Combat pure

A Combat pure is a character whose combat stats are specifically trained in order to optimize performance in Player versus Player activities (Wilderness, Duel Arena, etc.), often prioritizing offence whilst maintaining as low as possible combat level. For instance, someone with 70 Attack and 70 Strength and only 1 Defence would be considered a pure. Though the concept of a pure most commonly refers to an account with high offence and low defence, there are other types of pures, including Berserker pures, Barrows pures, and even tanks - accounts that specialize in Magic and/or Ranged, and Defence, with Attack and Strength being exceedingly low.

Types of Combat pures
One Defence Pure - The most well-known form of pure, a One Defence pure is a character designed solely with PvP in mind. The idea is to train the account to have high offence and low defence and maintain a low combat level to give it greater leverage over an account of a similar level. One-defence pures could also exist merely for the satisfaction of hitting unusually high at low combat levels.

Defence Pure - A Defence Pure is an account that still maintains a low combat level but has an extremely high Defence level instead of high offence. However, since others have a large window of opportunity to escape from defence pures due to their weak attacks and are also generally annoyed by the pure's high defence, defence pures are seldom considered viable for PKing and are instead usually created for the sake of vanity. Their ability to tank could be considered useful in PvP minigames, though.

Black Pure - A "Distinguished" type of pure in a sense, basically the name suits it. It's designed for 10 defence, meaning black armor. Rarely seen throughout the wild, the black pure can use cheap armor and a combination of weapons while being deadly at the same time, examples being the dragon dagger and the whip combination. The small defense boost is still visible, and can still benefit in small fights which could overtake a one defence pure. Along with being 10 defense, Black Pures can also achieve Adamant-level gloves for recipe for disaster while staying under 10 defense, which is also an added bonus.

Rune Pure - A Rune Pure is essentially a one-defence pure that instead has 40 Defence mainly so it can wear rune armour, although it is also now able to wear strength-boosting items such as fighter torsos and rune defenders, and useful dragonhide bodies and coifs. The lack of a penalty for obtaining Defence experience prior to 40 Defence enables the account to obtain the powerful Barrows Gloves from the Recipe for Disaster quest, and 40 Defence is one of the requirements for completing the Lunar Diplomacy quest, which unlocks access to the very useful Vengeance spell. Rune pures are also extremely popular in free-to-play PvP; in F2P, the idea behind this type of account is that a player can wear the highest armour available to them while remaining as low of combat as possible.

Berserker Pure - A Berserker Pure is near identical to a rune pure except with 45 Defence for the sake of wearing a Berserker helm or a Fighter hat, which give better stat bonuses than the rune full helm.

Void Pure - A Void pure is a pure that utilizes the combat bonuses of the Void knight armour to achieve very high hits. Void pures are commonly ranged oriented due to the already high hits of the Rune crossbow and Dark bow.

Mage Pure - A mage pure is typically a one-defence pure that specializes mostly in Magic. This type of pure is extremely strong at low-level PvP because of the fixed max damage that most spells deal regardless of one's Magic level. Most commonly, pures of this nature will use Ancient Magicks or the Flames of Zamorak spell with a Toxic staff of the dead although some opt to use the slayer dart spell.

Range Pure - A range pure is typically a one-defence pure that specializes only in Ranged, some range pures even largely neglecting Attack or Strength to lower their combat level further.

Range Tank - A range tank is someone with an extremely high range level and extremely high defence. Their defence allows them to participate in high level PvP, wearing barrows items and utilising Ranged and also even Magic. Their Attack and Strength levels are typically low as well.

Barrows Pure - A Barrows Pure is an account that has or has very near 70 Defence mainly for Barrows equipment such as Dharoks, and ideally 70 Prayer for the ability to use Piety. This is combined with overall high Attack and Strength for maximum damage; combat level is generally not monitored as seriously and it is common for these accounts to max out everything but Defence and Prayer. 94 Magic is ideal as it allows use of the useful Vengeance spell, though Ranged is rarely put to use outside of team PvP activities.

Commonly suppressed skills
The most frequently suppressed skills combat pures keep as low as possible as not to affect their combat level are Defence, Prayer, and Hitpoints. The debates on whether it is wise to forgo the benefits of each and all of these skills are as old as the concept of pures itself. Ultimately, it is a matter of preference for each player, keeping in mind that the "purer" they are in this offensive sense, the faster PvP combat will become and the higher the chance is, that fights will end with a kill rather than flight (for good or for bad). Here are a few considerations along those lines. It is worth mentioning that only the most radical pures insist on keeping all of the above skills at their extreme minimum once above a certain level, and will gain Hitpoints experience while fighting other players.

Defence
Defence is by far the most commonly suppressed skill. While like all skills it has its pros and cons, most pures generally agree that the cons outweigh the pros. Some pures choose certain levels, including 10, 20, 40, 42, or 45 Defence to have immense power compared to main accounts of the same level. The Rune pure, for example, has nearly the same strength bonus as a maxed account with 99 Defence.

Pros of having high Defence

 * If your defence level is high, you won't have to buy as much food for pvp or pvm situations. Also you can train on higher level monsters much easier.
 * The higher your defence level, the less likely you will get hit. This will enable you to tank easier in team pvp situations. Pures have a hard time tanking because of their terrible defensive stats.
 * You will be able to wear better armour with higher defensive stats. This will make you even less likely to get hit.

Cons of having high Defence
Being a Defence pure mainly has two big cons. These are that if you have low offensive stats, it will be harder to level up (getting less XP per average hit), which makes creating a high-levelled Defence pure take a lot of time. Also, if you have low offensive stats as a Defence pure, it is harder to win a 1 vs 1 fight, as you will hit very low on your opponent, while the opponent might have methods like using a Ring of recoil or Vengeance, Verac's armour or another method that could hit through Defence.

Controversy
Many players believe that offensive pures with minimal Defence have a factual advantage over balanced players of the same combat level due to game mechanics (i.e. the formulas that determine who gets hit how often and how hard, etc.). The general success of such pures in low and mid level PvP seems to endorse this theory. However, the precise game mechanics regarding Attack and Defence are unknown. Some players believe that the success of offensive pures is solely due to the factors mentioned above and have little to do with combat Attack/Defence mechanics, arguing that the fact that armour generally gives a good deal more Defence bonus than weapons of the same material give Attack bonuses suggests that balanced players should have a slight edge, profiting from the larger bonus. Some even believe than their success merely ostensible, hyped by the fact that most players are more quickly impressed by an unusually high hit than by someone blocking five attacks in a row.