Special attacks

Some weapons in RuneScape have special attacks available for them. There are many types of special attacks, from temporary boosts in stats, to strikes dealing extra damage. They are activated by the player by clicking on the special attack bar under the Combat Options interface. Special attacks have an energy bar that is drained when you use the attack; this is drained of varying amounts according to which weapon is used. An exception to this is a charged dragonfire shield where it dislodges dragonfire upon operating it, which also does not expend special energy since it doesn't rely on any.

The special energy bar regenerates at a rate of 10% every 30 seconds, and requires 5 minutes to regenerate from empty to full. The bar will not regenerate while a player is logged out, nor would it regenerate if a player had their bank window open. The special attack bar also does not regenerate on death or upon exiting the Clan Wars portal. However, Elidinis Statuette at Nardah, a Restoration pool or higher in player-owned houses, and exiting a Nightmare Zone dream fully restore special attack energy.

The energy bar is related to the player, not to the weapon - in other words, changing weapons does not change the special energy bar. Interestingly, special attacks' names are not shown anywhere in-game; instead, they were revealed on the RuneScape website.

While players are the most common users of special attacks, NPCs are known to use them too. The stranger that may be encountered during Desert Treasure is capable of using his dragon dagger's special attack. He does not seem to be limited by a special attack bar and can even unleash consecutive special attacks per game tick.

Dragonfire Shield
The Dragonfire Shield can discharge a fireball hitting around 25 damage at an opponent. It doesn't use any special attack energy, but the attack can only be used once the shield has cooled down every two minutes.

Trivia

 * The Dragon axe's special attack, Clobber, formerly lowered the target's Magic and Defence stats by 10% when it hit, but it was changed on 24 March 2014 to a skill-boosting special that mirrors the Dragon pickaxe's special.