Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Combat Level
- Constitution
- Attack
- Strength
- Defence
- Combat Styles
- Suggested Equipment for Combat (F2P) and (P2P)
- Training (F2P)
- Training (P2P)
- Duelling
- Related Links
Combat is thought by some as the most important part of the game RuneScape. It comes in many other different skills which can be found throughout the guide. It is simply used to kill monsters, and other players. Other players can be only killed in the Bounty Hunter, in the Duel Arena, and on PVP worlds. It also shows how experienced a player you are for the higher your level, the more respect you get. This guide covers the three aspects of melee fighting - Attack, Strength and Defence, as well as Constitution.
There are also four other skills which contribute to combat - prayer, ranged, magic and summoning. For information on these skills please refer to the respective guides
As you may or may not have noticed, every monster and player that has the ability to engage in combat has a combat level. This level summarizes your skill in combat. Your combat level is made up of these skills:
Attack
Strength
Defence
Constitution
Ranged
Magic
Summoning
Prayer
Your combat level can be ranged, magic or melee based. The maximum combat level in RuneScape is 138. Defence, Prayer, and Constitution contribute to your combat level no matter what it is based on. Attack and Strength only affect melee based combat levels. Range only affects range based combat levels, and magic only affects magic based levels.
You may notice that the combat levels of other monsters and players will appear in a color - red, green, yellow, or something in between. Enemies 10 levels or more below you will appear very green. Likewise, if they are 10 levels or more above your combat level, their level will appear very red to you. If a player or monster is the exact same combat level as you, their level will appear yellow to you. If the enemy is less than 10 levels below you, their level will appear greenish-yellow, progressing as the level gets lower; enemies above your level will appear orange.
When fighting another player or monster, you will notice that you are hitting your opponent. Red or blue "splats" will appear on you and your opponent when they are hit. The number inside the "splat" indicates how many Life Points have been taken from you. Life Points is your Constitution level x 10, so if you have 99 Constitution, you would have 990 Life Points. Once you reach 0 Life Points, you will die, and reappear in Lumbridge (or Falador if you have completed Recruitment Drive and changed your respawn point). When you die, you will keep only your three best items (or four, if you have used the prayer "Protect Item").
Attack level dictates how often you hit an enemy. In short, the higher your attack level, the less 0's you hit.
Attack level also dictates what weapons a player can wield. The higher your attack level, the stronger weapons you have the ability to wield.
To advance your Attack level, you must fight with the style Accurate. When fighting in Accurate mode, you will be given 4 experience to Attack for every 10 damage you deal to the enemy.
For example: If you deal 200 damage, you will receive 80 experience.
Weapons are what you will use in the game to attack your enemies. Certain Attack levels are required to wield the different kinds of weapons. To see the stats of individual weapons, please use the Items DB.
| Type of Armor | Image | Attack Level to Use |
| Bronze |  |
1 |
| Iron |  |
1 |
| Steel |  |
5 |
| Black |  |
10 |
| Mithril |  |
20 |
| Adamant |  |
30 |
| Rune |  |
40 |
| Dragon |  |
60 |
To find out about specific pieces of weaponry, you can use the Items DB.
Strength is the skill that allows you to hit harder on enemies. The higher your strength level, the higher you will hit on enemies.
To level Strength, you must fight in Aggressive mode. You will be given 4 experience to Strength for every 10 damage you deal to the enemy.
If you do not want to be dealt high hits, Defence is a necessity. It reduces your chance of being hit by an opponent. Note: Your magical defence is balanced in a 70% magic skill and 30% defence split.
Defence is also required to wear the different types of armor. The higher your Defence level, the stronger the armor you will be able to wear.
To advance your Defence level, you must fight in Defensive mode. When fighting with this style, you will be given 4 experience to Defence for every 10 damage you deal to the enemy.
Armor is a vital part of combat. It gives a defensive bonus, and means that you will be hit less often by your enemies. The armor you can wear depends on your defence level. The different kinds of armor and the level required are as follows:
| Type of Armor | Image | Defence Level to Use |
| Bronze |  |
1 |
| Iron |  |
1 |
| Steel |  |
5 |
| Black |  |
10 |
| Mithril |  |
20 |
| Yak-hide |  |
20 |
| Adamant |  |
30 |
| Rune |  |
40 |
| Granite |  |
50 |
| Dragon |  |
60 |
| Elf Crystal |  |
70 |
| Dragonfire shield |  |
75 |
To find out about specific pieces of armor, you can use the Items Database.
When fighting, you can choose from different types of fighting styles. There are four different styles of fighting.
Accurate:
When fighting with this style, you will be more likely to hit your opponent.. This is the fighting style you should use if you are training Attack.
Aggressive:
When fighting in Aggressive mode, you will hit much higher than with any other combat style. You should use this fighting style when training Strength.
Defensive:
When fighting in the Defensive style, will be less likely to hit you. This is the fighting style you should use when training Defence.
Controlled:
Some weapons give the option to fight in a special "Controlled" mode. When fighting Controlled, you will get a little of each. This mode of fighting gives 1.33 experience for every 10 damage to deal to the enemy, to all three melee skills - Attack, Strength and Defence, as well as Constitution.
As well as these four methods of fighting, you will see something else in the fighting styles - either Stab, Crush or Slash. Different weapons are better with certain styles, and different monsters and defenses have a weakness to these different styles, eg. Plate Armor is weak against Crush attacks.
Suggested Equipment for Combat (F2P)
Armor and weapons are vital when you are going to attack monsters and players. Below you can find the best possible combinations for F2P and P2P.
F2P:
| Name | Image |
| Rune full helm |  |
| Amulet of power |  |
| Rune platebody |  |
| Rune platelegs |  |
| Rune kiteshield |  |
| Rune Scimitar |  |
P2P:
Best outfit, for defence bonuses, not regarding Barrows Set Effects:
- Torags helm, Guthans Helm, or Veracs Helm. All helms have the same defence. Torags is the cheapest, and Veracs gives some prayer bonus. Stab +55, Slash +58, Stab +54, Magic -1, Range +62.
- Torags Body, Guthans Body, or Dharoks Body. All give the same defence bonus, but Torags Body is Cheaper. Stab +122, Slash +120, Crush +107, Magic -6, Range +132.
- Torags Legs or Dharoks Legs. Both give the same defence bonus, Torags is cheaper. Stab +85, Slash +82, Crush +83, Magic -4, Range +92.
- Amulet of Fury. Gives +10 attack, +15 defence, +8 strength, and +5 prayer.
- Dragon Boots. Stab +16, Slash +17, Crush +18, +4 Strength
- Barrows Gloves. +12 to all attack and all defence, +6 to mage attack and defence.
- Fire, Skillcape, Skillcape (t), or Obsidian Cape. Fire gives +11 to all defence, Skillcape, Skillcape (t), and Obsidian give +9 to all defence.
- Dragon Sq. Shield. Stab +50, Slash +52, Crush +48, Magic +0, Range +50.
-
Warrior Ring. +4 slash attack and defence
Defence Total With Fire Cape: Stab +366, Slash +371, Crush +348, Magic +17, Range +374. Defence Total With Skillcape, Skillcape (t), or Obsidian Cape: Stab +364, Slash +369, Crush +346, Magic +15, Range +372.
Best outfit for defence and attack bonuses, not regarding barrows set effects.
- Torags helm, Guthans Helm, or Veracs Helm. All barrows helms have the same defence. Torags is the cheapest, and Veracs gives some prayer bonus. Stab +55, Slash +58, Crush +54, Magic -1, Range +62.
- Torags Body, Guthans Body, or Dharoks Body. All give the same defence bonus, but Torags Body is Cheaper. Stab +122, Slash +120, Crush +107, Magic -6, Range +132.
- Torags Legs or Dharoks Legs. Both give the same defence bonus, Torags is cheaper. Stab +85, Slash +82, Crush +83, Magic -4, Range +92.
- Amulet of Fury. Gives +10 attack, +15 defence, +8 strength, and +5 prayer.
- Dragon Boots. Stab +16, Slash +17, Crush +18, +4 Strength
- Barrows Gloves. +12 to all attack and defence, +6 magic attack and defence.
- Fire,Skillcape, or Obsidian Cape. Fire Cape gives +1 to all attack, +11 to all defence, +4 strength, +2 prayer. Skillcape (t) gives +9 to all defene, +4 prayer. Skillcape and Obsidian give +9 to all defence.
- Rune Defender. +20 Stab, +19 Slash, +18 Crush, -3 Magic, -2 Range. These bonuses are applied to both attack and defence. Rune defender also gives +5 strength.
-
Warrior or Berserker Ring. Warrior gives +4 slash attack and defence. Berserker gives +4 Strength and +5 crush defence
Total with Warrior Ring: Attack; Stab +43, Slash +46, Crush +41, Magic -37, Range +2. Defence; Stab +336, Slash +338, Crush +318, Magic +18, Range +332. Other Bonuses; Strength +33, Prayer +7.
Total with Berserker Ring: Attack; Stab +43, Slash +42, Crush +45, Magic -37, Range +2. Defence; Stab +336, Slash +334, Crush +318, Magic +18, Range +332. Other Bonuses; Strength +37, Prayer +7.
Best outfit for training slayer and training on monsters:
- Full Guthans with Spear
- Fire, Skillcape, or Obsidian Cape
- Barrows Gloves
- Whip
- Rune Defender
- Dragon Boots
- Amulet of Fury
-
Warrior Or Berserker Ring
Use Whip and Rune defender until you are low on Life Points, then switch to guthans spear to heal yourself with the set effect. When you are healed switch back to Whip and Rune defender
Best Outfit for training in Pest Control:
- Full Dharoks
- Fire, Skillcape, or Obsidian Cape
- Barrows Gloves
- Dragon Boots
- Amulet of Fury
- Warrior Or Berserker Ring
-
Dragon Battleaxe
Go to the Digsite and get some nitroglycerin. When you are in the pest control arena, drop nitroglycerin to damage yourself. When you drop nitroglycerin it takes off 250 Life Points, so calculate how many you need to drop for the best results. After you are done dropping the nitro, use the Dragon Battleaxe special and then switch back to Dharoks Greataxe. Just continue to play pest control and use whatever attack style you want. You are almost guaranteed to get over 50 hits, and you can get a lot of xp during the game.
Best outfit for Duel Arena and Fight Pits:
- Full Veracs
- Fire Cape
- Barrows Gloves
- Dragon Boots
- Amulet of Fury
-
Warrior Or Berserker Ring
The Veracs set effect will allow you to hit through your opponents prayer and armor, which gives you a huge advantage.
Best outfit for Attack Bonus:
- Warrior Helm. +5 Slash
- Dragon Boots. +4 Strength
- Amulet of Fury. +10 to all attack, +8 Strength
- Rune Defender. +20 Stab, +19 Slash, +18 Crush, +5 Strength
- Fire Cape. +1 to all attack, +4 Strength
- Barrows Gloves. +12 to all attack, +12 Strength
- Warrior Ring. +4 Slash
-
8. Abyssal Whip. +82 Slash, +82 Strength
Total Attack Bonus: +43 Stab, +133 Slash, +41 Crush. +113 Strength
Best outfit for Strength Bonus:
- Berserker Helm. +3 Strength
- Dragon Boots. +4 Strength
- Amulet of Strength. +10 Strength
- Obsidian Shield or Rune Defender. +5 Strength
- Fire Cape. +4 Strength
- Barrows Gloves. +12 Strength
- Berserker Ring. +4 Strength
-
Abyssal Whip or Dragon BattleAxe. +82 Strength or +85 Strength
Total Strength with Whip: +122
Total Strength with Dragon Battleaxe: +125
Best outfit for Prayer bonus:
- Proselyte Sallet. +4 Prayer
- Proselyte Hauberk. +8 Prayer
- Proselyte Cuisse or Tasset. +5 Prayer
- Holy or Unholy Symbol. +8 Prayer
- Dragon Mace. +5 Prayer
- Holy Book, Unholy Book, or Book of Balance. +5 Prayer
- White Gloves. +1 Prayer
- White Boots. +1 Prayer
-
Skillcape(t). +4 Prayer
Total Prayer Bonus: +41
Note: White Gloves and White Boots are the ones that you buy from Sir Vyin, after completing the Wanted! quest.
Here is a small guide to help you to achieve some levels in combat. Please note that the monsters in this guide are just meant to help you out. If you do not agree with something in this guide, feel free to do it your own way. Also, this guide is meant for training. If you are wanting good drops, DO NOT use this guide.
Level 3:
When you first start out, we recommend you go straight to cows. The best place to find cows would be beside the Crafting Guild, south of Falador. You should keep training on cows until about Level 30 or 40. Try to use a scimitar of the best metal you can use.
Level 30 (a):
Al-Kharid Warriors are a good place to train now. They can be found in Al-Kharid Castle. These are particularly good, because you can multi-task while fighting them, as they start to attack you once you have attacked one of them. Be careful though, you might clear out the whole group of them, so you will have to go to another area of them.
Level 30 (b):
Another place you could train at Level 30 is at the Dwarf Mines, on dwarves. There are plenty up the top near the trapdoor to go down. There are also some near the anvils.
Level 30 (c):
Another place to train is Dark Wizards. These can be found in the wilderness north of the Dwarf Mines, and near Delrith, south of Varrock. These auto-attack, so this is another place you can multi-task.
Level 30 (d):
Level 13 zombies are good to train on. They can be found in Varrock Sewers and inside the Edgeville Dungeon, but you will not find too many close together.
Level 40 (a):
Hill Giants are where you should be heading now. They are found in the Edgeville Dungeon. You can get a Brass Key which gives you access to a ladder that leads straight to the Hill Giants.
Level 40 (b):
Remember the cows you trained at earlier? You might have noticed some hobgoblins right next to them. Here is where you should train now. Try and keep to the Level 28 ones. You can also kill them in the Edgeville Dungeon, as shown below.
Level 40 (c):
Ghosts are another good place to train. They can be found in Melzar's Maze, and for members, they can also be found inside the Taverley Dungeon.
Level 40 (d):
Level 24 zombies are another option. They can be found in the Varrock Sewers.
Level 50:
Jail guards are a great way to gain experience. They are found near Draynor Village. Once you attack one, they will all attack you, so once again, you can multi-task. There is no need to worry about food either - once you die, just walk from Lumbridge back to the Jail Guards (do not have more than 3 items with you if you are using this method). You can keep training on these until Level 70 and beyond, or you can move on.
Level 60 (a):
If you still have the key to Melzar's Maze from the Dragon Slayer quest, the skeletons are a great way to train. You can also find Level 45 skeletons in the cave where you find Elvarg. They can also be found just north of Chaos Druids in Edgeville Wilderness Dungeon, which is members-only.
Level 60 (b):
If you want a change, you could try Deadly red spiders. These are found on Crandor and in the Varrock Sewers.
Level 70 (a):
You are starting to get to the point where it is getting very hard to find good monsters to train on. You will do perfectly well if you are still with Jail Guards. You should stick with whatever you have found to be good experience previously.
Level 70 (b):
Lesser demons are good to train on at around this level. They have quite a low defence, so are quite easy to kill. Occasionally you may be able to snag a Rune med helm. You can find them on and below Crandor Isle.
By now, you should be starting to get an idea about where is good to train and where is not. You can keep training at the places suggested here, or you can go off and find yourself some wonderful training places!
Being a member makes training combat unimaginably easier.
Level 30:
Rock crabs are an excellent way to gain experience. You will find these little critters in Rellekka. You can train on these great little things until around Level 60 or 70.
Level 40 (a):
Chaos druids are good to gain experience on, and they also give great loot - herbs. They can drop two herbs at a time, and they almost always drop at least one. The best place to find them is in Edgeville Dungeon in about Level 2 Wilderness, but you can also find some in the Taverley Dungeon.
Level 40 (b):
Thugs are good to train on around this level. They drop herbs, and you may also get yourself a low level clue. They can be found right next to the Chaos druids, at the start of the Wilderness in Edgeville Dungeon.
Level 60:
Experiments are another awesome way to gain experience. They are only Level 25, and they have 1000 Life Points, giving you an ability to hit massively upon them, while they can hardly hurt you. These are good all the way until Level 126!
Level 85:
If you have done Legends Quest, the Shadow warriors in the Legends Guild are a great place to train.
Magic axes in the axe hut in Level 56 Wilderness are good training, too. They will attack you automatically, so you can be a bit lazy here. Remember that this is in the Wilderness, so only take three valuable items with you. You will also need a picklock to enter the hut.
Level 100:
If you have started Monkey Madness, Monkey guards in the temple above the King is a great place to train! The best part is that there is no need for food because your food is simply the altar.
Please note that 43+ Prayer is required unless you want to be beaten by monkeys. 2-3 Antipoison(4) is also a must otherwise level 1 Spider's wandering around will poison you. Monkey Guards CAN trap you next to difference objects and make you run out of prayer before you can recharge so a quick teleport option or prayer potion is recommended. A Monkey Greegree is not required but recommended (Monkeys will become unaggressive if you are wearing the Monkey Greegree).
After completing the Defender of Varrock quest, you will have access to a new training monster: the Armoured zombies. You will have a chaos altar near to recharge your prayer, so using protect from melee or protect from ranged prayers is recommended while using initiate or proseltye (after completing Slug menace) armor to reduce the prayer drain rate. For the method previously mentioned, you may use a full set of Dharok's armor after getting your Life Points down to 100-150. Another good way to train on these is bringing Dragon armor or another Barrow set to use. Bringing a Bunyip familiar while using the piety prayer would be an advantage.
Note: To increase the rate of experience received per hour, wearing a Salve amulet or a Salve amulet (e) is essential.
Duelling allows two players to engage in combat. If you die in a duel, you end up in Duel Arena with full health. To request a duel with another player, right click on him/her and click duel with ____. That will send a duel request to the person you want to duel with. If they accept your request the duel screen will open up. If someone sends a duel request to you, to accept you must request to duel with them. In the duel screen there are a few things you will see:
-
Your stake: Not only does duelling allow two players to see who is a better fighter, but it also allows them to put up a stake. The winner of the duel is the person who kills his/her opponent. If you kill your opponent in a duel, ONLY their stake will appear on the ground, as well as bones. To put up a stake, click on an item in 'Your inventory' and it will be added to your stake.
-
Opponent's stake: 'Opponent's stake' shows your opponent's stake.
-
Your inventory: 'Your inventory' shows everything in your inventory. To add an item to your stake, click on it.
-
Checkbox for 'No retreating': The no retreating checkbox allows to players to fight to death. If this checkbox is filled, no one can retreat, or teleport out of the duel.
-
Checkbox for 'No prayers': The 'No prayers' checkbox disallows the use of prayers during the whole duel.
-
Checkbox for 'No magic': The 'No magic' checkbox disallows the use of magic during the whole duel.
- Checkbox for 'No weapons': 'No weapons' disallows the use of ALL worn items. Not just weapons.
- Checkbox for 'Fun weapons': The 'fun weapons' checkbox disables the ability to attack your opponent with anything that is no a "fun weapon" (i.e. Rubber chicken, easter carrot, mouse toy, etc.).
- Checkbox for 'No summoning': The 'No summoning' checkbox will disable both your and your opponent's ability to summon familiars during the battle.
- Checkbox for 'No food': The 'No food' checkbox will disable both your and your opponent's ability to restore Life Points by eating food (i.e. Lobster, Shark, Summer pie, etc.)
- Checkbox for 'No potions': The 'No potions' checkbox will disable both you and your opponent's ability to drink any kind of potion during the battle.
-
'Accept' button: If you and your opponent click the 'Accept' button you will be brought to the next screen which shows a list of both your stakes, and what is allowed and what is not. In that screen there is an accept button also, and if you and your opponent accept, your duel will start.
- The 'Decline' button closes the duel screen.
For more information on Duelling, see the Duel Arena guide.
These are the skill guides to the other aspects of combat:
Magic Guide
Prayer Guide
Ranged Guide
Summoning Guide
You can also use some calculators that will help you. There is also a handy calculator for calculating your combat level (among other things): Combat Calculator
