Ultimate Ironman Guide/Equipment - OSRS - Old School Runescape Guides

Damage per second (DPS) is the most important stat for gear as shorter kill times result saved time as well as less damage taken. Under the assumption that protective and damage boosting prayers are used, this results in a clear hierarchy of item stats: DPS > Prayer bonus > Defence bonus. In practice this hierarchy means that inventory and bag space should only be used for items that (significantly) improve DPS.

Drop indicates that an item is only useful for niche applications like combat achievements, certain bosses or while certain requirements for other gear aren’t met. These items should be dropped after they served their time.

Skip indicates that an item shouldn’t be actively sought after, either because getting these items requires more effort than getting an even better upgrade or because they only offer marginal improvements. If they only offer marginal improvements and bag space is a concern, it might be better to drop these items.

/ indicates that these items are similarly good.

+ indicates that these items combined are good.

Overall

Melee gear choices are often about maximizing your melee strength and accuracy bonuses. There are situations where the high melee and range defences can be useful, but it’s generally better to focus on offensive gear and use what you have when you need defensive gear.

Weapons

It is not uncommon to have more melee weapons than any other kind of gear, as their specialties make them incredibly strong. It’s not uncommon to see only 1–2 mage and ranged weapons on a UIM, but 5 or more melee weapons for different types of defence and special attacks. Special attack weapons tend to follow one of 3 archetypes: damage, defence reduction, and utility. Damage special attacks are universally applicable, and other special attacks have to outperform them to be useful. Defence reduction often ends up being better for team-oriented situations and longer fights. They see use in fights where accuracy makes a difference, the target doesn’t die quickly, and the defence is able to be reduced. Utility special attacks are the least used, but are usually used where sustainability is the most important factor. The best special attack depends on the target, with the exact mechanics deciding which ones are most effective.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Osmumten’s fang	Ghrazi rapier^skip /Inquisitor’s mace^skip / Blade of saeldor^skip	Abyssal whip^STASH /Zamorakian hasta^Versatile / Voidwaker	Zombie axe^drop / Dragon scimitar^Shop	Rune sword^Shop / Cleaver^Shop
	Scythe of vitur	Soulreaper axe^skip	Noxious halberd	N/A	N/A

DPS specs

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Voidwaker /Dragon claws / Burning claws	Dragon dagger^Shop	Crystal halberd

Defence reduction

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Elder maul / Bandos godsword^{situational, STASH}	Dragon warhammer	Bone dagger^Shop

Situational weapons

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Dragon hunter lance / Emberlight^STASH	Arclight^STASH
	Dinh’s bulwark^drop	Colossal blade^Shop^Situational
	Saradomin godsword^skip	Ancient mace^Shop

Helmet

Melee helmets are generally very strong relative to other helmets in the game. They’re almost always chosen as the singular helmet for all 3 styles.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Torva full helm / Oathplate helm^POH*	Neitiznot faceguard	Serpentine helm^drop	Helm of neitiznot^Shop, STASH	Berserker helm^Shop

Body

Melee bodies usually aren’t high priority gear if inventory space is a concern. They give minor offensive bonuses and give good melee and ranged defence. The Fighter torso is useful for being extremely easy to obtain and store while being tied for the best strength bonus until the extremely late game Torva platebody. Proselyte is also very useful for prayer bonus on a slot that doesn’t add much DPS, and is easily replaceable. Mixed hide is easily reobtained and storable, and provides accuracy if using a stab weapon.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Torva platebody / Oathplate chest^POH*	Fighter torso^POH / Bandos chestplate^drop	Blood moon chestplate^situational	Mixed hide top^ShopPOH	Blue moon chestplate^situational,^STASH

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Sunfire fanatic cuirass^STASH	Proselyte hauberk^Shop	Justiciar chestguard^POH*

Legs

Legs function similarly to body slot Melee gear. That said, they are often not brought into an encounter when using multiple styles and space is needed, as they don’t tend to offer great offensive stats. Proselyte is even stronger in this slot as legs provide less strength bonus than body armour.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Torva platelegs / Oathplate legs^POH* / Gear of another combat style if bringing multiple styles	Obsidian platelegs^POH* /Bandos tassets^drop / Blood moon tassets^situational	Mixed hide legs^ShopPOH	Blue moon tassets^situational,^STASH

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Sunfire fanatic chausses^STASH	Proselyte cuisse^Shop	Justiciar legguards^POH* / Verac’s plateskirt

Gloves

Gloves are very strong for melee, offering the highest strength bonus, and among the highest accuracy bonuses for armour. This slot is primarily filled with gloves obtained from completing Recipe for Disaster for tribrid, or ferocious gloves for pure melee.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ferocious gloves	Barrows gloves^Shop, STASH	Rune gloves^Shop

Boots

A mostly inconsequential slot, but offensive melee boots are regarded as the best compared to the bonuses offered to other styles. Strength bonus should be maximized.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Primordial boots^STASH	Dragon boots ^STASH,^POH* /Spiked manacles^POH / Aranea boots	Mixed hide boots^Shop,^POH / Climbing boots^Shop

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Echo boots^STASH

Cape

The fire cape and infernal cape are the two primary capes used for almost all melee combat, with the latter being a direct upgrade. Melee capes are a priority over a melee strength body, as the alternatives for bodies tend to be stronger than the alternatives for capes (e.g. fire cape vs. Ardougne cloak, and fighter torso vs. proselyte hauberk). The mythical cape has niche uses when using the dragon warhammer, and it can be slightly better than the fire cape when using the crush style. Mixed hide is a cheaper alternative available very early in the game.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Infernal cape^POH	Fire cape^POH, STASH	Mythical cape^POH, Shop	Mixed hide cape^POH, Shop

Shield

There are only two worthwhile shield slot equipments for melee, the dragon and the avernic defenders. The offensive boost is invaluable for melee, and the defensive bonuses are still comparable to metallic shields. The only time defenders are not used is when dragonfire protection is needed. Although it may seem desirable to hold onto a dragonfire shield due to its difficulty to reobtain, the defensive bonuses are not worth the loss of accuracy and strength bonuses of a defender, and should only be kept if planning to kill a lot more dragons.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Avernic defender^STASH	Dragon defender^STASH

Ring

The ring slot has strong options for melee, with the berserker ring being relatively easy to obtain. The lightbearer typically outperforms the berserker ring when any special attack is being used.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ultor ring / Lightbearer	Berserker ring (i)

Amulet

Amulets tend to have tribrid stats until the endgame, and are good at all stages of the game. Obtaining the amulet of torture and subsequently the amulet of rancour is worthwhile, partly for their stats and because the other two specialty amulets make it a free upgrade space wise by replacing your tribrid amulet entirely. The amulet of strength is usually stronger than the amulet of glory for early game melee, despite having lower requirements.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Amulet of rancour	Amulet of torture/Amulet of blood fury^Situational	Amulet of strength / Strength amulet (t)^POH*	Amulet of glory^POH, STASH / Amulet of glory (t)^POH

Ammunition

Ghommal’s lucky penny, which requires the Master Combat Achievements, saves a good amount of GP when used in conjunction with Scythe of Vitur, or any other item which consumes charges to function. Rada’s blessing and god blessings can be useful for small Prayer bonuses if not needing the slot for a ranged switch.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ghommal’s lucky penny	Rada’s blessing 4	God blessing ^POH

Overall

The high accuracy bonuses of range gear often make range the most accurate and generalist style in the game. There are specific pieces of equipment that are instead strong but inaccurate, such as the void ranged armour set and the toxic blowpipe. Ranged gear is also commonly used when magic defence is important, even when not using ranged weapons. Ranged strength bonuses are very powerful, as range weapons tend to have faster attack speeds or other multipliers that make the bonuses exponentially stronger.

Weapons

Weapons for range follow a simple flow chart. Does the primary range weapon have a glaring weakness? If so, get a 2nd weapon to cover that weakness. The blowpipe, for example, needs to be paired with a higher accuracy weapon to deal with high defence foes, so a Twisted bow, Zaryte Crossbow, or Tumeken’s shadow is good to offset that weakness, but the bow of Faerdhinen can reasonably be used for all ranged combat as it is a more balanced option.

Crossbows are mostly used to deliver ruby bolts (e); Diamond bolts (e) are generally not worth making if runite bolts are available, as on average they do not outperform runite bolts enough.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Twisted bow + Toxic blowpipe^{with t-bow}	Bow of faerdhinen^STASH	Venator bow / Eclipse atlatl^{nonstandard ammo} / Scorching bow^{storage concerns}	Magic shortbow

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Use two handed weapons if possible	Zaryte crossbow	Armadyl crossbow^skip /Dragon hunter crossbow^drop / Hunters’ sunlight crossbow^{no enchanted bolts}	Dragon crossbow^skip / Rune crossbow^STASH	Dorgeshuun crossbow^{no enchanted bolts, Shop}

Helmet

Ranged helmets often don’t provide strong enough bonuses to be worth an inventory space. The melee helmets are often used even when ranging for their good defensive stats, low penalties to ranged accuracy, and larger bonuses for melee. The crystal helmet is especially powerful however, as it provides a percentage damage boost when using the bow of Faerdhinen and crystal bow, but it’s often dropped or converted into shards after doing all of the major range-focused, off-task, activities in a row.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Masori mask (f)^POH*	Masori mask^POH*	Blessed coif^POH*

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Crystal helm^{with Faerdhinen}

Body

Ranged bodies boast great range accuracy while being very well rounded defensively, especially against magic. The Crystal body is particularly strong when using the Bow of faerdhinen, but sacrifices a lot of magic defence compared to other late game options.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Masori body (f)^POH*	Masori body^POH*	Black d’hide body	Mixed hide top^POH, Shop

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Crystal body^{with Faerdhinen}

Legs

Useful in similar situations to body slot items. The crystal legs do not lose out on as much magic defence relative to the body.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Masori chaps (f)^POH*	Masori chaps^POH*	Black d’hide chaps	Mixed hide legs^POH, Shop

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Crystal legs^{with Faerdhinen}

Gloves

Gloves are fairly inconsequential for ranged. The best options for most of the game are the RFD gloves, which are also used for melee. Zaryte vambraces are worthwhile to have in the end-game, as range strength scales well.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Zaryte vambraces	Barrows gloves^Shop, STASH	Rune gloves^Shop

Boots

Like helmets and gloves, it’s common to range with melee boots, though dedicated ranged boots see more use than mage boots. Pegasians are extremely hard to justify, as they offer negligible accuracy over storable ranged boot options.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Keep wearing melee boots if using both styles / Aranea boots	Blessed d’hide boots^POH	Mixed hide boots^POH*, ^Shop

Cape

An important slot for ranged due to the ammo-saving effect. The ranging cape is storable, whereas the unstorable ava’s assembler has good offensive stats. The assembler max cape and the Dizana’s max cape are storable however, making them upgrades to the ranging cape. Players choosing to primarily use the Bow of faerdhinen can safely skip this slot in favour of another more useful item.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Dizana’s max cape^POH	Assembler max cape^POH	Ranging cape(t)^POH+Vorkath’s head	Ava’s accumulator^Shop

Shield

Ranged shields typically rarely see use past mid-game, as almost every strong range weapon is two-handed. The twisted buckler can turn darts into a “budget” blowpipe, can make chinchompas a lot stronger, and has some viability with the Zaryte crossbow, but it’s too niche to be worth going out of the way to obtain. Early game shield slot items are usually more useful, as the more available adamant, rune, and sunlight hunter crossbows are typically the strongest ranged equipment until blowpipe or Bow of faerdhinen.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Twisted buckler^skip	Dragonfire ward^skip	Book of law^Shop

Ring

Ranged-specific rings are not typically worth the inventory space. Utility and general rings like the explorer’s and suffering are almost always more useful.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Lightbearer	Ring of shadows^NPC / Ring of suffering (i)	Explorer’s ring 4^Shop	Venator ring^Skip

Amulet

Amulets tend to have tribrid stats until the endgame. The anguish is very powerful, so it is worth getting as a specialized necklace.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Necklace of anguish	Amulet of fury^skip /Amulet of glory^POH, STASH / Amulet of glory (t)^POH	Amulet of power

Overall

Magic is very different compared to ranged and melee, both in how max hits are calculated and how useful accuracy is. Gear that increases magic damage is almost always more useful than gear that only increases accuracy, even when accuracy is important. Base max hits are either static numbers or follow a simple formula based on your Magic level. The base max hit is then multiplied by your magic damage bonus. This means that in many cases, a damage bonus that does not provide a max hit(s) is useless.

Accuracy is fairly binary on whether or not it is useful; it entirely depends on what is being fought. Magic is often used in situations where the opponent has almost no magic defence. In those situations, wearing utility or defensive gear is far more useful. Against monsters described as having “no magic defence”, the player’s accuracy bonus can drop into the low negatives without any noticeable impact.

Weapons

Useful magic weapons fall into 2 categories: powered staves and ancient magicks. Having the strongest one for each style is ideal. Powered staves generally provide the best single target damage, and scale well with boosts. Ancient magicks weapons will either autocast ancient spells, make them stronger, or both. Ancients are notably powerful for having strong AoE damage utility effects like freezing and healing.

Powered staves

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Tumeken’s shadow	Sanguinesti staff / Trident of the swamp	Trident of the seas^{Nest storage / Twinflame staffSituational}	Warped sceptre /Slayer’s staff^{Undead grasp, Shop} / Iban’s staff (u)^NPC, drop	Staff of air^Shop

Ancient magicks weapons[edit | edit source]

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Kodai wand	Staff of the dead^{no autocast} / Nightmare staff	Ancient sceptre^{storage concerns} /Blue moon spear^STASH* / Purging staff^{no autocast} , ^{storage concerns}	Staff of water^{no autocast}	Ancient staff^Shop / Master wand^skip

Helmet

In general, magic helmets are less impactful than ranged helmets, but the Ancestral hat does carry enough magic damage bonus to make a difference.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ancestral hat^POH*	Virtus mask^POH*	Infinity hat^POH* /Bloodbark helm^POH* / Blue moon helm^STASH*	Mystic hat^Shop, POH*

Body

Due to the manner in which magic accuracy is determined, magic body armour that doesn’t provide a damage boost exists on a binary spectrum of useful or useless –typically depending on the monster which is being fought– with almost no in-between. The ancestral robe top is very strong, but a Mystic robe top can prove to be sufficient prior to obtaining one if additional accuracy is needed.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ancestral robe top^POH*	Virtus robe top^POH*	Ahrim’s robetop^STASH* / Blue moon chestplate^STASH*	Infinity top^POH* / Bloodbark body^POH*	Mystic robe top^Shop, POH*

Legs

Magic legs see similar usage to equivalent body slot gear, but simply taking off gear of other styles is more common when inventory spaces are limited.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ancestral robe bottom^POH*	Virtus robe bottom^POH*	Ahrim’s robeskirt^drop^STASH* / Blue moon tassets^STASH*	Infinity bottoms^POH* / Bloodbark legs^POH*	Mystic robe bottom^Shop, POH*

Gloves

Prior to obtaining a Tormented bracelet, Barrows gloves or highest avaliable tier of RFD gloves are the best mage gloves. The tormented bracelet is often one of the few magic switches taken into an encounter, as it offers an impressive magic damage bonus.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Tormented bracelet	Barrows gloves^Shop, STASH	Rune gloves^Shop / Bloodbark gauntlets^POH*

Boots

Magic boots are never worth storing in your looting bag. They offer small offensive bonuses that are rarely needed, as most targets of magic do not need additional accuracy to hit, and they offer minimal defensive bonuses. Sometimes they’re taken to offset negative magic bonuses where no other set of boots would have been useful. While the damage boost provided by Eternal boots may appear to be desirable, they rarely provide a max hit unless used with the Tumeken’s shadow, and –even then– are likely not worth devoting a slot in your looting bag.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Keep wearing melee boots if using multiple styles / Aranea boots	Infinity boots^POH* /Bloodbark boots^POH* / Wizard boots^POH	Mystic boots^Shop, POH*	Eternal boots^Skip*

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Holy sandals^POH

Cape

The imbued god cape from Mage Arena 2 is worn for its extra damage in scenarios where it provides a max hit. It’s better than a mystic top or bottom if space is limited and you need accuracy, since it provides the same accuracy as a mystic robe bottom.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Imbued god cape^POH

Shield

Magic shields tend to be useless on their own, but there are 3 items that each have specific uses: the Book of the dead is brought whenever thralls are used, the Book of darkness provides decent magic attack on top of high prayer bonus, Elidinis’ ward and its fortified variant are the only worthwhile magic strength shields in the game.

Despite being a strong option on the surface, the unfortified shield is usually a worse switch than the imbued god cape. The fortified shield is the second-best piece of magic gear for 1-handed staves. However, upon creation it becomes an unstorable and untradable item. Furthermore, it requires an arcane sigil and the ward itself to create, which places it in a niche that means it is not an item many ultimate ironmen actively seek.

Though it might seem an attractive option at first, the Tome of fire is usually not worth keeping for any extended period of time, as it is essentially just a stack of Fire runes that occupies multiple slots in your bag. Fire runes should be purchased as needed, and the tome should be discarded.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Book of the dead^{NPC, thralls}	Book of darkness/unholy book	damaged book (Ancient)	Nothing	Elidinis’ ward (f)/Tome of fire

Ring

The Magus ring provides a decent increase to damage when using a Tumeken’s shadow, however other rings are usually better–utility and melee rings are typically more useful.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Magus ring^{with shadow} / Lightbearer	Ring of shadows^NPC / Ring of suffering (i)	Explorer’s ring 4

Amulet

Amulets tend to have tribrid stats until the endgame. The occult necklace is the single best non-weapon piece of gear for magic and is easy to obtain once reaching the appropriate Slayer level.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Occult necklace	Amulet of fury^skip /Amulet of glory^POH, STASH / Amulet of glory (t)^POH

Ammunition

Ghommal’s lucky penny, which requires the Master Combat Achievements, saves a good amount of GP when used in conjunction with Tumeken’s shadow, or any other item which consumes charges to function. Rada’s blessing and god blessings can be useful for small Prayer bonuses if not needing the slot for a ranged switch.

Slot

Item (most effective → least effective)

Ghommal’s lucky penny

Rada’s blessing 4

God blessing ^POH

Overall

Weapons

Powered staves

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Tumeken’s shadow	Sanguinesti staff / Trident of the swamp	Trident of the seas^{Nest storage / Twinflame staffSituational}	Warped sceptre /Slayer’s staff^{Undead grasp, Shop} / Iban’s staff (u)^NPC, drop	Staff of air^Shop

Ancient magicks weapons

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Kodai wand	Staff of the dead^{no autocast} / Nightmare staff	Ancient sceptre^{storage concerns} /Blue moon spear^STASH* / Purging staff^{no autocast} , ^{storage concerns}	Staff of water^{no autocast}	Ancient staff^Shop / Master wand^skip

Helmet

In general, magic helmets are less impactful than ranged helmets, but the Ancestral hat does carry enough magic damage bonus to make a difference.

Body

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ancestral robe top^POH*	Virtus robe top^POH*	Ahrim’s robetop^STASH* / Blue moon chestplate^STASH*	Infinity top^POH* / Bloodbark body^POH*	Mystic robe top^Shop, POH*

Legs

Magic legs see similar usage to equivalent body slot gear, but simply taking off gear of other styles is more common when inventory spaces are limited.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ancestral robe bottom^POH*	Virtus robe bottom^POH*	Ahrim’s robeskirt^drop^STASH* / Blue moon tassets^STASH*	Infinity bottoms^POH* / Bloodbark legs^POH*	Mystic robe bottom^Shop, POH*

Gloves

Boots

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Keep wearing melee boots if using multiple styles / Aranea boots	Infinity boots^POH* /Bloodbark boots^POH* / Wizard boots^POH	Mystic boots^Shop, POH*	Eternal boots^Skip*

Cape

Shield

Ring

The Magus ring provides a decent increase to damage when using a Tumeken’s shadow, however other rings are usually better–utility and melee rings are typically more useful.

Amulet

Amulets tend to have tribrid stats until the endgame. The occult necklace is the single best non-weapon piece of gear for magic and is easy to obtain once reaching the appropriate Slayer level.

Ultimate Ironman Guide/Equipment – OSRS

Overall

Weapons

Helmet

Body

Legs

Gloves

Boots

Cape

Shield

Ring

Amulet

Ammunition

Overall

Weapons

Helmet

Body

Legs

Gloves

Boots

Cape

Shield

Ring

Amulet

Overall

Weapons

Powered staves

Ancient magicks weapons[edit | edit source]

Helmet

Body

Legs

Gloves

Boots

Cape

Shield

Ring

Amulet

Ammunition

Overall

Weapons

Powered staves

Ancient magicks weapons

Helmet

Body

Legs

Gloves

Boots

Cape

Shield

Ring

Amulet

Ammunition

By OSRS GUIDES

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