Skip to content

Alt account

This article is compiled from the videos of GnomonkeyRS. It records what Gnomonkey said, with sources, not verified game fact. See About.

Alt account

Alt account
Type Mechanic
Minimum account Fresh level 3 account for a resupply alt12
Useful levels Magic and Agility; 83 Construction34
Effect on kills per hour +10% at Kalphite Queen; over 50% at many bosses56
Best upgrade path Lunar Diplomacy and 91 Magic (93 for Vengeance Other)7
Suggested build time About two weeks of playtime to max besides melee8
Videos 5 (first 2019-08-27, latest 2022-04-28)
Main source Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS

An alt account is a second account played alongside the main to support it at bosses, raids and some skilling activities. Alts are usually used to make money, but Gnomonkey considers them incredibly useful in PvM, and says it would be faster to list the bosses that do not benefit from one.9 He describes them as "effectively summoning from RS2 with extra steps".10

The core jobs are running supplies, holding a world, picking up dropped loot, healing the main and transferring special attack. This lets trips last longer, raises kills per hour (by over 50% at many bosses) and cuts supply use and the effort needed at a boss.61112 Gnomonkey rejects the claim that alts are "too sweaty", saying they typically reduce the input required.11 The real benefit for him is dramatically speeding up pet grinds.10

His advice is to build one as soon as it is considered, since it only pays off once it exists, though it needs investment in membership, levels and unlocks.13 He also says one solid max alt covers most activities, although several are great.8

Contents

Resupply alt

A resupply alt is, in his view, one of the most useful and lowest-requirement alts, and for the most part can be a fresh level 3 account.2 Early on, a brand new level 3 account was already enough to loot drops and run to the bank while bursting, because monsters up to Nechryael are not aggressive.1 It is also used by a fresh account to hold scouted raids for solo or team Chambers, pick up loot at barrage tasks, King Black Dragon, Kalphite Queen and Zulrah, scout areas in the Wilderness, and touch the boat at Tempoross to start solo games faster.7

Any boss far from a bank can benefit from an alt running supplies, including the Nightmare, Cerberus, Abyssal Sire, Dagannoth Kings, God Wars Dungeon bosses, Kraken and Sarachnis; the alt also takes loose loot off the main's hands.12 A resupply alt saves a lot of banking time and can allow divine potions or more gear switches where the main otherwise would not use them, with Dagannoth Kings as the example.12

The alt is upgraded by working towards Lunar Diplomacy and 91 Magic, which gives both Plank/Pot Share and Energy Transfer, or 93 Magic for Vengeance Other.7

Before alts were common in his videos, a bursting setup without one used an Explorer's ring 4, which can cast high and low alchemy 30 times each and so allows only one burst task per day if the player wants to pick up the loot. An alt with 55 Magic that can cast High Level Alchemy can instead stay on the task until it is finished, alching drops.114

Spells and support

Magic and Agility are among the most important levels for an alt. Magic unlocks Plank/Pot Share, Energy Transfer and Vengeance Other.3

  • Energy Transfer is likely the most important alt spell. It hits the alt for 10 damage, transfers the alt's special attack meter to the main and fully restores run energy.15 With high Magic and Lunars, the alt can cast Energy Transfer and Heal Other to fully heal the main and restore special attack.16
  • Dream gives increased hitpoint regeneration.15 With supplies for several kills, the alt can cast it outside the Nightmare's lair to restore the main between phases.17
  • Vengeance: an alt that can cast Vengeance on the main before kills is minorly beneficial. At Zulrah it is near impossible to venge on the blue phase rotation, so lacking Vengeance is not a major loss.1818

Agility unlocks important shortcuts, regenerates run energy for a resupply alt, and unlocks the Graceful outfit, which the alt wears most of the time.15 Combat stats are trained easily with barrages, splashing, chinning and Nightmare Zone, and max combat is useful because bosses are often soloed with ranged and melee.4

83 Construction is extremely useful for the health pool, the fairy ring and teleports to reach bosses quickly. Early on, a Ring of dueling at Clan Wars can restore but is too slow for many methods.4

Unlocks and gear

  • A Xeric's talisman and a Chambers tablet give quick banking; both are tradable and are easily obtained by leeching raids with the alt.4
  • Useful alt gear: Dragon defender, Avernic defender (if rich), Assembler, Barrows gloves (the best tank gloves) and Void.19
  • Gnomonkey calls the Infernal cape the best offensive and defensive melee cape, with the Fire cape fine in the meantime. If Inferno has been done on the main, he recommends getting it on the alt after 99 Ranged and before melee training, barraging on defensive for Defence levels.19
  • Hitpoints cape and Magic cape are very useful for their perks. Diaries that help are Karamja (bolt proc and Armadyl, via the Canron/Cerberus path), Western Provinces (Elite Void) and Wilderness (obelisks).20
  • Many unlocks are not needed, such as skilling outfits like Prospector or Angler, so Motherlode Mine can be skipped.20

Building an alt

Gnomonkey says making an alt is basically the same as making a main, except it can be supplied from the main, like speedrunning the early game. He did not use an alt guide and focused on quickly doing optimal quests such as Waterfall Quest and training key skills.21 He highly recommends the Quest Helper plugin, since it trivialises almost every quest; Mourning's End Part II took about 40 minutes on his alt even with agility fails, and One Small Favour about 20 minutes.22

After quests and combat training, the alt is finished by AFKing in Nightmare Zone, which can be done while doing anything else on the main. It usually takes a couple of weeks of playtime to get an alt maxed besides melee.8

He recommends starting an alt during any long-term AFK grind such as AFK pets or 99s. Redwoods for the Beaver is about a 331-hour grind on average, giving roughly a month of playtime to build a near-maxed alt.23 Other AFK pet options are Karambwans with a fish barrel for Heron, Blood runes for Rift Guardian and Amethyst for Rock Golem.23 He also recommends the Gear Discord and Petcord for alting methods; Petcord has a basic Rune Dragon alt guide that doubles as a great PvM alt.6

Use at specific bosses

The Nightmare

The Nightmare is incredibly crowded because of its GP rates, and Gnomonkey often hopped through all worlds without finding an open one. Alts are so good because they allow a world to be held indefinitely.24 After a kill with an alt there are two options: leave and have the alt trade the supplies, or stay inside waiting out the timer, have the alt enter and trade, then have the alt leave.16 The easiest time to run the alt back to the bank is during the third phase, which gives about five minutes to restock and run back.17

Kalphite Queen

An alt is relatively unnecessary at the Kalphite Queen, but it can pick up dropped loot so the main can carry more food drops and extend trips.25 Gnomonkey's alt is a fresh account with an earth staff, a rune pouch with astral and death runes and a pile of house tabs.25 The loop is: kill the queen, house-tab, restore and run back. Because she has a long respawn timer, tabbing and recovering special attack gives faster kills than waiting for the respawn.25 An alt boosts kills per hour by roughly 10% by extending trip length, about the same as the Elysian shield.5

  • If the alt cannot cast Vengeance but has High Level Alchemy, it should bring that instead so it never needs to bank.25
  • An alt without Vengeance can sit inside the main's house, and the loot is dropped to it after each teleport back. An alt that casts Vengeance cannot stay there, since it loses Vengeance when leaving, so it sits at the start of the Kalphite nest. The nest needs a rope unless the alt has the diary, or a Hitpoints cape and regeneration bracelet to outheal the desert heat.26
  • A low-level alt in the nest is fine because the Kalphite workers are unaggressive. Kalphite Queen heads cannot be dropped to the alt, since they are untradeable until banked, so they are left on the ground; they are worth about 1k.26
  • The only requirement his gear might lack is a Desert amulet. Using house tabs with an alt in the house is possible but a lot slower and removes Vengeance when leaving.27

Zulrah

Gnomonkey uses an alt for Zulrah, which can be a freshly bonded level 3. Its main purpose is to pick up the loot the main drops so the main can keep killing. Dropping extra supplies from the alt to the main is theoretically possible but complex, so he prefers banking at Seers' Village.1828 At the start, the alt runs to Narda and stands in front of the altar picking up loot. The alt's altar acts as a full stat restore like a house pool, so the main can overcharge health to 106, take Vengeance from the alt, then teleport to Zulrah with a scroll.29

God Wars Dungeon

At Zamorak and Bandos the alt just tanks while the main attacks, which dramatically reduces intensity and increases kills per hour.30 Bosses with unique methods such as Zamorak 50 or Bandos 9-0, done solo with an alt, reduce to clicking the boss on the alt and then on the main, which Gnomonkey finds relaxing.31 At Armadyl solo, an alt raises kills per hour from 25 to 30, lets the trip last an entire task, removes the awkward method of being on Armadyl for two ticks and the minion for one tick each attack, and brings the total to almost 8.5m gp/hr while making the boss far easier intensity-wise.1131 At Saradomin and Armadyl, alts can increase trip lengths enormously; he has done an 8-hour solo Armadyl trip, and Aviansie tasks are guaranteed done in one trip even at the maximum roll of 250.32

Other bosses

  • Abyssal Sire: skip the house tab each kill; the alt brings the house to the main by using the house pool and running from the fairy ring.33
  • Dagannoth Kings: the alt brings a second set of supplies and Dreams there, spec-transferring and healing when needed.33
  • Cerberus: works as at the Kings, but the alt can also easily run to a bank, teleport to its house in Taverley and run back with supplies.34
  • Thermonuclear smoke devil: the alt repeatedly runs from house to fairy ring to the cave to provide constant claw specs.34
  • Kraken: the alt can Dream behind the main, providing constant health and volatile specs and taking unnoted drops such as sand and smoke serums.34 Where the alt cannot attack the boss, as at Kraken or Cerberus, it can sit nearby casting Heal Other and Energy Transfer repeatedly, take drops when the inventory is full, then fetch more supplies.31
  • Solo kills: alts also enable solo kills at King Black Dragon, Corporeal Beast, Sarachnis, Scorpia and Callisto, and the method can be expanded to "trolo" (trio solo) at many of these or even quadrolo at some.32

Every Slayer boss except Gargoyles and Hydra benefits from an alt; for most, the alt cannot attack at the same time but helps by running supplies and healing or spec-transferring.33

With most solo-with-alt methods the player does not actively play both accounts at once; at God Wars the boss is clicked once on the alt and then attention returns to the main.35

Fighting alts

Alts that can fight the boss alongside the main overlap with higher-level money-making alts, which have very high requirements. They dramatically boost kills per hour at many bosses, often raising gp/hr by more than the alt would earn doing Rune dragons, while lowering the boss's intensity.30 Gnomonkey says these features dramatically increase trip lengths and kills per hour while avoiding an expensive Blood fury and Scythe combo.36

Gnomonkey's view on money

He says money is no object if you enjoy PvM, since raids, the Nightmare and Nex bring in lots of gp, and that money-making alts make the game feel more like a chore for him.10

Revision history

Date Video Change
2022-04-28 Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS Added full alt guide: building order, levels, unlocks and gear, resupply alt, per-boss methods, and the claim of over 50% kills per hour gains.
2022-04-15 Max Efficient ZULRAH (3.5M GP/HR) OSRS Added Zulrah alt: loot pickup, Narda altar restore and Vengeance Other.
2022-02-19 Max Efficient Kalphite Queen Guide (Best Pet) OSRS Added Kalphite Queen loop, placement of Vengeance and non-Vengeance alts, and roughly 10% kills per hour boost.
2020-10-09 Nightmare Solo Guide 12m GP/HR (And Groups!) OSRS 2020 Added Nightmare use: holding a world, trading supplies after kills, Dream and Energy Transfer, and restocking in phase three.
2019-08-27 Nechryael BURSTING GUIDE OSRS (250k+ magic xp/70k+ slayer xp) Page created: Added burst-task alt for a fresh level 3 account looting and banking.
## See also

References

  1. Nechryael BURSTING GUIDE OSRS (250k+ magic xp/70k+ slayer xp), 2019-08-27. ▶ 2:24 ↩↩↩

  2. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 6:34 ↩↩

  3. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 4:18 ↩↩

  4. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 5:04 ↩↩↩↩

  5. Max Efficient Kalphite Queen Guide (Best Pet) OSRS, 2022-02-19. ▶ 3:35 ↩↩

  6. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 0:26 ↩↩↩

  7. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 7:32 ↩↩↩

  8. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 3:57 ↩↩↩

  9. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 0:00 ↩

  10. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 1:24 ↩↩↩

  11. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 1:53 ↩↩↩

  12. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 7:02 ↩↩↩

  13. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 0:54 ↩

  14. Nechryael BURSTING GUIDE OSRS (250k+ magic xp/70k+ slayer xp), 2019-08-27. ▶ 2:51 ↩

  15. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 4:31 ↩↩↩

  16. Nightmare Solo Guide 12m GP/HR (And Groups!) OSRS 2020, 2020-10-09. ▶ 18:23 ↩↩

  17. Nightmare Solo Guide 12m GP/HR (And Groups!) OSRS 2020, 2020-10-09. ▶ 18:52 ↩↩

  18. Max Efficient ZULRAH (3.5M GP/HR) OSRS, 2022-04-15. ▶ 2:26 ↩↩↩

  19. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 5:35 ↩↩

  20. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 6:07 ↩↩

  21. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 6:32 ↩

  22. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 3:27 ↩

  23. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 3:02 ↩↩

  24. Nightmare Solo Guide 12m GP/HR (And Groups!) OSRS 2020, 2020-10-09. ▶ 5:28 ↩

  25. Max Efficient Kalphite Queen Guide (Best Pet) OSRS, 2022-02-19. ▶ 2:30 ↩↩↩↩

  26. Max Efficient Kalphite Queen Guide (Best Pet) OSRS, 2022-02-19. ▶ 3:01 ↩↩

  27. Max Efficient ZULRAH (3.5M GP/HR) OSRS, 2022-04-15. ▶ 0:32 ↩

  28. Max Efficient ZULRAH (3.5M GP/HR) OSRS, 2022-04-15. ▶ 2:56 ↩

  29. Max Efficient ZULRAH (3.5M GP/HR) OSRS, 2022-04-15. ▶ 4:21 ↩

  30. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 9:01 ↩↩

  31. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 2:22 ↩↩↩

  32. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 9:34 ↩↩

  33. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 7:58 ↩↩↩

  34. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 8:32 ↩↩↩

  35. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 10:03 ↩

  36. Should you make an ALT for PVM? (Money/Pets) OSRS, 2022-04-28. ▶ 2:54 ↩

Mechanics

Colosseum invocations • Yama contracts • Invocations (Tombs of Amascut) • Jal-ImKot • Inferno pillars • Jal-Ak • Alt account • Thralls • Nex gear setup • Tempoross • Turael • Inferno waves • Jal-Nib • Doom of Mokhaiotl: rock block method • Monkey Room • Fortis Colosseum pillars • Phantom barrage • Awakened bosses • Melee gear progression • Demonic Brutus • Jal-MejRah • Prayer flicking • Butterfly Tech • Fortis Colosseum setup • Doom of Mokhaiotl: melee punish • Sulliuscep • Botting • Off-ticking • Corner trapping • Doom of Mokhaiotl: car attack • Combat Achievements • Doom of Mokhaiotl: shield phase • Pest Control • Blood Barrage • Nylocas • Great Olm 4-1 method • Nex reset • Triple Jad • RuneScape 3 combat • Tightrope skip

Category: Mechanics