While Old School RuneScape has over 20 skills, seven of them are directly linked to combat. Unlike Magic and Ranged, Melee offers three separate skills that must all be leveled independently for combat to function properly.

Attack levels are required for wielding more powerful weapons. Strength levels are necessary for dealing more damage. Defense levels are directly tied to how often you block incoming damage and which types of armor you can wear.

Unless you're pure, you need to train all of these skills to get the most out of melee combat.

This guide will tackle the best ways to get your combat up quickly and efficiently while suggesting some gear to pick up on your journey to 99.

Starting (1-40+)

As with most skills in OSRS, you're going to want to start by completing as many quests that offer combat XP as possible.

The beginning levels of all skills in OSRS are notoriously tedious, so, the quicker you can get to dealing more damage, the more XP you're going to earn in the long run.

Luckily, Melee skills have some of the best early quest rewards in the entire game, so you won't be at level 1 for long.

Once you've completed all these quests, something that can be done very early in an account lifecycle, you will be well on your way.

For example, by simply completing these quests, you will earn 55,750 Attack XP, not accounting for the 20,000 from Fremmenik Isles, which will take you to 44 Attack Enough to wield Rune weaponry.

And remember, at this point, you won't have even started training the skill.

Training your skills (40s-60s)

While there are more quests to complete if you feel like focusing on the Quest Cape, at this point, the XP rewards won't be making as noticeable an impact on your levels.

One of the best things you can do at these early levels is to train on something that has a lot of points but not that much defense.

While Slayer is tempting, it's best to put this off until your stats are a little higher. Many Slayer monsters will tear you apart, and unless you're outputting a good amount of damage, the tasks will be unbearably slow.

Consider something like Sand Crabs or Ammonite Crabs. Ammonite Crabs have 100 Hitpoints, and if you're wearing something like Adamant or Rune armor, they will very rarely hit you.

Pick up a Rune Scimitar from the Grand Exchange, the most efficient Rune Weapon for training, and set your combat style to Strength Training.

Your focus at this point is to level your Strength skill. The higher damage you can hit, the quicker you will kill enemies, and the more XP you will gain.

There are other monsters to train against, but Ammonite Crabs are the most AFK, while also dropping fossils which can be offered to the Varrock Museum for XP rewards.

Unlocking the Defender

At this point, you're going to want to unlock some better gear to bolster your account. One of the best unlocks you can have is the Untradeable Dragon Defender. This is an item that will be with you for practically your entire OSRS account, so unlock it sooner rather than later.

Once you have 65 Attacks and 65 Strength, you can enter the Warrior's Guild. There are many activities here, but you'll want to focus on killing reanimated armor, to collect as many tokens as possible.

Every 10 tokens will give you 1 minute to kill Cyclops upstairs, so gather a solid amount and keep your fingers crossed.

In the general scheme of things, this isn't a long grind, but it will be one of the first grinds of your OSRS career, so it may seem like forever. The defenders drop one after another from Bronze to Rune, and then Rune to Dragon in the basement area.

The drop rate of a defender is 1/50, so the faster you can kill the Cyclopes, the better. This may take you 3 Hours. It may take you 15. The game doesn't hate you; it's just random. But you'll get it eventually, and either way, it's a good combo at XP.

Time to Slay (70-99)

While this is certainly not the quickest way to get to 99, it is certainly one of the most efficient in terms of the entirety of your OSRS account.

Slayer will help with (of course) your Slayer skill, Prayer, Melee abilities, and Money Making.

If all of your melee skills are at level 70 and you have 43 Prayer and 70 Hitpoints, you should be at around 85 Combat. At this point, you can use the Slayer Master Nieve/ Steve.

You should always be using a Black Mask, or rather a Slayer Helm for the boost that it gives to accuracy and damage.

Average Mid-Level Combat Set-up

Unlike Magic, there aren't many tasks that are especially great for Melee training. But I would recommend anything where you can AFK for large periods, like killing Greater Demons in the Catacombs of Kourend or Gargoyles in the Slayer Tower Basement.

You can use Proselyte Gear to make your prayer potions last longer and something like an Abyssal Whip which will dramatically increase your DPS.

By carefully managing your OSRS gold and OSRS items, you can significantly reduce the grind to 99 Melee! Are you planning on using any specific gear or methods to speed up your training?