Combat pure


 * ''Pure may also refer to pure essence, a type of rune essence.
 * Twin redirects here. For the Random Event, see Grab the Evil Twin.

A Pure is a player who works solely on certain skills, focusing all their attention to make those skills stronger. However, this leads to a pure having relatively low skills in other areas. Pures fall into around six categories: Melee-Related Pures, Mage-Related Pures, Range-Related Pures, Tanks, Hybrids and skillers.

Combat pures
Combat pures train only combat skill levels. Combat pures are more common than non-combat pures, and are usually made for player killing. The purpose of having a combat pure is to be specialized in one combat skill, thus being very good at a low level. Defence and prayer are normally sacrificed when being a combat pure, as they always add to combat level. Though prayer does contribute to the combat level at a lower rate, it has a few advantages, such as the protect item, ultimate strength, smite, and piety prayers. Combat pures are no longer as effective as they used to be, due to the fact the the majority of the non-pure population have realized that to protect themselves from pures, they simply have to train their defence to about level 70.

At the Tutorial Island, any skill can only be trained up to level 3, so you can come away from there with Attack level 3, Strength level 3, ranged level 3 (arrows will be replenished by the instructor, so train on rapid) and all your magic practice done (runes will be replenished only if you were unlucky enough to miss with every spell). Although getting all of your combat skill levels up to level 3 raises your combat level to level 5, it is well worth it. Even a pure Ranger or Mage should avail themselves of the 100% pure training in Attack and Strength, since the early level-up to level 6 (warrior) will put you outside the aggressive limit of level 2 giant rats, and training the preferred skill to level 7 and beyond will make it the determining factor for combat level. It also means that you can equip a steel weapon.

Some quick tips:
 * To avoid training Defence, do not fight in a defensive or controlled style. Always double check the attack style you are using. Doing so prevents unwanted levels being gained.
 * To avoid training Hitpoints, train Attack on the dummies until no longer able to (or use beer or wine to lower your Attack level to continue), or make the most of the Tutorial Island, as all training there appears not to result in any hitpoints gain. For warriors, you can complete the Vampire Slayer Quest to earn 4825 Attack experience. Magic levels can be gained without Hitpoints by using alchemy, teleportation and curses.
 * To avoid training Prayer, do not bury bones and do not take on or complete the "Restless Ghost" quest.

Combat pures vary with their combat class (ranger, mage, or warrior), so they are discussed below.

Advantages of defence
There are many reasons why one would be interested in getting Defence levels while being a Pure. One of which is to wear better armour which may give better statistic bonuses. Another reason why one might get defence levels is to get hit damage less often. Or, to simply not be a Pure anymore.

Using Prayer
In addition to 5, 10 or 15% boosts to your stats, at level 25, one can save an additional item if one dies while the prayer is active (and only one item, if you are "skulled" for using the Abyss or playing Bounty Hunter which still gives you a chance to save your most valuable item in your pack).

At level 31, you have access to the Monastery which contains an altar to recharge prayer to two above one's base prayer level.

At level 37, one gains the "Protect from Magic" prayer, very useful for those wearing armour with a negative or low mage defence bonus.

At level 40, one gains the "Protect from Missiles" prayer which can defend oneself from all forms of ranged attacks (excluding mage).

At level 43, the last of the protection prayers is "Protect from Melee" which protects against melee attacks.

For P2P, many higher levels get 52 prayer for Smite. When this prayer is active, for every 4 damage inflicted on your opponent, 1 prayer point is removed from their prayer. "Smite" is commonly used to get another player's protected item. During intense and hectic situations, players using "protect item" are often forced to make a choice to eat food, or drink a prayer potion when nearing death. If the player dies, and does not renew their prayer after running out, they will lose the item that would normally have been protected.

Protection prayers are disliked by many pure players, but they can give a big advantage to the player using the protection prayer. For example, a pure mage with level 35 magic would hit up to 12. But with protection prayer, they can only hit up to 6.

Types of pures
Str pures Which include:

Obsidian Pure
These pures are players that have alot of funds and alot of time. They stay at 1,5,20 attack, (mostly 1 attack) and 60+ str for the obsidian maul, some combine range or magic with this to make a deadly (but costly combat balance wise) combo, they also have 1-31-52 prayer, these pures are notorious for having very high hp and str at a incredibly low level (60 str and 50 hp at level 33). It is best to get your range up as it will get you alot of your hp levels or if you partake to use a cannon get your strength up first.

Proselyte Pure
Some players that choose to be an Initiate Pure get 30 defense (to wear Proselyte Armor as ir provides better Prayer & Defense Bonus) when there str gets a high lvl. They normally get 60 or 70 atk for Dragon Scimitar or Abby Whip, then 70 to 99 str.

Initiate/Mystic Pure
Some players choose to get their defense to a level of 20 so as to be able to wear Mystic robes and Initiate armour. Mystic, for a much larger magic attack bonus which helps while spellcasting. Others will get 20 Defence for Initiate armour so as to have a greater prayer bonus which will help in keeping one's prayer level up for longer periods of time.

Rune/Berserker Pure
Other players choose to get 40 defence or 45 for a greater selection of armour. Those who get 40 defence usually get it to have access to Rune armour, which gives a large Melee and Range defence bonus. Those gain 5 more defence levels can wear the Berserker Helm. Other 'perks' that come with 45 defence are:


 * The ability to wield a Fighter torso
 * The ability to wield Dragon and Barrows Gloves from the quest Recipe for Disaster.

Barrows Pure
A Barrows pure is considered a Player Killer with a Defence level of 70. Most Player Killers who choose to raise their defence levels to this extent do it to wear a powerful set of armours known as Barrows.

Mage Pure
A description often used for a PKer that routinely fights using the Magic skill. Pure mages can hit for lots of damage at a low level, ideally killing their target before it has a chance to run, but at higher levels, the power of Magic is greatly weakened.

In P2P, low-level (30-40's) PKing with Mage is highly discouraged with the large population of Range Pures and improved dragonhide armour that weaken the accuracy of magic spells immensely. The use of mystic is rare due to the fact that it needs 20 defence, and is an expensive loss if the player dies. However, in more recent times, the strategy of using prayer to enhance the accuracy of magic spells have become more common and favored, because the player does not risk any expensive types of magic robes

The Mage Pure has no use for low level prayer - even protect item will not save runes, though it may be worth it to save a battlestaff or a piece of Member's mage armour.

Also, mage pures tend to die more often than other pures, mainly because of their low hitpoints level, which is often due to training with curse and alchemy (otherwise noncombat) spells, whereas other pures tend to have a higher hitpoints level and are able to take more hits before needing to eat.

Ranged Pure
A term often used for any PKer that routinely fights using the Ranged skill.

Since defence is only required to wear the body section of the leather armour, a level 20 ranger can upgrade to Studded chaps and a Coif, and a level 40 with no defence can wear green dragon vambraces and chaps, Coif and the basic leather body.

For P2P rangers, it is advised to wear the highest-level Dragonhide that is available for the player's range level. The Magic Shortbow is a must for PKing, as it has a special attack unlike other bows and with the use of rune arrows, medium to high level rangers prove quite deadly. Rangers succeed most in the high level 30's to the low level 40's.

With the addition of the Dark Bow and Rune Crossbow, rangers at higher combat levels have a much higher chance of defeating other players in armour, compared to the magic short bow.

The Range Pure has no use for low level prayer, except to protect a crossbow or dark bow - protect item will not save arrows.

Defense Pure or Tank
Although extremely rare, a true Defence Pure is a character who solely trains Defense, whilst purposefully not gaining experience in the 2 melee stats. It is possible to gain 60 defense while not exceeding 30 combat; if the account is purely defense, it is possible by level 27 combat. However, Defense Pures are not very effective, as they have a max hit of 1 and hit many 0's due to the lack of attack and strength levels. Training an account to 60 defense takes a good deal of patience gaining a maximum of 4 experience per attack, while not consistently administering damage. The more common reason for a Defense Pure is to show off one's opulence, such as equipping the account with [Dragon Chainmail], [Dragon Legs] or [Plateskirt], and a [Dragon Helmet] of some sort.

Perhaps the most common kind of tank is a Melee tank. Defense tends to be the more neglected of the three melee stats, so the standard for a Melee tank is simply set by the relative levels. A level 75 wearing [Torag] armor is considered a tank, due to a very high defense level relative to other level 75 players, but a level 100 wearing [Verac] is not considered a tank, due to the fact that 70 defense becomes significantly more common among similarly leveled players. Typically, these tanks are not the most effective variant, due to the fact that they are likely forced into a lower strength or attack level in order to maintain a lower combat.

The second most common tank variant is a Tank Ranger. By far the most commonly seen form of a Tank Ranger is a player wearing a [Black Dragonhide] body with [Rune Platelegs], a [Rune Full Helmet], and a [Rune Kiteshield], often with a Rune Crossbow as the weapon of choice. However, these Tanks are often described as "Wannabe Tanks" due to the fact that they generally do not have a very high defense level. Generally, the most effective Tank Ranger is a setup in which the Rune Helm is replaced with a Torag's Helm, the Rune Platelegs replaced with Torag's platelegs, and a superior shield such as a Granite shield or Obsidian shield in place of the Rune Kiteshield.

Although not commonly seen, a Mage Tank will often have a very high magic level, along with 70 defence to utilize Ahrim's Robes. These tanks are extremely rare, and are often easily taken down by a Damage Range Tank.

About as rare as a Mage Tank is a mid-level Damage Range Tank. These tanks utilize armor such as Karil's for the phenomenal magic defense, and use a very powerful weapon such as a Dark Bow or Karil's Crossbow. Due to the pathetic Melee defense of Karil's armor, these tanks do not excel against meleers, and as such, many also have the gear for regular Tank Ranging.

Hybrid
A hybrid is a term usually used for combat pures. A hybrid works on multiple skills. The most common hybrid is a range and mage. It is difficult to use, but it should be possible to have equal primary statistics in two or even three classes of combat or at least a working ability in one or two other combat classes. Usually it is best to work on only 2 different combat types, rather than working on 3. Otherwise your combat will be high and your combat skill level will not be the best it can be.

Carrying two or three different sets of equipment would leave a hybrid with a lot to lose and very little space for food, but enable you to stand in two or three points of the combat triangle.
 * Armoured warrior is weak against Mage (if you have no other choice, take off your armour and charge the mage if you are willing to take a risk.)
 * Mages are weak against Rangers, as range armour is better defensively against magic than mage gear is against arrows.
 * Ranger is generally weak against Warrior (use bind to stop the warrior approaching if mage-range hybrid, and make good use of obstructions such as forest, fences, or higher ground).

At the very least, the Mage or Ranger should carry a backup weapon and train attack and strength to do worthwhile damage with it, better than hitting with their staff or bow when out of ammunition. A slashing weapon, such as a scimitar, is also needed to enter areas protected by a web.


 * Ranged/Mage: Speedy damage and a huge blast to finish them off. At higher levels, mage is merely used to teleblock and bind other players, and to attack melee player killers in metal armour.
 * Melee/Ranged: Uses dragonhide legs/vambs. The player switches from the bow when the opponent is low on hp to a Granite Maul, TzHaar-Ket-Om (Obsidian Maul), Rune 2h Sword, or a Dragon Dagger.
 * Any/Mage: Enables teleport spells, bind, and combat spells, and increases resistance to magic.
 * Any/Melee: Gives a backup combat method when out of runes or arrows, and good for kills that aren't worth wasting non-renewable gear on.
 * Mage/Melee: An increasingly popular strategy among lower levels is to Ice Blitz an enemy from a distance, then using the dragon dagger special on it. This prevents the enemy from escaping, while allowing the player to inflict damage a few seconds before they reach the person.
 * Any/Prayer: Prayer allows the use of protect item, smite, which lowers one's prayer, and prayers to boost attack, strength, defence, ranged, and magic accuracy.

Twinning
Two similar pures that have similar names are sometimes called twins. Twins may player-kill with each other. Similar named accounts may cause confusion for another group of pkers that these twins are attacking, while the twins can synchronize their efforts on one target at a time.

Skillers
A skiller is a player who doesn't train combat stats, but does work on other skills. Common skillers may be woodcutters, miners, fishers, etc. A lot of players usually in the free worlds may see a level 3 skiller and barrage them with insults because they judge a player by their combat levels and not their skill levels. Skillers can also train Slayer and still not get combat levels. They do this with rings of Recoil.

Criticism
Some players argue that because pures only work on few skills, they are weak in different aspects of the game. Other criticisms against low-level pures include the belief that making a skiller is seemingly pointless since they can do similar things on a player's main account. Also, many criticisms are directed towards the Ranged Pures, hence Ranging and Magic take the longest to increase a full combat level.

Many pures, due to the extremely competetive nature of player killing, may insult others. Sometimes they do it so much, it almost becomes a personality trait and is carried out of the wilderness and into the rest of their gaming life. This is where people often get the idea that pures are mean, disrespectful, selfish, etc.

For anyone who uses a more balanced character to make and give things to their pure fighter, attention must be drawn to Rule 8 of the rules section on runescape.com.
 * Rule 8.
 * You may create more than one RuneScape account, but if you do, you may not log in more than one account at any time, and they must not interact with each other in any way. This includes 'drop trading' or any other method of item transfer.

Please note that as of January 2, 2008, all "unbalanced" trading is prohibited, and therefore interacting between a pure and a "main" account is nearly impossible.