Equipment degradation (2024)

This article is about the degradation mechanics of combat equipment. For degradation in general, see Degradation.

Equipment degradation is the process by which some armour and weapons wear down with use until they break completely. Some items are repairable, while others are not and degrade 'to dust'.

The amount an item has degraded can usually be checked by using the Check-charges right-click option for the item.

Mechanics[edit | edit source]

Items that degrade have a specific number of charges which varies by the type of item. When equipped, they lose one charge for every hitsplat done by the user or to the user — that is, one charge for:

• Every hit taken
• Every ability/special attack used
  • Combo abilities use multiple charges (e.g. Fury drains 3 charges per use, as it hits 3 times)
  • Bleeds (e.g. Dismember) use one charge for their duration
• Every auto-attack used

These three methods are collectively referred to as per hit.

There is a hard cap of 1 charge lost per tick (100 per minute). In general combat (against one or two monsters), expect 30–60 charges to be consumed per minute. Certain items lose 2 charges per hit, so the limit and average are doubled (200 charges consumed per minute max, 60–120 charges consumed per minute average).

Full degradation[edit | edit source]

When an item fully degrades (reaches 0 charges), one of three things will happen to it:

• It degrades 'to dust', falling apart completely and disappearing from your possession; for example, sirenic armour.
• It reverts to a component, which can then be used to re-make the item (at a cost); for example, ganodermic armour.
• It turns into a broken or drained version, which can usually be repaired (at a cost); for example, barrows equipment.
  • Sometimes the item retains usability, but loses some benefits; for example, blood amulets retain their equipment bonuses when drained, but lose the passive effect.

Upon death, equipped items lose charges if reclaimed from a gravestone (in general, 20% for degrade-to-broken items, 10% for degrade-to-dust items). They do not lose charges when reclaiming them by buying them from Death, as the degradation cost is covered by the reclaim cost.

Completely degraded weapons all have an accuracy rating of 110, equivalent to a tier 1 weapon, and an attack range of 1, forcing players adjacent to their target regardless of combat style. Completely degraded armours have no bonuses of any kind.

Degradable equipment[edit | edit source]

Repairable[edit | edit source]

Repairable items, as their name suggests, can be repaired when degraded or broken. There is one common shared method to repair items — the armour stand — and many unique methods for those that do not use the armour stand.

Repairable at an armour stand[edit | edit source]

Many items are all repairable using coins on an armour stand in a player-owned house (or a whetstone device anywhere), where the base cost is reduced by your Smithing level with 0.5% discount per level, including boosts. Assists do not work.

Alternatively, one can repair them for the base cost by taking them to any of:

• Bob in Lumbridge
• Tindel Marchant in East Port Khazard
• Dunstan in Burthorpe
• The Squire on the Void Knights' Outpost

Legendary pets can use Item Repair ability to repair one item, with a one-hour cooldown. This ability works the same as using an armour stand.

All items of this repair type degrade to a broken or drained version.

Examples of this include:

• Barrows equipment
• Ancient equipment
• Superior player-owned ports equipment
• Drygore weaponry
• Seismic wand and singularity
• Ascension crossbows
• Noxious weaponry

Other[edit | edit source]

There are many items that are repairable in a specific way. Some items of this type degrade to a broken or drained version, while others revert to a component. Some examples of this:

• Several Dungeoneering rewards - pay the rewards trader either a large sum of coins, or a smaller sum of coins and some dungeoneering tokens; degrades to broken.
  • Gravite weaponry
  • Chaotic equipment
  • Farseer kiteshield
  • Eagle-eye kiteshield
• Polypore equipment - using the relevant flakes or spores; degrades to component.
• Dinosaurhide armour - using Dinosaur scales and Dinosaur hide; degrades to broken.
• Royal crossbow - using crossbow parts; degrades to broken.
• Crystal equipment - pay Eluned, Ilfeen, or Islwyn coins, or repair them with harmonic dust at the crystal singing bowl in Prifddinas; degrades to component.
• Hydrix jewellery - using a cut onyx; degrades to broken.
• Upgraded Glacyte boots - using the respective upgrade components; degrades to the standard boots.

Non-repairable[edit | edit source]

Many items cannot be repaired at all, and 'degrade to dust' (fall apart and vanish) when fully degraded. Some items of this type have a pseudo-repair mechanic, where two of the same, partially degraded item can be combined to consolidate the charges — for example, a 5% charged sirenic mask and a 14% charged sirenic mask can be combined to form a 19% charged sirenic mask.

Some examples of degrade to dust equipment include:

• Sirenic armour
• Tectonic armour
• Malevolent armour (excluding kiteshield)
• Razorback gauntlets, celestial handwraps, and ascension grips
• Ancient Warriors' equipment

Expected usage time[edit | edit source]

The amount of usage an item gets before it degrades is often quoted as a time. This is often misleading or sometimes incorrect — the time that news posts give are usually the minimum combat time, using the maximum degradation rate of 1 charge per tick (and may ignore the double charges lost by some items). In real combat, charges are lost much less frequently: solid revolution uses 33 abilities per minute (with no combo attacks, like Fury), and most monsters cannot attack as fast as that — and they will often hit as you use an ability, which will negate the degradation that hit causes (as only 1 charge can be lost per tick). In addition, in a lot of combat there are often breaks between monsters, where of course no degradation occurs.

Thus, you can generally expect around 30–60 charges drained in an average minute of combat. Common charge amounts are given here with three time values for how long it will last before degrading fully.

• Average combat uses a value of 30 charges lost per minute
• Intense combat uses a value of 60 charges lost per minute
• Minimum time uses the maximum rate of 100 charges lost per minute (1 charge lost per tick)

Other types of degradation[edit | edit source]

Equipment degradation is not the only type of degradation. Many items, both combat-related or otherwise, have limited usage until they break or fall apart. Items that do not degrade according to the above system are not defined as degrading equipment (although the term 'degradation' is often used in relation to them).

Examples of limited-use items that do not fall under the equipment degradation system include:

• Items that degrade over a fixed period of time
  • Scrimshaw
  • Corrupt dragon equipment
  • Corrupt Ancient Warriors' equipment
• Items that have a limited number of activations or uses
  • Many enchanted jewellery items, such as a ring of duelling
  • Frozen key
  • Formerly, the Imcando pickaxe
• Items that degrade with a passive effect activation, such as crystal tools
• Consumables (items that have a single use before vanishing), such as food and potions