Strength pure (free-to-play)

10-2020-3030-60MaxedTank
Strength pure
Members	No
Also called	Warhammer pure, wh pure, hammer pure, str pure
Build type	1-vs-1
Combat level	10 — 20
Primary attack style
Max hit with boosts	— 5; — 8;
Example combat stats

A strength pure is a type of low level free-to-play combat pure account that focuses on training strength without training attack. This build is considered to be a free-to-play equivalent of the obsidian pure.

At the cost of the accuracy of their attacks and the variety of available weapons, high strength levels allow these pures to achieve higher maximum melee hits than those of other melee-based builds in their respective combat ranges. Strength pures typically use 3-tick melee weapons such as the event rpg to wear the opponents down and warhammers to knock them out. Since warhammers offer considerable strength and accuracy bonuses without any attack level requirements, they are excellent knockout weapons for this particular build. They might also use shortbows for their accuracy and ability to set up combos, but there is a limit of how high they can train ranged without affecting their build.

Due to their powerful knockout attacks, strength pures are a very strong build in low combat level brackets. Early on, the 1 defence pures that train attack up to 40 achieve much smaller maximum melee hits, even with access to stronger weapons such as the rune 2h sword. However, due to their low accuracy, strength pures are less effective in higher combat level brackets where their maximum hit advantage is not as drastic, and opponents with higher defence levels are more common.

Skills[edit | edit source]

Primary[edit | edit source]

Strength pures train strength without restriction.

Secondary[edit | edit source]

Strength pures can train ranged to gain access to an accurate secondary attack with consistent damage output. 40 ranged level also allows to wear green d'hide armour with notable defensive bonuses. However, it must be noted that overusing this combat style might lead to a ranged-based combat level. With 1 attack and 99 strength, ranged can be trained only up to 67 level without affecting the overall combat level.

Additionally, magic can be trained to the same level as ranged, or roughly ⅔ of the sum of attack and strength, without affecting the overall combat level. To minimise hitpoints experience, magic should be trained with methods such as splashing, curses, teleporting, enchanting jewellery and alchemy.

Some strength pures choose to train attack to levels such as 5, 10, or 20 to improve the melee accuracy. This also allows them to train skills such as ranged to a higher level. See the variants section for a detailed comparison.

Strength tanks are a variant of strength pures that additionally train defence, usually up to 30 or 40 level to be able to wear adamant armour or rune armour respectively. With access to the strength bonus of the gold decorative boots unlocked at level 30, they can increase the maximum melee hit of rune warhammers up to 30.

Equipment[edit | edit source]

DPS

KO

Attack bonusStab: +6Slash: +6Crush: +6Magic: -18Range: +17Defence bonusStab: +38Slash: +48Crush: +55Magic: +13Range: +40Other bonusesMelee strength: +6Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +1

13.9 kg

Attack bonusStab: -4Slash: -4Crush: +35Magic: -28Range: +11Defence bonusStab: +32Slash: +42Crush: +49Magic: +7Range: +34Other bonusesMelee strength: +49Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +0

15.0 kg

DPS

KO

Attack bonusStab: +6Slash: +6Crush: +6Magic: -18Range: +17Defence bonusStab: +38Slash: +48Crush: +55Magic: +13Range: +40Other bonusesMelee strength: +6Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +1

13.9 kg

Attack bonusStab: -4Slash: -4Crush: +53Magic: -28Range: +11Defence bonusStab: +32Slash: +42Crush: +49Magic: +7Range: +34Other bonusesMelee strength: +72Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +0

14.8 kg

DPS

KO

Attack bonusStab: +6Slash: +6Crush: +6Magic: -33Range: +23Defence bonusStab: +34Slash: +47Crush: +57Magic: +17Range: +41Other bonusesMelee strength: +6Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +1

14.9 kg

Attack bonusStab: -4Slash: -4Crush: +53Magic: -43Range: +17Defence bonusStab: +28Slash: +41Crush: +51Magic: +11Range: +35Other bonusesMelee strength: +72Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +0

15.7 kg

DPS

KO

Attack bonusStab: +6Slash: +6Crush: +6Magic: -53Range: +3Defence bonusStab: +47Slash: +53Crush: +47Magic: +9Range: +51Other bonusesMelee strength: +6Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +1

19.9 kg

Attack bonusStab: -4Slash: -4Crush: +53Magic: -63Range: -3Defence bonusStab: +41Slash: +47Crush: +41Magic: +3Range: +45Other bonusesMelee strength: +72Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +0

20.7 kg

DPS

KO

Attack bonusStab: +6Slash: +6Crush: +6Magic: -64Range: -16Defence bonusStab: +180Slash: +181Crush: +167Magic: -3Range: +167Other bonusesMelee strength: +7Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +1

24.9 kg

Attack bonusStab: -4Slash: -4Crush: +53Magic: -82Range: -25Defence bonusStab: +218Slash: +223Crush: +207Magic: -10Range: +207Other bonusesMelee strength: +73Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +0

31.1 kg

In PvP combat, strength pures often rely on quick 3-tick melee weapons such as event rpg to wear the opponents down. Knockout attacks are performed with the best available warhammer. Currently, rune warhammer is the best free-to-play strength-based weapon requiring 40 strength level to wield. Many pures also choose to bring maple shortbow with adamant arrows as the main weapon, but it should be noted that overusing ranged attacks can lead to having a ranged-based combat level and relatively underpowered maximum melee hits within the respective combat level range.

Strength pures equipment[edit | edit source]

Especially on lower combat levels, coif and iron chainbody might be preferred over iron full helm and iron platebody for their higher crush defences against other strength pures. Similarly, leather gloves might be better than leather vambraces due to their slightly higher crush defence bonus, but keep in mind that they lack the ranged accuracy bonus. In practice, leather boots are used instead of the fighting boots or fancy boots most of the time despite inferior bonuses, since they do not have to be reclaimed after death.

These pures often do not carry a shield, since it cannot be used along with the 2-handed event rpg or maple shortbow. However, using a shield is more convenient when relying on a 1-handed 3-tick weapon such as the swift blade or ham joint.

Due to their low attack, these pures might bring both amulet of power and amulet of strength to boost the accuracy of their regular attacks with the 3-tick weapon and the maximum hit of the knockout attacks respectively, or consider using only amulet of power altogether.

Strength tanks equipment[edit | edit source]

Strength tanks, or accounts that train defence in addition to strength, should use the best available metal armour. This will usually be adamant at 30 defence level or rune with at least 40 defence level. Gold decorative boots are also recommended as they can improve the maximum melee hit thanks to their strength bonus, but keep in mind that they will be lost upon death beyond the 20 level of the wilderness.

In contrary to the event rpg, both swift blade and ham joint are 1-handed weapons that can be wielded with a shield. Swift blade is also the only free-to-play 3-tick melee weapon that allows to use aggressive stab and slash attack styles. However, due to their high prices, they might not be preferrable in non-safe 1-vs-1 combat.

Training[edit | edit source]

Strength pures either do not train attack at all, or stop training attack at a very low level to slightly improve the accuracy of their attacks. Since most of their combat experience comes from a single melee skill, their hitpoints level is often higher than in case of other 1 defence pures with comparable combat levels — unless their strength skill was trained with members-only methods that do not grant any hitpoints experience.

Training such accounts on NPCs often takes much longer than in case of typical 1 defence builds due to the lack of training gear progression and their low accuracy. Methods involving alts or killing defenceless NPCs such as seagulls will yield the best experience gain rates. Make sure to compare the damage-per-second rates between a 3-tick melee weapon such as event rpg, ham joint or swift blade and the best available warhammer, and set the combat style to aggressive before training.

Magic and ranged can both be trained up to roughly ⅔ of the strength level rounded up without affecting the overall combat level. For example, with 1 attack and 99 strength levels, ranged and magic can be trained up to 67. Further training will raise the overall combat level, making it ranged-based or magic-based.

Magic can be trained to gain access to the utility spells such as teleports and increase the magic defence. Ranged should be trained up to 20 or 40 to gain access to the studded and green d'hide armours respectively. Ranged also works pretty well as a secondary combat style thanks to its accurate and consistent attacks that are easier to combo with.

Combat style[edit | edit source]

Strength pures use quick melees attack to wear the opponents down. In typical 1-vs-1 duels, this would be the event rpg due to its low price and unique movement stall. Knockout attacks are performed with warhammers due to their considerable strength bonuses and no attack requirements.

Ranged attacks with weapons such as maple shortbow with adamant arrows can also be used instead of a 3-tick melee weapon due to their higher accuracy and overall damage output. However, overusing ranged attacks can make the combat level ranged-based and force the players to train strength to optimise the damage output within their combat level range. Also, even with 99 strength, the ranged skill can be trained only up to about 67 level without affecting the overall combat level.

Movement stall of the event rpg can be leveraged to deliver unexpected combos. Techniques such as dodging, fake eats, delaying, backstepping and sliding can improve the chances of a successful KO.

Variants[edit | edit source]

Prayer[edit | edit source]

Combat prayers are commonly utilised to increase the maximum melee hit.

The Protect Item might also be acceptable in 1-vs-1 combat early on to protect valuable items such as the rune warhammer, especially in fights where the opponents do not carry items of comparable worth such as rune weapons, which can be quite common in the low combat level brackets.

Viable prayer levels:

1 — minimises the combat level.
4 — unlocks the Burst of Strength prayer for a negligible combat level increase.
13 — unlocks the Superhuman Strength prayer.
31 — unlocks the Ultimate Strength prayer.
43 — unlocks all protection prayers.

Attack[edit | edit source]

Some strength pures choose to train attack to increase the accuracy of melee attacks. This is especially relevant on higher combat levels where builds with defence are more common, or when training ranged and magic past 67 level.

Some viable attack levels include:

1 — minimises the combat level.
5 — unlocks the steel weapons.
10 — unlocks the black weapons.
20 — unlocks the mithril weapons.

Attack level	Accuracy against a 1 defence opponent^[1]				Ranged level^[2]
	Event rpg		Rune warhammer
	Amulet of strength	Amulet of power	Amulet of strength	Amulet of power
1	20.56%—44.93%	22.48%—49.14%	37.58%—69.54%	39.51%—71.03%	67
5	29.69%—61.46%	32.48%—64.76%	53.94%—78.91%	56.19%—79.94%	69
10	41.11%—72.16%	44.97%—74.54%	66.73%—84.77%	68.35%—85.51%	73
20	60.90%—82.10%	64.25%—83.63%	78.61%—90.20%	79.65%—90.68%	79

^ Values range from the minimum accuracy against an opponent with a +76 crush defence bonus to accuracy against a 1 defence combat pure without any defensive bonuses. Accuracy bonuses from prayers are not included. Accuracy values are calculated for the aggressive combat style.
^ Maximum ranged level that does not affect the combat level if the player has reached 99 strength level. Note that the same limit applies to the magic level.

Accuracy gets progressively worse against opponents with higher defence levels, making it difficult for strength pures to face opponents with builds such as adamant pure or rune pure.

For comparison, 40 attack pures reach accuracy of 87.37%—94.19% with a rune scimitar and 89.65%—95.19% with a rune 2h sword against a 1 defence opponent. To see a guide for accounts with a higher attack level, see the melee pure and the ranged-melee pure articles.

Ranged[edit | edit source]

Instead of relying on 3-tick melee weapons, maple shortbow with adamant arrows can be used to deal most of the damage due to its high accuracy and consistent damage output. See the ranged-melee pure for more details on this particular combat style. Keep in mind that there is a limit on how high the ranged skill can be trained without increasing the combat level, which means that non-ironmen strength pures cannot indefinitely use ranged attacks in player-versus-player combat without affecting their build.

The following table lists the maximum ranged levels that do not affect the overall combat level given the respective sum of melee skills including attack and strength. Both melee skills have equal effect on the combat level and can be distributed freely. For example, with a sum of melee skills at 100, a player might have 1 attack and 99 strength or 20 attack and 80 strength with the same combat level. Once the ranged level surpasses 67, players have to start training attack even with 99 strength in order to optimise the build. Note that upon reaching 93 ranged level, attack should be trained up to 40 even with 99 strength to optimise the build, making the account not longer considered a strength pure.

Ranged	Melee	Ranged	Melee	Ranged	Melee	Ranged	Melee
20	30	40	60	60	90	80	120
21	31	41	61	61	91	81	121
22	33	42	63	62	93	82	123
23	34	43	64	63	94	83	124
24	36	44	66	64	96	84	126
25	37	45	67	65	97	85	127
26	39	46	69	66	99	86	129
27	40	47	70	67	100	87	130
28	42	48	72	68	102	88	132
29	43	49	73	69	103	89	133
30	45	50	75	70	105	90	135
31	46	51	76	71	106	91	136
32	48	52	78	72	108	92	138
33	49	53	79	73	109	93	139
34	51	54	81	74	111	94	141
35	52	55	82	75	112	95	142
36	54	56	84	76	114	96	144
37	55	57	85	77	115	97	145
38	57	58	87	78	117	98	147
39	58	59	88	79	118	99	148

To find the optimal ranged level of a strength pure, check the ranged level corresponding to the sum of the account's attack and strength levels in the table above. Note that these values can also be used for optimal magic levels, since both ranged and magic have similar effects on the combat level.

Defence[edit | edit source]

Strength tanks are variants of the strength pures that additionally train the defence skill, usually up to 30 or 40 level. This unlocks adamant armour or rune armour respectively, in addition to the gold decorative boots, which are necessary to maximise the equipment strength bonus and the damage with rune warhammers. Since these accounts save quite a bit combat levels by neglecting attack, strength tanks can remain competitive against classic 1 defence pures on a similar combat level.

Low hitpoints[edit | edit source]

Strength pures with low hitpoints levels can be used for rushing. With the Ironman Mode, these accounts do not earn any experience in melee and ranged skills through player-versus-player combat, which allows them to stay at extremely low hitpoints levels. With 10 hitpoints and 40 strength, these pures can wield the rune warhammer and deal as much as 12 damage with a single blow on 16 combat level. Not only does it allow them to attack opponents with 3 combat level within the PvP worlds, but also kill the majority of low level accounts with one hit or a single combo.

Progression[edit | edit source]

Strength pures can be easily converted into most other builds involving melee combat. In particular, training attack to 40 level allows to convert them into melee pures, while the ranged-melee pure can be a natural progression for the build once ranged level is trained too high to balance the combat level with strength alone.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

Like other free-to-play melee weapons, warhammers used to require appropriate attack levels to wield instead of strength. It also offered lower strength bonuses comparable to longswords. Historically, without access to melee knockout weapons, free-to-play strength pures were rather niche and ineffective.

Strength pure (free-to-play)

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