Old School RuneScape: Melee Combat 1-99 Guide

thegamer.com:

Melee combat is perhaps one of Old School RuneScape's most iconic, quintessential activities. It opens up the game to you more than any other skill set, giving you access to anything from PVP, to Slayer, to Bossing, and beyond. As such, many players aim to achieve their first 99s in the melee combat skills since it sets them up well for the rest of the game, unlike some other popular early 99s (sorry, Firemaking).

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Melee in Old School RuneScape isn't governed by a single skill: it is split up into Attack, Defence, and Strength. This means that, by the end of the grind, you'll have three level-99s to boast of - but it also means you have to grind three times as hard to get there. Let's go over some basics to help you get there.

The three melee skills each have a different effect on your performance in combat: Attack determines your hit accuracy; Strength is used to calculate your max hit (the largest amount of damage you can do to an enemy in a single blow); and Defence reduces your likelihood of taking damage - it doesn't, however, change how much damage you take in one hit.

You can switch between different attack styles with your weapon to train these different skills. Although you'll most likely be levelling up the three skills in tandem with one another, most players prioritise Strength, since the augmentation to your max hit increases your XP rates better than both Attack and Defence training.

Having the right weapon for the job is incredibly important when training combat, for obvious reasons. Weapons all have an Attack requirement to wield, which is why this is levelled up in conjunction with Strength before level 85 or so. The one critical thing to remember