RS3 Gear & Equipment Tiers Explained
RuneScape 3 equipment runs on a simple idea with big consequences: everything has a tier, and a higher tier means more damage, accuracy, and armour. Understanding tiers tells you what to wear, what to save for, and where your next upgrade should go.
What a "tier" actually means
A piece of gear's tier (roughly 1 to 92 and beyond) is its power level, and it usually lines up with the level required to use it. Higher-tier weapons hit harder and more accurately; higher-tier armour absorbs more. You climb the ladder as your combat levels and bank allow — you don't jump straight to the top.
Power armour vs tank armour
Armour comes in two flavours, and picking the right one matters:
- Power armour adds damage for its combat style (at the cost of a little defence). This is what you want for almost all PvM — you kill faster, so you take fewer hits overall.
- Tank armour trades damage for survivability. It's niche — useful for a few punishing fights or while you're learning — but most of the time, power armour wins.
Each style has its own top-tier power set:
Weapons: main-hand + off-hand, or two-handed
You either dual-wield a main-hand and off-hand weapon or use a single two-handed weapon. Broadly they deal similar damage, but some abilities and setups favour one or the other — the top-tier weapons are where you'll spend the most, so this is the upgrade that moves your damage the most.
Degradation and repair
Most high-tier gear degrades with use and needs repairing (at an armour stand, smithing, or with coins) — or, if it's augmented, it burns divine charges instead. Some gear degrades "to dust" and must be re-bought. Factor upkeep into a setup before you commit to it, especially on an Ironman.
Augmentation: perks on your gear
Once you have Invention, you can augment weapons and armour to hold perks — permanent boosts that make gear you already own noticeably stronger. It's one of the biggest power gains in the game; see the Invention guide for how it works.
What to actually buy right now
Best-in-slot gear and prices shift constantly, so check the maintained sources before a big purchase:
- RuneScape Wiki — Equipment and the weapon pages for every tier.
- PvME — gear progression and per-boss best-in-slot for each style.
Track the rare gear you earn as drops on your Codex profile. Item images here are courtesy of the RuneScape Wiki.