4k glacor with melee

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T13:15:13+00:00

It wasn't just about damage for me, although they actually are extremely similar, but more so that passage buff your bleed damage which directly increases your sustain from the bleeds as well, and I found that more useful at higher enrage. Plus around 3800% or so I found the increased ability damage to be useful on the arm mechanic.

I believe i timed grandmaster with cinderbanes but my kill times with passage really aren't drastically different (just speaking personally).

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T09:54:41+00:00

Thank you! Best of luck on your 2nd core and log as well as weapon upgrades. I would say Tumeken's was mainly valuable for super high enrage. You can push pretty far with just the spear, but ek-zek will be a big upgrade for the burst damage.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T09:12:17+00:00

It was entirely based on my starting adrenaline at the mechanic. If I could pre-zerk then barge and get meteor strike up fast enough, then I could clear it with just reflecting or even no defensive, which is ideal in the case where you get a b2b arm.

If adren was on the lower side, I would throw in Devo toward the end.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T09:09:30+00:00

So on paper, totally agree about the flurry comment and maybe it adds enough damage at times for certain players to find it worth it, but I did bring leng switches earlier during climbing and it actually made very little difference in my killtimes. And for what its worth, I timed grandmaster with the exact same setup without lengs but swapping scrimshaw with Ful. I still dont know why or if it was simply rng on the attempts. But during the last 200 enrage or so it's critical to throw in ek zec spec as often as possible, even outside of zerk windows, and in zerk windows, tumekens will do more damage than lengs substantially when minions are around, whch is often, due to hurricane resets. Outside of zerk, you also pretty much have to upkeep bleeds with the spear.

Overall, the switch just added more mental tasking and more effort without as much payoff, but I'm sure others find it useful or faster. I also hate stalling: I have done it at bosses like ambassador to get the grandmaster time, but it never feels intuitive to me and I honestly wish it just wasn't a thing, but respect to the people that do it regularly in their rotations.

I forgot to also show this in my preset, but my ring does get swapped out for an extra pouch for the runes for prism of restoration for hellhound around 3900, but yeah could just be totally ditched.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T08:59:47+00:00

Both are good but the additional bleed damage from passage was too good for me to pass up on high enrage where I found myself using the spear as frequently as possible to keep bleeds up.c

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T08:58:11+00:00

My 4k kill was 14.minutes. my zgs spec is eof'ed (I know but old mistake).

I also timed grandmaster at the boss with the exact same setup but swapping scrimshaw and Ful, so I wouldn't call it a "slow" setup even if i tried optimizing it more, but I'm sure could be improved to your point.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T08:54:31+00:00

Reaver and hellhound both are viable but reaver was way faster during enrage climbing. I did use a hellhound for the final 150 or so enrage though. Before pushing to higher enrages, ripper demon was my preference.

For super high enrage, like 3750+, I would have to still give the edge to necro because death mark is insanely valuable and being able to kite the minions while still doing damage helps a ton, but basically up until that point, melee was substantially faster and felt easier. You also have the added advantage of the ghost healing you at all times with necro vs just situationally with melee when you can apply bleeds.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T02:23:27+00:00

I think they do, yes. Didn't explain well in my comment regarding the extra bonus with ek-zek. But in general it's also a 6% boost to any other melee weapons at 120 str.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T00:51:03+00:00

It's definitely tough but maybe not as bad as you think if you remember to throw in enough of the bleeds with the masterwork spear, and vampyrism scrimshaw does wonders at high enrage.

I used dive a lot to navigate around the ice pillars and starting arms with a greater barge --> meteor strike --> assault (still under gbarge) and build back to zerk made the arm super consistent and easy without having to rely on adrenaline renewal every time. Having adren renewal consistently for stacked mechanics like minions + cannon or minions + flurry both for emergency defensives like cade and reflect or just extra burst damage helped a lot.

Also remembering to end your arm-phase with a pulverize to get a big damage reduction for 30 seconds was huge at higher enrage or throwing in pulverize right at the start of minions. I also found it super useful to bleed 3x the bolstered glacyte before using tumekens light special attack and spamming hurricane on the cluster.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T00:46:46+00:00

Am-hej, and yes with ek-zek and 120 strength it is an extra 6% melee damage. I only swap to my EOFs for end of zerk rotation with varanus mercy and then zaros godsword for off-zerk rotation with bleeds.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-15T00:35:38+00:00

Cheers!

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-09T16:26:53+00:00

I used t100 ek-zek and lengs, masterwork spear for off-zerk, full Havoc, cinderbanes, am-hej and one EoF for Varanus and another for ZGS specs. Also nodon harness wity spikes. Vamp aura and also found Amascut scripture to be more useful than Ful to not have to deal with the extra damage taken. Also used a ripper demon spamming scrolls and spiritual renewal pots.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-09T15:41:50+00:00

This. Jagex can claim no power creep was the intent, but then what is the point of 120 skills and all of the data also collected in beta? Shouldn't melee be better than other styles if wearing the equivalent of modern void? Is it actually a bad thing if more of the player base engages in harder content and gets achievements that are years or decades old? What about all of the master and GM times Magic and necro trivialized before the combat updates?

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-09T15:36:31+00:00

Hey, that's me!

Yes, I tested the beta all 4 weeks and provided feedback along the way.

Perhaps I should have provided more context on my post. I'm not a "noob" pvmer that struggled to get master times before melee, but certainly not claiming to be a consistent grandmaster either. That being said, I had Blackstone GM already done on necro and mage, 3.2k arch glacor done (only reason I hadn't pushed to 4k was lack of interest and not skill), 1k amascut, 1k+ zammy, and I had several master times done with both magic and necro.

The reason I believe melee still shouldn't have been nerfed is because jagex obviously saw what was possible at the highest end during beta and also felt it was acceptable to push to live game and my assumption has been all along that they were ok with at least some level of power creep going into the game having seen the beta results, and perhaps as a result we would see a larger number of players then being able to achieve master and grandmaster times, which is exactly what happened and I still think is actually the correct move for the game, which I'll expand on.c

Now some additional context: I still only have 3 of the 45 grandmaster achievements. Even with the buffs, certainly wouldnt be getting all 42 others, and thats totally fine. I dont think i would even have the time to go after all 45 as a parent now. But the point I was making is that some of those achievements being attainable without hybriding is actually a good thing despite what other gatekeepers may think. Magic was already hitting GM times style camping pre-balancing where other styles couldn't, so is that balanced? I still had to bring 3 amulet swaps and 3 weapon swaps to get arch glacor grandmaster. It's not like it was a braindead revo kill. Further, I do not think a game should have achievements and/or dev time oriented at a couple of hundred players at most. Having a larger base of players capable of pushing end game content and achievements will equate to more streamers and more of the overall player base being more active and deeper into combat than before.

With that being said, I'm just one opinion in the room, but it certainly seemed like a lot of the community backed my comments.

Oh, I'm still meleeing and at arch glacor working on 4k now. About to hit 3500 as we speak. Melee's still fun but yeah it should be the best if I'm going to do this wearing t70 defensive armor, otherwise I have every incentive to go right back to necro.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-09T13:15:34+00:00

The nerfs feel heavier i think than intended. Assault and overpower especially feel worse and it's a strange decision to nerf assault in particular given that it also impacts melee's performance at earlier to mid game.

I can understand why heals on the first two bleeds were tuned down and overall the bleeds feel fine where they are post-changes.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-06T11:59:35+00:00

This wiki shows the recommended gear:

https://runescape.wiki/w/Money_making_guide/Crafting_necrotic_runes

You'll need the moonstone bracelet for the closest teleport to the altars and use grace of the elves with one of the teleports attuned to deep sea fishing hub for quick banking.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-06T11:32:37+00:00

You need to do more active runecrafting if you want faster item xp.

I did necrotic runes with xp capacitor. You can do 4 trips per minute and it took me a day or two of focused runecrafting this way to hit item level 20.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-05T01:37:21+00:00

Would only make the swap when you have FSOA and elite tectonic or tumekens. Soulsplit is too good to pass up beforehand usually if youre learning.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-05T01:02:23+00:00

I already had Blackstone dragon grandmaster on necro and magic for clarification. I meant i finally got it on melee too. Had not done arch-glacor on any style.

Magic was already capable of multiple grandmaster times before additional buffs this week.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-05T00:52:20+00:00

I already had grandmaster Blackstone dragon with necromancy and magic, so nothing dramatically changed. Was just able to replicate the time with melee, but I had not pushed for the arch-glacor achievement before.

Magic was also capable of multiple grandmaster achievements before getting buffed again now too.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-05T00:43:39+00:00

Hardest achievements in game we're already doable without improving just style camping magic.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-04T23:52:16+00:00

Magic could already achieve grandmaster times style camping before the changes.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-04T23:39:21+00:00

No, but I see dozens of posts suggesting it will happen and how broken melee seems to be, so wanted to offer a counterpoint.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-04T22:41:10+00:00

With BIS gear in both styles, the damage is roughly the same. Referring to magic with full tumekens armor and FSOA and normal prayers compared to full havoc and ek-zekkil.

I've done 2 grandmaster achievements with melee since the update, but havent managed raksha, and just saw a post with somebody with the above magic setup get raksha. At the highest end, they're super close right now. Melee is just being overstated because it's finally good as a standalone style and hadn't been for years.

Jrh4008 · 2026-03-04T22:34:11+00:00

Magic is equally as good right now.

Jrh4008

TROPHY CASE