Defender
- This article is about the offensive shield. For other uses, see Defender (disambiguation).
Defenders are off-hand weapons that are wielded in the shield slot and provide positive attack bonuses in addition to slight defence bonuses. To wield a defender, a player must have an Attack level high enough to wield a weapon of that metal and a Defence level high enough to wear armour of that metal. Defenders are immensely popular among warriors and are commonly used with a fast one-handed weapon for melee training. Prior to the release of defenders in 2006, unholy books were used instead because it provided the best attack bonuses for the shield slot. Jagex updated the look of the defenders on 9 August 2011.
Defender statistics
| Defender metal | Levels required | Attack bonus | Defence bonus | Other bonus | |||||||||||
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 Bronze
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1 | 1 | +3 | +2 | +1 | -3 | -2 | +3 | +2 | +1 | -3 | -2 | +1 | 0 | 0 |
 Iron
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1 | 1 | +5 | +4 | +3 | -3 | -2 | +5 | +4 | +3 | -3 | -2 | +2 | 0 | 0 |
 Steel
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5 | 5 | +7 | +6 | +5 | -3 | -2 | +7 | +6 | +5 | -3 | -2 | +3 | +1 | 0 |
 Black
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10 | 10 | +9 | +8 | +7 | -3 | -2 | +9 | +8 | +7 | -3 | -2 | +4 | +2 | 0 |
 Mithril
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20 | 20 | +10 | +9 | +8 | -3 | -2 | +10 | +9 | +8 | -3 | -2 | +5 | +3 | 0 |
 Adamant
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30 | 30 | +13 | +12 | +11 | -3 | -2 | +13 | +12 | +11 | -3 | -2 | +6 | +4 | 0 |
 Rune
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40 | 40 | +20 | +19 | +18 | -3 | -2 | +20 | +19 | +18 | -3 | -2 | +8 | +5 | 0 |
 Dragon
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60 | 60 | +25 | +24 | +23 | -3 | -2 | +25 | +24 | +23 | -3 | -2 | +10 | +6 | 0 |
Dungeoneering
The Flameburst defender is a defender obtained in Dungeoneering only and can not be taken out of Daemonheim. Unlike normal defenders it requires only a defence and magic level to wield and provides magical and melee attack stats.
When wielded with a Frostbite dagger, the dagger has a 20% chance to hit an extra 100 damage, as well as an accuracy boost of 10%, however its normal maximum hit is decreased by 10.
When wielded with a Hailstorm dagger, the dagger has a 20% chance to hit an extra 100 damage, but has no negative changes unlike the Frostbite dagger.
| Defender | Levels Required | Attack Bonus | Defence Bonus | Other Bonus | |||||||||||
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 Flameburst defender
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33 | 33 | +9 | +6 | +5 | +3 | -2 | +5 | +9 | +4 | +3 | 0 | 0 | +5 | 0 |
Obtaining defenders
Defenders are non-tradeable members-only items. They can only be obtained by killing the cyclopes or the cyclossus on the top floor of the Warriors' Guild. Twenty warrior guild tokens (or 15 if in multitoken mode) are used up for every minute spent in the cyclops room. Eventually, a cyclops will drop a bronze defender, and when a player has this, they need to show that to Kamfreena who is located just outside the room. The next time that player enters, Kamfreena will inform the player that the cyclopes will now drop the next-tier (iron) defender. The player will then have to kill cyclopes until they eventually receive this drop. This process is continued for steel, black, mithril, adamant, and rune; until the player finally gets to the dragon defender.
The time needed to obtain a defender varies and it generally takes between 700 and 2,400 tokens (about 1–4 hours) to get to a rune defender. However, it may take over 10,000 tokens to get to Rune, if you are extremely unlucky. Many players have spent over 1,500 tokens, and never seen a single defender, even bronze, so be warned. Equally, it is possible to have no defenders and work your way up to getting a dragon defender in under 3 hours. It is also possible to receive a rune defender one kill after getting an adamant defender; and to receive a dragon defender 10 minutes later.
A Ring of Wealth does NOT affect a player's chance to receive a defender, because it's a unique drop from cyclopes and the cyclossus. However, the 'increased chance of defenders dropping' from multitoken mode appears to be very significant, and it is recommended that this method be used if hunting for defender drops.
If a player loses their defender, most likely from death, they will need to start over. Because of this, it is wise for a player to keep duplicate/lower-tier defenders in their bank, so that they can show Kamfreena and start on the defender they dropped. For example, if a player loses his or her dragon defender, but has a rune defender in the bank, the player can show Kamfreena the rune defender and not be forced to start over. Alternatively, the player can obtain two or more dragon defenders which only take up one bank slot.
On the day of the dragon defender's release, the cyclopes room became extremely crowded by medium to high level players trying to receive one as a drop. Because of the difficulty to find a free cyclops to fight, players threw throwing knives at one the moment it spawned to be the one that attacked it first and switched to a melee weapon to deal damage to it. It is no longer possible to even initiate combat with a cyclops using a ranged weapon.
Dropping monsters
Monster Combat level Quantity Rarity Cyclops 56,76 1 Rare
Option responses
Examine info - "A defensive weapon." (same for all)
Use defender on Kamfreena - "I have a [metal] defender, please let me in to kill some more cyclopes!"
Kamfreena responses -
- Bronze - "Bronze eh? The next cyclopes are ready, toddle in when you're ready."
- Iron - "Wow, iron eh? The next cyclopes are ready, toddle in when you're ready."
- Steel - "Strong as steel eh? The next cyclopes are ready, toddle in when you're ready."
- Black - "Black, hmmm, about half way to Rune then! Keep going! Cyclopes have been released, enter when you're ready."
- Mithril - "Mithril? Getting good at this aren't you? Ok, I've released those cyclopes that sometimes drop adamant defenders, enter when you're ready."
- Adamant - "An adamant defender, eh? Trying for the Rune defender I'm betting. Ok, I've released those cyclopes, enter when you're ready."
- Rune - "Well done, you truly are a brilliant warrior! I've released some cyclopes that may well drop a dragon defender, enter when you're ready."
- Dragon - "Well done! You truly are a warrior of the highest order! I've released the cyclopes; enter when you're ready."
Trivia
- Defenders seem to be based on a main gauche (left hand), or parrying dagger, which is a defensive weapon used in fencing and rapier duels.
- Once you've got a certain level of defender, you can still get a lower level of defender. By using a lower level defender on Kamfreena, she will put out cyclops that drop one higher than that level, for instance, if you have a rune defender, and want more rune defenders, wield your rune defender, but use the adamant defender on Kamfreena. The new cyclops will drop rune defenders.
- After an update on the 9th June 2010 the inventory icon was slightly altered.
- Several years ago it was possible to alch defenders, rune defenders alching at 30k, adamant at 17k, and anything below that anywhere from 300 coins to 7k. This was before dragon defenders were released.
- The defence stance animation when being hit, whilst holding a defender has always been the same and is yet to be updated.