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 sets, consisting of bronze, iron, steel, black/white, mithril, adamant, rune, and dragon (in ascending order of the quality of the armour). Each of these sets include the armour pieces listed under Set items. All of 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 the default series.

Melee armour sets
Set totals include full helmet, platebody, platelegs/plateskirt, and kiteshield whenever possible.

Helms
Bronze, iron, steel, black, white, mithril, adamant, rune, dragon

Helms offer lower protection compared to full helms (shown below).

Full helms
Bronze, iron, steel, black, white, mithril, adamant, rune, dragon

Full helmets encase the whole of the player’s head and provide better range and melee defence than other helmets. 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, mithril, adamant, rune, dragon

Chainbodies are made up of small rings linked together. Chainbodies provide a lower armour rating than platebodies.

Platebodies
Bronze, iron, steel, black, white, mithril, adamant, rune, dragon

Platebodies are much heavier and stronger than chainbodies, providing higher defence. 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
Bronze platelegs/skirt, iron platelegs/skirt, steel platelegs/skirt, black platelegs/skirt, white/skirt, mithril platelegs/skirt, adamant platelegs/skirt, rune platelegs/skirt, dragon platelegs/skirt(m) Platelegs and plateskirts are a vital part of a warrior's armour, and provide the second best defensive bonuses after the platebody. The dragon platelegs/skirt cannot be smithed by players.

Square shields
Bronze, iron, steel, black, white(m), mithril, adamant, rune, dragon The square shield has lower defense bonuses than kiteshields.

Spikeshields
Adamant, Rune Spikeshields are a reward that can be purchased with tokens from the Fist of Guthix minigame. They degrade with use, 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 45 Defence to wield. The rune spikeshield costs 200 tokens to buy, 35 tokens to recharge and level 55 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, mithril, adamant, rune, dragon Kiteshields offer better defence than a square shield, although like most heavier armour it is awkward to use in combination with Magic and Ranged.

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, 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 45 Defence to wield. The rune berserker shield costs 300 tokens to buy, 30 tokens to recharge and level 55 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

Metal gauntlets are obtained by drops from various monsters. They are significantly better than gloves in defence bonuses.

Culinaromancer's gloves
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, except for the White gloves, are simply called "Culinaromancer's gloves #", but they look like certain metals, from leather up to dragon and then Barrows.

Metal gloves provide good protection against all attack styles, do not degrade, and provide attack bonuses in all attack styles.

Defenders
Bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant, rune, dragon, corrupted, ancient, kalphite

Metal defenders are small dagger-like items worn in the off-hand slot. They count as an off-hand weapon, allowing players to use dual wielding and shield abilities, and provide defensive and health bonuses as a shield would. They also provide an accuracy increase of 3%. They cannot be made nor bought, only received as a drop from cyclopes on the top floor of the Warriors' Guild - with the latter three being crafted using drops from Barrows, Nex and Dungeoneering, and the Kalphite King. 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, and so on. The dragon defender is a much more common drop from Cyclossus than from Cyclopses, 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 to dragon defenders do not degrade, but the corrupted, ancient and kalphite defenders will degrade.

Bronze armour
Bronze armour is the weakest of all melee armours and worn only by the newest of players, requiring no levels whatsoever and costing little. Bronze is a copper and tin alloy and as such may be smelted using copper and tin ore. It can be made on an anvil with requirements starting from level 1 Smithing.

Iron armour
Iron armour is slightly better than bronze, and requires level 10 Defence. It is made from iron bars.

Steel armour
Steel armour is slightly better than the previous metal, iron. Steel armour and weapons require level 20 Defence and Attack respectively to equip and may also be smithed from steel bars, which are the result of smelting iron ore with coal.

White armour (m)
White armour does not offer great defensive bonuses, although better than steel, but does offer decent prayer bonuses (1 prayer bonus per item). White armour, however, requires the completion of Wanted! to equip. White armour may be bought from Sir Vyvin (White Knight's Armoury) 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, including initiate, proselyte, acolyte and partisan armour 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, after completing Recruitment Drive. 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. 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. It requires 25 Defence to wear, as does White 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 resembles the armour worn by the elite knights, but didn't for over a year, between the armour graphical updates and the release of the Death of Chivalry quest.

Mithril armour
Mithril is a medium level metal, requiring 30 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 Skill hall in a POH, providing that the player has 68 Smithing.

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. It requires level 40 Defence to wield. Like black armour, 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 non-degradable armour for free-to-play and requires level 50 Defence to wear, although a smith wishing to make runite equipment needs at least level 85 Smithing. It is often worn in pvp situation as it provides good bonuses and is easily replaced if lost. Equipping the rune platebody requires completion of the Dragon Slayer quest. Rune is cyan in colour. As with adamant and black armour, rune armour has Treasure Trail variants, them being: gold-trimmed, white-trimmed, gilded, 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 equipment 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 be dropped by monsters, although tormented demons drop pieces of it. Once the three pieces are collected, a very talented smith may forge the pieces 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 still require 60 Defence to use, but are not members only. However, they 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 players can kill other players who are 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 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 dragonbone kit.

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 and dagannoth. Players must then take these to Skulgrimen in the southwest of Fremennik Village. Due to its low bonuses, it is generally not used by players. It can be exchanged with Bardur for a cooked shark.

Warrior helm
The warrior helm is a more popular choice of helmet, as it gives decent defence bonuses. This helmet 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. It has a melee strength bonus unlike the warrior helm, but also has a lower defence rating. This helm is available for purchase after completion of The Fremennik Trials quest for 78,000 gp.

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 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 for 50,000 gp.

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 arctic pine logs. It has poor bonuses, meaning it is not used very often.

Rock-shell armour
Rock-shell armour is very similar to rune armour. It is made from hides and rocks dropped by dagannoth and giant rock crabs, respectively. These can be taken to Skulgrimen, who can be found north of the Rellekka long hall. 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 the existence of better armour.

Bandos armour
Helmet, chestplate, warshield, tassets, boots

Bandos armour is very strong armour, providing excellent defensive bonuses. Bandos armour was once one of the best armours in the game. Bandos armour is dropped by General Graardor (who wears the armour himself) and his sergeants in Bandos's Stronghold in the God Wars Dungeon, requiring level 70 Strength to enter, as well as having killed forty Bandosians in the dungeon. It's a very commonly used armour by players, so it's the cheapest of the God Wars Dungeon armours.

Barrows armour
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 wearing all the items from one of the brothers' armour sets (including the weapon), they'll be rewarded with a special set effect depending on the set. 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 has a very desirable bonus effect, as it has a chance of healing the wearer when they deal damage. The weapon of the set is a long warspear.

Dharok's armour
Dharok the Wretched's armour set effect has a useful, but dangerous set effect. The lower the wearer's health, the higher their maximum hit is.

Torag's armour
Torag the Corrupted's armour set effect is the chance to drain adrenaline from the target with each hit.

Verac's armour
The set effect of the armour of Verac the Defiled is adding a chance to deal increased damage for successful hits. Previously it hit through prayer once in a while.

Toktz-Ket-Xil
Buy one from TzHaar-Hur-Tel's Equipment Store in the TzHaar City, trade with another player or obtain one as a rare monster drop from a TzHaar-Ket. This shield is extremely popular amongst mid-level warriors who are unable to afford a better-suited shield for their level.

Anti-dragon shield
The Anti-dragon shield does not provide much by way of armour, but it is indispensable 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. Dragon Slayer must be partly completed to obtain the shield, which is done in the respective part of the quest by asking Duke Horacio on the first floor of Lumbridge Castle for one. Multiple shields may be obtained by talking to Duke Horacio again. No drop trick is needed for this.

Dragonfire Shield
The dragonfire Shield is a high-level piece of armour coming in magic, range, and melee styles. It provides protection not only from dragonfire, but also the breath of the Skeletal Wyvern. The shield can be recharged by absorbing a dragon's breath in combat.

Granite armour
Helmet, body, legs, shield

Granite armour is tough, resilient armour requiring not only a Defence level of 55 to wear, but also a Strength level of 55 due to its weight. The granite body and helm have slightly better bonuses than their rune counterparts. Granite armour is mainly obtained from monster drops, or trading with another player. The granite body is obtained by playing Barbarian Assault and purchasing one from Commander Connad. Granite armour comes with a selection of weapons, them being the granite maul and granite mace.

Third-age warrior armour
Helmet, Platebody, Platelegs, Kiteshield

Armour from the Third Age is incredibly rare and incredibly tough. However, Barrows armour and Bandos armours have better stats. Third Age armour can be obtained as 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.

Ancient Warriors' armour
Statius: Helmet, Platebody, Platelegs Vesta: Chainbody, Plateskirt

Statius's equipment
is the armour once worn by Statius. Like corrupt dragon armour, it is received as a drop from the Chaos Elemental or revenants, bringing the risks of player killers with it. As such, it is a very expensive equipment set. In addition, it degrades over time and completely vanishes after 100,000 charges of combat. A corrupt version of the armour exists, which requires only 20 Defence to wear, as opposed to 78, however, it disintegrates after only 15 minutes of being worn, even outside of combat.

Vesta's equipment
Like corrupt dragon armour, is received as a drop from the Chaos Elemental or revenants, bringing the risks of player killers with it. As such, it is a very expensive equipment set. In addition, it degrades over time and completely vanishes after 100,000 charges of combat. A corrupt version of the armour exists, which requires only 20 Defence to wear, as opposed to 78, however, it disintegrates after only 15 minutes of being worn, not necessarily in combat.

Spirit shields
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" one, obtained upon completion of the quest. Some holy elixir, dropped by the Tormented Wraith and Corporeal Beast, must be poured onto it to bless it, increasing its stats and value. The spirit sigils are items which can be added to a blessed spirit shield to modify its abilities even further. These sigils are arcane, divine, elysian and spectral. The divine spirit shield, along with the arcane and elysian, has a special effect that reduces the amount of damage taken and directs some of it to your prayer energy instead.

The basic spirit shield requires level 40 Defence and level 55 Prayer to hold, the blessed one requires 70 Defence and level 65 Prayer, arcane and spectral spirit shield 75 Defence, 75 Prayer and 65 Magic, and divine and elysian require 75 Defence and 75 Prayer.

Steadfast boots
Steadfast boots, along with their Ranged and Magic variants (Glaiven and Ragefire boots, respectively.), made up the trio of best footwear available in the game until the release of their upgraded versions. They offer great defensive bonuses, however, they are very expensive and hard to get. They are dropped only by the dangerous glacors, ice elementals infused with the power of the Stone of Jas and summoned by the evil Mahjarrat Lucien to serve as his army (they were, however, defeated by Kuradal, who left only a few), under the Ritual plateau in their cave near the bane ore mine. This cave is only accessible after completion of Ritual of the Mahjarrat, and as such only elite players are able to receive these sought-after boots as a drop.

Obsidian armour


Obsidian armour is a degradable armour that offers good defences in all combat styles. When fighting against the TzHaar and TokHaar, it boosts the wearer's accuracy and significantly reduces the damage taken by the wearer. This armour, unlike their Barrows and God Wars Dungeon counterparts, can be smithed by turning obsidian shards into obsidian bars and then smithed into armour. It only degrades when it is used in combat inside the TzHaar area. Outside of this area, the armour splinters, and players take triple the damage.

While the Toktz-ket-xil is classified as obsidian armour, it cannot be smithed from obsidian shards. This shield can only be obtained as a drop from TzHaar or from other players.

Torva armour
Torva armour is the second best armour you can repair in the game, next to Superior Tetsu. Hence the price, as the full set costs dozens of millions of coins. Along with Virtus robes and Pernix armour, the fearsome general of Zaros, Nex, has a very small chance to drop a piece of the armour. Because Nex is level 1001, and very, very dangerous and hard to defeat, the armour is worn only by the strongest (or wealthiest) of players. On top of the very high defensive bonuses, Torva armour offers a damage boost. The armour degrades, but can be repaired similarly to Barrows armour, although it is more expensive. Level 80 Defence, and Constitution are required to equip the armour.

Hybrid armour
Although hybrid armour is purely cosmetic in the general areas of RuneScape, it offers substantial defensive bonuses while participating in PVP minigames, specifically Castle Wars (helms), Fight Pits (robes), Soul Wars (legs), and Fist of Guthix (gloves). Although the boots are received from Pest Control, no armour bonuses are offered during this game as it is not a PVP minigame.

The armours are received in pieces (helm, body, leggings, gloves and boots) at the end of several minigames. There is rare chance of receiving a piece. Should one be lucky enough to get one, a screen opens up offering the choice between that piece of vanguard, trickster or battlemage armour. Hybrid armour is untradeable.

Tetsu armour
Tetsu armour is obtained from playing the minigame Player-owned ports. It comes in 2 forms, normal and superior, and both versions degrade in combat. The superior version is untradeable, yet has higher stats and lasts longer in combat. The normal version lasts 10 hours in combat while the superior lasts 12. Lastly, the superior version can be repaired while the tradeable one cannot and will degrade into nothing. The repair cost of the Superior armour set is 2,100,000 coins at level 99 Smithing.

85 Defence is required to wear it. It can be made at 90 Smithing in the port's workshop. The material used to smith it is the trade good Plate.

Before the armour can be made you will need to unlock the ability to make it. To do this, you will need to collect 4 scroll pieces for every piece of the armour you wish to make. A total of 12 scroll pieces is needed to be able to smith all 3 pieces of the armour.

The armour looks very similar to armour used by Samurai, and is thought to have been based on the armour of the warriors of old.

Best free-to-play armour


Armour/Melee armour