Abyssal whip

The Abyssal whip is widely considered one of the best melee weapons in RuneScape, due to its high accuracy, strength, and speed. Players must have 70 Attack to wield the whip.

Level 124 Abyssal demons drop whips; these require level 85 Slayer to kill. With the release of PvP worlds, the whip became a possible drop from another player, although as of 16 June 2009, it has been removed from the PVP drop tables. An Abyssal minion can give players a fake Abyssal whip, although it "turns to ash" when equipped, effectively destroying it.

The whip's special attack, Energy Drain, makes the attack more accurate and, if used against a player opponent, transfers 25% of the target's run energy to the attacking player. It uses up 50% of the special attack bar.

The Abyssal whip has the same attacking speed as a scimitar, which is one strike per 4 game ticks (about 2.4 seconds), but has higher accuracy and strength. Because of this, it is often called the best weapon. With the right equipment, potions, Prayer, and special bonuses (including a Salve amulet (e) used on an undead creature), the whip can hit up to 54 maximum damage. However, its special attack is frequently ridiculed because of its impracticality despite the fact that it can be useful in some PvP mingames such as Fist of Guthix to stop the player's opponents from running away. The whip is also criticized for its inability to train Strength, unlike other weapons, except through the controlled attack style. After the new update for the abyssal whip, the price went down again and is now worth 2.6 million gold.

It is common for players to lose this item on death, due to its relatively low alchemy value compared to other high level equipment, such as the more expensive pieces of Dragon armour.

History
Abyssal whips were introduced to RuneScape with the Slayer Skill update on 26 January 2005. Whips were sold for around 90 million coins during that time. The very first inventory icon was. The Abyssal whip's original special attack used 50% of the Special Attack bar and caused one to either hit the Abyssal whip's maximum hit for the user at the time or it did not hit at all.

On [date needed], Jagex changed the special attack to drain 10% of run energy from targets, citing that the old special attack was too powerful. The special attack continued to use 50% of the bar.

On 12 May 2009, the inventory image of the Abyssal whip changed to so it better resembled its appearance when wielded.

On 16 June 2009, the special attack effect was changed from transferring 10% to 25% run energy per special attack due to complaints. The 50% drain per special attack remained the same. And whilst running the whip retracts into the players hand when equipped.

On 28 July 2009 the Abyssal whip's appearance and special attack were updated to what they are today.

Training
The Aggressive (Strength) training method is not available while using the whip. Therefore, the only way of training the Strength skill is through the Controlled method. This method is one-third the strength-training speed as the aggressive option and also gives Defence and Attack experience, making it undesirable for some pures and players wishing to level up quickly. The whip is often criticized for having no option to directly train Strength.

A common yet expensive replacement for the whip is the Saradomin Sword which offers similar bonuses (with an additional Prayer and crush bonus), but has the option to train Strength, however the Saradomin Sword is two-handed, so it cannot be equipped with a defender or shield. The Dragon Scimitar can be used as a cheap alternative for training Strength, along with a Rune Defender. Yet another relatively unknown method of training strength is to use the Obsidian sword in conjunction with the Berserker necklace which increases strength while using all Obsidian equipment.

Because of its very high power and accuracy (for a 1-handed weapon, plus having good speed.), the Abyssal whip is widely recognized as the best weapon for training both Attack and Defence.

Trivia

 * When using the Abyssal whip, the clear sections of the whip sometimes took on the same colour as other elements in the player's environment, for example the colour of the ground. As of 28 July 2009, however, the whip no longer has any clear segments, so this glitch can no longer occur.
 * When you are holding the Abyssal whip your elbow is behind your back.
 * The Abyssal whip has white thorns in its inventory picture, but appears to have black thorns when a player is wielding it.

Market

 * After the graphical update, the whip began to soar in the market. It was worth around 1.5-1.7m, after the update it increased around to 2.5-2.8m; a 76% increase.