How to Unlock Piety in OSRS A Step-by-Step Guide

Unlocking the Piety prayer in Old School RuneScape (OSRS) is a game-changer for melee-focused players. This powerful prayer, the third-highest level prayer in the game, provides significant boosts to Attack, Strength, and Defence, making it essential for bossing, PvP, and completing challenging diaries like Morytania and Kandarin Hard. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to unlock Piety, including quest requirements, skill prerequisites, and strategies for the Knight Waves Training Grounds. Whether you’re a main, ironman, or building a piety pure, this SEO-optimized guide has you covered.
Piety is a must-have for high-level combat scenarios due to its impressive stat boosts:
- +25% Defence: Enhances your ability to tank hits, crucial for boss fights like those in the God Wars Dungeon.
- +23% Strength: Boosts your max hits, increasing melee damage output.
- +20% Attack: Improves hit accuracy, ensuring more consistent damage.
These boosts make Piety ideal for endgame content like Chambers of Xeric, Theatre of Blood, and Nightmare. It’s also required for tasks in the Morytania and Kandarin Hard Diaries, adding to its value for completionists.
Piety vs. Other Combat Prayers
Compared to other prayers like Chivalry (requires 60 Prayer and 65 Defence), Piety offers superior boosts, though it demands higher skill levels. For context, Rigour (Ranged) and Augury (Magic) are the only prayers surpassing Piety in their respective combat styles, but they require additional unlocks via Chambers of Xeric. Piety remains the go-to for melee builds due to its accessibility and potency.
Prerequisites for Unlocking Piety
To unlock Piety, you’ll need to meet specific skill and quest requirements. Here’s a breakdown:
Requirement | Details |
---|---|
Prayer Level | 70 |
Defence Level | 70 |
Quest | King’s Ransom (and its prerequisite quests) |
Miniquest | Knight Waves Training Grounds |
Note: Boosts (e.g., Prayer potions) cannot be used to meet the Prayer or Defence requirements for activating Piety. You must achieve these levels permanently.
Training Prayer to 70
Reaching 70 Prayer can be a grind, but here are efficient methods:
- Green Dragons (Wilderness): Killing green dragons at level 13 Wilderness with a looting bag yields dragon bones, offering high Prayer XP when used at the Chaos Altar. Expect 40k–50k XP/hr but beware of PKers.
- Ectofuntus: Using bones at the Ectofuntus (after completing Ghosts Ahoy) provides 4x XP per bone compared to a gilded altar, though it’s slower.
- Gilded Altar: If you have access to a player-owned house with a gilded altar, this is the fastest method, offering 350–400k XP/hr with dragon bones.
- Quest XP: Complete quests like The Restless Ghost (1,125 XP) and Ghosts Ahoy (2,400 XP) for early Prayer XP boosts.
For ironmen, green dragons or slayer tasks dropping bones (e.g., drakes) are practical, as they also provide crafting and alchable loot.
Training Defence to 70
Defence is easier to train, especially for melee builds. Try these methods:
- Slayer: Train Defence while completing slayer tasks for efficient XP and loot.
- Nightmare Zone (NMZ): Use absorption potions and AFK methods to gain Defence XP safely.
- Pest Control: For low-combat accounts (e.g., piety pures), repair barricades to earn XP without fighting, minimizing combat level increases.
Tip: If you’re building a piety pure (e.g., 60 Attack, 70 Defence, 70 Prayer), avoid unnecessary Defence XP during the Knight Waves Training Grounds by using poison or Ring of Recoil to minimize combat XP.
Completing the King’s Ransom Quest
The first major step to unlocking Piety is completing the King’s Ransom quest, which unlocks access to the Knight Waves Training Grounds. This quest is relatively short (20–30 minutes) but has several prerequisites.
King’s Ransom Quest Requirements
You’ll need the following to start King’s Ransom:
- Skills: 65 Defence, 45 Magic
- Quests:
- Black Knights’ Fortress
- Holy Grail
- Murder Mystery
- One Small Favour
- Items: Granite (any size), teleport runes (e.g., Camelot, Falador), antipoisons, food, and combat gear.
Recommended: Use the RuneLite client’s Quest Helper plugin for step-by-step guidance to streamline the process.
Quest Walkthrough
Here’s a brief overview of the King’s Ransom quest:
- Start the Quest: Speak to Gossip outside Sinclair Mansion (between Seers’ Village and Rellekka).
- Investigate: Gather evidence by talking to NPCs and examining items in the mansion.
- Travel to Camelot: Use teleports to move between locations efficiently.
- Complete Puzzles: Solve a simple puzzle to free King Arthur (no combat required).
- Finish the Quest: Return to Gossip to claim your rewards.
Rewards: 33,000 Defence XP, 5,000 Prayer XP, and access to the Knight Waves Training Grounds. The Defence XP can push you past 70 if you’re close, so plan accordingly for piety pure builds.
Conquering the Knight Waves Training Grounds
After completing King’s Ransom, head to Camelot Castle to start the Knight Waves Training Grounds miniquest, where you’ll face eight Knights of the Round Table in succession. This is the final step to unlock Piety (and Chivalry).
Preparation for Knight Waves
The knights range from level 101 to 123, each with unique combat styles. Here’s how to prepare:
- Gear: Wear high-Defence armour (e.g., Rune or Dragon) and a strong melee weapon (e.g., Dragon scimitar or Abyssal whip).
- Inventory: Bring 15–20 pieces of high-healing food (e.g., sharks), 2–3 super restore potions, and a teleport (e.g., Camelot teleport).
- Stats: At least 70 Attack, Strength, and Defence are recommended for efficiency.
Safespot Strategy: You can safespot some knights by luring them behind pillars and using a halberd (e.g., Dragon halberd) to attack from a distance. This is ideal for lower-level accounts.
Knight Waves Walkthrough
Here’s a quick guide to the Knight Waves Training Grounds:
- Start the Miniquest: Talk to the Squire on the top floor of Camelot Castle (climb two ladders in the southern battlements).
- Fight the Knights: Face eight knights in order (Sir Bedivere, Sir Pelleas, Sir Tristram, Sir Palomedes, Sir Lucan, Sir Gawain, Sir Kay, Sir Lancelot). Each uses melee, so protect from melee is effective.
- Manage Resources: Eat food and drink super restores to maintain Prayer points. If you die, it’s a safe death, and you resume from the last knight defeated.
- Avoid the Door: Exiting via the door resets your progress. If you need to leave, die or teleport out.
Rewards: Upon completion, you unlock Piety (70 Prayer, 70 Defence) and Chivalry (60 Prayer, 65 Defence), plus 20,000 XP in Attack, Strength, Defence, and Hitpoints.
Tips for Success and Common Pitfalls
To ensure a smooth journey to unlocking Piety, keep these tips in mind:
- Check Your Prayer Book: Ensure you’re using the standard prayer book, not the Ancient Curses book, as Piety won’t appear otherwise. Visit an altar (e.g., Varrock or Cadarn) to switch if needed.
- Plan for Diaries: Unlocking Piety early benefits Morytania and Kandarin Hard Diary tasks, which offer valuable rewards like noted bone drops and teleports.
- Avoid Overlevelling: For piety pures, use low-XP methods (e.g., poison or Recoil) in the Knight Waves to prevent unwanted Defence XP.
- Stock Up: Bring extra food and potions to the Knight Waves, as the fights can be resource-intensive without safespotting.
Common Pitfall: Forgetting to meet all prerequisite quests for King’s Ransom can delay progress. Double-check your quest log before starting.
Using Piety Effectively
Once unlocked, Piety drains Prayer points at 1 point every 1.5 seconds, so pair it with Prayer potions or a high Prayer bonus setup (e.g., Proselyte armour). It’s most effective in prolonged fights where the stat boosts maximize DPS, such as against bosses or in PvP. Combine with super strength and attack potions for even higher damage output.
Unlocking Piety in OSRS is a rewarding milestone that enhances your combat prowess and opens doors to advanced content. By following this guide, you’ll efficiently complete the King’s Ransom quest, conquer the Knight Waves Training Grounds, and activate Piety to dominate in melee combat. Happy scaping!