Created by: pur3 the

Created: May 29, 2007


Introduction

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 throught the guide. It is simply used to kill monsters, and other players. Other players can be only killed in the wilderness or in a dueling arena. 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 hitpoints.

There are also three other skills which contribute to combat - prayer, ranged and magic. For information on these skills please refer to the respective guides

Combat Level

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 summarises your skill in combat. Your combat level is made up of these skills:

Attack
Strength
Defence
Hitpoints
Ranged
Magic
Prayer

Your combat level can be ranged, magic or melee based. The maximum combat level in RuneScape is 126. Defence, Prayer and Hitpoints 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.

Hitpoints

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 hitpoints have been taken from you. Once you reach 0 hitpoints, 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

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 for every hit you deal to the enemy.

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 Weapon	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

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 hit you deal to the enemy.

Defence

If you don't 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 armour. The higher your defence level, the stronger armour you have the ability 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 hit you deal to the enemy.

Armour is a vital part of combat. It gives a defensive bonus, and means that you will be hit less often by your enemies. The armour you can wear depends on your defence level. The different kinds of armour and the level required are as follows:

Type of Armour	Defence Level to Use
Bronze	1
Iron	1
Steel	5
Black	10
Mithril	20
Adamant	30
Rune	40
Dragon	60
Elf Crystal	70 (50 agility needed)

To find out about specific pieces of armor, you can use the Items DB.Combat Styles

When fighting, you can choose from different types of fighting styles. There are four different styles of fighting.

Combat Styles

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 Agressive 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 per hit to all three melee skills - Attack, Strength and Defence, as well as hitpoints.

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 defences have a weakness to these different styles, eg. Plate Armour is weak against Crush attacks.

Suggested Equipment for Combat (F2P) and (P2P)

Armour and weapons are vital when you are going to attack monsters. I am going to give you pictures and what name it is to tell you what you should wear and wield when attacking monsters. It is recommended you have 41 attack and defence when you attempt to wear these. (These are directed towards F2pers).

Name    

Rune Full Helm    Diamond Amulet (power ammy)    Rune Platebody    Rune Platelegs    Rune Kiteshield    Rune Scimitar

Suggested Equipment for Combat (P2P)

Here are the best outfits for P2P:

Best outfit, For defense bonuses, not regarding Barrows Set Effects:

    * Torags helm, Guthans Helm, or Veracs Helm. All helms have the same defense. 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 defense 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 defense bonus, Torags is cheaper. Stab +85, Slash +82, Crush +83, Magic -4, Range +92.
    * Amulet of Fury. Gives +10 attack, +15 defense, +8 strength, and +5 prayer.
    * Rune Boots. Stab +12, Slash +13, Crush +14, +2 Strength
    * Barrows Gloves. +12 to all attack and all defense, +6 to mage attack and defense.
    * Fire, Skillcape, Skillcape (t), or Obsidian Cape. Fire gives +11 to all defense, Skillcape, Skillcape (t), and Obsidian give +9 to all defense.
    * Dragon Sq. Shield. Stab +50, Slash +52, Crush +48, Magic +0, Range +50.
    * Warrior Ring. +4 slash attack and defense

      Defense Total With Fire Cape: Stab +362, Slash +367, Crush +344, Magic +17, Range +374. Defense Total With Skillcape, Skillcape (t), or Obsidian Cape: Stab +360, Slash +365, Crush +342, Magic +15, Range +372.

Best outfit for defense and attack bonuses, not regarding barrows set effects:

    * Torags helm, Guthans Helm, or Veracs Helm. All barrows helms have the same defense. 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 defense 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 defense bonus, Torags is cheaper. Stab +85, Slash +82, Crush +83, Magic -4, Range +92.
    * Amulet of Fury. Gives +10 attack, +15 defense, +8 strength, and +5 prayer.
    * Rune Boots. Stab +12, Slash +13, Crush +14, +2 Strength.
    * Barrows Gloves. +12 to all attack and defense, +6 magic attack and defense.
    * Fire,Skillcape, or Obsidian Cape. Fire Cape gives +1 to all attack, +11 to all defense, +4 strength, +2 prayer. Skillcape (t) gives +9 to all defense, +4 prayer. Skillcape and Obsidian give +9 to all defense.
    * Rune Defender. +20 Stab, +19 Slash, +18 Crush, -3 Magic, -2 Range. These bonuses are applied to both attack and defense. Rune defender also gives +5 strength.
    * Warrior or Berserker Ring. Warrior gives +4 slash attack and defense. Berserker gives +4 Strength and +5 crush defense

      Total with Warrior Ring: Attack; Stab +43, Slash +46, Crush +41, Magic -37, Range +2. Defense; Stab +332, Slash +334, Crush +314, Magic +18, Range +332. Other Bonuses; Strength +31, Prayer +7.

      Total with Berserker Ring: Attack; Stab +43, Slash +42, Crush +45, Magic -37, Range +2. Defense; Stab +332, Slash +330, Crush +314, Magic +18, Range +332. Other Bonuses; Strength +35, 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
    * Rune Boots
    * Amulet of Fury
    * Warrior Or Berserker Ring

      Use Whip and Rune defender until you are low on health, 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
    * Rune 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 25 hitpoints, 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
    * Rune 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
    * Rune Boots or Climbing Boots. +2 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
    * Rune Boots or Climbing Boots. +2 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.

A Good Way to Level Combat (and earn some cash)

Here, I am going to give you steps on to how you can level your combat. These rules apply for F2P and P2P can follow these as well.

   1. Once you get off Tutorial Island, sell your shield and sword which was given to you. You will get a little money. Now, with your axe given to you for woodcutting, chop normal tree's and sell them to the general store. You will get short amounts of money each time. Continue doing this until you have about 10k. Once your woodcuting level hit's about 25, continue doing this with oak logs.

   2. You have your 10k, it is time to get your proper armour. Go to Al Kharid, and go to Zeke's Scimitar's. Buy an iron scimitar. Now, go to Varrock. Ask people to sell you a full iron plate armour with iron kite shield for about 2-3k. 4k tops. Wear all of this. Now, go back to Lumbridge. Train your attack to level 21 on goblin's behind the general store.

   3. Now that you are level 21 attack, go to Al Kharid again at Zeke's Scimitars. Unwield your scimitar and sell it to him. Now, go and buy a mithril scimitar. Now, go back to Lumbridge and train your defence and strength to level 21. Defence first.

   4. Once these are both level 21, I suggest you start training prayer, by buring all bones that you have obtained from monsters that you kill. Go back to Varrock. Say, selling full iron plate armour with kite shield for 3k 5678 to buy. Sell this and now it is time to buy good armour. All item's obtained from goblin's should have been sold, and you will have a good amount of money. If you have 15-20k, it is time for mithril armour. Ask people for full mithril plate armour and kite shield for 15k-20k.

   5. Once you have your armour, It is time to go and kill. Go to Varrock Sewer's. Go and kill the lower leveled zombie's towards the entrance of the sewer's. Keep killing them until all of your stat's are 41, except for strength, which should be 51. Complete all quest's that are possible, and enter the champ's guild. Start doing the Dragon Slayer Quest. Info about this can be found here. Once this is completed, you will get a very good strength and defence bonus.

   6. Now, it is time to take up one of the profitable skills. The main 2 I suggest are woodcutting or mining. Do this until you have 250k. Now, buy a full rune plate armour with rune kite shield and scimitar. Then, continue training on lesser demon's at Karamja Volcano. They drop valuable item's which can be sold for a high price.

Training (F2P)

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 don't 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, I 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 (do other things) 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, 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 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.

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 in Taverley Dungeon.

Level 40 (d):
Level 24 zombies are another option. They can be found in 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. And no need to worry about food either - once you die, just walk from Lumbridge back to the Jail Guards (don't have more than 3 items 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've still got 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 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. My advice is to stick with whatever you have found to be good experience previously.

Level 70 (b):
Lessers 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. You can find them in Crandor.

By now, you should be starting to get an idea about where is good to train and where isn't. You can keep training at the places suggested here, or you can go off and find yourself some wonderful training places!

Training (P2P)

Being a member makes training combat unimaginably easier. Here I will note down some good training places that are members-only (also use the F2P guide, as I will not be repeating parts of

Level 30:
Rock crabs are an excellent way to gain experience. You will find these little critters in Relekka. 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 2 herbs at a time, and they almost always drop at least 1. The best place to find them is in Edgeville Dungeon in about Level 2 Wilderness, but you can also find some in Taverly 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 100 hitpoints, 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.


By now, you should have a pretty good idea about where you should train, so I'll leave it to you.

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 this is in the Wilderness, so only take 3 valuable items with you. You will also need a picklock to enter the hut.

Player Killing

As well as being able to fight the many monsters in the world of RuneScape, you can also fight directly with other players. You cannot engage in combat with other players just anywhere, you have to be in the Wilderness. Fighting with players is often very dangerous, as their attack styles vary much more than that of monsters.

In multiway combat areas, you will often be ambushed by a team of Player Killers (PK'ers).

Killing other players can reap great benefits. When you attack another player, a skull will appear above your head. This means that whenever you die, you will lose all of your items, you won't keep your 3 best items. After 20 minutes of playing (without attacking another player) your skull will disappear.

When you are in the wilderness, you will notice a skull and crossbones at the bottom right of the screen. Underneat this icon will be the "level". This dicates what levels you will be able to attack - how many levels away from your own you may attack. For example, if you were level 86, and you were in Level 4 Wilderness, you would be able to attack other players as low as Level 82, or as high as Level 90.

Player Killing

Brief Summary:
The Wilderness is a huge area in RuneScape that allows players to attack each other. Let's say your combat level is 25. When you enter the Wilderness you will start at level 1. This means that people with a combat level within 1 of you can attack you. At level 10, you can attack players with a combat level of 15-35. Warning! Players with a level 35 combat can attack you in level 10 wilderness (if you are a level 25)! The indicator which tells you what Wilderness level you are in is located at the bottom right of the screen.The wilderness is not mapped on the official RuneScape map, but it is on our map. The wilderness extends to level 48 for Freeplay, and 56 for members.

Dueling

Dueling is a members-only feature. Dueling allows two players to engage in combat without having to go to the wilderness. 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:

   1. Your stake: Not only does dueling 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.

   2. Opponent's stake: 'Opponent's stake' shows your opponent's stake.

   3. Your inventory: 'Your inventory' shows everything in your inventory. To add an item to your stake, click on it.

   4. 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.

   5. Checkbox for 'No prayers': The 'No prayers' checkbox disallows the use of prayers during the whole duel.

   6. Checkbox for 'No magic': The 'No magic' checkbox disallows the use of magic during the whole duel.

   7. Checkbox for 'No weapons': 'No weapons' disallows the use of ALL worn items. Not just weapons.

   8. '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.

   9. The 'Decline' button closes the duel screen.

Conclusion

We hope this has given you an idea on what combat is all about. If we have left anything out, or you feel that something should be added, please do not hesitate to post in the forum Submission Boards.