High level (70+) equipment guide

[Sorator]

(for those who want to skip the intro and just get the link: voila!)
 
Since the Evolution of Combat changes, it's been a bit difficult to adjust and learn what is now the "best" equipment available to a player given their levels and cash to spend. I personally have struggled a fair bit in adjusting to the new system, though I do very much like how it was standardized and more consistently structured. Players who left sometime before EoC and later returned often are faced with the challenge of processing an immense amount of new material with little other than raw data to guide them.
 
So, to advance my own knowledge on the matter and to help others in a similar position (especially returning players), I made this: my equipment guide. Its use is simple - it ranks equipment in each slot for each attack style. It is not a comprehensive list of all equipment in the game; rather, it's aimed at players with level 60+ combat stats who just don't know what stuff they "should" be using.
 
I attempted to cover the best equipment for levels 60 and up, and tried to include something in each slot priced below 1mil (since not everyone has max cash stacks to spend), and went up from there all the way to the best equipment in the game.
 
Some folks will disagree with my rankings - that's fine! The rankings are just for those who don't want to delve into the data. But for those who do want to delve into the data, there still aren't any lists or spreadsheets with a comprehensive approach - the wikia has some lists for, say, all the two-handed swords, or all the magic staves, but those lists can be hard to find (I struggled with that while making these spreadsheets) and not every slot has them. They also don't account for comparing different weapon types.
 
That's why, in addition to giving a ranked list of this equipment, I also included all the relevant stats for each item, all in one place. So you can easily look at the data and form your own opinions and rankings.
 
The first page of the document is quick-use info - it's some basic information that explains what the document is for and how to use it. A lot of it is common sense, so if you want, you can probably skip that and get right to the meat of the document, but the Quick-Use Info and In-depth Info tabs are good to refer back to if you're confused about anything. Melee, ranged, and magic each have separate tabs/spreadsheets, accessed at the bottom of the page. There's also my personal equipment planner on the last page, which is mostly for my personal use, but it can also serve as an example of how you might make use of this information.
 
I plan to keep this updated as new equipment comes out, though I may only sporadically update the GE prices of stuff. Knowing me, though, I may or may not actually follow through with that plan - so do check the "Last updated" listing on the first page, and double-check the GE prices on your own before making any purchase plans!
 
Feel free to post any comments or suggestions here. Cookies may be added to the pile on the left.
 
(and in case you missed it: here's that link again)
 
Edit: Title should be 70+, not 60+, my baaaaad. Also, I'm aware that isn't necessarily "high level"; it includes everything from there and up, though, so regardless of where you draw that line, it's covered. As I said above, I had to keep going down in order to find stuff in each slot affordable for not-so-rich folks, which is how I wound up including a lot of tier 60 items.
 
Also: Reddit link on r/runescape - upvotes would be nice to help others find and make use of it, as that's one place where returning players often ask equipment questions.
 
Changelog:
11/4/13 - Initial version completed!
11/7/13 - Initial flurry of edits completed!
11/14/13 - Added the new super barrows equipment! Also updated the arcane/etc. spirit shield stats to account for the patch notes (all 75 def and prayer, instead of some being 75 def and 70 prayer).
3/17/14 - Added new equipment since the last update (WE2, Ports 2.0, Dragon Rider stuff) and updated all the prices.
5/28/14 - Added chaotic spear, top tier of dg necklaces, and crystal amulet.
6/2/14 - Added normal and superior kyzaj, from The Mighty Fall.
8/19/14 - Updated to account for Legacy changes, added the noxious weapons, t90 gloves, special attack descriptions to those weapons that have them, and other misc. changes.
9/8/14 - Updated Hydrix jewelry prices and description (can now be recharged with cut onyxes).
1/9/15 - Added/updated crystal equipment and Tirannwn quivers, as well as death lotus darts and blisterwood stakes.
2/20/15 - Added T85 wildywyrm weapons and ports weapons, minor error-fixing and formatting updates

3/17/15 - Added blood necklaces.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Sorator

[V O R K]

You did a great job :D!

[PolarBearBlue]

You have some hybrid armor listed in every chart. For the sake of consistency I would just leave it in Hybrid and in you personal set up include a downgrade version. Also, in general Nex ranks above Ports for everything except the very few place you need it, like tanking Nex, Vorago, tanking KK and where you are bossing and you need the LP boost (I suck at GWD so this applies to bad PVMers like me). But yeah, this is cool. Thank you sir! :D

[Sorator]

Yeah, someone pointed out I wasn't being consistent with 85 tank armor vs 80 power armor... the power armor is probably better; shuffled things around to match that throughout.

 

I mostly included the hybrid options on the single class pages only where the hybrid option was still competitive in stats with, or significantly more affordable than, the single class options. For example: not including the sixth-age circuit on the single-class pages would be... subpar? unfair? disingenuous? to those who are just looking at the one page for their upgrade options - even though it's a good item for all three, it's also a good item for any class individually, so it gets listed on the single-class pages as well as the hybrid page.

 

Likewise, for those who can't afford Bandos gloves and don't want to deal with the FoG dragon gauntlets, the next best option for melee would be the barrows rfd gloves. They just also happen to be hybrid and work for the other classes as well.

 

And it would be incorrect to state that the best Magic cape, for example, is the god cape, when in fact the comp cape has better stats (and again, happens to hybrid and work for other classes too).

 

I had the initial thought that if I'm going to list a hybrid item on one page, I'd like to also list it on the others, just for easier comparison - since if you already have them for melee, it's nice to see how they compare to the cheapest option for range and mage without having to flip between pages. However, that may be more clutter than its worth; I could definitely remove such options from the single-class pages that they don't really contribute to. I was kinda debating on that myself. (Primary example would be the RFD gloves - magic and ranged both have <1m options with better stats than the barrows gloves; the only reason they're listed on the melee page is because there is no other good <1m option, except the FoG gauntlets which are weird and require playing an abandoned minigame. So, I could just list them on the melee page and not on the others.)

 

I did go back and take out the dragonrider boots/gloves from the single-class pages, though; while they're the easiest to access of the best-in-slot prayer bonus, their other stats are bad enough from being hybrid that they aren't really worth listing in the single class pages, especially since there are more affordable options with better stats (other than prayer, that is). I also took out some of the lower amulets; there's really no excuse for anything below a glory for anyone at this level, except salve (e) for undead tasks (which I left in for that purpose).

 

 

This should help with those slayer essentials in your siggy, too! (I'd recommend grabbing saradomin's murmur for range before getting drygores, incidentally, unless you're quite close to affording drygores already. It's quite cheap right now - 1.2m. The melee version is much more expensive, and thus probably not worth getting. Also remember that you can right-click>quick switch your ring customizations, so the only real limiting factor there are your tokens to spend; if you can afford it, you can have a melee and a range setup and just switch between them. Tokens are a significantly limiting factor there, though, it's true.)

 

Edit: As Polar pointed out to me in-game, warpriest gloves and boots are worth listing on the single-class pages (better than barrows gloves), made that change.

[V O R K]

FoG games every sunday !

 

:(

 

Also whilst the completionist cape is better then the God cape in every aspect, someone looking for "the best magic cape" might not really find it viable to max in every aspect for a 0,5 increase to go GWDing  :P.

[Sorator]

Also whilst the completionist cape is better then the God cape in every aspect, someone looking for "the best magic cape" might not really find it viable to max in every aspect for a 0,5 increase to go GWDing  :P.

Well of course not, but that's why I list more than just the best-in-slot equipment, heh. So if for whatever reason you can't get the best, you can see the next-best option, and so on and so forth all the way down to barrows for head/torso/legs, and for everything else, the best cash-only (meaning non-minigame reward, non-quest reward, and minimal level requirements) <200k option which is reasonably obtainable for most players (in this case, obsidian cloak), and sometimes a bit further than that too if there's other common or notable stuff below that (legends cloak, which is the only non-comp cape to have a LP boost, and ardy cloak 3, just to compare to the ardy cloak 4 which is listed further up).

 

It's not like I'm saying everyone needs to or should get the highest listed option in each slot - you should get the highest listed option which is accessible to you in terms of cost and requirements. That's why there's more than one item listed in each slot!

 

And besides - if someone's looking for "the best magic cape," well... that would be the comp cape. To state otherwise would be wrong. (If someone's looking for "the best magic cape that I can easily get", the answer is probably a god cape - again, that's why there's a list to choose from!)

[Sorator]

Updated to include the last patch's equipment (cspear, dg necklaces, crystal amulet).

 

I'm not sure if I dread or am excited about the stuff I'll have to add once the elf city comes out, heh.

 

Edit: Also added the kyzajs from The Mighty Fall. Slightly preferable to barrows weps, because no degrade, and upgraded version is +2 prayer over sara sword if you can manage to buy a hilt.

[Sorator]

Updated to account for crit > style bonus changes (boy did that take forever), as well as adding the noxious weapons and t90 gloves. Also added special attack descriptions to those weapons that have them.

 

Other significant changes:

• Korasi's sword has an offhand, and had its stats changed a bit.
• Enhanced/elite Excalibur has an active instead of a passive (not a spec, right-click>activate when wielded).
• Because of the crit>style bonus changes, the capes/rings/necklaces and amulets have changed around a bit.
• Berserker necklace got buffed
• Crystal amulet, salve amulet (e), and tokkul-zo got nerfed hard.
• Dragon & chaotic claws got nerfed (no more crit bonus). Now they're just expensive with no real benefit ahead of other weapons of their tier.
• Dragon maces are now the best 1h dragon weps, because of their prayer bonus (though you may disagree based on specs).
• Godswords generally got better, as you can choose between their passive and their spec.

Phew. That was a big update.

[Sorator]

Added the crystal equipment from the Elf City; attuned weaponry is awesome and definitely a better choice than much of the standard t70/80 weaponry if you can get the seeds for it. Also added the elf quivers in the hybrid section, since we might wind up with more stuff going in that slot (doubt it, but it's possible).

 

I'm probably going to go in and add mh/oh thrown weapons soon, too, since with the crystal chakrams and the ports darts, they're actually a valid option. I was hoping to avoid it, but... *sigh*

 

Edit: Added thrown weapons in with the mh/oh crossbows; only included the two crystal chakrams, deathlotus darts, and blisterwood stakes. I don't know of any others at t70+.

 

I don't think any other equipment has come out since August, but I've not been keeping up lately, so definitely feel free to poke me if I missed something!

[Miss Lioness]

 

Edit: Title should be 70+, not 60+, my baaaaad. Also, I'm aware that isn't necessarily "high level"; it includes everything from there and up, though, so regardless of where you draw that line, it's covered. As I said above, I had to keep going down in order to find stuff in each slot affordable for not-so-rich folks, which is how I wound up including a lot of tier 60 items.

 

Changed the 60+ to 70+.

[Rae J]

feel free to poke me if I missed something!

*poke*

 

Some of the GE prices are wrong, I know it's not an essential part of the guide but I figured I'd inform you  ;)

 

Otherwise it's an overall decent guide   |^_^|

[Arceus]

Yeah they seem a bit old lol. Unless you integrate some sort of auto-updater to pull prices, they are bound to do that. Presumably that should be feasible in Google Sheets but it may take some work.

[Sorator]

Yeah, I update the GE pricing sporadically. I figure it's a decent guideline even if they're not up-to-date. I'm not really up for coding an auto-updater for that purpose.

Added the T85 wildywyrm weapons (though I still am missing some details on their degrade mechanics, and how much adrenaline their specs use), and made some other small changes. (Elite enhanced excalibur is from the elite tasks, not the hard tasks, heh.)

Edit: Also added the new ports melee/magic weapons.

Edit2: Updated all the prices, except the Hybrid section (which I'll get to once another afk-able VoS comes round).

 

Edit 3/7/15: Quick update: added prices on wildywyrm weapon components now that they've settled down a bit, added wild arrows note, updated dark bow to include 70def req.

 

Edit 3/17/15: For some reason I never added the blood necklaces; fixed that.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Sorator