Boat combat

Boat combat is a feature of Sailing, allowing players and their crewmates to fight monsters residing in the water while on a boat.

Players can use cannons or conventional magic/ranged weaponry to engage in combat with the various sea creatures found throughout the oceans and seas of Gielinor.

Combat with monsters on board the player's boat, such as against drink trolls, does not use ship combat mechanics.

While a player can fight monsters with conventional weaponry, only ranged and magic can be used; melee weapons cannot attack enemies, even if they are in range to do so. However, players can use a salamander set to scorch which gives melee experience and counts as melee damage in some scenarios. A player is also unable to attack enemies on land while on a boat, even if they are in range to do so.

Proper ship combat is unlocked once the player has reached level 28 Sailing, as this is the level required to build the bronze cannon. After a cannon is built, the player must have cannonballs in their inventory or storage.

To attack with the cannon, the targeted monster must be within a 180-degree angle at the cannon's front and also within 15-tile radius of the cannon. Monsters that occupy a large enough area may be targeted by cannons on either side of the boat simultaneously if their position satisfies the 180-degree rule for both cannons (ie. they are either directly ahead of, or behind, the boat).

Once a monster is hit, it will approach the ship and initiate combat, attacking the player's boat. If the monster uses melee, it will adjust itself accordingly and will react to the ship's positioning. Because of this, it is important to find the correct angle to attack the monster, as it may otherwise end up behind the cannon, preventing players from attacking it. If a monster is underneath the ship, only its silhouette will be shown and it is not capable of attacking. Additionally, protection prayers do not negate damage, as sea creatures attack the boat, not the player.

The player will gain 1 Sailing experience for every point of damage dealt to a monster. Ranged experience is also gained when the player fires a cannon, yielding 4 experience for every point of damage; Ranged experience is not given when crewmates fire a cannon. While they still grant Sailing experience when dealing damage, it is slightly less than the player's. Unlike in normal combat, experience from using cannons is still granted for overkill damage. For example, an enemy with 2 hitpoints that is slain on the next hit would normally only yield 8 Ranged experience on land, even if the player's rolled damage was more than 2. However, if the player rolled to deal 5 damage with a cannon at sea on an enemy with 2 hitpoints, they would still gain the full amount of experience for the 5 damage rolled (5 Sailing and 20 Ranged experience) rather than for just 2 damage.

The perildance bitter, when stored on a keg aboard the ship, will increase the max hit of cannons by 1.

Once a monster is killed, it will leave behind its corpse in the water, which the player can loot. Usually, the player will throw a net to drag the corpse to their ship and claim rewards, though they may occasionally use the pick-up option depending on how close the corpse is. Casting Telekinetic Grab will also loot the corpse instead of having to drag it in from a distance. The corpse will despawn if not interacted with in two minutes, similarly to ignoring drops after a monster is killed.

Players can repair their ship from damage incurred by monsters via repair kits, which act as the player's "food" in combat. Directly using a repair kit on the ship is similar to eating food and incurs tick delay before combat can be restarted. This tick loss is ignored when directing a crewmate to repair via menu options or the Bosun's workbench.

If the raft or boat loses its entire health, the player(s) and crewmate(s) will be sent to their set respawn dock point and lose all of their cargo. The ship will also be broken and will need to be repaired by a shipwright. The respawn point is set by clicking the "dock" option on the nearest buoy on their selected pier.

As with general combat, players must wait at least ten seconds from the last attack made on their ship before they may safely log out. Sea monsters that are aggressive will never become tolerant.

Many oceans outside of the starting area are multicombat areas, and players with lower-tier keels should avoid drawing unnecessary attention, as many monsters tend to be clumped together. Krakens and all sharks except the bull shark are aggressive.

Stronger monsters can be found towards the northern and southern seas outside the starting area. Orcas and vampyre krakens are exclusive to the northern seas, whereas sharks, rays and veiled krakens are exclusive to the southern seas.

Swift albatross feathers are used to create a gale catcher, an upgraded version of the wind catcher.

Ray barbs are used for creating high-level trawling nets.

Echo pearls are used for building a fathom pearl, which helps locate shoals when deep sea trawling.

Narwhal horns can be crafted into a narwhal horn knife, which can be used as a regular knife when fletching, or built into a chum spreader.

Inky paint is a cosmetic boat paint trimming the boat with a black colour.

Bottled storms are used for building a greater teleport focus, allowing players to use the Teleport to Boat spell.

Broken dragon hooks are used for building a dragon salvaging hook.

Dragon cannon barrel are used for building a dragon cannon.

Dragon nails are used for building a number of core boat parts and facilities.

Dragon metal sheets are used for building a number of core boat parts and facilities.

Dragon keel parts are used for building a dragon keel.

Large dragon keel parts are used for building a dragon keel.

Players or crew members can man cannons, as long as the crewmate's privateering level is at or above the privateering level of the player's cannon. Fortunately, a ship can use two rune or dragon cannons, as there are two crew members with 4 Privateering; Oarswoman Olga and Jittery Jim.

Players must have one free inventory space to hold cannonballs, as these are stackable, or they can store the cannonballs on their boat's cargo hold (they will be used automatically). A ballistic attractor can be built on the player's boat to recover 60% of cannonballs fired.

Provided the player's boat is positioned in a multiway combat area, both cannons may be fired upon separate targets by using the "Stop following Captain's target" order for the cannon being operated by a crewmate. Once a crewmate has been ordered to fire upon a target, issuing the "Stop following Captain's target" order frees the player or another crewmate to attack a different target without interrupting the first crewmate's combat order. Alternatively, player can use the "Fire at will" order, which will make crewmates target any attackable monsters within their line of sight. After 10 minutes, crewmates will take a break from firing at will and resume following captain's target. To make them fire at will again, player must give the order again, and clear their target as well. If player just uses the "Fire at will" order, but doesn't clear the target, crewmates will still try to target whatever captain is targeting, even if captain's target is out of their line of sight.

A cannon can fire all types of cannonballs at or below its own tier. When fired by a crewmate, a cannon's max hit is determined by the player's visible Sailing level and the combined strength bonus of the cannon and cannonballs being fired. Additionally, the max hit is scaled down by a factor based on the crewmate's Privateering level. Based on in-game testing, the crewmate max hit appears to use the following formulas:

When fired by a player, the player's visible Ranged level is used instead of their Sailing level, and the max hit is unaffected by any crewmates. In both cases, visible skill boosts and drains can affect the max hit.

Having a keg of perildance bitter on the boat will increase the cannon's max hit by one (before the crewmate scaling, if applicable).

• Cannons benefit from the player’s ranged accuracy and strength bonuses. Ranged strength bonuses from the weapon, shield, and ammunition slots are excluded from this calculation.
  • Take precaution with items where the applied strength bonus is conditional, eg. a charged Dizana's Quiver.

module=Cannon_max_hit_calculator
form=CannonForm
result=CannonResult
param = name|Player name||hs|ranged_lvl,5,1;sailing_lvl,24,1
param = crew_toggle|Fired by|Player|buttonselect|Player,Crewmate|Player=ranged_lvl,ranged_str,void,prayer;Crewmate=crew_select,sailing_lvl
param = sailing_lvl|Visible Sailing level|1|int|0-104
param = crew_select|Crewmate|Jobless Jim|select|Jobless Jim,Jolly Jim,Sailor Jakob,Ex-Captain Siad,Adventurer Ada,Cabin Boy Jenkins,Spotter Virginia,Bosun Zarah,Oarswoman Olga,Jittery Jim
param = ranged_lvl|Visible Ranged level|1|int|0-112
param = ranged_str|Visible Ranged strength|0|int|0-65
param = prayer|Prayer|None|select|None,Sharp Eye,Hawk Eye,Eagle Eye,Dead Eye,Rigour
param = void|Using Void Knight Ranged set?|None|select|None,Regular Void,Elite Void 
param = perildance|Using perildance bitter?|false|check|true,false

param = cannon_type|Cannon|Bronze|select|Bronze,Iron,Steel,Mithril,Adamant,Rune,Dragon|Bronze=cball_bronze;Iron=cball_iron;Steel=cball_steel;Mithril=cball_mithril;Adamant=cball_adamant;Rune=cball_rune;Dragon=cball_dragon
param = cball_bronze|Cannonball|Bronze|select|Bronze
param = cball_iron|Cannonball|Bronze|select|Bronze,Iron
param = cball_steel|Cannonball|Bronze|select|Bronze,Iron,Steel
param = cball_mithril|Cannonball|Bronze|select|Bronze,Iron,Steel,Mithril
param = cball_adamant|Cannonball|Bronze|select|Bronze,Iron,Steel,Mithril,Granite,Adamant
param = cball_rune|Cannonball|Bronze|select|Bronze,Iron,Steel,Mithril,Granite,Adamant,Rune
param = cball_dragon|Cannonball|Bronze|select|Bronze,Iron,Steel,Mithril,Granite,Adamant,Rune,Dragon
autosubmit = disabled

Ships have health, a defence level, a ship armour value and 7 defence bonuses (stab, slash, crush, light, standard, heavy, magic). The keel is responsible for the ship armour value while the hull sets the ship's defence level as well as its defence bonuses. The ship total health is the addition of keel and hull health values.

Ship armour reduces incoming damage by 1 for every 100 ship armour point, so having a better keel will greatly decrease damage. Monsters with max hits below the armour value will be unable to land any hit at all, essentially making the player's ship invincible against them. A dragon keel makes the player's ship invincible against all but a few high-level monsters.

See § Monsters for the max hit of sea monsters against ships with various keels installed.

If a player has a crewmate, either the player or the crewmate can move the ship around the monster to mitigate raft/boat damage. This only works if the monster's primary attack is melee. Players must stay within the monster's aggressive range; otherwise, the monster will stop attacking the player. If the player's raft or boat is critically damaged, players can evade combat with a wind-catcher, making the ship sail faster and eventually escaping the monster.

Ship repair kits can recover the boat's health during or after combat, depending on the type of repair kit used on the ship.

Crewmates may also repair the ship using the repair kits stored in the ship's cargo hold. They provide an increased heal of their deckhandiness level − 1, which is added to the repair kit’s base healing. Commanding a crewmate to repair the ship does not give the player any attack delay.

• If the player does not have enough inventory space when receiving multiple unstackable items from looting the corpse of an enemy at sea, all looted items are dropped on the floor under the player. For example, if receiving 5 mahogany planks from a Vampyre kraken while having only 4 empty inventory spaces, all planks will be dropped onto the floor.

v t e Sailing
Features	Shipbuilding Raft Skiff Sloop Facilities Mooring point Boat combat Ocean encounters Sailing hazards Crew Management Strategies Sailing Options
Oceans	Ardent Unquiet Eastern Shrouded Western Northern Untamed Forgotten Sunset
Activities	Port tasks Courier tasks Bounty tasks Shipwreck salvaging Sea charting Barracuda Trials Deep sea trawling
Items	Boat paints Lost schematics Ocean encounter pearls Sea treasures (Medallion of the deep) Miscellaneous (Boat bottle) Sailing cape (hood) Repair kits Salvage
Rewards	Unlockable islands Coral farming Crab trapping Lantern harpooning Crab dance
Quests	Pandemonium Prying Times Current Affairs Troubled Tortugans The Red Reef Burial at Sea Rocking Out
Development	March 2025 Sailing Alpha June 2025 Sailing Beta August 2025 Sailing Stress Test
Italicised content is under development and has not been released.

v t e Boat combat
Monsters	Sharks Bull shark Hammerhead shark Tiger shark Great white shark Sea mammals Dolphin Mogre Narwhal Orca Kraken Pygmy kraken Spined kraken Armoured kraken Veiled kraken Vampyre kraken Rays Eagle ray Butterfly ray Stingray Manta ray Birds Tern Osprey Frigatebird Albatross
Cannons	Bronze Iron Steel Mithril Adamant Rune Dragon
Cannonballs	Standard Bronze Iron Steel Mithril Granite Adamant Rune Dragon Chainshot Bronze Iron Steel Mithril Adamant Rune Dragon (unobtainable) Incendiary Bronze Iron Steel Mithril Adamant Rune Dragon (unobtainable)
Repair kit	Normal Oak Teak Mahogany Camphor Ironwood Rosewood
Unique drops	Echo pearl Swift albatross feather Narwhal horn Ray barbs Broken dragon hook Bottled storm