Duel Arena

The Al-Kharid Duel Arena is a place where players can go to engage in one on-one-combat, either for fun or for a prize. Duelling for prizes is commonly referred to as staking.

Origins
The Duel Arena was brought into RuneScape shortly after the end of the RS2 Beta. It was partially due to Jagex wanting to do something about people abusing the "Duel anywhere" option back in RuneScape Classic in order to get a free teleport to Lumbridge.

Location
The arena is located northeast of Al-Kharid. It is fenced off from the rest of the area.

Players can also rub a Ring of Dueling to teleport directly to the arena entrance. This saves on having to walk from far away, although using an Amulet of Glory to teleport to the palace is another viable option along with the Lumbridge Home Teleport as it is close to the Duel Arena.

Picking a Fight
To fight another player, players must right-click their intended opponent and select the "Challenge" option. This will tell that player that someone wishes to duel with them, and they accept by challenging that player in return.

Combat
To fight another player, players must right-click their intended opponent and select the "Challenge" option. This will tell that player that someone wishes to duel with them, and they accept by challenging that player in return.

This will open the duelling options screen, which defines the parameters for the battle. The screen shows the name and combat level of the opponent, as well as what each player is offering up for a "bet", or a "stake". Finally, there are 11 different options that can be turned on or off and are adjustable by either player. These are detailed as follows:

Some of the options can't be combined; for instance, having no ranged, melee, or magic makes it impossible to fight.
 * No Ranged: No ranging weaponry can be equipped during the battle.
 * No Melee: Players cannot engage in hand-to-hand combat, including bare fists/feet.
 * No Magic: No magical attack spells can be cast.
 * No Special Attacks: Special attacks cannot be used.
 * Fun Weapons: The only allowed Weapons are the Rubber chicken, Flowers and rubber mouse toy. Bare fists are not allowed.
 * No Forfeit: Players cannot escape the arena; the fight lasts until one player "dies".
 * No Drinks: Players cannot drink anything that boosts stats, like Potions. All stats that are boosted prior to the fight are reset to their default values once the fight begins.
 * No Food: Eating food to heal is not allowed.
 * No Prayer: Using the Prayer skill is not allowed.
 * No Movement: Players can't walk or run during the battle.
 * Obstacles: The arena becomes like a mini-maze during the fight.

One the battle begins, players are teleported into the arena itself with a 3-second countdown before the fighting actually begins. If "No Forfeit" was not checked off, players who are losing (or simply wish to end the duel early) can retreat through one of the trapdoors, ending the battle immediately. Anything staked is awarded to the other player.

Outcome


After the battle ends, players are teleported back to the building beside the arena and healed (poison and stat-reducing effects are negated as well). Any ranged weapons that fell to the ground are automatically returned to the owner. If there was a stake, the victor claims the prize(s).

Near the gate is a scoreboard where players can view the last 50 battles on that server. This includes the combat levels of the combatants and who won the round. The scoreboard automatically updates every five minutes.

Criticism
Many players feel that the Duel Arena is overrun by Pures designed only for arena staking. A common complaint is that players attempt to deceive one another via the duel options screen in order to derive an unfair advantage over other unsuspecting players. If you are dueling for more than just fun, then be careful to avoid scams such as your opponent checking rules just before you accept the duel.

Unkindness
Some higher leveled players take advantage of lower levels and challenge them. If they do not accept the duel, the other player may call them a "Noob" and further insult them. It's best to ignore them; they're just trying to get attention by annyoing others.

Swiftswitch
Many People used to use a program called Swiftswitch to get an advantage over other players such as looking up their stats in the client to avoid losing to pures. Swift switch was banned on March 7, 2007 after multiple players complained about the advantage others were getting. Swiftswitch has been banned multiple times due to 3rd party client author rules being changed by JaGeX and dueling may not have had anything to do with any bans. The authors of Swiftswitch always update the client to comply to new rules within a week of the change.

The Neverending Duel
It used to be possible to start a duel in the Duel Arena that would never end. Setting arrows off, and movement off, the game was fooled into thinking it was a ranged battle and players stood facing each other unable to attack. This is no longer possible.