OSRS Defence Guide 1–99: Unlocks by Level and Fastest XP

How to Train Defence in OSRS

Defence in OSRS levels from combat on a defensive style. Melee on Defensive gives 4 Defence XP per damage, Ranged on longrange gives 2 Ranged and 2 Defence, and defensive casting gives 1 Defence and 1.33 Magic per damage on top of the spell's casting XP. At high levels the fastest Defence training is Ancient Magicks on defensive or long-fuse chinchompas at maniacal monkeys, which the wiki says beats any melee method for Defence XP per hour.

Defence decides what armour you can wear, and it counts toward the base part of your combat level along with Hitpoints and half your Prayer. That second point is why pures stop at a set Defence level and mains push on to 70 and beyond.

Controlled vs Defensive Style: Defence XP per Damage

Every combat style splits the same damage into different skills. The Combat Options page gives the exact split: Defensive puts all 4 XP per damage into Defence, controlled spreads 4 XP over Attack, Strength and Defence (1.33 each).

Controlled is only worth it when you want all three melee stats rising together on one weapon. The whip is the trap here: its styles are Flick (accurate), Lash (controlled) and Deflect (defensive), with no aggressive option, so it can never train Strength on its own. The wiki's melee training page tells pures to avoid it for that reason.

Defence Unlocks by Level

Almost every piece of armour needs a Defence level. Weapons, capes, rings and amulets are the exceptions. These are the unlocks most accounts plan around.

Barrows gloves are often listed next to these, but they have no Defence requirement to wear. You need all of Recipe for Disaster and 130,000 coins at the Culinaromancer's Chest in the Lumbridge Castle basement.

Defence Caps for Pures and Builds

Defence is the stat pures restrict most, because it raises combat level without raising max hit. The Combat pure page lists the levels builds actually stop at. Each one is chosen for a specific armour or prayer unlock, so pick the unlock first and the cap follows.

The Berserker build page has the cleanest quest plan for a 45 cap: Monkey Madness I (Strength and Hitpoints option), Dragon Slayer I, Nature Spirit, The Fremennik Trials, Heroes' Quest, Between a Rock..., What Lies Below, A Soul's Bane and both Myreque quests. Together they leave you on 44 Defence, after which you train the last 4,875 XP yourself. Holy Grail and Olaf's Quest are not on that list, because their 27,300 Defence XP would push you past 45.

Full builds, Attack and Prayer caps and gear for each bracket are in our pure builds guide.

Quests That Give Defence XP (Skip or Time Them on a Pure)

These are every quest reward the Defence page lists as fixed Defence XP. On a main they are free levels. On a pure, each one is a decision you cannot reverse.

• Daero's reward after Monkey Madness I is a choice: 35,000 XP each in the two skills you focus on and 20,000 in the other two. Even the Strength and Hitpoints focus gives 20,000 Defence, so a 1-def pure uses Daero's right-click Travel option to reach Ape Atoll and never starts that dialogue.
• The Observatory Quest reward is random, and one outcome is 875 Defence XP, enough for level 8.
• Skill-choice lamps and books from quests can go into Defence. On a pure, never pick it.

Defence 1–99 Level Path

Quests cover the first 42 levels for free. After that, train toward the next armour tier you actually plan to wear.

1. 1

   1–31: Holy Grail gives 15,300 Defence XP (needs 20 Attack and Merlin's Crystal), enough for about level 31 on its own.

2. 2

   To 40 and past it:

   Dragon Slayer I gives 18,650 Defence and Strength XP and lets you wear the rune platebody; Olaf's Quest adds 12,000 Defence.

3. 3

   40–70: Slayer, the Gemstone Crab or Nightmare Zone on Defensive, aiming for 40 (rune, torso), 45 (Fremennik helms), 60 (dragon) and 65 (Bandos).

4. 4

   65: King's Ransom (33,000 Defence) and the Knight Waves miniquest (20,000) both need 65 Defence. Together they take you from 65 to 66 and unlock Piety for later.

5. 5

   70–80: Barrows and Piety at 70, Justiciar at 75, Torva at 80.

6. 6

   80–99: defensive casting or long-fuse chins at maniacal monkeys for the highest Defence XP per hour.

Pick Your Defence Training Method

Rates below come from the wiki's melee training, Ironman melee, Nightmare Zone strategies and maniacal monkey strategies pages. They are figures for efficient play with the setups those pages list, so expect less with weaker gear or breaks. Costs are given as supplies per hour because GE prices move daily.

The chin figure is the wiki's own example: a setup making 600,000 Ranged XP an hour on rapid makes 37.5% of that, about 225,000, in each of Ranged and Defence on long-range. The Ancients rows split the same way: every hit pays Magic and Defence at once, so the cost per Defence XP is lower than it looks.

Hours to 70 and 99 Defence

XP totals are from the wiki's Experience table: 70 Defence is 737,627 XP and 99 is 13,034,431. The quest route leaves you on 45,950 XP at level 42, so 42 to 70 is 691,677 XP and 70 to 99 is 12,296,804.

The jump from 70 to 99 is 94% of all the XP the skill needs, which is why most mains stop pushing Defence on purpose after 70 or 80 and let Slayer on Defensive fill the rest.

Fastest Defence XP Methods

At high levels, the wiki's melee guide says Ancient Magicks on defensive or long-fuse chinchompas at maniacal monkeys give more Defence XP per hour than melee. Both need Monkey Madness II progress to get into Kruk's Dungeon.

In numbers: long-fuse chins give about 225,000 Defence XP an hour, Ice Barrage on defensive about 142,100 to 166,900 depending on max hit, and Hallowfell on Defensive 200,000 or more. Chins are the fastest and the most demanding; barrage is the lazier choice and also trains Magic.

For melee, Defence XP per damage on Defensive matches what Strength gets on aggressive, so the same spots work: sulphur naguas from 55 Attack and maniacal monkeys from 75. Shared-XP weapons such as the whip on its controlled style give 1.33 Defence per damage instead of 4.

Do not isolate Defence if it delays Slayer unlocks. Switching to Defensive on tasks you already do costs nothing.

Cheapest / Budget Approach

Holy Grail, Dragon Slayer I and Olaf's Quest give 45,950 Defence XP between them, which is level 42 without spending a single supply.

Gear breakpoints beat raw levels. A fighter torso (40 Defence, 375 honour points in each Barbarian Assault role and one Penance Queen kill) has the same +4 Strength bonus as a Bandos chestplate.

Higher Defence cuts food use at bosses, so the level has GP value even though it adds nothing to your damage.

AFK & Lower-Intensity Options

Nightmare Zone on Defensive is the classic AFK Defence, with about 20 minutes between clicks on normal rumble with absorption potions. Our Nightmare Zone guide covers the boss list and the 1 Hitpoints setup.

The Gemstone Crab needs no food and hits for 1 at most, so Defensive style there is safe to leave running. It needs Children of the Sun.

Long-fuse chins at the monkeys give Defence quickly but need attention, so save them for sessions where you are watching the screen.

Training Defence Only: Tanks and Defence Pures

Two different players ask about Defence-only training. A Defence pure, also called a tank pure, keeps 1 Attack and 1 Strength and only ever fights on Defensive so it can wear endgame armour at a low combat level. A boss tank is a normal account that takes the heavy hits for a team.

• Defence pure weapons: the goblin paint cannon, ham joint and swift blade early, as the fastest-attacking training weapons. From 65 to 75 Defence the wiki's pick is the red topaz machete, at about 7,100 XP an hour on 1-Defence targets such as sand crabs with divine potions, or about 8,700 at seagulls for more effort.
• That rate makes 99 a trophy. At 7,100 an hour, 70 to 99 is over 1,700 hours, which is why the wiki calls the build mostly a trophy account.
• Boss tanks: the Tanking page uses General Graardor as the example. His melee attack often hits 60, so the tank prays Protect from Melee and takes it while the team prays against his ranged attack.
• Tank gear by the wiki's order: Justiciar, then Torva, then melee Barrows armour for melee and ranged defence. Dinh's bulwark is best for ranged damage, and staves give the most magic defence.

Defence Gear and Prayer Tips

• 40 Defence is the first big gear tier: rune armour, the fighter torso, the rune defender and d'hide bodies if your Ranged allows.
• Pures should decide their Defence cap before anything else, since every Defence level raises combat level. 45 is the berserker helm level for zerker builds; the caps table above lists the others.
• Piety, Rigour and Augury all need 70 Defence, so 70 is the realistic floor for a main doing endgame bosses.

Ironman Notes

Defence is the one combat stat an iron should think about before training, because it is permanent and it changes what account build you are playing. Decide if you want it high at all before you put hours into it.

If you do want it, quest rewards and Slayer carry most of the way, and the armour that makes it worth having comes from drops, so the level is rarely the bottleneck.

Ironman route: train Defence now or later?

1. 1

   Quest it first.

   Holy Grail, Dragon Slayer I and Olaf's Quest give 45,950 XP. Add Daero's Attack and Defence option after Monkey Madness I (35,000 Defence) and you are on 80,950 XP, level 47, without a single trip.

2. 2

   Dragon Slayer I is also what lets an iron wear the shop-bought rune platebody, so it comes early for every iron main.

3. 3

   Train it on Slayer tasks you already have, on Defensive, until 70.

   That is the level for Barrows equipment and for Piety once King's Ransom and Knight Waves are done. Rigour and Augury also need 70 Defence, but they come from prayer scrolls in the Chambers of Xeric.

4. 4

   After 70, Defence mostly saves food.

   The wiki's general melee order is Strength to 99 first, then Attack, then Defence, so let it trail.

• Hardcore ironmen: Nightmare Zone is on the wiki's list of safe deaths, so it is the safest place to grind Defence. The Gemstone Crab can still kill you if you sit at low Hitpoints, and The Fremennik Trials duel with Koschei is also a safe death.
• UIM: NMZ potions are bought by the dose into barrels at the minigame (up to 255 doses each), so absorptions never need bank space.
• Full route by level for all three melee stats: ironman combat training 1–70. For HCIM-specific risks, see our HCIM guide.

When Paid Training Makes Sense

Paid Defence makes sense when one tier is all that stands between you and a boss, such as 70 for Piety and Rigour or 80 for Torva.

If you do order it, specify the route as well as the level range. Rushing a gear breakpoint and going for 99 are different jobs on this skill, with different timelines and different supply bills. Our Defence page lists what we need from you, and the work is played rather than botted.

Common Mistakes

1. 1

   Finishing Dragon Slayer I or Holy Grail on a 1-def pure.

   They pay 18,650 and 15,300 Defence XP. Start them for the diary tasks and clue steps, but stop before the end.

2. 2

   Talking to Daero after Monkey Madness I on a pure.

   Both reward options include at least 20,000 Defence XP. Use Daero's right-click Travel option to reach Ape Atoll instead.

3. 3

   Training a zerker to 45 before questing.

   The wiki's quest list leaves you on 44 with 4,875 XP to go. Train first and the quests overshoot your cap.

4. 4

   Using controlled when Defence is the goal.

   It gives 1.33 Defence per damage against 4 on Defensive, so the same kills take three times as long.

5. 5

   Splashing and expecting Defence XP.

   A splash deals no damage, so it only gives the spell's base Magic XP. Defensive autocast pays 1 Defence per damage that actually lands.

FAQ

Still stuck on a mechanic? Ask the team on our Discord, it is free.

Final Takeaway

Pick your Defence cap before anything else: XP cannot be removed, and every Defence level adds combat without adding damage. On a main, quests cover 1–42 for free, 70 is the level that changes the most, and long-fuse chins or Hallowfell at maniacal monkeys are the fastest way past it.

Browse Defence training, more skill guides, or the full blog for related progression help.