Melee combat in Old School RuneScape has proven to be one of the most robust combat styles.
With an endless arsenal of weapons, armour, and gear to choose from, utilizing Melee combat means you can close the distance to play DPS, a tank role, or anything in between.
Recommended Read: Best Ranged Gear in Old School RuneScape
With so many weapons to choose from and with three different skills directly involved with Melee, it can be tough to distinguish which ones are best for the content you’re after.
The best Melee weapons in OSRS include the Osmunten’s Fang, the Soulreaper Axe, the Ghrazi Rapier, the Inquisitor’s Mace, the Blade of Saeldor, and the Abyssal Whip.
Table of Contents
Best Melee Weapons in OSRS
As mentioned, there are three skills that increase your Melee capabilities: Attack, Strength, and Defense.
In our guide for training melee from 1-99, we described the various ways to train Melee and how the gear you will choose is usually based on what you will be fighting.
Specifically, choosing a weapon has another layer of judgment, where you need to factor in which skill you wish to train (Attack, Strength, Defense) or if you are focused on playing a DPS or tank role for high-level PvM content.
Osmumten’s Fang (Requires 82 Attack)
Released as a rare reward from the Tombs of Amascut raid, the Osmumten’s Fang is a powerful Melee weapon that can be used to train all of the Melee combat skills.
Despite being one of the best weapons in the game, it only sells for around 30m on the Grand Exchange.
The Osmumten’s Fang has an impressive +135 Stab and +111 Strength bonus, making it incredibly accurate against most endgame PvM content.
Since it has such a high Stab bonus, players typically keep in on the Stab attack style, primarily focusing on training Attack.
Another benefit of the Osmumten’s Fang is that it does not degrade, unlike some other weapons in the game.
Soulreaper Axe (Requires 80 Attack and 80 Strength)
The latest release on our list of Melee weapons, the Soulreaper Axe, is one of the strongest weapons in Old School RuneScape, primarily leaning towards Strength.
It has a +28 Stab, +134 Slash, +66 Crush, and +121 Strength bonus, making it incredibly strong against creatures with a high defense.
Obtaining a Soulreaper Axe naturally can be a tough task, as you will need each of the four components that are dropped from the four Desert Treasure II bosses.
Once you have all four, you can use them with each other and 2,000 Blood Runes to create the Soulreaper Axe.
Alternatively, they usually sell on the Grand Exchange for around 300m.
The Soulreaper Axe also comes with a unique property that is not seen with many other items in Old School RuneScape.
When you land a hit with it, you will be damaged for 8 hitpoints and gain a “Soul Stack”, which will give you an additional +6% to your Strength.
You can have a maximum of 5 Soul Stacks at a time. This weapon also has a special attack that removes all of your Soul Stacks, provides you +6% Attack and Strength, and heals you for 8 hitpoints (per Soul Stack).
The Soulreaper Axe is a powerful Melee weapon that can be used in both PvM and PvP content. The only downside is the process to create one if you are an Ironman account.
Inquisitor’s Mace (Requires 80 Attack)
When it comes to crush-based weapons, very few can compete with the Inquisitor’s Mace. While the Crush attack style only has a few niche uses, the Inquisitor’s Mace can still be used in many ways.
The Inquisitor’s Mace has a +52 Stab, -4 Slash, +95 Crush, and +89 Strength bonus. It also comes with a +2 Prayer bonus, one of the few weapons to give a Prayer bonus.
Usually selling for around 250m on the Grand Exchange, the Inquisitor’s Mace can be obtained as a drop from the Nightmare boss.
What sets this mace apart from other Crush weapons is that you can utilize the Crush attack style to train all forms of Melee instead of having to switch weapons to use Stab (Attack) or Slash (Strength) when fighting an opponent that is resistant to Crush.
This weapon is great for bosses and PvM content that is weak to the Crush attack style, such as the Kalphite Queen, the Nightmare, Venenatis, or Sarachnis.
Blade Of Saeldor (Requires 80 Attack and the “Song of the Elves” quest completed)
The Blade of Saeldor is one of two enchanted crystal weapons in OSRS.
Along with the 80 Attack requirement, you will need to have completed the “Song of the Elves” quest to use it (as you need to charge it with Crystal Shards that are only obtainable in Prifddinas).
With a +55 Stab, +94 Slash, and +89 Strength, not only is it a strong Melee weapon, but it’s attack speed is on par with that of an Abyssal Whip or Gharzi Rapier.
Creating a Blade of Saeldor starts with an Enchanted Crystal Weapon Seed, which can be charged with 100 Crystal Shards at a singing bowl in Prifddinas to create the Blade of Saeldor.
Furthermore, you can buy an inactive Blade of Saeldor for around 100m.
The only downside of the Blade of Saeldor is that it is degradable, as it uses up Crystal Shards for each attack. Once it runs out of charges, it will be turned into its inactive state, making it tradable but unusable.
You also have the option to turn it into the corrupted variant by using 1,000 Crystal Shards on it with a singing bowl. This will make it so it no longer degrades, while defaulting it into a red colour.
Ghrazi Rapier (Requires 80 Attack)
In a similar vein to the Osmunten’s Fang, the Ghrazi Rapier is a stab-focused weapon that does incredible damage to all attack styles.
Obtained as a rare drop from the Theatre of Blood, the Ghrazi Rapier can also be purchased from the Grand Exchange for around 50m.
With a +94 Stab, 55 Slash, and +89 Strength bonus, it is an accurate weapon when using the Stab attack style. It also uses the same attack speed as the Blade of Saeldor and Abyssal Whip, with a 4-tick attack rate.
Unlock a weapon like the Blade of Saeldor. It does not degrade and also comes at a respectable price.
If you are looking for a reliable weapon that can be used in all types of content to train Attack, Strength, or Defense, the Ghrazi Rapier is an excellent choice.
Bandos Godsword (Requires 75 Attack)
While there are five different Godswords in Old School RuneScape (Bandos, Saradomin, Zamorak, Armadyl, Zaros), the Bandos Godsword is highlighted due to its use in high-level PvM content.
Each Godsword gives you a +132 Slash, +80 Crush, +132 Strength, and +8 Prayer bonus.
While its Slash bonus surpasses most other attack bonuses from other weapons, not only are godswords two-handed weapons, but they have an incredibly slow attack speed (6 ticks).
The Bandos Godsword is currently sold on the Grand Exchange for around 24m, however you can make one yourself by gathering all of the Godsword shards and a Bandos Hilt from General Graardor in the God Wars Dungeon.
What makes the Bandos Godsword used in most bossing content is that its special attack drains an opponent’s combat levels (starting with Defense) based on the damage hit.
While using the special attack, it will hit for double your accuracy and provide +21% damage.
While decent as a standard weapon, players often use a Bandos Godsword as a secondary weapon to drain the combat stats of high-level monsters such as Vorkath, the Corporeal Beast, the Kalphite Queen, at Raids, and so much more.
While the Dragon Warhammer has an extremely similar special attack (except it focuses solely on Defense rather than draining all the combat stats), it does not have an attack bonus that comes close to the Bandos Godsword, even when using a Dragon/Avernic Defender.
If you find yourself attempting to get into bossing content and find yourself struggling to hit, using a Bandos Godsword special attack at the start of a fight, then switching to your primary will make a world of a difference.
Abyssal Whip (Requires 70 Attack) / Abyssal Tentacle (Requires 75 Attack)
One of the most iconic weapons on this list, the Abyssal Whip is a one-handed Slash-based Melee weapon that is fantastic for both regular training and high-level PvM content.
Only going for around 1.5m on the Grand Exchange, they can also be obtained as a drop from an Abyssal Demon or the Abyssal Sire, which both require 85 Slayer to kill.
Having a respectable +82 Slash and +82 Strength bonus, the Abyssal Whip is one of the oldest weapons in Old School RuneScape. And all these years, it has continued to be a reliable weapon in nearly every scenario.
The Abyssal Whip also comes with a special attack that increases your attack by 25% while draining a target’s run energy (if used in PvP).
For players that are just obtaining tier 70 gear, the Abyssal Whip is an excellent weapon upgrade to train both Attack and Defense.
While it does not have an attack style that directly trains Strength, you can switch it to the “controlled” style to train Attack, Strength, and Defense evenly at the same time.
There is also an upgraded version of the Abyssal Whip called the “Abyssal Tentacle”. This can be made by using a Kraken Tentacle on an Abyssal Whip.
Not only will this make it untradable, but once the Abyssal Tentacle has made 10,000 attacks, the Abyssal Whip will be destroyed, only returning the Kraken Tentacle.
On the bright side of the creation process, the Abyssal Tentacle has a +90 Slash and +86 Strength bonus. It will also have a chance to poison the target you are attacking.
The Abyssal Tentacle also has a different special attack than the Abyssal Whip. When activated, it will entangle an enemy in place for 5 seconds while also poisoning them 50% of the time.
Viggora’s Chainmace (Requires 60 Attack) / Ursine Chainmace (Requires 70 Attack)
For players that often find themselves in the Wilderness, specifically killing Revenants or Venenatis/Spindel, the Viggora’s Chainmace is the perfect weapon for you.
With a +53 Stab, -2 Slash, +67 Crush, +66 Strength, and +2 Prayer bonus, the Viggora’s Chainmace isn’t the strongest weapon available when doing normal content. However, this weapon shines when used in the Wilderness.
The Viggora’s Chainmace, when charged with Revenant Ether, will give you an additional +50% Attack and Strength bonus when fighting monsters in the Wilderness. Note that this effect does not work when fighting<orang against other players.
This passive ability makes this a favorite for those hunting Revenants or fighting against Venenatis/Spindel, who are both weak to the Crush attack style.
The Viggora’s Chainmace can be obtained as a drop from the Revanants in the Revenant Cave, or bought from the Grand Exchange for around 4m.
This weapon can also be upgraded by using the Claws of Callisto on it, turning it into the Ursine Chainmace.
While the Ursine Chainmace requires 70 Attack to use, it comes with slightly better stats, now with a +71 Crush and +74 Strength bonus.
Either of these weapons is the best choice if you plan on doing extensive amounts of PvM content in the Wilderness.
Those are the best Melee weapons in Old School RuneScape!
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