You’re probably wondering why the title says Part 4 when I haven’t even done part 3 yet. That’s because Part 3 is about Ranged defence and there hasn’t been much of a change in ranged defence over the past year. If you want me to do a full review of ranged defence since last year’s article please comment.

To see what was the best Prayer equipment last year, Read last year’s article.

Prayer

Helm
The best prayer helm was released about two months ago and wasn’t a helm at all. The Third-age druidic wreath is like a tiara made of a vine. It gives +7 prayer as well as +3 magic attack and +4 magic & summoning defence. However since it costs roughly 50m I wouldn’t suggest it unless your money vines have come into fruition.

Second place is last year’s champion, the god Mitres, with +5. At only ~55k for the Bandos Mitre it’s quite worth the investment if you just need a helm for prolonged Prayer bonus.

Third is the Proselyte sallet with +4 prayer bonus as well as a decent melee defence. At around 5k it’s a very good helm to have in your armoury.

Fourth, though I don’t usually mention, is the Helm of Neitiznot and Initiate sallet tied with +3 prayer bonus. Both are cheap, being free and 3.5k respectively.

Amulet
Rather surprisingly, the god Stoles remain in first place for neckwear. I guess the formality of a necktie is appealing to the gods of Gielinor(though I imagine a macabre version would be more appealing to some of them 😉 ). Anyways, they give a hefty +10 prayer bonus as well as +2 magic attack and defence. At a cost of roughly 22k for the Guthix Stole I’d suggest it if you just need prolonged prayer use.

Second place remains held by the (un)Holy symbols of Saradomin and Zamorak with +8 prayer bonus. Surprisingly there is not yet a Guthix, Armadyl, Bandos, or Zaros symbol. Costing only a hundred coins begs but one question, why don’t you own one?

The Amulet of Fury remains in third place with +5, granted it also gives a nice +10 to all attacks, +15 to all defence, and a nice +8 strength bonus. However its price has increased nearly 1000% from 1.9m to nearly 19m so I wouldn’t suggest buying one.

Cape
I never got to say the Ardougne Cloak 3 was the best prayer bonus because shortly after it was released they released the Soul Wars cape which blasted away all records, including the one briefly set my the Ardougne Cloak 3.

The Soul Wars cape gives a whopping +12 prayer and decent +8 to all defences. It costs nothing after completing one of the hardest quests in Runescape history, Nomad’s Requiem.

Second place is held by the humble Ardougne Cloak 3 which provides a nice +6 prayer bonus, stab attack & defence, and magic attack & defence. All it requires is completion of the Ardougne hard diary.

Third is held by the Trimmed version of Capes of Accomplishment which give +4 prayer as well as +9 to all defences. These only require level 99 in a skill which isn’t hard nowadays.

Body
Perhaps not the most powerful piece of Prayer Equipment but certainly not the least, body armor can provide both a good prayer bonus and decent defence.

Unfortunately the order of awards is the same as last year, so I’ll quote myself:

“The best piece to wear is the Proselyte hauberk which gives +8 to prayer. At a cost of only about 7k, you almost can’t afford not to have this piece.

In second is the Initiate hauberk tied with the Monk Robe top with +6 to prayer. This Hauberk looks almost the same as it’s higher brother but doesn’t quite do as much, though appropriately it doesn’t cost as much either, at only about 6k. Monk’s Robes however don’t cost anything if you pick them up in the prayer guild, though they don’t give any other stats either.

Third is the Verac’s Brassard with +5 to prayer. Some like it for its looks, others like it because it complete’s their Verac’s set. No matter the reason, at only about 215k this is a decent piece of armor if you need prayer and melee defence.”

Gloves
Unfortunately the best gloves remain the White Knight gloves which give +1 prayer.

Ring
Ring’s haven’t improved much either, the Lumbridge Explorer’s Ring (any number is fine) still holds first, middle, and last place with +1 prayer bonus.

Legs
Still tied for first is the Initiate cuisse, Proselyte cuisse, Proselyte tasset, and Monk Robe Bottoms all at +5 prayer bonus. The Proselyte Cuisse and Tasset both give the better melee defence.

Second is tied by the Verac’s Plateskirt, Shade robe bottom, Druid robe bottom, and god robe bottoms all of which give +4 to prayer. If you need decent melee defence as well go with the plateskirt, otherwise I’d suggest you go butcher a druid and take their robe bottoms as they’re cheap and effective.

Third place is held by the Zamorak and priest robe bottoms with +3.

Boots
There are still only two sets of boots which give a prayer bonus, the Bandos and White Knight boots. These both only give +1 but the Bandos boots also give decent melee defences. White Knight boots, however, are about 860k cheaper.

Shield
Shields make up a very large part of any defence and regarding prayer there’s no exception.

In first place remains the rightful owner with +7 to prayer bonus, the Falador shield 3. Aside from being free to get and retrieve if lost, it can also restore all of your prayer points once per day. If upgraded to the 4th version this increases to twice per day, very useful.

In second comes the fairly new Faithful shield from Castle Wars with +6. It’s other stats are equal to a rune kiteshield but since this shield requires 200 Castle Wars to buy it and 200 more to buy it again if you lose it, I wouldn’t suggest wielding it in non-safe areas.

Third is tied by the Falador Shield 2, Broodoo Shield, and god Books(From Horror from the Deep) all of which have +5. Of these 8 I would suggest the Holy Book for defensive prayer and the Unholy Book for offensive prayer. The other books save for the Book of Balance are basically hybrid books specializing in one or two stats and neglecting the others.

Weapon
Hmm, one of the most controversial pieces of equipment when it comes to defence. Some say weapons aren’t defensive, yet others will beg to differ…at the point of a staff. Whichever side you choose doesn’t matter, always know, though, that weapons can provide decent prayer bonus if the right ones are used.

The Godsword remains in first place with +8, though it requires two hands. If you want to deal high damage while using prayer this is a good choice since the cheapest one is about 17.5m. I would not suggest it though if you wish or need to fight with a one handed weapon such as a whip, staff, or crossbow.

In second place is a new weapon, though from its name you would think it was an oldie. The Third-age Druidic staff gives a +7 prayer bonus while also giving a decent +15 magic attack and defence. I do not know if it is one-handed though I assume it is. Unfortunately it does not give a bonus to magic damage.

Third place is tied by the Verac’s flail, the god Crozier’s, and the Void Knight mace with +6. For only about 5k the Crozier is a decent choice for cheap one-handed prayer bonus though if you’re going to be maging I would suggest the Void Knight mace as it gives a 10% magic damage boost.

Fourth place is held by the Wolfbane, TokTz-Mej-Tal (or Obsidian staff), the Silver Sickle(b), the Ivandis Flail, and the Dragon Mace with +5. The reason I list fourth place is because the Dragon mace is an underused power weapon. Its special attack is capable of doing over 700 damage.

When you add everything up the total comes to 59. Of course that’s with buying some of the expensive items and doing some mighty challenging things. An easier number would be about 50.