# Combat level

A player's, monster's, or NPC's combat level is a number calculated using their stats to show roughly how difficult they are to defeat. All players start out at combat level 3, with the maximum combat level for players being 138, although NPCs can have considerably higher levels. Combat level is calculated by taking the following skills into account:

## Calculating

 template = Template:Calculator/Combat level
form = combatCalcForm
result = combatCalcResult
param = playername|Player name||hs|attack,1,1;strength,3,1;ranged,5,1;magic,7,1;defence,2,1;constitution,4,1;prayer,6,1;summoning,24,1
param = attack|Attack|1|int|1-99
param = strength|Strength|1|int|1-99
param = ranged|Ranged|1|int|1-99
param = magic|Magic|1|int|1-99
param = defence|Defence|1|int|1-99
param = constitution|Constitution|10|int|10-99
param = prayer|Prayer|1|int|1-99
param = summoning|Summoning|1|int|0-99

 Please wait for the form to load. If it does not load, try Refreshing the page Checking that you have JavaScript enabled in your browser Checking your custom JavaScript does not interfere with the calculator script in any way

The formula for determining a player's combat level is:

${\displaystyle {\frac {\left({\frac {13}{10}}\times \max \left((Att+Str),2Mag,2Rng\right)\right)+Def+Const+\lfloor {\frac {1}{2}}Pray\rfloor +\lfloor {\frac {1}{2}}Summ\rfloor }{4}}}$

Note: If your summoning is more than 5, on free-to-play worlds it will calculate your combat level as if it was 1.

Summoning and Prayer are both rounded down after being multiplied by 1/2. The final quotient is never rounded up. For example, after using the formula, if a player's level is 87.975, their combat level will appear as 87.

This will give a maximum combat level of 138 for any player with level 99 Attack + Strength/Magic/Ranged, 99 Defence, 99 Constitution and 96/99 Summoning and Prayer. Free worlds do not take a player's Summoning level into account. Therefore, the maximum level for free players is 126, even if a player has trained Summoning to level 5.

Although most monsters have their levels calculated using the same formula that players use, a select few have levels manually set by Jagex that do not reflect their true stats.

Levels that are significantly lower than the player display shades of green, levels that are slightly lower than one's display yellow-green, levels that are equal to one's are displayed as yellow, and levels that are higher than yours display shades of orange to red. In the Wilderness, levels outside the combat range will appear white. The difference in colours can be seen up to 10 levels higher or lower than your current combat level after which it will either show the brightest shade of green or red depending on whether the combat level is lower or higher.

In the Wilderness, a player's combat level is shown slightly differently. Unless a player has a summoning pouch in their inventory or a summoning familiar summoned, the combat levels gained from summoning will not be part of the player's main combat level, and instead the levels they would have gained from summoning are shown as +X after their main combat level. For example, a player with no summoning pouch or familiar would be level 79+6 instead of 85.

### Monsters

Most monsters' combat levels are equal to the sum of their defence stat and their highest attack, ranged, or magic stat, and then multiplied by 0.7.

## Effects of combat level

A player gaining the maximum combat level.

Normally, aggressive NPC's will stop attacking a player if the player has double the NPC's combat level +1. Since the maximum combat level for players is 138, aggressive monsters that are level 69 or above will always attack a player. There are exceptions, however - for example, some monsters in the Wilderness that are normally not aggressive will be aggressive to players no matter what their combat level is.

Monsters with a higher combat level than a player usually cannot be attacked by using a left mouse click. Instead, players need to right click and select the attack option. So, to be able to attack a Blue dragon with a simple left click, a player needs a combat level of at least 74. Many bosses and other high-levelled monsters are exceptions to this, such as the God Wars Dungeon generals, as well as popular high level monsters such as tormented demons, dark beasts, and metal dragons. All monsters in Daemonheim are also exceptions. However, in combat settings it is now possible to choose whether this is decided by combat level, or all attack options are left click, right click, or hidden.

Players may view another players combat level by right clicking them if they have their weapons unsheathed. If their weapons are sheathed, their Skill total is shown instead. A player can toggle between showing their combat level or skill total to other players by right-clicking the [*] button on the top-right of their keybind bar and selecting Sheathe/Unsheathe Weapon.

There are some requirements in game that require a certain combat level. There is one quest requiring a certain combat level, Dream Mentor. Training with certain Slayer Masters, and also the Void Knight activities Pest Control and Conquest, also have combat level requirements.

## History

In RuneScape Classic, the combat formula treated Magic as a much more separate skill, much like Prayer and Summoning are treated now. The maximum combat level at the time was 123, and the combat system used the following formula:

${\displaystyle {\frac {\max \left((Att+Str),{\frac {3}{2}}Rng\right)+Def+Hit+{\frac {1}{2}}Mag+{\frac {1}{2}}Pray}{4}}}$

Notable is that the Magic and Prayer level are not rounded down in this formula, as opposed to the combat formula in RuneScape 2 and 3. In RuneScape 2, the combat formula was changed to the following, where Magic was adopted into the combat triangle used in RuneScape today. This resulted in the following formula, used from the launch of RS2 (although without Summoning at the time), until the Evolution of Combat:

${\displaystyle {\frac {{\frac {13}{10}}\times \max \left((Att+Str),{\frac {3}{2}}Mag,{\frac {3}{2}}Rng\right)+Def+Const+\lfloor {\frac {1}{2}}Pray\rfloor +\lfloor {\frac {1}{2}}Summ\rfloor }{4}}}$

This formula meant that a player with 99 Attack and Strength would have a higher combat level than another with 99 Ranged or Magic, leaving warriors a far higher level than rangers and mages.

The release of Evolution of Combat changed the formula significantly, giving players a minimum level of 4 and a maximum level of 200. Constitution and Prayer were no longer taken into account, and only the highest of Attack, Strength, Ranged, Magic, or Summoning, together with Defence, was used in the calculation.

${\displaystyle \max \left(Att,Str,Mag,Rng,Summ\right)+Def+2}$

The current formula was released at the same time as Legacy mode after a Power to the Players poll. It is a slightly tweaked version of the original 138 formula, changed to make Ranged and Magic equal to Melee.

## Trivia

Levelling combat
138 Combat Tune/Fireworks
Tune
• In DeviousMUD, the highest combat level a player could reach was 52.[source needed]
• Past maximum combat levels include level 123 in RuneScape Classic, 126 after the Release of RuneScape 2, 138 after Summoning was added, and briefly to 200 after the release of the Evolution of Combat before being reverted back to 138.
• In RuneScape Classic, players started at level 1 combat. This was later changed to 3.