Melee combat is perhaps one of Old School RuneScape's most iconic, quintessential activities. It opens up the game to you more than any other skill set, giving you access to anything from PVP to Slayer to Bossing, and beyond. As such, many players aim to achieve their first 99s in the melee combat skills since it sets them up well for the rest of the game.

Melee in Old School RuneScape isn't governed by a single skill: it is split up into Attack, Defence, and Strength. By the end of the grind, you'll have three level-99s to boast of, but it also means you have to grind three times as hard to get there. Let's go over some basics to help you get there.

Updated January 5, 2024, by Sean Murray: Leveling from one to 99 doesn't have to be a complete chore. We've refreshed this OSRS Attack leveling guide with a few formatting tweaks for improved readability as well as we more links to other helpful Old School RuneScape topics.

Key Concepts

The three melee skills each have a different effect on your performance in combat: Attack determines your hit accuracy; Strength is used to calculate your max hit (the largest amount of damage you can do to an enemy in a single blow); and Defence reduces your likelihood of taking damage - it doesn't, however, change how much damage you take in one hit.

You can switch between different attack styles with your weapon to train these different skills. Although you'll most likely be leveling up the three skills in tandem with one another, most players prioritize Strength, since the augmentation to your max hit increases your XP rates better than both Attack and Defence training.

Having the right weapon for the job is incredibly important when training combat. Weapons all have an Attack requirement to wield, which is why this is leveled up in conjunction with Strength before level 85 or so.

The one critical thing to remember about weapon choice is that weapon speed is king, since a higher DPS means more XP per hour. Make sure your weapon has an attack speed of four, and avoid slow weapons such as 2h swords.

Another massively important factor is your equipment. As well as choosing the right weapon for the job, pay attention to your armour and accessories since these provide important stat bonuses in many instances.

For example, the Berserker Ring provides a Strength bonus for free, and it has no level requirements to wear.

It is recommended to move to the best available options as quickly as possible when you are plowing through the early levels. At high levels, the stat differences between equipment pieces become smaller and the equipment itself becomes much more expensive, so changes may not be worth the investment.

Low-Level (1-40)

These levels will fly by in comparison to the time you'll be spending chasing the higher levels, so whatever preferred method you have of training here will usually work fine.

At these levels, you should be looking for high-hit point, low-attack mobs that respawn quickly, since these will be the most AFK-able and will give you the least downtime between kills.

Up to level 50, you should wield the highest-level Scimitar you can get your hands on. Although it likely won't matter at these levels, equipment should follow suit. For example, at level 35, you should have full Adamant armour with an Adamant Scimitar.

You should consider doing some quests that provide melee combat XP to power through the lower levels. For example, the Waterfall Quest has no requirements and will take you straight from level one to 30 in Strength and Attack!

Mid-Level (41-70)

At these levels, you should continue to fight high-hitpoint enemies to give you a steady stream of experience. As you progress, you may have to change which enemies you fight, although Sand Crabs and Ammonite Crabs are still solid options even at the higher end of this level range.

The main difference between training here compared to the lower levels will be in your equipment. At level 60 Attack, you can wield the legendary Dragon Scimitar, which many lower-budget players choose to stick with all the way to level 99.

You should think about swapping out your shield for a Defender in the shield slot, as this will give you massive boosts to your attack bonuses.

You can also start branching out with your armour choices. The Helm of Neitiznot becomes available at level 55 Defence which, as well as being peak FashionScape, is one of the best head slot items in the entire game and will take you all the way to your 99s comfortably. It's definitely worth completing the Fremmenik Isles quest.

Amulets, such as the Amulet of Glory, are also great ways to improve your stat line. If you can afford it, the Amulet of Torture is the best of the bunch.

High-Level (71-99)

This top-level range is where things get really interesting. The game opens up to you, and you have many more options to train than were previously available.

You can stick to killing regular enemies all the way to 99 if you wish—Green Dragons and Rune Dragons in the Wilderness are solid options—but now many faster and more profitable methods are worth exploring instead.

If you want to brute force your way to 99, then The Nightmare Zone, a minigame situated just north of Yanille, is the fastest way to get there. In Rumble mode, many enemies will rush towards you aggressively, and you will need to take waves of them down. Bring some Absorption Potions to tank hits for you.

Because the spawns are always aggressive here, this functions similarly to Sand Crabs where you can AFK the enemies for massive XP gains. The difference here is that the enemy in question could be a massive boss such as The Inadequacy.

Speaking of bosses, Bossing is another excellent way to train at the highest combat levels. It gives you fast XP and is also a fantastic money-making method, with many bosses yielding millions of GP per hour once you learn how to take them down.

There are also many new equipment options available for high-level players, although if you're not Bossing or PKing you can stick with your existing equipment without too much trouble.

That said, you should consider picking up an Abyssal Whip at 70 Attack, as it provides a great improvement over the Dragon Scimitar for training Attack and Defence.

The Whip is not suitable for Strength training - for this, you can consider Toktz-xil-ak.

The Obsidian armour set is also highly recommended at these levels, since wearing the entire set gives you a 10% boost to melee accuracy. The platebody isn't quite as strong as alternatives such as the Fighter Torso, but it's much easier to get your hands on.

However, if you have the cash, and you've got time for questing and minigaming, then the sky's the limit when it comes to equipment.