Armour

bobobobobobbobArmour is the term for items that can be equipped to provide defensive bonuses during combat. Most armour sets require a certain Defence level to equip; the higher level an item is, the greater bonuses it will provide. All armour is classed under a combat style (Melee, Magic, or Ranged), with the exception of Hybrid gear. The strengths and weaknesses of each class's armour play a primary role in defining the combat triangle.

A player's choice of armour can come from more than defence. Some armour sets will strengthen a player's hits, and others can offer equal defence and easy switching of combat styles.

Armour and the combat triangle
The combat triangle is a figure that demonstrates how each combat style relates to another.
 * Melee fighters overcome rangers because their weapons can cut through leather armour with ease. Melee armour is also effective at protecting against Ranged attacks, as their projectiles have difficulty piercing the thick, metal armour.
 * Ranged fighters overcome mages because their projectiles easily penetrate their robes. Ranged armour is usually crafted from tough animal hides with poor energy conductivity, which is highly resistant to Magic attacks.
 * Magic users overcome warriors because their spells conduct in their metal armour, effectively cooking them. Effective mages can also bind warriors while attacking from afar, and their magical robes resist Melee attacks.

As can be seen above, armour plays a defining role in the combat triangle. Depending on an enemy's attacks, an item's Armour stat is used in varying amounts: 100% against the style it is strong against (eg. Melee > Ranged), 62.5% against the same style (eg. Melee = Melee), and 31.25% against the style it is weak to (eg. Melee < Magic). To simplify, the batwing torso and blue d'hide body have equal bonuses, but the former is class Magic and the latter class Ranged, and both armours will defend appropriately.

Also, not every item has a class. Some armour is class Hybrid (or class All on particular items), and can be used by any combat style without penalty. Details on Hybrid armour can be found here.

Wearing an item of the wrong class in the torso, legs, or shield slot will penalise your accuracy by 5% each, up to 15% total. The other slots suffer no penalty.

Melee armour

 * Melee armour is usually made from metal and is typically the heaviest gear.
 * Melee armour defends best against Ranged attacks and is weak to Magic attacks.
 * Some Melee armour may be created with the Smithing skill.

Ranged armour

 * Ranged armour is usually crafted from animal skins, commonly dragonhide.
 * Ranged armour defends well against Magic attacks and is weak to Melee attacks.
 * Some Ranged armour may be produced with the Crafting skill.

Magic armour

 * Magic armour is not armour as commonly envisioned, but instead robes and similar garments.
 * Magic armour defends well against Melee attacks and is vulnerable to Ranged attacks.
 * Some Magic armour may be produced with the Crafting skill, or Runecrafting for higher-end sets.

Armour types
There are four types of armour one may find, most with different stats and purposes:
 * Tank: Tank armour provides the largest defensive bonuses but has no other traits. Nearly all armour in the game is of this class.
 * Power: Power armour has a Damage stat that will increase the user's hits for its combat style. It provides less defence than Tank armour of the same level. Power armour consists of:
 * Armour from Barbarian Assault (tier 40 various)
 * Fremennik armour (tier 50)
 * Rock-shell armour
 * Spined armour
 * Skeletal armour
 * Demon slayer equipment (tier 60)
 * God Wars Dungeon armour (tier 70)
 * Bandos armour
 * Armadyl armour
 * Robes of subjugation
 * Nex armour (tier 80)
 * Torva armour
 * Pernix armour
 * Virtus armour
 * Tectonic armour (tier 90)


 * Hybrid: True to its word, Hybrid armour can be used by all combat styles without accuracy penalty. Hybrid armour carries even lower defence than the above armours, but it defends equally well against all combat styles; it increases the block chance for each style equally, regardless of the other gear a player is wearing. It is useful when frequently changing attack style. The following armour sets are Hybrid:
 * Dragonstone armour (tier 50)
 * Akrisae the Doomed's equipment (tier 70)
 * Warpriest armour (tiers 25, 50, and 75)
 * Vanguard armour (tier 85) (Only in certain PvP minigames)
 * Battlemage armour (tier 85) (Only in certain PvP minigames)
 * Trickster armour (tier 85) (Only in certain PvP minigames)
 * All: This armour moderately redistributes the player's total defensive ratings throughout the combat triangle to balance their block chance for each style. The following armour sets or items are classed as All:
 * Dragon rider boots and gloves (tier 40, requires 60 Defence)
 * Void Knight equipment (tier 45)
 * Elite Void Knight equipment (tier 50)
 * Obsidian armour (tier 60)
 * Relic helms (tier 60)
 * Culinaromancer's gloves (tiers 1 to 70)

Power, Hybrid and All armour have lower defensive bonuses than Tank gear of the same level. Using Tank as a base, their bonuses are derived as follows:

To demonstrate, here are the bonuses of tier 60 torso armour for each type:

Damage bonus
The total damage increase from a full set of Power armour is a theoretical 10%. This assumes that a player's weapon is main-handed, Fastest speed, and of equal level to the set. There are no Power shields and no shield is needed for a full 10%.

The 10% bonus is spread across all armour pieces as follows:

One should remember that the damage increase from Power armour is not a flat 10%, but an estimated 10% that is added to the player's Damage stat.

Attributes
There are three attributes an armour piece may have: Armour, Life and Damage.


 * Armour raises the chance to block attacks from a creature or player.
 * Life raises the player's maximum life points. The amount of life points added is the player's total Life bonus.
 * Damage raises the strength of your hits. Only Power armour has this attribute.

The bonuses on armour are set via formula, and thus it is possible to determine or approximate the stats of non-existent gear. All armour sets of the same level and type will have identical bonuses.

As mentioned previously, some armour may also have a Prayer bonus. A Prayer bonus does not help defensively, but lowers the drain rate of active prayers.

Calculating Armour bonus
The formulas for calculating Armour bonus are derived off a base:


 * Base = (tier ^ 3 / 1250) + (4 * tier) + 40

Using this base, the Armour bonus of each equipment slot is as follows:


 * Head: Base * 0.5
 * Body: Base * 0.575
 * Legs: Base * 0.55
 * Shield: Base * 0.5
 * Gloves: Base * 0.125
 * Boots: Base * 0.125
 * Cape: Base * 0.075

One may find charts with the bonuses of many armour tiers here.

Calculating Life bonus
The formulas for determining Life bonus are linear and simple. The results for certain tiers may be seen here.


 * Head: tier * 12
 * Body: tier * 24
 * Legs: tier * 18
 * Shield: tier * 15
 * Gloves: tier * 3
 * Boots: tier * 3

Prayer armour
Several armour pieces have a Prayer bonus which reduces the drain rate of prayers. Some armour sets, such as Verac's or those from the God Wars Dungeon, have strong defences and are used regardless of Prayer, but other Prayer armours have negligible defences and are used solely for the Prayer bonus.

Most Prayer armour is only available for members, but monk's robes can be used by all and are found at the monastery.

Set effects
Some armour sets have passive effects when every item is worn, potentially allowing greater use for a set. Some passives boost damage like Power armour, but others may increase accuracy, heal the player, drain enemies' stats or adrenaline, and more besides. Nearly every armour set with an effect is available to members only.

A example of these are the Barrows sets, which have unique passives and are commonly seen. Another set used is the Void Knight equipment, which boosts both damage and accuracy. There are other sets besides, such as PvP minigame armour and robes from the Fist of Guthix minigame.

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