OSRS Combat Training Guide: Leveling Your Core Skills

Combat is the heart of adventure in Old School RuneScape. Leveling your combat skills – Attack, Strength, Defence, Ranged, Magic, Prayer, and Hitpoints – unlocks powerful abilities, better gear, and access to challenging bosses and content. This guide provides an overview of effective strategies for training these essential skills.

Understanding Combat Styles

  • Melee: Uses swords, axes, maces, etc. Skills involved: Attack (Accuracy), Strength (Damage), Defence (Resistance). Typically strong against Ranged users. See the Melee Training Guide.
  • Ranged: Uses bows, crossbows, throwing weapons. Skill involved: Ranged (Accuracy & Damage). Defence provides resistance. Typically strong against Magic users. See the Ranged Training Guide.
  • Magic: Uses spells cast via staves/wands. Skill involved: Magic (Accuracy & Damage). Magic Defence provides resistance. Typically strong against Melee users (especially metal armour). See the Magic Training Guide.
  • The Combat Triangle: Melee > Ranged > Magic > Melee. Understanding this basic principle helps choose effective tactics. Learn more in our Combat Triangle Guide.

Supporting Combat Skills

  • Prayer: Provides crucial overhead protection prayers (reducing damage by 100% from one style), offensive stat boosts (Piety, Rigour, Augury), and utility spells. Essential for high-level PvM and efficient training. See the Prayer Training Guide.
  • Hitpoints (HP): Represents your life force. Trained passively whenever you gain Attack, Strength, Defence, or Ranged XP through combat (1.33 HP XP per 4 combat XP earned, or 1 HP XP per 1 damage dealt). Magic combat spells also grant HP XP.

Efficient Training Strategies

Questing for Early Levels

Completing specific quests early on grants substantial XP rewards, allowing you to skip the slowest low-level grind for Melee, Ranged, Magic, and Prayer. Refer to the individual skill training guides linked above for lists of recommended quests (e.g., Waterfall Quest, Witch's House, Fight Arena for Melee; Shadow of the Storm, Death to the Dorgeshuun for Ranged; Imp Catcher, Witch's Potion for Magic; Restless Ghost, Holy Grail for Prayer).

Dedicated Training Methods (Fastest XP)

These methods focus purely on maximizing XP/hr for specific styles, often at a high cost or requiring specific setups:

  • Melee: Nightmare Zone (NMZ) using Dharok's set (high HP needed) or Obsidian armour + Berserker Necklace. AFK methods also exist in NMZ using Absorption potions. Sand/Ammonite Crabs are excellent low-cost AFK options.
  • Ranged: Chinning (throwing Chinchompas) at Maniacal Monkeys (MM2 required) offers the absolute fastest Ranged XP but is very expensive. Cannon usage during Slayer or at specific spots (Ogres, Trolls) provides great passive XP. AFK NMZ with Venator Bow is also viable.
  • Magic: Bursting/Barraging (Ancient Magicks) monsters in multi-combat areas like Maniacal Monkeys or Slayer tasks (Dust Devils, Nechryaels) is the fastest Magic combat XP, though costly. High Level Alchemy offers profitable, passive XP.

Slayer: The Balanced Approach

  • Method: Train combat skills while completing Slayer assignments from a Slayer Master.
  • Benefits: Trains Slayer simultaneously, unlocks unique profitable monsters and bosses, often profitable overall, more varied gameplay. Slayer Helmet (i) provides significant damage/accuracy boosts on task.
  • Drawbacks: Generally slower pure combat XP/hr compared to dedicated methods like NMZ or chinning. Requires travel and specific gear/strategies depending on the task.
  • See our Slayer Training Guide for detailed strategies.

Prayer Training

As Prayer doesn't level through combat itself, it requires dedicated training, typically by using bones on altars. The main trade-off is between speed and cost:

  • Gilded Altar (POH): Fastest guaranteed XP, very expensive.
  • Chaos Altar (Wilderness): Most cost-effective (potentially half the cost of Gilded), slightly slower due to risk/banking, high PK risk.
  • Other Methods: Ensouled Heads, Ectofuntus, Libation Bowl offer different balances of speed, cost, and intensity. See the Prayer Guide.

Gear Progression

Always aim to use the best gear you can afford and wield for your level and chosen training method. Prioritize:

  1. Weapon: Accuracy and Damage/Strength Bonus for the chosen style.
  2. Offensive Bonuses: Strength bonus (Melee), Ranged Strength (Ranged), Magic Damage % (Magic).
  3. Accuracy Bonuses: Attack bonuses for the relevant style.
  4. Prayer Bonus: Reduces prayer drain, crucial for longer trips using prayers.
  5. Defensive Bonuses: Important for survival, especially against hard-hitting monsters or when tanking.

Check our Gear Progression Guide and specific skill guides for item recommendations.

Conclusion

Training combat in OSRS is a journey with many paths. Whether you prioritize maximum speed via dedicated methods, balanced progression through Slayer, or AFK training while doing other things, understanding the different skills, methods, and gear choices is key. Set your goals, choose your methods, and embark on the path to becoming a formidable warrior, archer, or mage!

Need assistance reaching your combat level goals or tackling tough Slayer tasks? Explore our comprehensive OSRS Services, including Skilling and PvM support. Ensure you have the necessary gear by securing OSRS Gold safely.