RS3 Melee Combat Guide

Melee is built around burst damage and bleeds. Its signature resource is Bloodlust: most melee basic abilities give you one stack (Rend gives two) up to a maximum of four, and Assault, Hurricane and Flurry can spend all four for a much stronger hit. Berserk raises the cap to eight while it lasts.

Since March 2026 every melee ability needs an Attack level (the separate Strength ability book was removed), and Strength sets your damage. Melee also has the biggest difference between weapon types:

• Two-handed weapons get Hurricane and Pulverise, and Adaptive Strike becomes a cone attack.
• Dual wield gets Flurry and Bladed Dive, and Adaptive Strike hits twice.
• A main-hand weapon with a shield keeps your shield defensives, at some cost to damage.

The Dismember chain is new too: casting Dismember opens Slaughter, which opens Massacre, each a stronger bleed that heals you a little. Bleeds keep ticking while you use other abilities, so start them early in a kill.

Use whichever your gear ladder gives you first; both are viable. Two-handers are simpler (one item to upgrade, strong area damage through Hurricane) and many Ironmen start there. Dual wield gives Flurry, which shines on groups and on low-health targets with Bloodlust. If you want shield defensives for a hard boss, swap to a shield for that fight.

Melee has 23 abilities, grouped below the way the in-game ability book groups them. Each row gives the Attack level that unlocks it, what it costs or gives in adrenaline, its cooldown, any weapon it needs and what it is for.

Level is your Attack level. One tick is 0.6 seconds. “GCD only” means the ability has no cooldown of its own beyond the 1.8-second global cooldown. “(codex)” marks an upgrade you unlock by reading a codex.

Ability names, levels, cooldowns and adrenaline from the RuneScape Wiki's ability data (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0), checked 2026-10-10. The descriptions and advice are ours.

A single-target starting point with a two-handed weapon, from about level 60. It is a base to build on, not an optimised bar.

1. Open with Rend for 2 Bloodlust, then Adaptive Strike and Fury to reach 4.
2. Spend the stacks on Assault.
3. Start the Dismember chain: Dismember, then Slaughter and Massacre as soon as you have the adrenaline.
4. Use Overpower whenever you have 60% adrenaline.
5. Save Punish for when the target drops under half life points.
6. At 100% adrenaline use Berserk. While it lasts, Bloodlust builds twice as fast and Overpower comes back much sooner, so spend stacks and adrenaline freely.

With dual wield, swap Hurricane for Flurry and spend Bloodlust on Flurry when the target is low. On groups, lead with Meteor Strike, then Hurricane or Flurry with Bloodlust.

Melee costs no ammunition or runes, which makes it the cheapest style to keep running. Your main costs are food, potions and weapon degradation. Grow herbs for super attack and super strength (and their combinations later), and bring prayer restores for Piety or Turmoil; see the prayers guide.

Early melee gear comes from your own Smithing and Dungeoneering token rewards, then Barrows and God Wars Dungeon armour, then boss weapons. The Melee gear ladder lists every upgrade with where an Ironman gets it.

You can melee almost any boss; pick the style the boss is weak to when you can. The bosses tied to melee gear are General Graardor in God Wars Dungeon (Bandos armour), the Kalphite King (Drygore weapons), Rise of the Six (Malevolent armour), Arch-Glacor (the Dark Shard and Sliver of Leng) and Zamorak, Lord of Chaos (Vestments of havoc). Arch-Glacor is also the best boss to practise on because you choose its mechanics. The boss progression order puts them in order with gates.