Strength

This article is about the skill. For information on training strength, see Melee training.

Strength

Release date	4 January 2001 (Update)
Members only	No
Minimum level for Hiscores	15 as of 17 November 2012 - update
Players with 99	198,208 as of 17 November 2012 - update
Players with 200M XP	94 as of 17 November 2012 - update

[view] • [talk]

A detailed image of the strength icon.

Strength level-up music under level 50 (link)

noicon

Strength level-up music (link)

noicon

Strength is a melee combat skill which determines the amount of damage a player can inflict in melee combat. A player's Strength level has a positive correlation with his or her maximum hit. Additionally, Strength may be required to wield certain weapons and armour, access some Agility shortcuts, and complete several quests. Strength is one of the most popular skills among players, having more players of level 99 than any other skill.

The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 1,232,937) on the hiscores for Strength is level 15. As of 17 November 2012, there are 198,208 current members that have achieved level 99 in Strength.

History

Strength was among the first skills available, introduced with RuneScape's launch on 4 January 2001, along with Attack, Defence, Hitpoints (now Constitution), Ranged, Thieving, Cooking, Woodcutting, Firemaking, Crafting, Smithing, Mining, and Herblore (called Herblaw at the time). As the game has progressed, the concept of the skill has remained largely untouched.

Since the skill's inception, increasingly higher tiers of equipment have been released. Bronze through adamant equipment were available since the introduction of the game itself, but rune equipment was not made available until 26 July 2001. Each successive tier of equipment offered increasing Strength bonuses, but none of them required a specific Strength level to equip. It was not until after the release of Regicide on 20 September 2004, the fourth part of the Plague City quest series, that the game saw a weapon which required a Strength level to wield. The quest introduced halberds, two handed weapons which were capable of engaging an opponent in melee combat around obstacles and from up to 2 tiles away. All halberds stronger than steel required a Strength level half of the Attack level required to wield the weapon.

Until 26 January 2005, halberds remained the only weapon type which required a Strength level to equip. However, the release of Slayer introduced gargoyles, which dropped granite mauls, two-handed weapons which required 50 Attack and 50 Strength to equip. On 9 May 2005, the Barrows activity was added, introducing two new weapons which required a Strength level to equip. Dharok's greataxe and Torag's hammers were two of six legendary weapons originally belonging to the Barrows brothers which could be obtained as a reward from the activity. Both of these weapons required 70 Attack and Strength to wield, further increasing the maximum Strength level required to equip a weapon. Additionally, Dharok's greataxe, boasting a +105 Strength bonus, was the first weapon to exceed a +100 Strength bonus. Later that year, the TzHaar City was released and along with it, the Tzhaar-ket-om, colloquially known as the obsidian maul, was released. This was only the second maul to be released and, like the granite maul before it, required a Strength level to equip. Yet, unlike the granite maul, the obsidian maul did not have an Attack requirement, making it the first weapon to only require Strength to use.

No new weapons which required Strength to wield were introduced until 6 March 2007, when the barrelchest anchor was released as a reward for the Great Brain Robbery quest. A powerful but slow weapon, the anchor required 40 Strength to equip, even though it offered a massive +100 Strength bonus. On 17 March 2009, another quest reward featured a weapon requiring a Strength level to use. The granite mace was the second granite weapon released, and required 50 Attack as well as Strength to wield.

A host of new weapons were released with the Dungeoneering skill on 12 April 2010. Of these new weapons, one entire weapon type featured Strength prominently in its use. Novite through primal mauls required only Strength to wield and offered extremely high Strength bonuses. With a +166 Strength bonus, the primal maul is currently the strongest weapon in RuneScape. However, its use is restricted to Daemonheim.

Gaining experience

Combat

A player kicking a dummy found in Varrock.

Players may receive Strength experience during combat, and the amount of experience gained is dependent on the combat style being used. Of the four melee combat styles available, Strength experience is only awarded when fighting in the aggressive or controlled stances.

When fighting in the aggressive stance, $0.4*x$ Strength experience is awarded per hit, where $x$ is the amount of damage dealt. Fighting using the controlled stance, however, awards $0.133*x$ Strength experience per hit, where $x$ is the amount of damage dealt. For example, a player who hits a 10 would receive 4 Strength experience when fighting in the aggressive stance and 1.33 Strength experience when fighting in the controlled stance. The amount of experience received when fighting in the controlled stance may be calculated in the same way that experience awarded to the Constitution skill is calculated.

The difference between these two stances is that the aggressive stance solely provides experience for the Strength and Constitution skills. However, the controlled stance distributes experience equally among Strength, Attack, Defence, and Constitution. A player who hits a 10 would receive 1.33 experience in each one of these skills. Additionally, fighting using the aggressive stance provides a hidden boost of +3 to the Strength skill while using the controlled stance only provides a boost of +1.

Experience rewards

Strength experience may be awarded after the completion of certain quests, miniquests, tasks, random events, Distractions and Diversions, and other activities. Additionally, experience lamps, dragonkin lamps, and books of knowledge may be used to gain Strength experience.

Bonus/other experience

Several items provide bonus experience in Strength, as well as other melee skills, when equipped. Melee brawling gloves provide a 300% experience bonus to Strength (as well as Attack and Defence) when training combat in the Wilderness and a 50% bonus when training outside of the Wilderness. The brawling gloves last for approximately 100,000 experience before disintegrating.

Individual pieces of sacred clay equipment obtained through the Stealing Creation activity also provide an experience bonus to Strength and other combat skills. These items double the amount of experience received through combat when equipped. Only one piece of sacred clay armour must be worn to receive this bonus. Similar to the brawling gloves, a piece will disappear after the experience threshold of 24,450 experience is reached.

Strength experience may also be received from damage dealt by certain Summoning familiars. However, different familiars provide experience for different combat skills. The following familiars grant 40% Strength experience per point of damage dealt.

Familiar	Combat level	Summoning level required
Honey badger	45	32
Pyrelord	70	46
Spirit jelly	88	55
Spirit graahk	93	57
Barker toad	112	66
Obsidian golem	126	73
Talon beast	135	77
Moss titan	139	79
Lava titan	148	83

The following familiars grant 13.3% Attack, Strength, and Defence experience per point of damage dealt.

Familiar	Combat level	Summoning level required
Spirit scorpion	51	19
Vampyre bat	44	31
Spirit larupia	93	57
Stranger plant	107	64
Arctic bear	122	71
Giant ent	137	78
Spirit dagannoth	148	83

Equipment

Weapons

A secondary use of the Strength skill is determining which weapons a player may wield in combat. Generally, weapons which require a higher level to equip confer greater combat bonuses, providing some incentive for players to train the skill. All of the weapons in the following table are members only.

Weapon		Attack level	Strength level
	Bronze halberd	1	1
	Iron halberd	1	1
	Steel halberd	5	1
	Black halberd	10	5
	White halberd	10	5
	Mithril halberd	20	10
	Adamant halberd	30	15
	Rune halberd	40	20
	Dragon halberd	60	30
	Barrelchest anchor	60	40
	Granite maul	50	50
	Granite mace	50	50
	Tzhaar-ket-om	1	60
	Torag's hammers	70	70
	Dharok's greataxe	70	70

Dungeoneering weapons

Conventional weapons used throughout Gielinor are not allowed in Daemonheim, so a separate set of metals is used during Dungeoneering. The metal types are classified by their "tiers", with tier 1 being the weakest and tier 11 being the strongest. Tiers 1 through 10 weapons may be player made or received as a drop from several monsters, but tier 11 items may only be received as a drop from boss monsters. Of the Dungeoneering weapon types, only mauls require a Strength level. Members-only weapons are indicated by (m).

Tier	Maul type		Strength level
1		Novite	1
2		Bathus	10
3		Marmaros	20
4		Kratonite	30
5		Fractite	40
6		Zephyrium (m)	50
7		Argonite (m)	60
8		Katagon (m)	70
9		Gorgonite (m)	80
10		Promethium (m)	90
11		Primal (m)	99

Armour

Certain pieces of armour require a Strength level to wear. Though uncommon, a few such pieces exist. All of the pieces of armour in the following table are members only.

Armour		Strength level	Other requirement(s)
	Black mask	20	10 Defence
	Full slayer helmet	20	10 Defence, 20 Magic and Ranged, and completion of Smoking Kills
	Void Knight equipment	42	42 Attack, Defence, Constitution, Magic and Ranged, 22 Prayer, and up to 250 commendation points per piece
	Granite equipment	50	50 Defence
	Torva armour	80	80 Defence and 80 Constitution

Other

Strength levels are required for various other aspects of the game, including quests, tasks, Agility shortcuts involving grapples, barbarian fishing, activities, and access to certain areas. Some of these requirements are listed below.

Feature	Strength level	Other requirements
River crossing from Al Kharid to Lumbridge Swamp	19	15 Agility and 48 Fishing
Grapple shortcut from Water Obelisk Island to Catherby	22	36 Agility and 39 Ranged
Ability to catch leaping salmon barehanded	30	30 Agility, 58 Fishing, and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to climb the cliff on White Wolf Mountain from Catherby	35	Completion of Fishing Contest
Ability to catch tuna barehanded	35	55 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Falador wall shortcut north of Falador Park	37	11 Agility and 19 Ranged
Yanille wall shortcut south of the Dragon Inn	38	39 Agility and 21 Ranged
Ability to catch leaping sturgeon barehanded	45	45 Agility, 70 Fishing, and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to catch swordfish barehanded	50	70 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Access to the statues in Bandos's throne room	60	Completion of The Chosen Commander
Access to the God Wars Dungeon via the boulder	60	None
Access to Bandos's Stronghold in the God Wars Dungeon	70	A hammer
Ability to catch shark barehanded	76	96 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to cross the cave south of Dorgesh-Kaan	80	Completion of Death to the Dorgeshuun
Keep big rock and use for an emote after King of the Dwarves	90	Completion of King of the Dwarves

Strength bonuses

Most melee weapons provide a Strength bonus, which, along with a player's Strength level, determines how much damage a player may inflict in melee combat. Weapons which do not give a positive Strength bonus may be referred to as fun weapons. These weapons do not exist necessarily for use in combat; they may exist merely for aesthetic purposes.

Warriors' Guild

The Warriors' Guild is a guild for players who have attained mastery or near mastery of melee combat skills. Entrance to the guild requires either 99 Attack, 99 Strength, or a sum of 130 in Attack and Strength. The guild features several activities which involve combat and combat experience, including the shot put room. Here, players may practise throwing differently weighted balls for Strength experience.

Skill mastery

A player performing the Strength cape's emote.

Level 99 is the maximum level a player may achieve in Strength, attained at 13,034,431 experience. The amount of experience players may gain is capped at 200 million, but acquiring additional experience until 200 million experience will not increase the Strength level beyond level 99.

As with all skills, players who achieve level 99 in Strength may purchase a Cape of Accomplishment from the skill's master. The Strength cape and hood are sold by Sloane (or Yadech Strongarm after While Guthix Sleeps) in the Warriors' Guild for 99,000 coins. Players with more than 1 skill at level 99 will receive a red trim on the sides of the cape along with a +4 prayer bonus. However, players with only 1 level 99 skill will receive an untrimmed version of the cape.

Currently, there are 198,208 players with level 99 Strength and 94 players with 200 million experience in Strength.

Temporary boosts

Various items, potions, prayers, and familiars provide temporary boosts. Below is a list of all possible boosts to Strength.

Visible

Visible boosts are indicated in the stats interface by showing a level increase from the base level. Members-only boosts are indicated by (m).

Image	Boost	Skill	Level increase	Notes
	Strength potion (or mix (m))	Strength	10%3 + 10%	Mix version heals 30 life points.
	Super strength (m) (or mix (m))	Strength	15%5 + 15%	Mix version heals 60 life points.
	Extreme strength (m)	Strength	22%5 + 22%	Not tradeable; requires 89 Herblore to make.
	Overload (m)	Strength, Attack, Defence, Ranged, and Magic	22%Constant boost of 5 + 22% for 5 minutes	Not tradeable; requires 96 Herblore to make.
	Zamorak brew (m) (or mix (m))	Strength and Attack	12%2 + 12% (Strength), 2 + 20% (Attack)	Decreases Defence and remaining life points by 2 + 10% (Mix reduces life points by 10% - (10 to 40)).
	Combat potion (m) (or mix (m))	Strength and Attack	10%3 + 10%	Mix also heals 60 life points.
	Asgarnian ale (m)	Strength	2	Lowers Attack by 4.
	Beer	Strength	2	Lowers Attack by 4.
	Tankard of beer (m)	Strength	2	Lowers Attack by 4.
	Keg of beer (m)	Strength	10	Lowers Attack by 40.
	Dragon bitter (m)	Strength	2	Lowers Attack by 1.
	Grog (m)	Strength	3	Lowers Attack by 6.
	Blurberry special/Premade blurb' sp. (m)	Strength	7	Lowers Attack by 5.
	Drunk dragon/Premade dr' dragon (m)	Strength	7	Lowers Attack by 4.
	Wizard blizzard/Premade wiz blz'd (m)	Strength	6	Lowers Attack by 4.
	Short green guy/Premade sgg (m)	Strength	4	Lowers Attack by 3.
	Braindeath 'rum'	Strength	3	Also increases Mining by 1; decreases Attack, Defence, Prayer, Magic, Agility and Herblore by 5%.
	Rampage (Dragon battleaxe special attack) (m)	Strength	20%	Lowers Attack, Magic, Ranged and Defence by 10% and uses 100% of special bar. Requires 60 Attack to equip.
	Liquify (Brine sabre special attack) (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence	2.5% of damage dealt (Strength, Attack, and Defence)	May only be used underwater. Requires 40 Attack to equip.
	'Rum'ify (Brackish blade special attack) (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence	2.5% of damage dealt (Strength, Attack, and Defence)	Requires 60 Attack to equip.
File:Volcanic str. scroll.png	Volcanic strength scroll (m)	Strength	9	Special attack of the obsidian golem.
	Cavefish (m)	Strength, Attack, Defence, Magic, or Ranged	2 2	Heals 200 life points.
	Strength cape (m)	Strength	1	Requires 99 Strength to equip.
	Red spicy stew (m)	Strength, Attack, Defence, Ranged, Magic	6-6 to 6	The stew may boost or reduce levels by 1 to 6 points randomly. +6 boost are extremely rare.

Invisible

Invisible boosts are not indicated in the stats interface, but they are applied in combat calculations nevertheless. Members-only boosts are indicated by (m).

Image	Boost	Skill	Level increase	Notes
File:Burst of strength.gif	Burst of Strength	Strength	5%	Requires 4 Prayer.
File:Superhuman strength.gif	Superhuman Strength	Strength	10%	Requires 13 Prayer.
File:Ultimate strength.gif	Ultimate Strength	Strength	15%	Requires 31 Prayer.
	Chivalry (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence	18% Strength, 15% Attack, and 20% Defence	Requires 60 Prayer and completion of the Camelot training room.
	Piety (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence	23% Strength, 20% Attack, and 25% Defence	Requires 70 Prayer and completion of the Camelot training room.
	Leech Strength (m)	Strength	10% 5%, increasing to 10% over time	Requires 82 Prayer and completion of The Temple at Senntisten.
	Turmoil (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence	23% plus 10% of enemy's level (Strength), 15% plus 15% of enemy's level (Attack and Defence)	Requires 95 Prayer and completion of The Temple at Senntisten.
	Black Warlock (m)	Strength	20%	Boost affects the player it is used on; may only be used in a multi-combat zone.
	Black mask (m)	Strength and Attack	16.67%	Boost only applies when fighting monsters assigned by a Slayer Master.
	Salve amulet (m)	Strength and Attack	16.67%	Boost only applies when fighting undead monsters. Requires partial completion of Haunted Mine.
	Salve amulet (e) (m)	Strength and Attack	20%	Boost only applies when fighting undead monsters. Requires completion of The Lair of Tarn Razorlor.
	Wretched Strength (Dharok's set effect) (m)	Strength	(Max - current life points) * 0.1%	Requires 70 Strength, 70 Attack, and 70 Defence to wear the full set. Full set must be worn for special effect to take place.

See also

• Experience rewards - Strength
• Free-to-play Melee training, a guide to training Strength for free-to-play players
• Pay-to-play Melee training, a guide to training Strength for pay-to-play players
• Combat Calculator