Patch Notes: Part 1 - Combat Style Modernisation

02 March 2026 Game Updates

Combat has always been a key part of RuneScape, and now it�s getting a full modern makeover. Melee, Ranged, and Magic are being refreshed with cleaner systems, sharper visuals, and a more enjoyable experience for players at every level. Since December, we�ve been running a Beta with you, the players, listening to feedback, rolling out near-weekly updates, and fine-tuning the systems to make sure this update hits just right.

Today we launch the modernisation. There has been a lot of back and forth during the Beta, so before we go through the full list of updates, let�s take a look at what we set out to achieve with this project.

What Are the Goals of This Update?

Our goal is to modernise and unify the combat system so that Melee, Ranged, Magic, and Necromancy all operate within the same clear framework, scale naturally to level 120, and are approachable for new players, without sacrificing the depth and mastery that high-level players value.

Over time, combat has evolved unevenly. Necromancy was built with a modern foundation: clean systems, consistent rules, smooth gameplay loops, and clear progression. In comparison, Melee, Ranged, and Magic have accumulated layers of legacy mechanics that can feel unintuitive, cluttered, or difficult to understand, particularly for newer or mid-level players.

This update is about bringing all four combat styles into alignment. That means consistent scaling, clearer rules, and more readable progression across the board. Regardless of which style you choose, the underlying structure should feel cohesive and intuitive.

The core philosophy is simple: raise the floor without lowering the ceiling. Combat should be more welcoming, understandable, and satisfying from the outset, while still preserving the space for optimisation, skill expression, and high-level strategy.

That�s the ambition. Below, we�ll break down how we�re making it happen.

What's Changed?

Combat Skills Increased to 120

To bring the core combat styles in line with Necromancy, which already progresses to 120, we�ve increased the maximum level for Attack, Strength, Ranged and Magic to 120 as well.

As part of this rebalance, and as further explained below, Berserker Auras have been disabled. Previously, these auras provided a significant combat boost and effectively bridged the power gap between the 99-capped styles and Necromancy�s 120 level cap. Now that all combat styles extend to 120, that temporary solution is no longer required, as power parity is achieved through internal skill progression rather than external buffs.

Does this mean that I need to be level 120 to have the same power as I currently do at 99? Thankfully, no that isn't required. We have rebalanced the damage per level curve to boost the value of the earlier levels, check just below for more information.

Additionally to support this transition, we�re introducing a grace period that runs until 20 November 2026, so there�s also no need to rush to 120 immediately to retain your Completionist capes.

Damage Per Level Scaling

One of our key goals with this update is to make combat progression feel smoother and more rewarding throughout the midgame. We want players to feel comfortable engaging with bosses and higher-level content before reaching level 120, rather than feeling pressured to max out a skill first. This change also helps compensate for the removal of combat-boosting Auras, ensuring that reaching level 120 still represents a meaningful and competitive power point.

To support this, we�ve adjusted how Damage Per Level is calculated.

On live, damage per level scales linearly: the relevant combat stat (for example, your Ranged level when using a Ranged weapon) is multiplied by 2.5. This creates a straight-line progression where each level adds the same amount of damage.

We�ve replaced this with a logarithmic scaling curve. This new approach grants relatively more power through the midgame, helping combat feel less grindy as you level, while tapering off toward the top end.

For those interested in the technical details, the new formula is:

145 * 2.5* (ln(1 + (0.6 * (Range_level/145))) / ln(1.6) (145: Max level with potion boosts) (2.5: Original 'Damage Per Level')

New: 120 Skillcape Perks

We�ve added new perks to each of the 120 combat skillcapes to reward mastery of a combat style. These perks are intended to provide decent utility when you finish levelling the skill.

Our aim is to strike a careful balance. These perks should provide reasonable value for the commitment required to reach 120. However, they must not introduce so much power that 120 becomes a prerequisite for engaging with bosses or other PvM encounters. The goal is optimisation and quality of life, not adding a feeling of gating access to content.

When you�re using a particular combat style, the 120 cape should feel like a natural and satisfying choice, but not a mandatory one.

120 Attack Cape

Grants a 2% increased hit chance for Melee attacks.

This offers a small but consistent boost to reliability, particularly in encounters with higher Defence, without broadly increasing overall damage.

120 Strength Cape

Dismember, Slaughter, and Massacre heal an additional 2% lifepoints.

This strengthens the sustain element of core melee bleed abilities, and offsets some of the downside of having to be in melee-range.

120 Magic Cape

Hex spells last twice as long.

This improves uptime and reduces the need for frequent reapplication in longer encounters, smoothing out gameplay flow.

Note: This does not apply to Entangle or Teleblock in PvP.

120 Ranged Cape

Grants a 10% chance to not consume ammunition.

This provides a consistent economic and quality-of-life benefit, without directly increasing damage output.

Ability Books, Tutorials, and Legacy

We have reorganised the ability books to make them clearer and easier to navigate. Abilities are now grouped by type, including Basic, Enhanced, Ultimate, and Utility categories, helping players quickly understand their role within a rotation.

For Melee specifically, the Attack and Strength ability books have been merged into a single unified Melee book. This simplifies navigation, reduces unnecessary separation between the two skills, and makes it easier to find and manage your abilities in one place.

Alongside these structural improvements, each combat style now includes contextual pop-up tutorials when you unlock new abilities. These explain what the ability does, and when you might want to use it. The intention is to make progression feel clearer and more guided, particularly for newer players learning a style for the first time.

Finally, Legacy Combat Mode has been renamed to Classic to align with our recent UI terminology updates. Classic Mode now also uses the modern ability animations, bringing it visually in line with the rest of the combat system while preserving its distinct gameplay style.

New: Basic Attacks

Despite the name, auto-attacks have not truly sat at the centre of combat for a long time. For most players, they were either barely noticeable or too unintuitive to deliberately engage with.

Over time, the system became increasingly archaic. It relied on hidden timers, unclear interactions, and behaviour that was never meaningfully explained in-game. For the majority of players, auto-attacks simply happened in the background. For a small number of high-level players, they became optimisation tools tied to obscure knowledge. In neither case were they serving as a clear, accessible foundation for combat.

With Necromancy, we introduced a visible, structured Basic ability that operates within the global cooldown system. This created a clearer baseline, more readable timing, and a smoother combat loop. The reception to that simplicity made it clear that the other styles needed the same modern foundation.

What Has Changed

Basic Attacks have been added to Magic, Ranged, and Melee, fully replacing auto-attacks.

These new Basic Attacks:

Operate on the standard global cooldown system
Provide consistent timing across all combat styles
Create a clearer and more understandable combat rhythm

Magic-Specific Changes

Magic Basic Attacks use the data and effects of your currently selected spell
Example: Ice Barrage Basic Attacks visually appear as Ice Barrage and apply its effects, including area damage and stun
Hex spells now operate on the standard global cooldown system instead of the legacy auto-attack timer
Off-hand spellcasting has been removed

Additional Updates

Weapon attack speeds are now hidden. With all Basic Attacks operating on a fixed 1.8 second global cooldown, individual weapon speeds are no longer functionally relevant under the new system. During development, we experimented with allowing the global cooldown to speed up or slow down based on a weapon�s traditional attack speed. In practice, this proved clunky and unintuitive. It created inconsistent timing between weapon swaps, made rotations harder to read, and undermined the clarity we are aiming for with a unified combat framework. A fixed 1.8 second global cooldown provides consistent pacing across all styles and removes hidden complexity, ensuring combat feels stable, predictable, and easier to understand.

Adrenaline Generation and Usage

All Basic abilities now generate 9 percent Adrenaline, increased from 8 percent on live.

This brings the original combat styles into parity with Necromancy, aligning Adrenaline generation across the entire combat system. No matter which style you are using, the foundational resource flow now follows the same structure and expectations.

The choice of 9 percent is deliberate. With a 1.8 second global cooldown, this cleanly translates to 3 percent Adrenaline per 0.6 second cycle. This gives us flexibility for future pacing adjustments. If the global cooldown were ever adjusted to speed up or slow down in a structured way, Adrenaline gain would scale cleanly and predictably without introducing awkward decimals or hidden inconsistencies.

Threshold Abilities Reworked

As part of this update, all Threshold abilities in the 3 core styles have been reworked.

They no longer require 50 percent Adrenaline to activate
They have been renamed Enhanced abilities
Each Enhanced ability now has an updated Adrenaline cost

This allows for more flexible pacing within rotations and gives us finer control over balance at different stages of progression. Full details for each style can be found in the ability lists below.

Lesser Abilities Removed

With the introduction of a dedicated Basic Attack acting as the default filler ability, Lesser abilities no longer serve a meaningful purpose within the combat system.

Previously, Lesser abilities were intended to fill gaps between major unlocks and keep early progression feeling active. In practice, however, they were often just redundant or confusing. Many Lesser abilities were either numerically weak or offered no compelling reason to use them.

Now that every style has a consistent Basic Attack to anchor rotations, we no longer need placeholder abilities to maintain combat flow. This allows us to reduce overall ability clutter and ensure that each unlock feels deliberate and meaningful.

Melee

Style Core Changes and Identity

Melee is the style that rewards getting close by hitting HARD. Much of its depth comes from weapon choice, opening up different abilities or even modifying abilities depending on the equipped weapon. That flexibility gives Melee a reactive feel.

Historically, however, Melee has struggled with sticking to targets and survivability, especially when managing boss mechanics or mitigating the increased damage taken during Berserk.

We have rebalanced the kit to address this. Power has been shifted away from extreme cooldown spikes and redistributed across the base toolkit. The goal is for Melee to feel consistently strong, not just during short burst windows. It should reward getting up close and personal, rather than relying on a single activation to define its output.

Bloodlust

We are also introducing a new Melee-specific resource mechanic called Bloodlust.

Using Basic abilities builds stacks of Bloodlust. These stacks are then consumed by Enhanced abilities to empower them with additional effects such as increased damage or extra hits.

This creates a more deliberate gameplay loop. Basics fuel your momentum, and Enhanced abilities convert that momentum into payoff. The intention is to create depth while making the rotation clearer and more structured.

Structural Changes

All Melee abilities have been combined into a single ability book. This simplifies the interface and removes the need to manage separate Attack and Strength tabs.

We have also updated ability requirements so that all Melee abilities now unlock with Attack instead of Strength. Strength remains important, unlocking specific weapons such as Ek-ZekKil and contributing to overall damage through level-based benefits, including increased damage per level and Critical Strike Damage bonuses at certain thresholds.

Unlock Order Rework

With the new combat foundation and Bloodlust system in place, Melee�s unlock progression has been fully restructured. Part of this goal is to ease players into the style, introducing mechanics in a clear and deliberate order so they naturally learn how the combat loop functions as they level. Abilities are now spaced and sequenced to reinforce core concepts, build understanding over time, and ensure that each unlock feels purposeful rather than overwhelming.

The updated unlock table is shown below.

Ability	Level	Type	Notes
Basic Attack	1	Basic
Assault	3	Enhanced
Adaptive Strike	7	Basic
Overpower	15	Ultimate
Rend	18	Basic
Fury	21	Basic
Backhand	31	Basic	Second Charge at 54
Hurricane	37	Enhanced
Flurry	45	Basic
Dismember	50	Enhanced	Recasts at 60 & 75
Punish	60	Basic
Barge	65	Basic
Pulverise	71	Ultimate
Berserk	76	Ultimate
Meteor Strike	90	Ultimate
Chaos Roar	92	Basic	Requires Codex

Melee Basic Abilities

New: Basic Attack

Melee�s new Basic Attack is intentionally stronger than the equivalent abilities in other styles. This reflects the inherent tradeoffs of playing Melee, including the need to remain in close range and the requirement to train both Attack and Strength.

New: Adaptive Strike

Adaptive Strike combines the strongest elements of Decimate and Cleave into a single flexible ability, freeing up valuable action bar space.

When dual-wielding, it gains Decimate�s multi-hit functionality and slightly increased damage
When using a two-handed weapon, it gains Cleave�s area-of-effect component
Generates more Adrenaline than a standard Basic ability

Adaptive Strike is designed to act as a rotational cornerstone, adapting to your weapon choice while accelerating your Adrenaline gain.

New: Rend

Rend is the second new Melee Basic ability. It provides a strong single-target hit and a fast way to prepare for Bloodlust empowered Enhanced abilities.

Deals higher direct damage
Builds Bloodlust more quickly

Fury

Fury remains a core and reliable Basic ability, particularly useful for setting up high-impact attacks such as Hurricane or Overpower. Its primary use case remains similar to the live game, with the addition of generating Bloodlust to feed into the new resource loop.

Punish

Like other abilities, Punish has been scaled up to make up for the Berserk reduction. It remains the strongest Basic ability against enemies below 50 percent Life Points.

It is worth noting, that most basics like Punish, and Fury that have a bonus effect, have had their damage values brought in line with the Basic Attack, so there's less pressure to use them, unless you want to utilise their effects.

Barge

Barge remains largely unchanged, continuing to provide Melee with a fast and reliable way to engage targets.

Greater Barge benefits decently from the wider changes to Flurry and Assault, as it now has access to stronger channeled abilities to convert into bleeds.

Backhand

As part of simplifying the style and reducing ability bloat, Forceful Backhand, Kick, and Stomp have been removed.

Backhand has been strengthened to preserve access to stun utility when needed:

Damage increased from 65�75% to 95�105%
Gains a second charge at Level 54
The knockback effect from Kick is now part of the Scare Tactics unlock and can be toggled on or off within Backhand

This consolidation keeps the stun toolset intact while reducing redundancy.

Chaos Roar

Alongside Berserk, Chaos Roar previously contributed to extremely high burst stacking. We are reducing its peak output so that power can be redistributed across the wider kit.

It remains a powerful burst tool, but it no longer double-dips with other systemic changes.

Damage bonus reduced from 100% to 75%

This supports the broader goal of smoothing Melee�s power curve and reducing reliance on extreme cooldown windows.

Melee Enhanced Abilities

Assault

Assault is now a core part of your damage rotation and the first spender ability you unlock. Use it to cash in your adrenaline and lay into your enemies, and when you�ve built up enough Bloodlust stacks, it hits even harder.

Now deals 160% average damage per hit (640% total).
Now deals 200% average damage per hit while Bloodlusted (800% total).
Adrenaline cost reduced to 25%.
Cooldown reduced to 6 seconds.

Hurricane

Leaning into its AoE identity, Hurricane can now reduce its cooldown for each enemy hit, making it an even more potent area damage tool. When paired with Adaptive Strike�s cleave potential, it really comes into its own, especially during Slayer.

Now deals 320% average damage to the primary target.
Now deals 405% average damage to the primary target while Bloodlusted.
New: Cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds per enemy hit.
Now costs 25% adrenaline.

Flurry

Flurry fell over slightly before its Greater upgrade, whereby it hit rapidly, but not for a lot of damage. We've increased its baseline damage and given it a Bloodlusted effect, allowing it to feel more like a multi-hit monster at the end of the fight. Similarly, reducing the cooldown of Berserk often left your cooldowns out of sync - so we've flipped this to extend the duration of Berserk instead.

Now deals 70% average damage per hit (560% total).
New: Deals up to 1.65� damage while Bloodlusted, scaling with the target�s missing Life Points.
Now costs 25% adrenaline.
Now additionally stuns the primary target.
Greater Flurry now extends the duration of Berserk per hit instead of reducing its cooldown

Dismember

Bleeds have always been a sub-build within Melee, mainly supported by specific pieces of equipment. To better support that playstyle, we�ve reworked Dismember into a three-stage ability. The first cast costs no Adrenaline and applies a bleed to your target. You can then follow up with a second cast that applies a stronger bleed for 25% Adrenaline, and finally a third cast that adds another powerful bleed for an additional 25%. All three bleeds can be active at the same time, and as a bonus, they heal you for 10% of the damage they deal, giving Melee some much-needed sustain built directly into its core kit.

Now heals for 10% of damage dealt.
Can be recast at higher levels to reapply bleed effects:

Slaughter unlocks as a recast at Level 60 Attack.
Massacre unlocks as a recast at Level 75 Attack.

Melee Ultimate Abilities

Overpower

Overpower now delivers even more value, with a reduced Adrenaline cost and increased damage to make it hit harder for less.

Now costs 60% adrenaline.
Now deals 575% average damage.

Pulverise

Old reliable Pulverise remains largely the same, but now hits harder and costs less Adrenaline, bringing its cost in line with Overpower while preserving its utility of reducing the damage your opponent deals.

Now costs 60% adrenaline.
Now deals 320% average damage.

Berserk

Much of Melee�s power was tied up in Berserk and Chaos Roar, so to make the base kit stronger, we�ve reduced Berserk�s damage bonus. We�ve also lowered its self-damage multiplier and adjusted it to work with the new Bloodlust mechanic, letting you build more stacks and reducing Overpower�s cooldown to open up new ways to maximise its use.

Damage bonus reduced from 100% → 75%.
Damage taken reduced from 50% → 25%.
Now increases Bloodlust generation and maximum cap.
Now reduces Overpower's cooldown to 9 seconds.

Meteor Strike

We�ve shifted Meteor Strike away from relying on crits for Adrenaline. It now boosts the Adrenaline you gain from using abilities and provides a steady flow of Adrenaline while you stay in melee combat.

Now costs 60% adrenaline.
On-critical adrenaline gain removed.
Basic abilities now generate 1.5� adrenaline while active.
Now passively generates adrenaline for the duration of the buff

Special Attack Adjustments

As mentioned earlier, part of Melee�s identity comes from its wealth of interesting Special Attacks. Alongside the other changes to Melee, the following Special Attacks have had their average damage increased:

Common High-tier Weapons

Dark Shard of Leng:

Primary hit: 110% → 125%
AoE hit: 165% → 190%

Ek-ZekKil:

Primary hit: 250% → 280%
Secondary hits: 225% → 255%

Tumeken�s Light: 260% → 295%
Varanus�s Mercy:

Primary hit: 75% → 90%
Secondary hits: 150% → 165%

Statius�s Warhammer: 150% → 170%

Dragon Weapons

Dragon Claws: 360% → 400%
Dragon Halberd: 125% → 140%
Dragon Longsword: 270% → 295%
Dragon Mace: 230% → 260%
Dragon Scimitar: 230% → 260%

Godswords

Armadyl Godsword: 400% → 440%
Bandos Godsword: 220% → 245%
Saradomin Godsword: 175% → 200%
Zamorak Godsword: 175% → 200%
Saradomin Sword: 175% → 200%

Other Weapon Adjustments

Rune Claws: 120% → 140%
Granite Maul: 110% → 125%
Keenblade: 140% → 160%
Bone Dagger: 140% → 160%
Korasi�s Sword: 220% → 250%
Ancient Mace: 120% → 135%
Abyssal Whip: 60% → 80%
Darklight: 60% → 80%
Barrelchest Anchor: 120% → 135%
Brackish Blade: 120% → 135%
Vesta�s Longsword: 250% → 275%
Vesta�s Spear: 100% → 115%