Free-to-play melee training

This article will provide non-members with information to training Attack, Strength, Defence, and Constitution effectively. Members can use this, but it is recommended to use the Pay-to-play Melee training. It will explain which monsters are the best to kill at a certain level, providing the pros and cons of training on each monster. It will also provide tips and suggests suitable monsters to kill at a wide range of levels. This article assumes players are training attack, strength, and defence equally, or close to equal.

General training notes

 * It is recommended to use the best equipment you can.
 * Try to match your attack style to the monster's weakness for maximum damage, and therefore xp/hr; a player attacking a fire-weak monster with a crushing weapon will train slower than a player with the same weapon attacking a crush-weak monster.
 * Depending on the monster's combat level and stats, food may be needed.
 * Try to fight monsters with low defence. Lower defence means the monster is easier to hit, so less time is spent out of combat, therefore providing more experience.
 * If your Magic level is high enough for a teleport spell, it is advised you carry teleport runes, just in case. (This may or may not apply, as you can now access the lodestone network for teleporting purposes. It is still a good idea to bring some in case of an emergency however.)
 * When fighting monsters that are aggressive, turn on Auto Retaliate for an easier training experience.
 * Training in the Wilderness is generally a bad idea, due to the threat of player killers. Most monsters that are found in the Wilderness can be found elsewhere, or have better alternatives in non-Wilderness locations.
 * If needed, a strength potion (the only free to play combat potion) can boost strength, while a cabbage picked from Draynor Manor gives a Defence boost. However, the cabbage does take up an inventory space that can be filled by food, so the cabbage may not be useful.
 * Three ultimate abilities can be chosen. Rejuvenate lessens the need for food very much, but requires constant monitoring in game and the player must have a shield equipped. Momentum also requires constant monitoring as most monsters are no longer aggressive. Overpower deals an accurate blow with high damage.
 * Some players have developed a method which equips between 2h sword and a shield, they are benefited from heightened attack power and not losing the rejuvenation ability. This is because though exchanging equipment incurs significant cooldown penalty, it is not long enough for adrenaline to start falling off. Those players finish a fight with full adrenaline, change to a shield and immediately activate rejuvenation just when cooldown ends. The downside is they cannot attack during the 10 seconds in rejuvenation, which is of little concern as most monsters for training are no longer aggressive.
 * It is possible, but not recommended, to train against monsters who have a "weakness to magic" as similar combat styles are considered neutral to each other.  If you choose this approach, it is best to fight targets who are much lower than your current level.  (Example: Hill Giants are best fought with an attack, strength, and defence over 40 or even 50.)

Weaponry
Since the Evolution of Combat, melee weapons are effectively balanced. While damage output over time is roughly the same for any weapon, the accuracy greatly depends on the properties of the targeted monsters. Monsters with high defence need weapons with high hit bonus and suitable attack style, while weak ones are quite free on the choices. Each weapon only has one of three attack methods: stab, slash or crush. The player can choose which skill to train as mentioned before.

Before EoC, a weapon could have 2 to 4 attack choices, each choice consisting of one method plus one skill choice. Players could switch attack method without using another weapon, but weapons had varying bonuses according to their attack methods. Players also had limitations on which skill they could train, as some skill-specific styles were unavailable on some weapons.

Two-handed weapons are recommended in most cases because there is no option for dual wielding in free-to-play worlds, and because equivalent tiered 2h weapons have a 150% damage boost over one-handed weapons.

Armour and weapons
Remember to keep your equipment up to par. As you train, you will start to be able to use better and more powerful combat items. Once you can use a better combat weapon, try to save up the money for it. (The ideal path to take for your choice of armour goes as: iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant, rune. The armour sets from bronze to steel are actually fairly lack lustre and unnecessary, provided you only train on the less powerful monsters like goblins.) It is strongly recommended that you wield the best weapon and armour available to you.

A better weapon means more damage and increased accuracy, which results in more experience gained in a shorter period of time. Better armour reduces the likelihood of enemies damaging you, which allows you to stay at a training spot for a longer time with less food. Better armour also provides a larger life point bonus. Two handed weapons are often used in player versus player combat because of their ability to inflict larger amounts of damage in a single hit, but are not recommended for training due to their slow speed and incompatibility with shields. It is also advised to wear an Amulet of Strength, as it gives a 3.2% melee critical bonus, compared to 3.0% from an Amulet of power. The Amulet of defence provides a 2.6% melee critical bonus, while also providing a small armour bonus.

Inventory and drops
For players with at least 52 Defence, the Rejuvenate ability makes food less useful for training, though some will still be useful against enemies that often hurt you, deal enough damage during the cooldown to outpace it, or to avoid wasting adrenaline.

Finding a good balance of food to bring is a necessity for any warrior. Filling up with food may sound good for training, but inventory space may be needed for potential drops, especially if you are against low-level monsters where food is rarely consumed. If you are looking to make money while training, remember to consider the cost of the food you bring.

Salmon and tuna are two of the best foods for training as a non-member player, as lobsters and swordfish have high prices due to their extensive use in player-vs-player activities. Teleportation runes, an Explorer's Ring, or a Ring of Kinship is recommended for training in areas with aggressive and/or high-level monsters. If a monster gets a lucky streak and manages to hit you hard, you may find yourself with a small number of lifepoints, and a method of quick escape may be necessary. Since combat experience increases with kill rate, strength potions are recommended for players who can afford them but are not necessary.

Remember to also collect bones. While collecting bones is often tedious and can be boring sometimes, but it can be helpful since burying bones can lead to more powerful Prayers. They can be buried for Prayer experience (4.5 experience), or sold for coins on the Grand Exchange, for a total of 0 coins per inventory. Big bones can be buried for even more prayer experience, or a full inventory of big bones can be sold for 0 coins.

Attack styles
Train Attack, Strength, and Defence as you see fit – this preference is different for every player. Generally, high Attack will be vital against opponents with high defence as it increases accuracy; high Strength will be best if you want to hit harder; and high Defence will alleviate the need for food, as you will be hit less often. If you're not sure what to raise, try raising them equally. This method works extremely well in the long run. For most training methods, raising Strength, Attack, and then Defence will provide the fastest experience, although you may want to train attack to a decent level first to increase your chances of hitting the monster before you raise your strength level.

The levels below refer to individual combat stat levels, not your overall combat level (so a player with level 25 Strength would refer to the section titled "Level 16 to 30").

Tips

 * Training the Magic skill increases your magical defence and magical potency. The higher your level in the Magic skill is, the better your defence against magic is as well as your accuracy.
 * Remember every enemy is different, so even if you found it easy to, say, kill a lesser demon, doesn't mean you'll find it equally easy to kill something else of a similar level, for example, a revenant cyclops.
 * Deadly Red Spiders are currently the best monster to train for melee post-EoC.  They give ~560 exp per kill and are weak to crush attacks, so use a rune mace or warhammer.

Level 1 to 15
The Blood Pact quest is advisable for players to begin with, as it grants level 2 attack, defence, strength, magic and ranged just by killing the three Zamorakians. Players may also try out Swept Away for additional experience in any skill.

The below levels refer to the levels of each melee skill, not your combat level.

Chickens and cows are very easy to kill and train on for levels 1-20.

Low level spiders located around Lumbridge and the third floor of the Stronghold of Security.

Rats behind Lumbridge Castle have 50 life points and relatively low defence, and give about 30 experience per kill.

Level 15-30
Scorpions located in the Al Kharid Mines.

Scorpions and King Scorpions located in the Dwarven Mines.

Level 30-50
Flesh Crawlers (found in the Second floor of the Stronghold of Security) and Giant Spiders and Scorpions (Third floor), though they have the drawback of not dropping anything.

Moss Giants and King Scorpions located on Crandor. (Note: This requires partial completion of Dragon Slayer.)

Always use best equipment possible and little food may be required.

Level 50 - 70
Level 74 Moss Giants, located In Varrock Sewers and Crandor. They have a weakness to slash, so bringing a scimitar is recommended, as it has a fast attack speed.

Level 88 Ankous, located on the Fourth Floor of the Stronghold of Security. High defence is very helpful since you get barely hit and they have good drops.