Melee makes up a large portion of all combat in OSRS, and is one of the three main styles in the game next to magic and range.
There are a variety of gear options an adventurer can choose for a melee build to become a force to be reckoned with!
Whether you’re aiming for a high DPS build or a tank-based build, there’s lots to pick from.
So let’s rank some of the best melee gear options in OSRS, plus details on how you can get all of them.
15. Guardian Boots
Let’s start off with the best defensive boot option in OSRS.
The Guardian boots are an upgraded pair of Bandos boots with very high range and melee defence, making them a solid option for bosses like Bandos where you’re tanking.
They’re worth around 2.2m gold, making them fairly expensive…
However these are still much cheaper than their offensive counterpart, the Primordial Boots.
Note that you’ll need a defence level of at least 75 to wear these tanky boots.
How to Get: You’ll need to combine a pair of Bando’s boots with a Black Tourmaline Core. This process is not reversible.
14. Dragonfire Shield
The Dragonfire Shield is one of the best shield in OSRS, offering very high defence bonuses across the board.
The shield also absorbs dragonfire attacks, making it especially useful for bosses like Vorkath and the King Black Dragon.
It’s important to note the negative magic and range bonuses here – as you do not want to use this as an offhand for anything except melee-based combat.
The shield also acts as an elemental shield too, which gives it a great advantage against Wyverns. You’ll need at least 75 Defence to wield this awesome shield for yourself.
How to Get: Attach a Draconic Visage to an anti-dragon fire shield. This requires 90 smithing – or alternately you can pay a fee of 1.25m to have this done for you by Oziach.
13. Dharok Set
Full Dharok is a barrows armour set and is used for its set effect, which is passively activated:
The lower your hitpoints are while wearing this, the higher your maximum hit becomes.
So at 99 hitpoints, for every 1 health you’re down, you gain a 1% higher possible maximum hit.
Due to this powerful effect, the set is often used to train up strength levels.
Common places for that kind of training include the Nightmare Zone, Monkey guards, and bandits. And this set is also used in high risk PvP since the chance to one shot your opponent is quite high!
How to Get: This set is only obtainable by playing the barrows minigame.
12. Berserker Ring (i)
The Berserker Ring is the very best ring in OSRS for melee strength, coming with a +8 melee strength bonus.
This ring is used for PvM and PvP all the same – as it increases your maximum hit, and allows you to hit higher more often.
I personally make use of this ring for high level PvM and almost every melee-based slayer task. There are also no requirements to wear this ring, making it popular amongst all players.
How to Get: Obtained as a drop from Dagannoth Rex. You’ll need to imbued it at the Nightmare Zone.
11. Dragon Defender
So this is the second strongest defender in OSRS, requiring level 60 defence to wield, and it’s a powerful fortress of protection.
It’s very popular as an offhand due to the +6 strength bonus, and the powerful melee attack and defence bonuses.
Also it’s free to obtain from the Warriors Guild, where it’s dropped by the high levelled Cyclopes with a rate of 1/100 (not too bad).
Overall, this is the most popular defender for PvM and PvP, due to the lost risk of using it and the easy methods to regain it if lost.
How to Get: Obtainable from the Warriors Guild. You will need to have collected all other defenders to be given the chance to get the Dragon Defender.
10. Fire Cape
The legendary Fire Cape is the second best melee cape in OSRS, and it’s something you can get from a successful Fight Caves run.
The Fight Caves are no easy challenge. You’ll need to survive 63 waves of powerful enemies without resupplying (good luck!)
And at the very end you’ll fight the one and only Jad, a powerful beast capable of one hitting any unprepared adventurer.
But it’s worth the effort, because the fire cape has very decent stats with +4 melee strength, +2 prayer bonus, +11 defensive bonuses, and +1 offensive bonus.
It can be useful for all play styles and is commonly used by many OSRS players.
How to Get: Complete the Fight Caves and slay the might Jad to obtain this cape.
9. Amulet of Torture
An enchanted Zeynte Amulet, the Amulet of Torture is designed to increase your melee offensive capabilities dramatically.
It provides a massive +10 to melee strength and a +15 to all melee attack bonuses!
The amulet offers no defence, but with attack power like this, you probably won’t need it.
Also note that you’ll need at least 75 hitpoints to wear this.
How to Get: Enchant a Zeynte necklace, requiring 93 magic, to obtain the amulet of Torture.
8. Avernic Defender
Here we have the best defender in OSRS, the Avernic Defender.
It’s an upgraded Dragon Defender which has had an Avernic hilt added to it.
This hilt can only be obtained as a rare drop from the Theatre of Blood. Overall, the Avernic is much stronger than the Dragon defender, with a +8 melee strength bonus and much higher melee attack bonuses.
You’ll need 70 attack and defence to wield this powerful offhand item, as well as around 41m gold, as the Avernic hilt does not come cheap.
And it’s worth noting this has the highest offensive melee attack bonus of any offhand in OSRS!
How to Get: Combine an Avernic hilt, from Theatre of Blood, with a Dragon Defender to obtain the Avernic Defender.
7. Primordial Boots
Requiring a high strength and defence level of 75 to wear, these boots are the best offensive melee boots in OSRS.
They have a high strength bonus of +5, melee defence of +22 and melee attack bonus of +2.
And to top it off, these boots are quite expensive at around 22m! This easily makes them the most expensive pair of melee boots in OSRS – and one of the most expensive pairs of boots out of them all!
How to Get: You’ll need to combine a pair of Dragon Boots with a Primordial Crystal. The Primordial Crystal can only be obtained from Cerberus at a rate of 1/512 while combining the two requires level 60 Runecrafting and magic.
6. Neitiznot faceguard
As you might have guessed, high strength bonuses are extremely desirable in OSRS.
And the Neitiznot faceguard offers a +6 strength bonus, +3 prayer bonus, and high melee and range defences. So it’s got a lot to offer.
With no negative bonuses to speak of, this helmet is a great all-rounder if you want to limit your switches, especially for Chambers of Xeric.
To wear this helmet you’ll need at least level 70 defence, and you’ll need to complete the master quest Fremennik Exiles, which is locked behind some high skills and quest requirements.
How to Get: Combine a Basilisk Jaw with a Helm of Neitiznot. This is entirely reversible if you want to get your money back. The total cost of this is around 17.5m!
5. Ferocious Gloves
These gloves are insanely strong, and are locked behind some serious quest and stat requirements.
But they offer a crazy +14 melee strength bonus, +16 melee offensive bonus, and a negative magic and range bonus of -16.
They’re best used for some serious melee offensive combat – offering no defensive stats!
Note you’ll need level 80 attack and defence to wear these, as well as having unlocked Barrows gloves, which are locked behind a ton of quests themselves.
Also the Ferocious gloves are also worth around 4m gold, making them some of the most expensive gloves in OSRS.
How to Get: Combine a Hydra Leather with a pair of Barrows gloves at the strange machine found on Lithkren. This involves also completing Dragon Slayer II.
4. Elysian Spirit Shield
The Elysian Spirit Shield is the best shield in OSRS – not just for melee, but for all styles!
It is incredibly versatile due to its passive effect, which provides the user with a 70% chance of reducing all incoming damage by 25%.
This makes the shield the ultimate choice for tanking!
There are no attack bonuses with this equipped, but there are substantial melee and range defence bonuses, as well as a +3 prayer bonus.
This shield is great for tanking at God War Dungeon or for an Inferno attempt.
And before you go after this one, note that you’ll need to have level 75 defence and level 75 prayer to wield this mighty shield.
How to Get: Attach an Elysian Sigil to a Blessed Spirit Shield. This requires level 85 smithing and 90 prayer to do. Alternatively you can pay Abbot Langley 1.5m gold to do this for you. He’s located at the Edgeville monastery.
3. Infernal Cape
The Infernal Cape is the mightiest cape in OSRS for melee, and is insanely powerful compared to other melee capes.
It has a +8 strength bonus, +12 Defensive bonuses, and +4 melee bonuses, along with a +2 prayer bonus.
And it’s one of the rarest capes in the game, as you need to beat Zuk to obtain it – which is the final boss of The Inferno.
The cape is also one of the few animated capes you can get, and it looks absolutely stunning.
How to Get: Only obtainable for successfully completing the Inferno.
2. Justiciar Armour
Justiciar Armour is the ultimate defensive armour set in OSRS, which requires 75 defence to wear.
It also has a passive effect when you’re wearing the full set, which significantly reduces all incoming damage taken.
The armour also has significant melee defensive stats of around +300 in each area, and a +311 in range defence.
However, there are massive decreases to magic and range attack bonuses of -77 and -39 respectively.
This should be noted when using the amour and multiple attack styles.
The entire cost of the set is roughly 37.5m gold, making it fairly expensive. And the full armour set is made up of the legguards, chestguard, and faceguard.
How to Get: The set is only obtainable as a rare drop from completing the Theatre of Blood.
1. Bandos Armour
And the top spot on our list goes to the one and only Bandos armour set.
This set requires a minimum level of 65 defence to wear, and it provides the best strength bonus of any melee armour in OSRS, making it the overall best offensive choice.
And for actual stats, this armour has a total melee strength bonus of +6, some high melee defensive bonuses of just under +200, a range bonus of +241, and a prayer bonus of +3.
You should be wary of the negative magic and range attack bonuses though, as well as the negative magic defence.
The entire set costs roughly 40m gold – which makes it another very expensive option. However it’s entirely worth it!
This armour set is made up of the chest plate, tassets, and boots.
How to Get: The armour is obtainable as a drop from General Graardor who resides in the God War Dungeon. There’s a 1/128 drop chance for any of the armour pieces to drop at random.
