RuneScape Wiki
Register
Advertisement
This article is about the free-to-play guide. For the members' guide, see Pay-to-play melee training.

This article will provide non-members with information for training Attack, Strength, Defence, and Constitution effectively. Members can use this, but it is recommended to use the Pay-to-play Melee training. It will explain which monsters are the best to kill at a certain level, providing the pros and cons of training on each monster. It will also provide tips and suggests suitable monsters to kill at a wide range of levels. This article assumes players are training attack, strength, and defence equally, or close to equal.

General training notes

  • It is highly recommended that players use the best equipment available to them at their level. For example, if whilst training you reach an Attack level of 40, it is worth going to the GE immediately to purchase an adamant weapon.
  • Try to match your attack style to the monster's weakness for maximum damage, and therefore exp/hour; a player attacking a slash-weak monster with a crushing weapon will train slower than a player who attacks with a slashing weapon.
  • Use of the Revolution combat mode is strongly recommended.
  • Depending on the monster's combat level and stats, food may be necessary.
  • Try to fight monsters with low defence. Lower defence means the monster is easier to hit, so less time is spent out of combat, therefore providing more experience.
  • It is advised that you carry a teleportation item or teleport runes (if your Magic level is high enough) just in case. (The lodestone network can be used instead for less dangerous cases.)
  • When fighting monsters that are aggressive, turn on Auto Retaliate for an easier training experience.
  • Training in the Wilderness is arguably more fun, but inherently risky, due to the threat of player killers. Most monsters that are found in the Wilderness have better alternatives in non-Wilderness locations. One should understand the risks and strategies to reduce those risks; crucially, don't carry wealth that you aren't willing to lose.
  • Use attack, strength and defence potions when training as doing so will both increase exp/hour and extend the duration of trips. It is possible to obtain 100 percent hit accuracy without a potion, and if so, attack potions do not help anymore (unless enemies can drain attack).
  • Two ultimate abilities can be chosen. Rejuvenate lessens the need for food somewhat, but requires constant monitoring in game and the player must have a shield equipped. Overpower deals an accurate blow with high damage.
    • Some players have developed a method which equips between two-handed sword and a shield, they are benefited from heightened attack power and not losing the rejuvenation ability. Those players finish a fight with full adrenaline, change to a shield and immediately queue Rejuvenate. The downside is they cannot attack during the 10 seconds in rejuvenation, which is of little concern as most monsters are not aggressive.
  • It is recommended to train against monsters that are weak to melee attacks. This is generally more effective than fighting monsters that are weak to ranged or weak to magic.

Common equipment, accessories, and setups

Weaponry

Damage output over time is roughly the same for any weapon. The accuracy greatly depends on the properties of the targeted monsters. Monsters with high defence need weapons with high hit bonus and suitable attack style, while weak ones are quite free on the choices. One can consult hit-chance calculators online. Each weapon only has one of three attack methods: stab, slash or crush. The player can choose which skill to train as mentioned before.

Two-handed weapons or dual-wielded weapons are recommended for their 50% damage boost over using a weapon and a shield.

The basics

Weapons and armour

Remember to keep your equipment up to par. As you train, you will start to be able to use better and more powerful combat items. Once you can use a better combat weapon, try to save up the money for it. (The ideal path to take for your choice of equipment is as follows: bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant, rune. The armour sets from bronze to steel are actually fairly lackluster and unnecessary, provided that you only train on the weak monsters such as adolescent white wolves.) It is strongly recommended that you wield the best weapon and armour available to you.

A better weapon means more damage and increased accuracy, which results in more experience gained in a shorter period of time. Better armour reduces the likelihood of enemies damaging you, which allows you to stay at a training spot for a longer time with less food. Better armour also provides a larger life point bonus. Two handed weapons are often used in player versus player combat because of their ability to inflict larger amounts of damage in a single hit. It is also advised to wear an amulet of strength, as it gives a Strength bonus of 18, compared to the 15 of an Amulet of power. The amulet of defence provides a Strength bonus of 8, while also providing a small armour bonus, but it is also inferior to an amulet of strength.

Inventory and drops

For players with at least 52 Defence, the Rejuvenate ability makes food less useful for training, though some will still be useful against enemies that often hurt you, deal enough damage during the cooldown to outpace it, or to avoid wasting adrenaline.

Finding a good balance of food to bring is a necessity for any player. Filling up with food may sound good for training, but inventory space may be needed for potential drops, especially if you are against low-level monsters where food is rarely consumed. If you are looking to make money while training, remember to consider the cost of the food you bring.

Swordfish and anchovy pizza are the two best foods for training as a free player, as they are the highest-healing foods available to free players and only cost 157 and 600 coins respectively. An emergency teleportation item, such as an explorer's ring or a ring of kinship, is recommended for training in areas with aggressive and/or high-level monsters. If a monster gets a lucky streak and manages to hit you hard, you may find yourself with a small number of life points, and a method of quick escape may be necessary. Since combat experience increases with kill rate, attack and strength potions are strongly recommended for all players, although they are not necessary. Defence potions are also recommended as they effectively extend the duration of trips.

Some players choose to also collect bones, but this is not recommended for players with Prayer levels of 45 or higher as it decreases exp/hour. While collecting bones is often tedious and can be boring at times, it can be helpful since burying bones can lead to more powerful Prayers. Bones can be buried for 4.5 Prayer experience each or sold for 266 coins on the Grand Exchange, for a total of 7,448 coins per inventory. Big bones can be buried for 15 Prayer experience each, or sold for 203 coins on the Grand Exchange, for a total of 5,684 coins per inventory.

Using Area loot will often help with collecting drops.

Attack styles

Train Attack, Strength, and Defence as you see fit – this preference is different for every player. Generally, high Attack will be vital against opponents with high Defence as it increases accuracy; high Strength will be best if you want to do more damage; and high Defence will alleviate the need for food, as you will be hit less often. If you're not sure what to raise, raise them equally. This method works extremely well in the long run. For most training methods, raising Strength, Attack, and then Defence will provide the fastest experience, although you may want to train Attack to a decent level first to increase your chances of hitting the monster before you raise your Strength level.

A very successful method is to train Attack until you can use the next tier weapon, and thus use a superior two-handed sword. That new weapon has higher stats and allows one to get bigger hits and train much faster. Then train Strength to the level of Attack. Finally, train Defence to the level of Attack and Strength. Now purchase the armour of the newly-unlocked tier and repeat.

Equipment

Level 1 Typical weapons
Bronze armour set (lg) equipped Bronze scimitar

Bronze longsword
Bronze battleaxe
Bronze 2h sword

Bronze armour
Levels required
None
Level 10 Typical weapons
Iron armour set (lg) equipped Iron scimitar

Iron longsword
Iron battleaxe
Iron 2h sword

Iron armour
Levels required
Defence 10 Defence
Level 20 Typical weapons
Steel armour set (lg) equipped Steel scimitar

Steel longsword
Steel battleaxe
Steel 2h sword

Steel armour
Levels required
Defence 20 Defence
Level 30 Typical weapons
Mithril armour set (lg) equipped Mithril scimitar

Mithril longsword
Mithril battleaxe
Mithril 2h sword

Mithril armour
Levels required
Defence 30 Defence
Level 40 Typical weapons
Adamant armour (t) (lg) equipped Adamant scimitar

Adamant longsword
Adamant battleaxe
Adamant 2h sword

Adamant armour
Levels required
Defence 40 Defence
Level 50 Typical weapons
Rune armour set (lg) equipped Rune scimitar

Rune longsword
Rune battleaxe
Rune 2h sword

Rune armour
Levels required
Defence 50 Defence

Monsters

The levels below refer to individual combat stat levels, not your overall combat level (so a player with level 15 Strength would refer to the section titled "Level 1 to 20").

Level 1 to 30

As your Attack and Defence levels progress, upgrade your equipment from bronze to iron to steel etc.

One of the most efficient areas to train is the Abandoned Burthorpe mine (north of Burthorpe) yielding a vast number of level-2 Troll ChuckersTroll Brutes and Troll Shamans. Upon death these NPCs earn you 40 experience per kill and are normally one-shot kills, making this an extremely efficient area for rapid combat training. This will allow you to get up to 20 in all combat skills effectively. Along with their high numbers they also have an extremely fast respawn rate (between 20-30 seconds). You will never run out.

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Troll brute, Troll shaman, Troll chucker Abandoned Burthorpe mine, north of Burthorpe 1 50 30 (and 9.9 Life Points) None Use a bronze/iron 2h sword or a weapon with high attack speed
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Very low defence, often one-shot kills. Around 40,000 xp/h, assuming 990 kills.
  • Fast spawn rates
  • Often crowded
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Warped cockroach, Corpse spider Lumbridge Catacombs 1, 4 50, 150 24.9 (and 8.2 Life Points), 25.5 (and 8.4 Life Points) None Use a bronze/iron 2h sword or a weapon with high attack speed, e.g. Mace
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Very low defence, often one-shot kills. Around 20,000 exp/h.
  • Extremely fast spawn rates
  • Often crowded, but is largely compensated by spawn rates
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Chicken Farm across from cow field, north-east of Lumbridge

Fred's farm, south cabbage field north of Lumbridge

2 50 24.9 (and 8.2 Life Points) None Use a bronze/iron 2h sword or a weapon with high attack speed
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Maximum hit of 4

None

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Cow calf, Cow Cow pen on east side of River Lum 4/6 100, 150 24.9 (and 8.2 Life Points), 25.5 (and 8.4 Life Points) None Use the best possible two-handed sword available
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Often crowded
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Giant rat West of Lumbridge Castle

Lumbridge Swamp

7, 9 250, 350 26.7 (and 8.8 Life Points) None Use the best possible two-handed sword available
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Not crowded

None

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Goblin East side of River Lum

West of Lumbridge Second room Stronghold of Security

2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 16 50, 100, 200, (Unknown), 150, 200, 225, 250, 400 24.9 (and 8.2 Life Points) None Use the best possible two-handed sword available at your Attack level
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Weak and relatively easy to kill
  • Common
  • Occasionally crowded
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Scorpion Al Kharid mining site

Dwarven Mine

14 500, 600 32.1 (and 10.5 Life Points) None Use a weapon such as a steel mace/warhammer
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Does not drop anything
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Al Kharid warrior Al Kharid palace 18 650 35.7 (and 11.7 Life Points) None Use a steel 2h sword
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Not very crowded
  • Players with low Defence can get ganged up on by multiple warriors.
  • Bad drops

Level 30 - 40

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Barbarian Gunnarsgrunn Long Hall 30 1100 48.9 (and 16.1 Life Points) None Use a mithril 2h sword
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Cooked meat is there for healing
  • The nearby fishing spot, usually active with fly-fishers constantly dropping salmon and trout, which can be cooked on the nearby fire.

Sometimes crowded

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Cockroach soldier Stronghold of Player Safety 36 1300 56.1 (and 18.5 Life Points) None
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Very easy to kill
  • Hardly any attack
  • Valuable drops including mithril/rune weapons

Somewhat crowded

Level 40 - 50

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Hill giant Edgeville Dungeon

Edgeville Dungeon hill giant resource dungeon

44 3200 108.9 (and 35.9 Life Points) 20Dungeoneering to access the resource dungeon (optional) Bring food such as swordfish, and also a brass key for easier access to the dungeon.
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Aggressive until at higher levels
  • Relatively high maximum hit (192)
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Flesh Crawler Stronghold of Security (Second level) 40 2900 128 (and 42.2 Life Points) Access to Stronghold of Security Use dual adamant daggers/swords
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Weak to stab
  • Decent drops if looking for money
  • Often crowded
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Giant spider Stronghold of Security (Third level) 39 2800 90.9 (and 30 Life Points) Access to Stronghold of Security Use dual adamant maces/warhammers
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Does not drop anything
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Moss giants Varrock Sewers (4)

Crandor (3)

51 3700 136.3 (and 44.9 Life Points) Partial completion of Dragon Slayer (for access to Crandor) Use an adamant or rune 2h sword
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Accurate attacks
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
King Scorpion Dwarven Mine

Crandor

32, 56 1400 61.5 (and 20.2 Life Points) Partial completion of Dragon Slayer (for access to Crandor) Use dual Adamant maces/warhammers
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Does not drop anything

Level 50 - 70

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Moss giants Varrock Sewers (4)

Crandor (3)

51 3700 136.3 (and 44.9 Life Points) Partial completion of Dragon Slayer (for access to Crandor) Use a Rune/Gravite 2h sword
Advantages Disadvantages
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Ankou Stronghold of Security (Level Four) 60, 61, 63 4300, 4400, 4500 179, 188, 198 (and 59, 62, 65.3 Life Points) Partial completion of the Stronghold of Security Use a Rune/Gravite 2h sword
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Decent drops
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Lesser demons Karamja Dungeon (7)

Karamja Resource Dungeon (14)

70 5,000 250.2 (and 82.5 Life Points) Completion of Demon Slayer for the 3 lesser demons in Crandor Dungeon

25 Dungeoneering for the resource dungeon

Use a Rune/Gravite 2h sword
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Decent drops
  • Has a ranged magic attack
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Deadly red spiders Varrock Sewers (9)

Karamja Dungeon (5)

95 3400 399 (and 131.6 Life Points) None Use dual Rune maces/warhammers for accuracy or a rune/gravite 2h sword for area-of-effect abilities
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Many players will find that they consume food (can made up for by looting red spiders' eggs)
  • Can be difficult to hit if not using a crush weapon, especially at lower Attack levels.
  • A lot of food will be needed. The most effective ones are Swordfish or Lobster.

Level 70+

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Clan Wars free-for-all (white portal) on world 3 Gamers' Grotto N/A N/A N/A None (high combat stats strongly recommended) Use full rune equipment
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Up to 160,000 exp/hour
  • All items are kept upon death, respawn is instant
  • Experience is awarded even if you die in a fight
  • The lower section is single-way combat, which prevents multiple players from attacking you simultaneously
  • No drops
  • Weaker players may find that they do not receive as much experience as stronger players
  • Requires rapid Prayer switching for optimal exp/hour
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Deadly red spider Varrock Sewers (9)

Karamja Dungeon (5)

95 3400 399 (and 131.6 Life Points) None Use a rune/gravite 2h sword for damage per second or a rune warhammer/mace for accuracy
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Best experience in free-to-play outside the wilderness (up to 120,000 Attack or Strength exp/hour, assumes 300 kills/hour)
  • Weak to crush
  • See the in-depth strategy guide to maximise experience
  • No profitable drops
  • Many players will find that the food they consume when fighting can cost a fair amount over time (can be made up for by looting red spiders' eggs)
  • Can be difficult to hit if not using a crush weapon.
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Hellhound Forinthry dungeon

Wilderness Crater

92 3300 361.5 (and 119.2 Life Points) None Use a rune 2h sword or Gravite 2h sword and the Protect Item prayer (strongly recommended); bring food (such as swordfish)
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Weak to slash, so players may be able to get more exp/hour from hellhounds than deadly red spiders.
  • Players with can reach 100 percent accuracy without an attack potion and with either (1) 82 attack and a level 55 slash weapon or (2) 88 attack and a level 50 slash weapon. Since there are no level 55 free-to-play crush weapons, this is an important difference.
  • Usually not crowded
  • Fast respawn rate
  • Aggressive, therefore semi-afkable
  • Drops bones, so using a Twisted bird skull necklace, one may keep multiple prayers activated
  • Up to 199,000 Attack or Strength exp/hour (assumes 550 kills/hour)
  • See the in-depth strategy guide to maximise experience
  • Hits hard and fast
  • No profitable drops
  • Can be difficult to hit
  • Located in the Wilderness
Advertisement