Combat level

For a calculator to work out combat levels, see Calculator:Combat.

The maximum combat level for members, level 138.

A player's, monster's, or NPC's combat level indicates the difficulty in defeating him, her, or it in combat. In the very early days of RuneScape classic, players started out as Level 1 Combat, but this was changed and now all new players start out at Level 3, with the current maximum level for RuneScape being Level 138 (126 for free-to-play), while in RuneScape Classic it is Level 123, and in DeviousMUD the highest an account ever reached was 52. The highest-levelled fightable monster in RuneScape, the Queen Black Dragon, has a combat level of 2100; the highest non-fightable monster is the Ferret of Doom, which has a combat level of 9001.

Combat level is calculated by taking into account the following skills:

• Attack and Strength or Ranged or Magic
• Defence
• Constitution
• Prayer
• Summoning

File:Combat colours.png

Levels that are significantly lower than the player display shades of green, levels that are slightly lower than one's display yellow-green, levels that are equal to one's are displayed as yellow, and levels that are higher than yours display shades of orange to red. In the Wilderness, levels outside the combat range will appear white. The difference in colours can be seen up to 10 levels higher or lower than your current combat level after which it will either show the brightest shade of green or red depending on whether the combat level is lower or higher.

Effects of combat level

File:Black demon combat level.png

A black demon's combat level.

Normally, aggressive NPC's will stop attacking a player if the player has double the NPC's combat level +1. There are exceptions, however - for example, any monsters in the wilderness that are normally not aggressive will be aggressive to players no matter what their combat level is. Also, monsters that are normally aggressive will always attack a player if the monster is level 69 or higher, since the maximum combat level is level 138 for members.

A player gaining the maximum combat level. (click to play)

Monsters with a higher combat level than a player usually cannot be attacked by using a left mouse click. Instead, players need to right click and select the attack monster option. So, to be able to attack a Blue dragon with a simple left click, a player needs a combat level of at least 111. An exception to this is with most boss monsters, such as the God Wars Dungeon generals, as well as popular high level monsters such as tormented demons, dark beasts, and metal dragons. You can also left-click a monster in Daemonheim, even if their combat level is higher than yours.

Combat level is the only in-game visible parameter that players have to evaluate another player without using Stat Spy or the Inspect option in Dungeoneering. High combat levels do not always accurately describe a player's capabilities in other skills. There are players with maximum combat that have very low levels in other skills and there are pure skillers with no combat levels and very high non-combat skills. Yet, there is a reasonable chance that a high combat level also implies a decent skill level and a reasonable knowledge of the game.

There are some requirements in game that require a certain combat level. There are two quests requiring a certain combat level, Smoking Kills and Dream Mentor (both requiring 85 Combat). Training with certain Slayer Masters, and also the Void Knight activities Pest Control and Conquest, also have combat level requirements. Also many quests require players to kill somewhat difficult monsters, so having a higher combat level would be very helpful.

Levelling combat (link)

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126/138 Tune/Fireworks (link)

Tune

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Combat Formula

Standard formula

In the Combat Triangle Wallpaper update, Jagex revealed the basic formula used for calculating the basic combat level (excludes Summoning) on the top right of the wallpaper.

Please note: The basic formula revealed in the wallpaper, however, is at an early stage and using the formula as provided does not in all cases result in the combat level players observe in game. This is particularly true for Mages and Rangers, as also here even and odd levels do seem to play a role in calculating the correct combat level. In the RuneScape Forums (Combat skill section) a more accurate calculation method has been found by a group of adventurers - see calculations below.

The combat level is calculated for each combat type (Melee, Magic and Ranged). The character's basic combat level is the highest of the following three combat types. Also, the character's Prayer level used in the formula is the character's lowest even level (for example, if you're level 43 Prayer, then compute the formula as if you only have level 42 Prayer).

Note: The player's combat level is rounded down in-game.

File:Combat level simple f2p.png

Easy to understand picture formula

Basic combat levels
Melee combat level = $\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{def}}+{\text{con}}+\lfloor {\frac {\text{prayer}}{2}}\rfloor +1.3\times ({\text{att}}+{\text{str}})}{4}}\right\rfloor$
Magic combat level = $\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{def}}+{\text{con}}+\lfloor {\frac {\text{prayer}}{2}}\rfloor +1.3\times \lfloor 1.5\times {\text{magic}}\rfloor }{4}}\right\rfloor$
Ranged combat level = $\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{def}}+{\text{con}}+\lfloor {\frac {\text{prayer}}{2}}\rfloor +1.3\times \lfloor 1.5\times {\text{ranged}}\rfloor }{4}}\right\rfloor$

Note that the floor function, $\lfloor x\rfloor$, means round down to the nearest integer (e.g. $\lfloor 1.5\rfloor =1$).

Summoning extension

In member worlds, a player's Summoning level is taken into account in the combat level calculation in the following cases:

• In non-Wilderness areas
• In the Wilderness when the player either:
  • has a summoned familiar.
  • is carrying a summoning pouch or summoning scroll.

The effect of the Summoning level in these cases is similar to Prayer. This means that the character's overall combat level in these cases is the highest of the following three combat types (with the Summoning included).

Member world combat levels -

- Melee combat level = $\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{def}}+{\text{con}}+\lfloor {\frac {\text{prayer}}{2}}\rfloor +\lfloor {\frac {\text{summon}}{2}}\rfloor +1.3\times ({\text{att}}+{\text{str}})}{4}}\right\rfloor$ - - Magic combat level = $\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{def}}+{\text{con}}+\lfloor {\frac {\text{prayer}}{2}}\rfloor +\lfloor {\frac {\text{summon}}{2}}\rfloor +1.3\times \lfloor 1.5\times {\text{magic}}\rfloor }{4}}\right\rfloor$ - - Ranged combat level = $\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{def}}+{\text{con}}+\lfloor {\frac {\text{prayer}}{2}}\rfloor +\lfloor {\frac {\text{summon}}{2}}\rfloor +1.3\times \lfloor 1.5\times {\text{ranged}}\rfloor }{4}}\right\rfloor$ -

Note that the floor function, $\lfloor x\rfloor$, means round down to the nearest integer (e.g. $\lfloor 1.5\rfloor =1$).

When it is not included, the potential Summoning increase is displayed separately. For example, 79+6 instead of 85.

Summarised

(X = your highest stat level from Magic, Ranged, Attack or Strength).

The following formula summarises the above:

Combat level = $\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{def}}+{\text{con}}+\lfloor {\frac {\text{prayer}}{2}}\rfloor +\lfloor {\frac {\text{summon}}{2}}\rfloor +1.3\times max({\text{att}}+{\text{str}},\lfloor 1.5\times {\text{magic}}\rfloor ,\lfloor 1.5\times {\text{ranged}}\rfloor )}{4}}\right\rfloor$-

Where $max(x,y,z)$ returns the highest value of $x$, $y$ and $z$. On free-to-play worlds, $summon=0$.

Trivia

File:J-mod Level-1.png

The old combat level format.

• Early in RuneScape Classic after the introduction of the Wilderness, combat levels only appeared when hovering over a player with the mouse in the Wilderness. After the release of members, combat levels appeared everywhere on members' worlds due to the release of duelling across the map. In free worlds, combat levels remained invisible outside of the Wilderness until a major game change on 24 September 2002.
• The maximum combat level a player could achieve if combat skills didn't have a level cap (they would still have an xp cap) would be 174. This occurs when all combat skills are level 126 (at least 188,884,740 xp).
• With a Prayer level of 99 and the boosts to the other combat skills from the Stone of Jas, the player's combat level would be 337.
• Although Prayer affects combat level, it is not displayed as a combat related skill by the xp tracker. It is unknown if this is intentional.
• When a member reaches 138 combat they receive the message "Congratulations! Your Combat level is now 138! You've achieved the highest Combat level possible!"
• When players reach 126 combat they get the message "Congratulations! Your Combat level is now 126 - the highest possible Combat level on free worlds!" This happens even for a member. In theory, a member can get this message twice, by getting 126 combat in members world, and then getting 126 combat without summoning levels in a free world.
• There's a glitch that involves gaining a level in combat, which makes every subsequent level up message that appears simultaneously repeat the message "New: Increase in Combat Level!" despite the skill not even being related to combat.