Combat level (2024)

A combat level is a number calculated using stats of a player, monster, or NPC to show roughly how difficult they are to defeat. All players start out at combat level 3, with the maximum combat level for players being 152, although NPCs can have considerably higher levels.Combat level is calculated by taking the following skills into account:

• Attack and Strength or Ranged or Magic or Necromancy
• Defence
• Constitution
• Prayer
• Summoning (not applied towards combat level in free worlds)

A player may view another player's combat level by right-clicking them if they have their weapons unsheathed. If their weapons are sheathed, their skill total is shown instead. A player can toggle between showing their combat level or skill total to other players by right-clicking the maximise/minimise button on the top-right of their action bar and selecting 'Sheathe/Unsheathe Weapon' or pressing the * key.

Combat level advancement unlocks a multitude of things within RuneScape, including equipment and quests.

Calculating[edit | edit source]

The combat level of a player takes into account their Attack, Strength, Magic, Ranged, Necromancy, Defence, Constitution, Summoning, and Prayer.

The formula for determining a player's combat level is:

${\displaystyle \frac{\frac{13}{10}\max ((Att+Str),2Mag,2Rang,2Necr)+Def+Const+\lfloor \frac{1}{2}Pray\rfloor +\lfloor \frac{1}{2}Summ\rfloor }{4}}$

Summoning and Prayer are both rounded down after being multiplied by 1/2. The final quotient is never rounded up. For example, after using the formula, if a player's level is 87.975, their combat level will appear as 87.

This will give a maximum combat level of 152 for any player with levels 120 Necromancy, 99 Defence, 99 Constitution, and 99 Summoning and 99 Prayer.

If a player's Summoning level is higher than 5, on free-to-play worlds the game will calculate the combat level as if it were 1. Therefore, the maximum combat level for free players is 126, even if a player has trained Summoning to level 5.

Although most monsters have their levels calculated using the same formula that players use, a select few have levels manually set by Jagex that do not reflect their true stats.

 template = Template:Calculator/Combat level form = combatCalcForm result = combatCalcResult param = playername|Player name||hs|attack,1,1;strength,3,1;ranged,5,1;magic,7,1;defence,2,1;constitution,4,1;prayer,6,1;summoning,24,1;necromancy,29,1 param = attack|Attack|1|int|1-99 param = strength|Strength|1|int|1-99 param = ranged|Ranged|1|int|1-99 param = magic|Magic|1|int|1-99 param = defence|Defence|1|int|1-99 param = constitution|Constitution|10|int|1-99 param = prayer|Prayer|1|int|1-99 param = summoning|Summoning|1|int|0-99 param = necromancy|Necromancy|1|int|0-120

Displayed colours[edit | edit source]

Combat levels that are significantly lower than the player's display in shades of green, levels that are slightly lower display in yellow-green, levels that are equal to the player's are displayed in yellow, and levels that are higher than the player's display in shades of orange to red. In the Wilderness, levels outside the combat range will appear white. The difference in colours can be seen up to 10 levels higher or lower than the player's current combat level after which it will either show the brightest shade of green or red depending on whether the combat level is lower or higher. A simplified version can be seen below:

The various combat level colours:

• Green - Much lower in combat level.
• Yellow-green - Lower in combat level.
• Yellow - Equal in combat level.
• Orange - Higher in combat level.
• Red - Much higher in combat level.
• White - Cannot attack (outside combat level range or in safe area)

Wilderness[edit | edit source]

In the Wilderness, a player's combat level is shown slightly differently. Unless a player has a Summoning pouch in their inventory or a familiar summoned, the combat levels gained from Summoning will not be part of the player's main combat level, and instead the levels they would have gained from Summoning are shown as +X after their main combat level. For example, a player with no Summoning pouch or familiar would be level 140+12 instead of 152.

Monsters[edit | edit source]

Many monsters' combat levels are equal to the sum of their defence stat and their highest attack, ranged, or magic stat, and then multiplied by 0.7. There are many exceptions which do not follow any definite rules. Exceptions include bosses, some high level slayer monsters, some boss minions, and unique monsters. The combat level of monsters is mostly cosmetic, but they determine if Dominion mines are applicable and whether they are aggressive to the player. The combat level of bosses has a rough correlation with difficulty level, although this relationship is not linear, and difficulty is subjective.

Effects of combat level[edit | edit source]

Normally, aggressive NPC's will stop attacking a player if the player has double the NPC's combat level plus one. Since the maximum combat level for players is 152, aggressive monsters that are level 76 or above will always attack a player. There are exceptions, however - for example, some monsters in the Wilderness that are normally not aggressive will be aggressive to players no matter what their combat level is.

Monsters with a higher combat level than a player usually cannot be attacked by using a left mouse click. Instead, players need to right-click and select the 'Attack' option. For example, to be able to attack a Blue dragon with a left-click, a player needs a combat level of at least 74. Many bosses and other high-levelled monsters are exceptions to this, such as the God Wars Dungeon generals, all monsters in Daemonheim, as well as popular high level monsters such as tormented demons, dark beasts, and metal dragons. However, in combat settings it is now possible to choose whether this is decided by combat level, or all attack options are left-click, right-click, or hidden.

There are some requirements in game that are based on combat level. Training with certain Slayer Masters, and some activities such as the Pest Control and Conquest, also have combat level requirements.

History[edit | edit source]

In RuneScape Classic, the combat level formula treated Magic as a much more separate skill, much like Prayer and Summoning are treated now. The maximum combat level at the time was 123, and the combat system used the following formula:

${\displaystyle \frac{\max ((Att+Str),\frac{3}{2}Rang)+Def+Hit+\frac{1}{2}Mag+\frac{1}{2}Pray}{4}}$

It is notable that the Magic and Prayer level are not rounded down in this formula, as opposed to the combat formula in RuneScape 2 and 3. In RuneScape 2, the combat formula was changed to the following, where Magic was adopted into the combat triangle used in RuneScape today. This resulted in the following formula, used from the launch of RS2 (although without Summoning at the time), until the Evolution of Combat:

${\displaystyle \frac{\frac{13}{10}\max ((Att+Str),\frac{3}{2}Mag,\frac{3}{2}Rang)+Def+Const+\lfloor \frac{1}{2}Pray\rfloor +\lfloor \frac{1}{2}Summ\rfloor }{4}}$

This formula meant that a player with levels 99 Attack and Strength would have a higher combat level than another with levels 99 Ranged or Magic, leaving warriors a far higher level than rangers and mages.

The release of Evolution of Combat changed the formula significantly, giving players a minimum level of 4 and a maximum level of 200. Constitution and Prayer were no longer taken into account, and only the highest of Attack, Strength, Ranged, Magic, or Summoning, together with Defence, was used in the calculation.

${\displaystyle \max (Att,Str,Mag,Rang,Summ)+Def+2}$

The current formula was released at the same time as Legacy Mode after a Power to the Players poll. It is a slightly tweaked version of the original 138 formula, changed to make Ranged and Magic equal to Melee.

Transcript[edit | edit source]

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Update history[edit | edit source]

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Trivia[edit | edit source]

Levelling combat

138 Combat Tune/Fireworks

Tune

Old combat level up jingle used before modernisation.

Combat level up jingle used currently.

Modernised combat level up jingle

As part of Game Jam (February 2024), combat level up jingles were modernised.

Modernised combat level up jingle

As part of Game Jam (February 2024), combat level up jingles were modernised.

• In DeviousMUD, the highest combat level a player could reach was 52.^{[source needed]}
• In RuneScape Classic, players started at level 1 combat. This was later changed to 3.
• Past maximum combat levels include level 123 in RuneScape Classic, 126 after the release of RuneScape 2, 138 after Summoning was added, and briefly to 200 after the release of the Evolution of Combat before being reverted back to 138 with a different calculation.