Strength
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Strength | |
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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 |
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[edit | edit source]
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, Strength experience was awarded per hit, where is the amount of damage dealt. Fighting using the controlled stance, however, awards Strength experience per hit, where 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[edit | edit source]
Combat[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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 | ![]() |
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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.[source needed]
Familiar | ![]() |
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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[edit | edit source]
Weapons[edit | edit source]
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 | |
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Barrelchest anchor | 60 | 40 |
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Granite maul | 55 | 55 |
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Granite mace | 55 | 55 |
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TzHaar-Ket-Em | 60 | 60 |
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TzHaar-Ket-Om | 1 | 60 |
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Torag's hammers | 70 | 70 |
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Dharok's greataxe | 70 | 70 |
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Terrasaur maul | 1 | 80 |
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Ek-ZekKil | 1 | 95 |
Dungeoneering weapons[edit | edit source]
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 | |
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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[edit | edit source]
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) | |
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Black mask | 20 | 10 Defence |
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Void knight equipment | 42 | 42 Attack, Defence, Constitution, Magic and Ranged, 22 Prayer, and up to 250 commendation points per piece |
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Granite equipment | 55 | 55 Defence |
Other[edit | edit source]
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 |
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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[edit | edit source]
Various items, potions, prayers, and familiars provide temporary boosts. Below is a list of all possible boosts to Strength.
Visible[edit | edit source]
Visible boosts are indicated in the stats interface by showing a level increase from the base level.
Potions[edit | edit source]
Potion | Members | Level increase | Level to make | Notes |
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1 + 8% | 7 ![]() |
Can also be bought at Apothecary at cost of Limpwurt root and a Red spiders' eggs. |
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9 ![]() |
Heals 300 Life points. | |
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1 + 8% | 36 ![]() |
Also boosts Attack. |
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40 ![]() |
Heals 300 Life points. Also boosts Attack. | |
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2 + 12% | 55 ![]() | |
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59 ![]() |
Heals 600 Life points. | |
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1 + 8% | 78 ![]() |
Also boosts Attack and drains 12% of current life points. |
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85 ![]() |
Also boosts Attack, heals 600 Life points and drains 12% of current life points. | |
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2 + 12% | 85 ![]() |
Also boosts Attack, Magic, Ranged and Defence by the same amount |
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2 + 12% | 81 ![]() |
Also boosts Attack and Defence by the same amount |
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2 + 14% | 75 ![]() | |
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3 + 15% | 88 ![]() |
|
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96 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. Also boosts Attack, Ranged, Magic and Defence, lasting 6 minutes. | |
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4 + 16% | 98 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. Also boosts Attack, Ranged, Magic and Defence, lasting 6 minutes. Requires Plague's End. |
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5 + 17% | 106 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. Also boosts Attack, Ranged, Magic and Defence, lasting 6 minutes. Requires Plague's End. |
Beverages[edit | edit source]
Item | Members | Level increase | Level to make | Notes |
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+5 | 18 ![]() |
Heals up to 360 Life points, also lowers Attack by -4. Premade version works. |
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+4 | 20 ![]() |
Heals up to 400 Life points, also lowers Attack by -3. Premade version works. |
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+2 | 24 ![]() |
Heals up to 240 Life points, also lowers Attack by -4. |
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+5 | 32 ![]() |
Heals up to 640 Life points, also lowers Attack by -4. Premade version works. |
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+7 | 37 ![]() |
Heals up to 740 Life points, also lowers Attack by -5. Premade version works. |
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+2 | 39 ![]() |
Heals up to 390 Life points, also lowers Attack by -4. |
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+2 | None | Heals 100 Life points and lowers Attack by up to -7%. |
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+4 | None | Heals 200 Life points and lowers Attack by -9. |
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+10 | None | Heals up to 250 Life points and lowers Attack by up to -50%. |
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+3 | None | Heals up to 100 Life points and lowers Attack by -6. |
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+3 | None | Heals up to 990 Life points, boosts +3 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Other[edit | edit source]
Item | Members | Level increase | Requirements | Notes |
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+1 to +8 | 86 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. May no longer be obtainable . |
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+2 | 86 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. Also reduces defence by -1. |
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Varies | 110 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. Boosts depends on marker stage, also boosts Attack, Ranged, Magic, and Defence. |
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+5 | 55 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Can only be used once per day and lasts for 30 minutes. |
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+9 | 73 ![]() |
Special attack of the obsidian golem. |
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+11 to +19 | 60 ![]() |
Special attack, requiring 100% adrenaline to use |
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-5 to +6 | 25 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. After Evil Dave's Big Day Out it grants a +2 minimum boost. |
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+1 | 99 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. Requires Skill mastery to equip. |
Invisible[edit | edit source]
Invisible boosts are not indicated in the stats interface, but they are applied in combat calculations nevertheless.
Prayers and Ancient Curses[edit | edit source]
Book | Name | Members | Level | Boost |
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Prayers | ![]() |
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7 ![]() |
+2 |
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16 ![]() |
+4 | |
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34 ![]() |
+6 | |
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60 ![]() |
+7 | |
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70 ![]() |
+8 | |
Ancient Curses | ![]() |
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74 ![]() |
+2 to +5 |
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95 ![]() |
+10 | |
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99 ![]() |
+12 |
Other[edit | edit source]
Item | Members | Level increase | Level to obtain | Notes |
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20% | 45 ![]() |
Boost only affects the other player it is used on. |
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15% accuracy and damage | 35 ![]() |
Non-tradeable. Boost only applies when fighting undead monsters. Requires partial completion of Haunted Mine. |
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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. |
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12.5% accuracy and damage | 58 ![]() |
Boost only applies when fighting monsters assigned by a Slayer Master. |
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12.5% to 14.5% accuracy and damage | 35 ![]() |
Boost depends on the tier of the helmet, and only applies when fighting monsters assigned by a Slayer Master. |
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10% | 70 ![]() |
Non-tradeable.Boost only applies when fighting monsters assigned by a Slayer Master. Boost stacks with Black Mask. |
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Varies conform Life points | 70 ![]() |
Full set must be worn for special effect to take place. |
Warriors' Guild[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
The basic calculation for damage is:
Equation notes[edit | edit source]
- 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
30Bronze pickaxe: 3-7 damage
0 penetration
Mithril ore rock: 240 durability
30 hardness
6-10 Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage
30 penetration
48 - 78
- 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
30Mithril pickaxe: 15-45 damage
30 penetration
Copper ore rocks: 40 durability
0 hardness
48-78 8-38 40-40[n 1]
- ^ This would guarantee an ore every swing.
Cape of Accomplishment[edit | edit source]
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.
Skilling pet (Kangali)[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
- 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[edit | edit source]
Update history[edit | edit source]
- 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".
- Capitalised an item in the Strength Skill Guide.
- 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.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- 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,[1] and players who chose to be an adventurer started out with level 3 Strength.[2]
- 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[edit | edit source]
- 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
References[edit | edit source]
Combat | |
Gathering | |
Artisan | |
Support | |
Elite | |
Unknown |
|
Former skills |