- For a full list of items and their stats worn in the body slot, see this table.
Melee armour, used in the Attack,
Strength and
Defence skills, is generally made out of some kind of metal. There is a "default" (regular) series of
armour, consisting of
Bronze,
Iron,
Steel,
Black/
White,
Mithril,
Adamant,
Rune, and
Dragon (in ascending order of the quality of the armour). For each piece of armour, there is a counterpart made for each other type of metal (with the exception of Dragon armour which has some items yet to be released).
All these can be made from the Smithing skill, with the exception of Black, White, and Dragon, which can only be purchased or received from a
monster drop.
All armour items not made from those metal types can be considered "special" and generally cannot be made from the Smithing skill, but rather sold by an NPC or obtained as a monster drop. Some players may consider these more desirable, as they often provide higher bonuses than other forms of armour.
Melee armour sets
A set generally comprises a full helm,
platebody,
platelegs/
skirt, and a
kiteshield where applicable. It's very typical among the
metal armours.
To save money, low-tier armour pieces can be bought at the following places:
Helmet Shop in
Barbarian Village
Horvik's Armour Shop in
East Varrock
Louie's Armoured Legs Bazaar or
Ranael's Super Skirt Store in
Al Kharid
Cassie's Shield Shop in
Falador
![]() |
Armour | Additional requirements |
---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
None |
1 | ![]() |
None |
5 | ![]() |
None |
10 | ![]() |
None |
10 | ![]() |
Wanted! |
20 | ![]() |
None |
20 | ![]() |
10 ![]() |
30 | ![]() |
None |
30 | ![]() |
20 ![]() |
40 | ![]() |
Dragon Slayer (for platebody) |
40 | ![]() |
The Fremennik Trials |
42 | ![]() |
850 Pest Control points plus the following: 42 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
50 | ![]() |
50 ![]() |
60 | ![]() |
None |
60 | ![]() |
Legends' Quest for sq shield, Dragon Slayer for platebody |
65 | ![]() |
Often prohibitively expensive (159,322,992). |
65 | ![]() |
|
70 | ![]() |
Fully degrades after 15 hours in combat |
75 | ![]() |
Often prohibitively expensive (65,826,355). |
Other armour pieces
![]() |
Item | Additional |
---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
650,000 Nightmare Zone points only to imbue |
1 | ![]() |
650,000 Nightmare Zone points only to imbue |
41 [1] | ![]() |
Recipe for Disaster |
1 | ![]() |
Completion of the TzHaar Fight Cave |
1 | ![]() |
Completion of the Inferno |
10 | ![]() |
55 ![]() |
20 | ![]() |
None |
25 | ![]() |
None |
30 | ![]() |
The Fremennik Trials |
30 | ![]() |
The Fremennik Trials |
40 | ![]() |
Barbarian Assault: 375 Honour points in all four roles and killed the Penance Queen |
45 | ![]() |
55 ![]() |
45 | ![]() |
The Fremennik Trials |
45 | ![]() |
The Fremennik Trials |
55 | ![]() |
The Fremennik Isles |
70 | ![]() |
50 ![]() |
70 | ![]() |
60 ![]() |
75 | ![]() |
75 ![]() |
75 | ![]() |
|
75 | ![]() |
Dragon Slayer must be started in order to equip |
75 | ![]() |
75 ![]() |
Set items
Medium helmets
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon
Medium helmets offer little protection compared to
full helms (shown below) from most
combat forms, but also do little to inhibit using any
combat style. This makes them a good choice for players who favour
Melee, but want the opportunity to use
Magic and
Ranged. But if you prefer Melee-fighting, the full helm is a better choice.
Full helmets
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon
Full helmets encase the whole of the players head and provide better
Ranged and
Melee
Defence than other helmets. It does, however, impose larger negative modifiers to
Magic and Ranged attacks, but many rangers prefer them for their Defence bonuses and accept the negative attack modifiers, which are significantly smaller than their magical attack penalty.
Chainbodies
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon
Chainbodies are made up of small rings linked together. They are particularly useful for deflecting
slashing weapons and absorbing the impact of
crush attacks. Chainmail is weak against
stabbing weapons as small pointed blades can pierce the rings, as can
arrows, therefore it is less effective at defending against
Ranged attacks. Chainmail is quite flexible and so does not penalise a ranger's
Attack bonus, though its metal construction does impede a
mage's accuracy somewhat. However, they offer a lesser Magic Defence penalty than
platebodies.
Platebodies
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon
Platebodies are much heavier and stronger than
chainbodies, providing the higher
slash,
stab, and
Ranged
Defence bonuses. Platebodies are weakest against
crushing and
Magic attacks, as they conduct Magic and cannot absorb the impact of a crush attack as well as
dragonhide or chain armour. Rangers and mages are at a great disadvantage trying to aim their Ranged and distance magical attacks in this restrictive and heavy metal armour. The
Dragon Slayer
quest is required to wear the
Rune platebody as well as the
Dragon platebody.
Platelegs and plateskirts
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon
Platelegs and
plateskirts are a vital part of a warrior's
armour, and provide the second best defensive bonuses after the
platebody. As with all
Dragon equipment, the
Dragon platelegs/
plateskirt cannot be made via the
Smithing skill.
Square shields
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon
The square shield has adequate
Melee and
Ranged
Defence bonuses, and does not penalise Ranged or Magic attacks as much as the
kiteshield. In Melee, a square shield is weakest against
crush attacks, but stronger towards
stab. Square shields are not often used, as most players prefer the kiteshield for its higher Defence bonuses. In similarity towards
medium helmets, square shields provide less Ranged and Magic attack penalties and could be more preferred by those who aren't using Melee.
Kiteshields
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon
Kiteshields offer better
Defence than a
square shield, although like most heavier armour it is awkward to use in combination with
Magic and
Ranged. Kiteshields are marginally weaker against
stabbing attacks.
Metal gloves
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon, Barrows
The Culinaromancer's
metal gloves can be bought from the
Culinaromancer's chest after completing varying numbers of
Recipe for Disaster subquests, the exception being
White gloves, which are purchased from
Sir Vyvin. White gloves are also the only tradeable metal gloves.
Metal gloves provide good protection against all attack styles. Barrows gloves give the best
Attack bonuses for all
Attack styles of any pair of gloves, and also the highest
Strength bonus. These gloves also do not degrade.
Defenders
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon, Avernic
Metal defenders are small
dagger-like items worn in the
Shield slot. Defenders make a trade off whereby they sacrifice much of a shields defensive capabilities to further boost offensive stats and are as such desirable for warriors who favour stronger and more accurate attacks over survivability. They cannot be made nor bought, only received as a drop from
cyclopes on the top floor of the
Warriors' Guild. Once the first -
bronze - defender is received, it must be shown to
Kamfreena outside the room before an
iron one may be received, which must then be shown before a
steel one may be received, etc. Entrance to the cyclops' room is temporary and the Guild's
tokens are required for access. The owned amount slowly decreases as one is in the room.
Bronze armour
Bronze armour is the weakest of all
Melee armours, requiring no levels whatsoever and costing little. Bronze is a
copper and
tin alloy and as such may be
smelted using copper and tin ore. It can be made on an
anvil with requirements starting from level 1
Smithing.
Iron armour
Iron armour is slightly better than
bronze, and requires level 1
Defence. It is made from
iron bars.
Steel armour
Steel armour is slightly better than the previous
metal,
iron.
Steel armour and weapons require level 5
Defence and
Attack respectively to equip and may also be
smithed from
steel bars, which are the result of smelting
iron ore with
coal.
Black armour
Black armour, as worn by the
Kinshra, has an evil and dangerous look, but is not any better than
white armour. It is, in fact, worse, not offering any
Prayer bonuses. Black armour, like white, cannot be
smithed, only received as a drop or bought from several shops. A number of different versions exist, all received from
Treasure Trails. There is gold-trimmed black armour, white-trimmed black armour and five different sets of
heraldic armour. It requires 10
Defence to wear, as does white armour.
White armour
White armour does not offer great defensive bonuses, although better than
steel, but does offer decent
Prayer bonuses. Aside from the Prayer bonus, white armour is the same as
black armour requiring 10
Defence; however, it also requires the completion of
Wanted to equip. White armour may be bought from
Sir Vyvin on the second floor of
Falador Castle with sufficient White Knight rank, which is received from killing
Black Knights. White armour is worn by
White Knights of
Falador, and a number of varieties exist, them being initiate, proselyte, acolyte and partisan armour as worn by the
Temple Knights.
Initiate armour
Initiate armour is worn by Temple Knight recruits, which the player becomes after completion of
Recruitment Drive. It offers relatively low
Defence bonuses but this is compensated by decent
Prayer bonuses. The set consists of a
sallet,
hauberk and the choice of a
cuisse or
tassets. The set may be bought from
Sir Tiffy Cashien in
Falador Park, requiring no
Black Knight kills but requiring 20
Defence and 10
Prayer to wear. It appears to be yellow-trimmed white armour with the stats of
Mithril armour plus Prayer bonus.
Proselyte armour
Proselyte armour is worn by Temple Knight proselytes who have advanced in rank and requires 30
Defence and 20
Prayer. Players may buy the armour off
Sir Tiffy Cashien after completing
The Slug Menace. Basically being an upgrade of
initiate armour, it offers both higher Defence and
Prayer bonuses. It looks like gold/orange-trimmed white armour possessing
Adamant armour stats with Prayer.
Mithril armour
Mithril is a medium level
metal, requiring 20
Defence to equip all pieces of the armour.
Mithril bars are smelted from
mithril ore and
coal in a 1:4 ratio.
Mithril armour offers decent bonuses for players who can just equip it. It is generally not used by higher levelled players. A set of mithril armour may be placed in one's skill hall in a
POH, providing that the player has 68
smithing.
Adamant armour
Adamant armour is the second highest
smithable armour and green in colour. It offers decent bonuses and is quite cheap and as such often used by
player killers who do not want to risk losing their own armour. Adamant is extracted from
adamantite ore. It requires level 30
Defence to wield. Like
black armour,
Treasure Trails offer variations to this armour, including gold-trimmed, white-trimmed and five sets of
heraldic armour.
Rune armour
Rune armour is the best armour for
free-to-play that does not degrade and requires level 40
Defence to wear, although a smith wishing to start making runite equipment needs at least level 85
Smithing. Due to
runite ore being very precious, and only found in a few locations, a full set of rune armour is relatively expensive. It is often worn in
PvP situations as it provides good bonuses and is easily replaced if lost. Equipping the
Rune platebody requires completion of the
Dragon Slayer
quest. Rune is cyan in colour. As with
adamant and
black armour, rune armour has
Treasure Trail variants: gold-trimmed, white-trimmed,
gilded, five sets of
heraldic armour and six different sets of
god armour, with the colours of
Saradomin,
Guthix,
Zamorak,
Armadyl,
Zaros and
Bandos.
Granite armour
Granite armour is tough, resilient armour requiring not only a
Defence level of 50 to wear, but also a
Strength level of 50 due to its weight. The
Granite body and
helm have slightly better bonuses than their rune counterparts and all the pieces have very high ranged Defence. Granite armour is mainly obtained from monster drops, or trading with another player. The granite body is obtained by playing
Barbarian Assault and purchasing one from
Commander Connad. Granite armour comes with the
granite maul.
Obsidian armour
Helmet, body, legs, shield, cape
Obsidian armour has moderate defensive capabilities but makes up for it with its high offensive stats with the entire set giving +12 in strength bonus. When the body, legs, and helmet are worn in conjunction with each other, all obsidian weaponry receives a +10% bonus in melee strength and melee accuracy and this bonus does stack with the 20% damage increase whilst wearing a
Berserker necklace. These armour pieces can all be purchased from
TzHaar-Hur-Tel's Equipment Store in
Mor Ul Rek with
Tokkul, or by fighting various
Tzhaar-kets around the city, although only the level-221 Kets drop the platebody, legs, and helmet.
Dragon armour
Dragon armour is one of the most sought-after armour sets and pieces of dragon equipment can cost millions of
coins. Dragon cannot be smithed by players and is only for members. The
weaponry may be received as a rare drop from a very limited amount of monsters or bought from several shops (often requiring quests to be completed), while the armour is limited to the former. For example, the elusive, fabled
Dragon full helm can be dropped by level-304
Mithril dragons. The origins of dragon armour are unknown, but it is widely believed the
Dragonkin created it and brought dragon
metal to
Gielinor. Dragon armour requires level 60
Defence to be worn and is very popular.
Fremennik armour
Yak-hide, Rockshell, Helm, Shield, Warrior helm, Berserker helm, Helm of neitiznot
Rockshell: helmet, plate, legs, gloves, boots
Yak-hide: top, legs, roundshield
Fremennik helmets
Out of the six Fremennik helmets, three are suitable for warriors. All Fremennik helms require completion of
The Fremennik Trials to wear them, but the
Helm of neitiznot requires
The Fremennik Isles.
Fremennik helm
The Fremennik helm is the most basic helm that the Fremennik have in store and is received as a drop from
Fremennik warriors and
Waterbirth
Dagannoths. Due to its low bonuses, it is generally not used by players.
Warrior helm
The Warrior helm is a more popular choice of helmet, as it gives decent
Defence bonuses and a slash attack bonus. This helmet may be bought off
Skulgrimen or received as a drop from
Dagannoths.
Berserker helm
Like the Warrior helm, the
Berserker helm offers decent bonuses and a small strength bonus. This helmet can be bought as well as dropped by
Dagannoths. Its stats are equal to the Warrior's helm.
Helm of Neitiznot
The Helm of Neitiznot is by far the most popular
Fremennik helm. Not only does it yield higher bonuses than the other helms, it also has an additional
Prayer bonus and strength bonus. It is received from
Mawnis Burowgar, the burgher of
Neitiznot, after completion of
The Fremennik Isles and may be re-obtained from him if lost.
Yak-hide armour
Yak-hide armour and the
Fremennik round shield are relatively weak, but valuable against
Ice trolls, as the armour lowers the maximum hit of the
males, and the shield lowers the maximum hit of the
females. They are made during
The Fremennik Isles from
yak-hide and split
Arctic pine logs. It has poor bonuses, meaning it is not used very often.
Rock-shell armour
Rock-shell armour is very similar to
Rune armour. It is made from hides and rocks dropped by
Dagannoths and
Giant rock crabs, respectively. It's not very widely used due to the difficulty to obtain and the existence of better armour.
Void Knight equipment
Void melee helm,
Void knight top,
Void knight robe &
Void knight gloves
Void knight robes requires 42
Attack,
Strength,
Defence,
Ranged,
Hitpoints and
Magic, and it also requires 22
Prayer. However, you need 850
Pest Control points. The
Melee helm grants the player a +10% bonus towards accuracy and damage, if the player is wearing the rest of the Void Knight equipment.
As some players find it more effective to wear other full sets of armour, such as
Bandos or
Barrows armour, than a full set of Void Knight armour due to the Defence bonuses, this item is not frequently bought. However, those who do buy it can see a higher max hit and a higher average hit. Additionally, it
classes as a
hybrid set (besides the helmet), and as such gives equal Magic, Ranged and
Melee Defence, thus making it an alternative choice in
minigames where hybridding is common.
Note that the armour is only Melee-based if you are wearing the Melee helm; if you are, your Melee damage is increased by 10%.
3rd age melee armour
Armour from the 3rd age is incredibly rare. However, both
Justiciar armour and
Barrows armour have higher defensive bonuses and
Bandos armour is generally favoured for its
strength bonuses despite the lower defensive bonuses. 3rd age armour can only be obtained through
Treasure Trails, or by buying from another player.
Bandos armour
Bandos armour is very strong armour, providing excellent defensive bonuses. Bandos armour is one of the best armours in the game. Bandos armour is dropped by
General Graardor (who wears the armour himself) and his sergeants in Bandos's Stronghold in the
God Wars Dungeon, requiring level 70
Strength to enter, as well as having killed forty Bandosians in the dungeon.
Barrows armour
Guthan's, Dharok's, Torag's, Verac's
Helmet, platebody/brassard, platelegs/plateskirt/chainskirt, (weapon: greataxe/warspear/hammers/flail)
Barrows armour is very strong and popular. It is obtained from the
Barrows
minigame, or from trading with another player. If the player wears all the items from one of the brothers' armour sets (including the
weapon), they have a chance of activating a set effect. Barrows armour needs to be repaired every 15 hours of
combat for a price. This can be done on an
armour stand (with discounts based on one's
Smithing level) or by speaking to
Bob in
Lumbridge.
Guthan's armour
The armour set of
Guthan the Infested has a very desirable bonus effect, as it has a chance of healing the wearer when they deal damage. The weapon of the set is a long warspear.
Dharok's armour
Dharok the Wretched's equipment set effect has a useful, but dangerous set effect. The lower the wearer's health, the higher his/her maximum hit is.
Torag's armour
Torag the Corrupted's equipment set effect is the chance to drain run energy from the target with each hit.
Verac's armour
The set effect of the armour of
Verac the Defiled is useful when fighting another player or the
Kalphite Queen, as it hits through
Prayer and armour.
Justiciar armour
Justiciar armour possesses the best defensive bonuses in the game for melee and ranged. The armour requires level 75 in
Defence to wear, and possesses a
set effect that reduces damage taken when the player wears the full set. Justiciar armour can only be obtained through completing the
Theatre of Blood, or by buying from another player.
Toktz-ket-xil
Buy one from TzHaar-Hur-Tel's Equipment Store in
Mor Ul Rek, trade with another player or obtain one as a rare monster drop from a
TzHaar-Ket. This
Toktz-ket-xil is extremely popular amongst mid-level warriors who are unable to afford a better-suited shield for their level, and because it also possesses a strength bonus, it is often used by those who cannot currently gain access to the Warriors Guild but have the defence level requirement of 60 to use it.
Crystal shield
The Crystal shield is a high-level piece of
armour which, similar to barrows equipment, will degrade after use and must be recharged. Boasting a very high ranged defence bonus, It requires completion of
Roving Elves, 70
Defence, and 50
Agility to wield.
Dragonfire shield
The Dragonfire shield is a high-level piece of armour. It provides protection not only from
dragonfire but also the icy breath of the
Skeletal Wyvern. It functions differently by absorbing the aforementioned, acquiring
charges and thereby increasing in defensive bonuses while protecting the player. It can then be discharged to release a viscous burning attack.
Spirit shields
![Elysian spirit shield detail](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/2007scape/images/c/c3/Elysian_spirit_shield_detail.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/120?cb=20180317060103)
Plain, Blessed, Arcane, Elysian, Spectral
Spirit shields are a range of shields available to members after the
Corporeal Beast update. The shields are all derived from the
"basic" one. Some
holy elixir, dropped by the Corporeal Beast, must be poured onto it to
bless it, increasing its stats and value. The spirit
sigils are items which can be added to a
blessed spirit shield to modify its abilities even further. These sigils are
arcane,
elysian and
spectral. The
elysian spirit shield has a special effect that reduces the amount of damage taken
The basic spirit shield requires level 45 Defence and level 55
Prayer to hold, the blessed one requires 70 Defence and level 60 Prayer, arcane and spectral spirit shield 75 Defence, 70 Prayer and 65 Magic, and elysian requires 75 Defence and 75 Prayer.
Best F2P melee armour setup
Notes
- You will have to set up a 2-step verification for your account to obtain
fancy boots or
fighting boots from the
Stronghold of Security; however, you can disable this after you obtain the boots. Remember if you lose your boots and disabled 2-step verification that you will need to re-enable the verification in order to get them back.
- An
amulet of power is better to use for players who expect to be training on enemies with high
Defence, otherwise
amulet of strength is better.
- All
F2P
rune god armours have the same stats, and the only reason it is better than
rune armour is because of its +1
Prayer bonus on each armour piece creating a total of a +4 Prayer bonus.
Fancy boots and
fighting boots have the same stats.
- All
team capes and regular
capes have the same stats.
- Currently, there are no rings in F2P that give any stat increases.
Best P2P melee strength setup
Notes
- The
fighter torso gives the same
Strength bonus.
- The
amulet of torture has better offensive stats than the
amulet of fury yielding; +15 across all attack bonuses, however, has no defensive bonuses. Where the amulet of fury has +15 in all defensive stats, it has a +2 difference in Strength bonus.
- The
slayer helmet or
black mask will give a higher Strength bonus if on task.