Armour/Melee armour



Melee armour, used in the Attack, Strength and Defence skills, is generally made out of some kind of metal. There is a "default" (regular) series of armour, consisting of Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black/White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, and Dragon (in ascending order of the quality of the armour). For each piece of armour, there is a counterpart made for each other type of metal (with the exception of Dragon armour which has some items yet to be released). All these can be made from the Smithing skill, with the exception of Black, White, and Dragon, which can only be purchased or received from a monster drop.

All armour items not made from those metal types can be considered "special" and generally cannot be made from the Smithing skill, but rather sold by an NPC (non playable character) or obtained as a monster drop. Some players may consider these more desirable, as they often provide higher bonuses than other forms of armour.

Medium helmets
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White(m), Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon(m)

Medium helmets offer little protection compared to full helms (shown below) from most combat forms, but also do little to inhibit using any combat style. This makes them a good choice for players who favour melee, but want the opportunity to use Magic and Ranged, or free-to-play rangers who wish for a higher defence bonus (as opposed to a Coif). But if you prefer melee fighting, the full helm is a better choice.

Full helmets
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White(m), Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon(m)

Full helmets encase the whole of the players head and provide better range and melee defence than other helmets. A full helmet, however, imposes larger negative modifiers to Magic and Ranged attacks, but many rangers prefer them for their defence bonuses and accept the negative attack modifiers, which are significantly smaller than their mage attack penalty. The Rune full helm is the best melee head armour available to Free-to-play, apart from the Corrupt dragon med helm.

Chainbodies
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White(m), Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon(m)

Chainbodies are made up of small rings linked together. They are particularly useful for deflecting slashing weapons and absorbing the impact of crush attacks. Chainmail is weak against stabbing weapons as small pointed blades can pierce the rings, as can arrows, therefore it is less effective at defending against Ranged attacks. Chainmail is quite flexible and so does not penalise a ranger's attack bonus, though its metal construction does impede a mage's accuracy somewhat. However, they offer a lesser Magic defence penalty than platebodies.

Platebodies
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White(m), Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon(m)

Platebodies are much heavier and stronger than chainbodies, providing the higher slash, stab, and ranged defence bonuses. Platebodies are weakest against crushing and magic attacks, as they conduct magic and cannot absorb the impact of a crush attack as well as dragonhide or chain armour. Rangers and Mages are at a great disadvantage trying to aim their ranged and distance magic attacks in this restrictive and heavy metal armour. The Rune platebody is very popular, and is the best melee torso armour available to Free-to-play, besides the Corrupt dragon chainbody. However, you need to have completed the Dragon Slayer quest to wear one.

Square shields (sq shields)
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White(m), Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon(m)

The square shield has adequate melee and range defence bonuses, and does not penalise range or mage attacks as much as the kiteshield. In melee, a square shield is weakest against crush attacks, but stronger towards stab. Square shields are not often used, as most players prefer the Kiteshield for its higher defence bonuses. The exception to this is the Dragon square shield, as there is no Dragon kiteshield.

Kiteshields
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White(m), Mithril, Adamant, Rune

Kiteshields offer better defence than a square shield, although like most heavier armour it is awkward to use in combination with Magic and Ranged. Kite shields are marginally weaker against stabbing attacks.

Spikeshields
Adamant, Rune

Spikeshields are a reward that can be purchased with tokens from the Fist of Guthix activity. They degrade with use like Barrows equipment, and can be recharged by paying Reggie a small amount of tokens. They can only be traded when completely uncharged. The Adamant spikeshield costs 50 tokens to buy, 8 tokens to recharge and level 35 defence to wield. The Rune spikeshield costs 200 tokens to buy, 35 tokens to recharge and level 45 defence to wield. Like Barrows equipment, their bonuses will only decrease after the shield has completely degraded to 0%, but unlike Barrows equipment it does so after only 6 hours of solid combat. When fully degraded, spikeshields can be traded with other players or via the Grand Exchange. Spikeshields tend to be overshadowed by Berserker shields, due to their lesser bonuses. However, they are easier to obtain and charge than their counterparts.

Berserker shields
Adamant, Rune

Berserker shields are a reward that can be purchased with tokens from the Fist of Guthix activity. They degrade with use like Barrows equipment, and can be recharged by paying Reggie a small amount of tokens. They can only be traded when completely uncharged. The Adamant berserker shield costs 100 tokens to buy, 17 tokens to recharge and level 35 defence to wield. The Rune berserker shield costs 300 tokens to buy, 30 tokens to recharge and level 45 defence to wield. Like Barrows equipment, their bonuses will only decrease after the shield has completely degraded to 0, but unlike Barrows equipment it does so after only 6 hours of solid combat. When fully degraded spikeshields can be traded with other players or via the Grand Exchange. The Rune berserker shield is the best melee shield available to Free-to-play, when fully charged, besides the harder to obtain corrupt dragon square shield.

Metal Gauntlets
Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon(m)

Metal gauntlets are obtained by playing Fist of Guthix. Generally, they give higher melee defence bonuses than their Metal Gloves counterparts, but unlike Metal Gloves, they give no attack bonuses, and only Adamant, Rune and Dragon gauntlets give a strength bonus, but they are very small. All Metal Gauntlets give a small reduction to magic and ranged attack. Metal gauntlets are only tradeable when fully degraded - they only degrade when a player dies, drops them, or gives them to Reggie to degrade. They are significantly better than gloves in defence bonuses.

Metal gloves(m)
Basic, Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, White, Mithril, Adamant, Rune, Dragon, Barrows

Metal Gloves can be bought from the Culinaromancer's chest after completing varying numbers of Recipe for Disaster subquests, the exception is White gloves, which are purchased from Sir Vyvin. White gloves are also the only tradeable Metal Gloves. Ingame, all of the gloves are simply called "Gloves", but they look like certain metals, from leather/basic up to dragon and then Barrows. Again, the exception is White gloves, which are called "White gloves" ingame. Metal gloves provide good protection against all attack styles, and good attack bonuses to all attack styles. Barrows gloves once gave the best attack bonuses for all attack styles of any pair of gloves, and also the highest strength bonus. However they have been surpassed by Goliath gloves for melee attack and strength, Spellcaster gloves for magic and Swift gloves for range. Metal gloves give slightly less melee defence bonuses than their Metal Gauntlet conterparts, but give better attack bonuses.

Fremennik armour(m)
Yak-hide, Rockshell, Helm, Shield, Warrior helm, Berserker helm, Helm of neitiznot

Rockshell: Helmet, Plate, Legs, Gloves, Boots

Yak-Hide: Body, Legs, Roundshield

There are many types of Fremennik armour. Rockshell armour is very similar to rune armour. It is made from hides and rocks dropped by Dagannoths and Giant rock crabs, respectively. Yak-hide armour and the Fremennik roundshield is relatively weak, but is invaluable against ice trolls, as the armour lowers the maximum hit of the males, and the shield lowers the maximum hit of the females. The Warrior helm is not as popular as the Berserker helm, as the Warrior helm gives a small bonus to slash attack, while the Berserker helm gives a small bonus to strength. The Fremennik helm gives identical bonuses as the Adamant full helmet.

The Helm of neitiznot is widely regarded as the best stand-alone helmet available. It gives similar bonuses to the Berserker helm, without any negative bonuses, and also gives a prayer bonus.

Barrows equipment(m)
Dharok's, Guthan's, Torag's, Verac's

Helmet, Platebody/Brassard, Platelegs/Plateskirt, (Weapon: Greataxe/Warspear/Hammers/Flail)

Barrows armour is very strong and popular. It is obtained from the Barrows activity, or from trading with another player. If the player is lucky enough to receive all the items from one of the brothers' armour sets (including the weapon), they'll be rewarded with a set effect. Barrows armour needs to be repaired every 15 hours of combat, for a price. Verac's armour also conveys a Prayer bonus. Torag's, followed closely by Dharok's armour (Dharok's Helm gives slightly less defence) gives the highest melee defence available. Ahrim's is also a type of barrows armour that give the best Magic Attack bonus

Crystal shield(m)
The Crystal shield can only be used once the player has completed the Roving Elves quest and has 50 Agility. The crystal shield is especially good at defending against Ranged attacks, but provides little protection from Magic. As the shield protects the player from damage, it will weaken, until it eventually turns back into the crystal seed from which it was grown. You can then take your crystal seed back to Lletya and get it turned into a crystal shield or new crystal bow.

Toktz-Ket-Xil(m)
The Toktz-Ket-Xil is an obsidian shield that requires at least 60 Defence to wield. Its defensive stats are exactly the same as the granite shield's, but what makes this shield a more popular choice is its +5 strength bonus. Its strength bonus equals that of a Rune defender but it does not provide attack bonuses. Thus, it is quite popular among players who want a strength bonus and better defence. To obtain an obsidian shield the player can either buy one from the weapon shop in the TzHaar city, trade with another player or obtain one as a monster drop from a TzHaar-Ket.

Anti-dragon shield
The Anti-dragon shield does not provide much by way of armour, but it is invaluable when fighting dragons as it protects against most of their potentially devastating dragonfire. With the addition of a Draconic visage it becomes the powerful Dragonfire shield. Some F2P warriors wield it because it gives a small Magic Defence bonus, and F2P mages often use it due having no Magic Attack penalty compared to other shields.

Dragonfire Shield(m)
The Dragonfire Shield is a high-level piece of melee armour. It gives the second highest melee defence bonuses (after the Chaotic Kiteshield, when fully charged), and the second highest ranged defence (after a fully charged Crystal Shield. It also gives the benefits of an anti-dragon shield). In order to reach its pinnacle it must be charged by absorbing dragonfire, which the player can later discharge against their foes. When the dragonfire is discharged it is able to hit a maximum of 250 damage. A Dragonfire Shield is obtained by smithing a Draconic visage on to an Anti-dragon shield (with level 90 smithing), by paying Oziach 1,250,000 coins to do it, or by trading with another player.

Granite armour(m)
Helmet, Body, Legs, Shield

Granite armour is tough, resilient armour requiring not only a Defence level of 50 to wear, but also a Strength level of 50 due to its weight. The Granite body and Granite helmet have slightly better bonuses than their Rune counterparts, especially in ranged defence. Granite, being a very solid rock, boasts an impressive Defence against Ranged attacks, which for all pieces surpass their rune counterparts. Oddly enough, although the Granite legs and Granite shield have enhanced stats against range attack they are weaker in melee defence than rune. When combined as a full set (Granite body, Granite helmet, Granite legs, Granite shield), the melee defence equals Rune, but with an increased ranged defence. Granite armour is mainly obtained from monster drops, or trading with another player. The Granite body is obtained by playing Barbarian Assault.

Third age warrior armour(m)
Helmet, Platebody, Platelegs, Kiteshield

Armour from the Third Age is incredibly rare and incredibly tough. However, Barrows armour, when incorporating a good shield, can exceed the Third age set's bonuses. Third age armour is a very rare reward for a Treasure trail, or can be bought from another player. Third age warrior armour is reportedly made from magical silver (known as "mithril" in many other fantasy games and novels).

Bandos armour(m)
Chestplate, Tassets, Boots

Bandos armour is very strong armour, providing excellent defensive bonuses, most notably the best ranged defence available. In addition, the Bandos chestplate and tassets give a strength bonus. Many players consider Bandos armour to be one of the best armours in the game. Bandos armour is dropped by General Graardor and his sergeants.

Spirit shields(m)
Spirit shield, Blessed, Arcane, Divine, Elysian, Spectral

Spirit shields are a range of shields available to members after they have completed the quest Summer's End. The shields are all derived from the "basic" Spirit shield, obtained upon completion of Summer's End. You get the Holy Elixir from the Tormented Wraith and Corporeal Beast to make the Blessed spirit shield. The Spirit sigils are items which can be added to a Blessed spirit shield to modify its abilities. These sigils are Arcane, Divine, Elysian and Spectral. These shields in the enhanced forms can have stats comparable to the Dragonfire shield. The Divine spirit shield has a special effect that reduces the amount of damage to your LP and directs some of it to your prayer instead. The Elysian Spirit Shield just takes the damage away, although it does not defend against quite as much damage as the divine spirit shield. The divine spirit shield is one of the most expensive items on the G.E.

The basic Spirit shield requires level 40 Defence and level 55 Prayer, Blessed requires 70 Defence and level 60 Prayer, Arcane and Spectral spirit shield 75 Defence, 70 Prayer and 65 Magic, and Divine & Elysian requires 75 Defence and 75 Prayer. Armour/Melee armour