Understanding Combat
Combat in Old School RuneScape is a core game mechanic. Your Combat Level is a calculation based on your Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Prayer, Ranged, and Magic levels. Actions occur in game ticks, with most weapons attacking every few ticks (1 tick = 0.6 seconds).
The Combat Triangle
The foundation of combat strategy is the Combat Triangle, which dictates effectiveness between the three main combat styles:
- Melee is generally strong against Ranged opponents.
- Ranged is generally strong against Magic opponents.
- Magic is generally strong against Melee opponents, especially those wearing metal armour.
Exploiting these weaknesses provides significant advantages.
Combat Skills and Styles
Combat is divided into three primary types, each governed by specific skills and offering various attack styles:
- Melee:
- Attack: Increases your accuracy with melee weapons.
- Strength: Increases your maximum hit with melee weapons.
- Defence: Increases your ability to resist damage from all combat styles.
- Melee Attack Styles:
- Accurate: Provides an invisible +3 boost to Attack level, grants Attack experience.
- Aggressive: Provides an invisible +3 boost to Strength level, grants Strength experience.
- Defensive: Provides an invisible +3 boost to Defence level, grants Defence experience.
- Controlled: Provides an invisible +1 boost to Attack, Strength, and Defence, grants shared experience to all three.
- Ranged:
- Ranged: Increases your accuracy and damage with ranged weapons.
- Ranged Attack Styles:
- Accurate: Provides an invisible +3 boost to Ranged level, grants Ranged experience.
- Rapid: Attacks one game tick faster than Accurate, grants Ranged experience.
- Longrange: Increases attack distance, provides an invisible +3 boost to Defence level, grants Ranged and Defence experience.
- Magic:
- Magic: Increases your accuracy with magical spells. Spell damage often scales with Magic level or is fixed per spell. Higher Magic levels unlock more powerful spells.
- Magic Attack Styles: Spells can be cast manually or set to Autocast with certain staves. Some spells also grant Defence experience when cast defensively.
- Hitpoints (HP): Represents your character's life force. Reaching 0 Hitpoints results in death. It is trained passively alongside other combat skills.
Equipment (Gear)
Appropriate gear is crucial for effective combat. Consider the following:
- Weapons: Provide offensive bonuses (e.g., Attack, Strength, Ranged Strength, Magic Attack) and determine attack speed.
- Armour: Provides defensive bonuses against Melee, Ranged, and Magic. Some armour sets also offer offensive bonuses for their respective combat style (e.g., Ranged armour increasing Ranged accuracy/damage).
- Shields: Offer substantial defensive bonuses, or can be replaced by two-handed weapons or off-hand items for more offence.
- Ammunition: Most ranged weapons require specific ammunition (e.g., arrows for bows, bolts for crossbows). Magic spells consume runes.
- Jewellery: Amulets, rings, and bracelets can offer various offensive, defensive, or utility bonuses (e.g., Amulet of Fury, Berserker Ring).
- Capes: Provide bonuses, with notable examples being God capes, the Fire Cape, and Skillcapes.
Always equip the best gear available for your level and the specific monster or opponent you are facing.
Prayer
The Prayer skill offers powerful temporary buffs and protective effects, consuming Prayer points while active:
- Protection Prayers: Commonly known as "Overheads," these prayers (Protect from Melee, Protect from Missiles, Protect from Magic) reduce incoming damage from the corresponding style by a significant amount (100% from monsters, 40% from players).
- Stat-Boosting Prayers: Increase your combat stats temporarily (e.g., Attack, Strength, Defence, Ranged, Magic). Powerful prayers include Piety (Melee), Rigour (Ranged), and Augury (Magic).
Effective Prayer management is vital for surviving difficult encounters and maximizing damage output.
Consumables
Various items can be consumed to aid in combat:
- Food: Restores Hitpoints (e.g., Lobsters, Monkfish, Sharks, Karambwans).
- Potions:
- Combat Potions: Temporarily boost combat stats (e.g., Super Attack, Super Strength, Super Defence, Ranging Potion, Magic Potion).
- Prayer Potions: Restore Prayer points.
- Antidote/Anti-poison Potions: Cure or provide immunity to poison.
- Stamina Potions: Restore run energy and reduce its drain rate.
- Specialized Potions: Such as Antifire potions for dragonfire protection.
Combat Training
Improving combat skills requires engaging monsters or other players in combat:
- Monster Selection: Choose monsters that are weak to your chosen attack style, offer good experience rates, and have valuable drops.
- Slayer Skill: Training the Slayer skill involves completing monster-killing assignments from Slayer Masters. This is a highly recommended method for training combat as it provides good experience, valuable loot, and access to Slayer-exclusive monsters.
- Efficiency: Maximize experience per hour by using optimal gear, prayers, and potions, and minimizing downtime.
- Specific Training Methods: Numerous methods exist, from AFK-able (Away From Keyboard) options like training on Sand Crabs or Nightmare Zone, to more active methods like bossing or high-intensity Slayer tasks.
Consistent training, upgrading equipment, and learning monster mechanics are key to combat progression.
