Hitpoints
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| Hitpoints | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Released | 4 January 2001 (Update) | |||
| Also called | HP, health | |||
| Members | No | |||
| Type | Combat | |||
| Statistics | ||||
| Players with 99 |
741,989 as of 1 August 2026 - update | |||
| Players with 200M XP |
2623 as of 4 August 2026 - update | |||
Hitpoints (also known as "health" or "HP") represent a player's health. If they reach zero, the player will die. Hitpoints is the only skill for which players start with any experience initially - with 1,154 experience points, placing them at exactly level 10 on Tutorial Island.
| Hitpoints Level Up! (2-49) | |
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The music that plays when achieving levels 11-49.
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| Hitpoints Level Up! (50-99) | |
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The music that plays when achieving levels 50-99.
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Types of damage
Players can experience damage to their hitpoints through:
Fighting
While fighting, both the player and their opponent have a bar over them. This bar represents their Hitpoints.
There are two colours on the bar; green and red. The green part of the bar represents how many Hitpoints a character has left and the red part represents how many Hitpoints they are missing, i.e. the net damage they have suffered. So if a player is low on Hitpoints, then the bar over them would be mostly red, meaning they are near death. Players often refer to "being redbarred" when barely surviving or only just getting a kill for this reason.
Death
When a player's Hitpoints reach zero, they die. Managing hitpoints to avoid this outcome is a crucial skill in Old School RuneScape.
The penalties and losses from dying depend on where the player was located and what kind of combat they were engaged in. Players should familiarize themselves with the Death page if they wish to learn more about what happens after hitpoints are depleted.
Recovering Hitpoints
A player can heal to restore their Hitpoints up to, or occasionally above, their maximum in several ways.
Regeneration
Players regenerate 1 Hitpoint per minute. This can be boosted with the following effects:
- The Rapid Heal Prayer or the Hitpoints cape double the regeneration rate, healing an additional 1 Hitpoint per minute. These effects do not stack with each other.
- The Regen bracelet also doubles the regeneration rate. This can stack with either of the above effects, resulting in a regeneration rate of 4 Hitpoints per minute.
- The Lunar spell Dream will incapacitate the player, ending only once the caster reaches full health, and increase the regeneration rate to 3 Hitpoints per minute.
Restoration
- Food is the most common and reliable method of restoring Hitpoints. Food can restore large amounts of Hitpoints quickly and cheaply.
- Because of how important food is, unlocking access to stronger tiers of food is often considered a significant milestone.
- Saradomin brews can restore more Hitpoints per inventory slot than food, but have unique drawbacks to be considered. They are often used when inventory space or sustainability is a concern.
Situational
- The monks at the Edgeville Monastery will heal players when asked. They heal 2 + 20% of the player's current Hitpoints, except Abbot Langley, which heals 4 + 12% of the player's current Hitpoints.
- Two Neltas and the Cuali located at the church south of the Varlamore bazaar will heal 20% of the player's current Hitpoints.
- Litlihui, Teoki of Ralos located directly next to Fairy ring (AIS) in Auburn Valley. Heals 2 + 20% of the player's current Hitpoints.
- The nurses at the Emir's Arena hospital will heal players when asked. They heal 2 + 20% of the player's current Hitpoints.
- The Elidinis Statuette in Nardah fully restores a player's Prayer points, completely heals them, restores their run energy and special attack energy, cures poison, and gives a temporary Hitpoints boost depending on the player's Hitpoints level. Players who have completed the Elite Desert Diary can take advantage of the desert amulet 4, which provides unlimited Nardah teleports and teleports the player close to the statue. It is also directly south of a Fairy ring (DLQ). This statue can only be used after Spirits of the Elid is complete.
- Drinking from an ornate rejuvenation pool in a player-owned house or a pool of refreshment at the Ferox Enclave restores all of a player's Hitpoints.
- Entering the Free-for-all portal in the Ferox Enclave and then exiting will restore all of the player's Hitpoints and drained stats.
- Entering the Gauntlet or Corrupted Gauntlet in Prifddinas and then exiting will restore all of the player's Hitpoints and drained stats.
- Before starting Fairytale I, Fairy Nuff will offer to heal some of the player's hitpoints in exchange for cut gems
Items
- Phoenix necklaces automatically restore the wearer's Hitpoints by 30% of their maximum if their Hitpoints drop below 20% of their maximum.
- Ring of life while not strictly a recovery, can prevent accidental deaths by automatically teleporting the player safely back to their respawn point if they take a hit which causes them to fall to or below 10% of their maximum Hitpoints; as long as that hit does not kill them outright.
Healing from others
- Heal Other is a Lunar spell which transfers up to 75% of the caster's current Hitpoints to the targeted player.
- Heal Group is a Lunar spell which reduces the caster's current Hitpoints by 75% and heals up to five injured players.
- The Snowy knight butterfly restores another player's Hitpoints by 15.
Life Leech
The following methods can provide a percentage of damage dealt as Hitpoints restoration, commonly referred to as life leech.
Life leech can occur actively through some special attacks or more passively through chance on-hit effects.
| Item | Name | Type | Leech % | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guthan's warspear | Passive | 25% | Equipping a full Guthan's set grants a 25% chance to heal for 100% of damage dealt. Additionally, with an amulet of the damned equipped, the leech effect allows for over-healing Hitpoints up to 10 above the current maximum. | |
| Guthan's helm | ||||
| Guthan's platebody | ||||
| Guthan's chainskirt | ||||
| Blood Rush | Passive | 25% | Blood spells heal for 25% of damage dealt. An ancient sceptre increases this by 2.5%. Each piece of Bloodbark armour increases it by 2% for a total of 10% with a full set. A blood ancient sceptre allows for over-healing Hitpoints up to 10% above the current maximum. | |
| Blood Burst | ||||
| Blood Blitz | ||||
| Blood Barrage | ||||
| Sanguinesti staff | Passive | 8.33% | The built in spell has a 1/5 (~20%) chance to heal for 50% of damage dealt. | |
| Amulet of blood fury | Passive | 6% | Melee attacks while wearing this amulet have a 20% chance to heal for 30% of the damage dealt. | |
| Onyx bolts (e) | Passive | 2.75% | Hits with these bolts have a 11% chance (12.1% with completion of the Hard Kandarin Diary) to heal for 25% of damage dealt. | |
| Onyx dragon bolts (e) | ||||
| Toxic blowpipe | Special | 50% | Heals for 50% of damage dealt. | |
| Saradomin godsword | Special | 50% | Heals for 50% of damage dealt, always restoring a minimum of 10 Hitpoints. (Also restores 25% of damage as prayer points) | |
| Ancient godsword | Special | 100% | Marks a target. If the target fails to move far enough away within 8 ticks (4.8 seconds) then 25 damage is dealt, and the player is healed for 15% of the target's hitpoints level, up to a cap. |
Overhealing
Temporary hitpoints boosts can be obtained through several means, but none provide a permanent boost to hitpoints. Boosted hitpoints levels above a player's maximum Hitpoints level decay at a rate of one per minute, identically to other temporary boosts. This timer can be restarted through activating the Rapid Heal prayer or through logging out, allowing a player to remain at a boosted Hitpoints level for longer.
Losing Hitpoints
Self-inflicted damage
Players can damage themselves with some interactions with the following items. Non-lethal items cannot kill the player under normal circumstances. When using a non-lethal item which damage would result in taking lethal damage, either no damage will be dealt or the item cannot be used. However, lethal items can still be used to take lethal damage. Damage from non-lethal items may still result in death if it is taken at the same time as damage from another source. One example would be guzzling a dwarven rock cake or feeling a locator orb, both to inflict more than 50+ damage whilst drinking a dose of an overload potion. Using this mechanic may be beneficial for using the maximum set effect of wearing all pieces of Dharok's armour set during Nightmare Zone.
Non-lethal
- Cave nightshade
- Chemical compound
- Divine potions
- Dwarven rock cake
- Explosive potion (Soul wars) (Song of the Elves)
- Ground bat bones combined with guam potion (unf)
- Limestone (when smelted without appropriate gloves)
- Locator orb
- Mixed chemicals
- Nitroglycerin
- Overload (all variants)
- Poison chalice
- Poison karambwan
- Quicklime (when ground with a pestle and mortar without an empty pot)
- Rock cake
- Scorching bow (when attempting to create without 74 fletching)
- Toxic powder and naphtha
- Zamorak brew
Lethal
Scenery
Interacting with various scenery objects can damage or kill the player.
- Picking nettles without wearing gloves
- Picking up a Kharid Scorpion without the scorpion cage
- Triggering various Thieving traps
- Failing Agility shortcuts/obstacles
- Taking from a rat trap
- Taking from a beehive without protective equipment
Environment
Players can experience passive damage over time (and eventually die) through the environment at either the Kharidian Desert, or inside greater fog whilst participating in Last Man Standing.
Kharidian Desert
Players who are in the Kharidian Desert will experience Desert heat, except for those who have completed the Elite Desert Diary and are wearing their Desert amulet 4. Players will need to bring Waterskin and wear desert-friendly clothing to prevent the player from taking up to 10 damage every 30-90 seconds (depending on the type of armour worn).
Last Man Standing
Players who participate in Last Man Standing will encounter fog markers; this will drive all of the remaining players into the middle of the minigame. If players are less than 16 tiles into the fog, they will take 1-3 damage every other tick, ramping up over 6 ticks. Players 16 or more tiles into the fog will be subject to greater fog, which can deal up to 10 damage every other tick. To prevent this, it is important to strategise by moving to a place that provides cover and concealment from both the fog and other players.
Other
Earning experience
To earn experience in Hitpoints, a player has to fight, complete quests which reward Hitpoints experience, or rub experience lamps.
When fighting, be it Melee, Ranged, or Magic, a player will earn Hitpoints experience whenever damage is dealt. By default, for every point of damage dealt, 1.33 experience points are given to the player's Hitpoints. However, certain monsters may yield either increased or greatly reduced experience due to e.g. their ability to regenerate.
Temporary boosts
| Boost | Level increase |
Visibility | Other info | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hitpoints cape | 1 | Visible | When the Hitpoints cape is equipped, the player's natural Hitpoints regeneration rate is doubled to 2 Hitpoints per minute instead of the natural rate of 1 Hitpoint per minute. | |
| Bloody bracer | 2 | Visible | ||
| Guthix rest | 5 | Visible | Also restores 5% of run energy and reduces venom to poison or reduces poison damage by 1. | |
| Elidinis Statuette | 7 | Visible | Requires completion of Spirits of the Elid. Any lost Hitpoints are restored prior to the boost. Fully restores prayer points and special attack. | |
| Haddock | 2-10 | Visible | Can boost Hitpoints above the base level by floor(min(StaticLevel * 0.2, 10)) Does not overheal if the player is in combat in a PvP area. | |
| Amulet of the damned | 10 | Visible | When wearing the amulet with the Guthan's set, the player is able to heal for up to 10 points above their maximum health. | |
| Armadyl brew | 2-11 | Visible | Hitpoints can rise above base level with this boost. | |
| Abidor Crank | 15 | Visible | Only found in the Temple Trekking minigame. | |
| Saradomin brew | 3-16 | Visible | Hitpoints can rise above base level with this boost. | |
| Nectar | 4-17 | Visible | Only usable within the Tombs of Amascut | |
| Smouldering pile of flesh | ?-18 | Visible | Hitpoints can rise above base level with this boost. This stat boost scales at an unknown rate with level and the listed one is the boost received at level 99. | |
| Honey locust | 20 | Visible | Only usable within the Tombs of Amascut | |
| Anglerfish | 3-22 | Visible | For details see Anglerfish. Does not overheal if the player is in combat in a PvP area. | |
| Ambrosia | 4-26 | Visible | Any lost Hitpoints or prayer points are fully restored prior to the boosts. Only usable within the Tombs of Amascut | |
Quests
Quests requiring Hitpoints
| Quest | Hitpoints requirement |
Other skill requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Dragon Slayer II |
Quests rewarding Hitpoints experience
| Quest | Experience reward |
Hitpoints requirement |
Other requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Soul's Bane | 500 | - | - |
| In Search of the Myreque | 600 | - | |
| Nature Spirit | 2,000 | - | |
| The Fremennik Trials | 2,812 | - | |
| Heroes' Quest | 3,075 | - | |
| Recipe for Disaster/Freeing Sir Amik Varze | 4,000 | - | |
| Grim Tales | 5,000 | - | |
| Royal Trouble | 5,000 | - | |
| Witch's House | 6,325 | - | - |
| Dream Mentor | 15,000 | - | |
| Camelot training room (minigame) |
20,000 | - | |
| Mourning's End Part I | 25,000 | - | |
| Total | 89,312 | ||
In addition, there is a chance that the Observatory Quest may award 875 Hitpoints experience.
Diaries requiring Hitpoints
| Diary | Hitpoints requirement |
Other requirements for tasks requiring hitpoints |
|---|---|---|
| Fremennik Elite Diary | ||
| Western Provinces Elite Diary |
Skill choice
Upon completing any of the following quests, players may choose to allocate experience to Hitpoints. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| X Marks the Spot | 300 | Any | None |
| Client of Kourend | 500 twice | Any | None |
| The Ides of Milk | 1,000 | None | |
| Fairytale II - Cure a Queen | 2,500 | Any skill above 30 | |
| The Great Brain Robbery | 5,000 | Any skill above 30 | |
| King's Ransom | 5,000 | Any skill above 50 | |
| A Tail of Two Cats | 2,500 twice | Any skill above 30 | None |
| Darkness of Hallowvale | 2,000 three times | Any skill above 30 | |
| A Taste of Hope | 2,500 three times | Any skill above 35 | |
| Curse of the Empty Lord (miniquest) | 10,000 | Any skill above 50 | Some players will need |
| In Search of Knowledge (miniquest) | 10,000 | Any skill above 40 | None |
| Shadow of the Storm | 10,000 | ||
| Contact! | 7,000 twice | None | |
| Dream Mentor | 15,000 | ||
| The Fremennik Isles | 10,000 twice | ||
| A Kingdom Divided | 10,000 twice | Any skill above 40 | |
| One Small Favour | 10,000 twice | Any skill above 30 | |
| Recipe for Disaster (The final battle) | 20,000 | Any skill above 50 | |
| Into the Tombs (miniquest) | 50,000 | ||
| The Final Dawn | 55,000 | ||
| A Night at the Theatre | 20,000 four times[sc 1] | ||
| Sins of the Father | 15,000 six times | Any skill above 60 | |
| Dragon Slayer II | 25,000 four times | ||
| Monkey Madness II | 50,000 twice | ||
| Monkey Madness I | 35,000 & 20,000[sc 2] | None | |
| Legends' Quest | 30,000 four times | ||
| The Blood Moon Rises | 30,000 six times | Any skill above 70 | |
| Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire | 100,000 three times | ||
| Total | 1,282,300 | ||
Level up messages
Changes
| Date | Changes |
|---|---|
| 2 June 2016 (Update) |
Corrected the capitalization in the hitpoints skill guide. |
| 15 December 2015 (Update) |
|
| 10 December 2015 (Update) |
The Hitpoints skill guide now includes a list of food and how many Hitpoints each type of food heals. |
| 15 January 2015 (Update) |
The Hitpoints skill guide now mentions venom. |
| 17 December 2013 (Update) |
The health-bars that appear during combat should now always show at least one pixel of green whenever the player or NPC has some health left; you should no longer see a completely red health-bar until their health reaches zero. |
Trivia
- In RuneScape Classic, all players started with level ten Hits and 1,000 experience - slightly fewer experience than would be required for level ten in all other skills. When RuneScape 2 was released, accounts that had not gained the Hits experience needed to reach level ten or higher had their Hitpoints stat "corrected" to level nine. The only way to have level nine Hitpoints was to have created an account prior to the release of RuneScape 2 and not to have trained the Hitpoints skill since. The minimum combat level is still three for those players. However, since all accounts in Old School RuneScape start fresh, no player in Old School has nine Hitpoints.
- Also in Classic, botters and rulebreakers were punished by having all their stats reset to one, resulting in a Hits level of one. This created level one accounts, which still exist in RuneScape today.
See also
- Hitpoints/Experience table, a list of all Hitpoints experience sources
- Hitpoints/Level up table, a list of all requirements and unlockables within the Hitpoints skill
| Combat | |
|---|---|
| Gathering | |
| Production | |
| Utility | |
| Proposed skills | |
| Related | |