Strength

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:StrengthThe RuneScape Classic Wiki also has an article on: classicrsw:Strength

This article is about the skill. For information on training strength, see Melee training.

Strength
Release date	4 January 2001 (Update)
Members only	No
Statistics
Minimum level to be ranked	15 (as of 3 Feb 2023)
Players with 99	306,374 (as of 3 Feb 2023)
Players with 120	28,126 (as of 3 Feb 2023)
Players with 200M XP	8,594 (as of 3 Feb 2023)
Infobox • Talk page

Level Up jingle

Strength is a melee combat skill which increases the amount of damage a player can inflict in melee combat by 2.5 points per level. Additionally, Strength may be required to wield certain weapons and armour, access some Agility shortcuts, and complete several quests.

History

Strength was among the first skills available, introduced with RuneScape's launch on 4 January 2001, along with Attack, Defence, Hitpoints (now Constitution), Ranged, Cooking, Woodcutting, Firemaking, Smithing, and Mining. As the game has progressed, the concept of the skill has remained largely untouched.

Since the skill's inception, increasingly higher tiers of equipment have been released. Bronze through adamant equipment were available since the introduction of the game itself, but rune equipment was not made available until 26 July 2001. Each successive tier of equipment offered increasing Strength bonuses, but none of them required a specific Strength level to equip. It was not until after the release of Regicide on 20 September 2004, the fourth part of the Plague City quest series, that the game saw a weapon which required a Strength level to wield. The quest introduced halberds, two handed weapons which were capable of engaging an opponent in melee combat around obstacles and from up to 2 tiles away. All halberds stronger than steel required a Strength level half of the Attack level required to wield the weapon.

Until 26 January 2005, halberds remained the only weapon type which required a Strength level to equip. However, the release of Slayer introduced gargoyles, which dropped granite mauls, two-handed weapons which required 50 Attack and 50 Strength to equip. On 9 May 2005, the Barrows minigame was added, introducing two new weapons which required a Strength level to equip. Dharok's greataxe and Torag's hammers were two of six legendary weapons originally belonging to the Barrows brothers which could be obtained as a reward from the minigame. Both of these weapons required 70 Attack and Strength to wield, further increasing the maximum Strength level required to equip a weapon. Additionally, Dharok's greataxe, boasting a +105 Strength bonus, was the first weapon to exceed a +100 Strength bonus. Later that year, the TzHaar City was released and along with it, the TzHaar-Ket-Om, colloquially known as the obsidian maul, was released. This was only the second maul to be released and, like the granite maul before it, required a Strength level to equip. Yet, unlike the granite maul, the obsidian maul did not have an Attack requirement, making it the first weapon to only require Strength to use.

No new weapons which required Strength to wield were introduced until 6 March 2007, when the barrelchest anchor was released as a reward for the quest The Great Brain Robbery. A powerful but slow weapon, the anchor required 40 Strength to equip, even though it offered a massive +100 Strength bonus. On 17 March 2009, another quest reward featured a weapon requiring a Strength level to use. The granite mace was the second granite weapon released, and required 50 Attack as well as Strength to wield.

A host of new weapons were released with the Dungeoneering skill on 12 April 2010. Of these new weapons, one entire weapon type featured Strength prominently in its use. Novite through primal mauls required only Strength to wield and offered extremely high Strength bonuses. With a +166 Strength bonus, the primal maul was the strongest weapon in RuneScape. However, its use is restricted to Daemonheim.

Before the Evolution of Combat, when fighting in the aggressive stance, $0.4x$ Strength experience was awarded per hit, where $x$ is the amount of damage dealt. Fighting using the controlled stance, however, awards $0.133x$ Strength experience per hit, where $x$ is the amount of damage dealt. For example, a player who hits a 10 would receive 4 Strength experience when fighting in the aggressive stance and 1.33 Strength experience when fighting in the controlled stance. The amount of experience received when fighting in the controlled stance may be calculated in the same way that experience awarded to the Constitution skill is calculated.

The difference between these two stances is that the aggressive stance solely provides experience for the Strength and Constitution skills. However, the controlled stance distributes experience equally among Strength, Attack, Defence, and Constitution. A player who hits a 10 would receive 1.33 experience in each one of these skills. Additionally, fighting using the aggressive stance provides a hidden boost of +3 to the Strength skill while using the controlled stance only provides a boost of +1.

However, with the release of the evolution of combat, the Strength skill was significantly changed along with all forms of combat. Combat experience is no longer gained from individual hits, but rather successful kills. Furthermore, the skill's effect on overall damage rating was tweaked.

Gaining experience

Combat

Main articles: Pay-to-play melee training and Free-to-play melee training

Prior to the Evolution of Combat, the kicking combat style trained Strength.

Players may receive Strength experience during combat by selecting the Strength skill in the Settings interface > Gameplay tab > Combat drop-down > Combat XP menu > Strength XP checkbox. The Combat XP checkboxes may also be accessed in the Skills drop-down > Experience menu.

If using legacy combat mode, the Combat XP selection may also be made in the Combat tab.

Experience is only gained when the player slays an enemy, after which both Strength and Constitution experience are awarded dependent on the opponent's stats. It is also possible to earn experience across all melee combat skills by selecting Attack, Strength, and Defence in the experience menu. If this is chosen, the amount of experience that would have been awarded to Strength alone is evenly split among the three skills.

Experience rewards

Main article: Strength/Experience rewards

Strength experience may be awarded after the completion of certain quests, miniquests, tasks, random events, Distractions and Diversions, and other minigames. Additionally, experience lamps, dragonkin lamps, and books of knowledge may be used to gain Strength experience.

Bonus/other experience

Several items provide bonus experience in Strength, as well as other melee skills, when equipped. Melee brawling gloves provide a 300% experience bonus to Strength (as well as Attack and Defence) when training combat in the Wilderness and a 50% bonus when training outside of the Wilderness. The brawling gloves last for approximately 100,000 experience before disintegrating.

Individual pieces of sacred clay equipment obtained through the Stealing Creation minigame also provide an experience bonus to Strength and other combat skills. These items double the amount of experience received through combat when equipped. Only one piece of sacred clay armour must be worn to receive this bonus. Similar to the brawling gloves, a piece will disappear after the experience threshold of 24,450 experience is reached.

Strength experience may also be received from damage dealt by certain Summoning familiars. However, different familiars provide experience for different combat skills.

Familiar	Combat level	Summoning level required
Honey badger	38	32
Pyrelord	55	46
Spirit jelly	94	55
Spirit graahk	98	57
Barker toad	78	66
Obsidian golem	125	73
Talon beast	92	77
Moss titan	94	79
Lava titan	99	83

The following familiars grant 13.3% Attack, Strength, and Defence experience per point of damage dealt.

Familiar	Combat level	Summoning level required
Spirit scorpion	23	19
Vampyre bat	36	31
Spirit larupia	98	57
Stranger plant	94	64
Arctic bear	84	71
Giant ent	93	78
Spirit dagannoth	99	83

Equipment

Weapons

A secondary use of the Strength skill is determining which weapons a player may wield in combat. Generally, weapons which require a higher level to equip confer greater combat bonuses, providing some incentive for players to train the skill. All of the weapons in the following table are members only.

Weapon		Attack level	Strength level
	Barrelchest anchor	60	40
	Granite maul	55	55
	Granite mace	55	55
	TzHaar-Ket-Em	60	60
	TzHaar-Ket-Om	1	60
	Torag's hammers	70	70
	Dharok's greataxe	70	70
	Terrasaur maul	1	80
	Ek-ZekKil	1	95

Dungeoneering weapons

Conventional weapons used throughout Gielinor are not allowed in Daemonheim, so a separate set of metals is used during Dungeoneering. The metal types are classified by their "tiers", with tier 1 being the weakest and tier 11 being the strongest. Tiers 1 through 10 weapons may be player made or received as a drop from several monsters, but tier 11 items may only be received as a drop from boss monsters. Of the Dungeoneering weapon types, only mauls require a Strength level. Members-only weapons are indicated by .

Tier	Maul type		Strength level
1		Novite	1
2		Bathus	10
3		Marmaros	20
4		Kratonite	30
5		Fractite	40
6		Zephyrium	50
7		Argonite	60
8		Katagon	70
9		Gorgonite	80
10		Promethium	90
11		Primal	99

Armour

Certain pieces of armour require a Strength level to wear. Though uncommon, a few such pieces exist. All of the pieces of armour in the following table are members only.

Armour		Strength level	Other requirement(s)
	Black mask	20	10 Defence
	Void knight equipment	42	42 Attack, Defence, Constitution, Magic and Ranged, 22 Prayer, and up to 250 commendation points per piece
	Granite equipment	55	55 Defence

Other

Main article: Strength/Level up table

Strength levels are required for various other aspects of the game, including quests, tasks, Agility shortcuts involving grapples, barbarian fishing, minigames, and access to certain areas. Some of these requirements are listed below.

Feature	Strength level	Other requirements
River crossing from Al Kharid to Lumbridge Swamp	19	15 Agility and 48 Fishing
Grapple shortcut from Water Obelisk Island to Catherby	22	36 Agility and 39 Ranged
Ability to catch leaping salmon barehanded	30	30 Agility, 58 Fishing, and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to climb the cliff on White Wolf Mountain from Catherby	35	Completion of Fishing Contest
Ability to catch tuna barehanded	35	55 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Falador wall shortcut north of Falador Park	37	11 Agility and 19 Ranged
Yanille wall shortcut south of the Dragon Inn	38	39 Agility and 21 Ranged
Ability to catch leaping sturgeon barehanded	45	45 Agility, 70 Fishing, and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to catch swordfish barehanded	50	70 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Access to the statues in Bandos's throne room	60	Completion of The Chosen Commander
Access to the God Wars Dungeon via the boulder	60	None
Access to Bandos' Stronghold in the God Wars Dungeon	70	A hammer
Ability to catch shark barehanded	76	96 Fishing and completion of barbarian fishing training
Ability to cross the cave south of Dorgesh-Kaan	80	Completion of Death to the Dorgeshuun
Keep big rock and use for an emote after King of the Dwarves	90	Completion of King of the Dwarves

Temporary boosts

Main article: Temporary skill boost

Various items, potions, prayers, and familiars provide temporary boosts. Below is a list of all possible boosts to Strength.

Visible

Visible boosts are indicated in the stats interface by showing a level increase from the base level.

Potions

Potion	Members	Level increase	Level to make	Notes
Strength potion		1 + 8%	7	Can also be bought at Apothecary at cost of Limpwurt root and a Red spiders' eggs.
Strength mix			9	Heals 300 Life points.
Combat potion		1 + 8%	36	Also boosts Attack.
Combat mix			40	Heals 300 Life points. Also boosts Attack.
Super strength		2 + 12%	55
Super strength mix			59	Heals 600 Life points.
Zamorak brew		1 + 8%	78	Also boosts Attack and drains 12% of current life points.
Zamorak mix			85	Also boosts Attack, heals 600 Life points and drains 12% of current life points.
Super warmaster's potion		2 + 12%	85	Also boosts Attack, Magic, Ranged and Defence by the same amount
Super melee potion		2 + 12%	81	Also boosts Attack and Defence by the same amount
Grand strength potion		2 + 14%	75
Extreme strength		3 + 15%	88
Overload			96	Non-tradeable. Also boosts Attack, Ranged, Magic and Defence, lasting 6 minutes.
Supreme overload potion		4 + 16%	98	Non-tradeable. Also boosts Attack, Ranged, Magic and Defence, lasting 6 minutes. Requires Plague's End.
Elder overload potion		5 + 17%	106	Non-tradeable. Also boosts Attack, Ranged, Magic and Defence, lasting 6 minutes. Requires Plague's End.

Beverages

Item	Members	Level increase	Level to make	Notes
Wizard Blizzard		+5	18	Heals up to 360 Life points, also lowers Attack by -4. Premade version works.
Short Green Guy		+4	20	Heals up to 400 Life points, also lowers Attack by -3. Premade version works.
Asgarnian ale		+2	24	Heals up to 240 Life points, also lowers Attack by -4.
Drunk Dragon		+5	32	Heals up to 640 Life points, also lowers Attack by -4. Premade version works.
Blurberry Special		+7	37	Heals up to 740 Life points, also lowers Attack by -5. Premade version works.
Dragon bitter		+2	39	Heals up to 390 Life points, also lowers Attack by -4.
Beer		+2	None	Heals 100 Life points and lowers Attack by up to -7%.
Beer (tankard)		+4	None	Heals 200 Life points and lowers Attack by -9.
Keg of beer		+10	None	Heals up to 250 Life points and lowers Attack by up to -50%.
Grog		+3	None	Heals up to 100 Life points and lowers Attack by -6.
Braindeath 'rum'		+3	None	Heals up to 990 Life points, boosts +3 , but lowers , , , , , by -5%.

Other

Item	Members	Level increase	Requirements	Notes
Beef-filled flatbread		+1 to +8	86	Non-tradeable. May no longer be obtainable .
Blisterberry		+2	86	Non-tradeable. Also reduces defence by -1.
Dominion marker		Varies	110	Non-tradeable. Boosts depends on marker stage, also boosts Attack, Ranged, Magic, and Defence.
God banner		+5	55 or 55 or 55	Can only be used once per day and lasts for 30 minutes.
Obsidian golem		+9	73	Special attack of the obsidian golem.
Dragon battleaxe		+11 to +19	60	Special attack, requiring 100% adrenaline to use
Spicy stew		-5 to +6	25	Non-tradeable. After Evil Dave's Big Day Out it grants a +2 minimum boost.
Strength cape		+1	99	Non-tradeable. Requires Skill mastery to equip.

Invisible

Invisible boosts are not indicated in the stats interface, but they are applied in combat calculations nevertheless.

Prayers and Ancient Curses

Book	Name	Members	Level	Boost
Prayers	Clarity of Thought		7	+2
	Improved Reflexes		16	+4
	Incredible Reflexes		34	+6
	Chivalry		60	+7
	Piety		70	+8
Ancient Curses	Leech Attack		74	+2 to +5
	Turmoil		95	+10
	Malevolence		99	+12

Other

Item	Members	Level increase	Level to obtain	Notes
Black warlock		20%	45	Boost only affects the other player it is used on.
Salve amulet		15% accuracy and damage	35	Non-tradeable. Boost only applies when fighting undead monsters. Requires partial completion of Haunted Mine.
Salve amulet (e)		20% accuracy and damage	40	Non-tradeable. Boost only applies when fighting undead monsters. Requires completion of Lair of Tarn Razorlor (miniquest) and the Salve amulet.
Black mask		12.5% accuracy and damage	58	Boost only applies when fighting monsters assigned by a Slayer Master.
Slayer helmet		12.5% to 14.5% accuracy and damage	35 55	Boost depends on the tier of the helmet, and only applies when fighting monsters assigned by a Slayer Master.
Dragon slayer gloves		10%	70	Non-tradeable.Boost only applies when fighting monsters assigned by a Slayer Master. Boost stacks with Black Mask.
Dharok the Wretched's equipment		Varies conform Life points	70 70 70	Full set must be worn for special effect to take place.

Warriors' Guild

Main article: Warriors' Guild

The Warriors' Guild is a guild for players who have attained mastery or near mastery of melee combat skills. Entrance to the guild requires either 99 Attack, 99 Strength, or a sum of 130 in Attack and Strength. The guild features several activities which involve combat and combat experience, including the shot put room. In this room, players may practice throwing differently weighted balls for Strength experience.

Mining

Strength benefits the mining skill in its damage mechanic. Damage is the mechanic that allows the progress toward gaining an ore while mining. The players damage progress is checked against the durability of the rock they are mining. There is a progress bar above the player's head. Once this is filled, the player receives an ore. Each swing deals damage based on the players Mining level, Strength level, and the pickaxe used. Swings occur every 4 ticks (2.4s). If a player's Strength level vastly out-levels their Mining level, it has a huge impact on their damage per swing and in turn their ore and experience per hour.

Basic equation

The basic calculation for damage is:

$DamagePerSwing=Mininglevel+\left\lfloor {\frac {Strengthlevel}{10}}\right\rfloor +DamageRoll+NetHardness+CritBonus$

Equation notes

• $NetHardness(Penetration-Hardness)$ is only added to the equation when the players pickaxe is a lower tier than the rock they are attempting to mine. This results in a negative number, reducing the damage per swing.

For example:

Levels	Pickaxe	Rock	Damage per swing
30 30	Bronze pickaxe: 3-7 damage 0 penetration	Mithril ore rock: 240 durability 30 hardness	6-10
	Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage 30 penetration		48 - 78

• $CritBonus$ is only added to the equation if the swing deals a critical hit. By default the player has a 10% chance on each swing to deal a critical strike, this is increased as the players mining level increases.
• Because Strength is rounded down in the calculation (i.e. levels 90-99 will all be +9), Strength level only has an impact every 10 levels.
• Visible and invisible boosts for Mining and Strength apply when determining damage per swing.

For example: The player has boosted their strength from level 38 to level 41. The equation will take into account a level + 4 bonus to the damage per swing as opposed to a + 3 bonus.

• Any excess damage carries over to your progress to another ore. However, more than 100% of the durability of a rock cannot be dealt in a single swing. Anything above 100% will be capped at 100%.

For example:

Levels	Pickaxe	Rock	Damage per swing	Excess damage	Actual damage per swing
30 30	Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage 30 penetration	Copper ore rocks: 40 durability 0 hardness	48-78	8-38	40-40

Cape of Accomplishment

A player performing the strength cape's emote.

For players with level 99 Strength, a Strength cape can be bought from the Sloane or Yadech Strongarm in the Warriors' Guild. The cape will cost 99,000 coins, like all other Capes of Achievement. If Strength is a player's only mastered skill, they will have an untrimmed cape. If the player has 99 in any other skill, it will sport a red trim. The Strength cape's perk causes Dismember's damage over time to last an extra 3.6 seconds (displayed as 2 seconds on the tooltip) for an extra 3 hits.

• 

  A player wearing a trimmed cape

• 

  A player wearing an untrimmed cape

Skilling pet (Kangali)

Main article: Kangali

Like all skills, there is a skilling pet obtainable from training this skill. For Strength, the pet is called Kangali.

Quests with a Strength requirement

• 20 - Zogre Flesh Eaters
• 30 - Beneath Cursed Tides
• 40 - The Darkness of Hallowvale
• 42 - Quiet Before the Swarm
• 45 - TokTz-Ket-Dill
• 46 - The Chosen Commander
• 50 - Legends' Quest
• 60 - Dealing with Scabaras
• 60 - The Path of Glouphrie
• 64 - The Curse of Arrav
• 69 - Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf
• 75 - Blood Runs Deep
• 75 - The Lord of Vampyrium
• 77 - King of the Dwarves
• 78 - The Void Stares Back
• 79 - The Mighty Fall
• 85 - Birthright of the Dwarves

Quests for Strength experience

Main article: Quest experience rewards § Strength

Quest	Members	Experience reward	Strength requirement	Other requirements
The Blood Pact		100	-
The Death of Chivalry		250	-
A Shadow over Ashdale		300	-
In Search of the Myreque		600	-	25 Agility
In Aid of the Myreque		2,000	-	25 Crafting 7 Magic 15 Mining
The Fremennik Trials		2,812	-	40 Crafting 25 Fletching 40 Woodcutting
Land of the Goblins		3,000	-	30 Prayer 36 Agility 36 Fishing 36 Thieving 37 Herblore
Heroes' Quest		3,075	-	53 Cooking 53 Fishing 25 Herblore 25 Defence (Black Arm gang only) 50 Mining
Troll Romance		4,000	-	28 Agility
Horror from the Deep		4,662	-	35 Agility
Quiet Before the Swarm		4,900	42	35 Attack
TokTz-Ket-Dill		5,000	45	50 Attack 50 Construction 43 Crafting 41 Mining
Scorpion Catcher		6,625	-	31 Prayer
Dealing with Scabaras		7,000	60	21 Firemaking 50 Agility 60 Thieving
The Curse of Arrav		9,000	64	37 Slayer 41 Summoning 61 Agility 64 Ranged 64 Mining 66 Thieving
Roving Elves		10,000	-
Waterfall Quest		13,750	-
Dragon Slayer		18,650	-
The Chosen Commander		20,000	46	46 Agility 46 Thieving
Haunted Mine		22,000	-	15 Agility 35 Crafting
The Path of Glouphrie		30,000	60	56 Thieving 56 Slayer 47 Ranged 45 Agility
Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf		30,000	69	61 Hunter 61 Firemaking
King of the Dwarves		50,000	77	68 Mining 70 Smithing
Thok It To 'Em (saga)		75,765	70	59 Dungeoneering
The Mighty Fall		80,000	79	69 Slayer 72 Defence 78 Constitution 79 Attack
Thok Your Block Off (saga)		105,010	75 (Unabridged)	71 Dungeoneering
Birthright of the Dwarves		200,000	85	80 Mining 82 Smithing
Total		708,499

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included - see here for how to help out!

• patch 7 September 2020 (Update):
  • Capitalised an item in the Strength Skill Guide.
    • Level 35's quest requirement was changed from "Fishing contest" to "Fishing Contest".

• patch 3 December 2009 (Update):
  • Added the correct images for brutal Strength requirements in the skill guide.

• patch 21 July 2009 (Update):
  • Fixed a typo when inspecting the jade vine patch and a Strength level-up message.

• update 4 January 2001 (Update):
  • Runescape beta goes live, releasing Strength into the game.

Trivia

The old Strength level-up music (1-49)

The old Strength level-up music (50-99)

• In the early days of RuneScape Classic, players who chose to be a warrior in their character creation process started out with level 4 Strength, and players who chose to be an adventurer started out with level 3 Strength.
• The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 1,413,997) on the HiScores for Strength is level 15. As of 03 February 2023, there are 306,374 current members that have achieved level 99 in Strength. There are 28,126 current members that have achieved level 120 in Strength.

See also

• Strength/Experience rewards
• Strength/Level up table
• Pay-to-play melee training, a guide to training Strength for members
• Free-to-play melee training, a guide to training Strength for free players
• Combat calculators