Best Non Degradable Armor in Runescape

High-level builds in Runescape are defined by the combined effects of the weapons and armor the player has equipped at any given time. However, most of the best armor sets in the game degrade whenever they take damage. Some of them can be repaired once they are entirely degraded, but it is often costly. This leaves most players reserving them for the most challenging content in the game, such as PvP or raids. So, if you’re looking for a second set of armor that won’t degrade that you can use to grind levels or complete easier activities, here are the best options in the game.

Key Info Up Front

• Best Nondegradable Melee Armor: Vestments of Havoc.
• Best Nondegradable Ranged Armor: Anima Core of Zamorak.
• Best Nondegradable Magic Armor: Anima Core of Seren.

Nondegradable Melee Armor Sets

Bandos Armor

Bandos armor is one of the most sought-after nondegradable melee armor sets because of its bonus to Strength on top of its defensive qualities. This makes it frequently reach prices higher than other armor sets of the same tier level. To wear it, players need at least Defense Level 70, and it is a complete set as well as a shield. The price for a complete set of Bandos armor on the Grand Exchange is sold at an average of 7,179,791 coins. The stats of each piece of equipment in the set is below:

If you don’t want to purchase a set of Bandos armor, you can grind for it yourself by killing General Graardor inside the God Wars Dungeon. He is inside the Bandos’ Stronghold within the dungeon and is one of the last members of an orcish race known as the Ourgs. To reach him, players must have at least Strength Level 70 after killing at least 40 Bandos followers.

Once you find him, you’ll need to kill him and his three sergeants, who each use different attacks like Magic, Ranged, or Melee. He also has no weaknesses, so you can use your preferred combat method to kill him, but he does count for the extra damage from the Inquisitor Staff. Regardless of the God Wars Dungeon mode that you kill him on, however, he will have a 0.26% chance of dropping each part of the Bandos set, so you’re better off killing him on the regular mode so that it is easier.

Anima Core of Zaros

The Anima Core of Zaros armor requires Defense Level 80 to wear but has stats comparable to the degradable Torva set. It provides higher defense benefits than the Bandos set but doesn’t come with the increase in the Prayer skill. This armor set has only three pieces, a helmet, body piece, and greaves. The stats for these can be found in the table below:

To get your hands on this armor set, you must first get Dormant Anima Core pieces of the armor. There is a dormant variant of all three pieces of this set which are all rare drops from generals in Heart of Gielinor activity. Once you have the dormant variants, you’ll need to collect three Crests of Zaros to power them. These are only dropped by the Vindicta boss in Heart of Gielinor. Fighting her requires Attack Level 80, and she has no weaknesses to consider during combat. A Crest of Zaros only has a 0.19% chance of dropping whenever Vindicta is killed, so you’ll likely have to farm the boss for a while to get a full set.

Once you have an Anima Core of Zaro’s set, however, you can also use essences to make it into Refined Anima Core Armor, although this does make it a degradable armor set. However, when its charge depletes, it regresses to a standard Anima Core of Zaros set rather than being destroyed or rendered unusable until it is recharged. The improved stats of Refined Anima Core armor is in the table below:

Creating the refined versions of the Anima Core of Zaros armor requires you to use Augmentors and the essence of Zaros, Zamorak, Sliske, and Seren. This makes creating it very expensive, as bosses in Heart of Gielinor only drop the essences. Zarosian Essence is dropped by Vindicta, Zamorakian by the Twin Furies, Sliskean by Gregorovic, and Serenic by Helwyr. The quantities needed for each piece of refined armor are in the table below:

Vestments of Havoc

The best nondegradable melee armor in Runescape is the first tier 95 armor set added to the game and is the best overall melee set. The set required Defence Level 95 to wear and comes with four pieces, leaving the player’s glove equipment slot open. Each piece of the armor increases the character’s Defense and Attack and has a unique set effect called Herald of Chaos.

The effects of Herald of Chaos grow depending on how many pieces of the set the player is wearing. The effect first comes into play when wearing at least two parts. Doing so regenerates 15% of the player’s max adrenaline in 18 seconds when using a melee ultimate. With three pieces the duration of their Beserk ability is increased from 20.4 seconds to 26.4. Players with all four pieces get a 20% increase in their maximum adrenaline.

While the Vestments of Havoc are one of the best melee armor sets in all of Runescape, it is essential to note that it is not intended for tank playstyles. It is instead more focused on increasing the player’s damage for a glass cannon build. This means that the armor’s defense values aren’t as high as lower-tier tank armor, but you can find its stats in the table below:

Nondegradable Ranged Armor Sets

Royal Dragonhide Armor

The first of the top three nondegradable armor sets for Ranged builds is the Royal Dragonhide Armor. The set requires Defense Level 65 to wear and is a full set of five pieces. However, it has an optional sixth piece that gives players an increase to their Ranged skill as well. The stats for the details of the armor are in the table below:

If you want to make your own set of Royal Dragonhide armor, you’ll need Crafting Level 91 and nine pieces of Royal Dragonhides. Royal Dragonhides are dropped by Grotworms, Kerapac, Queen Black Dragon, Royal Dragons, and Verak Lith. I recommend killing the Queen Black Dragon as it is guaranteed to drop from five to seven of the hides and is a drastically lower combat level than Verak Lith. Once you get Royal Dragonhides, you can take them to a tanner and pay 20 coins each to turn them into Royal Dragon Leather that can be crafted into the armor.

Royal Spiky Vambraces can be made with Crafting Level 32 by combining Kebbit Claws with your Royal Dragonhide Vambraces. The claws can easily be gotten by hunting Wild Kebbits with Hunter Level 23. However, if all of that sounds like too much work, you can also buy the set from the Grand Exchange. I recommend purchasing the set piecemeal as it will save you many coins despite taking more time. The average prices for each item on the Grand Exchange are below:

Armadyl Equipment

The Armadyl Equipment set requires Defense Level 70 and is obtained through drops in God Wars Dungeon. It is a complete armor set that fills every slot, as well as having a shield and dual-wielded crossbows. The armor’s defensive values are solidly high but also comes with a bonus to the player’s Ranged skill, which helps make it more popular than the Karil’s Equipment set. You can find the stats for each piece of equipment in the set in the table below:

Pieces of the Armadyl Equipment set have a 0.26% chance to drop when killing Kree’arra in the God Wars Dungeon activity. He is a powerful opponent with no weaknesses and cannot be attacked with a melee, so you’ll need to use either Magic or Ranged when grinding for this gear. If you don’t want to go through killing Kree’arra countless times, you can buy the complete set in a bundle from the Grand Exchange for an average price of 35,725,321 coins.

Anima Core of Zamorak

The Anima Core of Zamorak armor is gotten by playing the Heart of Gielinor activity and requires Defense Level 80 to wear. The armor has solid Defense and Ranged values but does not grant any bonuses to Prayer or Constitution. The set also does not come with gloves or boots, allowing players to customize their build with different equipment for those slots. The stats for the three pieces of the set are in the table below:

To make your own set of Anima Core of Zamorak armor, you’ll need first to get the dormant variant of each piece of gear. Each piece has a rare chance to drop from any general in Heart of Gielinor. Those pieces then need to be combined with a Crest of Zamorak. Those can be gotten by killing Avaryss, the Unceasing, with a 0.19% chance to drop.

Like all Anima Cores, you can further improve your Anima Core of Zamorak set by upgrading it into its refined variant. This does technically make it a degradable armor. However, it is still not as punishing as most other degradable armor as when it runs out of charges, it reverts to its original form instead of breaking or becoming unusable. The stats of the Refined Anima Core of Zamorak are in the table below:

To make the refined version of the Anima Core of Zamorak, you’ll have to combine your set with all four of the god essences you can get in the heart of Gielinor. These will cost a lot of grinding to get your hands on, as they are each rare drops from only one boss each. You’ll need to kill Helwyr for Serenic Essence, the Twin Furies for Zamorakian Essence, Vindicta for Zarosian Essence, and Gregorovic for Sliskean Essence. All of the ingredients necessary to craft Refined Anima Core of Zamorak armor are in the following table:

Nondegradable Magic Armor Sets

Third Age Mage Set

The third-best nondegradable armor set for Magic wielders is the Third Age Magic set. This set of robes requires players to have both their Defense and Magic levels up to 65 to wear it. The set is made up of three armor pieces and an amulet, leaving the gloves and boots open for players to fill with whatever other equipment they prefer. The Stats for each piece of the set can be found below:

However, getting your hands on the pieces of this set will likely take a lot of time. They can only be gotten by completing the Treasure Trail activity but only with clue scrolls that are hard difficulty or higher. With how many possible rewards there are for Treasure Trails, the chance of getting a particular part of the armor set that you’re looking for is roughly 0.0025%. If that percentage has a few too many zeroes in it, you can also buy pieces from the Grand Exchange or another player. The average prices of each piece of gear on the Grand Exchange are below:

Second Age Mage Set

The Second Age Mage armor set is the more powerful cousin of the Third Age Mage set. The set is similar to its predecessor in that it has three pieces and additional staff. This leaves the glove and boot equipment slots open for players to customize with other gear that best suits their build. The stats for the four pieces that make up the Second Age Mage set can be found in this table:

Getting the Second Age Mage set is also incredibly difficult to obtain. Like the Third Age Mage set, it is tied to the Treasure Trail activity, but it only has a chance to drop when completing master difficulty clue scrolls. However, they can also be found in the Master Reward Caskets that have a rare chance of appearing when a player finds an Agent Penguin in the Penguin Hide and Seek activity. Regardless of how you get the casket, the drop rate for each piece of armor in the set is roughly 0.0000019%, while the drop chance for the staff is 0.0000057%. If doing that many Treasure Trails sounds like too much, you can also purchase the Second Age Mage set from the Grand Exchange for the following average prices:

Anima Core of Seren

The Anima Core of Seren armor set is the best nondegradable mage armor in Runescape. It can only be gotten by grinding in the Heart of Gielinor activity, and it has three pieces that leave the player’s glove and boot equipment slots open. Each piece increases the wielder’s Defense and Magic. Like the other Anima Core armor sets, it does not provide boosts to the player’s Constitution or Prayer, making it weaker than degradable sets better suited for tank builds. The stats for the Anima Core of Seren are below:

The first step to getting your own set of Anima Core of Seren armor is collecting the three dormant armor pieces. These can be found as drops from any general inside the Heart of Gielinor. Those dormant pieces then need to be combined with Crests of Seren, which have a chance of dropping around 0.19% from Helwyr.

If you want to improve further your Anima Core of Seren armor set, you can turn it into Refined Anima Core of Seren armor. Doing so allows you to increase the base stats of the armor and add perks to it that further increase its usefulness and power. However, this technically makes it a degradable armor once refined, as it gives the armor a limited number of charges that must be refilled once they are expended to keep the buffs. The stats for the refined version of the armor are:

To make your own Refined Anima Core of Seren, you must reach 2,000 reputation within the Seren faction. You will then have to gather Augmentors, Divine Charges, and the essence of each of the four gods to craft or recharge the armor. To get Sliskean Essence, you will need to kill Gregorovic, for Zamorakian Essence, kill the Twin Furies, for Zarosian Essence, kill Vindicta, and for Serenic Essence, kill Helwyr. All of the bosses are found in Heart of Gielinor, and you’ll need the following totals to craft each piece of Refined Anima Core of Seren:

FAQs

Conclusion

Getting any high-level armor set in Runescape is a lengthy and sometimes grueling. Thankfully, getting a good set will last most players dozens of hours. However, the time it takes to get high-level armor can make degradable armor sets a tough sell because of how expensive they are to refresh. This makes finding a high-level nondegradable alternative much more appealing to players that can have their needs met by them for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, Runescape offers players a few options to choose from regardless of which combat style they prefer.

Looking for more interesting readings? Check out:

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• Adamant Dragon RS3 Guide

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Arron Kluz

Arron is a featured team writer and lifelong gamer. Ever since he started playing games on his old SNES, he has been hooked ever since. He has a particular love for games like Pillars of Eternity, Skyrim, a variety of beloved indie titles, and also a few online shooters to serve as a means of avoiding open-world fatigue. Outside of gaming, he enjoys watching arthouse movies, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and writing fiction.

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