Prayer is a skill which allows players to gain temporary advantages in combat. It is a very slow skill to raise, as it can only be done, little by little, by burying bones. Prayers can be very beneficial against monsters and other players.
Intro
If you want to use a prayer, click on the prayer menu, which is to the right of the equipment menu. Prayers available for use are highlighted, while prayers you cannot use are dark. When you click on a prayer, a circle will appear around it, indicating that you are using it. Be aware that your prayer points will drop slowly. When they reach zero, the prayer will no longer be effective, and you'll have to recharge at an altar before you can pray again.
The prayers can give you great advantages over monsters and players in the wilderness. Some prayers improve your combat skills, while others can protect you, or even damage your opponents. The prayer level is raised by burying bones. As you gain prayer experience, you can use more and better prayers. Your prayers will also last longer.
Prayer Bonus
If you click on the menu to the right of the inventory menu, you'll see what you have equipped. If you look at the bottom of this menu, there will a small black box with the words "Attack Bonus" and "Defence Bonus" in yellow, and more words in gray underneath with plus signs and negatives. These are known as "bonuses" and help you fight.
In prayer, there is only one bonus. The "prayer bonus" makes your prayer points drop slower, so that you can pray for a longer time.
Prayers
Below is a table with info about prayers. "Level Needed" shows which prayer level you need to use that prayer.
| Name | Level Needed | Advantage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thick Skin | 1 | Increases your defence by 5%. | Makes your opponent hit less often on you. |
| Burst of Strength | 4 | Increases your strength by 5%. | Makes you hit harder by 5%. |
| Clarity of Thought | 7 | Increases your attack by 5%. | Makes you hit more often by 5%. |
| Rock Skin | 10 | Increases your defence by 10%. | Makes your opponent hit less often on you. |
| Superhuman Strength | 13 | Increases your strength by 10%. | Makes you hit harder by 10%. |
| Improved Reflexes | 16 | Increases your attack by 10%. | Makes you hit more often by 10%. |
| Rapid Restore | 19 | Double restore rate for all stats except hitpoints and prayer. | If one or more of your stats are lowered (for example, if your attack level is 59/60), then using this prayer will make that/those stat(s) recharge twice as fast as normal. |
| Rapid Heal | 22 | Double restore rate for hitpoints stat. | If your hitpoints are low (for example, if your hitpoints are 59/60), then using this prayer will make it recharge twice as fast as normal. |
| Protect Items | 25 | Keep 1 extra item if you die. | When you die, you only keep three of the most valuable items in your inventory. However, using this prayer will allow you to keep one more. If you have a skull on you from attacking another player in the wilderness, you will keep only one item, since you normally would lose everything. |
| Steel Skin | 28 | Increases your defence by 15%. | Makes your opponent hit less often on you. |
| Ultimate Strength | 31 | Increases your strength by 15%. | Makes you hit harder by 15%. |
| Incredible Reflexes | 34 | Increases your attack by 15%. | Makes you hit more often by 15%. |
| Protect from Magic | 37 | Protection from magical attacks. | Using this prayer will make you invincible against magic. Other players can still hurt you, but they will do about 40% less damage than normal. |
| Protect from Missiles | 40 | Protection from ranged attacks. | Using this prayer will make you invincible against range. Other players can still hurt you, but they will do about 40% less damage than normal. |
| Protect from Melee | 43 | Protection from close attacks. | Using this prayer will make you invincible against melee. Other players can still hurt you, but they will do about 40% less damage than normal. |
| Retribution | 46 | Inflicts damage to nearby targets if you die. | Members only. |
| Redemption | 49 | Heals you if your health falls below 10%. | Members only. |
| Smite | 52 | 1/4 of damage dealt is also removed from opponent's prayer. | Members only. |
It is important to note that if you are using Protect Items, you will only keep the items that can be sold for the highest price at general stores, not street prices. So say you have a Blue Party Hat and a Rune Plate Body, you have a skull, and you die. Even though the party hat is worth over 200 million gp and the plate body only about 85k, you will only keep the Rune Plate Body. This is because the party hat sells for only 1 gp in the stores.
The Protect prayers are useless against certain high level monsters and quest monsters, which are resistant to prayer. Remember also that other players can still hurt you, even though the damage is reduced by half.
Armour
Some things that you can wear give a prayer bonus, thus they can be called "armour".
Free Players' Armour
Below is a table which contains information about the armour free players can wear.
| Name | Prayer Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Priest Gown (top) | +3 | Can be purchased in Varrock's Clothing Store. |
| Priest Gown (bottom) | +3 | Can be purchased in Varrock's Clothing Store. |
| Shade Robe (top) | +5 | Sometimes Dropped by Shade, a random event, if you are a member/P2P |
| Shade Robe (bottom) | +4 | Sometimes Dropped by Shade, a random event, if you are a member/P2P |
| Monk's (top) | +6 | Can be obtained in the Monastery's second floor (31 prayer needed). |
| Monk's Robe (bottom) | +5 | Can be obtained in the Monastery's second floor (31 prayer needed). |
Members' Armour
Below is a table which contains information about the armour members can wear.
| Name | Prayer Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Zamorak Robe (top) | +3 | Dropped by Iban Disciples. |
| Zamorak Robe (bottom) | +3 | Dropped by Necromancer and Iban Disciples. |
| Druid Robe (top) | +4 | Dropped by Druids. |
| Druid Robe (bottom) | +4 | Dropped by Druids. |
| Initiate Full Helmet | +3 | Recruitment Drive quest reward or bought from Sir Tiffy Cashien (in Falador park sitting on a bench) after finished Recruitment Drive. |
| Initiate Plate Body | +6 | Can be bought from Sir Tiffy Cashien (in Falador park sitting on a bench) after finishing the quest Recruitment Drive. |
| Initiate Plate Legs | +5 | Can be bought from Sir Tiffy Cashien (in Falador park sitting on a bench) after finishing the quest Recruitment Drive. |
| White Knight Armour | +1 | Every piece gives a +1 bonus to prayer. It can be worn after completing the quest Wanted! by killing black knights and rising in the White Knights' ranks. |
| Verac the Defiled's Armour | +12 | One of the Barrows armour sets. It also has a special that allows the player to ignore their opponent's armour stats when hitting them (this only works if the player is wielding the full set). |
Amulets
There are 3 amulets that give prayer bonuses, listed below.
| Name | Prayer Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Blessed Holy Symbol | +8 | |
| Unholy Symbol of Zamorak | +8 | Members only. |
| Amulet of Glory | +3 | Members only. |
| Amulet of Fury | +5 | Members only. |
Weapons
Maces give a prayer bonus. So if you want to attack or use prayer longer, why not use a mace? Below is a table with info about maces.
| Name | Prayer Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze Mace | +1 | Can be bought in the Mace Shop in Falador. |
| Iron Mace | +1 | Can be bought in the Mace Shop in Falador. |
| Steel Mace | +2 | Can be bought in the Mace Shop in Falador. |
| Black Mace | +2 | Dropped by Dark Warriors in level 13 wilderness. |
| Mithril Mace | +3 | Can be bought in the Mace Shop in Falador. |
| Adamant Mace | +3 | Can be bought in the Mace Shop in Falador. |
| Rune Mace | +4 | Can be bought from the Champion's Guild. |
| Dragon Mace | +5 | Can be bought from the Hero's Guild. The Kalphite Queen also drops it. |
| Obsidian Staff | +5 | Bought from the weapons store in TzHaar for 52,500 Tokkul. Can be used to autocast spells. |
| Verac's Flail | +6 | One of the Barrows weapons, must be worn with full Verac's Armour for the set effect to take place where the player can ignore their opponent's armour stats when hitting. |
Recharging
The prayer points can be recharged to maximum by praying at altars. Altars can be found in churches all across RuneScape, even in the wilderness. The altar on the second floor of the Monastery will add two extra points when you recharge your prayer. The altar in the member quest Nature Spirit also does this.
Prayer potions (also known as "prayer pots" or "pray pots") can be used if you're a member. They restore just under 40% of your prayer level. If your herblore level is 38, you can make prayer potions. Super restore potions also restore some prayer besides normal stats.
Free players can only recharge their prayer points at altars.
Prayer Books
Members can get Prayer books by completing the quest Horror from the Deep. If you wield them, they take up your shield slot. There are three prayer books, each based on a RuneScape god. Each prayer book gives a +5 prayer bonus, as well as other bonuses.
- The 3 books are
- Book of Balance (Guthix)
- Holy Book (Saradomin)
- Unholy Book (Zamorak)
When you first buy them, they will be called a "damaged book". Each book has four pages. The pages can only be obtained from Treasure Trails or purchased from other players. Red pages are Zamorak (250k-300k market value), green pages are Guthix (around 80k market value), and white pages are Saradomin (150k-200k market value). When you've gotten all four pages, use them with the damaged book and they will become a prayer book. You can do some things with them, such as say a prayer or bless symbols (you need a prayer level of 50 to do this though). Below is a table with each book's info.
| Name | Stats |
|---|---|
| Book of Balance (Guthix) | +4 Slash Attack, +4 Stab Attack, +4 Crush Attack, +4 Magic Attack, +4 Range Attack, +4 Slash Defence, +4 Stab Defence, +4 Crush Defence, +4 Magic Defence, +4 Range Defence, +5 Prayer |
| Holy Book (Saradomin) | +8 Slash Defence, +8 Stab Defence, +8 Crush Defence, +8 Magic Defence, +8 Range Defence, +5 Prayer |
| Unholy Book (Zamorak) | +8 Slash Attack, +8 Stab Attack, +8 Crush Attack, +8 Magic Attack, +8 Range Attack, +5 Prayer |
Ectofuntus
Members can worship the Ectofuntus to gain 4 times the experience they would get from just burying a bone. It is located in far northeast Morytania just north of Port Phasmatys. The process of worshipping is much more efficient if the Ghosts Ahoy quest has been completed. Players can go down a trapdoor and several flights of stairs (at 58 agility several shortcuts can be used) to reach a giant pool of ectoslime. Buckets can be used on the pool to collect the slime. One bucket of slime is needed for every worship done. Besides the bucket, the player also has to go upstairs to the "bone grinder" and put their collected bones in there. Several clicks on the machine are needed to process the bones, after which players can collect the bone dust with a pot. Players may worship the ectofuntus using one pot of ground bones and one bucket of slime, after which they can talk to the local ghost disciplines (using a ghostspeak amulet), to gain ectotokens. Because this is such a tedious process, the Ectofuntus is generally used for high level bones such as dragon or baby dragon bones, in which case the player gains substantially more experience.