Strength

Strength is a player's power in melee combat. As a player raises their Strength level, they can deal more damage against opponents. A high Strength level is often favored by player-killers over their Attack level because it raises max hit, helping to generate the burst damage necessary to kill other players faster than they can heal themselves.

Combat

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

When fighting in the aggressive stance, 1000 * x Strength experience is granted per hit, where x is the amount of damage dealt. Fighting using the controlled stance, however, grants 333 * x Strength experience per hit, where x is the amount of damage dealt. The amount of experience received when fighting in the controlled stance is calculated in the same way that experience awarded to the Hitpoints skill is calculated.

The difference between these two stances is that the aggressive stance solely provides experience for the Strength and Hitpoints skills, whereas the controlled stance distributes experience equally among Strength, Attack, Defence, and Hitpoints. A player who hits a 1 would receive 333 experience in each one of these skills when in the controlled stance.

Fighting aggressively grants players an invisible +3 Strength bonus (as detailed below), meaning players will hit for higher levels of damage than they would if they were fighting accurately or defensively.

Strength Bonus

Some weapons give players a Strength bonus. This bonus, represented as a single numerical value, represents the value of Strength gain. A +1 increase in Strength bonus is not equivalent to +1 Strength skill, but is rather an indicator of the ability of weapons and armour to allow the player to deal higher amounts of damage.

Generally speaking, more powerful weapons like two-handed swords have a significantly higher Strength bonus than weaker weapons like daggers made of the same metal. Similarly, the stronger the metal (and therefore the higher Attack level required to wield the weapon), the higher the Strength bonus. In that effect, rune weapons tend to have higher Strength bonus than mithril weapons, which tend to have a higher Strength bonus than iron weapons.

In addition to the normal Strength bonuses that come from weapons, there are some other wearable items that also contribute to total Strength bonus. They are as follows:

Equipment Requirements

In order to wield weapons, an Attack level is usually required. In some specific cases, a Strength level requirement is also in place. Notable examples are as follows:

Temporary Boosts

Useful Items