Weapons are wieldableitems that a player can use to inflict damage in combat. All players wield weapons in their right hand, (with the exception of defenders, which are wielded in the left hand, or shield slot.) or, if they are wielding a 2H (two handed) weapon, in both hands. If a player is using a two-handed weapon, they may not have any items equipped in the shield slot at the same time. In the case of thrown weapons, which are stackable, multiples of the same thrown weapon may be equipped in the weapon slot at once. A player may also equip a pickaxe or a woodcuttinghatchet in the weapon slot so that they may hold more ore or logs, respectively.
Artwork of some standard RuneScape weapons.Artwork of Silverlight from Issue 19 of the God Letters.
These weapons are more commonly used than the other weapons available, because they do not degrade or break. Most types of basic weapons come in eight different kinds of metal.
Most weapons have a primary mode in all three styles and a secondary mode in the aggressive or controlled style. The secondary mode is normally weaker, but may be more appropriate to your target win.
Chainmail armour is weaker against stabbing; platemail is weaker against crushing, while the slash attack is highly effective against cloth, leather or unarmoured targets. Against monster hide, the most effective style varies. The only absolute defence against a particular attack is the Protect from Melee prayer(which has 100% chance of success), or the occasional NPC that requires something special to kill them, so you will still hit with the "wrong" attack and weapon, just not as often and with less damage.
Weapon groups
The whole idea of having multiple weapon types is that one weapon type should not be all-conquering, or there would not be much point of having the others. Overall, though, popular weapon types for each style are:
The first weapon that can be smithed in any metal. Generally (but not always) has higher stats than a sword of the weaker metal. Daggers are primarily stabbing weapons, though they have a decent slash attack. Members can poison daggers to great effect. Dragon Daggers are discoloured upon poisoning, making the tip of the dagger a bright green colour. Other daggers may be poisoned but the green colour is much less prominent. The dragon dagger was a popular Pking weapon and is still commonly used in PvP combat due to it being cheap but effective.
Able to hit higher than a dagger at the same attack speed, although it cannot be poisoned. This makes it unpopular. However, players can find it useful.
The crush attack is better against platemail, and the prayer bonus can be useful. It also features a controlled stabbing attack. Usually has a Prayer bonus.
An excellent slashing weapon against cloth or leather, and average against chainmail, but weak against platemail. The secondary stabbing attack is rather inefficient against some armour, but better against chainmail. It is in the controlled style, and yields equal experience to Attack, Strength, and Defence. The dragon scimitar is one of the most popular weapons for Pking, along with the abyssal whip and dragon dagger. But it doesn't have a very good strength bonus. Nonetheless, the rune scimitar is considered to be one of the best training weapons for melee in a free world.
Slower than a scimitar, but has higher strength and attack bonuses, especially in terms of its controlled stab attack. Considered to be worse than the scimitar due to its lower speed, it has a considerably higher strength bonus and higher slash and stab bonuses. It is described as the "warrior's best friend" on the Runescape website. It was once considered the best weapon type before the scimitar's popularity outbreak, although many high-levelled players sometimes use the dragon longsword due to its better stats than the dragon scimitar and its substantially better special attack.
An uncommon crushing-only weapon with no specialist store open to non-members. It's right in the middle of the Smithing scale for any metal. This weapon is good to dent other warriors' platemail. It also offers the second best attack bonuses among all the basic one-handed weapons; the store is located in Rellekka.
Provides a better strength bonus than the warhammer, but not as effective in the secondary crush attack. It is considered to be a rather effective Pking weapon. The Battleaxe is the strongest 1-handed weapon in the melee weaponry class.
The most powerful of the basic weapons, but also the slowest. Furthermore, as its name suggests, the two-handed sword cannot be used with a shield. It may be a good secondary weapon for the ranged fighter, as their bow cannot be used with a shield anyway. This weapon has no specialist store open to non-members; the store is located in Taverley. The Rune 2h is arguably the most popular type, as it is notable for being the strongest non degradable weapon available in F2P, although the Gravite 2h is more powerful, and harder to obtain.
About as slow as the two-handed sword and slightly less powerful, and a shield cannot be equipped with it. However, it can reach over small obstacles (such as tables, fences etc.)
This two-handed members-only weapon is one of only two classes in the game that can use all three attack styles. The spear has an average attack speed, features controlled style for each attack style, and can be poisoned. Its bonuses are not as high as other weapons', and the only way to train Attack or Strength with it is to use one of the controlled styles. It can be poisoned with Karambwan paste.
This weapon is identical to the spear in every way, except that it is a one-handed weapon compared to the two-handed spear and that it has negative Defence bonuses, although this can be countered by wearing a shield. This weapon may be poisoned with Karambwan paste.
A members-only weapon that is similar to the sword, except that it is two-handed and is primarily a slashing weapon. Also it beats the sword in speed. It cannot be poisoned. The dragon version is very popular in PvP combat thanks to its quadruple hit special.
Does not follow the standard metal scale (Bronze-Dragon). It is also is 2-handed. You usually get them either in granite or obsidian. A new type is the Chaotic, a reward from Dungeoneering.
Does not follow the standard metal scale (Bronze-Dragon). The Abyssal whip has a high experience rate in training Attack and Defence but the only way to train Strength is to use the controlled style. They can be used with a shield. It's often used with a Dragon defender or Dragonfire shield.
Italics indicate decent effectiveness in a weapon's secondary style compared to its primary style. (Less than 20% difference in bonuses)
The table above shows what level is needed to wield a certain metal and some specific weapons. Annotations above a word in the table correspond to the following:
Weapons are made of different metals, some stronger and more expensive than others. Higher Attack levels allow wielding weapons of better metals. For example, a player needs an Attack level of 10 to wield a black weapon, whereas the player would need level 20 to wield a mithril weapon. Almost all metal weapons can be smithed, except for Halberds, and any Black, White, Dragon, or Barrows weapons.
Members have access to more powerful weapons than the basic ones. However, because of their power, they are much more expensive than the basic weapons.
Kitchen weaponry are members only weapons that can be bought from the Culinaromancer's chest. To buy and wield more advanced kitchen weapons the player must complete the Recipe for Disaster subquests.
Does not use arrows, can be purchased from other players when fully charged. Dropped exclusively by Nex
The ranged and magic tutors can be found at Lumbridge, in a sort of training centre, north of the General Store (marked by an empty flour pot on the mini-map.)
Because of the time limit of 30 minutes, when your Ranged level gets higher, it is wasting your time waiting for the 30 minutes to be up, so you can get more bronze Arrows. At around Level 5 Ranged it would pay to switch to the Oak shortbow with Iron arrows.
Arrows are used for ammunition with bows. The better the arrow, the higher damage a player can deal. However, players require certain bows to use certain arrows. Non-members can only use bronze to adamant arrows. All arrows except the training arrows can be fletched by members.
All composite bows (excluding the composite ogre bow) has some of the speed of a shortbow and some of the power of a longbow. It is generally not used unless you don't mind sacrificing some of your speed for attack power.
Composite bows are not recommended for normal training and PvP.
Darts can be forged from Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mithril, Adamantite, Rune and Dragon. Each metal bar can make ten Dart Tips. Darts can be poisoned and are stackable. Black and Dragon Darts are available but cannot be smithed by players. Darts can only be made after completing the Tourist Trap quest.
Throwing knives are poisonable, and can be forged by players from Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mithril, Adamantite, and Rune. Each metal bar yields five Throwing Knives. Black Throwing Knives are only dropped by Shadow Warriors, Imperial Guard members, ankous, and cyclopes in the warrior's guild.
Throwing Axes come in Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mithril, Adamantite, and Rune. They can only be bought from a shop in the Ranging Guild. The Rune Throwing Axe has a special attack ("Chain Hit") that, when activated in a multicombat zone with multiple enemies nearby, will bounce from enemy to enemy up to 10 times(10% special bar used per enemy hit).
Javelins are stackable and made out of Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, Mithril, Adamantite, and Rune. Javelins can be found as drops from defeated monsters and can also be purchased inside the Ranging Guild. Javelins are notoriously slow and are generally considered to be the most unpopular out of the one-handed Ranging weapons.
*It has been reported that while doing the Knight's Training ground mini-quest (unlocked upon completion of the "King's Ransom" quest), the salamanders are not registered as a melee weapon, even while on the melee setting (This is relevant because you are permitted only to use melee weapons while in the training grounds).
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