Free-to-play Prayer training

Prayer is considered by some to be the hardest skill to train in F2P worlds. It takes money, patience, and effort. In F2P worlds, raising prayer above level 45 is considered to be near useless. However, the higher your prayer level is, the longer you are able to sustain prayers. This can be very handy during player-killing and when fighting high-levelled monsters. Prayer also has the highest cost per experience point to power level among all the free skills. While others cost no more than 10 coins per experience point, prayer can cost over 15 coins per experience point.

Beginners
Prayer is relatively straight forward to train, the main source of experience is regular bones which yield 4.5 experience each, and are worth each if sold to the Grand Exchange. Here is a list of things that can help raise prayer level slightly more efficiently:

The Restless Ghost
The restless ghost is a quest that gives 1125 prayer experience once accomplished allowing a player to raise prayer from level 1 to 9 upon completion. There are no requirements to begin this quest and is strongly recommended for beginning players as it provides a fairly substantial number of experience points for relatively little effort. From the viewpoint of buying bones on the Grand Exchange and burying them for experience, completing this quest is the equivalent of buying 250 bones, or coins of value in terms of experience points gained.

Respawn places
For players not willing to power level prayer, some places must be familiar with, in order to get quick bone drops:

In the Wilderness level 12, the chaos temple has 15 bones and respawn once taken. Players should be bewared of Revenants patrolling the area. Few other players train there although it is near the Fist of Guthix minigame. It is one of the best places for novices to train prayer.
 * Chaos temple

Deep in the wilderness, there are the Demonic Ruins. In the Demonic Ruins several Burnt bones respawn. Beware of Greater Demons and revenants. The trouble is getting to the ruins. You must avoid getting hit by the Greater Demons and revenants on the way.
 * Demonic Ruins

Many players don't bother to pick up or bury the bones they receive after killing monsters in Lumbridge. Bones are often abundant there for players to pick up.
 * Lumbridge

Edgeville Dungeon is inhabited by hill giants which are the weakest giants to drop big bones. Many players consider hill giants a good target for their drops and big bones, thus the dungeon is often crowded. Due to the excessive amount of people there, finding a hill giant to kill is difficult, and thus not recommended for prayer training. Also, two bones respawn in the dungeon near the hill giants, and four bones respawn in the South of the dungeon as well.
 * Edgeville Dungeon

Low level Al Kharid warriors are often killed by players while training. Bones are often left without being buried or picked up.
 * Al Kharid palace

New players who need money tend to kill cows for their cowhides to be sold at the Grand Exchange. Normally, there would be swarms of players there during busy days in world 1 who would normally leave tons of bones and meat scattered. If you could luckily enter world 1 during that time of the day, you could pick up all the bones you want and bury them right on the spot. It would also be helpful if your inventory is empty when collecting and burying bones.
 * Lumbridge Cows

Low level players like to kill men in the house just North of the Edgeville bank, however they just leave the bones from the kills on the ground. This is very easy to train on busy worlds.
 * Edgeville

PvP worlds
Massive amount of bones can be found in Lumbridge on PvP worlds, due to the amount of players dying in the area. Be sure to bank all valuable items. To train Prayer here, simply run around, pick up bones, and then bury them.

Training prayer by killing monsters
Depending on the max hit of a player, different monsters should be trained on for prayer experience. A good prayer training monster should be weak enough to be killed in 1-3 hits for the current ability of player.

No requirement

 * Weak NPCs around busy places
 * Requirements
 * 1) None
 * Advantages
 * 1) Any fighting methods can be used because they are weak enough to be killed even at low levels.
 * 2) Even if NPCs are killed by others, they might leave bones around.
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) Negligible income.
 * 2) Too weak to raise combat experience.
 * 3) Tiring mouse clicks.
 * 1) Negligible income.
 * 2) Too weak to raise combat experience.
 * 3) Tiring mouse clicks.

Weak NPCs are introductory to prayer training. They may be boring to kill, but their bone drops are good enough for low levels.

Chickens in Chicken Coops

 * Requirements
 * 1) None
 * Advantages
 * 1) Any fighting method can be used because they are weak enough to be killed even at low levels.
 * 2) Many players kill chickens for feathers and leave the bones around.
 * 3) Feathers are stackable and are dropped often. They can be sold for about 15gp each.
 * 4) One hit kills are quite common.
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) It can get crowded on some F2P worlds
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) It can get crowded on some F2P worlds
 * 1) It can get crowded on some F2P worlds

Chickens are great for beginners and are very common and close to Lumbridge. There is one chicken coop on the road to Draynor Village and another one on the road to Varrock. Chickens can be killed very easily.

Cattle

 * Requirements
 * 1) Combat 5+
 * 2) Iron armour or Bronze armour strongly recommended for new players
 * Advantages
 * 1) Very common and easy to get at a cow, even when the area is crowded with other players.
 * 2) Close to Lumbridge and easy to travel to
 * 3) Drops Cowhides and raw beef, providing training for other skills
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) Sometimes very crowded on some F2P worlds with players numbering in the dozens or more.
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) Sometimes very crowded on some F2P worlds with players numbering in the dozens or more.

Training with cattle is perhaps one of the best multi-skill training options available for low-level players, where you can train not only combat but also prayer, crafting (from tanning the cowhides and making leather items) and cooking. Formerly the Gnomecopter area provided a deposit box in the cattle yard north of Lumbridge. This has been replaced by Beefy Bill, who will take your raw beef and cowhides to the bank in exchange for 1 in 9 of each kind. It would be recommended to only give 9 items at a time to Beefy Bill for maximum profit. Bones can no longer be banked in the area, but the value is still there to bury the bones as you kill the cattle. Cowhides and raw beef can be sold for coins (cowhide) and  coins (raw beef) respectively, giving a source of early cash for new players. Bringing an axe and tinderbox can be used to cook the raw beef to heal wounds if you are just starting to train combat. There are several trees in and around all of the cattle yards as a source of logs for making fires.

In the cattle yard between the River Lum and Al-Kharid on the road to Varrock, there are many more cows and this is a very common low-level F2P combat training area. Many players, especially ones trying to do Pure combat training will deliberately leave the bones on the grounds. This can be a free source of bones for an aspiring low level player trying to train prayer and doesn't require any sort of combat at all.

Another cattle yard exists south of Falador that is moderately close to the east bank of Falador and the bank in Draynor Village. Like the cattle yard east of the River Lum, this is also a low-level player training area with many bones left on the ground when busy.

Monkeys and snakes near Karamja volcano

 * Requirements
 * 1) 30gp
 * Advantages
 * 1) Very uncrowded.
 * 2) Monkeys drop monkey bones with slightly more prayer experience.
 * 3) Easy to kill.
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) No profitable drops
 * 2) Very far from bank.
 * 1) No profitable drops
 * 2) Very far from bank.

An alternative to mainland NPCs is Karamja inhabitants. They have slightly more hitpoints and more experience to give, but convenience is sacrificed.

Dark wizards around stone circle

 * Requirements
 * 1) Combat 41
 * Advantages
 * 1) Similar to the weak NPCs, bones are often left on floor.
 * 2) Doesn't need expensive armour to fight.
 * 3) Good supply of runes.
 * 4) Close to Varrock west bank.
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) Many players tend to kill the level 7 wizards, making killing wizards harder.
 * 2) Level 20 wizards are hard to defeat until high levels.
 * 3) Often crowded.
 * 1) Many players tend to kill the level 7 wizards, making killing wizards harder.
 * 2) Level 20 wizards are hard to defeat until high levels.
 * 3) Often crowded.

Dark wizards can be killed, as they no longer are aggressive towards the player. Bones on the ground can be also be picked up and buried. It would be recommended to wear range armour such as Hardleather body or Green dragonhide armour, as that gives players reasonable protection against the magic that these creatures cast. See also Combat triangle for further information about this concept, noting that these are magic using creatures. Metal armour is actually more harmful than no armour at all.

Skeletons, Zombies, Minotaurs

 * Requirements
 * 1) Combat 51
 * Advantages
 * 1) Fair drops
 * 2) Low defence and hitpoint level
 * 3) Not very crowded
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) Far from bank
 * 2) Drops not stackable and excessive
 * 1) Far from bank
 * 2) Drops not stackable and excessive

Skeletons and Zombies can be killed in several dungeons, and Minotaurs can be killed in the Stronghold of Security. Because minotaurs are popular with rangers, and as they are weak, bones can be found on the ground quite often in busy worlds. Aside from their rather common bronze and iron arrow drops, they mainly drop non-stackable bronze items, which should not be picked up.

Hill giants

 * Requirements
 * 1) Combat 28
 * Advantages
 * 1) Good drops
 * 2) Big bones
 * 3) Respawn of bones on floor
 * 4) Close to Grand Exchange
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) Very crowded
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) Very crowded
 * 1) Very crowded

Hill giants in Edgeville dungeon drop big bones, and two bone respawns are available there. Hill giants drop limpwurt roots which sell for coins each. A brass key is needed to quickly access the dungeon from Grand Exchange, which can be obtained by entering the dungeon from the Edgeville entrance. Hill giants are very popular training monsters, and as such, finding a hill giant to fight can be quite difficult.

Ice giants

 * Requirements
 * 1) Combat 60+
 * Advantages
 * 1) Good drops
 * 2) Big bones
 * 3) Relatively uncrowded, especially compared to the Hill Giant and Moss Giant areas
 * Disadvantages
 * 1) High combat level
 * 2) Distant from bank (if you are trying to sell Big Bones)
 * 1) High combat level
 * 2) Distant from bank (if you are trying to sell Big Bones)
 * 1) Distant from bank (if you are trying to sell Big Bones)

The Ice Giants of the Asgarnian Ice Dungeon can be a bit of a challenge for unprepared players, but can provide fair prayer training with excellent combat training simultaneously. The Black kiteshield is perhaps the best drop that a player can hang onto for resale, where about 1 in 50 drops contains this shield. This is also the only source of Black kiteshields via F2P methods, keeping the value of the item fairly high and easily traded on the Grand Exchange for coins. Several Mithril items are dropped, which can be low-alched with the Explorer's ring if you have completed the Lumbridge and Draynor Achievement Diary. There are also drops of several member-crafted runes such as Nature runes and Law runes, and large numbers of Mind runes (20+ on a drop). Ice Giants are accompanied by Ice warriors, who unfortunately don't drop any bones when killed. If you have a high enough defence and can remain in the Ice Giant area for longer than about 4–5 minutes, the Ice warriors stop being aggressive and you can ignore them to concentrate on the Ice Giants. Seeing very high combat level (100+) F2P players and former members training in this area is quite common. Several spots to hide behind ice columns exist to also train ranging or magic are in this dungeon as well, and can be used against the Ice Giants.

Ice Giants can also be found at the Frozen Waste Plateau in the high level Wilderness. In addition to the problems of fighting Ice Giants, you also have to deal with several Revenants if you stay there for any prolonged period of time. It would be strongly recommended to travel to this area in a group if you are going to attempt to train in this area. Generally this is not considered a good prayer training area.

Jobs
A player can receive jobs from any one of three NPCs in or around Lumbridge, each job not to exceed the ability of the player to perform. Players must perform 15 tasks, 6 for every hour playing RuneScape, to receive the reward. However, note that most of the employers are now no longer able to hand out jobs.

Lamps
Easier methods to obtain experience lamps, even as a non-member, include speaking with Sir Vant in the basement of a Lumbridge house if you have not completed Unstable Foundations and offering to kill the dragon for him, which will prompt him to give you two lamps for your kindness; completing the entire Lumbridge Achievement Diary, where for each of the three parts players complete they will be rewarded with lamps granting them increasingly higher amounts of experience for any chosen skill(s); and venturing north to the Barbarian Village, reaching the Stronghold of Player Safety and the Stronghold of Security, where the former will contain two antique lamps and the latter will give players in total of 10,000 coins and other handsome prizes.

One can also earn experience lamps via random events, selecting the option to receive an experience lamp (if offered). This is perhaps the fastest method of earning experience points for prayer, particularly if you reach higher prayer levels. Considering that prayer is one of the hardest skills to train, many players only select prayer skill as the skill to improve when they receive these lamps.

Power levelling by purchasing bones
There is only one way to power level prayer: burying regular or big bones mass-bought from Grand Exchange. However, burying regular bones or burying big bones makes all the difference between cost factor and speed.

Bones are currently sold coins each, yielding 4.5 experience when buried. To power level prayer using regular bones, 4.5 round coins per experience is lost, meaning coins is needed for 1000 experience. To attain level 45 from zero experience merely by power levelling, 13,670 bones are needed, costing coins. In terms of experience per hour, burying bones will give 4,050 per hour at the rate of burying 1 bone every 5 seconds.

Big bones are currently sold coins each, yielding 15 experience when buried. To power level prayer using big bones, coins per experience is lost, meaning  coins is needed for 1000 experience. To attain level 45 from zero experience merely by power levelling, 4101 big bones are needed, costing coins. Big bones can be buried at the rate of 1 every 5 seconds for 13,500 experience points per hour.

GP to experience wise, burying normal bones is more considerate for money, but they take a while to buy and also to bury. If a player can earn over 320,000 coins per hour, the loss of burying big bones is even less than burying normal bones.