Thieving
- This article is about the thieving skill. For information on training thieving, see thieving training.
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| Release date | 30 April 2002 (Update) |
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| Members only | Yes |
| Minimum level for Hiscores |
15 as of 17 November 2012 - update |
| Players with 99 |
37,425 as of 17 November 2012 - update |
| Players with 200M XP |
60 as of 17 November 2012 - update |
Thieving is a members-only skill that allows players to obtain coins and items by stealing from market stalls, chests, or by pickpocketing non-player characters (NPCs). This skill also allows players to unlock doors and disarm traps.
The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 934,143) on the hiscores for Thieving is level 15. As of 17 November 2012, there are 37,425 current members that have achieved level 99 in Thieving.
Pickpocketing
This is the act of walking up to an NPC and right-clicking them, then selecting Pickpocket. In the case of a Master Farmer, only a single left click is required to attempt to pick their pockets. If successful, you will gain Thieving experience and possibly coins or various items. The higher the thieving level, the more NPCs the player is able to pickpocket from.
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 a Master Farmer will say "Cor blimey, mate! What are ye doing in me pockets?" and will stun you for a few seconds and cause 10-50 life points (the higher the NPC's level, the harder they hit). This damage is not classified as melee damage, and Protect from Melee/Deflect Melee does not prevent the damage as such. Because of the possibility for damage, it is recommended that players bring healing familiars, enhanced excalibur, regen bracelet, or food such as cakes that can be stolen from cake stalls. The best food to bring is a basket of strawberries, because although you need to consume it in several bites, overall it heals more than rocktails. This is excellent for thieving as NPCs hit small amounts of damage. You can successfully pickpocket an NPC even if he or she is looking right at you, but if you pickpocket from the sides or from behind, the chances of getting caught seem to be slightly reduced although this has finally been proven to be only rumor.
During a study when wearing an aura, gloves of silence, and carefully getting behind each NPC, a player's success rate is confirmed to be based off of how many levels higher then the required level of the NPC is. For example: Pickpocketing a normal "Man" or "Woman" NPC at level 1 can be tedious. However, one may notice that at level 10 thieving, the chances are lower of being stunned, this is because the player has 10.11% chance of being successful.
This is because each level in thieving gives about 1.011% chance of success when pickpocketing from a lower tiered NPC. When trying to pickpocket from a NPC that is of same level, one may notice that the stuns become more frequent and often. If watched carefully, whether beside, behind, or in front, the NPC can still have a high percentage of stunning a player due to the rate of success being at it's bare minimum (1.011%) for that level.
In more simpler terms. Stealing from a level 1 NPC at level 10 Thieving gives a 10% chance success rate. Stealing from a level 65 NPC at level 75 would also give a 10% success rate. stealing from a level 65 NPC at level 85 would give a 20% success rate. So every 1 level from the NPC you're trying to pickpocket from will give a 1.011% chance of success from that NPC's level.
Also, if a player attempts to pickpocket an attackable NPC just before its death, the player thieving it will get a message saying: "Too late; they're dead."
The equipment that a player wears does not affect the success rate, aside from an Ardougne cloak (although the Ardougne cloak 1 and 2 enhance pickpocketing only in Ardougne), or Gloves of silence. However, equipping a Snowball, a salamander without the tar needed, or a (cross)bow without projectiles makes it impossible to accidentally attack an NPC.
To help increase the success rate, players with 62 or higher Summoning may choose to summon an Abyssal lurker familiar, and use Abyssal stealth scrolls, which provide a +4 visible boost to Thieving.
Thievable non-player characters
Levels for stealing multiples of normal loot all follow these formulae ([level] stands for the base level required to steal from the NPC):
Double Loot = [level]+10 thieving and [level] agility
Triple Loot = [level]+20 thieving and [level]+10 agility
Quadruple Loot = [level]+30 thieving and [level]+20 agility
After completing the Lost Her Marbles miniquest from Buyers and Cellars, the loot from NPC's level 40 and below is increased. Men/Women have 20 coin drops, Farmers improve to several low level seed types (cabbage, marigold, tomato) and Master Farmers appear to have an improved high-level seed rate.
Image NPC name Level Loot 2x Loot 3x Loot 4x Exp. Possible loot Location Required Quest
Stun time (seconds) Stun damage 
Man/Woman 1 11, 1 Agility 21, 11 Agility 31, 21 Agility 8 3 coins:*After Lost Her Marbles: 20 coins All arround RuneScape, mainly in cities. The best place to find them is in Edgeville, right next to the jail None 5 10 
Farmer 10 20, 10 Agility 30, 20 Agility 40, 30 Agility 14.5 9 coins, potato seeds Wandering in or near farms close to cities or Lumbridge fields None 5 10 
Female H.A.M. member 15 25, 15 Agility 35, 25 Agility 45, 35 Agility 18.5 Coins, tinderbox, logs, uncut semi-precious gems, level 1 clue scrolls, steel pickaxes/ raw anchovies, raw chicken, H.A.M. clothing, iron pickaxes, steel hatchet low-level herbs, rusty sword, damaged armour and other items, coal, Buttons, feathers. Wearing H.A.M. clothing increases the success rate. H.A.M. Hideout None 4 10-30 
Male H.A.M. member 20 30, 20 Agility 40, 30 Agility 50, 40 Agility 22.5 coins, tinderbox, logs, uncut semi-precious gems, level 1 clue scrolls, raw anchovies, raw chicken, H.A.M. clothing, bronze pickaxes, iron pickaxes, steel pickaxes, low-level herbs, rusty sword, broken armour and other items. Wearing H.A.M. clothing increases the success rate. After completing Lost Her Marbles: H.A.M. clothing, coins (25-29), Slayer staff, damaged armour, rusty sword, leather body, steel studs, herbs up to Tarromin, steel dagger, steel hatchet, steel pickaxe, buttons, 1-5 iron ore (noted), 1-4 coal (noted), uncut semi-precious gems. H.A.M. Hideout None 4 10-30 H.A.M Guard 20 30, 20 Agility 40, 30 Agility 50, 40 Agility 22.5 These guards are downstairs in the store-rooms, and cannot be accessed until after completing the Death to the Dorgeshuun quest. Yields the same finds as when you pickpocket a male H.A.M member, with the addition of bronze, iron, steel, and silver keys. See the article H.A.M Hideout for more information. H.A.M. Hideout Death to the Dorgeshuun 4 10-30 
Warrior woman/Al-Kharid Warrior 25 35, 25 Agility 45, 35 Agility 55, 45 Agility 26 18 coins, court summons Warrior woman: Varrock Palace, East Ardougne and north of East Ardougne
Al-Kharid Warrior: Al-Kharid Palace
None 5 20 
Rogue 32 42, 32 Agility 52, 42 Agility 62, 52 Agility 35.5 25-40 coins, wine, air runes, poisoned iron dagger, lockpick, egg Rogue's Castle, south-west of the Mage Arena None 5 20 
Cave goblin 36 46, 36 Agility 56, 46 Agility 66, 56 Agility 40 30 coins, Oil Lamp, Bullseye Lantern, unlit torch, tinderbox, swamp tar, cave goblin foods, 1-4 iron ore, cave goblin wire Dorgesh-Kaan Death to the Dorgeshuun 5 10 File:Thiefmasterfarmer.png Master Farmer 38 48, 38 Agility 58, 48 Agility 68, 58 Agility 43 Various Allotment, Flower, and Herb Seeds (not including Spirit Weed and Wergali seeds). Potatoes most common, rarity increases with the farming level of the seed. Draynor Village marketplace, near the farming shop in Hemenster, sheep pen south of Varrock, farm north of East Ardougne, Taverley marketplace
None 5 30 
Guard 40 50, 40 Agility 60, 50 Agility 70, 60 Agility 46.5 30 coins Varrock, East Ardougne, Falador, near the Wilderness Wall in Edgeville None 5 20 
Fremennik Citizen 45 55, 45 Agility 65, 55 Agility 75, 65 Agility 65 40 coins Rellekka The Fremennik Trials 5 20 
Bearded Pollnivnian Bandit 45 55, 45 Agility 65, 55 Agility 75, 65 Agility 65 40 coins North of Pollnivneach None 5 50 File:Thiefdesertbandit.png Desert Bandit 53 63, 53 Agility 73, 63 Agility 83, 73 Agility 79.5 30 coins, Antipoison, Lockpick Bandit Camp None 5 30 
Knight of Ardougne 55 65, 55 Agility 75, 65 Agility 85, 75 Agility 84.3 50 coins, court summons East Ardougne marketplace None 5 30 Pollnivian Bandit 55 65, 55 Agility 75, 65 Agility 85, 75 Agility 84.3 50 coins North of Pollnivneach None 5 50 File:Thiefwatchman.png Yanille Watchman 65 75, 65 Agility 85, 75 Agility 95, 85 Agility 137.5 60 coins and bread Watchtower None 5 30 
Menaphite Thug 65 75, 65 Agility 85, 75 Agility 95, 85 Agility 137.5 60 coins South of Pollnivneach None 5 50 File:Thiefpaladin.png Paladin 70 80, 70 Agility 90, 80 Agility - 151.75 80 coins and 2 chaos runes, court summons East Ardougne marketplace and castle
None 30 Monkey knife fighter 70 20;150 1-50 coins, black knives (normal and poisoned ones), Lobsters, Mithril scimitars, Adamant scimitars, Rune scimitars and Dragon scimitars
Ape Atoll, north building in Marim Do No Evil 60 
Gnome 75 85, 75 Agility 95, 85 Agility - 198.5 300 coins, 1 earth rune, gold ore, Fire orb, swamp toad, King worm, court summons Tree Gnome Village and Tree Gnome Stronghold None 5 10 
Hero 80 90, 80 Agility - - 273.3 200-300 coins (80%) (200= 1/2, 300= 1/3) , 2 death runes (1/15) , blood rune (1/33), Fire orb (1/100), diamond (1/100), gold ore (1/33), wine (1/33), court summons East Ardougne marketplace None 6 40 
Elf 85 95, 85 Agility - - 353 250-350 coins, Fire orb, gold ore, Wine, 2 death runes, cut diamonds, unicorn horn, dark wizard robe, 3 nature runes Lletya Mourning's Ends Part I 6 50 
Dwarf Trader 90 - - - 556.5 100-400 coins, noted bronze bar, noted iron bar, noted steel bar, noted mithril bar, noted Adamant bar, noted Rune bar, noted tin ore, noted copper ore, noted iron ore, noted mithril ore, noted adamantite ore, noted runite ore, noted coal, level 3 clue scroll, court summons Trade Octagon in Keldagrim The Giant Dwarf 5 10
In addition to the standard thievable NPCs, the workers involved in the Tower of Life quest may also be pickpocketed by players with level 1 thieving. Successfully pickpocketing a worker give the player a Triangle sandwich and 8 thieving experience. The workers are: 'Black-eye', 'Gummy', 'No fingers', and 'The Guns'. Their supervisor, Bonafido, cannot be pickpocketed. The workers can be pickpocketed regardless if the quest is finished or not.
Stalls
There are a large number of stalls throughout RuneScape, and many of them are in the Ardougne Market. Stealing from stalls is the left-click option.
When nearby guards or the stall owner sees someone thieving they may attack, or prevent the player from stealing. Because of this, it is recommended that the player thieve from a side of a stall that is well hidden from the owner and guards.
When the item is stolen, it will take a short period of time to respawn. However, the higher thieving level it takes to steal from a stall, the longer its respawn time will be. It should be noted you may not buy from or sell to the stall owner for about 20 minutes after the last theft from their stall type (except for the market stalls on Ape Atoll), otherwise, the merchant will shout for the guards. If a player carries the Vial of stench (a), from the caper A Guild of Our Own, the stall owner will not recognize the player having stolen from them and will then buy most stolen goods back from the player without the 20 minute wait.
In order to avoid guards from attacking while stealing from stalls, a convenient method is to allow the guard to attack, then enter the nearest building, then take one step outside and close the door, thus effectively trapping the guard.
Thievable stalls
- Note: In Keldagrim, stalls often differ in respawn time and their experience given. The gem and silver stalls respawn twice as fast, but yield half the experience. The bakery stall, however, respawns twice as slow, but gives twice the experience.
Chests
There are chests scattered throughout RuneScape, and some of them have traps. To disarm them using the Thieving skill, right-click on the chest and select "Search for traps Chest" to allow for disarmament of traps and obtaining the items inside.
After a player thieves from a chest, there is a slight respawn time. Some chests such as the Nature-rune chest change colour to indicate whether it can be looted again.
Thievable chests
Chest Level Exp. Items Location Respawn Time E.P.S. 10-coin chest 13 7 10 coins Ardougne, Rellekka, Rogue's Den 7 seconds 1 Ogre coffin 20 27 Various, see article Jiggig 20 seconds 1.35 Nature-rune chest 28 25 3 coins, Nature runes Ardougne, Rellekka 12 seconds 3.1 50-coin chest 43 125 50 coins Ardougne, Axe hut 55 seconds 2.3 Pirates' Hideout 39 ? Small amounts of coins, runes Pirates' Hideout 15 seconds 0.5 Arrowtip chest 47 150 5 Steel arrowtips Hemenster, Rellekka 210 seconds 0.7 Dorgesh-Kaan (Average chests) 52 200 See Dorgesh-Kaan Average Chest Dorgesh-Kaan 210 seconds 1 Blood rune chest 59 250 500 coins, 2 Blood runes Chaos Druid Tower 210 seconds 1.9 Paladin chests (2) 72 500 1,000 coins, Raw sharks, Adamant ores, uncut sapphire Ardougne Palace, behind locked doors on north and south wings of second level. After looting "Suddenly a second magic trap triggers," sending you to Witchaven (Unless wielding Ardougne Cloak 3, then you are sent to the north-most bank in Ardougne.). 400 seconds 1.25 Dorgesh-Kaan (Rich chests) 78 650 500-2,500 coins, uncut sapphire, uncut ruby, uncut diamond, uncut opal, uncut jade, uncut red topaz, bullseye lantern, Mining helmet, Frog-leather armour, iron bar, Light orb, Empty light orb, Charms (all types) Dorgesh-Kaan 400 seconds 1.6
- Because the Dorgesh-Kaan Rich Chest takes so long to respawn, some players will find a house containing two of these chests and loot them. Then they will switch worlds and repeat the process, giving 1,300 experience per world visited. This is a low risk and simple way to get experience, but other methods like Pyramid Plunder give faster experience.
Doors
Certain doors in RuneScape 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. Location Lockpick? Cell in Port Sarim Jail - - Port Sarim No Door to 10-coin chest 1 3.5 East Ardougne No Door to Nature rune chest 14 15 East Ardougne No Ardougne house door 14 15 East Ardougne No H.A.M. trapdoor 15 4 East of Draynor No Axe hut door 32 25 Level 54 Wilderness Yes Ardougne sewer gate 32 25 Ardougne sewers No Pirates' Hideout 39 35 Level 54 Wilderness No Chaos druid tower 46 37.5 North of Ardougne No Paladin door 61 50 Ardougne Castle No Yanille dungeon door 82 50 Yanille Yes
Blackjacking
Other
Name Level Exp. Location Possible Loot Stun Time (seconds) Stun Damage Candle table 20 20 Entrana church Candle 1 10 - A higher power smites you. Wire machine 44 22 Dorgesh-Kaan Cave goblin wire 5 50 Wall Safe 25 70 Rogues Den 10, 20, 30, 40 coins, Uncut gems (Sapphire through Ruby ) 1 10 - 60
Agility benefits
As of the 19 January 2010 update, adventurers with high Agility and Thieving levels now stand a chance of pickpocketing double, triple or even quadruple the usual amount of loot from unsuspecting targets. When this happens, an animation with the player rapidly alternating his hands while pickpocketing the victim will be shown. A grab will be made for each bonus looting one does, and the hands will get a "sparkle" applied to them. Additional experience is NOT gained acquiring these random influxes of loot, only the standard amount of experience for a single pickpocket.
Temporary boosts
- A Bandit's brew, purchased at the desert bandit camp for 650 coins, will boost thieving by 1 level.
- A yellow spicy stew has the potential to raise or lower the thieving level by up to 6 levels.
- The summer sq'irk juice from the Sorceress's Garden activity raises Thieving by 3 levels.
- The Thieving Fingers special move of a magpie will boost thieving by 2 (requires Summoning level 47).
- Gloves of silence improve the success rate of pickpocketing. Gloves of silence are automatically destroyed after a player is caught 62 times while pickpocketing with them. However, they can be repaired by using dark kebbit fur on them with a needle, thread, and knife in the inventory. (A Hunter level of 54 is needed to wear and a Crafting level of 64 is required to accomplish this.)
- The Abyssal Stealth special move of an Abyssal lurker will boost both thieving and Agility by 4 levels (requires Summoning level 62).
- Operating or equipping the Thieving cape will boost one's thieving level by 1, from 99 to 100.
- The Ardougne cloak 1 reduces your chance of being caught when stealing from the stalls in Ardougne market.
- The Ardougne cloak 2 gives you a better chance of pickpocketing in Ardougne in addition to the bonus from the Ardougne cloak 1.
- The Ardougne cloak 3 gives you a better chance of stealing and pickpocketing anything in RuneScape.
Random events (Discontinued)
There are two different random events that are specific to thieving, with one of them being a discontinued event.
- Poison Gas - At one point in time, it was possible to activate a poison gas trap upon opening a chest. To avoid this, players would have to merely exit the room.
- Pillory - It is possible that your character will be teleported to a pillory in Yanille, Varrock or Seer's Village, where shapes must be matched in order to pick the lock and return to where your character was thieving. However, players can get it even when they are not thieving. It is possible for players to throw rotten tomatoes at the trapped player, although it won't do any damage. The rotten tomatoes can be bought for 1gp each and can't be bought while you are currently in the cage.
- This replaced the Watchman, who would attack players who were thieving when the event occurred. He had the same level as all other hostile random events. He was replaced due to complaints that he would kill the player too quickly, as many would not wear armour while pickpocketing.
Thieving minigames
There are a number of minigames that are based on, or include Thieving:
- Pyramid Plunder - the desert city Sophanem has a pyramid where you can thieve for artefacts, including the Pharaoh's sceptre. 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 (see bottom of page).
- Flash Powder Factory - This is a minigame that replaced the old Rogues' Den minigame. The aim of the game is to make flash powder. This can be obtained by mixing reagents from the reagent machines A and B, marked with blue and orange arrows on the minimap respectively. To navigate the map, players must pass agility obstacles that separate each room. Players are rewarded with points which can be used to buy Agility and Thieving experience or pieces of the factory outfit from Brian O'Richard.
- Sorceress's Garden - An interesting minigame where you dodge guards and try to get fruits to make sq'irk juice. Requires patience, pestle and mortar, beer glasses, a bit of skill, and experience, but yields excellent experience, with moderate Farming experience also gained. Has four levels each giving increased experience at levels 1, 25, 45, and 65. Empty beer glasses can be obtained for free at the shelves at the Sorceress's house. Also, a possible alternative source of Herb collecting. (Note: Completion of the Prince Ali Rescue quest is needed to play.)
- Stealing Creation - A combat and skilling minigame where you try to produce more sacred clay items than the other team. In the game, you may pickpocket others to gain items from their inventory.
Strange rock
Although the examine text of the Thieving strange rock says "borrowed from a pocket" you can obtain it by picking pockets, stealing from stalls, and stealing from chests. They are used to construct the Dahmaroc statue in the Shattered Heart Distraction and Diversion.
Thieves' Guild
The Thieves' Guild is found under a trapdoor north of Lumbridge. Available after completing Buyers and Cellars, players could additionally do capers to expand the guild. There are coshing volunteers and an advanced pickpocketing trainer (despite the title) available for blackjacking (a rubber blackjack, bought from Dodgy Derek's Dirty Deals in the guild, is required) and pickpocketing volunteers and a pickpocketing trainer for pickpocketing, as well as wall safes, locked doors and chests.
All thieving done inside the guild would not yield any material gain. Players instead gain hanky points that could be traded in for more experience. Negligible damage is done when failing to pickpocket or knock out NPCs, and the trap under wall safes consists of rubber spikes.
Trivia
- The door in Port Sarim's jail can be picked from the inside. The door is available to all players. Any player can pick the door by talking to Shantay. This is done by telling him you are an outlaw. Shantay will send you to his jail, and when the player refuses to pay the fee to leave the jail he/she will be sent to Port Sarim jail.
- When you get a level-up on Thieving under level 50, the music sounds like a part of the Mission Impossible theme.
- When you complete While Guthix Sleeps, and you use one of your 100k xp on thieving you get the message: "You feel your respect for others' property slipping away." The same message appears when you receive Thieving experience from the Tears of Guthix D&D.
- If you get stunned while pickpocketing, even if your character isn't wielding a shield, your character does the defending animation as if the character was equipping a shield.
- A player with 95 Thieving, wearing gloves of silence and an Ardougne cloak 3, will never fail to pickpocket certain NPC's such as Master Farmers and Knights of Ardougne.
- If a player attacks an NPC, quickly pickpockets them and fail, the NPC will do stun and damage as usual but becomes non-aggressive.
- Since thievable NPCs perform their attack animations when they stun a player after catching them stealing, gnomes with bows stun players by firing an arrow at them.
See also
- Quest experience rewards - Thieving
- Hiscores
- Milestones
- Thieves' Guild
- Thieving training, a guide to training Thieving
- Thieving/Level up table
- Thieving Calculators
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