How to determine whether Attack or Strength will train faster?

How to determine whether Attack or Strength will train faster? - Fit man and woman practicing kickboxing in gym

I'm trying to level a new character and I want to do so as efficiently as possible. I'm doing Slayer for all of my combat training, and will do whatever and expect to have any necessary gold for my weapons at my disposal.

As my Attack rises, I will have fewer misses. But as my strength rises, each hit will hit harder. Also, as my Attack rises I am granted access to higher level weapons which further increase my Attack bonus and max hit from the Strength bonus it confers.

If I had the Attack formula (percent chance to hit for given Attack and Defense values) and the Strength formula (max hit for a given Strength value) I would write a swing-for-swing simulator. Unfortunately, I don't have those formulas. If I had those, it would be great. In their absence, I'm seeking another way to objectively determine my order of training.

For the record, I plan to use the following weapons at the various Attack levels. I would consider other weapons if I can see an objective case for using them, though.

Attack Level - Weapon
1              Bronze Longsword (starting weapon)
5              Steel Scimitar
10             Black Scimitar
20             Mithril Scimitar
30             Adamant Scimitar
40             Rune Scimitar
60             Dragon Scimitar
70             Abyssal Whip (for Attack and Defense)
70             Dragon Scimitar (for Strength)

My character is already in the 30's for Attack and Defense thanks to the waterfall quest, but ideally the answer covers the earlier levels for completeness sake.

So, summary:

  • Attack and Strength contribute to DPS (and thus XPH) in different ways.
  • I seek the formulas that determine hit rate and max hit.
  • Failing in that, I seek a way to objectively determine whether I should be training with Attack or Strength at any given moment.
  • This question ignores Defense as obviously, from an XPH perspective, the longer I wait to do defense the better, since Experience will always be higher at higher Attack and Strength levels.
  • My question is only concerned about Old School RuneScape (RS07). None of this fandangled EOC malarkie. corsiKa proceeds to rant about "back in his day", and implies that kids should get off his lawn.

Update:

I have found the attack formula under the RS3 wiki. I don't know if it applies to Old School RS, or if it's an artifact of the EOC update. It's pretty simple, though, and seems logical to be an OS RS formula:

Attack Skill (bonus included)
----------------------------- * weakness
Defense Skill (bonus included)

Where weakness is either .45, .55, .65 or .9 depending on how weak the monster is to that attack type.

Thus, in order to determine a true "chance to hit formula" more work would be required to determine what a typical defense skill is for, let's say, the common Slayer task creatures.

oldschool-runescape


Best Answer

Note: This guide is for Oldschool RuneScape only, as RS3 has many differences in training for XP as well as huge distinctions from OSRS in weaponry and combat.

It's extremely difficult to determine the exact order in which to train these two skills as each level provides minor marginal benefits which change based on the weapon you're using. It may be up to you to decide which is more important to you in terms of accuracy or damage, but there are a few things to consider to help guide you in your combat routing:

  • The amount of experience it takes to increase 7 levels in a skill is roughly the same as it takes to get to that level (starting from level 30 or so). So your experience at level 60 will be 273,742 and it will take 274,211 XP to get to 67. Therefore, a relatively balanced approach is best to keep marginal benefit/level high.
  • Gaining levels in strength only increases XP/hour when your maximum hit increases, so it doesn't make sense to train strength unless you are planning on doing so until your max hit increases.
  • Wielding a better weapon increases both your accuracy and maximum hit, so it is highly desirable to reach the next weapon type plateau if you are close in attack level.
  • Note that changing weapon types will change how many strength levels you need to increase your max hit. This also applies to certain pieces of armor such as enchanted amulets and metal boots.
  • I actually do suggest training defence, as it can decrease the amount of damage you take, thereby decrease the amount of food you need to consume while training and therefore decreasing the number of bank trips you have to take. It will also open up other options for increasing damage output such as metal boots and defenders.

Using these suggestions, I would say to increase your strength until your max hit rises. Then, use a max hit calculator to check how many levels it would take to increase it again. If this is past your next weapon plateau (so if you're using adamant, that would be 40), then train attack until you reach that plateau. Then switch weapons and repeat the process. I would also train defense so that it's less than 20 levels below your attack (so mith if you're using a rune weapon), but that's up to you.



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What should I train first strength or attack?

Using these suggestions, I would say to increase your strength until your max hit rises. Then, use a max hit calculator to check how many levels it would take to increase it again. If this is past your next weapon plateau (so if you're using adamant, that would be 40), then train attack until you reach that plateau.

What is the fastest way to level up attack and defense in Runescape?

A very successful method is to train Attack until you can use the next tier weapon, and thus use a superior two-handed sword. That new weapon has higher stats and allows one to get bigger hits and train much faster. Then train Strength to the level of Attack. Finally, train Defence to the level of Attack and Strength.

Does strength affect attack Osrs?

As a player raises their Strength level, they can deal more damage against opponents. A high Strength level is often favoured by player-killers over their Attack level because it raises max hit, helping to generate the burst damage necessary to kill other players faster than they can heal themselves.

What is the best weapon to train attack Osrs?

Best Equipment To Train Attack
  • Level 1: Iron Scimitar.
  • Level 5: Steel Scimitar.
  • Level 10: Black Scimitar.
  • Level 20: Mithril Scimitar.
  • Level 30: Adamant Scimitar.
  • Level 40: Brine Sabre or Rune Scimitar.
  • Level 50: Granite Hammer.
  • Level 60: Dragon Scimitar or Longsword.



A Complete 1-99 Melee Combat Guide for Oldschool Runescape in 2021 [OSRS]



More answers regarding how to determine whether Attack or Strength will train faster?

Answer 2

It's really REALLY, debatable, I've been playing RS for many years and when I was starting out I was paying a lot of attention to numbers. While strength increases maximum possible hit, the damage output is not reliable enough. Same goes for attack, higher chance to hit, however, you can't really measure how much it increases, furthermore, some monsters are harder to hit with lower attack (you might be noticing that in slayer). To feel a real difference you would have to compare multiple hours of killing

My suggestion is to focus your training on equipping higher strength/speed (accuracy if strength/speed ratio doesn't suffer) weapons (since they grant both accuracy and strength boost) and once you can equip your best one you can afford focus on strength.

Since you asked for formulas: I found RS/RS2 Formulas, i see some for max hits, however, i doubt you'll see anything specific for attack since calculation also involves defense of the target AND relies on chance.

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