Combat - RuneScape Guide

Combat

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 throughout the guide. It is simply used to kill monsters, and other players. Other players can only be killed in the Wilderness and the Duel 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 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.

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Table of Contents:

Combat Level
Combat Interfaces
Attack
Strength
Defence
Constitution and Respawn Locations
How to use Abilities and Adrenaline
Training (P2P)
Training (F2P)
Related Links
Temporary level boosts and Quest rewards

Combat level:

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
Ranged
Magic

Your combat level can be ranged, magic or melee based. The minimum combat level is 4 and the maximum is 200. This is calculated by the following formula:

2 + Defence + X
where X is the highest of Attack, Strength, Ranged, or Magic.

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.

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The Combat Interfaces:

Combat tab:

By clicking on the Combat tab, you can view you and your opponent's basic combat information:

XP interface:

The XP interface allows you to select which combat skill you wish to train while fighting.

Melee combat allows you to train Attack, Strength and Defence separately or by dividing the experience between them equally. Magic combat allows you to train Magic and Defence together or separately or together and Ranged combat allows you to train Ranged and Defence together or separately. Constitution is automatically trained alongside all other combat skills.

Action bar:

The Action bar is where you can assign any of the abilities from the Ability book for use in combat. Once you've assigned an ability (drag and drop from the book into one of the keybinds), you can customize the hotkey used to activate that ability.

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Attack:

Attack level dictates how often you hit an enemy. In short, the higher your Attack level, the more often 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 select Attack from the XP interface. When fighting, 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.

Abilities:

Attack Abilities
	Ability Name	Ability Type	Attack Level	Weapon Requirement	Cooldown	Description
	Slice	Basic	1	None	5 Seconds	Slice your target for upto 125% weapon damage. n addition, has a 10% greater chance of being a critical hit.
	Slaughter	Threshold	1	None	30 Seconds	Cause your target to bleed for between 100-250% weapon damage over 5 seconds. If the target moves location, they suffer 3x damage.
	Overpower	Ultimate	2	None	30 Seconds	Overpower your target, dealing damage upto 200-400% weapon damage.
	Havoc	Basic	7	Dual-weild melee	10 Seconds	Instantly attack with both weapons for 100% of both weapons' damage.
	Backhand	Basic	15	None	15 Seconds	Smack your target with the back of your hand, stunning them for 3 seconds. Targets immune to stun instead suffer 188% weapon damage.
	Smash	Basic	25	Two-handed melee	10 Seconds	Smash your target for up to 125% weapon damage, disabling protection prayers in PvP.
	Barge	Basic	34	None	20 Seconds	Shoulder-barge your target, stunning it for 3 seconds on contact. Targets immune to stun instead suffer upto 188% weapon damage.
	Flurry	Threshhold	37	Dual-weild melee	20 Seconds	Perform a flurry of blows against your surrounding targets, dealing up to 80% weapon damage per hit over 6 seconds. Should any one blow miss, the remaining hits will aim at the origional target. Combo attack.
	Sever	Basic	45	None	30 Seconds	Sever a tendon, dealing upto 188% weapon damage and reducing any damage they deal by 10% for 10 seconds.
	Hurricane	Threshold	55	Two-handed melee	20 Seconds	Spin on the spot, dealing up to 188% weapon damage to all adjacent targets.
	Massacre	Ultimate	66	Dual-weild melee	60 Seconds	Rend your targets, dealing damage instantly and causing an additional 157% of both weapons' damage over 6 seconds.
	Meteor Strike	Ultimate	81	Two-handed melee	60 Seconds	Crash down on your target with the force of a meteir, dealing damage equal upto 250-350% weapon damage. Only usable on targets with over 50% life points remaining.
	Balanced Strike*	Ultimate	85	None	120 Seconds	Strike your target, restoring balance. If you have a smaller percentage of your lifepoints than they do of their lifepoints, your target will take the difference as a percentage of their lifepoints in damage. You will be healed for half the difference as a percentage of lifepoints. Be cautious: if you have more health than your target the effects will be reversed! You will take the damage and they will be healed!

* Requires completion of The World Wakes.

Weapons:

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	Image	Attack Level to Use
Bronze		1
Iron		10
Steel		20
Black		25
Mithril		30
Adamant		40
Rune		50
Dragon		60
Barrows		70
Godswords		75
Chaotic*		80
Drygore		90

*With 80 Dungeoneering.

To find out about specific pieces of weaponry, you can use the Items DB.

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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 10 damage you deal to the enemy.

Abilities:

Strength Abilities
	Ability Name	Ability Type	Strength Level	Weapon Requirement	Cooldown	Description
	Kick	Basic	3	None	15 Seconds	Kick your target, knocking them back and stunning them for 3 seconds. Targets immune to stun instead suffer 188% weapon damage.
	Punish	Basic	8	None	5 Seconds	Punish your target's mistakes, dealing 100% weapon damage, or 135% weapon damage if they're stunned.
	Dismember	Basic	14	None	30 Seconds	Dismember your target, dealing 125% weapon damage over 6 seconds.
	Fury	Basic	24	None	20 Seconds	Unleash your fury, dealing damage equal to 150% of 6 seconds' auto-attack damage to your target over 6 seconds. Combo attack
	Destroy	Threshold	37	Dual-weild melee	20 Seconds	Perform a destructive attack, dealing damage equal to 188% weapon damage to your target over 6 seconds, during which time they are also stunned. Combo Attack
	Quake	Threshold	37	Two-handed melee	20 Seconds	Smash your weapon into the ground beneath you, dealing up to 100% weapon damage to all adjacent targets also draining 5% of all targets Defence level if they are above 90%.
	Berserk	Ultimate	42	None	60 Seconds	Harness your adrenaline to increase all damage dealt, but also all damage received, by 100% for 20 seconds. Also reduces armour rating by 50%.
	Cleave	Basic	48	Two-handed melee	10 Seconds	Cleave through your foes, dealing 125% weapon damage to all targets in a frontal cone.
	Assault	Threshold	55	None	30 Seconds	Assault your target, dealing damage equal to 219% of 6 seconds' auto-attack damage to your target over 6 seconds. Combo attack.
	Decimate	Basic	67	Dual-weild melee	10 Seconds	Decimate your target's defences, dealing 100% of both weapons' damage, 0r 157% of both weapons' damage if they are bearing a shield.
	Pulverise	Ultimate	81	Two-handed melee	60 Seconds	Pulverise your target, dealing 219% weapon damage and reducing their damage dealt by 25% for 20 seconds.
	Frenzy	Ultimate	86	Dual-Wield melee	60 Seconds	Perfoem a frenzied attack lasting 10 seconds. Targets standing directly in front of you take damage upto 110% of weapon damage every 2 seconds. Each subsequent hit gains an additional 10% damage. Combo Attack.

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Defence:

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.

Abilities:

Defence Abilities
	Ability Name	Ability Type	Defence Level	Weapon Requirement	Cooldown	Description
	Anticipation	Basic	3	None	24 Seconds	Concentrate on anticipating your foe's attacks, reducing all damage taken by 10% and providing immunity from stuns for 10 seconds.
	Bash	Basic	8	Shield	15 Seconds	Bashyour target with your shield, stunning them for 3 seconds. Targets immune to stun instead suffer 188% weapon damage.
	Revenge	Threshold	15	Shield	45 Seconds	Enact revenge upon your foes, causing any attacks you receive to increase your damage delt by 10%, stacking up 100%. Lasts 20 seconds.
	Provoke	Basic	24	None	10 Seconds	Taunt your target, forcing them to focus their attacks on you. Player targets have their damage reduced by 50% when attacking anyone other than yourself. However, you also do 50% less damage when attacking any other player. Lasts 6 seconds.
	Immortality	Ultimate	29	Shield	120 Seconds	Any damage you receive is reduced by 25% for 30 seconds. If you should die during this period, you will miraculously return to life. However, the Immortality effect will be consumed.
	Freedom	Basic	34	None	30 Seconds	Break free of any stuns or snares, and gain immunity to any further ones for 6 seconds. Also clears damage-over-time effects.
	Reflect	Threshold	37	Shield	20 Seconds	Raise your shield, reflecting 50% of any damage you receive back at the attacker. Lasts 10 seconds.
	Resonance	Basic	48	Shield	30 Seconds	The next attack you receive within 6 seconds will heal you instead of harm you. Certain large boss attacks will have their damage prevented, but will not heal.
	Rejuvenate	Ultimate	52	Shield	300 Seconds	Channel your adrenaline to help restore 40% of your lifepoints and fully restore your drained stats over 10 seconds.
	Debilitate	Threshold	55	None	30 Seconds	Debilitate your target for up to 100% weapon damage, also reducing any damage they deal to you by 50% for 10 seconds.
	Preparation	Basic	67	Shield	20 Seconds	Prepare for the fight ahead, causing each attack you receive to redice the remaining cooldown of Resonance by 3 seconds. Lasts 10 seconds.
	Barricade	Ultimate	81	Shield	60 Seconds	Summon an impenetrable barricade, which prevents all damage received for 10 seconds.
	Natural Instinct*	Ultimate	85	None	120 Seconds	Instantly leech your target's adrenaline. If fighting a non-player opponent that does not use adrenaline, for the next 20 seconds you will gain 200% adrenaline from your own abilities.

* Requires completion of The World Wakes.

Armor:

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		10
Steel		20
Yak-hide		20
Black		25
Mithril		30
Adamant		40
Rune		50
Granite		55*
Dragon		60
God Wars Dungeon and Barrows		70
Chaotic*		80
Eastern Armor (Player-Owned Ports)		85

*With 80 Dungeoneering.

To find out about specific pieces of armor, you can use the Items Database.

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Constitution:

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.

Your base number of Life Points is your Constitution level x 40 e.g. at level 99 you will have 3960 Life Points while wearing nothing. All armor has an associated Life bonus which will increase your base Life Points when worn. Once you reach 0 Life Points, you will die, and reappear by default in Lumbridge. When you die, you have a choice of the items you want to keep - Up to three, or four if you have used the Prayer/Curse "Protect Item".

Respawn Locations:
Note: It is possible to change your respawn location. Here are the locations:

Lumbridge (default)
Edgeville (for accounts made after the Edgeville graphical update)
Grim Reaper's Office (first death only)
Falador (after completing the Recruitment Drive quest)
Soul Wars (after completing the Nomad's Requiem quest
Fremennik spiritual plane (during the Blood Runs Deep quest)*
Daemonheim (when dead in Daemonheim)
A 'hub' (a player can choose to respawn here if it was the last 'hub' they visited. The hubs are:
- Ardougne*
- Canifis*
- Daemonheim
- Dorgesh-Kaan*
- Edgeville
- Etceteria*
- Falador
- Keldagrim*
- Lletya*
- Lumbridge
- Seers' Village*
- TzHaar City*
- Varrock
- Yanille*

*Members locations

You can restore your Life Points by eating or drinking a wide variety of food and potions, as well as using spells and abilities. The amount that food heals depends on the Cooking level required to cook the food and your Constitution level. To receive the full Life Points restoration, you must have a Constitution level equal to or higher than the level required to cook the food e.g. level 40 Constitution to heal the full 800 Life Points from a Lobster. Standing at a bank booth or Grand Exchange counter will also restore your Life Points.

Abilities:

Constitution Abilities
	Ability Name	Ability Type	Constitution Level	Weapon Requirement	Cooldown	Description
	Regenerate	Basic	10	None	0 Seconds	Focus your remaining adrenaline to heal your wounds over 6 seconds. Does not work during combat.
	Momentum	Basic	10	None	0 Seconds	Dramatically increases the damage of your auto-attacks. Using any abilities will end the effect.
	Incite	Basic	24	None	0 Seconds	Dramatically increases the likelihood that your attacks will cause your target to attack yor allies. Lasts untill cancelled. Has no effect in PvP.
	Single-Way Wilderness	Basic	25	None	0 Seconds	Toggle between using single-way combat and multi-way combat while in the wilderness. Changing this setting takes 10 seconds, and will be interupted if you preform any actions or are attacked while changing. This setting is retained across death and log-out.
	Guthix's Blessing*	Ultimate	85	None	300 Seconds	Call on Guthix's spirit, invoking a butterfly that will heal you for 8% of your lifepoints, every 2 seconds for a maximum of 10 seconds. The butterfly may be destroyed by the enemies.

* Requires completion of The World Wakes.

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How to use Abilities and Adrenaline:

To succeed in combat, you will need to use abilities while fighting. As you activate abilities in combat, your Adrenaline bar will fill up and allow you to use stronger abilities. The abilities are divided across the three Melee skills, along with Magic, Ranged and Constitution. Basic abilities require no adrenaline and add adrenaline to the bar when activated.

Once your adrenaline reaches the middle of the bar, you can use Threshold abilities. Threshold abilities are reasonably powerful and capable of dispatching most common monsters quickly, however they will drain your adrenaline rather than add to it.

Once your adrenaline bar is filled, you can use Ultimate abilities. These are very powerful abilities and easily capable of killing many monsters in a single hit. Ultimates completely drain your adrenaline bar.

Attack, Strength, Defence, Ranged and Magic abilities are all offensive, whereas Defence and Constitution abilities are designed to reduce the damage you receive and restore your Life Points.

Momentum:
Momentum is a basic Constitution ability that increases the damage of your auto-attacks, but doesn't allow you to use abilities (doing so disables Momentum). It is for those who want to pay less attention to combat or simply prefer the method of combat used before the Evolution of Combat and abilities were introduced to RuneScape.

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Training (P2P):

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, not making money from good drops.

An alternative option to training could be to do it through Slayer, as you will be assigned monsters that should be within your ability to kill.

Map	Monster	Location	Information
Skill Level 1 - 20
	Cow Cow calf	Can be found in fields around Crafting Guild, Lumbridge.	Use a Bronze 2 hander or an Iron 2 hander.
Skill Level 20 - 30
	Al-Kharid Warriors	Al-Kharid Castle	Use a Steel 2 Hander or the best 2 hander available to you.
Skill Level 30 - 40
	Chaos druids Thugs	Wilderness section of the Edgeville Dungeon	.Use a Mithril 2 Hander or the best 2 hander available to you.
Skill Level 40 - 60
	Rock Crab	Rellekka	Use a Adamant 2 Hander or the best 2 hander available to you
Skill Level 60 - 70
	Hellhounds	Taverly dungeon
Skill Level 70 - 80
	Bandits	Bandit Camp (Desert)
Skill Level 80+
	Fire giants	Baxtorian Falls, Brimhaven dungeon, Chaos Tunnels, Wilderness (Members), Kharidian desert dungeon.

Training (F2P):

Free to Play training has a lot less options than Pay to Play, but this guide should help you get started, as well as give you the knowledge you need to find your own training locations.

Map	Monster	Location	Information
Skill Level 1 - 20
	Cow Cow calf	Can be found in fields around Crafting Guild, Lumbridge.	Use a Bronze 2 hander or an Iron 2 hander.
Skill Level 20 - 30
	Al-Kharid Warriors	Al-Kharid Castle	Use a Steel 2 Hander or the best 2 hander available to you.
Skill Level 30 - 40
	Hill giant	Edgeville Dungeon and the Wilderness
Skill Level 40 - 50
	King scorpion	Crandor
Skill Level 50 - 70
	Moss giant	Crandor
Skill Level 70+
	Lesser demon Deadly red spider	You can find both of these in the Musa Point Volcanoe Dungeon