31 articlesIf you’re out there Sailing in Old School RuneScape (OSRS), it’s a good idea to maximize your combat efficiency by doing more damage with cannons.
The cannons are, after all, your main source of damage while out at sea. Sure, you can use ranged weapons and the like, but cannons are the main element of naval combat!
In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to optimize your Sailing combat damage.
How to Do More Damage With Cannons | OSRS: Sailing Combat Guide
The first thing you’ll want to do to maximize your combat while sailing is to reach level 50. We have a leveling guide that can help you get there, if you need it.
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OSRS: Leagues 6 Guide for Fast & Easy PointsApr 9, 2026The main benefit of Level 50 is that you’ll unlock the sloop for purchase from any Shipwright. This ship allows you to have two cannons, one on each side of the ship!
So, once you get the sloop, you’ll want to build a second cannon on your ship as soon as possible. You can do that via the upgrade and customization interface at any Shipwright.
Also, make sure to upgrade your cannons as much as possible. The higher the cannon’s tier is, the more damage it can deal. Aim to have Rune Cannons at Level 80 and Dragon Cannons shortly after reaching Level 92.
Crew Management
The extra cannon isn’t the only benefit to the sloop! Aside from that, you can also have up to 5 NPCs as part of your crew on it, up from the 2 NPCs on a skiff. This is important, as you’ll want to have 2 crewmates designated to man the cannons.
Make sure to get crewmates with the highest Privateering stat possible, as that allows them to use higher tiers of cannons. There are two NPCs that would be your best bet here:
- Oarswoman Olga – Found at Burgh de Rott. You can recruit her at Sailing Level 65 after completing the “In Aid of the Myreque” quest.
- Jittery Jim – Found at Port Khazard. Can be recruited at Sailing Level 70 without any other prerequisites.
Both of these NPCs have 4 Privateering, which is the highest possible stat. It allows them to man the Rune and Dragon tier of cannons!
A benefit of having your NPCs handle the cannons is that it also frees you from doing so. That means you can use ranged weapons to deal extra damage while in naval combat, for example. It adds up instead of relying on just cannons.
Besides Privateering, it also helps to have an NPC with a focus on Deckhandiness. Those NPCs can use Repair Kits to fix your boat, which can help during combat. However, you can also just manually use Repair Kits yourself, if you wish.
Other Tips
Besides your cannons and crew, you can also boost your cannons’ damage by placing a Keg on your boat. This is a Facility, so you can place it on your sloop the same way as the cannons.
Fill this Keg with the Perildance Bitter ale to increase the max hit of your cannons by +1. You can get this ale from Chartin’ Charles McAtless at Pandemonium Cave.
However, you’ll need to chart 8 seas in the Western Ocean and 5 seas in the Shrouded Ocean first. So, enjoy doing some sailing and exploring to get this one!
While in combat itself, you can also do a bit of a “trick” to make both of your cannons fire at a target. Like the clip above shows, you should sway your boat from side to side so that the cannons take turns firing.
Lastly, we recommend not necessarily using the highest tier of cannonballs for your cannons. As you can see on the chart above, Rune and Dragon cannonballs do the highest max damage.
However, they are also very expensive, so they are generally not worth the cost. We recommend sticking to lower-tier cannonballs, even if you sacrifice some damage by doing so. It’s just more cost-effective overall.
Nonetheless, that’s the end of our Sailing combat guide for OSRS, so you now know how to do more damage with your cannons! No sea creature shall stand in your way now!
Speaking of sea creatures, are you trying to farm the Vampyre Krakens? Well, there’s a trick to do so without risks! Check out our Vampyre Kraken safespot guide for more information.
