Free-to-play melee training

See Also: Pay-to-play Melee training

This melee training guide will help you raise your combat level, starting from level 3 to the all-powerful combat level of 126. It will explain which are the best monsters to kill at your level, along with providing the advantages and disadvantages of training on each monster. This guide is for Free-to-Play players!

Tips and Tricks
The levels below refer to individual combat stat levels, not your overall combat level.
 * Train Attack, Strength, and Defense as you see fit - This preference is different for every player. You may want a lot of strength to hit hard, but without attack you won't hit as often. Fighting high level monsters with only steel armour may be tough if your defense is low. This is a balance that every player has to decide on his own.
 * Find a good balance of food to bring. - Filling up with food sounds good when training, but where will you keep your drops? Bring mostly food, leaving some spots open to keep desired items. If you want to keep less food, train Defence.
 * Since a player gains combat experience based on the damage he or she deals to a monster, it may be a good idea to bring a few Strength potions along with food to increase leveling efficiency.
 * If a strategy works well, then stay with it - If you find a monster that you can kill easily, or a good area with few people, then stay there and kill away!
 * Bring a law rune (if you have a high enough magic to teleport) for quick getaways - sometimes you might not be paying attention, or a monster will get a lucky streak and hit you hard for multiple turns. You may find yourself having only a few hitpoints left. A method for a easy escape might be helpful.
 * A Scimitar does swiftest damage in f2p if you can hit your foe with almost every hit. Keep in mind some armoured foes, such as knights, won't let hasty slash attacks go through easily.
 * Generally slow weapons are more accurate then the faster weapons, at the price of fewer hits per hour.
 * Two-handed swords are often used only in PvP combat due to their slow speed and incompatability with shields. However, they have a high strength bonus and a decent crush attack.
 * Maces are rarely used since they are inferior to most other weapons. The only advantage is their prayer bonus.
 * Rune armour will help you out greatly in combat, with over 200+ defense against melee and ranged and a requirement of only 40 defense levels. However, note that if you're going to train somewhere for very long, check if the monsters are using crush attack -as if they do it may be worth using rune chainbody rather than the platebody.
 * A rune longsword may not be faster than a rune scimitar, but keep in mind that the rune longsword's bonuses are useful when training.
 * Also, remember to keep your equipment up to scratch. Once you can use a better combat item, try and save up for it. It is vital that your wielding the best weapon and armour available to you.

Level 3 to 15
1. Kill goblins across the bridge near Lumbridge.

Advantages:
 * Many goblins wandering around.
 * Fly-fishing spots nearby (source of food).
 * Players tend to leave bones lying around. Bury them for free Prayer experience!
 * General store nearby. Sell any unwanted goblin drops for coins!

Disadvantages:
 * May be crowded.

Tips:
 * Goblins sometimes drop goblin mail. Save three of these for the Goblin Diplomacy quest!
 * There is a broken-down shack near the fishing area. Inside this shack is an iron dagger respawn.

2. Kill Cows south of Falador, near the Gnomecopters or east of Lumbridge.

Advantages:
 * Many bones may be lying around. Use this to raise prayer.
 * Cowhides can be sold or used to raise Crafting.
 * Cows don't attack accurately, and you can heal most (if not all) the damage you take with their beefs
 * Cows have 8 hitpoints. Killing one cow gives 12 Hitpoints experience, and 12 experience to Attack, Strength and Defense if fighting controlled, or 32 experience to any one of those three stats if fighting in a particular style.
 * The Gnomecopter location has a bank deposit box. Depositing beef, bones, and cowhides to sell on the Grand exchange can grant thousands of gold.  Bones sell around 80 each, cowhides around 105 and beef around 70.

Disadvantages:
 * The place at Lumbridge is usually crowded, and the place by Falador is far from a bank or a respawn place.

Tips:
 * It is best to keep the cowhides dropped and sell them for about 120 coins each at the Grand Exchange. With this kind of money, it is easy for players to buy full iron.

3. Kill Chickens all over RuneScape.

Advantages:
 * Chickens have very low attack; not much food is needed.
 * Another place where people forget about bones!

Disadvantages:
 * May be crowded.

Tips:
 * Gather the feathers that the chickens drop. You can sell them ( coins each on the Grand Exchange), or save them for fly fishing or fletching arrows.

4. Kill men or women found anywhere in Runescape.

Advantages:
 * They do not hit very often; their hitpoints are high for their level.
 * Like other monsters, they drop bones, which are useful for Prayer.
 * They have decent drops for beginners.
 * They often congregate in cities and towns, so it is easy to find them.

Disadvantages:
 * May be targets of macroers.

5. Kill seagulls on the pier in Port Sarim.

Advantages:
 * The level 2 seagulls have a large amount of hitpoints for their level (6 hitpoints) and the level 3 seagulls have 10!
 * This place is usually not very crowded.
 * They have awful attack and will very rarely, if ever, deal damage.

Disadvantages:
 * Pummeling seagulls for a long time may get boring and repetitive.
 * They only drop bones.

Tips:
 * Collect their bones to gain prayer xp. Be careful though, prayer raises your combat level.
 * If you are a level 3-10, do not attack level 3 seagulls as they have a bit more defense then level 2 seagulls.

6. Kill Monks found in the Monastery near Edgeville.

Advantages:
 * Bones=Prayer XP.
 * They have 15 hp!

Disadvantages:
 * They only drop bones.
 * It can get crowded sometimes.

Tips:
 * Abbot Langley, found in the monastery, will heal you even if you killed his monks. Talk to him and ask if the player can be healed.

'''7. Kill Highwaymen found near Falador and Draynor Village.

Advantages:
 * Not crowded.
 * They drop bones, used for prayer.

Disadvantages:
 * They do a significant amount of damage to low leveled players. Try not to train on them until your combat level is above 12, or have at least full iron.
 * Only a few highwaymen can be found in RuneScape.

8. Kill Muggers in the dungeon south of Port Sarim.

Advantages:
 * They will automatically attack you unless you are above level 12 combat.
 * Good drops for their level, such as coins, rope, and uncut sapphires.
 * Hardly any defense.

Disadvantages:
 * Their attacks are extremely accurate for their level so bring some food and armour if you want to stay here long.

'''9. Kill Goblins east of Barbarian Village

Advantages:
 * They have fairly good drops for their level, including coins, bones, runes and Goblin mail.
 * They won't hit much, but it's best to kill these guys at about combat level 6.

Disadvantages:
 * The area is often crowded.
 * Players often Kill steal. (If you don't know what this is, see Kill stealing)

Level 16 to 30
By this point, you should have Steel armour (5 defense) and a Steel weapon (5 Attack), or even Black armour if your Attack or defense level is 10. If you're rich enough and have the right stats, go for Mithril armour!

It is recommended to still stick with killing lower leveled NPCs, but if you want more of a challenge, then...

'''1. Kill Cockroach drones in the Stronghold of Player Safety

Advantages:
 * Area is far from crowded
 * 11hp, easy to kill at level 16 or higher
 * Good drops for their level, including elemental Runes (3 or 4 at a time), noted Coal, between 10-40gp and Limpwurt roots.

Disadvantages:
 * Do not drop bones.
 * Accurate for its level, lower levels should get food before entering.
 * If you haven't entered the Stronghold of Player Safety before, you have to go through the start of the minigame.

Tips:
 * Do the minigame first, you get 10k and Safety gloves once you've finished. What's better than easy money?
 * There are also Muggers inside here, so you can start on them, move up to the Cockroach drones and then once you've finished levelling on those guys... ... ...

2. Kill barbarians in Barbarian Village.

Advantages:
 * Multicombat, so you can attack a barbarian that another player is attacking. However, other players may see this as rude. Also, this means you get less experience per kill.
 * They do not have very high defense.
 * Players may increase their strength and hitpoints a bit with the beers at tables.

Disadvantages:
 * It is possible that you could accidentally get into a fight with multiple barbarians.
 * They use different attack styles.
 * They have a higher defence level than most low level NPCs.

Tips:
 * Do not underestimate these guys. They are pretty tough opponents and vary in level.

3. Kill Al-Kharid Warriors in the Al-Kharid palace.

Advantages:
 * They have scimitars, which are bad against most types of Melee Armour.

Disadvantages:
 * They help each other by attacking players who attack their comrades. You can have up to 4 attacking you at the same time.
 * It is occasionally busy. Go to a less busy server to avoid crowding.

Tips:
 * Careful...this is a multi-combat area! When you attack a warrior, any other warriors nearby will shout and run to his aid (unless they are already in combat), so you may be attacked by up to 4 enemies at once! This is dangerous if your combat level is in the 20s. It is good experience though if you are over level 30.

4. Kill Minotaurs in the 1st level of the Stronghold of Security.

Advantages:
 * Frequent iron arrow drops.
 * Although there may be many players training, there are enough minotaurs that you should not get into problems with too many people.
 * They drop bones and suprisingly people leave them around a lot

Disadvantages:
 * Low hitpoints levels, meaning slower exp.

Tips:
 * Stick with the level 12 ones at first. There are level 27 Minotaurs further in the Stronghold and are slightly stronger BUT much more accurate then the level 12s. None of them are aggressive, however.
 * Minotaurs constantly drop iron arrows, around 7 to 14 at a time. Save them for Ranging!

5. Kill Dark Warriors in the wilderness.

Advantages:
 * Several types of runes spawn in the castle, meaning that you can make quite a bit of money along the way (or level up Magic, since the warriors wear metal armour).
 * This place is not usually crowded due to its location.
 * Marvelous amount of hitpoints
 * Many doors you can use for your advantage.

Disadvantages:
 * Hostile revenant attacks are not very frequent at such low-level wilderness, but it will not be easy to escape when they corner you
 * Multicombat zone, so multiple warriors will attack.
 * They have bad drops.
 * Accurate enough to hit even very hard targets

6. Kill Dark Wizards found south of Varrock.

Advantages:
 * They drop a good amount of runes.
 * Aggressive, although levels low enough to use this as advantage cannot usually stay there very long
 * Many and fast respawns
 * There is an altar nearby in the Varrock alleyways, which enables players to boost their training a bit.

Disadvantages:
 * VERY crowded.
 * They use magic, so they will hit you very often if you wear melee armour.
 * The level 20 wizards can hit 6s, and they hit very often.
 * They cast magic faster than the player.
 * They can weaken you at shorter ranges, causing you to do less damage and gain slower experience

7. Kill Wizards in Rimmington Meadow.

Advantages:
 * Not aggressive and have incredible supply of hitpoints, with 25HP at level 13.
 * Drop a lot of elemental runes.
 * Can be easily reached by using Cabbage patch teleport of Explorer ring 3.
 * Low melee and ranged defense.

Disadvantages:
 * There are only 4 of them, which is insufficient for supplying multiple trainers in a single world.
 * Uses magic and the earth and fire wizard has max hit of 6.
 * Wizards using lower-leveled spells are fairly accurate.
 * No bone drops.
 * Some players around level 40, tend to kill the wizards so players cutting trees aren't harmed. They protect a player between 3 and 25.

'''8. Kill Scorpions in The Varrock Sewers

Advantages:
 * Not aggressive, with very low accuracy.
 * Low melee defence
 * The area is very uncrowded
 * Very fast spawning

Disadvantages:
 * There are only two
 * They do not drop anything (This can be good, since you won't have to bank, and you will focus more on just raising your stats)

Level 31 to 45
Make sure that you are well prepared with food before training on any of these monsters. Also, equip Adamant armor or at least Mithril before attacking these monsters.

'''1. Kill hill giants in Edgeville Dungeon and the [Wilderness]

Advantages: Disadvantages:
 * Hill giants always drop big bones, for either selling (they sell for coins each in bulk) or training prayer.
 * They also drop limpwurt roots for either selling or making strength potions.
 * If a player is training melee and has at least 20 fishing (with bait)and an axe and tinderbox, this method can be very successful as a player can be training attack, defense, strength, fishing, prayer, and cooking ''simultaneously.'
 * Rangers will hide behind a rock and range hill giants, making it difficult for getting a kill.
 * For players with combat levels in the 30s, hill giants may be a bit harder to kill. Bring plenty of food and good equipment.
 * This place may get unbelievably crowded, with multiple people competing for each giant. Being a quick clicker with fast reflexes helps a great deal.
 * Despite the hill giants being dangerous to lower levels, there have been reports of players as low level as 25 training melee there.

Tips:
 * Memorize a hill giant respawn point and you may get a kill most of the time.
 * It may be hard to get a kill, so be patient.
 * Bring Mind Runes and Air Runes to help you get a monster. Get Wind Strike ready, and when a monster respawns click on the monster. This way you attack the monster before everyone else.

2. Kill Level 30 Zombies in the 2nd level of Stronghold of Security.

Advantages:
 * Zombies are aggressive, so if you enter the map, and stand in one place for some time, monster will come to you, and you will automatically kill them.
 * The place isn't as crowded as Hill Giants. The ratio from person to monster is 1:2 or 1:3, which is low unlike the ratio at Hill Giants, which is 2:1 or 1::1.
 * They drop steel arrows, so it is a good place to train for high level archers.
 * There are a lot of random events, and the prizes are good.

Disadvantages:
 * You need to get past the 1st level in the Stronghold.
 * Zombies are aggressive only for 5-10 minutes, then you have to re-enter the level.
 * The drops are medium.
 * They aren't in a multicombat area, so friends can't help.
 * They hit often and a max of 4.

'''3. Kill Hobgoblins found in many places, such as Edgeville Dungeon, Asgarnian Ice Dungeon, or outside the Crafting Guild. Advantages:


 * Drops limpwurt roots, along with other good drops.
 * Low defense.
 * They are aggressive.
 * Very few players melee them, and rangers and mages cannot crowd the place because they are unable to reach some of the hobgoblins.

Disadvantages:
 * They hit fairly hard and accurately.

4. Kill Zombies or Skeletons found in Varrock sewers or Edgeville Dungeon.

Advantages:
 * They have a decent amount of hitpoints for their level.

Disadvantages:
 * Their drops are mediocre.
 * This place is better for rangers, causing crowds.

Level 46 to 55
Make sure to bring food and put auto-retaliate on so you will automatically attack the monsters. 1. Kill Moss Giants in Crandor, in the Wilderness or in the Varrock sewers.

Advantages:
 * Moss Giants drop big bones for Prayer.
 * There are several chaos rune spawns near the Wilderness Moss Giants.
 * The Wilderness spawns are usually deserted.
 * Their attack rate is fairly slow.
 * 60 hitpoints per giant means good experience.

Disadvantages:
 * Must have done Dragon Slayer to access Crandor.
 * Crandor can get crowded at peak times.
 * In the Wilderness, revenants can kill you easily if you are not paying attention (They freeze, teleblock and deal massive damage from the 3 sides of the combat triangle).

2. Kill Black Knights in or near their fortress.

Advantages: Disadvantages:
 * Inside the fortress is a very high number of knights. This area is generally not overly crowded.
 * They are very good experience.
 * They have decent drops.
 * If you have 31+ Prayer, you can recharge your prayer points at the nearby Monastery. You can also ask the monks to heal you for free.
 * For members, you can use a halberd in the fenced off area by the altar in the fortress.
 * You can get damaged quite often, and they have high defense.
 * To go inside the fortress requires completion of Black Knight's Fortress and a bronze medium helmet as well as an iron chainbody.
 * The nearest bank is in Edgeville, a bit of a walk away.

Tips:
 * Unlike many training points, scimitars may not do well here because the knights' armour has a high slash defense. Using a crushing weapon- a mace, warhammer or two-handed sword is recommended as plate armour is weak to crush.

3. Kill lower leveled white knights in Falador.

Advantages
 * Close to a bank.
 * The swords wielded by the knights have a slow attack rate.
 * Crush weapons do well against their armour, a fact which makes place more effective without gathering people too much.

Disadvantages
 * All of Falador is a multicombat area, and a decent amount of people train here so you will have to world hop every so often when it gets crowded.
 * White knights hit hard for their level.
 * Quicker weapons such as daggers and short swords lack the punch needed to effectively penetrate the knights' defense. A heavier weapon, like a longsword or battleaxe, is recommended.

Tips
 * The upper level of the White Knight's Castle (where the white knights are in) is usually not crowded. Going there is a good idea.
 * The upper levels also have more knights than the courtyard.
 * The lowest level has a chicken that respawns frequently. There is also a cooking range that is fairly close to the chicken.

4. Kill Deadly red spiders in the Karamja-Crandor dungeon.

Advantages:


 * The Red spiders do low damage.
 * Red spiders' eggs respawn near the spiders.
 * Aggressive even against high levels.

Disadvantages:


 * Nearby lesser demons will attack anyone who comes too close
 * Red spiders have no drops for non-members..

5. Kill Al Kharid warriors in the Al Kharid Palace.

Advantages:


 * Warriors can be killed within seconds.
 * The Warriors have a low defence, making it possible to hit the player's max hit.
 * Warriors do low damage.
 * Lumbridge is close by, so on death it doesn't take long to return.

Disadvantages:

Tips:
 * It may be crowded.
 * If you attack a warrior, the ones near you will also attack you.


 * If crowded, the player could hop onto a low-populated PVP World where there's few people or none at all.

Level 56 to 75
'''1. Kill catablepons or spiders found in level 3 of the Stronghold of Security.

Advantages:
 * Catablepons drop a piece of the skull sceptre.
 * High HP.
 * Not crowded.
 * There are many of them and they'll attack you regardless of your combat level.

Disadvantages:
 * Catablepons can drain your strength by up to 10%.
 * They can damage you fairly often.
 * The Giant spiders have no drops.
 * You need time to find an specific area where only one kind of monsters is available.
 * Catablepons have very high defence, possibly causing players below 50 combat unable to defeat them.

2. Kill ice warriors or ice Giants in the Ice Caves south of Port Sarim or Ice Plateau in Level 48 Wilderness.

Advantages:
 * The area is not crowded.
 * They respawn quickly.
 * They have decent drops, with lots of runes such as natures, chaos', deaths, laws and cosmics.
 * They are aggressive and will attack you.

Disadvantages:
 * You have to navigate through rough and dangerous terrain for resupply, especially at wilderness
 * They can hit frequent 6s and 7s.
 * If only fighting Ice Giants, the Ice warriors can cause a disturbance. After 12-20 minutes, they will stop attacking you.
 * Once a high leveled Revenant attacks you in the Wilderness part, it will be EXTREMELY hard to escape if they manage to freeze you

Tips for wilderness spot:
 * Do not bring anything you are not ready to replace if lost
 * The only food recommended is either swordfishes or anchovy pizzas.
 * Always save some food for returning
 * While training, keep your hitpoints over half

'''3. Kill Cockroach workers in the Stronghold of Player Safety

Advantages:
 * There are many scattered around on different levels of the area
 * Good drops (mithril plate, ores)
 * Close to the rope that leads to Edgeville (top floor)

Disadvantages:
 * They will hit frequent 5s and 6s, possibly even 7
 * Some players who might steal your kill

'''4. Kill Lvl 39 and 42 White Knights in the White Knights' Castle in Falador

Advantages:
 * If you have 49 Defense or more they will not hit often.
 * Higher HP than the Giant spiders in the Stronghold of Security, as they have 53HP.
 * Decent Drops.

Disadvantages:
 * Unless you go on one of the worlds with lower amount of people, it is very crowded.
 * Some people might steal your kill, but if you go on the upper levels of the castle you should be fine.
 * They are non-aggressive.

'''5. Kill zombies or rats found in level 2 of the Stronghold of Security.

Advantages:
 * They have low attack.
 * Good HP.
 * They have low defence.
 * They drop steel arrows, that can be sold at GE

Disadvantages:
 * Unless you go on one of the worlds with lower amount of people, it is very crowded.
 * They hit 4~7.

Level 76 to 126
1. Kill Flesh crawler in the lvl 2 Stronghold of Security.

Advantages:

Disadvantages:
 * The best location is the south west corner which has the largest concentration of enemies.
 * Tons of damage given and minimal damage received if the player has a reasonable defence level and armour
 * Close to Edgeville Bank.
 * They are Aggressive which means less clicking is involved
 * A good training source for higher levels when chatting with players or doing other activities, you don't have to pay as much attention as other enemies at this level.
 * No matter what level you are, Flesh Crawler will attack you when you enter the area they are in.
 * Little competition
 * Low maximum hit of 1.
 * High respawn rate
 * There is a sort of glitch here, which occurs if you have been in one room for more than 12 minutes. After that time passes, bury the bones of any monster and there is a 90% chance of a random event happening. If the random that happens teleports you to a new location, then when you return the flesh crawlers will be aggressive to you again.
 * Although the Flesh Crawler are quick experience, they only have 25 health, which means only 100 experience per kill.
 * High rate of hits
 * Other aggressive creatures are in the same area - such as zombies which can do more damage. Unless you are in the room with the 35s'.
 * No bones are dropped so this place is terrible for training prayer
 * Tolerance vastly reduces the effectiveness of the area,

'''2. Kill Ankous in the Stronghold of Security

Advantages:
 * Close to Edgeville Bank.
 * Drops adamant arrows fairly often.

Disadvantages:
 * Crowded at times.
 * They hit up to 8, and often.

'''3. Kill Lesser Demons in the Karamja Volcano, or the wilderness.

Advantages:
 * Low defense and high hitpoints.
 * Great drops for F2P, including a Rune med helm!
 * You can use Telekinetic Grab on the nature runes in the wilderness once in a while if you train there. There are 3 or 4 nature runes per spawn.
 * Outside of the Volcano is a fishing spot in case you run out of food.

Disadvantages:
 * Crowded
 * They can hit 7s and 8s
 * Revenants can attack you if you go after the ones in the wilderness!

4. Kill Greater Demons in the wilderness.

Advantages:
 * Their drops are far better than the lesser demons.
 * They are a great source of XP.
 * Great drops for F2P, including a Rune Full Helm!
 * If you run into troubles, it's easy to retreat into the ruins, which is safe from demons.

Disadvantages:
 * Revenants appear here often, especially orks and knights.
 * Capable of dealing 9 damage often
 * The area is multicombat
 * It's a fairly long way from the nearest bank to the Demonic Ruins.
 * Better defense than their southern relatives.

'''5. Kill Ice Giants and Ice Warriors in the Asgarnian Ice Dungeon near Port Sarim.

Advantages:
 * They are aggressive, and it is single combat.
 * They have decent drops, such as a Mithril Sq Shield, which can be Hi-Alched for some decent money.
 * They have a high HP level.
 * Ice Giants drop Big Bones, which can be used to train Prayer.
 * Ice warriors are not that good at offense
 * Combination of 70+ attack and rune longsword will shatter both of them.

Disadvantages:
 * Far from a bank.
 * Crowded at peak times.
 * If your attack is low you may have to take secondary weapon to repel well-armored warriors

'''6. Kill Giant Spiders found in the Stronghold of Security.

Advantages:
 * High HP.
 * Low defense.
 * They are aggressive to any combat level.
 * Weak against slashes.

Disadvantages:
 * Their vicious bite does a lot of damage, even high levels do not survive without healing.
 * No drops.
 * Can get crowded sometimes.
 * They are very accurate

'''7. Kill Cockroach soldiers in the Stronghold of Player Safety

Advantages:
 * High HP
 * Valuable drops such as rune scimitar, rune square shield, and decent amounts of coins, law runes, death runes, and noted adamantite and mithril ores.
 * Good place for lootshare

Disadvantages:
 * VERY high defense
 * Their close range attack is powerful enough to be a serious danger, doing up to 8 damage with quite an accuracy. Their acidic shot is easy enough to dodge, but it can deal 11 damage, more than any other training monster in f2p!
 * Often crowded