Strength



Strength is a melee combat skill which determines the amount of damage a player can inflict in melee combat. A player's Strength level has a positive correlation with his or her maximum hit. Additionally, Strength may be required to wield certain weapons and armour, access some Agility shortcuts, and complete several quests. Strength is one of the most popular skills among players, with more players having obtained 99 Strength than in any other skill.

History
Strength was among the first skills available, introduced with RuneScape's launch on 4 January 2001, along with Attack, Defence, Hitpoints (now Constitution), Ranged, Thieving, Cooking, Woodcutting, Firemaking, Crafting, Smithing, Mining, and Herblore (called Herblaw at the time). As the game has progressed, the concept of the skill has remained largely untouched.

Since the skill's inception, increasingly higher tiers of equipment have been released. Bronze through adamant equipment were available since the introduction of the game itself, but rune equipment was not made available until 26 July 2001. Each successive tier of equipment offered increasing Strength bonuses, but none of them required a specific Strength level to equip. It was not until after the release of Regicide on 20 September 2004, the fourth part of the Plague City quest series, that the game saw a weapon which required a Strength level to wield. The quest introduced halberds, two handed weapons which were capable of engaging an opponent in melee combat around obstacles and from up to 2 tiles away. All halberds stronger than steel required a Strength level half of the Attack level required to wield the weapon.

Until 26 January 2005, halberds remained the only weapon type which required a Strength level to equip. However, the release of Slayer introduced gargoyles, which dropped granite mauls, two-handed weapons which required 50 Attack and 50 Strength to equip. On 9 May 2005, the Barrows activity was added, introducing two new weapons which required a Strength level to equip. Dharok's greataxe and Torag's hammers were two of six legendary weapons originally belonging to the Barrows brothers which could be obtained as a reward from the activity. Both of these weapons required 70 Attack and Strength to wield, further increasing the maximum Strength level required to equip a weapon. Additionally, Dharok's greataxe, boasting a +105 Strength bonus, was the first weapon to excede a +100 Strength bonus. Later that year, the TzHaar City was released and along with it, the Tzhaar-ket-om, colloquially known as the obsidian maul, was released. This was only the second maul to be released and, like the granite maul before it, required a Strength level to equip. Yet, unlike the granite maul, the obsidian maul did not have an Attack requirement, making it the first weapon to only require Strength to use.

No new weapons which required Strength to wield were introduced until 6 March 2007, when the barrelchest anchor was released as a reward for the Great Brain Robbery quest. A powerful but slow weapon, the anchor required 40 Strength to equip, even though it offered a massive +100 Strength bonus. On 17 March 2009, another quest reward featured a weapon requiring a Strength level to use. The granite mace was the second granite weapon released, and required 50 Attack as well as Strength to wield.

A host of new weapons were released with the Dungeoneering skill on 12 April 2010. Of these new weapons, one entire weapon type featured Strength prominently in its use. Novite through primal mauls required only Strength to wield and offered extremely high Strength bonuses. With a +166 Strength bonus, the primal maul is currently the strongest weapon in RuneScape. However, its use is restricted to Daemonheim.

Combat
Players may receive Strength experience during combat, and the amount of experience gained is dependent on the combat style being used. Of the four melee combat styles available, Strength experience is only awarded when fighting in the aggressive or controlled stances.

When fighting in the aggressive stance, $$0.4 * x$$ Strength experience is awarded per hit, where $$x$$ is the amount of damage dealt. Fighting using the controlled stance, however, awards $$0.133 * x$$ Strength experience per hit, where $$x$$ is the amount of damage dealt. For example, a player who hits a 10 would receive 4 Strength experience when fighting in the aggressive stance and 1.33 Strength experience when fighting in the controlled stance. The amount of experience received when fighting in the controlled stance may be calculated in the same way that experience awarded to the Constitution skill is calculated.

The difference between these two stances is that the aggressive stance solely provides experience for the Strength and Constitution skills. However, the controlled stance distributes experience equally among Strength, Attack, Defence, and Constitution. A player who hits a 10 would receive 1.33 experience in each one of these skills. Additionally, fighting using the aggressive stance provides a hidden boost of +3 to the Strength skill while using the controlled stance only provides a boost of +1.

Experience rewards
Strength experience may be awarded after the completion of certain quests, miniquests, tasks, random events, Distractions and Diversions, and other activities. Additionally, experience lamps, dragonkin lamps, and books of knowledge may be used to gain Strength experience.

Bonus/other experience
Several items provide bonus experience in Strength, as well as other melee skills, when equipped. Melee brawling gloves provide a 300% experience bonus to Strength (as well as Attack and Defence) when training combat in the Wilderness and a 50% bonus when training outside of the Wilderness. The brawling gloves last for approximately 100,000 experience before disintegrating.

Individual pieces of sacred clay equipment obtained through the Stealing Creation activity also provide an experience bonus to Strength and other combat skills. These items double the amount of experience received through combat when equipped. Only one piece of sacred clay armour must be worn to receive this bonus. Similar to the brawling gloves, a piece will disappear after the experience threshold of 24,450 experience is reached.

Strength experience may also be received from damage dealt by certain Summoning familiars. However, different familiars provide experience for different combat skills. The following familiars grant 40% Strength experience per point of damage dealt.



The following familiars grant 13.3% Attack, Strength, and Defence experience per point of damage dealt.

Weapons
A secondary use of the Strength skill is determining which weapons a player may wield in combat. Generally, weapons which require a higher level to equip confer greater combat bonuses, providing some incentive for players to train the skill. All of the weapons in the following table are members only.

Dungeoneering weapons
Conventional weapons used throughout Gielinor are not allowed in Daemonheim, so a separate set of metals is used during Dungeoneering. The metal types are classified by their "tiers", with tier 1 being the weakest and tier 11 being the strongest. Tiers 1 through 10 weapons may be player made or received as a drop from several monsters, but tier 11 items may only be received as a drop from boss monsters. Of the Dungeoneering weapon types, only mauls require a Strength level. Members-only weapons are indicated by (m).

Armour
Certain pieces of armour require a Strength level to wear. Though uncommon, a few such pieces exist. All of the pieces of armour in the following table are members only.

Other
Strength levels are required for various other aspects of the game, including quests, tasks, Agility shortcuts involving grapples, barbarian fishing, activities, and access to certain areas. Some of these requirements are listed below.

Strength bonuses
Most melee weapons provide a Strength bonus, which, along with a player's Strength level, determines how much damage a player may inflict in melee combat. Weapons which do not give a positive Strength bonus may be referred to as fun weapons. These weapons do not exist necessarily for use in combat; they may exist merely for aesthetic purposes.

Warriors' Guild
The Warriors' Guild is a guild for players who have attained mastery or near mastery of melee combat skills. Entrance to the guild requires either 99 Attack, 99 Strength, or a sum of 130 in Attack and Strength. The guild features several activities which involve combat and combat experience, including the shot put room. Here, players may practise throwing differently weighted balls for Strength experience.

Skill mastery


Level 99 is the maximum level a player may achieve in Strength, attained at 13,034,431 experience. The amount of experience players may gain is capped at 200 million, but acquiring additional experience until 200 million experience will not increase the Strength level beyond level 99.

As with all skills, players who achieve level 99 in Strength may purchase a Cape of Accomplishment from the skill's master. The Strength cape and hood are sold by Sloane (or Yadech Strongarm after While Guthix Sleeps) in the Warriors' Guild for 99,000 coins. Players with more than 1 skill at level 99 will receive a red trim on the sides of the cape along with a +4 prayer bonus. However, players with only 1 level 99 skill will receive an untrimmed version of the cape, as can be seen to the left.

Currently, there are players with level 99 Strength and  players with 200 million experience in Strength.

Temporary boosts
Various items, potions, prayers, and familiars provide temporary boosts. Below is a list of all possible boosts to Strength.

Visible
Visible boosts are indicated in the stats interface by showing a level increase from the base level. Members-only boosts are indicated by (m).

Invisible
Invisible boosts are not indicated in the stats interface, but they are applied in combat calculations nevertheless. Members-only boosts are indicated by (m).