Rune equipment

Rune equipment is the second best (but best non-degradable) equipment in free to play worlds. It is stronger than adamant equipment but weaker than corrupt dragon equipment. In the past, rune equipment was often criticised as being "too expensive", especially to free players. The price of rune equipment was controversial, as non-combat skillers with a decently high level in their speciality and therefore make good money have no problem purchasing such items. However, in recent times, due to rapidly falling prices, the vast majority of players can afford a full set of rune by the time they reach the requirements to use said equipment. Many players have enough money to afford much more expensive variations of rune armour, such as trimmed, gold-trimmed, gilded, heraldic, or armour in the colour of the gods.

Rune Weapons
Rune weapons are navy blue and require an Attack level of 40 (apart from the rune cane, which requires only 38) to wield. They were formerly the best weapons available to free players until the introduction of Corrupted dragon equipment and the Gravite weapons. However, they are still regarded as the best weapons in F2P, as they do not disappear like corrupt dragon, and do not degrade like gravite. As with all runite items, rune weapons tend to exhibit a colour that could be considered a darker form of steel.

Note:
Attack Bonuses are not the only factor a player should consider when choosing a weapon, speed is essential to combat! (especially when training along side other players) As a general rule, smaller/lighter weapons are faster than the larger/heavier ones. (ex. A rune longsword is faster than a rune battleaxe) Always remember this when reviewing these weapons:



Ranged weapons

 * Rune crossbow
 * Rune bolts
 * Rune arrows
 * Rune brutal arrows
 * Rune darts
 * Rune javelin
 * Rune thrownaxe
 * Rune knife

Armour
Rune armour is the highest-quality non-degradable armour that free-to-play players can wear, and the second-highest quality armour on the standard metallic armour spectrum (bronze to dragon). Rune armour requires 40 Defence to wear and Dragon Slayer to wear the rune platebody, but only 40 Defence (45 for rune berserker) to wear all other pieces (thus, Dragon Slayer need not be completed.) With a full set costing around 137,500 coins, the armour provides excellent defence for its price. Rune armour is the best choice for warriors with level 40 defence, or non-members who can't or choose, for various reasons(mainly due to cost, and the time limit), not to wear corrupt dragon armour. Another reason that corrupt dragon is not the best choice, is that it doesn't last very long when you wear it, perhaps making Rune armour the best free-players can wear.

Stats
The full set has the following statistics (however, these stats do not include the gloves and boots shown in the image):

Obtaining from the Champions' Guild
Rune Armour is the best type of armour for a non-member; the only armour that's better statistically is the corrupt dragon armour, which crumbles to dust after 30 minutes and is very expensive. For this reason, Rune armor is more popular among non-members. The rune platebody can only be worn after the completion of the Dragon Slayer quest, though all other pieces of rune armour can be worn without its completion - Rune platelegs, rune plateskirts, rune chainbodies, rune swords, rune maces, etc. can be bought in Scavvo's Rune Store on the second floor in the Champions' Guild just south of Varrock or the Grand Exchange.
 * Rune plateskirt: 64,000 coins
 * Rune platelegs: 64,000 coins
 * Rune chainbody: 50,000 coins
 * Rune longsword: 32,000 coins
 * Rune sword: 20,800 coins
 * Rune mace: 14,400 coins
 * Rune 2h: 45,000 coins

Others
Ornamental rune armour, heraldic rune armour, trimmed rune armour, God armour, and Gilded armour have the same bonuses as standard rune armour. These can be obtained from the member's only Treasure Trails.

Note: Other players cannot trim nor bless armour, no matter what scammers say.

Trimmed (free to play)

 * Rune full helm (t) Cost: coins
 * Rune platebody (t) Cost: coins
 * Rune plateskirt (t) Cost: coins
 * Rune platelegs (t) Cost: coins
 * Rune kiteshield (t) Cost: coins

Gold Trimmed (free to play)

 * Rune full helm(g) Cost: coins
 * Rune platebody (g) Cost: coins
 * Rune plateskirt (g) Cost: coins
 * Rune platelegs (g) Cost: coins
 * Rune kiteshield (g) Cost: coins

Heraldic (free to play)

 * Rune helm (h1-h5) Cost (for h1): coins
 * Rune platebody (h1-h5) Cost (for h1): coins
 * Rune plateskirt (h1-h5) Cost (for h1): coins
 * Rune platelegs (h1-h5) Cost (for h1): coins
 * Rune shield (h1-h5) Cost (for h1): coins

Gilded

 * Gilded full helm Cost: coins
 * Gilded platebody Cost: coins
 * Gilded plateskirt Cost: coins
 * Gilded platelegs Cost: coins
 * Gilded kiteshield Cost: coins

Zamorak (free to play)

 * Zamorak full helm Cost: coins'
 * Zamorak platebody Cost: coins
 * Zamorak plateskirt Cost: coins
 * Zamorak platelegs Cost: coins
 * Zamorak kiteshield Cost: coins

Guthix (free to play)

 * Guthix full helm Cost: coins
 * Guthix platebody Cost: coins
 * Guthix plateskirt Cost: coins
 * Guthix platelegs Cost: coins
 * Guthix kiteshield Cost: coins

Saradomin (free to play)

 * Saradomin full helm Cost: coins
 * Saradomin platebody Cost: coins
 * Saradomin plateskirt Cost: coins
 * Saradomin platelegs Cost: coins
 * Saradomin kiteshield Cost: coins

Ancient

 * Ancient full helm Cost: coins
 * Ancient platebody Cost: coins
 * Ancient plateskirt Cost: coins
 * Ancient platelegs Cost: coins
 * Ancient kiteshield Cost: coins

Bandos

 * Bandos full helm Cost: coins
 * Bandos platebody Cost: coins
 * Bandos plateskirt Cost: coins
 * Bandos platelegs Cost: coins
 * Bandos kiteshield Cost: coins

Armadyl

 * Armadyl full helm Cost: coins
 * Armadyl platebody Cost: coins
 * Armadyl plateskirt Cost: coins
 * Armadyl platelegs Cost: coins
 * Armadyl kiteshield Cost: coins

Rune Armour in RSC
Long ago, during the early development stages of RuneScape Classic, rune armour didn't exist. Prior to its release, Jagex planned on making the colour of rune purple. There are images floating around the internet of a Purple Rune 2 Handed Sword in a trade screen from RuneScape Classic. After Rune was released, it was changed to a cyan colour. Once RuneScape 2 was released the cyan colour of Rune armour was toned down into a more shaded colour.

Trivia

 * All the god, trimmed, heraldic, and gilded versions of rune have the same exact stats as regular rune; it is only a different colour.
 * Players can't trim rune armour, or any armour for that matter. Players tell others they can trim or gold-trim their armour for them, only to run off with the armour they were given by unsuspecting players. This was a common scamming method before the trading limit update of 2007, and returned as a common scam with the removal of trade limits in 2011.
 * When you pulled a Christmas cracker from the 2001 event, you received a partyhat and a random normal object. The partyhats, (now 1500M+) were often disregarded, as there was a chance to get runite armour, which was worth millions at that time.
 * Rune plate armour is the only armour to come in 16 distinct variations (four being P2P) all with the same stats. The second highest are black plate and adamant plate, with 8 variations each. The most popular being Zamorak and Guthix
 * On 23 May 2010, a glitch appeared in which players with access to the Warriors' Guild could duplicate Rune armour sets. This was done by placing a helmet, platebody, and platelegs on the machine and eating a Rotten apple just before the player died. A Player could say to Shanomi that his or her armour set had disappeared. Shanomi would give him or her another one, with the one on the ground too. This was patched within 24 hours after Jagex discovered it, but it had already been exploited for weeks. None of the accounts that used the bug to duplicate rune armour sets were able to be banned.
 * The March 06 2012 graphical update enraged many players. Changing the classic look of rune armor even made some quit entirely. Many people did not quit because of only rune armour. It was actually many of the other armours that made people quit.

Rune equipment Rune equipment