Ironman Guide/Melee

Ironman Guide

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Melee training involves training Attack, Strength, Defence and Hitpoints through combat. Ironman melee training is similar to normal with a heavy emphasis on Slayer for the dropped resources.

Early training: Quests

See also: Quest experience rewards#Attack, Quest experience rewards#Strength and Quest experience rewards#Defence

Early levels can be skipped by completing quests granting attack, strength or defence experience. Notably, Waterfall Quest has no requirements and grants enough experience for 30 and 30 , which will grant 22 Combat level alone.

Quests such as Waterfall Quest, Death Plateau, Fight Arena, Vampyre Slayer, Witch's House, Tree Gnome Village and The Grand Tree involve no combat, or can be safespotted and easily defeated with Magic.

It is advised for Hardcore Ironmen to train their Hitpoints higher before attempting to do any of the quests mentioned above. Kill low-level monsters with strike spells until reaching a comfortable Hitpoints level, after that complete Witch's House and continue with other quests.

Quest	Requirements	XP	XP	XP	Enemies
Waterfall Quest	None	13,750	13,750		Evadable
Death Plateau	None	3,000			None
Vampyre Slayer	None	4,825			Level 34
Tree Gnome Village	None	11,450			Level 112, safespottable
Fight Arena	None	12,175			Levels 44, 63, 137, safespottable
The Grand Tree	25	11,450			Level 172, safespottable
Holy Grail	Merlin's Crystal, 20			15,300	Level 127, flinchable
Haunted Mine	Priest in Peril, 35		22,000		Level 95
Dragon Slayer I	32		18,650	18,650	Levels 3, 19, 22, 24, 43, 82, 83
In Aid of the Myreque	In Search of the Myreque, 25 , 15 , 7	2,000	2,000	2,000	Levels 35, 54, 50s/75

Fastest experience

Ammonite/sand crabs

AFK combat training on your phone when you’re otherwise not playing (0 time) can be beneficial to Slayer. You should quest as many of the early levels as possible.

Ammonite or sand crabs are a lower level NMZ alternative. You should use ammonite crabs if possible, otherwise use sand crabs. Extremely similar to NMZ. The only difference is you're going to need to reagro. Use the best gear available to you for whatever combat style you're using.

Runelites 'NPC Aggression Timer' plugin is extremely helpful here You should use ammonite crabs if possible, otherwise use sand crabs.

Ammonite Crabs on Fossil Island are the best option for early Melee training. They have relatively high Hitpoints, low offensive and defensive stats which makes them ideal for low-level training with little to no food required, and they also drop fossils. They are also aggressive for 10 minutes when walked by, making it easy to stand near crabs and stay in combat for long periods of time without any player input, allowing for long, consistent training sessions with minimal attention needed. Sand crabs in Hosidius are an alternative with no requirements, but they have lower Hitpoints and are usually much more crowded.

Slayer

Main article: Ironman Guide/Slayer

Once players have decent Melee stats and have attained reasonable equipment, most of the Melee experience should be trained through Slayer. A lot of powerful items are locked behind Slayer levels for Ironmen, such as the abyssal whip, dragon boots, occult necklace and trident of the seas.

Nightmare Zone

Main article: Nightmare Zone

At higher levels, melee stats can also be trained in the Nightmare Zone. Using normal customisable rumble with absorption potions offers a very straightforward and the most afkable way of training melee stats in the game, allowing the player to stay in combat for 20 minutes without any player input. However, Nightmare Zone dreams require a coin fee to start and they do not give any useful drops.

Using NMZ when AFK or before sleep it is possible to get around 85k xp/hour using either obsidian or bandos. NMZ setup use any 5 of these Normal Rumble (customizable) Count Draynor Me The Kendal Khazard Warlord King Roald Tree Spirit Sand Snake

In terms of xp per hour the best setups are, in order: Obsidian with avernic defender, Bandos with avernic defender, Obsidian with DFS. In terms of length of trip the best setups are, in order, note that any setup can be extended to 6 hours through the use of rock cake/locator orb: Bandos with avernic defender, Obsidian with DFS, Obsidian with avernic defender.

Other methods

Barbarian fishing

Main article: Barbarian Training § Barbarian Fishing

1.3m strength xp from barb fishing, do this any time, better at lower levels

Barbarian Fishing gives small amounts of passive Strength experience in addition to Fishing and Agility experience. It is best to get this passive experience from Fishing before doing a lot of Melee training, as the passive Strength experience has a much bigger benefit at lower levels than higher.

Equipment

General-purpose melee weapons:

• For melee training, focus on weapons with fast attack speeds over stronger weapons with slower speeds.
• All swords up to and including rune are sold by various shops.
• The rune scimitar is the recommended training weapon from 40 to 60 Attack. It is dropped by fire giants and Zamorak warriors, both of which can be safespotted with Magic.
• At 60 Attack, complete The Lost City to unlock the dragon dagger, which has a highly useful special attack.
• The dragon scimitar is the best melee training weapon to use before 85 Slayer. Complete Monkey Madness I as soon as possible to unlock it.
• At 65 Attack and Strength, head to the Warriors' Guild for a dragon defender. Later, upgrade it to an avernic defender.
• At 85 Slayer, kill abyssal demons for an abyssal whip. It can be upgraded to an abyssal tentacle at 87 Slayer, though this renders the weapon degradeable. Because the whip cannot train Strength, the dragon scimitar remains a choice weapon for that purpose.
• Endgame melee weapons include the blade of saeldor from The Gauntlet, the Ghrazi rapier from the Theatre of Blood, and the inquisitor's mace from the Nightmare of Ashihama.

Weapons with specific uses, or weapons used solely for their special attacks:

• Arclight is the strongest weapon against demonic creatures. Complete Shadow of the Storm for Darklight, then kill monsters in the Catacombs of Kourend for ancient shards.
• After completing Regicide, the dragon halberd becomes available. It can be used to safespot monsters with melee. After Song of the Elves, it can be upgraded to a crystal halberd.
• The dragon warhammer is highly sought after by ironmen for its special attack, which is used when fighting many boss monsters. Ideally, wait to kill lizardman shamans until completing the hard Kourend & Kebos diary, and after unlocking lizardman Slayer assignments.
• Of the godswords, the Bandos and Saradomin godswords are the most useful, for their special attacks.
• The leaf-bladed battleaxe is the strongest weapon that can harm turoths and kurasks.
• Dragon claws, obtained from the Chambers of Xeric, are considered an upgrade from the dragon dagger as a special attack weapon.
• The Zamorakian spear is the strongest spear to use against Corporeal Beast.
• The dragon hunter lance is the most powerful melee weapon to use against all dragon-type monsters.

Armour:

• All armour pieces up to and including rune can be purchased from various shops. Note that completion of Dragon Slayer I is required to use the rune platebody.
• Obtain equipment that maximizes strength bonus for efficient training:
  • Helm: Helm of neitiznot. Later, upgrade it to a Neitiznot faceguard. For Slayer training, obtain a black mask at 58 Slayer, then upgrade it to a slayer helm.
  • Chest: The fighter torso from Barbarian Assault provides the greatest strength bonus, tied with the endgame Bandos chestplate. After completing the TzHaar Fight Cave, the obsidian platebody becomes available as a slightly weaker alternative.
  • Legs: Aside from the endgame Bandos tassets, the best offensive option is obsidian platelegs.
  • Neck: The amulet of strength is the most efficient option early on. Complete Haunted Mine and Lair of Tarn Razorlor to unlock the salve amulet (e). After leveling Crafting, upgrade to an amulet of glory and amulet of fury. The best neck slot item for melee is the amulet of torture, crafted from zenyte shards dropped by demonic gorillas.
  • Ring: Dagannoth Rex drops the berserker ring, which can be upgraded with points from Nightmare Zone.
  • Gloves: Complete Recipe for Disaster for Barrows gloves.
  • Boots: Climbing boots are obtainable early on, after completing Death Plateau. Later, kill spiritual mages (83 Slayer) for dragon boots, then kill Cerberus (91 Slayer) for a primordial crystal to upgrade them into primordial boots.
  • Cape: Fire cape from TzHaar Fight Cave. Later on, Infernal cape from Inferno.
• Of the Barrows sets, Dharok's set can be used for certain melee training methods, such as Nightmare Zone. Aside from that, however, there is little use for the other melee Barrows sets in general melee training. The armour pieces have very high defensive bonuses, so a "tank set" (a Barrows melee helm, chest, and legs) can be useful when fighting monsters that are too dangerous or costly to fight in strength-boosting armour.
• Complete Slug Menace to unlock proselyte armour, which provides the highest prayer bonus for the body and leg slots.
• Endgame armour includes Bandos armour from General Graardor, justiciar armour from the Theatre of Blood, and inquisitor's armour from the Nightmare of Ashihama.