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Melee melee Upgrade Order & Ability Bars

Introduction

This channel lists the general natural combat style progression template for new players to follow devised by the RuneScape Discord Mentors in collaboration with PVME. ‎ ‎From levels 1 - 50, where an item is marked P2P, this means it is a members item.

Last Revised: 13 April 2024

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Attack attack and Strength strength are the two combat skills that define melee combat in Runescape.

⬥ General notes:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Attack attack affects accuracy and its level is what determines what melee weapons you can equip.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Strength strength determines your damage dealt with melee weapons.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• The best defence is a good offence: weapon upgrades take precedence over armour upgrades!

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• As you get stronger, dual wield becomes better for single target combat and Two-handed (2H) for multi-way combat

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• To switch xp gain between attack and strength: Settings → Gameplay → Combat & Action bar → Combat XP. Tick the skills to enable how you want the XP focused.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• All bars assume "Revolution++" is being used: Settings → Gameplay → Combat & Action bar. Activate revolution, make the revo outline cover 10 slots, and tick the boxes for thresholds and ultimate abilities.

Levels 1 - 20 attack strength

Gear:

⬥ 1 ‎ ‎melee Bronze 2h sword or Bronze halberd; or Reese's sword & Reese's off-hand sword

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Latter are free from the quest Blood Pact

⬥ 5 ‎ ‎attack Keenblade

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Free from Gudrik in Port Sarim

⬥ 20 attack Steel 2h sword or Steel halberd; or Steel dagger, mace, or warhammer + off-hand.

Armour

⬥ 1 ‎ ‎defence Pathfinder armour

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• This armour is free and can be obtained from Gudrik in Port Sarim.

⬥ 20 defence Steel armour

⬥ Amulet of strength

⬥ Bladestorm drape - Best in Slot cape for F2P

⬥ Silverhawk boots (non-ironman & P2P) can be freely claimed from the Marketplace and give a small damage boost.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• The boots can be upgraded at lvl 20, 40, 50 and 60 defence respectively.

Ability bars levels 1 - 20 attack strength

These bars assume you are training Attack and Strength at the same time.

⬥ Use the lesser abilities as placeholders. These will update automatically as you unlock the full ability.

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Bar at 1 attack/strength: For Dual-Wield swap lessersmash with lesserhavoc

⬥ At level 2 attack add overpower to Spot 1 on your bar

⬥ At level 3 strength remove backhand and add stomp to ‎ ‎Spot 4 on your bar

⬥ At level 8 strength add punish to ‎ ‎Spot 7 on your bar

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At level 20 attack and strength, your bar will look like the bar below:

Monsters to kill 1 - 20 attack strength

⬥ Ghostly Troll Thrower in City of Um cave.

⬥ Monsters in Lumbridge Catacombs. Requires Blood Pact quest.

Levels 20 - 50 attack strength

⬥ Smithable gear will start having +1/+2/+3 upgrades. These improve their stats slightly but are generally not worth it.

⬥ Halberds are recommended for training on groups of enemies.

Gear:

⬥ 30 attack Mithril 2h sword (F2P) or Mithril halberd (P2P)

⬥ 40 attack Adamant 2h sword (F2P) or Adamant halberd (P2P)

⬥ 50 attack Rune 2h sword (F2P) or Rune halberd (P2P)

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• iron: Rune halberd can bought in Champion's guild.

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Armour

⬥ 50 defence Rockshell armour (P2P) > Rune armour (F2P)

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Former requires completion of the quest The Fremennik Trials.

⬥ Obsidian cape (P2P) or Cape of legends (P2P)

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Latter requires completion of the quest Legends Quest.

⬥ Amulet of glory (P2P)

⬥ Explorer's ring 3 (F2P) or Ring of Wealth (P2P)

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Former requires completion of the medium Lumbridge achievements

⬥ Silverhawk boots (non-ironman & P2P)

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• The boots can be upgraded at lvl 20, 40, 50 and 60 defence

Ability bars levels 20 - 50 attack strength

These bars assume you are training Attack and Strength at the same time.

Bar at 20 attack strength: For Dual-Wield swap smash with havoc

⬥ At level 24 strength add fury to Spot 5 on your bar.

⬥ At level 37 strength remove overpower.

⬥ If 2H:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• At level 37 strength add quake to Spot 2 on your bar

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• At level 48 strength add cleave to Spot 2 on your bar

⬥ If DW:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• At level 37 strength add destroy to Spot 2 on your bar.

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At level 50 attack and strength, your bar will look like the bar below:

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melee Two-Handed (multi-target focused)

melee Dual-Wield

Monsters to kill 20 - 50 attack strength

⬥ Ghostly Troll Thrower in City of Um cave.

⬥ 30+: Dragith Nurn. Requires Blood Pact quest (salveamulet works!).

Levels 50 - 70 attack strength

Gear:

⬥ 60 attack Dragon 2h sword dragon2hsword, Dragon spear or Dragon halberd dragonhalberd

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Dragon halberd dragonhalberd requires Regicide quest.

⬥ 70 attack Crystal halberd crystalhalberd

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Requires 50 agility and completion of the Roving Elves quest

Armour

⬥ 65 defence Superior Rockshell armour - made using Rockshell armour and Fremennik equipment patches

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Whilst Superior Rockshell armour degrades, degradation takes a very long time - don't let this put you off!

⬥ 70 defence Bandos armour > Necronium armour

⬥ Salve amulet(e) salveamulet if fighting undead.

⬥ Ring of Fortune

⬥ One of the God books zarosbook guthixbook zambook armabook bandosbook sarabook

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Requires completion of the quest Horror from the Deep

Ability bars levels 50 - 70 attack strength

These bars assume you are training Attack and Strength at the same time.

Bars at 50 attack strength

melee Two-Handed (multi-target focused)

melee Dual-Wield

⬥ If 2H:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• At level 55 attack add Hurricane cane to Spot 2 on your bar

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Remove slaughter and change the following:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Move fury to Spot 4

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Move sever to Spot 5

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Move assault to Spot 6

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Move smash to Spot 7

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Move dismember on spot 8.

⬥ If DW:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• At level 55 strength add Assault assault to Spot 6 on your bar

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• At level 67 strength add Decimate deci to Spot 4 on your bar

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Put slaughter and dismember on Spots 5 and 6.

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At level 70 attack and strength, your bar will look like the bar below:

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melee Two-Handed (multi-target focused)

melee Dual-Wield

Monsters to kill 50 - 70 attack strength

⬥ Dragith Nurn. Requires Blood Pact quest (salveamulet works!).

⬥ The Abyss Monsters (req. Enter the Abyss miniquest).

⬥ Armoured Zombies (req. Defender of Varrock quest, salveamulet works!).

Frequently asked questions

⬥ Some dual wield weapons have more damage bonus than others. Are they better?

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• No. When using abilities, weapons of the same tier deal the same amount of damage. Weapon speed and damage bonus together make it deal identical ability damage in the end.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• You can safely mix different types of main hand and off-hand weapons.

⬥ Why is two-handed recommended over dual wield?

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• 2H melee is better in multi-target situations than Dual-Wield, and therefore often lead to faster levelling.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• ‎ ‎Flurry flurry (37 attack), Quake quake (36 strength), Cleave cleave (48 strength), and hurricane cane (55 attack) are multi-target attacks, often called Area-of-Effect (AoE) abilities, that hit multiple nearby monsters.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• These are 2H abilities (except for flurry) and benefit greatly from halberd's larger attack range.

⬥ Can I just train slayer?

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• You certainly can if you want some variety. It is, however, slower to train at lower combat levels.

⬥ Why are weapons upgrades more important than armour upgrades? / Why is power armour recommended over tank armour?

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Frankly put: You gain more from hitting harder than from getting hit less. A higher tier weapon lets you hit harder by increasing hit chance and damage bonus. Power armour increases damage bonus too. This lets you hit harder and kill more monsters, which means more xp gained per hour.

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