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 or obtained as a monster drop. Some players may consider these more desirable, as they often provide higher bonuses than other forms of armour.

Defenders cannot be obtained by non-members, as they are received from the Warriors' Guild.

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

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 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.

Platelegs and plateskirts
Platelegs (or skirts for female characters) are a vital part of a warrior's armour, and provide the second best defensive bonuses after the platebody. The dragon platelegs cannot be smithed by players.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

The Culinaromancer's metal gloves can be bought from the Culinaromancer's chest after completing varying numbers of Recipe for Disaster subquests, the exception being 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 "Culinaromancer gloves #", but they look like certain metals, from leather up to dragon and then Barrows. Again, the exception is white gloves, which are called "White gloves" in-game.

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.

Defenders(m)
All metals except white

Metal defenders are small dagger-like items worn in the shield slot. While they yield as good as none defensive bonuses whatsoever, they do boost offensive stats and are as such desirable for warriors using an offensive approach. They cannot be made nor bought, only received as a drop from cyclopes on the top floor of the Warriors' Guild. Once the first - bronze - defender is received, it must be shown to Kamfreena outside the room before an iron one may be received, which must then be shown before a steel one may be received, etc. The final dragon defender is a much more common drop from cyclossi than from cyclopes, but at least a rune defender is needed for them to appear. Entrance to the cyclops room is temporary and the Guild's tokens are required for access. The owned amount slowly decreases as one is in the room.

Bronze armour
Bronze armour is the worst of all melee armours and worn only by the newest of players, requiring no levels whatsoever and costing next to nothing. Bronze is a copper and tin alloy and as such may be smelted using copper and tin ore and henceforth be made armour of on an anvil by even very inexperienced blacksmiths.

Iron armour
Iron armour is slightly better than bronze, but still requires no levels to equip. It is made from iron bars.

Steel armour
Steel armour is slightly better than the previous metal, iron. Steel armour and weapons require level 5 defence and attack respectively to equip and may also be smithed from steel bars, which are the result of smelting iron ore with coal. Steel is the third worst armour in-game and as such only worn by new players as well.

White armour
White armour does not offer great defensive bonuses, although better than steel, but does offer decent prayer bonuses. White armour, however, requires the completion of Wanted! to equip. White armour may be bought from Sir Vyvin on the second floor of Falador Castle with sufficient White Knight rank, which is received from killing Black Knights. White armour is worn by White Knights of Falador, and a number of varieties exist, them being initiate, proselyte, acolyte and partisan armour as worn by the Temple Knights.

Initiate armour
Initiate armour is worn by Temple Knight recruits, which the player becomes after completion of Recruitment Drive. It offers relatively low defence bonuses but this is compensated by decent prayer bonuses. The set consists of a sallet, hauberk and the choice of a cuisse or tassets. The set may be bought from Sir Tiffy Cashien in Falador Park, requiring no Black Knight kills. It appears to be yellow-trimmed white armour.

Proselyte armour
Proselyte armour is worn by Temple Knight proselytes who have advanced in rank. Players may buy the armour off Sir Tiffy Cashien after completing The Slug Menace. Basically being an upgrade of initiate armour, it offers both higher defence and prayer bonuses. It looks like gold/orange-trimmed white armour.

Black armour
Black armour, as worn by the Kinshra, has an evil and dangerous look, but is not any better than white armour. It is, in fact, worse, not offering any prayer bonuses. Black armour, like white, cannot be smithed, only received as a drop or bought from several shops. A number of different versions exist, all received from Treasure Trails. There is gold-trimmed black armour, white-trimmed armour and five different sets of heraldic armour.

Elite black armour
Elite black armour is received during While Guthix Sleeps in the Black Knights' Catacombs from killing elite black knights. It offers much higher bonuses than regular black armour and has more gold than gold-trimmed armour. One set is received as a drop, while another must be stolen from Dark Squall's desks to give to the imprisoned Silif to use as a disguise. People often wear this armour to show off or because they simply like it. It used to resemble the armour worn by the elite knights, but no longer does since the armour graphical updates.

Mithril armour
Mithril is a medium level metal, requiring 20 defence to equip pieces of armour of. Mithril bars are smelted from mithril ore and coal in a 1:4 ratio. Mithril armour offers decent bonuses for players who can just equip it. It is generally not used by higher levelled players. A set of mithril armour may be placed in one's study in a POH.

Adamant armour
Adamant armour is the second highest smithable armour and green in colour. It offers decent bonuses and is quite cheap and as such often used by player killers who do not want to risk losing their own armour. Adamant is extracted from adamantite ore. Like black, Treasure Trails offer variations to this armour, including gold-trimmed, white-trimmed and five sets of heraldic armour.

Rune armour
Rune armour is the best armour for free-to-play that does not degrade and requires level 40 defence to wear, although a smith wishing to make runite equipment needs at least level 85 Smithing. Due to runite ore being very precious, and only found in a few locations, a full set of rune armour is relatively expensive. It is often worn in pvp situation as it provides good bonuses and is easily replaced if lost. The rune platebody requires completion of Dragon Slayer to be worn and can only be bought from Oziach or the Squeal of Fortune. Rune is cyan in colour. As with adamant and black armour, rune armour has Treasure Trail variants, them being: gold-trimmed, white-trimmed, five sets of heraldic armour and six different sets of god armour, with the colours of Saradomin, Guthix, Zamorak, Armadyl, Zaros and Bandos.

Dragon armour
Dragon armour is one of the most sought-after armour sets and pieces of dragon equipment can cost million of coins. Dragon cannot be smithed by players and is only for members. The weaponry may be received as a rare drop from a very limited amount of monsters or bought from several shops (often requiring quests to be completed), while the armour is limited to the former. The fabled dragon platebody cannot even be dropped by monsters, although tormented demons drop it in pieces. Once the three pieces are collected, a very talented smith may forge the lumps together with a blast fusion hammer in the Dragon Forge. The origins of dragon armour are unknown, but it is widely believed the Dragonkin created it and brought dragon metal to Gielinor. Dragon armour requires level 60 Defence to be worn and is very popular. In addition, dragon armour may be gold-trimmed or have spikes added using special ornament or spike kits received from treasure trails.

Corrupt dragon armour
"Corrupt" versions of a small amount of dragon weapons and armour exist, which means that they only require 20 Defence to use, are not members only but degrade when used and disintegrate after 30 minutes of being equipped, making them very expensive but also desired by wealthy free players. Corrupt dragon armour (and Ancient Warriors' equipment) used to be received as drop on Bounty or PvP worlds, but since their removal they may only be received as drop from the Chaos Elemental or any of the revenants in the Forinthry Dungeon. The great disadvantage is that all of these places are in the Wilderness, where other players can (and enough of them are eager to) kill treasure hunters seeking the armour, increasing the armour's value even more.

Dragonbone armour
Like infinity robes, a dragonbone upgrade kit may be used on several pieces of dragon armour to change their appearance, although this is only cosmetic and does not give any advantages. These kits are very expensive though, being a very rare possible drop from the first dragon ever created: the Queen Black Dragon, who can be accessed through a portal on the deepest floor of the Grotworm Lair, a tunnel network under Rimmington. The ornaments may always be removed, yielding the original piece of armour and the good-as-new kit.

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

Fremennik helmets
Out of the six Fremennik helms, three are suitable for warriors.

Fremennik helm
The Fremennik helm is the most basic helm that the Fremennik have in store and is received as a drop from Fremennik warriors or bought from Skulgrimen's Battle Gear. Due to its low bonuses, it is generally not used by players.

Warrior helm
The warrior helm is a more popular choice of helmet, as it gives decent defence bonuses. This helmet too may be bought off Skulgrimen or received as a drop from Dagannoth. It may be enchanted by Pikkupstix to hold one's summoning scrolls.

Berserker helm
Like the warrior helm, the berserker helm offers decent bonuses and can be bought as well as dropped by Dagannoth and may be enchanted by Pikkupstix. However, its bonuses in comparison are slightly less, which is compensated by a Strength bonus.

Helm of Neitiznot
The helm of Neitiznot is by far the most popular Fremennik helm. Not only does it yield higher bonuses than the other helms, it also has the strength bonus and an additional prayer bonus. It is received from Mawnis Burowgar, the burgher of Neitiznot, after completion of The Fremennik Isles and may be re-obtained from him if lost.

Yak-hide armour
Yak-hide armour and the Fremennik roundshield are relatively weak, but valuable against ice trolls, as the armour lowers the maximum hit of the males, and the shield lowers the maximum hit of the females. They are made during The Fremennik Isles from yak hide and split artic pine logs. Its poor bonuses don't make the armour being used very often.

Rock-shell armour
Rock-shell armour is very similar to rune armour. It is made from hides and rocks dropped by Dagannoths and Giant rock crabs, respectively. Rock-shell, spined or skeletal armour must be worn when speaking to a Fremennik as part of the hard Fremennik Achievement Diary. It's not very widely used due to the difficulty to obtain and there being better amours.

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 minigame, 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. This can be done on an armour stand (with discounts based on one's Smithing level) or by speaking to Bob in Lumbridge.

Guthan's armour
The armour set of Guthan the Infested as a very desirable bonus effect, as it may heal the wearer when he does damage. The weapon of the set is a long warspear.

Dharok's armour
Dharok the Wretched armour set gives the second highest defence bonus of all Barrows armour and has a useful, but dangerous set effect with the greataxe. The lower the equipment's wearer is on health, the higher their accuracy and most of all strength become, potentially causing hits as high as 1000 life points. The set is one of the most expensive ones.

Torag's armour
Torag the Corrupted's armour, followed closely by Dharok's armour, gives the highest melee defence available. The special effect, the twin hammers's ability to drain run energy is usually seen as worthless, as monsters can't run. Curiously, the highly defensive platebody is the cheapest of them all.

Verac's armour
The set effect of the armour of Verac the Defiled is also useless in combat situations, unless fighting another player, in which case it is very useful, as it hits through both prayer and armour. In addition, the armour has a decent prayer 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 person.

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, or God Wars, armour is a very rare reward from level 3 Treasure Trails, or can be bought from another player. Third age warrior armour is reportedly made from magical silver which has ceased to exist. Despite offering great combat bonuses, there are many cheaper alternatives that will do just as fine. As such, the armour is not very popular, and more seen as the "ultimate reward" from clue scrolls.

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.

Statius/Vesta equipment(m)
Statius: ''Helmet, Platebody, Platelegs Vesta: Chainbody, Plateskirt

Statius's Equipment is primarily a defensive melee armour. It gives a higher defence than Vesta's Equipment and it incorporates a helmet, but it gives less slash attack and strength bonuses.

Vesta's Equipment is an offensive melee armour. It gives less defence but higher slash attack and strength bonuses than Statius's but can incorporate any helmet to compensate for the lost defence.

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