From Jagex's description of combat familiars, it sounds as if some of familiars' attacks are measured against the summoning defence of an armor, and some are measured against the magic/range/melee defence. The kbase makes it seem like special attacks and "some of their stranger attacks" apply to summoning, while the normal attacks go to a regular defence. I was just wondering if anyone has more information in this regard. Primarily I was debating whether a wolpertinger would be more effective than a steel titan against players wearing metal armor (the steel titan's attack is essentially useless against anyone in barrows with decent defence), but also I'm curious. :P

 

this was the only information I could find on the RS website:

Summoning - The Basics

I can't remember where I read it, but I do remember reading somewhere that a player's summoning defence bonus, as well as their normal defence bonuses / levels both play a part in determining how effective a familiar's attack will be. From what I read, a player's normal defensive bonus / levels determine the likelyhood of hitting with a familiar, and the summoning defence bonus determines how high the familiar will be able to hit on a fairly controlled basis, a la elysian / divine spirit shields.

 

Again I don't remember if I read tha on RSOF or on a fansite, but it seems fairly accurate sounding lol.

 

hope that helps

Looking at my last post, I guess I didn't really answer your question.

 

In your case, a Wolpertinger would work best against someone in Ranged Defensive gear

I think "Special moves and some of their stranger attacks" refers to:

1. Scroll attacks

2. Right-click attacks

3. Familiar-specific attacks that occasionally replace the normal attack (e.g. the Stranger Plant has an attack that hits for 2 poison damage that it randomly uses instead of its normal attack.)

 

The normal attack is going to be determined by defence level.

That's what I suspected as well; thanks.