OSRS Rock Crabs Guide: Locations & XP Per Hour

Rock Crabs are NPCs used to train any combat style, be it strength, offense, defense, ranged, or magic. They are found north of Rellekka and have a special awakening mechanic: they are rocks that wake up when you walk next to them and begin attacking you. They are not as AFK-friendly as Sand Crabs, but they are definitely less crowded, which makes them a method worth considering when leveling up. Furthermore, they offer an excellent balance between XP, AFK time, and safety, especially for players who haven't yet unlocked Sand Crabs or Ammonite Crabs. It is advisable to bring stamina potions since they need to be awakened in order to be attacked, which means a high consumption of run between trains.

Location

Rock Crabs can be found in two main areas:

North of Rellekka — Along the northeastern coast near the beach.

Waterbirth Island — Accessible by talking to Jarvald in Rellekka.

West of Mount Quidamortem

Both locations have multiple crab spawns and are great for AFK training.

How to Get There

Using a Player-Owned House in Rellekka

• If you have 30+ Construction, you can set your house location to Rellekka.
• Use a House Teleport or Teleport to House tablet to arrive nearby.
• This makes repeated trips to the crabs fast and easy.

Using Someone Else’s Maxed House

Join a house party world (World 330), find a Portal Nexus, and use it to teleport directly to Waterbirth Island.

  Traditional Travel

• Use a Camelot Teleport (standard spellbook).
• Run northwest to Seers’ Village, then further north to Rellekka.
• Speak to Jarvald to travel to Waterbirth Island for a small fee

Training at Rock Crabs

Once there, you’ll find multiple Rock Crabs disguised as rocks scattered across the coast.

• Stand in the middle of a 2 spawn points to keep multiple crabs attacking at once.

• Simply walk near them — they’ll become aggressive and start attacking.
  
  

How to Aggro Rock Crabs

Rock Crabs begin combat when you walk near their rock-like form. They’ll remain aggressive for about 10–15 minutes.

Once they stop attacking:

1. Run far away
2. Then return — they’ll re-aggro.
   On the island, you can run from one side to the other to reset their aggression efficiently with 1-2 clicks.

Tip: If you are using Runelite, you can use the aggressive monsters plugin, which shows you the timer of how much time you have left before they stop attacking you because they are aggressive.

XP Rates at Rock Crabs

EXP Rates

Ammonite crabs are known to provide the highest experience rates of any crab in OSRS. When training with Ammonite crabs, here are the different experience rates that you should expect depending on your combat method.

  Experience rates when training melee

You can get about 4,000 average XP per hour from levels 1 to 20.

From levels 20 to 40, you can expect to gain about 9,000 XP per hour on average.

From levels 40 to 60, you can gain up to 25,000 XP per hour by using a dragon scimitar.

If you decide to kill rock crabs until you reach 99 melee combat, you should start gaining 50,000-70,000 experience per hour if you use the best combat gear you can find.  

• Low levels (1-50): ~9–12k XP/hr
• Mid-levels (60–80): ~25–40k XP/hr
• High levels (90+): ~50–70k XP/hr

  Experience rates when training magic

When training magic at rock crabs, you should expect about up to 30,000-70,000 experience per hour from level 60 to 99 magic. The recommended spell to use is the fire wave, but this method is expensive, and it may be worth considering options that are similar in cost but have faster experience rates, such as ice bursting/barrage maniacal monkeys.

• Low levels (1-50): ~5–9k XP/hr
• Mid-levels (60–80): ~15–30k XP/hr
• High levels (90+): ~40–60k XP/hr

  Experience rates when training ranged

Beginning levels are quite quick when training at ammonite crabs, and when you get to 70 ranged, you can expect to gain up to 50,000 experience per hour, and as you get closer to 99 ranged, you can gain up to 90,000 experience per hour.

• Low levels (1-50): ~9–12k XP/hr
• Mid-levels (60–80): ~25–40k XP/hr
• High levels (90+): ~50–70k XP/hr

These XP rates can be increased with the use of Dwarf Cannon.

Dwarf Cannon

For faster kills, more alternative exp, and better efficiency when making Rock Crabs, it is advisable to bring a cannon with you in your inventory.

Finding an Empty World

Rock Crab spots can fill up, especially on populated worlds.

• Use the RuneLite World Hopper to quickly switch between worlds.
• Waterbirth Island is usually less crowded than Rellekka’s mainland coast.
  
  

Sand Crabs vs. Rock Crabs

Rock Crabs are great for beginners; Sand Crabs are the next natural step up once you can reach Kourend, which is a really easy task to complete.

Drops

  Weapons
Bronze pickaxe (1/21.33), Iron pickaxe (1/25.6)

  Seaweed
Seaweed (1/32), Seaweed ×2 (1/32), Seaweed ×5 (1/64), Edible seaweed ×2 (1/64)

  Ores
Tin ore ×3 (1/32), Iron ore (1/64), Coal ×2 (1/64), Copper ore ×3 (1/64)

  Oyster
Oyster ×2 (1/10.67), Oyster (1/14.22), Empty oyster (1/42.67), Empty oyster ×3 (1/128), Oyster pearl (1/128)

  Coins
Coins ×4 (1/4.414), Coins ×36 (1/16), Coins ×8 (1/21.33)

  Other
Fishing bait ×10 (1/64), Opal bolt tips ×5 (1/64), Spinach roll (1/128), Casket (1/128)

  Gem Drop Table
Uncut sapphire (1/512; 1/260), Uncut emerald (1/1,024; 1/520), Uncut ruby (1/2,048; 1/1,040), Nature talisman (1/5,461; 1/2,773), Uncut diamond (1/8,192; 1/4,160), Loop half of key (1/16,384; 1/8,320), Tooth half of key (1/16,384; 1/8,320), Rune javelin ×5 (1/16,384; 1/8,320), Rune spear (1/262,144; 1/15,600), Shield left half (1/524,288; 1/31,200), Dragon spear (1/699,051; 1/41,600)

  Tertiary
Clue scroll (easy) (1/128)

Conclusion

Yes, it's old content. They retain the essence of the first time many trained their accounts, and there are now better places to go, but the fact that it's no longer as crowded may make it a relatively good option.
No requirements, safe combat, easy access, and steady XP make them a perfect starting point for all combat styles. Once you outgrow them, move on to Sand Crabs or Ammonite Crabs for faster XP and more AFK potential.