes (string)
• Maple logs cost = 141,156
• Maple shortbow (u) cost = 194,743
• Bowstrings cost = 500,581
  • Maple shortbow (u) and bowstrings total = 695,324
• Maple shortbows = 899,216
  • Total profit (stringing) = 203,892
  • Total profit (fletching) = 53,587

Level 55-65 - Maple shieldbows

You can now make maple shieldbows, which give 58.2 Fletching experience for fletching from maple logs or stringing.

• Experience needed = 282,792
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 4,859
• Time = 2 hours 53 minutes (fletch) OR 1 hour 56 minutes (string)
• Maple logs cost = 523,908
• Maple shieldbow (u) cost = 519,057
• Bowstrings cost = 1,857,933
  • Maple shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 2,376,990
• Maple shieldbows = 3,027,024
  • Total profit (stringing) = 650,034
  • Total profit (fletching) = −4,851

Level 65-70 - Yew shortbows

You can now make yew shortbows, which give 67.5 experience for fletching from yew logs or stringing.

• Experience needed = 288,199
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 4,270
• Time = 2 hours 33 minutes (fletch) OR 1 hour 42 minutes (string)
• Yew logs cost = 713,090
• Yew shortbow (u) cost = 943,670
• Bowstrings cost = 1,635,410
  • Yew shortbow (u) and bowstrings total = 2,579,080
• Yew shortbows = 3,825,920
  • Total profit (stringing) = 1,246,840
  • Total profit (fletching) = 230,580

Level 70-80 - Yew shieldbows

You can now make yew shieldbows, which give 75 experience for fletching or stringing.

• Experience needed = 1,248,441
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 16,646
• Time = 9 hours 55 minutes (fletch) OR 6 hours 37 minutes (string)
• Yew logs cost = 2,779,882
• Yew shieldbow (u) cost = 3,229,324
• Bowstrings cost = 6,375,418
  • Yew shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 9,604,742
• Yew shieldbows = 14,382,144
  • Total profit (stringing) = 4,777,402
  • Total profit (fletching) = 449,442

Level 80-85 - Magic shortbows

You can now make magic shortbows, which give 83.0 experience for fletching or stringing.

• Experience needed = 1,272,526
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 15,286
• Time = 9 hours 6 minutes (fletch) OR 6 hours 4 minutes (string)
• Magic logs cost = 5,808,680
• Magic shortbow (u) cost = 7,505,426
• Bowstrings cost = 5,854,538
  • Magic shortbow (u) and bowstrings total = 13,359,964
• Magic shortbows = 18,175,054
  • Total profit (stringing) = 4,815,090
  • Total profit (fletching) = 1,696,746

Level 85-90 - Magic shieldbows

Magic shieldbows are the second type of magic bow. They give 91.5 experience for fletching or stringing them.

• Experience needed = 2,087,738
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 22,817
• Time = 13 hours, 35 minutes (fletch) OR 9 hours, 4 minutes (string)
• Magic logs cost = 8,670,460
• Magic shieldbow (u) cost = 9,286,519
• Bowstrings cost = 8,738,911
  • Magic shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 18,025,430
• Magic shieldbows = 25,509,406
  • Total profit (stringing) = 7,483,976
  • Total profit (fletching) = 616,059

Level 90-95 - Elder shortbows

Elder shortbows are the penultimate type of bow unlocked outside of Daemonheim. They give 101.2 experience for fletching or stringing them.

• Experience needed = 3,425,226
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 33,847
• Time = 20 hours, 9 minutes (fletch) OR 13 hours, 26 minutes (string)
• Elder logs cost = 299,038,245
• Elder shortbow (u) cost = 172,450,465
• Bowstrings cost = 12,963,401
  • Elder shortbow (u) and bowstrings total = 185,413,866
• Elder shortbows = 143,815,903
  • Total profit (stringing) = −41,597,963
  • Total profit (fletching) = −126,587,780

Note: Ascension bolts are both cheaper and faster XP from level 90 onwards.

Level 95-99 - Elder shieldbows

Elder shieldbows are the last type of bow unlocked outside of Daemonheim. They give 116 experience for fletching or stringing them.

• Experience needed = 4,262,873
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 36,749
• Time = 21 hours, 53 minutes (fletch) OR 16 hours, 35 minutes (string)
• Elder logs cost = 324,677,415
• Elder shieldbow (u) cost = 181,209,319
• Bowstrings cost = 14,074,867
  • Elder shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 195,284,186
• Elder shieldbows = 129,209,484
  • Total profit (stringing) = −66,074,702
  • Total profit (fletching) = −143,468,096

Ammunition

Level 52-99 - Broad arrows

Fletching broad arrows is a fast, but expensive, method for training Fletching. When fletching broad arrows, you make 10 sets of 15 arrows, at 15 xp per arrow (225 xp per set). As broad arrows are untradeable, no profit can be made from this method of training. Players can gain 675,000 base experience per hour using this method. Players that are unsure whether the investment of 300 slayer points is worth the cost may take into account that fletching a broad arrow is required for one of the hard desert achievements

• Experience needed = 12,910,771
• Broad arrowheads and headless arrows needed = 860,719
• Time = 19 hours
• Broad arrowheads price = 43,035,950
• Headless arrow price = 40,453,793
  • Cost per arrow = −97
  • Loss per hour = −4,365,000
• Total cost = 83,489,743
• Total profit = −83,489,743 (finished product is untradeable)

Level 90-99 - Ascension bolts

Making ascension bolts from ascension shards is a fast but highly expensive way to reach 99. These are made in sets of 10 bolts, granting 20xp per bolt.

• Experience needed = 7,688,099
• Shards needed = 384,405
• Time = 13 hours
• Ascension shards cost = 98,407,680
• Ascension bolts price = 46,897,410
  • Cost per bolt = −134
• Total profit = −51,510,270

Level 90-95 - Dragon arrows

An alternative to making ascension bolts is making dragon arrows. Making dragon arrows grants more experience per set however costing more than making ascension bolts. Dragon arrows are made in sets of 15 arrows, granting 15xp per arrow. Players can gain 675,000 base experience per hour using this method.

• Experience needed = 3,425,226
• Arrowheads and headless arrows needed = 228,348
• Time = 6 hours
• Dragon arrowheads cost = 63,252,396
• Headless arrows price = 10,732,356
• Dragon arrows price = 54,575,172
  • Cost per arrow = −85
• Total profit = −19,409,580

Level 95-99 - Dark arrows

After making dragon arrows to 95 the next logical step is to make dark arrows. Dark arrows are made in sets of 15 arrows, granting 17.5xp per arrow. Players can gain 787,000 base experience per hour using this method.

• Experience needed = 4,262,873
• Arrowheads and headless arrows needed = 243,600
• Time = 7 hours
• Dark arrowheads cost = 68,938,800
• Headless arrows price = 11,449,200
• Dark arrows price = 11,936,400
  • Cost per arrow = −281
• Total profit = −68,451,600

Level 95-99 - Dragon darts

Making dragon darts is the absolute fastest way to train Fletching, but at a high loss. Darts are made twice as fast as bolts and arrows. They are fletched in 10 sets of 10, at 25 experience per dart (250 base experience per tick, or 2,500 base experience per Make-X dialogue). Players can gain 1,500,000 base experience per hour.

• Experience needed = 4,262,873
• Dragon dart tips and feathers needed = 170,515
• Time = 3 hours 6 minutes
• Dragon dart tip cost = 155,168,650
• Feather price = 2,216,695
  • Loss per dart = −787
• Total cost = 157,385,345
• Dragon darts = 23,190,040
  • Total profit = −134,195,305

Other methods

Completing quests

Main article: Quests/Experience rewards § Fletching

Some quests grant Fletching experience. Refer to the main article for more details.

Level 55-99 - Maple shieldbows

Maple shieldbows are usually a cheaper, if slightly slower, route to achieving level 99 in Fletching. They give 58.3 experience for fletching or stringing.

• Experience needed = 12,867,795
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 220,717
• Time = 131 hours 23 minutes (fletch) OR 87 hours 36 minutes (string)
• Maple logs cost = 23,837,436
• Maple shieldbow (u) cost = 23,616,719
• Bowstrings cost = 84,534,611
  • Maple shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 108,151,330
• Maple shieldbows = 137,727,408
• Total profit (stringing) = 29,576,078
• Total profit (fletching) = −220,717

Level 70-99 - Yew shieldbows

Yew shieldbows are another alternative method to reach 99. They're a compromise between the speed of magic shieldbows and the relative cheapness of maple shieldbows. 75 experience is given for fletching or stringing yew shieldbows.

• Experience needed = 12,296,804
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 163,958
• Time = 97 hours 36 minutes (fletch) OR 65 hours 4 minutes (string)
• Yew logs cost = 27,380,986
• Yew shieldbow (u) cost = 31,807,852
• Bowstrings cost = 62,795,914
  • Yew shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 94,603,766
• Yew shieldbows = 141,659,712
  • Total profit (stringing) = 47,055,946
  • Total profit (fletching) = 4,426,866

Level 85-99 - Magic shieldbows

Magic shieldbows were the best fletchable bow available, until the elder bows were released, and are still used for training due to their lower price in relation to elder logs and bows. They give 91.5 experience for fletching or stringing them.

• Experience needed = 9,775,837
• Logs/unstrung bows needed = 106,840
• Time = 56 hours, 26 minutes (fletch) OR 38 hours, 22 minutes (string)
• Magic logs cost = 40,599,200
• Magic shieldbow (u) cost = 43,483,880
• Bowstrings cost = 40,919,720
  • Magic shieldbow (u) and bowstrings total = 84,403,600
• Magic shieldbows = 119,447,120
  • Total profit (stringing) = 35,043,520
  • Total profit (fletching) = 2,884,680

Level 83-99 - Sagaie

Another alternative is making Sagaie at the Jadinko lair at level 83 Fletching, although this also requires 83 Woodcutting and 83 Firemaking, and it can be a lot slower than making Dragon darts or arrows due to the time spent collecting supplies. However, it is completely free.

Level 96-99 - Bundle of bamboo

Bundling bamboo gives 100 experience per bundle, can be done with 2 golden bamboo or 5 bamboo obtained from the Arc region.

Experience per hour

This section shows the maximum possible experience per hour, and the potential costs, for fletching or stringing the high level shortbows and shieldbows. The last column shows what the possible profit/loss is per hour, according to the info on the left.

Method	Action	Amount/hr	Exp/hr	Material costs	Sell for	Profit/Loss	GP/XP
Maple shortbow (u)	Fletch	1,680	84,000	181,440	250,320	68,880	0.82
Maple shortbow	String	2,520	126,000	1,340,640	1,733,760	393,120	3.12
Maple shieldbow (u)	Fletch	1,680	97,944	181,440	179,760	−1,680	−0.02
Maple shieldbow	String	2,520	146,916	1,234,800	1,572,480	337,680	2.3
Yew shortbow (u)	Fletch	1,680	113,400	280,560	371,280	90,720	0.8
Yew shortbow	String	2,520	170,100	1,522,080	2,257,920	735,840	4.33
Yew shieldbow (u)	Fletch	1,680	126,000	280,560	325,920	45,360	0.36
Yew shieldbow	String	2,520	189,000	1,454,040	2,177,280	723,240	3.83
Magic shortbow (u)	Fletch	1,680	139,440	638,400	824,880	186,480	1.34
Magic shortbow	String	2,520	209,160	2,202,480	2,996,280	793,800	3.8
Magic shieldbow (u)	Fletch	1,680	153,720	638,400	683,760	45,360	0.3
Magic shieldbow	String	2,520	230,580	1,990,800	2,817,360	826,560	3.58
Broad arrows	Add heads	45,000	675,000	4,365,000	Untradeable	−4,365,000	−6.47
Broad arrows (With arrowheads from Slayer Masters)	Add heads	45,000	675,000	4,365,000	Untradeable	−4,365,000	−6.47
Dragon arrows	Add heads	45,000	675,000	14,580,000	10,755,000	−3,825,000	−5.67
Ascension bolts	Make bolts	30,000	600,000	7,680,000	3,660,000	−4,020,000	−6.7
Dragon darts	Make darts	55,000	1,375,000	50,765,000	7,480,000	−43,285,000	−31.48
Dragon darts (With feathers from stores)	Make darts	55,000	1,375,000	50,380,000	7,480,000	−42,900,000	−31.2
Elder shortbow (u)	Fletch	1,680	170,016	14,842,800	8,559,600	−6,283,200	−36.96
Elder shortbow	String	2,520	255,024	13,804,560	10,707,480	−3,097,080	−12.14
Elder shieldbow (u)	Fletch	1,680	194,880	14,842,800	8,284,080	−6,558,720	−33.66
Elder shieldbow	String	2,520	292,320	13,391,280	8,860,320	−4,530,960	−15.5

See also

• Money making guide/Fletching