The most common combat style in Old School RuneScape, Melee is about getting up close with your opponent to deal hard-hitting damage with swords, hammers, and other hand-held weapons.
Also considered the “cheapest” style to use since you do not have to worry about buying runes or ranged ammunition, Melee gear is typically a combination of a single powerful weapon and tanky defensive gear to protect you from multiple combatants simultaneously.
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Without talking about weapons, what is considered the best Melee armour in Old School RuneScape? Often, this depends on what you will be fighting and if you will be playing a tank or DPS role.
The best Melee armour in OSRS includes Torva Armour, Bandos armour, Justiciar armour, Inquisitor’s armour, Barrows armour, Obsidian armour, and the Melee Void Knight set.
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Best Melee Armour in OSRS
Melee armour usually falls into two categories: Tank-based and DPS-based. Players will pick their gear depending on their actions, such as soloing Vorkath or tanking hits at the God Wars Dungeon.
While the melee weapon of choice will also vary, picking your armour is another decision you must make.
Torva Armour
Hands down, the best Melee armour in Old School RuneScape is Torva Armour.
Also, being the most expensive armour in the game, the full set can be purchased for around 1b (yes, billion) gp, or earn each item as a drop from Nex, the Zaros boss of the God Wars Dungeon.
Torva armour requires 80 Defence to equip, and has incredible defensive stats that can allow you to tank even the hardest of hits.
When fully equipped, it will provide a +263 Defensive Stab, +249 Defensive Slash, +258 Defensive Crush, and. +301 Defensive Ranged bonuses.
Additionally, full Torva also gives you a +18 Strength and +3 Prayer bonus, as if having 250+ defensive bonuses wasn’t enough.
These bonuses do not include the additional effects of wearing other items like an Amulet of Fury or Barrows Gloves, which will only increase your Melee capabilities even further.
While it is a costly investment, this armour is perfect for anyone who does high-intensity PvM content.
Although it does not change its stats, Torva comes with a cosmetic called “Sanguine Torva” which is earned by using an Ancient Blood Ornament Kit on each piece, turning it a dark red colour.
Bandos Armour
A much more efficient and cost-effective armour set is Bandos armour, which used to be the best-in-slot armour in Old School RuneScape until Torva armour was released.
Bandos armour consists of the Bandos Chestplate, Bandos Tassets and Bandos Boots (although the boots are often substituted for Dragon Boots/Primordial Boots for the extra Strength bonus).
Requiring 65 Defence to equip, the set can be bought from the Grand Exchange for around 50m or earned individually as drops from General Graardor and his minions in the God Wars Dungeon.
When wearing the Bandos Chestplate and Bandos Tassets, you will have +169 Defensive Stab, +156 Defensive Slash, +171 Defensive Crush, and +226 Defensive Ranged bonuses. This is further stacked with a +6 Strength and +2 Prayer bonus.
Bandos armour is commonly used in nearly every PvM scenario for granting players high DPS while still having high defensive stats.
It is a reliable set of armour that provides great Strength and Defensive bonuses without having to spend all of your gp to attain.
Justiciar Armour
While Bandos armour is a fantastic set for offensive bonuses, Justiciar armour is mostly tank-based armour that comes with bonuses meant to keep you alive longer.
Requiring 75 Defence to wear, full Justiciar can be bought from the Grand Exchange for around 52m or earned as possible rewards from the Theatre of Blood.
The full set gives a +287 Defensive Stab, +285 Defensive Slash, +269 Defensive Crush, and +311 Defensive Ranged bonuses, as well as an incredible +10 Prayer bonus.
A lesser-known fact about Justiciar is that it has a set effect when wearing the complete armour: it will reduce damage from all combat styles instead of merely degrading hit chance, making this the perfect armour set to wear when tanking bosses like the God Wars Dungeon or the Corporeal Beast.
Being around the same price of Bandos armour, Justiciar is also an armour set worth considering if you find yourself in group bossing situations and somebody needs to act as the tank role. It is an incredibly tough armour that is worth getting if possible.
Inquisitor’s Armour
While not having nearly the same Defensive bonuses as some of the previous entries, Inquisitor’s armour serves another purpose for those using the Melee combat style.
Based on its stats, it focuses on Crush-based Melee combat, making it a niche but useful armour set for when a scenario calls for it.
Requiring 70 Strength and 30 Defence to wear, it only gives a +128 Defensive Stab, +95 Defensive Slash, +141 Defensive Crush, and +69 Defensive Ranged bonus. However, it gives a +32 Offensive Crush bonus (the only armour to give Offensive combat stats), as well as +10 Strength and +5 Prayer bonus.
Inquisitor’s armour can be bought from the Grand Exchanger for around 155m, or earned as drops from the Nightmare boss.
Inquisitor’s armour has a set effect: when worn completely, it will further increase the accuracy and damage of Crush-based weaponry. This makes this armour perfect to wear at bosses like the Nightmare, the Kalphite Queen, or Sarachnis.
Still, it is relatively niche in application, but it still has nice bonuses for when it is utilized.
Barrows Armour
The infamous Barrows Brothers of Old School RuneScape have allowed players the chance to earn some of the coolest armour in the game since 2005.
Four of the six brothers utilize Melee combat, meaning their armour not only provides great Melee Defensive capabilities, but also has set effects that you can use in your own combat.
Barrows Armour requires a blanket requirement of 70 Defence to wear, however some sets also require 70 Attack, 70 Strength, or both to use.
While the price for each armour set can range from 600k to 3m on the Grand Exchange, they can also be earned by completing Barrows Runs.
Dharok the Wretched’s Armour
Requiring 70 Defence, 70 Attack, and 70 Strength to wear (including the Dharok’s Axe), the full set gives +252 Defensive Stab, +250 Defensive Slash, +234 Defensive Crush, and +274 Defensive Ranged bonuses.
When wearing all four pieces, this armour has a set effect that will increase your maximum hit based on how low your hitpoints are.
This gives you the capability to one-hit most opponents, making this a popular armour to wear during PvP or Melee-training at the Nightmare Zone.
Verac the Defiled’s Armour
Requiring 70 Defence to wear and 70 Attack for its weapon, Verac’s armour is commonly interchangeable between other armour pieces due to its great Defensive stats and Prayer bonuses.
The full set gives a +221 Defensive Stab, +235 Defensive Slash, +222 Defensive Crush, and +221 Defensive Ranged bonus, as well as +12 Prayer bonus (+18 if utilizing the Verac’s Flail).
This armour’s set effect will have a 25% chance of ignoring your opponent’s defensive bonuses and Protection Prayers.
Because of this, it is often used against bosses like the Kalphite Queen, which use Protection Prayers and are weak to Crush attacks.
However, its Prayer bonuses truly shine when matched with its defensive stats, as players will wear the Helm or Plateskirt, combined with other armour sets when using a hybrid/tribrid setup at bosses like Dagannoth Kings or Commander Zilyana.
Torag the Corrupted’s Armour
Requiring 70 Defence, 70 Attack and 70 Strength to wear the full set, Torag’s armour is considered the toughest armour out of the Barrows brothers.
Full Torag will give you a +262 Defensive Stab, +260 Defensive Slash, +244 Defensive Crush, and +286 Defensive Ranged bonus.
Although not the greatest set effect, wearing full Torag’s armour will have a chance to lower your target’s Run Energy. Most of the time, the Torag’s Hammers are not used at all, as this armour is mostly used in tank-based scenarios.
Surpassing even Dharok’s armour, Torag’s armour is a cheap alternative to something like Justiciar where being able to withstand heavy hits is the goal.
Guthan the Infested’s Armour
Requiring 70 Defence and 70 Attack to use, Guthan’s armour has one of the most useful set effects in Old School RuneScape.
The full set alone will give you a +259 Defensive Stab, +257 Defensive Slash, +241 Defensive Crush, and +276 Defensive Ranged bonus. However, when you wear the full set (including the Guthan’s Warspear) you will have a chance to heal yourself based on how much damage you do during an attack.
The set effect makes this armour incredibly valuable for situations like AFK combat training, or to quickly heal against monsters when needed (Slayer, the minions in the God Wars Dungeon, etc.).
Obsidian Armour
While not as flashy or strong as much of the previously mentioned armour sets, Obsidian armour is often used as a stepping stone between Rune armour and Barrows armour.
Requiring 60 Defence to use, Obsidian armour is often used to low-level accounts looking to maximize their Offensive Strength bonuses.
There are three different Obsidian armour pieces, not including the Toktz-Ket-Xil (aka “TzHaar Shield”) and the Obsidian Cape.
The Obsidian armour itself provides a +126 Defensive Stab, +144 Defensive Slash, +123 Defensive Crush, and +124 Defensive Ranged bonus.
These three pieces combined will also give you a +7 Strength bonus, making this a great low-level armour for those taking part in PvP or regular Slayer.
The Toktz-Ket-Xil gives an additional +40 Defensive Stab, +42 Defensive Slash, +38 Defensive Crush, and +65 Defensive Ranged bonus, along with an extra +5 Strength bonus.
In most cases, the shield is the first upgrade that players will purchase, pairing it with Rune or even Barrows armour when they do not have a Defender yet.
The Obsidian Cape is unique in the fact that is does not have a level requirement to wear. Despite this, it will give a blanket +9 Defensive bonus to all combat stats.
The Obsidian Cape is popular for players who do not have a Fire Cape, as it provides some of the best Defensive stats for an item that does not have any requirements to wear.
The Obsidian Armour itself can be bought for around 3m on the Grand Exchange, or earned as a drop by killing creatures within the inner ring of TzHaar City.
The TzHaar shield can be bought for around 500k, while the cape typically sells for 800k on the Grand Exchange, but can be obtained as a drop from TzHaar creatures throughout all of TzHaar City.
Void Knight Equipment
Void Knight Equipment in Old School RuneScape is meant to turn players into a glass cannon. Despite having relatively low requirements to wear, it is still used in some of the highest-level forms of PvM and PvP content.
Void Knight armour requires 42 Attack, 42 Strength, 42 Defence, 42 Ranged, 42 Magic, 42 Hitpoints, and 22 Prayer to wear, and can only be earned from the Reward Shop at the Pest Control minigame.
What makes Void Knight armour so powerful is that it has a set effect that will increase your accuracy and damage by a certain amount based on which helm you are wearing.
When wearing the Void Melee Helm, along with the other three pieces, you will have an increased +10% accuracy and damage to Melee combat.
In addition, Void Knight armour has an Elite Variant that will further increase your offensive capabilities.
Surprisingly, the Melee helm is the only helm that does not get additional combat bonus, but instead you are given an additional +6 Prayer bonus (through the Elite Robes).
That is the best Melee armour in OSRS!
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