Experience

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Experience, commonly abbreviated as Exp or XP, is a measure of progress in a certain skill. It is generally obtained by performing tasks related to that skill. After gaining a certain amount of experience, players will advance to the next level in that skill, which can result in new abilities, items, and other achievements. You can earn XP (experience) by training skills, completing quests, doing activities such as Penguin Hide and Seek, Mage Training Arena, and other Minigames and activities. The minimum XP needed to max (99 in all skills) is 325,860,775 or    417,099,511 with 120 Dungeoneering.

Gaining Experience
Experience in a skill is obtained by performing a task related to that skill. Experience can also be gained by performing a task unrelated to the skill, such as completing a quest, participating in a random event, or playing an activity or miniquest.


 * When a player successfully cooks a piece of food, they gain pre-determined amounts of Cooking experience. (E.g. if a player cooks a lobster, rather than burning it, the player gains 120 Cooking experience.)
 * When a player rubs a lamp from a random event gift, the player gains experience equal to the level of the skill they select times 10. (E.g. a player's Woodcutting level is 50; they rub the lamp, choose Woodcutting, and receive 500 Woodcutting experience.)
 * When a player reads the Book of knowledge from the Surprise Exam random event, they receive to their chosen skill their current level times 15. (E.g. if a player's Attack level is 50, they would receive 750 experience from reading the book if they chose Attack.)

Players who help others using the Assist System can earn a maximum of 30,000 total experience every 24 hours, although the experience may be shared among many skills. Some skills cannot be shared through the Assist System (namely gathering and combat skills, such as Attack and Mining).

Players can continue receiving experience after level 99 in a skill : up to a maximum of 200 million experience. Once a player reaches this limit, they can continue using the skill but receive no additional experience. The maximum total experience is possibly 5 billion (5,000,000,000) when a player has 200 million experience in all 25 skills.

Until the Skills Interface update (on 12 November 2007), players with a level 99 skill could view the experience it would take them to earn level 100. However, even when "level 100" was "reached", the actual level remained at 99.

The experience gain rates one may obtain varies very much between skills. For example, with 99 agility it is difficult to get much over 70k agility experience per hour without brawling gloves, while making summoning pouches can give over 800k summoning experience per hour.

Exponential Growth
The amount of experience needed for the next level increases by approximately 10% each level. In fact, as a player's level increases, the growth factor rapidly approaches $$2^{1/7}$$, or approximately 1.10409 (which is an increase of 10.409%). Note that a 10.409% growth factor may seem slow, but, as with all exponential growth, it expands rapidly to a massive 13,034,431 for level 99, and then to 104,273,163 experience needed for level 120. This growth factor results in the experience required for a given level being approximately double the experience of 7 levels before.

The varying amount of experience needed to get from one level to another can cause some surprising experience rates to get from one level to another. For example, getting from level 98 to 99 requires approximately the same experience from level 1 to level 75. However, it is worth noting that higher level activities in many cases award more experience than lower level ones, so getting from level 98 to 99 will likely not take as long as getting from level 1 to 75. However, the experience per hour rates still usually increase linearly when moving to a faster training method.

In general, if the difference between two levels is x, then the experience at the higher level will be approximately $$2^{x/7}$$ times the experience at the lower level. In particular, the experience doubles every 7 levels, almost triples every 11 levels, quadruples every 14 levels, and increases almost 10-fold every 23 levels.

Setting Targets


It is possible to set an individual level target for each level. You can set a level target or a target experience for each level individually. Setting two different targets for two different skills will not affect either of the levels.

Attack, Strength, Defence, Ranged
This information is now obsolete due to the EoC update. To calculate the experience gain for combat skills above, a simple equation can be used:
 * Experience earned $$ = \frac {d} {2.5} $$
 * where d = damage dealt to an opponent

The resulting experience for this equation, as well as for constitution and the damage section of the magic experience formula, is then multiplied by a number unique to each monster (which is usually 1, in which case the formulas can be used as is), which is why some monsters give different amounts of experience. For example, monsters in random events have an experience multiplier of 0, and thus yield no combat experience. On the other hand, some bosses have a multiplier of greater than 1, with Nex giving double the usual amount of combat experience.

Magic
To calculate the experience gain for the casting combat spells in Magic, another simple equation can be used:
 * Experience earned $$ = b\times n+\frac {d} {5} $$
 * where b = base experience of the combat spell cast
 * and n = number of spells cast
 * and d = damage dealt to an opponent in casting spells

For curses and other spells not dealing any damage, treat d as 0.

Constitution
To calculate the experience gain for Constitution, the following simple equation can be used:
 * Experience earned $$ = \frac {d} {7.5} $$
 * where d = damage dealt to an opponent

Monster Experience
An upper bound to the number of monsters required to level up a combat skill can be calculated as follows:

$$Number\;of\;monsters = \frac {Experience\;needed} {Experience\;per\;monster}$$

This formula also assumes that you were the first to deal damage to the monster.

Equations
The equation below calculates exactly the minimum experience needed for a given level:


 * Experience Required $$ = \left \lfloor \frac{1}{4}\displaystyle\sum_{n = 1}^{L-1} \left\lfloor n + 300 \times 2^{n/7} \right\rfloor \right\rfloor $$, where $$L = \text{current skill level}$$
 * Note that $$\lfloor x\rfloor$$ means the greatest integer less than or equal to $$x$$.

The above equation can be approximated with minimal rounding error as:


 * Approximate Experience Required $$ = \sum_{n = 1} ^ {L - 1} \left( \frac {n} {4} + 75 \times 2 ^ {n/7} \right)=\frac{L(L-1)}{8}+75\cdot \left(\frac{2^{\frac{L}{7}}-2^{\frac{1}{7}}}{2^{\frac{1}{7}}-1} \right) $$, where $$L= \text{skill level}$$

This approximation can then be used to find the maximum additional experience required to level up:


 * Additional Experience Required to Level Up $$ = \frac {L} {4} + 75 \times 2 ^ {L/7} $$, where $$L = \text{current level}$$

Note: After about level 40 the experience increase from one level to the next is a nearly constant 10.5% of that level's starting experience. This means that doubling your experience after reaching a given level will result in rising almost exactly seven levels (for levels between ~35 and 120). Lower levels have higher XP percentages to level up; for example, it's about 12.5% of level 20's XP  to reach level 21. Conversely, higher levels are assymtotic at ~10.41%.

Example
You want to find the experience that it would take to level up from 28 Strength to 29 Strength:


 * Additional Experience Required to Level Up $$ = \frac { \left( 28 \right) } {4} + 75 \times 2 ^ { \left( 28 \right) /7} = 7 + 75 \times 2 ^ {4} = 7 + 75 \times 16 = 1207 $$

So it would take at most 1207 experience points to get from level 28 to level 29.

The following equation can be used for quickly approximating experience needed for a level:


 * Approximate Experience Required $$ = 75 \times \frac {q^L-q} {q-1} $$, where $$L = \text{skill level } \text{ and } q = \sqrt[7]{2} \approx 1.104089 $$.

The following equation can be used for quickly approximating the level of any experience value:
 * Approximate Level $$ =\left \lfloor { 7 \times \log_2 {\left(\frac {q-1} {75} \times E + 1\right) }} \right \rfloor $$, where $$E = \text{current experience} \text{ and } q = \sqrt[7]{2} \approx 1.104089 $$

Table
The following table shows the relationship between level, the experience required for that level, and the experience difference from the previous level:

Levels 100-120
On 12 April 2010, Jagex added the Dungeoneering skill, which has a maximum level of 120, rather than the maximum for previous skills, which is 99.

Levels 121-126
Although one cannot level up higher than level 120, the remaining levels up to 200 million experience can be calculated otherwise.

Graph


For higher levels, to raise 23 levels, about 10 times the original experience is needed.

Also, 200,000,000 experience would put the level at approximately 56.535% between level 126 and level 127 in any skill.

Gaining experience summary
While the main method of gaining XP is practice in the skill (including combat) substantial amounts of XP are available from other sources.

One off

 * Quests and related one off events award a total of XP
 * Tasks offer a total of XP and 200,000 XP for the Ardougne elite tasks alone.
 * Opening the balloon system up gives 8,000 firemaking XP
 * Chompy champion gives 30,000 Ranged XP
 * Resource dungeons give 86,600 Dungeoneering XP after entering them all at least once

Daily events

 * The Jack of Trades Aura give the player an xp reward book if they can gain xp in any 10 skills within 3 hours. It can be used every 24 hours.

Distractions and Diversions

 * The maximum experience you can gain from the circus per week is 105,967 (around 17,710 Ranged, 25,006 Magic, 10,531 Agility, 2x 19,230 Firemaking and 14,260 Thieving experience).
 * From Shattered Heart up to 9,703 per non-combat skill per week for an absolute maximum of 0 XP per week, and 0 XP over the time to build a full statue.
 * From Tears of Guthix the maximum seen was about 60,000 per seven days, based on the previous highest amount seen and the capacity of the Ornate bowl.
 * From Penguin Points points x 25 x skill level per week (maximum 57,000xp for finding all penguins and using the points on level 120 dungeoneering). (You can gain more penguin points per week upon the completion of the Cold War quest, The Hunt for Red Raktuber and Some Like it Cold.)
 * From the Troll Invasion distraction and diversion.
 * Hanky Points in the Thieves' Guild gives weekly Thieving xp

Boosts

 * Various sacred clay and other degradable items will give experience boosts, generally they require more time to earn than is saved, but might make financial sense.
 * A Penance Horn from Barbarian Assault can be charged by playing and used to get double experience in either Agility, Firemaking or Mining.
 * Smelting gold bars with the goldsmithing gauntlets gives 33.7 extra Smithing experience per bar, for a total of 56.2 experience.
 * Up to 5% extra Woodcutting experience can be earned by wearing the lumberjack clothing.
 * Up to 5% extra Mining experience can be earned by wearing the golden mining suit.
 * Up to 5% extra Thieving experience can be earned by wearing the Black Ibis outfit.
 * Up to 5% extra Construction experience can be earned by wearing the constructor's outfit.
 * Up to 5% extra Fishing experience can be earned by wearing the Fishing outfit.
 * Up to 5% (or 700xp per action) extra Runecrafting experience can be earned by wearing the master runecrafter robes.
 * Extra Firemaking experience can be earned by wearing the flame gloves and ring of fire. If you wear one of them on its own, you get 2% extra xp, but if you wear both of them together, you get 5% extra xp instead of the expected 4%.
 * Using Firelighters from clue scrolls will grant an extra 10 experience per log. They can only be used with normal logs.
 * With a Pyrelord or Forge Regent summoned, lighting logs grants 10 additional Firemaking experience. However, this bonus does not apply to bonfires.
 * Runecrafting gloves obtained from Fist of Guthix provide double experience when crafting air runes, water runes or earth runes.
 * Swordfish gloves provide 100 extra experience when fishing swordfish.
 * Shark gloves provide 100 extra experience when fishing shark.
 * Dragon slayer gloves provide 15% extra Slayer experience when killing a dragon on a Slayer task.
 * Wearing a Seer's headband 2, 3, or 4 gives 10 extra experience per log when chopping maple trees.
 * Saradomin's blessing, Guthix's gift, and Zamorak's favour provide 10% experience boosts to Farming, Herblore, and Hunter, respectively, when participating in the Herblore Habitat.
 * Urns provide bonus experience while training Cooking, Fishing, Mining, Prayer, Smithing, and Woodcutting.
 * The Harmony, Salvation, and Corruption series of Auras boost the experience a player gains in Prayer for as long as the aura is active. The percent of experience gained depends on the level of the aura.
 * The Wisdom aura boosts all experience earned by 2.5%.
 * Wielding a Dwarven Army Axe will grant a small amount of additional experience in various skills after completing Troll Warzone.
 * Cooking food on a Bonfire grants 10% additional Cooking experience, while burning logs on a Bonfire will grant additional experience based on Firemaking level and other players burning with you.

Special events

 * Bonus XP weekend was active during the following dates:
 * 12 March to 15 March 2010
 * 3 September to 6 September 2010
 * 11 March to 13 March 2011
 * 9 September to 12 September 2011
 * 16 March to 19 March 2012
 * 27 October to 29 October 2012
 * The Hati paws, available for a limited time in the beginning of 2011, 2012 and 2013, give additional combat experience to the wearer.
 * On 25 October 2011 an event was held in celebration of the release of Clusterflutter which gave players triple Slayer experience.
 * From 12 November to 14 November 2011, double Dungeoneering experience and tokens were awarded "to celebrate [the] continued success in the war against bots."
 * On 31 August 2012, 350,000 xp was given to players who had been a member all month.
 * On 30 September 2012, 700,000 xp was given to players who had been a member all month, and all the previous month. The combined award of 1.05 million XP would get a new character to around level 41 in all skills, but is not enough to go from level 98 to 99 in one skill.
 * On 15 December to 16 December 2012, double dungeoneering experience were awarded during one of the Winter Weekends.

Trivia

 * If levels were capped at the point where 2,147,483,647 experience was reached in that skill, you could get up to level 150, needing ~2,034 million experience, at which point you would be ~54% of the way to level 151 (from 150), which you would need ~2,245 million experience to acquire. The current maximum experience per skill (200,000,000) would allow a maximum skill level of 126.
 * Experience is capped at 200,000,000 because experience is handled with an invisible tenths place, which means the real experience would look like 200,000,000.0 and is stored as 2,000,000,000 (2 billion). Since the max a 32 Bit integer can hold is 2.14 billion, it was cleaner to round it down to 2 billion (shown as 200m after the invisible decimal place) for the cap. However if an unsigned integer were used the amount could double.
 * The equation for the maximum integer size in RuneScape is 2³¹ - 1, which equals 2,147,483,647. Because Runescape uses 32 Bit (java standard integer) integers at the moment, if RuneScape was to switch to 64 bit integers (java long) the maximum value would be 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 (9.2 quintillion on the short scale, or 9.2 trillion on the long scale). However, since Jagex handles experience with invisible tenths, the total xp would actually be 922,337,203,685,477,580, having this much xp would be equivalent to a level of 351. Having every combat skill at level 351 would result in a combat level of 704 ( 2+ 351 defence + 351 highest combat stat).
 * While attacking, you can see the experience gain from your attack (by hovering your mouse over the skill) before the hitsplat occurred allowing you to predict the amount of damaged done before the animation is seen. It is also possible to do this if you have the Experience Counter open.
 * The total amount of experience in any given skill approximately doubles every seven levels (This doesn't remain accurate for skills below level 20, since starting with 0 experience takes a while to adjust).
 * The amount of experience between levels 119 and 120 is roughly the same as the amount between levels 1 and 96.