Combat pure

A Combat pure is an account which is created primarily for the purpose of efficient combat. Combat pures often train specific combat skills, while deliberately keeping other combat skills at a minimum in order to excel in certain aspects of combat at a comparatively low combat level. The term "pure" standing alone most commonly refers to this kind of combat pure. Combat pures fall into four categories, depending on the combat classes used: warriors, mages, rangers, and hybrids.

Overview
Combat pures focus on training certain skills that they hold most relevant for successful combat and are usually made for player killing (PKing). The purpose of keeping an account "pure", i.e. refraining from training combat skills which are considered less effective or irrelevant for the concept of the account, is to keep the combat level as low as possible in order to excel against players of a similar combat level in PvP. Combat pures tend to generally neglect non-combat skills, although many will train a money making skill such as Woodcutting to be able to buy equipment or to meet quest requirements for a combat-related reward such as Ancient Magicks.

Combat pures are most commonly offence-orientated with high values in one or two offensive skills (Attack, Strength, Ranged and Magic), while having only minimal values in defensive skills, such as Defence, Prayer and/or Constitution. Such pures rely on a fast damage rate and/or a high max hit for quick kills, often catching their opponents off guard. However, there are also defence-orientated pures and pures that combine certain offensive and defensive aspects while neglecting others. There are a variety of combat skill combinations which may be considered favourable for different tasks and different types of opponents.

Due to a certain renown associated with combat pures within the RuneScape community, another motive to create a combat pure may be the prestige and/or the self-imposed challenge. Pures with unusual combat skill combinations may also be players experimenting with new combat concepts.

Commonly Suppressed Skills
The most frequently suppressed skills combat pures keep as low as possible as not to affect their combat level are Defence, Prayer, Constitution and Summoning. The debates on whether it is wise to forgo the benefits of each and all of these skills are as old as the concept of pures itself (or as old as the skills, if they are newer). Ultimately, it is a matter of preference for each player, keeping in mind that the "purer" they are in this offensive sense, the faster PvP combat will become and the higher the chance is, that fights will end with a kill rather than flight (for good or for bad). Here are a few considerations along those lines. It is worth mentioning that only the most radical pures insist on keeping all of the above skills at their extreme minimum once above a certain level. No matter how good your offensive abilities are, going into PvP combat with practically no Defence, no Protection prayers, no familiars to heal or fight for you and a Constitution that an average combat level 40 could one-hit-kill is usually not regarded a good idea (at least not for combat, although it may gain kudos).

Defence
Defence is by far the most commonly suppressed skill. While like all skills it has its pros and cons, most pures generally agree that the cons outweigh the pros.

Pros

 * If your defence level is high, you will not have to buy as much food. Also there is a better chance of surviving if you get piled which is common in PvP worlds and Bounty Hunter worlds in "multiple combat" zones.
 * The higher the skill, the higher the chance of not getting hit—due to the skill itself, the higher effect of the armour you are wearing and the capability to wear better armour (with better defence bonuses).
 * The accumulated Defence bonus of good armour is by far greater than equipment bonuses for offensive skills. To profit from this given fact one must have a substantial Defence.
 * The capability to wear armour with better other statistic bonuses, e.g. in F2P, both rune gauntlets and berserker shield give the wearer strength bonuses (requires 40 and 45 defence respectively), therefore some players think it is worthwhile to train defence up to level 45.
 * After Jagex made the Gravite 2h Sword available to free players, higher quality chainmail armour is needed to counter it.

Cons

 * Defence raises a player's combat level faster than the combat skills.
 * Pures get hit and take damage continuously, which makes watching their Life Points and eating part of their routine. Heavily armoured players will often receive series of hits and misses, the misses often luring them into a false sense of security, which may let them become distracted from their current Life Points, making a series of 3 or 4 hits potentially fatal.
 * Armour with no or low Defence requirement is often cheap, whereas "good" armour can cost a high amount of coins. Pures usually risk a lot less than their balanced counterparts.
 * Trading offensive abilities for a good Defence will slow down combat considerably, thus making kills more seldom and successful fights more common. Many regard defensive fighting less fun as it is dragged out and may not offer the same amount of thrill. Fewer kills also means fewer drops.

Controversy

 * Many Players believe that offensive pures with minimal Defence have a factual advantage over balanced players of the same combat level due to game mechanics (i.e. the formulas that determine who gets hit how often and how hard, etc.). The general success of such pures in low and mid level PvP seems to endorse this theory. However, the precise game mechanics regarding Attack and Defence are unknown. Some players believe that the success of offensive pures is solely due to the factors mentioned above and have little to do with combat Attack/Defence mechanics, arguing that the fact that armour generally gives a good deal more Defence bonus than weapons of the same material give Attack bonuses suggests that balanced players should have a slight edge, profiting from the larger bonus. Some even believe than their success merely ostensible, hyped by the fact that most players are more quickly impressed by an unusually high hit than by someone blocking five attacks in a row.
 * Defence is often lowered by spells and effects such as a Bandos Godsword's special attack, therefore it would be useful to have none in the first place. However, offensive stats can just as easily be lowered by spells and effects, making the argument obsolete.

In order to avoid training Defence, be sure not to fight in the defensive or controlled styles, use longrange when arching, or defensive casting when using magic (this is not on the combat menu, look for a shield icon in the spellbook menu. Note that it may help to use weapons with similar styles.

Prayer
The problem pures have with Prayer is similar to the one they have with Defence: at low levels the skill doesn't seem much good because the prayers are fairly ineffective and the prayer points run out too fast, and at higher levels it affects the combat level too much for their liking. Prayer is also prone to being drained by hostile spells and effects in P2P. Despite these issues, it may be worth considering to raise Prayer up to certain levels even for pures. Prayer contributes to the combat level at a lower rate than Defence or Constitution, and it has a few advantages. It generally can be said that the Prayer skill becomes more effective the faster combat becomes, which is quite accommodating for offence pures. Also, as defensive armour is fairly ineffective at Defence level 1, many pures wear cheap Prayer boosting equipment such as Monk's robes.


 * At level 13, Warriors can pray Superhuman Strength, which adds 10% to Strength. Although not as strong as Ultimate Strength, it has only half the drain rate, draining 1 Prayer point every 6 seconds. Raising Prayer to level 13 adds 1-2 combat levels, the prayer lasts for 78 seconds at level 13 with no further Prayer bonuses or potions.
 * At level 26, Archers can pray Hawk Eye, which adds 10% to Ranged (including Ranged Strength, making this prayer as effective as Superhuman Strength and Improved Reflexes turned on together). Similar considerations apply to this prayer as to Superhuman Strength. Raising Prayer to level 27 (see notes below) adds 3-4 combat levels, the prayer lasts for 162 seconds at level 27 with no further Prayer bonuses or potions.
 * At level 31, players have the benefits of accessing the Monastery. Also at this level, Warriors can pray Ultimate Strength. Although the +15% Strength prayers has a fairly high drain rate (1 Prayer point every 3 seconds), it is often useful for the kill at end-phase combat, and it can effectively turn Prayer potions into stackable Strength potions. Raising Prayer to level 31 adds 3-4 combat levels, the prayer lasts for 93 seconds at level 31 with no further Prayer bonuses or potions.
 * At levels 37, 40 and 43 players gain the Protect from Magic, Protect from Missiles and Protect from Melee prayers, respectively. The Protection prayers are the most commonly used prayers, both inside and outside of PvP. They prevent 40% of the damage of the given type when dealt from other players (100% when dealt from monsters). Training Prayer to level 43 to use these prayers is a popular choice among pures to compensate for lack of Defence. Doing so adds 5-6 combat levels, the prayers (which do not stack) individually last for 129 seconds at level 43 with no further Prayer bonuses or potions. Protection prayers are sometimes frowned upon because player killers tend to think it drags out the fun; many will run if confronted with this. Of course this could also be viewed in light of the fact that those players who are against these prayers often have not taken the time to train prayer to these levels, or are trying to manipulate you into giving up an advantage you may have.
 * At level 44, Archers can pray Eagle Eye, which adds 15% to Ranged (including Ranged Strength). Similar considerations apply to this prayer as to Ultimate Strength. Raising Prayer to level 45 (see notes below) adds 5-6 combat levels, the prayer lasts for 135 seconds at level 45 with no further Prayer bonuses or potions.

Higher levelled prayers and Ancient Curses are seldom considered attractive by pures (unless they are Prayer pures), due to other requirements such as high Defence levels (Chivalry and Piety) or the accomplishment of numerous Quests (Ancient Curses) which themselves require numerous skills and reward possibly unwanted Experience in other skills.

Notes: If you wish to avoid training Prayer, do not bury bones and do not complete the Restless Ghost quest. However, the Restless Ghost quest is a requirement for members to enter Morytania.

Note that when Prayer contributes to combat level, it is first divided by two, rounded down. In consequence, a player with an even level value can always level up to an uneven level value without this affecting his/her combat level.

Note that Magic boosting prayers do not increase combat spells' max hit.

The formerly popular level thresholds 25 (for Protect Item) and 52 (for Smite) are no longer of much relevance since Protect Item can no longer be prayed on PvP worlds (having been replaced by +1 Item Bounty Worlds).

Constitution
Constitution influences combat level at the same rate Defence does. It is probably the most controversial skill among combat pures. Some believe it should be kept as low as possible (preferably level 10), lured by the extreme cleavages that are possible between combat level and offensive abilities. Others believe it should be raised as high as possible (preferably level 99), arguing that Constitution is the only defensive skill that an offence pure really needs. Others again believe it should be about average for the given combat level, arguing that higher levels are of little gain, because you usually carry well over 2500 Life Points' worth of food with you, but also arguing that having less Constitution makes no sense: there is no point in having a high max hit that will reduce your opponent's Life Points by a large percentage if his/her average max hit will reduce your low Life Points by the same percentage. If the pure's constitution is to low (e.g. 20 or less) a decent hit from another player could possibly kill the pure without giving him/her the chance even to eat. Others again believe it is best somewhere above the average for the given combat level, which is where it usually ends out, anyway. They argue that it is the comparatively low Constitution level of "balanced" players (see below) that make pures so effective against them in the first place. Such players often consider their own max hit as a guidelines, reflecting on what level of Constitution would be best against themselves.

In any case, trying to control where your constitution level ends out can make combat training extremely tedious. Due to the fact that you gain 4 Constitution experience every 30 points of damage you deal, no matter which combat style you are using, when training Attack, Strength, Defence or Ranged by normal means, your Constitution will automatically be at most twelve (more often eleven) levels behind the highest of those skills (e.g. if you train your Strength to level 80, your Constitution will be at least 68—probably more, because you will probably want to train Attack as well). Therefore, pures that have a particularly high level in one of the above combat skills usually have over-average Constitution levels, because of the exponential experience curve (e.g. training one of the above skills to level 80 gains over 26 times more constitution experience than training two of the above to level 40).

However, there are methods to gain experience in the above skills without training Constitution, although at higher levels this becomes highly unpractical, especially in F2P. Members can play Soul Wars and trade Zeal points for xp. Note that fighting during the mini-game will gain Constitution xp. Members can also play Penguin Hide and Seek and trade Penguin points for xp, and Pest Control, although this requires combat level 40. To avoid as much Constitution gain as possible in Pest Control, you can rebuild smashed barricades and doors, and try to avoid fighting the Pests. Certain quests reward experience, although one may have to be careful not to do quests that reward experience of unwanted skills. For both F2P and P2P warriors, the Vampire Slayer Quest rewards 4825 Attack experience. You can also gain genie lamps from random events. After completing any quests that reward experience, this is the only way for F2P players to raise Attack, Strength, Defence or Ranged without raising Constitution. It would take over 15,000 genie lamps to level a skill from level 1 to 99. Training Magic with combat spells also raises Constitution. This can be avoided by training with Alchemy, Teleportation, Curses and other non-combat spells.

Attack 1
Recommended equipment: Obsidian maul, Berserker necklace, Berserker ring (i), Mithril gloves, Monk robes, Obsidian cape, Iron full helm or Bearhead.

These pures are players that have a lot of funds (gold pieces) and a lot of time. They stay at 1, 5, 10, 16, 20 Attack, (mostly 1 attack) and 60+ strength for the Obsidian Maul (which requires 60 strength to wield). Some combine range (throwing knives) or magic with this to make a deadly but costly combat combo (balance wise). Some also have 1-13-31-43-52 prayer. Pures with 1 attack can not get climbing boots due to the fact that the Death Plateau quest has to be completed to obtain them, this quest gives out attack experience points (3,000).

Some low Attack pures gain defence (either 40 or 70 normally) to tank with an Obsidian maul, therefore taking low damage from accounts their level while outputting high damage with an Obsidian maul, although training can be notably difficult. It is already difficult to train Strength on an Attack 1 account, but these types of accounts train both Attack and Defence, which means more time is spent on training in general.

A 1 Attack pure can get 40 Magic to wield a Sacred clay staff, 55 Slayer and Magic to wield a Slayer staff, and 50 Runecrafting to wield a Runecrafting staff, which have relatively high Strength bonuses for weapons that can be wielded at 1 attack, and all are much faster weapons than the Obsidian maul. This makes them useful as training weapons for a 1 Attack pure. They could also be used to deliver faster damage to an opponent, while using an Obsidian maul for finishing an opponent with a high hit.

Defence 1
Recommended equipment: Melee weapon of choice, dragon scimitar, amulet of fury, Unholy book, Bearhead, iron platebody, black d'hide chaps, climbing boots, Fire cape, berserker ring, adamant gloves, regen bracelet (is more accurate than adamant gloves and the combat bracelet)

These were some of the first types of accounts created with PKing in mind. A lot of people with Defence did not PK in their best equipment unless they had money to spare, and in Runescape Classic, you had to finish 3 rounds of combat to run away from your opponent. With this in mind, players created pures with low Defence but high offensive stats so they didn't have to worry about losing expensive armour with good defensive bonuses, and could kill accounts who were trying to escape in 3 rounds of combat. The structure of a 1 Defence pure (high offensive stats with low defensive stats) gives a player a better chance of killing an enemy before he runs away, which was fairly common in the Wilderness. This line of thought carries into Bounty Hunter, since an opponent running for the safe zone has a higher chance of being killed by someone with high Attack and Strength than someone who has moderate Attack, Defence and Strength. Low Defence keeps the combat level down, so pures can more often than not kill a main account of the same level. Even though you can hit accurately with high damage, you also receive a lot of damage in return, essentially creating a double edged sword. This is the most popular form of PKing accounts among RuneScape players and the type most people think of when talking about pures.

Defence 5
Recommended equipment: Melee weapon of choice, Tyras Helm, amulet of fury, steel defender, adamant gloves, black d'hide chaps, unholy book, climbing boots, Berserker ring, Fire cape

These pures are usually 1 Defence pures that had gotten 2 Defence by accident, and decide to raise it a little. If taken into a positive perspective, they have slightly more defence from attacks, and gain access to more armour.

The total strength bonus of a 5 Defence pure is the same as that of a 1 Defence pure, 29.

Defence 10
Recommended equipment: Melee weapon of choice, Slayer helmet, bearhead or white full helm, white platebody, black d'hide chaps, regen bracelet (Cannot get rune gloves with 10 defence), amulet of fury, black defender or Unholy book, climbing boots, Fire cape, berserker ring

Some players get 10 Defence to wear black/white armour and combat robes or druidic mage robes while only gaining 1 to 3 combat levels in return. These pures aren't very common, while most pures are choosing 1 or 20 defence. In order to equip white armour, one must complete the Wanted! quest. The total strength bonus of a 10 Defence pure is 27; 29 with an amulet of strength.

Defence 13
Recommended equipment: Melee weapon of choice, Slayer helmet, bearhead or white full helm, white platebody, black d'hide chaps, rune gloves, amulet of fury, black defender or unholy book, climbing boots, Fire cape, berserker ring

Some Players choose to get 13 defence in order to wear rune gloves. The quest Nature Spirit rewards 2,000 defence exp, which will get a pure from 1-13 defence. These pures aren't very common, while most pures are choosing 1 or 20 defence.

Defence 20
Recommended equipment: Melee weapon of choice, Bearhead or initiate sallet or Slayer helmet, initiate platebody, black d'hide chaps, rune gloves, amulet of fury, mithril defender, climbing boots, Fire cape, berserker ring

Some players choose to get 20 Defence to wear Initiate armour and/or a studded body. Initiate armour allows a pure to have a greater Prayer bonus, which will keep Prayer points from draining as quickly, and a studded body will give better defence against Magic. The only time this pure wears full Initiate armour is when relying heavily on Prayer. The total strength bonus of an Initiate pure is 28, or 30 with amulet of strength.

Defence 30
Recommended equipment: Melee weapon of choice, Proselyte armour, rune gloves, amulet of fury, adamant defender, climbing boots, Fire cape, berserker ring.

Some Initiate pures get 30 defence when their strength reaches a high level, because Proselyte armour provides better prayer and defence bonuses. Other players may have completed Temple of Senntisten for the use of Ancient curses, which gives enough Defence XP for 28 defence, and decided to get 30 Defence.

The total strength bonus a proselyte pure gets from the outfit above is 30, or 32 with amulet of strength.

Defence 40-45
Recommended equipment: Melee weapon of choice, Fighter torso or rune chainbody, rune platelegs, Berserker helm, Berserker ring, rune defender, Barrows gloves, amulet of fury, Fire cape, rune boots, Void Knight equipment

Other players choose to get 40 or 45 Defence for much stronger armour and the tremendous increase in strength bonuses given by the proper berserker pure outfit (see above). Those who get 40 defence have access to Rune armour, Dragonhide armour, Splitbark armour and the Fighter torso (which has a greater defence against slash attacks than rune platebody but has lower Defence against stab and crush attacks - most players use slash-based weapons such as abyssal whips or scimitars). It also gives a +4 strength bonus. For F2P the Rune Platebody used to be the best defence, but due to the new Gravite 2h Sword, the chainbody is now the torso of choice in free worlds. Those who gain 5 more defence levels can wear the Berserker Helm, which gives a +3 strength bonus. The other benefit that comes with 40/45 Defence is access to Lunar spells and the Vengeance spell. To be able to use Barrows gloves, this pure would have to gain a total of 176 quest points and get all their Defence experience directly from quests. The quests a typical Berserker pure will get Defence XP from are The Fremennik Trials, Dragon slayer, Monkey Madness (accept the Strength and Constitution XP to get the lowest amount of Defence XP; although, the quest was since updated to allow players to refuse the experience), and Heroes' Quest, for Barrows gloves. Some of the newer berserker pures choose to refuse the experience from Monkey Madness in order to be able to do the quests Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf, for the powerful Hand Cannon, and Defender of Varrock, which allows you to do The Temple at Senntisten, to access the Ancient curses. Ancient curses are an immediate advantage in a fight between two berserker pures, as the Sap Mage or Leech Magic prayers prevent the use of Vengeance by the opponent, which is one of the largest advantages Berserker pures have over lower Defence pures.

The total Strength bonus of a 40 Defence pure is +41, or +44 with a Berserker helm and 45 Defence.

Defence 70
Recommended equipment: Melee weapon of choice, Barrows set of choice, Barrows gloves, amulet of fury, fire cape or strength cape, berserker ring.

A Barrows pure (which isn't considered by most players to be a true pure, due to relatively high defence) is an account with an Attack and Defence level of 70. Most player killers who choose to raise their Defence levels to this extent do it to wear Barrows armour. An account with 70 Defence can also wear Bandos tassets for a higher total strength bonus, since they only require 65 Defence.

Defence 75
Recommended equipment: Abyssal Whip, Dragonfire shield, Neitiznot or Torags helm, Torag armour.

Some Barrows pures get 75 Defence to use Dragonfire shields and Spirit shields, which give high defence bonuses. The Elysian and Divine spirit shields are the only pieces of defensive armour in the game that actually reduce the damage you receive, which makes them very beneficial in PvP.

Defence 1
Recommended equipment: Magic staff of choice, mage's book, Wizard hat, wizard robe top, leather chaps, wizard boots, adamant gloves, god cape, seers ring

A description often used for a Player killer that routinely fights using the Magic skill. Pure mages can hit for lots of damage at a low level, ideally killing their target before it has a chance to run, but at higher levels, the power of Magic is greatly weakened.

In P2P, low-level (30-40's) PKing with Magic is highly discouraged with the large population of Range Pures and improved dragonhide armour that weaken the accuracy of magic spells immensely. The use of mystic is rare due to the fact that it needs 20 defence, and is an expensive loss if the player dies. However, in more recent times, the strategy of using prayer to enhance the accuracy of magic spells have become more common and favoured, because the player does not risk any expensive types of magic robes. Runes are very expensive and magic is considered better for teleporting, smelting and enchanting than for fighting. Magic will only do good for fighting between level 5 and 30; mainly for pking. Because of this, many mage pures start training Melee or Range at higher levels and start using Magic more of as a "side-attack" as it has useful effects such as freezing the opponent to prevent them from running.

The Mage Pure has no use for low level prayer - even protect item will not save runes, though it may be worth it to save a battlestaff or a piece of member's mage armour.

Also, mage pures tend to die more often than other pures, mainly because of their low constitution level, which is often due to training with curse and alchemy (otherwise noncombat) spells, whereas other pures tend to have a higher constitution level and are able to take more hits before needing to eat.

Defence 20-25
Recommended equipment: Staff of choice, Mage's Book, Mystic Robes Set or Infinity Hat (no gloves), Combat Bracelet, God Cape, Seers' Ring

Some players choose to get their Defence to a level of 20 so as to be able to wear Mystic robes for a much larger Magic attack bonus which helps while spellcasting. Also, you can opt to get 25 Defence for Infinity Robes.

Defence 50
Recommended equipment: Staff of choice, Mage's Book, Battle Robes, Combat Bracelet, God Cape, Seers' Ring

A rare type of mage pure, usually berserker pures that mistakenly get more than 45 defence will bump it up to 50. The benefit of 50 defence allows them to wear Battle robes. These robes provide a much higher bonus opposed to the Mystic Robes/Infinity Robes. However the Infinity Hat surpasses the Battle Robe hood.

Another benefit of the Battle robes is that if the full set is equipped, there is a good chance that the robes will supply any Mind, Chaos, Death or Blood runes when casting a combat spell.

Defence 70
Recommended equipment: Staff of choice, Mage's book, Ahrim's set, Combat bracelet, God cape, Seer's ring

Although not commonly seen, a Mage tank will often have a very high Magic level, along with 70 Defence to utilise Ahrim's robes. These tanks are extremely rare, and are often easily taken down by a Range tank.

Defence 1
A term often used for any PKer that routinely fights using the Ranged skill generally considered a ranged pure.

Since Defence isn't required to wear the chaps of most armour (although required for leather dragonhide bodies hardleather and higher, Fist of Guthix coifs, Armadyl armour, 3rd age ranging armour, Karil's set, and Morrigan's Equipment), a level 20 ranger can upgrade to Studded Chaps and a Coif, and a level 40 with no defence can wear Green Dragonhide Vambraces and Green Dragonhide Chaps, a Coif and a basic Leather Body. Another common item is the Iron Chainbody, due to its defence bonus with no range attack negative.

For P2P rangers, it is advised to wear the highest-level Dragonhide that is available for the player's range level. The Magic Shortbow is a must for PKing, as it has a special attack unlike other bows and with the use of rune arrows, medium to high level rangers prove quite deadly. Rangers succeed most in the high level 30's to the low level 40's.

With the addition of the Dark Bow and Rune Crossbow, rangers at higher combat levels have a much higher chance of defeating other players in armour, compared to the Magic Shortbow.

The Range pure has no use for low level prayer, except for Protect Item to protect a crossbow or dark bow; protect item will not save arrows.

There is another type of range pure that involves a player not gaining Constitution at all. To use this type of pure a player must level ranged using either cannon, exp lamp, archery minigame at the ranging guild and/or soul wars. This type of pure involves using a dark bow to kill the target in one hit, 26 prayer recommended for using protect item in case of death, and for the 10% bonus range prayer. A pure with 43 prayer, 10 constitution, and 60 ranged will come out to be level 37, capable of hitting 270 life points per dark bow special arrow, that's a total of 540 life points in one hit, it is capable of taking out most people around level 35-45 in one hit. Unfortunately, your only form of defence is using protect from melee, however it is possible to get 50 magic to access the snare spell in order to disable the target allowing you to get 2, maybe 3 shots in at once. Getting 50 magic will not affect your combat level unless you get to 60 magic. This method is very effective however, it does not prevent other players from killing you. This type of pure can only be used for roughly 3000 kills before it becomes obsolete, as every time you hit you gain Constitution experience, and soon, it will become too high level to pk effectively. However, you can get to 71 range and 100 LP, along with 50 magic at level 43, allowing you to pk very effectively, this type of pure lasts almost double the last one's kill count, assuming that you do not kill any monsters.

Defence 40-70+
The second most common tank variant is a Tank Ranger. By far the most commonly seen form of a Tank Ranger is a player wearing a Black Dragonhide body with Rune Platelegs, a Rune Full Helmet, and a Rune Kiteshield, often with a Rune Crossbow as the weapon of choice. However, these tanks are often described as "wannabe tanks" due to the fact that they generally do not have a very high defence bonus. Generally, the most effective Tank Ranger is a setup in which the Rune Helm is replaced with a Torag's Helm, the Rune Platelegs replaced with Torag's platelegs, and a superior shield such as a Granite shield or Crystal shield in place of the Rune Kiteshield.

Another type of Tank Ranger utilises armour such as Karil's for the phenomenal magic defence, and uses a very powerful weapon such as a Dark Bow or Karil's Crossbow. Due to the low melee defence of Karil's armour, this tank doesn't excel against meleers, and as such, many also have the gear for regular Tank Ranging.

Defence Pure or Tank
Although extremely rare, a true Defence Pure is a character who solely trains Defence, whilst purposefully not gaining experience in the other 2 melee stats. These types of pures can be useful for tanking, a method groups use to tackle powerful monsters. It is possible to gain 60 defence while not exceeding 30 combat; if the account is purely defence, it is possible to achieve level 99 defence at the lowest, level 27 combat. This is done through not advancing Constitution in the Soul Wars mini game, by not attacking other players. However, Defence Pures were not very effective, as they have a max hit of around 20 (with maximum strength possible), or 60 with poison, and hit many 0's due to the lack of attack and strength levels. This was later updated through the Constitution skill, as damage and maximum lifepoint were multiplied by 10. It would give experience for hitting lower than 10. This before the update would have been a 0. It makes the game more popular for pures or new players. A popular way of killing the opponent is to use an iron dagger (p++) to slowly whittle their health down. They then switch to a red topaz machete, which has the highest attack bonus of weapons requiring 1 attack. Another is, with 75 defence and the all-powerful Dragonfire Shield, using the shield to hit 170+. For non members, the highest attack bonus is shared with Silverlight and the Blurite sword, however Silverlight can deal even more damage against demons. Training an account to 60 defence takes a good deal of patience gaining a maximum of 4 experience per attack, while not consistently administering damage. The more common reason for a Defence Pure is to show off one's opulence, such as equipping the account with Dragon chainmail, Dragon Legs or Plateskirt, and a Dragon full helmet of some sort. A good way to train defence pures is to kill men in Edgeville, in the house just north of the bank. Soul Wars is the notable way of training Defence as one could go from level 40-99 in about a month as Zeal points give massive experience. One effective way for defence pures to pk is in groups, with each pure wielding a dragonfire shield and choosing one target to attack. The combined fire blasts can easily knock out players with 50 combat, whilst those with 50 combat cannot hit the pures through their high levelled armour.

Another way a defence pure or tank will train defence without training Strength or Attack is by sacrificing some of their combat level to the skill Summoning. They will get the lowest level Summoning as they possibly can but try to get a familiar that gives bonus Defence experience. A popular familiar is the Bronze Minotaur, which can hit higher than a defence pure or tank can.

However, if a notable amount of combat levels are gained from Summoning, usually the Defence pure is instead considered a Summoning tank, even though possessing separate intents.

Hybrid
A hybrid is a term usually used for combat pures. A hybrid works on multiple skills. The most common hybrid is ranged/melee. It is difficult to use, but it should be possible to have equal primary statistics in two or even three classes of combat or at least a working ability in one or two other combat classes. Usually it is best to work on only 2 different combat types, rather than working on 3. Otherwise your combat will be high and your combat skill level will not be the best it can be.

Carrying two or three different sets of equipment would leave a hybrid with a lot to lose and very little space for food, but enable you to stand in two or three points of the Combat Triangle.
 * Armoured warrior is weak against Mage (if you have no other choice, take off your armour and charge the mage if you are willing to take a risk.)
 * Mages are weak against Rangers, as range armour is better defensively against magic than mage gear is against arrows.
 * Ranger is generally weak against Warrior (use bind to stop the warrior approaching if mage-range hybrid, and make good use of obstructions such as forest, fences, or higher ground).

At the very least, the Mage or Ranger should carry a backup weapon and train attack and strength to do worthwhile damage with it, better than hitting with their staff or bow when out of ammunition. A slashing weapon, such as a scimitar, was also needed to enter areas protected by a web.


 * Ranged/Mage: At low levels, Ranged/Magic hybrids can deal speedy damage and then finish their targets off with a powerful spell. At higher levels, Magic is merely used to bind other players, and to attack melee fighters in metal armour.
 * Melee/Ranged: Uses dragonhide chaps/vambs. The player switches from the bow when the opponent is low on life points to a powerful melee weapon. Weapons used include Granite maul, TzHaar-Ket-Om (Obsidian Maul), Rune 2h Sword, or a Dragon Dagger.
 * Any/Mage: Enables teleport spells, bind, and combat spells, and increases resistance to Magic.
 * Any/Melee: Gives a backup combat method when out of runes or arrows, and good for kills that aren't worth wasting non-renewable items on.
 * Mage/Melee: A popular strategy among lower levels is to Ice Blitz an enemy from a distance, and then perform a dragon dagger special on the person/monster. This prevents the enemy from escaping, while allowing the player to inflict damage a few seconds before the enemy reaches the person. These pures can often be spotted in P2P wearing magical robes, and a fast weapon, such as a rune scimitar, or a DD(P++), and possibly a shield. This makes a good combination for P2P. They start by opening a Melee attack, then binding the foe as he or she tries to run. They may use a power spell as a finisher, which can be very effective. These Hybrids, however, are very uncommon, and can easily be taken down by a Pure Ranger.
 * Any/Prayer: Prayer allows the use of protect item, smite, which lowers one's prayer, and prayers to boost attack, strength, defence, ranged, and magic accuracy.
 * Melee/Melee: First uses a simple fast weapon like a Rune scimitar, then takes out a much stronger weapon like Rune 2h sword or Rune Battleaxe to perform a much stronger attack at the same speed. But then its as slow as weapon chosen.
 * Ranged/Ranged: Similar to melee/melee, as the person uses a fast weapon such as a Magic shortbow, then takes out a much stronger ranged weapon such as a Dark bow or Rune c'bow.

Account Types
Please note that these are only selected account types and stats, as there are many other different accounts that have different stats.

Twinning
Two or more similar pures that have similar names are sometimes called twins. Twins may player-kill with each other. Similar named accounts may cause confusion for another group of pkers that these twins are attacking, while the twins can synchronise their efforts on one target at a time. A very useful way to kill while twinning was for each twin to get a Dragon dagger and both attack and use the special attack on a player at a time. This requires 60 attack. Sometimes twins will both wield Dark bows. They require 60 Range to use. When both twins are attacking something at the same time, they can kill it within the first few seconds of combat.

Skillers
A skiller is a player who does not train combat stats, but does work on other skills. Common skillers may be woodcutters, miners, fishers, etc. Skillers can also train Slayer and still not get combat levels. They normally do this with Rings of Recoil, experience lamps and books. They can also train Slayer with penguin points or Soul Wars.

Classic Pures
In the days of RuneScape Classic, the term "pure" was much more defined. 8 Magic or Prayer levels was equivalent to a single combat level.

Typical Low Level Pure
A typical classic pure was around 30-40 combat with 40 Attack, 1 Defence, 54+ Strength, 1-14 Prayer and 1 Magic. Many pure account makers would train on dummies in Varrock, causing their attack levels to rise, without the extra Constitution levels (these accounts were given the name wined pure). Wined pures were very criticised, as many people believed that hitpoints (now called life points) were much more useful than the bonus strength they got in turn.

Plate Pure
In the days of RuneScape Classic, there were also a very rare breed of pures, named "Plate Pures". Plate pures were defined as pures that had 1 Magic, yet could wear a Rune Platebody. On RuneScape Classic, the only way to obtain the map piece from Wormbrain was to retrieve the map with Telekinetic Grab. These pures were very highly prized accounts, as they only possible way to obtain them, was from either:


 * 1) Originally when the quest was released, quest items were still tradeable, so some players would trade a map piece to an account they wanted to keep 1 magic on, thus allowing them to finish Dragon Slayer.
 * 2) The second way to obtain a plate pure was by trading RuneScape 2 items back to RuneScape Classic. Some people logged on to their RuneScape 2 account, killed Wormbrain, and grabbed the map piece on RuneScape 2. Jagex allowed 1 week for players to swap items from RuneScape 2 to RuneScape Classic, thus some people traded the map piece back to their RuneScape Classic pure.

They still exist, however most players won't admit that their account is a plate pure, because they enjoy the advantage of a rune platebody over a rune chain, while retaining the combat levels that would have been given to them because of 33+ magic.

But now, you may pay Wormbrain 10k (10,000 gp) and he will give you the piece of the map thus, not needing Telekinetic Grab.

Criticism
Some players argue that because pures only work on few skills, they are weak in different aspects of the game. Although, pures were simply designed for combat.

Many pures, due to the extremely competitive nature of player killing, may insult others, for example by calling them noobs. Sometimes they do it so much, it almost becomes a personality trait and is carried out of the wilderness and into the rest of their gaming life. This is where people often get the idea that pures are mean, disrespectful, and selfish.

For anyone who uses a more balanced character to make and give things to their pure fighter, attention must be drawn to Rule 8 of the rules section on RuneScape.com.
 * Rule 8.
 * You may create more than one RuneScape account, but if you do, you may not log in more than one account at any time, and they must not interact with each other in any way. This includes 'drop trading' or any other method of item transfer.

Summoning tank
Though Summoning tanks are considered a form of a Combat pure, the attack styles, skill affiliation, combat levels, and equipment notably distinguishes them. See Summoning tank for details.