Maximum melee hit

Maximum melee hit is the maximum damage a player can deal in a melee combat. It is affected by player's Strength, equipment and other bonuses such as prayer, passive effects, enemy weaknesses, or potions.

All damage players can deal is capped at 200 to soften the impact of potential exploits.^[1]

Were the cap not to exist, the max possible hit currently accessible through normal means would be 285. This is accomplished by using full Dharok's equipment against an unshielded tormented demon at the end of While Guthix Sleeps, as the Stone of Jas boost brings the player to 255 Strength, which is only accessible at the end of the quest. This also requires a combination of best-in-slot strength gear, Piety, and Dharok's greataxe set to crush, as the bonus damage granted to slower melee weapons only applies to crush attacks.

It is also possible to hit 201 with the Keris. This again requires the best gear, strength level, and boosts, but also uses the Dragon battleaxe special attack, a Black mask, and the Keris on a Kalphite while on the appropriate slayer task for the monster. The only kalphites with enough hit points to reach this hit are the Kalphite Queen and Kephri, given a high enough invocation. In this scenario, the chance of hitting 201 is extremely slim.

For free-to-play the maximum hit is 31, using a rune 2h sword, an amulet of strength, decorative boots (gold), and a strength potion with Ultimate Strength active.

In free-to-play Castle Wars, a maximum hit of 39 can be achieved using a rune 2h sword, an amulet of strength, decorative boots (gold), Castle wars bracelet, and a Castlewars brew with Ultimate Strength and attack style set to Aggressive at 99 Strength when you attack a Flag Bearing player.

See the following table for the various bonuses values:

Remember that if you use the Dragon battleaxe special attack you cannot use another special attack right after unless you drink a dose of surge potion, use restoration pool in POH or if another player casts Energy Transfer upon you. Also note that the dragon battleaxe special attack raises your Strength depending on the other levels.

Then floor it:

If you are using a special attack or effect continue to step three.

The following special attack/effect bonuses apply:

Using Dharok's against tormented demons, it's possible to hit extremely high. This is because weapons with a slower attack speed deal more damage against the tormented demon when its shield drops, stacking with the Dharok's set bonus of hitting much higher when at low hitpoints. Using this setup increases the max hit to 220. This is currently the highest possible single hit in the game.

The Keris's and Keris partisan's maximum hits are also high when fighting kalphites or scabarites:

A player with 99 Strength can hit up to 201 when on a Kalphite slayer task, using the Keris, best Strength equipment, the Piety prayer, a Slayer helm or Black mask, and using a Dragon battleaxe special attack to boost to 120 Strength.

While in the Tombs of Amascut, an even higher max hit is possible, due to the combination of Smelling salts allowing a greater Strength boost to 125 instead of 120, the Keris partisan of corruption's special attack providing an additional 25% damage boost, and prior uses of the partisan's special attack providing a 25% damage boost to subsequent hits for 6 seconds. The combination of all these effects bring the maximum melee hit up to 228. This hit can only be performed while fighting Kephri, and depending on the invocation level may be higher than her maximum hitpoints.

Note that the effects of a slayer helmet will not work inside the raid.

When accounting for special attacks that can damage multiple targets, the maximum possible hit becomes much higher: the Dragon 2h Sword has a special attack which, with max Strength gear and boosts, Piety, and a Salve amulet (ei), can hit a 62 on each of 11 targets if all are undead, dealing a total of 682 damage. However, the odds of this occurring are extremely low. With Crystal halberd, it's possible this number would be much higher.

The Saradomin sword's special attack hit up to an extra 16 magic-based damage:

In Tolna's rift during A Soul's Bane quest, players could hit up to 200 on monsters in the rage room, however that damage is simply a player's normal damage times twenty, and doesn't give any experience.

In the Barbarian Assault minigame you can hit a possible of your max hit +5 if your attacker level is 5 on the penance rangers and fighters.

When fighting Phosani's Nightmare, the player is guaranteed a max hit on husks and parasites if they are attacked with a weapon which is set on a crush setting.

When facing Sol Heredit, if the player perfectly parries his grab attack, the player is guaranteed a max hit upon attacking him within 5 ticks of the parry.

• The theoretical highest maximum hit a player could achieve in the game's history (were the 200 damage cap not to exist) would be to use the blue moon spear's special attack against Yama in phase 3 prior to 30 October 2025 (which added a cap to how much the special attack's damage could be boosted), resulting in a max hit of 704,999. As Yama is considered 'bound' for an indefinite period of time during phase 3 to prevent him from moving, the special attack would have received a 1,499,998% damage boost to the spear's standard max hit of 47 (assuming best-in-slot strength gear from that time).^[2]

v t e Combat Mechanics
Combat	Attack range Attack speed Auto Retaliate Autocast Combat triangle Special attacks Hitsplat Tanking Magical melee Magical ranged Ranged magic Ranged melee Typeless
Maximum hit	Maximum magic hit Maximum melee hit Maximum ranged hit Monster maximum hit
Damage per second	Damage per second/Melee Damage per second/Ranged Damage per second/Magic
Mechanics	Aggressiveness Buffs Elemental weakness Flinching Hit delay Retaliation Retreat Safespot Spawning Successful hit Maximum damage cap Flat armour Tolerance Wander radius PJ timer Red-X Line of sight
Other	Single-way combat Multicombat area Singles-plus combat Player killing