The rune 2h sword is the second strongest conventional 2-handed weapon available to free to play players, only being surpassed by the tier 55 Gravite 2h sword. However, the Rune 2h sword does not degrade like Gravite weaponry. Like all rune weapons, it requires 50 Attack to wield.
When the Rune two-handed sword was put back into the game, this weapon was used by nearly all player killers capable of wielding it, since in RuneScape Classic there were no attack speeds. This also made it by far the most popular weapon for non-members, and nearly all non-members who could afford it wielded one.
On 17 September2009, an update changed the appearance of the rune 2h sword, making it look like a large rune long sword being held in both hands, similar to the Saradomin sword. However, with the Evolution of Combat update, the model was changed again, giving it a design similar to that of the rest of the weapons in the prominent Rune weapon set.
Although it is considered one of the best weapons on RuneScape Classic, and the free-to-play part of the main RuneScape game alike, it is not often used in pay-to-play due to the existence of many other, more powerful weapons.