Most players know about the combat triangle. It is the most important part of PvP. Without a well balanced triangle, players would train the strongest type and then possibly mage for alching and other non-combat magics. For the most part mages blast away melee, melee slashes range, and range puts a whole new definition to a holy mage.

Thread after thread players post how unbalanced the triangle truly is. Every combination possible has been put into a thread and people agree or disagree. To be perfectly honest, I agree with every single one. The reason for this is each PvP activity has its own style (or styles) that does well inside of the gates.

Melee gets up close and personal in fighting. So anywhere open is a great battlefield for a strong, well made weapon. They’re masters of clan wars, castle wars, and fist of guthix, soul wars, and PvP worlds. As a lot of others will be using melee too, it is recommended to bring a godsword or another crush weapon along with a dds.

Rangers like to get as far away from the opponent as possible. Taking advantage of the environment around them is a key. Higher ground and obstacles make castle wars, some clan wars maps, and PvP worlds an excellent place for rangers to kill others. I say some of the same activities as melee has because of the variety of ammo rangers have at their disposal. Adamant or Runite arrows, Diamond bolts (E) and even regular bolts from Mithril up are all great choices.

Mages are similar to rangers. Unlike rangers though mages can keep opponents at a distance by freezing or binding them. They also have the ability to lower stats and that is unique to be able to do that. A purely magic PKer can kill effectively in all PvP activities except for Bounty hunter. This is because no spell-book has a final blow spell. Stealing creation is one activity mages have a distinct advantage in. Possibly because runes are easily made with even the lowest runescrafting level. Good arrows, bows, melee weapons, and armors are difficult to make without a good Smithing, Fletching or Crafting level. With easily made runes, magers can cast high level spells such as ice barrage without the loss of a lot of money. Fog also has a given amount of free runes, but most players automatically pray mage protect when being hunted. If you are into paying for runes, soul wars is a great place for mages. Bring blood barrage runes and run to the obelisk. Try to cast it into a group of players and become indestructible till group notices what your doing and comes for revenge.

These examples are all considering the PKer has pure melee, range, or mage status. Defense can be high medium or low since it only helps you last longer.

Hybrids (a combination of 2 or more of the styles) do very well at all PvP activities. There is a lot a hybrid can accomplish. They can be fully offensive and use mage to far-cast, then switch to strength equipment and kill their opponent. It’s also possible to be defensive with one style, as in binding a player, and then switch back to melee armour to tank everyone coming at you in the opposite direction. This is used a lot in games such as castle wars.

Are all these different shaped triangles supposed to be like this? I believe Jagex placed these advantages inside each activity to give a player the chance to change things up between places. Want to go mage? Run to stealing creation and have a blast. Want a slice of the action in castle wars? Don’t forget your melee gear. Got a rash from wearing dragonhide all the time? Might as well have fun in it and take a trip up to clanwars!