Armour/Melee armour

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

Medium helmets offer some light protection 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).

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 defense 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.

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 pointy blades can pierce the rings. Chainmail is quite flexible and so does not penalize a ranger's attack bonus, though its metal construction does impede a mage's accuracy somewhat.

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

Platebodies are much heavier and stronger than chainbodies, providing the highest 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. However, you need to have completed the dragon slayer quest to wear rune platebody.

Square 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 penalize range or mage attacks as much as its cousin the kiteshield. In melee, a square shield is weakest against crush attacks. Square shields are not often used, as most players prefer the Kiteshield. 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 minigame. 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.

Berserker shields
Adamant, Rune

Berserker shields are a reward that can be purchased with tokens from the Fist of Guthix minigame. 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, 50 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. The Rune berserker shield is the best melee shield available to Free-to-play, when fully charged.

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 defense 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, albeit 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.

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 give the best attack bonuses for all attack styles of any pair of gloves, and also the highest strength bonus. 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, repectively. 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 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 need to be repaired every 15 hours of combat, for a price. Verac's armour also conveys a Prayer bonus. Torag followed closely by Dharok's armour (Dharok's Helm gives slightly less defence) gives the highest melee defence available.

Crystal shield(m)
The Crystal shield can only be used once the player 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.

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 rivals 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 defense. 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 Defense 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 highest melee defence bonuses (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 25 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 defense. 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 defense than rune. When combined as a full set (Granite body, Granite helmet, Granite legs, Granite shield), the melee defense equals Rune, but with an increased ranged defense. 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. A full set of Third age melee armour offers the greatest melee protection available. 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 (know 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. The Bandos chestplate and tassets give a strength bonus also. 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.