Today, we’re breaking down a simple melee gear progression guide to help you upgrade your Old School RuneScape (OSRS) melee setups as you level up and earn more RuneScape gold.

This guide focuses on upgrading your gear in stages as your attack, strength, and defense levels increase. While some items are easier to obtain than others, I’ll keep that in mind to make the progression realistic. For simplicity, we’ll divide the gear into beginner, low, mid, high, and endgame tiers—these are just subjective categories to help you organize your upgrades.

Beginner Gear: Level 1–20

At the very start, you can skip some low-level grinding if you complete early quests, but for total beginners, here’s a solid starting setup. For armor, go with iron armor: iron med helm, platebody, platelegs, kite shield, and iron boots. Your weapon can be an iron scimitar.

Add a Team-1 cape for minor defensive stats and an amulet of strength to boost your max hit. Ironmen without the strength amulet could use an amulet of accuracy, which provides similar bonuses. Gloves and boots aren’t critical yet—hard leather gloves and basic boots work fine.

As you reach level 5–20, gradually upgrade to steel, black, and then mithril gear. Early levels are fast to train, so these simple upgrades will noticeably improve both your damage output and survivability.

Low-Level Gear: Level 30–50

Once you hit around 30 in attack, strength, and defense, you can move to adamant gear: full helm, platebody, platelegs, and a kite shield. Pair it with an adamant scimitar. For capes, a Bandos cloak gives defensive and minor prayer bonuses. Upgrade your amulet to an amulet of power, and consider a small prayer boost from an unholy blessing.

At this stage, certain quest rewards like cooking gauntlets offer slight stat improvements over basic gloves. Boots like climbing boots provide a strength bonus, and a warrior’s ring adds slash damage.

By the time you reach level 40+, upgrading adamant armor to rune armor is recommended. A rune platebody requires completing Dragon Slayer 1, but it’s a worthwhile defense upgrade. Swap your amulet for an amulet of glory and gloves for combat bracelets, which offer equivalent benefits to mithril gloves from Recipe for Disaster.

At level 50+, you unlock granite armor for defense, and can consider the Berserker helm at 45 defense. These gear choices give solid protection, though some items, like granite boots, may be expensive compared to alternatives.

Mid-Level Gear: Level 55–70

At level 55, new gear options emerge. The Helm of Neitiznot provides strong defense, while weapons like Sulfur blades, Glacial Tamatleys, and Earthbound Tech Podles cover slash, crush, and stab attacks, respectively. These weapons hit twice per attack, making them excellent for bossing or high-defense monsters.

By level 60, dragon equipment becomes available. The dragon scimitar is a solid upgrade, especially when paired with a dragon defender, which boosts its effectiveness. Other notable items include Arkan Blade (requires Final Dawn quest) and dragon platelegs and boots.

Once you hit level 65 attack/strength, the Warriors’ Guild unlocks the dragon defender, and Barrow’s gloves can improve your offensive stats. Weapons like the zombie axe and Bell’s Folly provide strong crush and slash bonuses, excellent for bossing and slayer tasks.

High-Level Gear: Level 70–80+

Reaching the 70s in melee stats unlocks high-level weapons like the Abyssal Whip for slash damage. Pair it with the fire cape (or obsidian cape if Jad hasn’t been defeated) for additional bonuses. Upgrade your amulet to the amulet of fury and imbue your Berserker ring for a major strength boost.

At this point, blood moon armor offers similar offensive stats as Bandos but at a lower cost, making it ideal for players managing their GP. At level 75 attack, consider upgrading to the Abyssal Tentacle, which significantly boosts DPS, especially for bossing tasks.

Dual weapons like Makohedals provide great crush and stab bonuses when paired with full blood moon armor. Offensive upgrades like the Amulet of Torture and Ferocious gloves (requiring Dragon Slayer 2) further enhance your combat potential.

Endgame Gear: Level 80+ and Bossing

For endgame melee setups, weapons like Osmumtpon’s Fang (82 attack) and the Grazy Rapier are top-tier for high DPS against stab-weak bosses. Armor priorities shift toward Torva for maximum strength bonus or Oathplate for slash accuracy. Rings like Ultimatum or Bellator complement your setup depending on your offensive needs.

Slash-focused setups eventually lead to the Noxious Halberd or Scythe of Vitur, which are excellent for high-level bosses and Raids. Crush setups can use Inquisitor’s mace and armor, providing accuracy and damage boosts.

A key takeaway: weapon upgrades have the greatest impact on DPS. Armor upgrades are secondary, so prioritize your weapon progression first, then fine-tune defensive or utility slots as your cheap Runescape gold allows.

Tips for Gear Progression

Prioritize weapon upgrades over armor for faster leveling and bossing efficiency.

Check the boss's weaknesses using the OSRS Wiki or guides before committing to expensive gear.

Quest rewards often provide excellent early- and mid-game upgrades.

Start bossing without max gear—you can earn money to afford the best items later.

Join the OSRS Discord for tips from veteran players, help with bossing strategies, and community advice on gear upgrades.

By following this progression, you can smoothly advance from beginner iron gear all the way to high-level endgame setups, unlocking powerful weapons and armor that make bossing, slayer tasks, and PVM content far more effective.