TLDR — Best Money-Making Bosses in OSRS (2026)
The most profitable solo boss in OSRS right now is Vardorvis at roughly 8.4M gp/hour, but the best money boss for you is the highest gp/hour you can actually unlock and sustain. For most players that ladder runs: Zulrah (~3.7M gp/hr) and Vorkath (~3.6M gp/hr) as your first money bosses, then Alchemical Hydra (~4.1M gp/hr) at 95 Slayer, then Vardorvis (~8.4M gp/hr) once you finish Desert Treasure II. Solo money bosses ranked by gp/hour (OSRS Wiki, as of 7 August 2026):
- Vardorvis — ~8.4M gp/hr · 90 Att/Str/Def · Desert Treasure II · endgame gear · profit is unique-dependent
- Demonic gorillas — ~4.7M gp/hr · Monkey Madness II · 85+ combat · very swingy (zenyte shards)
- Alchemical Hydra — ~4.1M gp/hr · 95 Slayer (hard gate) · 75+ Ranged
- Zulrah — ~3.7M gp/hr · 80 Ranged / 85 Magic · no combat-quest wall
- Vorkath — ~3.6M gp/hr · 90 Ranged · Dragon Slayer II
All gp/hour figures are estimates that move with the Grand Exchange — check prices.runescape.wiki before you commit. As the OSRS Wiki Money making guide puts it: "The prices and hourly rates are simply an estimate. The actual rates and profit are likely to differ." Don't have the stats or gear yet? Buying OSRS gold skips the grind entirely.
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Which OSRS boss makes the most money?
The single highest-earning solo boss is Vardorvis at about 8,448,347 gp/hour after tax (32 kills/hour), per the OSRS Wiki. But raw gp/hour is a trap for newer players, because almost every top money boss hides the same catch: most of the profit comes from rare unique drops, not the average kill. The wiki is brilliant at telling you what a method earns and terrible — deliberately — at telling you which one you should actually grind. That decision is what this guide makes for you.
Three rules decide your "best" boss:
- Requirements you can meet. A 95-Slayer boss earning 4M/hour is worth 0 gp/hour to a 70-Slayer account. The best boss is the fastest one you can enter.
- Variance you can stomach. Some bosses pay steady profit every kill; others are 1/300 lottery tickets that average out over hundreds of kills. If your bank is small, low-variance wins.
- Time vs. money. The endgame gear that unlocks the fastest bosses costs tens of millions. Bootstrapping it from scratch is 40–100+ hours of slower methods (see our first 100M GP roadmap).
Below, every boss is ranked by gp/hour, with the exact requirements, the real gear you need, and the honest variance warning the fansites skip.
OSRS money-making bosses ranked by GP/hour (2026)
| Boss | Est. GP/hr | Kills/hr | Hard requirement | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vardorvis | ~8.45M | 32 | Desert Treasure II · 90 melee | Very high (Ultor vestige) |
| Demonic gorillas | ~4.66M | 70 | Monkey Madness II · 85+ cb | Very high (zenyte shards) |
| Alchemical Hydra | ~4.06M | 25 | 95 Slayer | Medium-high |
| Zulrah | ~3.70M | 20 | 80 Ranged / 85 Magic | Medium |
| Vorkath | ~3.60M | 30 | Dragon Slayer II · 90 Ranged | Low-medium |
Source: OSRS Wiki Money making guide, profit figures after tax, retrieved 7 August 2026. Rates assume the listed kills/hour and shift daily with GE prices.
Is Zulrah still a good money boss? (best first money boss)
Yes — Zulrah is still the best first money boss in OSRS, and it's where most players' banks are actually built. At 20 kills/hour it earns about 1,856,264 gp per 10 kills after tax (~3.7M gp/hour), per the OSRS Wiki; push to 35 kills/hour with maxed gear and it climbs toward ~4.5M gp/hour.
Why it wins as your first boss: there's no hard combat-quest wall. You want:
- Ranged 80+, Magic 85+, Defence 70+ recommended, Prayer 45+
- A Ranged weapon (Toxic blowpipe, or a budget Magic shortbow) and a Magic weapon (Trident of the swamp/seas)
- Void Knight, Ahrim's, Black d'hide or Armadyl for the switches
- Zul-andra teleports, Prayer/ranging potions, anti-venom+ and food
Zulrah's rotations are the real barrier, not the stats — the kills are muscle memory once you learn the phases. If you're weighing it head-to-head against the other classic first boss, we break the whole comparison down in Vorkath vs Zulrah.
Is Vorkath worth it for money in OSRS?
Vorkath is worth it if you have Dragon Slayer II and 90 Ranged — it's the most consistent money boss on this list. The OSRS Wiki) lists 3,601,242 gp/hour after tax at 30 kills/hour (up to 33 with maxed stats).
What makes Vorkath the reliable pick is low variance — a huge share of the profit is steady, per-kill drops (dragon bones, superior dragon bones, and consistent supplies), not a jackpot. Recommended setup:
- Dragon Slayer II completed (the hard gate), Ranged 90+, Hitpoints 90+, Defence 80+, Prayer 74+ for Rigour
- Dragon hunter crossbow with ruby then diamond dragon bolts (e) — switch to diamond bolts at ~33–40% HP
- Salve amulet (ei), Void or Armadyl range, an anti-venom+ and a way to cure venom
Vorkath and Zulrah are the two bosses players mean when they say "get your first money boss." One player summing up the mindset on r/2007scape this week: you've "gotta make gp somewhere for better gear, so might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone" — kill a money boss you can afford now, bank the profit, and reinvest into the gear that unlocks the faster ones.
What's the best Slayer money boss? (Alchemical Hydra)
The Alchemical Hydra is the best Slayer-locked money boss, earning about 4,062,602 gp/hour after tax at 25 kills/hour (OSRS Wiki). The catch is the wall: you need 95 Slayer, full stop — there is no boost around it.
Reality check on the variance: the wiki notes "the average kill is worth 197,269.00, however if not counting in any uniques the kill would only be worth 119,273.00." In other words, ~40% of the gp/hour is riding on rare drops (Hydra's claw, Hydra leather). Over a task or two you'll feel that swing hard. Recommended gear:
- 95 Slayer (mandatory), Ranged 75+, Prayer 74+, Hitpoints 85+
- Twisted bow or Toxic blowpipe, Slayer helmet (i)
- Necklace of anguish, Barrows gloves, Ring of the gods (i)/suffering (i), Boots of brimstone or Devout boots
If you're grinding to 95 Slayer specifically to unlock Hydra, that's a long road — many players buy the levels' worth of gp elsewhere and go straight to gear, or use a carry service for the endgame content the grind is meant to fund.
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The two high-variance traps: Demonic gorillas & Vardorvis
These two sit high on the gp/hour table, but their numbers are the most misleading on the list — read the fine print before you commit a bank to them.
Demonic gorillas — ~4,656,565 gp/hour (70 kills/hour, requires Monkey Madness II, 85+ combat). That headline rate is almost entirely propped up by zenyte shards, which drop at roughly 1/300 and are worth ~15.6M each. The OSRS Wiki is blunt: without a shard, an individual kill averages only ~20,022 gp versus ~72,109 gp with drops counted in. On a dry streak you can grind for an hour and see almost nothing — then a single shard pays for the whole session. Great money over hundreds of kills, brutal on a thin bank.
Vardorvis — ~8,448,347 gp/hour (32 kills/hour, requires Desert Treasure II, 90 Attack/Strength/Defence). It's the top solo earner, but the wiki warns "the majority of the profit will exclusively come from the Ultor vestige and crafting the Soulreaper axe using the Executioner's axe head." Strip out those rare uniques and the per-kill value collapses. You also need genuine endgame melee gear (Soulreaper axe or Voidwaker, Torva, Oathplate, Infernal cape) to hit those kill rates — so it's a boss you graduate into, not one you rush.
The takeaway: gp/hour on paper ≠ gp in your bank tonight. For a small bank, a steady 3.6M/hour Vorkath beats a swingy 8.4M/hour Vardorvis you can't reliably kill or afford to gear.
What about raids and Doom of Mokhaiotl?
Solo bosses are the accessible wedge, but they're not the ceiling. If you have the team and the gear, group PvM out-earns every solo boss here: the OSRS Wiki and community rates put Doom of Mokhaiotl (the delve boss) around ~18M gp/hour at high delve levels, Theatre of Blood up to ~14.5M, Tombs of Amascut ~12M, and Chambers of Xeric ~9M. All are estimates and demand near-maxed stats, tens of millions in gear, and (for raids) a competent team or serious solo skill.
For most players the honest path is: build your bank at a solo money boss first, then use that gold to gear into raids — not the other way around. The solo bosses on this list are the bridge that gets you there.
Grind it or buy it? The honest math
Here's the part the wiki won't tell you: every gp/hour rate above is also an hourly wage you're paying yourself in time. A 3.7M/hour boss means 100M of gold is ~27 focused hours — and that's after you've already sunk dozens of hours into the stats and quests to unlock it. For a lot of players, the gear and Slayer grind to reach the fast bosses is the real cost, not the boss itself.
That's the calculation behind two shortcuts players actually use:
- Buy the gold, skip the grind. If your time is worth more than the hours, buying OSRS gold puts the bank in your account now — instantly, at the best rate — so you can gear straight into the boss you want.
- Buy the carry, skip the wall. The hardest gates aren't gp/hour, they're the capes that unlock endgame builds. A Fire Cape service or Infernal Cape service gets Jad and Zuk done for you by pro players, so you're not stuck for weeks on the one milestone standing between you and the fast money.
Neither replaces knowing the content — but both turn "40 hours from now" into "tonight."
Get to the fast money faster — timesaver.gg OSRS services:
- OSRS Gold — instant delivery — safe · best rate · fast
- OSRS Fire Cape Service — Jad done for you · pro players
- OSRS Infernal Cape Service — beat Zuk · secure
How to pick your boss (quick decision guide)
- New to bossing, small bank? → Zulrah or Vorkath. Low-to-medium variance, ~3.6–3.7M/hour, no 95-Slayer wall. Vorkath if you have DS2; Zulrah if you don't.
- Have 95 Slayer? → Alchemical Hydra at ~4.1M/hour is your best Slayer money.
- Finished Monkey Madness II, tolerant of dry streaks? → Demonic gorillas for ~4.7M/hour of fast, high-kill-count grinding (they force protection-prayer switches, so it's click-intensive, not AFK).
- Endgame account with DS2 and Torva-tier melee? → Vardorvis at ~8.4M/hour is the top solo earner.
- Have a team and raid gear? → skip solo entirely; raids and the delve boss earn 9–18M/hour.
Whatever you pick, the loop is always the same: kill the best boss you can afford now, bank the profit, reinvest into the gear or levels for the next one. For the full progression across skilling and bossing, see our OSRS money making guide, and for background-friendly earners, the best AFK money-making methods.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best money-making boss in OSRS? Among solo bosses, Vardorvis earns the most at roughly 8.4M gp/hour (OSRS Wiki, as of 7 August 2026), but it needs Desert Treasure II and endgame melee gear. The best boss for you is the highest gp/hour you can actually unlock and sustain — for most players that's Zulrah or Vorkath at ~3.6–3.7M/hour.
What's the best first money boss in OSRS? Zulrah (80 Ranged / 85 Magic) or Vorkath (90 Ranged, requires Dragon Slayer II). Both earn ~3.6–3.7M gp/hour with no 95-Slayer wall, so they're the classic bank-builders before you move to faster content.
How much money can you make bossing in OSRS? Solo money bosses realistically earn ~3.6M–8.4M gp/hour depending on the boss and your gear, per OSRS Wiki estimates. Group raids and the Doom of Mokhaiotl delve boss reach ~9M–18M gp/hour, but require near-maxed stats and a team. All figures are estimates that fluctuate with Grand Exchange prices.
Do I need 95 Slayer to make money bossing? No. 95 Slayer only gates the Alchemical Hydra. Zulrah, Vorkath, Vardorvis and demonic gorillas are all quest- and combat-gated instead, so you can make 3.6M+ gp/hour long before 95 Slayer.
Is buying OSRS gold worth it instead of grinding bosses? It depends on your time. At ~3.7M gp/hour, a big bank is dozens of focused hours after you've already unlocked the boss. If your time is worth more than the grind, buying gold or a cape carry gets you to the fast-money stage immediately — just know the content before you rely on it.
All gp/hour figures are OSRS Wiki estimates retrieved 7 August 2026 and move daily with Grand Exchange prices — verify current values at prices.runescape.wiki before committing to a method.
