When training your Melee combat skills in Old School RuneScape, Strength is one of the first skills players will try to max.
This is because increasing your max hit will effectively make training your other combat skills much more efficient. Being able to one-hit certain monsters with ease is always a nice sight to see.
Recommended Read: OSRS – 1-99 Woodcutting Guide
As for training Strength directly, deciding a weapon to use can be tricky, as only a handful of weapons specialize in training the Strength skill, as opposed to using a balanced weapon that may not provide optimal experience per hour.
The best weapons for training Strength in OSRS include the Blade of Saeldor, the Abyssal Bludgeon, the Abyssal Dagger, the Staff of the Dead, the Saradomin Sword, and the Dharok’s Greataxe with the full Dharok’s armour set.
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Best Weapons for Training Strength in OSRS
Training Strength first is important when considering how Melee combat works in Old School RuneScape.
The key to leveling your combat stats as quickly as possible often boils down to your Damage-Per-Second, or “DPS”.
The more damage you can do in a short amount of time, means more experience you can earn to train your skills.
Therefore, players will seek to prioritize training the Strength skill over Attack and Defence because Strength directly ties into a player’s max hit.
We previously covered the best melee weapons in Old School RuneScape, but this will focus directly on weapons for training Strength.
With all of that out of the way, it is important to choose a weapon based on the kind of combat you will find yourself in and the amount of gp you are willing to invest in it.
While purchasing something like the Blade of Saeldor for around 100m seems worthwhile, would it be equally important to buy a full set of Dharok’s armour for around 5m, along with other Strength-boosting upgrades to build a reliable combat loadout?
Blade of Saeldor
Overall, this is one of the best weapons in Old School RuneScape that can be used to train Strength and all melee skills effectively. Requiring 80 Attack to wield, it sells for around 110m on the Grand Exchange.
Primarily used with the Slash attack style, it has a +123 Slash and +97 Strength bonus.
The main downside to this weapon is that it is expensive. It is also degradable and will need to be charged with Crystal Shards to continue using it after a while.
However, a Corrupted variant makes it undegradable that you can make yourself.
The Blade of Saeldor is one of those weapons most max players strive to invest in. It can be used in nearly every PvM scenario, making it reliable when focused on Slash attack damage.
Abyssal Bludgeon
One of many two-handed weapons on this list, the Abyssal Bludgeon requires 70 Attack and 70 Strength to equip.
Thankfully, it is relatively cheap, at 12m on the Grand Exchange or earned by collecting pieces from the Abyssal Sire.
The Abyssal Bludgeon is a Crush-based weapon with a +102 Crush and +85 Strength bonus. The main drawback is that since this weapon is two-handed, you will not be able to use the additional bonuses of a Defender.
Being multiple bosses and monsters in Old School RuneScape is only weak to Crush (Kalphites, the Nightmare), the Abyssal Bludgeon doubles as being great for Strength-based training and an excellent choice for those niche combat scenarios.
Instead of spending millions more gp for an Inquisitor’s Mace or Dragon Warhammer, the Abyssal Bludgeon is a much more cost-effective option that can still be used in other combat scenarios.
Abyssal Dagger
Following the similar traits of the previous entry, the Abyssal Dagger requires 70 Attack to wield and can be bought for around 3m on the Grand Exchange (or obtained as a reward from the Abyssal Sire like the Bludgeon).
Focusing on the Stab-combat style, it has a +105 Stab and +83 Strength bonus. It is also one-handed, so it can be paired with your best Defender to increase your offensive stats.
With its low price and great stats, it is an optimal weapon for training Strength and doing regular PvM-based activities.
Players who use an Abyssal Dagger can also invest more in the rest of their gear for additional Strength bonuses.
Staff of the Dead
The oddball weapon on this list, the Staff of the Dead, comes with melee stats of its own that can be used to train Strength effectively.
Currently selling for around 12m on the Grand Exchange, it can be obtained as a drop from K’ril Tsutsaroth of the God Wars Dungeon.
The Staff of the Dead requires 75 Attack and 75 Magic to equip and has +55 Stab, +70 Slash, and +72 Strength bonuses.
While it can normally be used to auto-cast undead-based spells, its Slash and Strength bonuses can also be used to train Strength.
Furthermore, it can be paired with a Defender to help increase its offensive capabilities.
Saradomin Sword/ Saradomin’s Blessed Sword
The cheapest option on this list is the Saradomin Sword, which is normally sold on the Grand Exchange for around 200k or can be obtained as a drop from Commander Zilyana of the God Wars Dungeon.
The Saradomin Sword requires 70 Attack to wield and is primarily Slash-based, as it has a +82 Slash and +82 Strength bonus.
A variant of the Saradomin Sword is Saradomin’s Blessed Sword, which is obtained by using a Saraomin’s Tear on a regular Saradomin Sword (or purchased from the Grand Exchange for around 5m).
The Saradomin’s Blessed Sword (sometimes called the Blessed Sara Sword) requires 75 Attack to wield and comes with an increased +100 Slash and +88 Strength bonus.
However, the Blessed Sara Sword is degradable. The sword itself disappears after 10,000 hits, and you get the Saradomin’s Tear in return.
Both variants are cost-effective, reliable weapons that can be used to train Strength, especially while you are trying to focus on improving DPS in other areas (such as gear upgrades).
Dharok’s Greataxe (Full Dharok’s)
While this technically discusses the full armour set, the Dharok’s Greataxe becomes an excellent Strength-training weapon when used with the full set.
The full set requires 70 Attack and 70 Defence to equip, and it can be bought from the Grand Exchange for around 5m or earned by completing runs of the Barrows minigame.
Dharok is a Slash-based attack style with a +103 Slash and +105 Strength bonus. However, this armour shines when using its set effect: the lower your hitpoints, the higher you will hit.
When referencing how having an increased DPS is the best way to train your combat stats, it is common for players to wear a full set of Dharok’s armour, purposely keep their hitpoints low while fighting through rounds of the Nightmare Zone to be able to earn hundreds of thousands of Strength experience per hour in an AFK fashion.
If you want to train Strength without having to full focus on PvM combat or bossing, consider using a full set of Dharok’s against a group of monsters while AFK, such as at the Nightmare Zone or passive Slayer.
Those are the best weapons for training Strength in Old School RuneScape!
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