Runescape Defense Guide

==>All Runescape Guide List<==

==>Runescape Defense Guide List<==

Your Defense Class can be viewed by clicking on the body icon, which is to the right of the backpack icon. Once you are viewing the body menu, click the bottom button labeled “Show Equipment Stats”. A screen will pop up, contain an enlarged picture of your character, the equipment you are currently wearing, and your stats.

The different classes are Stab, Slash, Crush, Magic and Ranged. The more you have in a Defense class, the better your defense against that type of attack is. The better the armor, the more Defense you will have. Different armors give different bonuses.

Stab - This protects you from stabbing attacks, such as daggers, spears.

Slash - This protects you from slashing attacks such as claws and swords.

Crush - This protects you from mauling attacks, such as maces and punches.

Magic - Protects you from Magical attacks and increases chances of magic missing on you, or Dragon Breath.

Range - Protects from ranged attacks, such as arrows and darts.

Prayer - This determines how slowly your prayer drains.

——————————————————————————–

Armor Classes

There are different kinds of armor for each kind of combat, including Melee, Ranged and Magic.

Archer or Ranged Armor

Ranger armor is generally lightweight, allowing maximum mobility for Ranged attacks. It has strong defense against Magic. It is a good all-around type of armor. This armor drains low stamina while running.

Note: For advanced Ranger armor, although the body armor needs a certain Defense, the Vambraces and Legs require no specific Defense level. More about stat bonuses of ranged items can be found in the Ranging Guide.

Warrior or Melee Armor

Most of the time this armor weighs quite a bit, and therefore it typically drains a lot of energy while running. It’s used for close-range fighting, generally Melee, and it is weak against Magic. This is the most commonly used type.

Mage (Robes) Armor

Most of the time this is the lightest armor, and allows magical conjurors to cast spells more effectively. Most have weak defense for Ranged and Melee attacks, but some types offer the extra protection. This armor drains low or medium stamina while running. More about magical armor stat bonuses can be found in the Magic Guide.

Slayer Equipment

Not really used to fight other types of monsters, these protect you from massive damage that you can take if you are not properly equipped for fighting certain Slayer monsters. Slayer gear can be found in the Slayer Guide.

Trimmed Armor

Some may believe that Trimmed armor gives extra Defense bonuses, but they do not have any differences in any way in matter of defensive stats. This includes the God armors.

Black Equivalent : Black (T) and (G)

Addy Equivalent : Addy (T) and (G)

Rune Equivalent : God Armors, Rune (T) and (G), Gilded Armor

——————————————————————————–

Armor Types

Each combat class has it’s own type of armor that it benefits from the most. Of course, as long as you meet any requirements for a piece of armor, you can wear it.

Armor For Everyone

Basic Robes

Not really considered armor, this category contains a lot of RuneScape clothing including Blue Wizard Robes, Priest Gowns, Black Wizard Robes, Zamorak & Monk Robes, HAM & Fremennik Robes, Dwarven & Gnome clothings, Mime & Shades Clothing, and more.

Rogue Armor

This armor is a weak, all-around armor. It is very light-weighted, but it is not good for combat. They are untradeable and obtained at the Rogue’s Den.

Fremennik Helmets

Not really considered an armor type, the Fremmenik Helms offer more Defense than a Rune Full. There are different types, which specialize in each class of combat. They’re double in price though. You can buy these after Fremmenik Trials Quest.

Armor For Warriors

Bronze

Bronze is the basic armor for warriors, and most new players use this as it is cheap and easy to obtain. It doesn’t offer much protection.

Iron

Iron is the armor that comes after Bronze. There are no requirements, offer a bit more Defense, but are slightly more expensive and harder to obtain.

Khazard

Armor of the dark army, this armor is a bit different in appearance and shades compared to normal iron armor, but it is equivalent to iron nonetheless.

Steel - Requires 5 Defense

Steel is a quite common armor, which offers much more protection than iron and bronze, but it’s still heavy. Since it’s generally inexpensive and it is commonly used in PKing.

Red Decorative Armor - Requires 5 Defense

This armor is obtained at a low ticket cost at Castle Wars, and it is equivalent to Steel. Not very useful, but colorful.

Black - Requires 10 Defense

Black armor is considered uncommon, as it cannot be smithed. It is a quite simple and elegant type of armor, but most people wear it for showing off, not much for combat as some pieces are difficult to find and sometimes expensive.

Mithril - Requires 20 Defense

A semi-Common armor that is not too expensive and offers good Defense Many players use this for combat or PKing.

White Decorative Armor - Requires 20 Defense

This armor is obtained at a Semi-High ticket cost at Castle Wars, and it is equivalent to Mithril. Not used much as combat, because it is hard to obtain, but it is really elegant.

Temple Initiate Armor - Requires 20 Defense

Known as the white armor, this armor offers a bit less protection than Mithril, but offers a considerable prayer bonus. It is obtained after the Recruitment Drive Quest.

Adamant - Requires 30 Defense

” As hard as adamant “

A semi-common armor, used largely by warriors, offers good Defense Not really used in PVP activities.

Yellow Decorative Armor - Requires 30 Defense

This armor is obtained at a Very-High ticket cost at Castle Wars, and it is equivalent to Adamant. No one wants to lose this in combat, as it is extremely hard to obtain. This armor is more for bragging rights.

Rune - Requires 40 Defense

Common and expensive, and it offers great Defense! It’s the armor that nearly everyone uses in combat, sometimes expensive to replace, but the high Defense bonuses compensate for that. Some people PK with this, but always generally bring teleport runes.

Granite - Requires 50 Defense and Strength

Not really considered an armor type, the Granite Shield offers slightly less defense in melee than a Rune Kite, but it has a better magic and ranged defense. It is also very heavy, and can drain your stamina quite fast. They are dropped by Trolls.

Dragon - Requires 60 Defense

Dragon armor is very expensive and rare, and it offers great Defense, but not many people would use this in a risky combat situation. Some kinds of Dragon armor need certain quests to be completed before being able to be worn. This armor is more for bragging rights.

Crystal - Requires 70 Defense and 50 Agility

Obtained after the Roving Elves Quest, and not really considered a big category of armor type, the Crystal Shield is a special kind of shield. Obtained after roving elves, this shield offers the best range Defense at 10/10 Points. However, it degrades itself over uses, and loses bonuses until it is repaired. This is a very expensive option, however.

Barrows - Requires 70 Defense

This type of armor is rare, and it is currently the most powerful armor in the game, offering bonuses as the sets are collected. They can degrade, but unlike Crystal, they’re not as expensive to fix and do not lose bonuses as they degrade.

Armor For Mages

Elemental

Not considered an armor type yet, the Elemental Shield has no physical protection but offers moderate magical protection. You have to do the Elemental Workshop Quest to make these.

Splitbark - Requires 40 Magic and Defense

A Special Mage armor that does actually offer melee protection as well as good magical bonuses. It is weak against ranging though.

Mystical Robes - Requires 40 Magic

Robes dedicated solely to Magic, which means it offers very good magic bonuses, but has absolutely no protection against anything physical. They are bought in the Magic Guild or dropped from Slayer monsters.

Ghost Robes - Requires completion of the Desert Treasure Quest

After starting the Ghost Robes Mini-Quest, you’ll receive the top of the Ghost Robes outfit. After that, you need to find each of the other ghosts wandering around RuneScape to get the other pieces. Once you have the entire set, you’ll be transparent! The full set adds a bonus of 21 to both your Magic Attack and Defense.

Armor For Rangers

Leather

Leather is the weakest armor in the game. It gives a very small Defense bonus.

Hardened Leather

Hardened Leather is slightly better than regular Leather, but it is not a recommended armor.

Studded Leather - Requires 20 Ranged and Defense

Leather armored with small Steel Studs added, which can add additional Defense. This armor is still quite basic though.

Snakeskin Armor - Requires 30 Ranging and Defense

This armor is made from the hides of Bush Snakes while chopping away at the Tai Bwo Wannai Jungle. The hides can be tanned and crafted into Snakeskin Armor, which is slightly less powerful than Green Dragonhide and also heavier.

Green Dragonhide - Requires 40 Ranged and Defense

Green Dragonhide is the basic Dragon hide armor for all rangers. It has much more Defense than leathers, offers good protection against magic and is quite lightweight.

Blue Dragonhide - Requires 50 Ranged and 40 Defense

Blue Dragonhide is better than its green counterpart. It is Members-Only, but offers extra bonuses for Ranging as well as more Defense bonuses.

Red Dragonhide - Requires 60 Ranged and 40 Defense

Red Dragonhide is much better than its blue counterpart. It is Members-Only, but offers even more extra bonuses for Ranging as well as more Defense bonuses.

Black Dragonhide - Requires 70 Ranged and 40 Defense

A very good Ranger armor, which offers possibly the best magic protection and Ranging bonuses.

——————————————————————————–

Helmets & Headgear

Anything that you wear on your head is considered a helmet of headgear. These include regular helmets, hats, masks and other items.

Helmets

Medium Helmets

Although they are smaller and offer less bonuses, they don’t negate as much on magic and ranging.

Full “Large” Helmets

Full Helmets offer better protection than medium helmets, but casting magic or using a ranged weapon is more difficult when using a full helmet, purely because the characters vision is obstructed.

Hats & Masks

Chef’s Hats, Eye Patches & Other Hats

There are a lot of decorative hats around RuneScape that can be bought or found, but they don’t give any bonuses.

Santa Hat

A rare Holiday Item which give no defensive bonuses. Back in RuneScape Classic, it gave a small magical bonus.

Party Hats

The most valuable, rare and expensive hats around, giving no defensive bonuses.

Halloween Masks

Another expensive Holiday Item that gives no defensive bonuses.

Bunny Ears

An untradeable Holiday Item that gives no bonuses but can be re-obtained from the Varrock Clothing Shop if you happen to lose it.

Pirate Hats, Highwayman Masks, Cavaliers, Berets & Headbands

Treasure Trail hats that are only for looks, not for stats.

Chompy Hats

Obtained from Chompy kills, they look like headbands but give no bonus at all.

Desert Disguise

Obtained in the Feud Quest, this makes you have a fake beard.

Bearhead

Mithril/Steel Equivalent, obtained after the Mountain Daughter Quest. It is untradeable, and if lost, you can find it back at the Chief of the mountain tribe.

Other Headgear

Goblin Mining Helmet

Iron quality, this helm can be obtained by goblin miners from the Lost Tribe Quest. It can be lit with level 65 Firemaking.

Golden Helmet

Made for Between a Rock Quest, This helmet is equivalent to Steel or Mithril

Spiny Helmet

This helmet which is equivalent to Steel prevents Wall Beasts from hurting you too much.

Tiaras

Made from Silver, they are so small that they give no real Defense, and all they do is give you an extra inventory space while Runecrafting.

——————————————————————————–

Body Armor

There are 2 main kinds of body armor: Chainmail and Platemail.

Chainmail is made up of small rings connected together. It is particularly useful for turning away slashing weapons and absorbing the impact of a “crushing” attack. Chain is weak against stabbing weapons as small pointy blades can get through the rings. Chain is quite flexible, and so does not carry any disadvantages when using ranged weapons.

Plate armour is much heavier and stronger than chain, although rangers and mages find it incredibly difficult to use in conjunction with firing arrows or spells. Plate armour is weakest against crushing damage as it cannot absorb the impact as well as it can against slashing or stabbing attacks. Rune Plate armor cannot be worn until Dragon Slayer Quest has been completed.

——————————————————————————–

Shields

There are 2 main kinds of shields: Square and Kite. Although they may seem similar, there are differences between them. There are also various other types of shields in RuneScape as well!

The Square shield is weak against crushing attacks, but it doesn’t penalize nor bonus ranging and maging. Not many know the advantages of this type of shield, so they are not very common.

Kite shields have better overall defense, but they are weak against stabbing attacks and slightly weaker against magic. Most people use these, and are easily obtainable.

Other Shields

Wooden Shield

First shield you get from Tutorial Island, and it is pretty much worthless and offers no real defense.

Training Shield

After you arrive in Lumbridge, pay a visit to the Defense Tutor to obtain a Training Shield - a slightly better shield than that old Wooden one! This item (along with the other Training items) cannot be dropped or traded to other players.

Dragonfire shield

Extra-weak in all aspect , but it is the only shield that allows maximum protection against Dragon Breath. When you’re fighting Dragons, bring this unless you want to be dragon toast! You can obtain these from the Duke of Lumbridge, in the Dragon Slayer Quest.

Elemental Shield

Completely useless for protecting against physical damage, but offers considerable magical protection.

Mirror Shield

Used to prevent being frozen by Cockatrices and Basilisks. It doesn’t offer great defense in other aspects.

Fremmenik Shield

Dropped by Market Guards and Warriors in Rellekka. They are equivalent to Adamant Kites and are untradeable.

Granite Shield

Better than a Rune Kiteshield and Square shield. It offers great ranging defense and more Defense in the other categories. Its very heavy though, and it can drain stamina quickly.

Crystal Shield

This shield is a special kind of shield. Obtained after roving elves, this shield offers the best range Defense at 10/10 Points. However, it degrades itself over uses, and loses bonuses until it is repaired. This is a very expensive option, however. You must repair it at one of the roving elves.

Obsidian Shield

This shield can be bought from the Fight Pit Shop for 67,500 TokKul. It adds a decent defense bonus, and it is particularly effective against ranged attacks.

——————————————————————————–

Gloves

Gloves offer small Defense, but in some cases you need them to perform certain actions, such as picking up Nettles or Firebird Feathers. They may not have much defense, but they look good and are often worth it.

Leather Gloves

Regular Leather gloves are easy to obtain. They offer very small Defense and are considered worthless. You can craft these.

Colored Gloves

Some people believe they give better bonuses, but they are just a different color, for looks. Obtained in various place around runescape, some are tradeable to free players (The Canifis Gloves). Ham & Fremmenik Gloves as well as any other gloves fall into this category, and cannot be made.

Vambraces

Vambraces are known as archer armbands, which are designed to make the user fire arrows longer, so it gives more Defense and range bonus than regular gloves. Dragon Vambraces offer considerable Defense and magical protection.

Ice Gloves

Obtained from the ice queen in the Heroes Quest, these ice cool gloves allow you to touch hot stuff without harm. They offer a little better defense than regular gloves.

Mystic Gloves

Offering no physical protection but a small magic bonus, these gloves are made for mages. These are bought from the Magic Guild or dropped from Slayer monsters.

Klank’s Gauntlets

These hard gloves protect you from Half-Souless bites in the Underground Pass Quest. They are bought at 5,000gp each, and they are some of the best gloves in the game.

Steel Gauntlets

Offering the same great bonuses like the Klank Gauntlets, these gauntlets can actually be enchanted to 3 different types of gloves (Cooking, Crafting or Magic), after the Family Crest Quest. If you lose them, you can always get them back from the father.

Armored Gloves

Armoured Gloves are obtained during the Recipe for Disaster Quest. You can buy them from The Culinaromancers’ Chest and are untradeable. The gloves armour is known by their colour, although know as ‘Gloves’ in-game. They range from Normal, Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, Mithril, Addy, Rune, Dragon and finally to Barrows. They are said to be one of the best gloves in the game.

——————————————————————————–

Boots

Although they give low bonuses, feet are important to protect, and some boots give special bonuses!

Leather Boots

The most basic armor type for the feet. It is the only available feet protection for free players.

Colored Boots

Simple leather boots colored with dyes, obtainable from various clothing shops in runescape (Rellekka, Gnome Stronghold, Canifis, HAM). There are no additional bonuses for these boots.

Boots of Lightness

These have the same stats as leather boots, but their specialty is that they reduce your overall weight by 4kg. Can be obtained in the basement of the Temple Of Ikov. These are quite useful for running or Runecrafting.

Ranger Boots

The best and only boots that a ranger could ever have! Can be obtained from doing Treasure Trails, and are quite expensive.

Wizard Boots

Slightly better than Mystic Boots. Can be obtained from doing Treasure Trails.

Splitbark Greaves

Not exactly the best boots for a mage, but its lowered mage stats has made up for the better protection it provides.

Climbing Boots

Useful for climbing up mountains and hills. It is used for quests such as Desert Treasure, Death Plateau, Troll Stronghold and Troll Romance. It provides slightly better protection from leather boots. It also provides a bit of strength.

Spiked Boots

You cannot wear those boots anywhere else than the Ice Plateau in the Desert Treasure Quest. These stop you from slipping on ice.

Mime Boots

Not particularly useful, more for bragging rights as you can only obtain it from the Mime Stage Random Event.

Desert Boots

These can reflect the desert heat, improving your chances of survival in the Al Kharidian Desert.

Gardening Boots

When worn, these boots allow you to plant crops 1 level ahead of your current level.

Armored Boots

There are many armored boots across runescape, mostly bought from other players or from Slayer monsters. They give a considerable bonus defense, but are heavier than regular type boots.

——————————————————————————–

Other Gear

There are many things that can protect you. Other items can be worn on different parts of your character than can help you.

Amulets

Amulets are particularly useful. The Amulet of Defense is quite good, as well as the amulet of power and glory. However, the Gnome Amulet of Defense, obtained after the Tree Gnome Village Quest, offers very good Defense

Books

Completed Saradomin and Guthix Prayer Books offer a small defensive bonus when worn, which can be useful in some cases. Remember, the Saradomin Book gives more defense than a Guthix Book, while a Zamorak Book does not give any Defense.

Rings

Although not very defensive, rings can be “Defensive” in some ways:

The ring of recoil returns 25% Damage to the attack, which helps in that matter.

The ring of life protects you from death, which defense is meant to do.

Capes

All capes offer a small defense bonus, but the best ones are the God Capes from the Wilderness Mage Arena and the Legend’s Cape from the Legend’s Guild. There are also Fire Capes which add Defense, Prayer, Strength and Attack bonuses, as well as Obsidian Capes.

Excalibur

The Excalibur Sword, obtainable from the Merlin’s Crystal Quest, has a Special Attack which increases your defense temporarily.

Potions & Prayer

There are also Defense Potions which can be made with your Herblore skill to increase your defense for a short while. Prayers will also add to your defense.

Staffs

A great way to level up your Defense while practicing Magic is to use a staff. When you equip your staff, you’ll have an option to set a spell or an attack strategy. Most people don’t realise it, but even if you choose the Attack or Strength styles, you won’t recive experience, although you’ll receive Defense experience instead! this works whenever casting spells, and you can use this attack while attacking behind an object or fighting hand-to-hand.

==>All Runescape Guide List<==

==>Runescape Defense Guide List<==