Analysis, Discussion and Tips for Success

General Discussion

One of the many features introduced as part of the Construction skill in 2006 was a superior method for training Prayer. Building a chapel in one's player owned house allows the installation of an altar. This can be used to restore expended Prayer points, like all altars, but it has an important additional ability: you can offer bones on the altar to get prayer experience. With a sufficiently high level altar, and with accompanying incense burners both lit, you can get up to 3.5 times the normal burying XP for bones.

Comparing using a player owned house altar to the Ectofuntus is a short discussion. You can get 4 times normal XP at the Ectofuntus and only 3.5 times at a player owned house, but using the Ectofuntus is much slower -- there really is no contest.

You need a gilded altar to get maximum XP, which requires level 75 Construction. However, it is possible to make one at level 69, using stat-boosting tea obtained from shelves in a player's kitchen, and the special crystal saw that is a reward for the quest The Eyes of Glouphrie. Now, there are many skills where you can boost your level to engage in various activities, and I don't use the lower levels in my skill activity descriptions, mainly because these boosts often slow down training, and describing activities assuming their use would be confusing. This situation is different, though -- you only need to get that +6 boost once, when you make the altar, and thereafter can use it with your lower Construction level. Thus, making one of these altars is strongly advised at level 69. (It is actually possible to do it at 66, but for this you must get very lucky using spicy stews, a notoriously unreliable process.)

Lower-level players have the option of using lesser altars, which reward from 2 times to 3 times normal XP (with both burners lit). However, there's another option as well: using someone else's altar. Many players with gilded altars are willing to let others use them; to find one, look at the end of the official "open altar" thread on the RuneScape "Production Skills" forum (quick code 99-100-851-60171289).

The obvious advantage of using someone else's gilded altar is that you get the full 3.5x Prayer XP for your bones. But there are some drawbacks as well. First, you need to find an open altar, which means you may be forced to do this when an altar is available, not necessarily when you want to train. Second, to get to the player's house efficiently, yours needs to be in the same town, which may require you to move your house. And finally, run time each time you bank is a little slower. However, I still think it is worth doing this rather than using a lesser altar -- it's still faster overall, and bones are expensive! This is what I've assumed in my descriptions.

The amount of extra time per run required for using someone else's house depends somewhat on their house design. I've assumed a reasonably efficient design in my calculations.

Location and Access

As described above, this activity is obviously done at a gilded altar in a player owned house, either yours or someone else's.

For efficient training, you should have your chapel located very close to your house entrance, and I recommend a mounted amulet of glory adjacent to it, which provides quick banking without the need for supplies like actual amulets (which have to be recharged). When choosing another's house for training, be sure to also check that it is efficiently designed, if you plan to offer more than a few inventories' worth of bones.

You have to go to the house and return to the bank frequently, and this is best done using Teleport to House tablets.

Required and Recommended Equipment

You need a tinderbox to light the burners; that's it.

Required and Recommended Supplies

You need bones to offer, of course. You also need two other items: clean marrentills and teleport tablets or runes. The marrentills are needed to light the burners, which give you the best Prayer XP. Tablets are needed to get to the altar, and I recommend them over runes because this lets you carry one extra set of bones per trip. (If you want to save a bit of money at the expense of a bit of speed, use a stack of law runes and a stack of dust runes instead.)

In general, you need two marrentills per trip. If you are using a low-capacity beast of burden or no beast, you may not have to light the burners each time, but there's a random element here. If you are at a gilded altar "house party", there may be several different players sharing the burner lighting duties. Be sure to still bring marrentills and pitch in -- nobody likes a freeloader.

Dagannoth bones are dropped by the three dagannoth kings. These are tough monsters, which makes dagannoth bones expensive, and sometimes hard to get in large quantities. They are most often used by wealthy players who want to power-level Prayer in a hurry.

Familiar Suggestions

Use the highest capacity beast of burden you can, including the war tortoise -- its high cost is justified for this activity, giving you around 55 more bones per hour compared to a spirit terrorbird. I don't recommend using the thorny snail or spirit kalphite, however -- it takes extra time to load and unload a familiar, and those have low enough capacity that the net benefit becomes minimal.

Technique and Tips

The method depends on whether you are using your own player owned house or someone else's, and also to some degree on whether or not you are using a beast of burden.

First, general preparations. Summon a familiar if you are using one, and set your Summoning left-click option to "Take BoB". If you are using your own house, then be sure your house preferences are set so you arrive after teleport inside your house; if using someone else's house, it should be set to the portal (outside your house). Finally, be sure your marrentill and bones are near each other in the bank. If using a pack yak, you also need your tinderbox and teleport tablet stacks adjacent (more on this later).

If you are not using a beast of burden, or using any beast other than a pack yak, then you should keep a tinderbox in your inventory, along with a stack of teleport tablets. For each trip, take out of the bank two marrentills

If you are not using a beast of burden, or using any beast other than a pack yak, then you should keep a tinderbox in your inventory, along with a stack of teleport tablets. For each trip, take out of the bank two marrentills (unless you brought one or more back from the preceding trip), and then 24 sets of bones. After taking out the 24 bones, open your familiar (if applicable), store as many bones as it will hold, and then take out more bones to fill your inventory.

The pack yak presents a unique challenge because its capacity is bigger than yours! To fully load it requires an extra banking and loading step, which actually slows you down, so I don't recommend it. Instead, I load it as full as I can in one trip. To do this, you will not keep the tinderbox and teleport tablets in your inventory permanently. Each time you get back to the bank with your pack yak, quickly put the tinderbox back in the bank. Take out 28 bones and store them in the bank. Then take out a tinderbox, one teleport tablet, two clean marrentills and 24 more bones.

Okay, now to get to the altar. If using your house, click your teleport tablet and then go to your altar. If using someone else's, after you land at the portal click it and say you want to go to a friend's house. One nice update Jagex put in is that after entering the name once, you can thereafter just click on it, saving a lot of time and hassle.

At the altar, light both burners. If using a pack yak, you should now click "Take BoB", to give you 27 bones in your inventory. Now right-click one of your bones, click the altar, and choose "Offer All". If the burners are already lit when you arrive you can just start offering bones, but be sure to watch for the burners going out -- if they do, you will get reduced XP until they are re-lit. I recommend keeping an eye on your chat box -- if the message changes from "very pleased with your offering" to just "pleased with your offering" or "accept your offering", a burner has gone out. Wait until all of the bones are offered, then click "Take BoB" and repeat the process. Again, keep an eye on the burners, especially if using a high capacity beast of burden, if you started with the burners already lit, or if you aren't quick about doing the bones in your familiar.

When all the bones are done, return to the bank using a mounted amulet of glory or a teleport portal, and repeat the process.