Strength

RSCOS

This article is about the skill. For information on training strength, see Melee training.

Strength

Release date	4 January 2001 (Update)
Members only	No
Minimum level for Hiscores	15 as of 12 Dec 2017
Players with 99	236,179 as of 4 Feb 2023
Players with 120	8,744 as of 4 Feb 2023
Players with 200M XP	1,639 as of 4 Feb 2023

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Level Up jingle

Strength is a melee combat skill which increases the amount of damage a player can inflict in melee combat by two and a half points per level. Additionally, Strength may be required to wield certain weapons and armour, access some Agility shortcuts, and complete several quests. Strength is one of the most popular skills among players, having more players of level 99 than any other skill.

History

Strength was among the first skills available, introduced with RuneScape's launch on 4 January 2001, along with Attack, Defence, Hitpoints (now Constitution), Ranged, Cooking, Woodcutting, Firemaking,  Smithing, and Mining. As the game has progressed, the concept of the skill has remained largely untouched.

Since the skill's inception, increasingly higher tiers of equipment have been released. Bronze through adamant equipment were available since the introduction of the game itself, but rune equipment was not made available until 26 July 2001. Each successive tier of equipment offered increasing Strength bonuses, but none of them required a specific Strength level to equip. It was not until after the release of Regicide on 20 September 2004, the fourth part of the Plague City quest series, that the game saw a weapon which required a Strength level to wield. The quest introduced halberds, two handed weapons which were capable of engaging an opponent in melee combat around obstacles and from up to 2 tiles away. All halberds stronger than steel required a Strength level half of the Attack level required to wield the weapon.

Until 26 January 2005, halberds remained the only weapon type which required a Strength level to equip. However, the release of Slayer introduced gargoyles, which dropped granite mauls, two-handed weapons which required 50 Attack and 50 Strength to equip. On 9 May 2005, the Barrows minigame was added, introducing two new weapons which required a Strength level to equip. Dharok's greataxe and Torag's hammers were two of six legendary weapons originally belonging to the Barrows brothers which could be obtained as a reward from the minigame. Both of these weapons required 70 Attack and Strength to wield, further increasing the maximum Strength level required to equip a weapon. Additionally, Dharok's greataxe, boasting a +105 Strength bonus, was the first weapon to exceed a +100 Strength bonus. Later that year, the TzHaar City was released and along with it, the Tzhaar-ket-om, colloquially known as the obsidian maul, was released. This was only the second maul to be released and, like the granite maul before it, required a Strength level to equip. Yet, unlike the granite maul, the obsidian maul did not have an Attack requirement, making it the first weapon to only require Strength to use.

No new weapons which required Strength to wield were introduced until 6 March 2007, when the barrelchest anchor was released as a reward for the Great Brain Robbery quest. A powerful but slow weapon, the anchor required 40 Strength to equip, even though it offered a massive +100 Strength bonus. On 17 March 2009, another quest reward featured a weapon requiring a Strength level to use. The granite mace was the second granite weapon released, and required 50 Attack as well as Strength to wield.

A host of new weapons were released with the Dungeoneering skill on 12 April 2010. Of these new weapons, one entire weapon type featured Strength prominently in its use. Novite through primal mauls required only Strength to wield and offered extremely high Strength bonuses. With a +166 Strength bonus, the primal maul was the strongest weapon in RuneScape. However, its use is restricted to Daemonheim.

Before the Evolution of Combat, when fighting in the aggressive stance, $0.4x$ Strength experience was awarded per hit, where $x$ is the amount of damage dealt. Fighting using the controlled stance, however, awards $0.133x$ Strength experience per hit, where $x$ is the amount of damage dealt. For example, a player who hits a 10 would receive 4 Strength experience when fighting in the aggressive stance and 1.33 Strength experience when fighting in the controlled stance. The amount of experience received when fighting in the controlled stance may be calculated in the same way that experience awarded to the Constitution skill is calculated.

The difference between these two stances is that the aggressive stance solely provides experience for the Strength and Constitution skills. However, the controlled stance distributes experience equally among Strength, Attack, Defence, and Constitution. A player who hits a 10 would receive 1.33 experience in each one of these skills. Additionally, fighting using the aggressive stance provides a hidden boost of +3 to the Strength skill while using the controlled stance only provides a boost of +1.

However, with the release of the evolution of combat, the Strength skill was significantly changed along with all forms of combat. Combat experience is no longer gained from individual hits, but rather successful kills. Furthermore, the skill's effect on overall damage rating was tweaked.

Gaining experience

Combat

Main articles: Pay-to-play melee training and Free-to-play melee training

A player kicking a training dummy found in Varrock.

Players may receive Strength experience during combat. Strength experience is only awarded when players select either Strength experience, or Attack, Strength, and Defence experience in the combat interface. Experience gains depends on the monster slain, and the total experience gained per kill will remain the same unless experience boosting items are used.

For example, if a player kills a cow while strength experience is selected, he/she will gain 34.5 strength experience and 11.5 constitution experience for a total of 46 experience, but if a player selects shared experience and uses only melee combat, they will gain 11.5 experience in strength, attack, defence, and constitution, still giving a total of 46 experience.

Experience rewards

Main article: Strength/Experience rewards

Strength experience may be awarded after the completion of certain quests, miniquests, tasks, random events, Distractions and Diversions, and other minigames. Additionally, experience lamps, dragonkin lamps, and books of knowledge may be used to gain Strength experience.

Bonus/other experience

Several items provide bonus experience in Strength, as well as other melee skills, when equipped. Melee brawling gloves provide a 300% experience bonus to Strength (as well as Attack and Defence) when training combat in the Wilderness and a 50% bonus when training outside of the Wilderness. The brawling gloves last for approximately 100,000 experience before disintegrating.

Individual pieces of sacred clay equipment obtained through the Stealing Creation minigame also provide an experience bonus to Strength and other combat skills. These items double the amount of experience received through combat when equipped. Only one piece of sacred clay armour must be worn to receive this bonus. Similar to the brawling gloves, a piece will disappear after the experience threshold of 24,450 experience is reached.

Strength experience may also be received from damage dealt by certain Summoning familiars. However, different familiars provide experience for different combat skills.

Familiar	Combat level	Summoning level required
Honey badger	38	32
Pyrelord	55	46
Spirit jelly	94	55
Spirit graahk	98	57
Barker toad	78	66
Obsidian golem	125	73
Talon beast	92	77
Moss titan	94	79
Lava titan	99	83

The following familiars grant 13.3% Attack, Strength, and Defence experience per point of damage dealt.

Familiar	Combat level	Summoning level required
Spirit scorpion	23	19
Vampyre bat	36	31
Spirit larupia	98	57
Stranger plant	94	64
Arctic bear	84	71
Giant ent	93	78
Spirit dagannoth	99	83

Equipment

Weapons

A secondary use of the Strength skill is determining which weapons a player may wield in combat. Generally, weapons which require a higher level to equip confer greater combat bonuses, providing some incentive for players to train the skill. All of the weapons in the following table are members only.

Weapon		Attack level	Strength level
	Barrelchest anchor	60	40
	Granite maul	55	55
	Granite mace	55	55
	Tzhaar-ket-om	1	60
	Torag's hammers	70	70
	Dharok's greataxe	70	70

Dungeoneering weapons

Conventional weapons used throughout Gielinor are not allowed in Daemonheim, so a separate set of metals is used during Dungeoneering. The metal types are classified by their "tiers", with tier 1 being the weakest and tier 11 being the strongest. Tiers 1 through 10 weapons may be player made or received as a drop from several monsters, but tier 11 items may only be received as a drop from boss monsters. Of the Dungeoneering weapon types, only mauls require a Strength level. Members-only weapons are indicated by _(m).

Tier	Maul type		Strength level
1		Novite	1
2		Bathus	10
3		Marmaros	20
4		Kratonite	30
5		Fractite	40
6		Zephyrium	50
7		Argonite (m)	60
8		Katagon (m)	70
9		Gorgonite (m)	80
10		Promethium (m)	90
11		Primal (m)	99

Armour

Certain pieces of armour require a Strength level to wear. Though uncommon, a few such pieces exist. All of the pieces of armour in the following table are members only.

Armour		Strength level	Other requirement(s)
	Black mask	20	10 Defence
	Full slayer helmet	20	10 Defence, 20 Magic and Ranged, and completion of Smoking Kills
	Void Knight equipment	42	42 Attack, Defence, Constitution, Magic and Ranged, 22 Prayer, and up to 250 commendation points per piece
	Granite equipment	55	55 Defence

Other

Main article: Strength/Level up table

Strength levels are required for various other aspects of the game, including quests, tasks, Agility shortcuts involving grapples, barbarian fishing, minigames, and access to certain areas. Some of these requirements are listed below.

Feature	Strength level	Other requirements
River crossing from Al Kharid to Lumbridge Swamp	19	15 Agility and 48 Fishing
Grapple shortcut from Water Obelisk Island to Catherby	22	36 Agility and 39 Ranged
Ability to catch leaping salmon barehanded	30	30 Agility, 58 Fishing, and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to climb the cliff on White Wolf Mountain from Catherby	35	Completion of Fishing Contest
Ability to catch tuna barehanded	35	55 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Falador wall shortcut north of Falador Park	37	11 Agility and 19 Ranged
Yanille wall shortcut south of the Dragon Inn	38	39 Agility and 21 Ranged
Ability to catch leaping sturgeon barehanded	45	45 Agility, 70 Fishing, and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to catch swordfish barehanded	50	70 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Access to the statues in Bandos's throne room	60	Completion of The Chosen Commander
Access to the God Wars Dungeon via the boulder	60	None
Access to Bandos's Stronghold in the God Wars Dungeon	70	A hammer
Ability to catch shark barehanded	76	96 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to cross the cave south of Dorgesh-Kaan	80	Completion of Death to the Dorgeshuun
Keep big rock and use for an emote after King of the Dwarves	90	Completion of King of the Dwarves

Warriors' Guild

Main article: Warriors' Guild

The Warriors' Guild is a guild for players who have attained mastery or near mastery of melee combat skills. Entrance to the guild requires either 99 Attack, 99 Strength, or a sum of 130 in Attack and Strength. The guild features several activities which involve combat and combat experience, including the shot put room. In this room, players may practice throwing differently weighted balls for Strength experience.

Cape of Accomplishment

A player performing the strength cape's emote.

For players with level 99 Strength, a Strength cape can be bought from the Sloane or Yadech Strongarm in the Warriors' Guild. The cape will cost 99,000 coins, like all other Capes of Achievement. If Strength is a player's only mastered skill, they will have an untrimmed cape. If the player has 99 in any other skill, it will sport a red trim.

A player wearing a trimmed cape

A player wearing an untrimmed cape

Temporary boosts

Main article: Temporary skill boost

Various items, potions, prayers, and familiars provide temporary boosts. Below is a list of all possible boosts to Strength.

Visible

Visible boosts are indicated in the stats interface by showing a level increase from the base level. Members-only boosts are indicated by (m).

Potions

Boost	Level increase	Level to make	Notes
Strength potion  Strength mix (m)	8% + 1	12 (14)	Mix version heals 300 life points.
Combat potion (m)  Combat mix (m)	8% + 1	36 (40)	Also boosts Attack by the same amount. Mix version heals 600 life points.
Super strength (m)  Super strength mix (m)	12% + 2	55 (59)	Mix version heals 600 life points.
Zamorak brew (m)  Zamorak mix (m)	8% + 1	78 (85)	Also boosts Attack by the same amount, and restores 8% + 20 Prayer points. Decreases Defence by 8% + 1 and remaining life points 12%. Mix version heals 600 life points after the reduction.
Extreme strength (m)	15% + 3	89	Not tradeable
Overload (m)	15% + 3	96	Also boosts Attack, Defence, Ranged, and Magic by the same amount; boost is reapplied every 15 seconds. Not tradeable.

Cooking

Image	Boost	Skill	Level increase	Level to make	Notes
File:Wizard blizzard.png	Wizard blizzard/Premade wiz blz'd (m)	Strength	6	18	Lowers Attack by 4.
File:Short green guy.png	Short green guy/Premade sgg (m)	Strength	4	20	Lowers Attack by 3.
	Asgarnian ale (m)	Strength	2	24	Lowers Attack by 4.
	Red spicy stew (m)	Strength, Attack, Defence, Ranged, Magic	-6 to 6	25	The stew may boost or reduce levels by 1 to 6 points randomly. +6 boost are extremely rare.
File:Drunk dragon.png	Drunk dragon/Premade dr' dragon (m)	Strength	7	32	Lowers Attack by 4.
File:Blurberry special.png	Blurberry special/Premade blurb' sp. (m)	Strength	7	37	Lowers Attack by 5.
	Dragon bitter (m)	Strength	2	39	Lowers Attack by 1.
	Cavefish (m)	Strength, Attack, Defence, Magic, or Ranged	2	88	Heals 200 life points.

Other

Image	Boost	Skill	Level increase	Level to obtain	Notes
	Beer	Strength	2	1-99	Lowers Attack by 4.
	Tankard of beer (m)	Strength	2	N/A	Lowers Attack by 4.
	Keg of beer (m)	Strength	10	N/A	Lowers Attack by 40.
	Grog (m)	Strength	3	N/A	Lowers Attack by 6.
	Braindeath 'rum'	Strength, Mining	3	N/A	Also decreases Attack, Defence, Prayer, Magic, Agility and Herblore by 5%.
File:Volcanic str. scroll.png	Volcanic strength scroll (m)	Strength	9	73	Special attack of the obsidian golem.
	Strength cape (m)	Strength	1	99	Requires Skill mastery to equip.
	Blisterberry (m)	Strength	2	86	Also reduces defence by 1.

Invisible

Invisible boosts are not indicated in the stats interface, but they are applied in combat calculations nevertheless. Members-only boosts are indicated by (m).

Prayer

Prayers and curses do not actually boost your Strength level, but increase damage by a percentage. This also applies to Ranged and Magic damage-boosting prayers.

Image	Boost	Skill	Effects	Prayer level	Notes
	Burst of Strength	Strength	2% melee damage	4	Standard Prayer.
	Superhuman Strength	Strength	4% melee damage	13	Standard Prayer.
	Ultimate Strength	Strength	6% melee damage	31	Standard Prayer.
	Chivalry (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence	7% melee damage, 7% Attack, and 7% Defence	60	Requires completion of the Camelot training room.
	Piety (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence	8% melee damage, 8% Attack, and 8% Defence	70	Requires completion of the Camelot training room.
	Leech Strength (m)	Strength	2% melee damage, increasing to 8% over time; also drains your enemy's melee damage by 6%, increasing to 12% over time	82	Requires completion of The Temple at Senntisten.
	Turmoil (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence	10% melee damage, Attack and Defence; also drains your enemy's melee damage, Attack, and Defence	95	Requires completion of The Temple at Senntisten
	Malevolence (m)	Strength, Attack, and Defence.	12% melee damage, Attack and Defence; also drains your enemy's melee damage, Attack, and Defence	99	Requires completion of The Temple at Senntisten, and have used a praesul codex.

Other

Image	Boost	Skill	Level increase	Level to obtain (without trading)	Notes
	Black Warlock (m)

Trivia

The old jingle for level Up 1 - 49

The old jingle for level Up 50 - 99

The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 1,307,430) on the hiscores for Strength is level 15. As of 04 February 2023, there are 236,179 current members that have achieved level 99 in Strength. There are 8,744 current members that have achieved level 120 in Strength.

See also

• Strength/Experience rewards
• Pay-to-play melee training, a guide to training Strength for members
• Free-to-play melee training, a guide to training Strength for free players
• Combat calculators