This article aims to introduce the concept of free-to-play combat pures.

Combat pures are accounts designed to have an advantage in player versus player combat in their respective combat level brackets. They often focus on offensive skills in order to maximise the damage output while sacrificing defensive capabilities.

Combat skills [ edit | edit source ]

Combat pures in general tend to focus on offensive skills at the cost of others to gain an advantage in their particular combat level range. Free-to-play pures often limit their defence and prayer levels to maximise their damage output. Please refer to the combat level guide for more info on combat level calculation.

Attack affects melee accuracy and unlocks melee weapon tiers. Along with Strength, it is one of the melee combat skills.

Many free-to-play pures choose to level Attack up to 40, as it unlocks rune weapons - the highest tier of weaponry available on free-to-play worlds. Even with just 40 attack level, rune weapons are accurate enough to consistently damage other players with a low Defence level, although the accuracy does drop drastically against armoured opponents with higher Defence levels.

Keep in mind that melee is commonly used to knock out opponents, so maximising your damage by training Strength instead of improving accuracy by training Attack might still be preferable.

As a rule of thumb, you can keep your Attack around 10 levels below your Strength until reaching 40 level, and then focus on Strength entirely. If you happen to achieve 99 Strength level in addition to 99 Magic or Ranged, you can get up to around 50 Attack level without raising your overall combat level.

Notable Attack levels include 20 (mithril weapons), 30 (adamant weapons) and 40 (rune weapons).

Strength raises maximum damage dealt with melee attacks. Along with attack, it is one of the melee combat skills.

Melee allows to deal the highest maximum hits among all combat styles, which makes it the most common combat style used to knock out opponents. Because of that strength is a very valuable and commonly trained skill. In case you follow one of the many builds involving melee combat, strength should be among the first skills that you max on your account.

Keep in mind that in free-to-play worlds there are no strength-based weapons similar to the obsidian maul, which makes free-to-play strength pures unviable. While somewhat relevant on the very first few combat levels with the event rpg, classic pures training attack in addition to strength can quickly achieve higher maximum hits thanks to the access to the better weapons.

Defence lowers the chance of receiving damage and unlocks metal armours. Along with hitpoints, it is one of the defensive combat skills.

The majority of free-to-play pures tend to keep their defence level at 1 to focus on the offensive skills and maximise damage output. Until higher combat levels, this usually means that combat pures with 1 defence level severely outdamage opponents with regular accounts that train combat skills evenly. Fights between 1 defence level pures tend to be very dynamic and somewhat less dependent on luck due to the extremely high accuracy of their attacks on both ends. 1 defence pures dominate low and medium level free-to-play player killing scene.

It should be noted that some player killers still choose to level their defence to unlock certain tiers of armour, with rune being the strongest and most common. Such accounts tend to start significantly weaker than 1 defence pures, but once they reach higher combat levels the offensive capabilities of both 1 and 40 defence pures can be very similar - and eventually nearly identical. Even maxed 1 defence pures might have problems with killing armoured 40 defence opponents with a similar combat level.

Notable defence levels include 20 (mithril armour), 30 (adamant armour) and 40 (rune armour).

Magic increases magic attacks accuracy and magic defence. It also unlocks access to combat and utility spells.

Combat spells start with a very quick damage progression, severely outdamaging other combat styles. For example, Fire Strike is available at 13 level and can deal up to 8 damage with considerable accuracy. In contrast, players with comparable combat levels using ranged and melee attacks can deal up to 3 and 5 damage respectively with the best gear. However, magic attacks quickly become obsolete due to their relatively low speed and eventual damage cap. Magic max hit is achieved at 59 level thanks to the Fire Blast spell and is permanently capped at 16, as it does not scale along with the level progression. This is why magic in 1-vs-1 combat is mostly used only on low and early mid levels.

On higher combat levels, magic attacks lack the speed of ranged attacks for consistent combos and the maximum damage potential of melee for knockouts. Magic usually reaches much smaller damage-per-second value than ranged or melee combat styles, with the notable exception of fighting opponents with high defence levels wearing metal armours such as rune. Magic also gives access to the Bind, Snare and Tele Block spells, which are very helpful when killing players in the deep wilderness or the PvP worlds. While commonly used in duels on lower levels, combat spells eventually become viable only in multi-combat zones and in the deep wilderness.

Even if you do not plan on using combat spells, unlocking all utility spells or training magic solely for the magic defence is still a good idea. Magic levels can be gained "for free", without earning hitpoints experience or raising combat level, as long as its level is below or equal to ranged or a combination of attack and strength. It is the only skill that directly affects both defence and offence of magic attacks, as well as the only combat skill beside prayer that can be trained reliably without gaining hitpoints experience on free-to-play worlds.

Notable magic levels include 13 (Fire Strike), 20 (Bind), 35 (Fire Bolt), 50 (Snare), 59 (Fire Blast) and 85 (Tele Block).

Ranged affects accuracy and maximum damage of ranged attacks, and unlocks leather gear and ranged weapons.

Unlike in case of melee, ranged is not split into two separate skills - it increases both the accuracy and strength of ranged attacks. As pures tend to keep their attack level at 40, their ranged attacks are usually more accurate and consistent than melee hits. Shortbows used with the rapid combat style provide the fastest attack speed on free-to-play, making it pretty easy to stack damage. Ranged also unlocks some relatively high level armours that have the best-in-slot bonuses for 1 defence accounts. This makes ranged one of the most important skills for free-to-play combat pures, especially on higher levels.

Even when not using ranged directly, it is often worth it to get at least 20 level for the studded leather armour or 40 level for the green dragonhide armour.

Notable ranged levels include 20 (studded leather armour), 30 (maple shortbow) and 40 (green dragonhide armour).

Hitpoints affect how much damage you can take. Along with defence, it is one of the defensive combat skills.

As standard training methods of the majority of combat skills involve gaining hitpoints experience, making it hard to avoid levelling hitpoints, this is the only defensive skills that is commonly trained by combat pures regardless of their build. A notable exception includes magic pures which can reliably train magic without gaining hitpoints experience, although even then staying at 10 hitpoints level is not encouraged due to extreme fragility.

Combat level depends on the combination of defence and hitpoints levels. Both of these skills have an equal effect on the combat level. For example, players with 1 defence and 79 hitpoints or 40 defence and 40 hitpoints would end up with the same combat level given similar melee, ranged and magic skill levels. This possibly gives an advantage to players training their combat skills with methods that do not grant hitpoints experience.

Players with a low hitpoints level can outdamage their opponents with a similar combat level due to increased offensive skills. Arguably, hitpoints are not as vital in typical 1-vs-1 combat since players tend to keep their health below the maximum value either way to avoid healing too much ("safing"). However, free-to-play players have no reliable way of gaining melee or ranged combat experience without training hitpoints, with the exceptions being some quest rewards, training on a dummy and experience lamps. On the other hand, pay-to-play worlds do provide such training methods for every combat skill.

Prayer unlocks skill boosts, gives access to various utility prayers and raises maximum prayer points amount. It has a lesser impact on the combat level than either hitpoints or defence and most offensive skills.

Prayers are necessary to achieve the highest possible maximum hits on free-to-play. Since prayers boost combat skills by a percent rather than a fixed value, their efficiency raises along with the levels of the boosted skills.

Besides unlocking new boosts, gaining additional prayer levels does not increase efficiency of existing prayers. It only affects how long the prayers can be used before running out of prayer points. That is why many pures choose to stop training this skill after unlocking certain prayers.

Choosing the cap [ edit | edit source ]

The following table lists commonly used prayer levels.

Some less common prayer levels include 25 (Protect Item), 34 (Incredible Reflexes), 43 (all protection prayers including Protect from Melee), 45 (all free-to-play prayers including Mystic Might) and 52 (members-only Smite).

Getting all protection prayers is encouraged if you plan on fighting players in the deep wilderness. Protection prayers greatly improve the defensive capabilities of low defence pures.

If you mostly plan on killing players in typical arranged 1-vs-1 combat and you are unsure of the prayer level you should get, check how much the next strength boosting prayer would raise your melee max hit with a damage calculator. If it takes less combat levels to get that prayer level rather than to achieve similar maximum damage via training strength, consider levelling prayer. Eventually stop at 31 level. If you want to maximise your ranged damage or need access to the protection prayers, 44 level is also viable.

One of the things you should remember is that when prayer points run out, you are left with the extra combat levels without any combat advantages - and there are no prayer restoring items in free-to-play worlds.

This section lists the most common builds followed by free-to-play combat pures.

Most viable builds combine a reliable quick attack - such as the maple shortbow on rapid or the rune scimitar - with a powerful knockout attack like the rune 2h sword or a high level combat spell. They often focus on specific offensive combat skills to maximise the damage output with both the main and knockout attacks, with skills such as attack or prayer just high enough to unlock certain items or boosts. Defence is often not trained at all or trained high enough to unlock specific tiers of armour.

The following table contains builds that do not rely on training defence.

Build Skills Level range Comment Ranged-melee hybrid 40 Attack

High Strength

1 Defence

High Ranged Low to high The most common build among free-to-play combat pures. Relies on stacking ranged attacks dealt via a shortbow on rapid with melee hits using weapons such as the rune 2h sword, battleaxe or scimitar. This hybrid build arguably requires the most skill to master, but it also allows for some very dynamic duels that are not completely dependent on luck. If you are unsure of the account build you want to follow, this might be a good first choice. Melee pure 40 Attack

High Strength

1 Defence

40 Ranged Low to high The second most common build in free-to-play. Relies on damaging the opponents with a quick weapon such as a rune scimitar up to the point that they cannot heal themselves enough to survive the incoming knockout attack with a powerful but slow weapon such as the rune 2h sword or battleaxe. By keeping their ranged level at 40 (to unlock green dragonhide items) or below, their hitpoints level is usually lower than in case of typical ranged-melee hybrids. Since scimitars are slower than shortbows, melee fights are usually less dynamic and more reliant on luck. This makes it easier to master this combat style in general, although there are still some more advanced techniques to learn to perfect it. Magic pure Low Attack

Low Strength

1 Defence

High Magic

Low Hitpoints Low to mid A build that fully relies on magic to deal damage. These pures are usually effective only early on and in multi-combat areas, as combat spells damage does not scale with the magic level and there is no magic gear progression. Since magic can be trained without getting hitpoints experience, these combat pures tend to be even more fragile, but can deal considerable damage while preserving low combat levels. Magic attacks are also deadly against opponents in metal armours, which makes magic useful in the deep wilderness and PvP worlds. Magic pures are pretty cheap and quick to train, which makes them a good starting build to learn the basics of player killing. Strength pure Low Attack

High Strength

1 Defence Low These pures tend to keep their attack level at 1 (iron), 5 (steel) or 10 (black), while consistently training their strength to improve the maximum melee damage. Free-to-play currently lacks strength-based weapons such as the obsidian maul, which makes this build effective only in low combat level brackets when they are still competitive with players training their attack. A pretty effective strategy early on is to use an event rpg to wear the opponents down with its quick attacks and knock them out with a magic combat spell. Ranged-magic hybrid Low Attack

Low Strength

1 Defence

High Ranged

High Magic Low to mid A similar build to the ranged-melee hybrid, but with a different knockout attack. They use rapid shortbow attacks to wear the opponents down and magic combat spells to finish them off. Since they often choose not to train melee skills and magic can be trained without gaining any hitpoints experience, they might have a low hitpoints level, which makes them fragile but dangerous in their combat level bracket. This build is viable while magic damage is still competitive with melee in terms of maximum damage, but since these pures cannot stack damage as effectively, classic ranged-melee hybrids can perform more unpredictable combos that are harder to heal against.

Since ranged lacks its own knockout weapons on free-to-play, pure ranged builds are very uncommon and ineffective in typical 1-vs-1 combat.

Builds with defence [ edit | edit source ]

While defence is the most commonly restricted skill in terms of accounts built for player versus player combat, it does have its merits. In particular, defensive capabilities are especially important in the deep wilderness where "no honour" fights with protection prayers or spells such as Snare and Tele Block are very common. While low defence pures dominate early combat level brackets, accounts with higher defence levels tend to be more common in the late combat level ranges.

Build Skills Level range Comment Rune pure 40 Attack

High Strength

40 Defence

High Ranged Mid to high Rune pures are basically more defensive variants of the ranged-melee hybrid or the melee pure builds. 40 defence level might not seem like much, but it makes a huge difference in terms of their defensive capabilities thanks to the access to the rune armour, as well as the full green dragonhide set. These accounts are especially effective on higher combat levels, since early on they lack the strength for consistent knockouts. In 1-vs-1 duels, they usually risk losing more expensive items than regular 1 defence pures, but they are also less likely to die and need less money for the supplies. This might be a good build for the beginners that want to compete in higher combat level brackets, as such accounts are much easier to train than typical combat pures, and there is much more room for error in fights with a higher defence level. Other variants of this build include adamant (30 defence), mithril (20), black (10) and steel (5) pures. With cheaper and less effective equipment than rune, they are not quite as defensive as the rune pures, but they are all viable builds with noticeably better defensive capabilities than the 1 defence pures. Defence pure 1 Attack

1 Strength

High Defence

1 Ranged

1 Magic Low to mid These accounts are usually trained for days on low level NPCs such as the monks or seagulls, using weapons with no requirements like the event rpg. Some also choose to train prayer to gain access to the protection prayers and to raise their combat level, or magic to gain access to basic utility spells such as Varrock Teleport and to improve their magic defence. While they lack the offensive capabilities of pay-to-play defence pures such as access to poison or the dragonfire shield attack, they are still commonly used as scouts, mules and lures in the deep wilderness, or to harass players with low combat levels. Tank 40 Attack

Moderate Strength

High Defence

Moderate Ranged High Tanks have a high defence level and just enough ranged or melee skill levels to deal consistent damage. Their goal is often not to actually win the fights, but rather to prevent other players from participating in fair combat by attacking them in single-way combat areas. This is done both as a form of harassment in typical 1-vs-1 combat areas, as well as a strategy to protect team members in the deep wilderness or otherwise dangerous areas. Challenging tanks to 1-vs-1 fights is often pointless, as they are very difficult to damage and will often heal instantly. Due to the lack of knockout potential, this is not considered a viable build if you plan on actual player killing; it is only included for completeness as you are likely to run into such accounts at some point or might want to train one as an alt to protect yourself or your team members. Magic tank 40+ Defence

85+ Magic

Moderate Hitpoints Mid to high While not highly successful in typical 1-vs-1 combat due to the lack of knockout potential, magic defence pures are very useful in the deep wilderness. Commonly used as scouts and lures by clans, their main goal is to cast Snare and Tele Block on players in dangerous multi-combat areas, while having enough defensive capabilities to withstand some attacks before the rest of the team comes to help. They can also do pretty significant damage with Fire Blast to players wearing metal armour.

The following training guides assume you follow a 1 defence build.

The most effective way to train melee skills is to use alts in the Clan Wars. Killing unarmoured 1 defence level players in Clan Wars free-for-all area is among the fastest ways to gain combat experience, although obviously there is no loot involved. Using wines is the cheapest way of healing the alternative characters by far, as empty jugs can be sold for roughly the same price as the wines themselves.

If you would rather train melee on NPCs, giant frogs, hill giants, minotaurs and flesh crawlers are all viable options. Seagulls are also excellent for the very first few levels until your max hit exceeds their entire health points.

Since you can improve your magic defence by training magic and wearing leather gear, dark wizards are also worth consideration. They should deal less damage than monsters using melee with comparable combat levels. Also, if you have a low combat level or fight them in the wilderness, wizards will be aggressive and attack player automatically, which can be a less click-intensive way to train.

Training melee skills can be slower and more dangerous than training ranged or magic, as safespots cannot be used and pures tend to have poor defences. If you get any experience lamps, consider using them on strength. This will speed up the training by a tiny bit and prevent you from getting hitpoints experience.

As far as the equipment goes, use a scimitar with of highest available tier, drink strength potions and wear an amulet of strength. While every few levels the amulet of power allows to achieve a similar maximum hit (in addition to the accuracy bonuses), amulet of strength will allow you to drink strength potions less often before degrading to a lower maximum hit. Due to its speed, the event rpg may also have a higher damage-per-second than low tier scimitars early on, depending on the opponent.

You can train all melee skills up to level 3 with 176 experience without getting hitpoints experience on the tutorial island, as long as you do not kill the rat immediately. Instead, damage several rats until reaching the maximum experience.

You can also get the very first few attack levels using the dummy and by completing the Vampyre Slayer quest, which will prevent your character from getting some hitpoints experience. Dragon Slayer grants a considerable amount of strength and defence experience as well, but it should not be completed by 1 defence pures for obvious reasons.

Similarly to melee, using alts in Clan Wars is among the fastest ways to train ranged in free-to-play. Especially since arrows do not have to be picked up and will return to your inventory once you exit the free-for-all area. Wielding a 2h sword will grant a negative ranged defence bonus for your alternative accounts.

Some viable NPCs that can be killed while standing in safespots include minotaurs, hill giants, moss giants, ankous, lesser demons and ogresses. As a rule of thumb, lower level monsters will grant you more Ranged experience per hour due to their low defences, but higher level monsters can drop much more loot and require less attention. This is especially true in case of the ogresses, which are considered among the most profitable NPCs to kill in free-to-play worlds.

When training ranged, use the best available leather gear and amulet of power along with the best shortbow and arrows. Keep in mind that longbows have the same accuracy bonus and a longer max range, but are significantly slower and offer no additional damage bonuses, which makes them inferior for training. Also, rapid combat style allows to achieve a higher damage-per-second on most levels due to the attack speed increase. Accurate combat style might be preferred only on the very first few levels, where a 1 point max hit increase nearly doubles your damage output.

You can train ranged up to level 3 with 176 experience without getting hitpoints experience on the tutorial island, as long as you do not kill the rat immediately. Instead, damage several rats until reaching the maximum experience.

Magic should be trained via methods that prevent from getting hitpoints experience to minimise the combat level. These methods include splashing, curses, teleporting, enchanting jewellery and alchemy. Using High Level Alchemy is one of the most profitable magic training methods.

If you prefer to train magic via combat spells, refer to ranged training guide. Notably, ogresses can be killed with either Fire Strike or Fire Bolt for profit.

You can train magic with combat spells up to level 3 with 176 experience without getting hitpoints experience on the tutorial island. Get multiple sets of runes by using a drop trick and instead of attacking a chicken, go back to kill the rats to get level 3. Completing the Witch's Potion and Imp Catcher quests will also grant some magic experience.

Additional skills and abilities [ edit | edit source ]

Getting 57 woodcutting allows to build the waka canoe, which can take you to the Ferox Enclave, as well as the middle of the wilderness from any canoe station. Since there are no wilderness teleports in free-to-play worlds other than minigame teleports to the Ferox Enclave with a 20-minute delay, canoes are among the fastest ways of getting to many deep wilderness locations.

Unlocking and setting Edgeville respawn might be worthwhile if you are planning on killing players in the low level wilderness. On free-to-play non-PvP worlds Edgeville respawn is closer to a bank than Lumbridge and very close to the player killing hotspot north of Edgeville.

Unlocking and setting Ferox Enclave respawn is helpful if you are planning on killing players in the mid and deep wilderness. On free-to-play non-PvP worlds Ferox Enclave respawn is the closest to a banker among all respawn points and provides quick access to roughly 15 level of the wilderness. However, keep in mind that it is a much less useful respawn on the PvP worlds, as both Lumbridge and Edgeville respawns have a bank chest nearby while Ferox Enclave remains unchanged.

Obtaining a skull sceptre allows to teleport to Barbarian Village, which is among the fastest ways of getting to Edgeville in free-to-play.

Obtaining the decorative armour from the Castle Wars minigame might be desirable for 5, 20 and 30 defence pures. These untradeable armours have bonuses equal to steel, mithril and adamant respectively, but they are not lost on death outside of the deep wilderness. Instead, they will be dropped on ground in the place of death and can be picked up only by the original owner, or can be repaired for a small fee.

Getting 500 and 750 total levels in free-to-play skills unlocks additional free-to-play worlds that are usually less crowded. Some players leverage this to avoid player killers and access dangerous locations such as chaos temple, nature runes spawn south-east of demonic ruins or runite mine north of the lava maze. Getting a high total level can be necessary for finding and hunting these players.

This section describes the non-decorative items without any defence requirements available to free-to-play players.

As a rule of thumb, combat pures with a low defence level should prefer offensive bonuses over defensive bonuses, as armour efficiency scales with the wearer's defence level. For example, wearing iron armour with 1 defence level lowers the accuracy of the opponents by a much lesser percent than wearing the same armour with 40 defence. This is especially relevant for magic equipment, since magic accuracy is very important for magic pures and this bonus is often lowered by leather and metal gear.

Outside of the actual weapons, amulets are some of the few free-to-play items that provide offensive bonuses - including melee strength. While arguably other defensive pieces of armour can be skipped due to negligible bonuses, amulets are crucial to maximise damage output.

A pretty diverse slot, providing considerable options for all combat types.

Free-to-play boots offer negligible defensive bonuses.

Free-to-play capes offer negligible defensive bonuses.

Name Offence Defence Comment Cape +1 +1 +2 0.45 kg Marginal bonuses with no offensive penalties. Note: all coloured capes and some decorative capes like cabbage cape share the same bonuses. Team cape +1 +1 +2 0.45 kg Marginal bonuses with no offensive penalties. Wearing the same team cape as another player prevents you from attacking them with a left click, which is desirable in team player killing and can be an annoyance in typical arranged 1-vs-1 combat. Note: all team capes share the same bonuses.

Dominated by leather gloves and vambraces, gloves offer some great options for ranged combat.

A pretty diverse slot, providing considerable options for all combat types.

A pretty diverse slot, providing considerable options for all combat types.

A defensive piece of gear, somewhat neglected due to common usage of 2-handed weapons and lack of sensible 1-handed ranged weapons.

Free-to-play offers a wide range of weapons unlocked by the attack and ranged skills. The following tables contain only the ones are still viable once you unlock rune weapons and maple bows.

Note that if you cannot access the highest weapon tiers, the same commentary applies to their lower tier equivalents. For example, shortbows should be used over longbows, the 2h swords and battleaxes are viable knockout weapons, the scimitars usually offer the highest melee damage-per-second value followed by swords, and so on.

The fastest weapons in free-to-play that allow to attack every 3 ticks (or 1.8 seconds). These weapons work well as the main attack used to wear down the opponents before delivering the knockout attack.

These weapons allow to attack every 4 ticks (or 2.4 seconds), which matches the speed of regular unarmed melee attacks. Commonly used as the main attack.

Knockout weapons [ edit | edit source ]

Slow, but powerful weapons that are commonly used to deliver knockout attacks.

Other weapons [ edit | edit source ]

Magic pures should wear wizard robes with a zamorak monk bottom, amulet of magic, leather boots and leather vambraces. Zamorak monk top can also be considered in the deep Wilderness or if the prayer points consumption is an issue. Hybrids can also consider using an amulet of power with no armour or low tier ranged gear to keep the element of surprise.

Melee pures should wear the best available leather chaps and vambraces in addition to the iron armour and the amulet of strength or amulet of power. Low level melee pures can consider using full ranged gear and a wooden shield or an anti-dragon shield instead to protect against the commonly used magic attacks. Monk robes are also a good choice on higher levels to slow down the prayer points consumption.

Ranged-melee hybrids should wear the best available leather gear along with the amulet of strength or amulet of power. Monk robe top can also help with the prayer points usage.

This sections lists locations that are player versus player combat hotspots. Note that activity ratings may vary over time.

Active single-way combat areas - especially around towns - are typically used by player killers to find opponents for so-called "honourable" fights. In general, most experienced players adhere to the following rules in these areas:

Protection prayers (or "overheads") are not used.

Snare and Tele Block spells are not used.

Both opponents are expected to skull up or risk similar amount of money in gear or coins.

In general, fights are voluntary and players ask for permission before initiating duels.

Interrupting fights between players and attacking players that are currently looting is frowned up.

Players can run away from the fights when out of food, energy or other supplies.

Players keep their hitpoints relatively low, so that the opponent could take them out with a well-timed combo. Healing too much is called safing and would lead to constant draws, as in free-to-play it is relatively easy to outheal the incoming damage in 1-vs-1 combat.

Note that this does not apply to single-way combat areas in the deep wilderness and less active areas of the PvP worlds, where "no honour" fights are common.

Location World Activity Points of interest Comment Edgeville 308 High Wilderness access, Monastery Edgeville is a small town just south of the wilderness. It has a bank, a respawn point and an altar in the nearby monastery. Low level Wilderness area north of Edgeville on world 308 remains one of the most active places to find other willing players for 1-vs-1 duels. There are no direct free-to-play teleports to Edgeville, but you can get pretty close with a canoe, skull sceptre or by death if you have the Edgeville respawn point active. While less active on the PvP worlds, it is still possible to find some opponents around the Edgeville respawn area and yew trees. In contrary to the 308 world, on PvP worlds low level wilderness remains mostly unused and the fights take place around the bank. Varrock PvP High Grand Exchange Varrock is one of the biggest cities available to free-to-play players. Thanks to the nearby Grand Exchange, where players can easily buy supplies, and Varrock Teleport that allows to quickly travel to the city, Varrock remains a highly active place in terms of 1-vs-1 combat. In particular, areas around the Grand Exchange, west bank and the city centre are usually active. Note that the sewers under the city and the area near Barbarian Village are multicombat. Lumbridge PvP High Respawn point, altar Lumbridge is the first city that all players see after completing the tutorial island. It has the default respawn point, a bank chest in a safe area and an altar to restore prayer points. The area in front of the castle is a pretty active place in terms of 1-vs-1 combat on the PvP world, but it tends to be used by lower level and less experienced players in comparison to Varrock - with the notable exception of the church, where duels of high level players take place next to the altar. Due to how close the respawn point is from the active combat area, ragging (harassment of players by constant attacking without any risked items) tends to be a problem.

Since some players choose to train in PvP worlds in order to avoid crowds, other notable areas where you can find people include typical training spots with monsters such as the hill giants, flesh crawlers or ogresses. Some players can also be found throughout the wilderness, although most hotspots are in multicombat areas.

Multicombat areas allow groups of player killers to attack a single opponent at the same time. This is leveraged by clans to wage wars in truly many-versus-many combat, as well as by teams of player killers to score kills faster in many-versus-one combat. None of the (unofficial) rules of honourable single-way combat areas apply here, and typically players use whatever technique they can to score the kills, participating in the so-called "no honour" fights. Bind and Snare usage is common and very dangerous, as it prevents the players from escaping the multicombat boundaries.

Some less active areas include Dark Warriors' Fortress, Zamorak temple and hill giants north-east of the Zamorak temple.

Mixed areas [ edit | edit source ]

These places mix both single-way combat and multicombat areas in close proximity. They are generally less dangerous than entirely multicombat areas for solo player killers and small teams.

PvP worlds employ some additional mechanics:

The time after which the players can be attacked by a different opponent is increased. This makes it harder to interrupt fights or rush players after they score a kill.

Outside of the safe areas, players can attack opponents that have at most 15 less or more combat levels. In the wilderness, this is further increased by the wilderness depth level.

Bank chests and safe areas are placed around player respawn points. Most importantly, there are bank chests in front of the Lumbridge castle and in the Edgeville crypt.

There are some tricks and techniques that you can master and apply to improve your chances at winning. This section aims to give an overview of these methods.

By using well timed subsequent attacks, you can stack multiple hitsplats on the opponent within a short period of time, possibly dealing more damage than they can heal. There are multiple variants of damage stacks that can be performed with free-to-play attacks.

Range to melee [ edit | edit source ]

The most common stacking combo. Stand around 2 or 3 tiles away from your opponent in either direction, shoot an arrow with a shortbow set to rapid, switch to a melee weapon and follow with a melee attack. Keep in mind that to immediately deal damage with a melee weapon after switch without having to run closer, you have to stand up to 2 tiles away from your target in either direction. This can be improved up to 4 tiles with sliding (see below).

Ideally, you want to apply both hits in the same game tick, without giving your opponent a chance to react.

Magic to melee [ edit | edit source ]

Although pretty easy to perform on a non-moving target, it is not very practical or unpredictable. To stack magic and melee hitsplats, you need to stand around 7 or 8 tiles away from the opponent in either direction, cast a spell and immediately click on them to attack with a melee weapon. It is difficult (but possible) to apply both hits in the same game tick. This technique can be an interesting fight opener, especially on lower levels against unsuspecting opponents with low health.

Melee to melee [ edit | edit source ]

When using an event rpg or another 3-tick melee weapon as the first attack, it is possible (but difficult) to perform a stack with two melee hits when sliding. Range-to-melee combo is often more effective and easier to perform though.

Range to range [ edit | edit source ]

It is possible to stack multiple shortbow hits by firing the first arrow around 2 to 3 tiles away from the opponent, running next to them, and immediately attacking. Two hits can stack, but not as effectively as in case of range to melee - especially since ranged attacks have much less KO potential due to lower maximum damage.

Combo eating [ edit | edit source ]

Usually eating prevents you from performing actions such as attacking or healing, but some foods with multiple bites do not prevent you from eating another consumable immediately after. This is especially relevant on higher levels, where a single high tier fish is no longer always sufficient to outheal incoming damage. A common food combo consists of an anchovy pizza followed by a swordfish, healing a total of 23 damage. The trick is to start with a pizza half and then immediately follow with the swordfish, which allows to use both consumables in a very short period of time. This is especially important when reaching low Hitpoints after taking a hit from a quick weapon such as a rune scimitar or maple shortbow, as the opponent can easily follow up with a knockout attack. Note that the attack delay after combo eating will be longer than in case of a single piece of food.

If you need to drink a potion and eat some food, always start with the food, and then follow with a potion dose. Drinking a potion first will prevent you from eating immediately after.

To limit prayer points consumption, you can turn the prayers right before the hit and turn them off after instead of keeping them on for the whole fight. This takes some practice to get correctly, especially when done alongside healing or weapon switching. However, this can allow players with a low prayer level to leverage skill boosts and other combat prayers for a significantly longer time.

Delaying is the act of switching to your knock out weapon at the last possible game tick to make the attack less predictable. For example, if you switch to a 2h sword immediately after your previous attack, the opponent will see the incoming knockout attack and will attempt to heal. However, if you manage to time your switch just right, the opponent will only see the attack animation, which does not give them any extra time to act.

Used in both melee-only as well as range-to-melee combat, this is a basic technique that should be mastered if you are using a melee knock out weapon.

This is a variation on the delaying technique. After a rapid shortbow shot, you can run around 4 tiles before delivering the subsequent melee attack immediately. Similarly, you can run up to 6 tiles after a scimitar hit. Before delivering a knockout blow, you can run few tiles back (hence the backstepping) and come back to hit the opponent. Make sure that the last movement is up to 2 tiles away from the opponent in either direction to immediately hit after a switch.

By sending multiple subsequent movement inputs, you can make your character appear to move faster by the so-called sliding. If you have ever seen a player "sliding" backwards or diagonally and shooting an arrow at an opponent, you have witnessed sliding. To perform it, you need to command your character 3 or 4 times to move to tiles nearby in a short time, before eventually clicking on the opponent to attack. This is one of the most difficult techniques to master.

Beside making you harder to target and more annoying to fight, sliding improves the distance from which melee weapons can be damage the opponents immediately from 2 tiles to up to 3 or even 4 tiles. This allows you to perform unexpected, powerful damage stacks from unusually far distances.

Items with associated emotes, such as the Diango's claws or Marionette, can be used after or before an attack to hide its animation or to delay the movement. Spam-clicking on the target allows to break the delay of the animation.

Fake eating [ edit | edit source ]

If both you and your opponent have low hitpoints, and your opponent expects both of you to eat some food to heal, you can drink a potion instead. Potions make you perform the food eating animations, but you suffer no penalty and can attack immediately. Followed by a weapon switch, this allows you to catch the opponent off guard without the ability to retaliate due to his eating delay. Keep in mind that you won't be able to eat food immediately after drinking a potion.

This technique is very effective when combined with well timed delaying. Especially useful in melee-only fights.

Fake switches [ edit | edit source ]

These techniques involve switching to a different weapon without actually attacking with it. As opponent expects a different kind of attack, these techniques might make the opponent heal unnecessarily or not heal enough for the incoming hit.

This is commonly performed by switching to a knockout weapon (e.g. a rune 2h sword), and then switching back to a faster weapon (e.g. a maple shortbow) to deal consistent damage. This might force the opponent to heal, making them unable to attack. Allows to gain momentum in the fight.

Variants of this technique might also include temporarily switching from a shortbow to a weaker melee weapon (e.g. a rune scimitar), and then to a knockout weapon (e.g. a rune 2h sword) to deliver the actual attack. This might have the opposite effect - opponent might not heal enough or decide not to heal at all, expecting to take a hit from the weaker weapon. Allows to deliver unexpected combos.

Spell downgrade [ edit | edit source ]

Combat spells are pretty dangerous early on, heavily outdamaging other combat styles. This is why players fighting magic pures early on are likely to feel threatened and heal above their spells maximum damage. Combined with the rather slow speed of spell casting, this makes it difficult to fight solely with magic in 1-vs-1 combat.

Downgrading to a weaker spell of a similar element is a good way of making the opponent more comfortable, before delivering the final unexpected blow with the better spell. It can also be a way of preserving more expensive runes. For example, if your best available spell is the Earth Bolt, try using the Earth Strike to wear the opponents down. With almost half the max damage, opponents will be less likely to heal as much, and might not even expect or notice the eventual bolt due to similar animations. This makes mages less predictable and their opponents more eager to risk.

Manual casting [ edit | edit source ]

When casting combat spells manually, the initial attack suffers from a shorter delay in comparison to autocasting. This is especially when trying to attack a player after movement, e.g. during chasing an opponent in the wilderness.

Decorative gear [ edit | edit source ]

This is somewhat anecdotal, but many players are more eager to fight and more likely to risk if you wear decorative gear, such as the clue rewards. You can use cheap decorative gear and only look like you wear expensive items - and you are still more likely to get some attention, even without a skull. You might notice that even unskulled players with expensive items are getting repeatedly attacked in player-versus-player areas, sometimes even by characters barely in their level range. Risking items such as the trimmed plateskirts can be a surprisingly cheap way of distracting your opponents.

Slang dictionary [ edit | edit source ]

safing, safer, to safe - in free-to-play 1-vs-1 combat, you can mostly outheal your opponent by constantly eating high tier food. This is why the majority of players choose to keep their hitpoints in a comfortable range where they cannot be killed by a regular attack, but can still die to a well-timed or lucky combo. A safer is a player who safes - eats too often and too much, not giving either player an opportunity for a win. If you are called a safer repeatedly by multiple players, you might want to consider eating less food or - if low level - switch to a worse tier of food.

- in free-to-play 1-vs-1 combat, you can mostly outheal your opponent by constantly eating high tier food. This is why the majority of players choose to keep their hitpoints in a comfortable range where they cannot be killed by a regular attack, but can still die to a well-timed or lucky combo. A is a player who - eats too often and too much, not giving either player an opportunity for a win. If you are called a repeatedly by multiple players, you might want to consider eating less food or - if low level - switch to a worse tier of food. risking , to risk - the opposite of safing : keeping your hitpoints low enough to be easily taken down by a regular attack. Some players choose to risk to deliver unexpected combos or knock out hits.

, - the opposite of : keeping your hitpoints low enough to be easily taken down by a regular attack. Some players choose to to deliver unexpected combos or knock out hits. chance , chanced - if a hit or a combo had the damage potential to kill a player, but it fell short, it is calling chancing a player.

, - if a hit or a combo had the damage potential to kill a player, but it fell short, it is calling a player. risk fight - a fight where both players agree to carry expensive items or money in their inventories. Whoever wins, gets the risked items. In this context, risk can also be the total value of the items that you would lose after death. Risk fighting is a popular way of making money, as killing regular players "with no risk " is usually not very profitable, especially compared to some available money making methods.

- a fight where both players agree to carry expensive items or money in their inventories. Whoever wins, gets the items. In this context, can also be the total value of the items that you would lose after death. is a popular way of making money, as killing regular players "with no " is usually not very profitable, especially compared to some available money making methods. ragging , ragger , to rag - purposely preventing players from playing by constantly attacking them when they enter unsafe areas is called ragging . There are usually two main forms of ragging : using a reliable weapon such as the rune scimitar along with the Protect Item prayer to prevent from losing any items upon death, or using a high defence level tank account along with high tier armour and food, which realistically gives the opponents no chance to kill the ragger within his respective level range. Note that this is considered harassment and can be reported. 1-itemming - a form of ragging involving using a single item to deal consistent damage (usually a rune scimitar) and the Protect Item prayer. perm , permed - some individuals and clans use their ragger accounts to constantly harass other players, effectively preventing them from having genuine fights. Permed players are targets of this harassment, as they are "permanently banned" from PvP combat.

, , - purposely preventing players from playing by constantly attacking them when they enter unsafe areas is called . There are usually two main forms of : using a reliable weapon such as the rune scimitar along with the Protect Item prayer to prevent from losing any items upon death, or using a high defence level tank account along with high tier armour and food, which realistically gives the opponents no chance to kill the within his respective level range. Note that this is considered harassment and can be reported. rushing , to rush - attacking players without consent, usually starting the fight with a high damage combo. Since on higher levels players are usually unable to kill the others with a single combo unless they were already damaged, on F2P rushing is often performed on players that have just finished a fight to take advantage of their low hitpoints ( pjing ).

, - attacking players without consent, usually starting the fight with a high damage combo. Since on higher levels players are usually unable to kill the others with a single combo unless they were already damaged, on F2P rushing is often performed on players that have just finished a fight to take advantage of their low hitpoints ( ). pj , to pj , pjing - "pile jumping" or "player jacking". Attacking a player that has just finished a fight or interrupting a fight e.g. when one of the players takes time to heal. Considered a bad practice.

, , - "pile jumping" or "player jacking". Attacking a player that has just finished a fight or interrupting a fight e.g. when one of the players takes time to heal. Considered a bad practice. to pile , piling - multiple players attacking a single opponent; stacking multiple hits.

, - multiple players attacking a single opponent; stacking multiple hits. dd , death dot - multiple players standing on the same square, making them appear as a single player on the minimap. A common tactic in multi-combat areas.

, - multiple players standing on the same square, making them appear as a single player on the minimap. A common tactic in multi-combat areas. nh - "no honour". Describes a combat style where any technique goes - for example, players can rush , safe or use overhead prayers, as long as it gets them the kill. Common in the deep wilderness and in areas far from the usual hotspots in the PvP worlds.

- "no honour". Describes a combat style where any technique goes - for example, players can , or use overhead prayers, as long as it gets them the kill. Common in the deep wilderness and in areas far from the usual hotspots in the PvP worlds. no arm - "no armour". Used when asking someone with a high defence level to take his armour off to make the fight more balanced or riskier.

- "no armour". Used when asking someone with a high defence level to take his armour off to make the fight more balanced or riskier. overheads - protection prayers. These prayers are usually used only in the deep wilderness areas, not in regular arranged 1-vs-1 combat.

- protection prayers. These prayers are usually used only in the deep wilderness areas, not in regular arranged 1-vs-1 combat. tb - Tele Block spell. Can be used as a suggestion to cast the spell on an opponent.

- Tele Block spell. Can be used as a suggestion to cast the spell on an opponent. pot , pot up - usually refers to the strength potion. Potting up is simply drinking a dose of the potion.

, - usually refers to the strength potion. is simply drinking a dose of the potion. epot - energy potion.

- energy potion. lure , luring - tricking a player to enter an unsafe area. There are multiple types of lures , some of which can include dropping items in unsafe areas or provoking a player to attack and running away to a more dangerous area. A lure can also be a player that performs luring e.g. by wearing expensive items and dragging an unsuspecting player to multi-combat area, where he is attacked by an entire team of player kilers.

, - tricking a player to enter an unsafe area. There are multiple types of , some of which can include dropping items in unsafe areas or provoking a player to attack and running away to a more dangerous area. A can also be a player that performs e.g. by wearing expensive items and dragging an unsuspecting player to multi-combat area, where he is attacked by an entire team of player kilers. mule - an alt account typically used to store supplies and loot in the wilderness, or to perform scouting and luring .

- an alt account typically used to store supplies and loot in the wilderness, or to perform scouting and . dm, deathmatch - a fight where none of the players leave or teleport after they run out of food.