In Old School RuneScape (OSRS), Agility once seemed to be useful only for shortcuts and running without resting. However, a significant update on January 19, 2010, made the skill more valuable by linking it to other activities like Fishing, Thieving, and Hunter. High Agility levels now offer meaningful benefits in these skills, allowing players to catch more fish, pickpocket more loot, and even catch butterflies barehanded.
Agility and Fishing
With higher Agility levels, players can catch multiple fish at once. For instance:
- At 35 Fishing and 35 Agility, players can catch two tuna at once using Barbarian Fishing.
- At 50 Fishing and 50 Agility, players have a chance to catch two swordfish at the same time, also using Barbarian Fishing.
- At 76 Agility, players can catch two sharks at once, including barehanded fishing. It makes high Agility particularly useful for maximizing Fishing efficiency.
Agility and Hunter
Agility also helps in Hunter, allowing players to catch butterflies barehanded:
- Ruby Harvest butterflies (woodland) can be caught with 80 Hunter and 75 Agility.
- Sapphire Glacialis butterflies (polar) require 85 Hunter and 80 Agility.
- Snowy Knight butterflies (polar) need 90 Hunter and 85 Agility.
- Black Warlock butterflies (jungle) can be caught with 95 Hunter and 90 Agility.
These barehanded catches save time and make Agility an essential skill for Hunter enthusiasts.
Agility and Thieving
For Thieving, higher Agility levels improve your ability to pickpocket more loot from NPCs:
- As you level up Thieving and Agility, you can steal double, triple, or even quadruple the loot from a single pickpocket attempt.
- While the chance of a successful multiple loot pickpocket increases with your levels, it’s unclear if this continues to scale beyond quadruple loot.
Overall Impact
The update significantly enhanced the utility of Agility in OSRS, making it far more than just a support skill for running or shortcuts. It now plays a role in boosting productivity for both gathering (Fishing, Hunter) and money-making (Thieving). This increased flow of fish, seeds, and coins into the game has had minor economic effects, such as slightly reducing commodity prices and contributing to inflation due to the influx of coins. However, these changes have remained minimal.
With these updates, Agility has become more rewarding to train, providing tangible benefits across multiple other skills.
