The Complete Guide To Achieving 99 Attack, Strength & Defence In Oldschool RuneScape

Training combat in OSRS is one of the most beneficial set of skills to train in the game. A lot of content is locked behind having high combat stats, such as bosses, quests and achievement diaries. There is little to do in the game that is not benefited or made easier by having a high combat level. You will need some decent gear if you want to level up your combat stats fast and that will require buying some osrs gold. Where’s the place to get some? Here at food4rs! We provide 24/7 service with instant delivery and great prices!

Weapon & Armour Recommendations

There is a pretty clear tier list for weaponry and Armour in OSRS, however there is also a lot of junk weapons and Armour that shouldn’t be used under any circumstance. For Attack and Defence, I’m going to list the various weapons and Armour available, their level requirements and in what scenario you should be using them.  

Which Weapons?

Which Armour?

Other Notable Gear

The Early Levels

As with most skills, there is a method of skipping the very early levels which is highly recommend. In this instance, that is to complete the Waterfall Quest as soon as possible. The Waterfall Quest gives very generous XP rewards in Attack and Strength, enough to take a player from Level 1 in these skills to Level 30. Furthermore, the quest has no requirements and can be completed on a Level 3 character with the right strategy. It is also very quick, taking between 10 and 20 minutes to complete. This method is much faster than training traditionally, as achieving Level 30 Attack and Strength will take well over an hour, maybe even 2, if choosing to not using this method.

Popular Training Locations

Sand Crabs

The most popular training location by far for low to mid-level players is Sand Crabs, located in Greater Kourend. These monsters have a reasonable amount of HP (60) and a Defence level of 1, with 0 Defence bonus entirely. This means that players will be able to hit hard and accurately on these monsters. In addition to this, Sand Crabs have very low combat stats, meaning that they have a maximum hit of 1 and very bad accuracy. Players with a Defence level of over 30 should never have to eat food when fighting these. Players can pay 10K to travel to the Crab Claw Isle, which has more Sand Crabs than the beach, alongside spots whereby players can aggro 3-4 Sand Crabs at once. This is a very desirable location, as players can effectively ‘AFK’ as the Sand Crabs continue to attack them, making for some pretty high, low-effort XP gains.

Slayer

Not exactly a location, however training your combat stats via the Slayer skill is a very effective way of training, primarily due to the use of the Slayer Helmet. When equipped, whilst a player is fighting a monster that they are assigned to kill, the helmet provides a melee boost of 16.67%. This is a very effective boost and will be noticeably reflected in XP rates, as you’ll hit both harder and more often. Training via Slayer can be very rewarding, as some tasks have very generous drop tables. You’ll essentially be passively earning money whilst completing the task (training combat) that you originally set out to do. This is a very popular way of training combat, and is recommended by many people. Furthermore, if you are intending to obtain a high level in all skills eventually, training via Slayer makes a lot of sense. Otherwise, you are likely to achieve Level 99 in Attack, Strength and Defence long before you even see Level 90 in Slayer.

Nightmare Zone

Possibly the most popular training location for medium to high level players is the Nightmare Zone. This is a place where you can fight previous Quest bosses that you have completed, with the sole purpose of gaining XP. For effective XP gains, you need at least 5 Quest bosses enabled in your dream. The list of Quests that you are recommend to have completed are as follows. You should have at least 5 of these quests completed before you consider using the Nightmare Zone to train.

If you have completed any 5 of these quests, you may opt to pay 22,000 coins (for Normal) or 26,000 coins (for Hard) to Dominic Onion for a Customisable Rumble. You will be able to enable or disable any bosses you have unlocked with the requirement that you may not begin until the bosses from at least 5 quests are enabled. You should disable all of the bosses, and enable just 5 of any of the bosses listed above. Hard mode is recommended as the XP rate will be slightly higher. The first time you enter Nightmare Zone, you should bring Prayer Potions with you and use Protection from Melee. After one or two trips using this method, you’ll have enough Reward Points to purchase Absorption potions and Overload potions. Absorption potions cost 1,000 reward points per dose and may only be used while in the Nightmare Zone. Drinking the potion causes the next 50 damage inflicted on the player to be absorbed, preventing the player from taking damage. Each dose will absorb 50 damage, which stacks with previous unused Absorption damage up to 1000 damage. Points earned from killing bosses in Nightmare Zone should be earned at a rate faster than you spend them on the required Absorption potions, meaning that once you have enough points for a full inventory of Absorption potions, you can rinse and repeat the process all the way until 99. Many players hold Nightmare Zone as the most effective place to train combat, due to the very low cost (only cost is to begin dreams) and due to the fact that excess points can be redeemed for various rewards, meaning that Nightmare Zone actually results in a profit.

Training & Money Making Hybrid Methods

There are countless monsters that you can train on that give sub-optimal XP rates (compared to Slayer and Nightmare Zone), however do provide some degree of profit. I will discuss a few of these methods briefly for players looking to earn a mixture of XP and GP, and care less about achieving optimal XP per hour.

Green Dragons

Situated in the Wilderness, Green Dragons can be a profitable method of training combat. Each kill is guaranteed a drop of at least 1x Green Dragonhide and 1x Dragon Bones, with an estimated combined value of around 4K. Hourly rates will vary greatly based on player level and efficiency, however GP per hour rates of 300-600K are achievable, with combat XP rates being noticeably lower than alternative methods, but still notable and worthwhile. There are several locations where you can kill these dragons, the most easily way to access them is by using the Games Necklace to teleport to the Corporal Beast Cave. From here, you can exit the cave, and head either East or West. Both locations have Dragons present, with the East location having more Dragons, but also more players and potentially more PKers. Do note that, as soon as you leave the Corporal Beast Cave, you’ll be inside the wilderness. This means that if you die, you will lose all your items and be unable to retrieve them. Therefore, it is recommend to take a ‘welfare’ gear setup, whilst restricting valuable items to a maximum of 3. This means, provided that you do not accidentally obtain a Skull above your head, you will keep the valuable items and not lose anything of value. You may also want to consider using a Looting Bag, to allow yourself to loot more items between banking, increasing XP and GP hourly gains.

Gargoyles

Requiring Level 75 Slayer to kill, Gargoyle’s are a very popular method of training combat at higher levels. They are located in the Morytania Slayer Tower, on the top floor. Their drop table is filled with consistently good drops, ranging in value from 10-50K. Additionally, these monsters are aggressive, meaning that players can chill and ‘AFK’ a lot more than when using alternative methods. A Ring of Wealth is recommended to be used here, as Gargoyle’s often drop Coins, of which the Ring of Wealth will automatically loot for you when equipped. Players can sustain their health here by using the Guthan’s Armour set, or by using the Saradomin Godsword special attack. Alternatively, you may use a Slayer Ring to teleport to the Slayer Tower quickly, and use a different teleport to get to a bank quickly, such as the Ring of Duelling (Castle Wars).

Rune Dragons

A final method, reserved only for high-level players, is killing Rune Dragons. Doing so requires the completion of the Dragon Slayer II quest, high combat stats, and adequate Dragonfire protection. After completion of the quest, they can be found in the eastern chamber of the Lithkren Vault. These Dragons deal heavy damage, even with max stats and gear, therefore you should expect to take a lot of damage here. Players should wear Insulated Boots here to reduce the damage of their special electric bolt attack. Additionally, Protection from Range should be used at all times to mitigate the damage of the Dragons. You may also want to consider using a Dwarf Cannon to increase damage output and kills per hour, as the cost of Cannonballs is almost certainly worthwhile. Rune Dragons are an incredibly consistent money maker, with each drop totalling 15K GP at minimum. They also have a 1/5000 chance of dropping a Dragon Metal Lump (Used to create the Dragon Crossbow), and a 1/8000 chance of dropping a Draconic Visage (Used to create the Dragonfire Shield), which makes them even more profitable. On average, you can expect to make 800K-1.5M profit per hour of being here. Despite the Dragons high hits, killing them is reasonably chilled out provided that you keep your hitpoints and prayer points high. Banking is quick if the player owns a Digsite Pendant, as they will be able to teleport straight back to the Dragon lair as required.