Skill mastery

The maximum skill level a player can advance to is Level 99 (13,034,431 experience points), although players can have up to 200,000,000 experience in any skill. The following table shows the numbers of players at level 99 for a specific skill as of December 02nd, 2007. (The last figure is the number of characters having level 99 in all skills.)

The maximum total level is 2,277 (23 skills multiplied by 99 = 2,277). Pay-to-play players reaching level 99 in a skill are entitled wear a Cape of Achievement. A cape can allow a player to have a temporary level of 100.

The table shows the relative rankings of what players achieve for each of the skills. Combat skills are the highest, followed by Fletching and Cooking which allow very fast training without a significant cost in coins.

This table can serve as a guide on selecting a skill to reach level 99.

See hiscores for the relative total rankings of the different skills. The newest skill Hunter, released November 21, 2006, brings the maximum total level to 2,277.

Until the November 12th update, players with a level 99 skill could view the experience it would take them to earn level 100. However, even when it is passed, the level remains at 99.

When the skill of Summoning is released in January 2008, the maximum total level will be raised to 2,376.

Milestones in reaching level 99
Below is a list of the first players reaching noteworthy milestones related to level 99 skills.

* Cowchicken and Dragoon 787 reached level 99 Firemaking on the same day, but it is commonly accepted that Cowchicken reached it earlier.

** Snake Slava was banned for macro use after Jagex mistook his English-Russian translator for cheating software. To prove that he did not cheat, he actually brought his computer to the Jagex headquarters. To prove that he could achieve it again, he trained his second character Snake Slavik to 99 Ranging as well before anyone else could do so.

*** Cursed You was banned for supposedly real-world trading.

When level 99 stats first started appearing, players with such stats were often well known around the RuneScape community. However, as more and more people obtained level 99 stats, it's often agreed that such players don't stand out much anymore. However, other members of the RuneScape community still consider it a major achievement.