OSRS Attack-Only Pure Guide: Quests & Accurate Style

Game screenshots and facts are cited from the Old School RuneScape Wiki (strategy, equipment, drops, and related pages). Writing is original editorial, not a copy of the wiki article.

Building an attack-only pure in Old School RuneScape is one of the most punishingly precise account builds in the game. The goal is simple: raise Attack as high as possible while keeping Strength and Defence at level 1 (or as low as intended). Every quest reward, every attack style, and every minute of AFK training must be checked against a single rule — no Strength XP, no Defence XP. This guide covers the safest quest rewards, the correct combat style, and the best monster choices from both free-to-play and members worlds, using the official wiki data as a fact base.

Whether you are building a low-level PvP account, a novelty pure, or simply want the discipline of a restricted build, the methods below will keep your combat level low while pushing Attack toward 60, 70, or beyond. Because a single mistake can permanently ruin the account, we will flag the places where most players slip up — and show when buying gold or a leveling service is the honest time-saver.

Who This Is For and Requirements

Attack-only pures are built for players who want the benefits of high Attack (better accuracy and access to higher-tier weapons) without the combat level inflation that comes from Strength or Defence. This keeps their combat bracket low for PvP, clan events, or personal challenge. The account must remain free of any Strength and Defence experience, which means you cannot use aggressive, defensive, or controlled combat styles. You must also avoid quests and activities that reward those skills.

If you are new to restricted account building, start with a free-to-play test run using the monster path below before committing membership.

Attack Styles: Why Controlled Is Off-Limits

Melee weapons in OSRS offer four attack styles. Each style determines which combat skill receives experience per point of damage. On a normal account, this choice is minor; on an attack-only pure, it is the entire game.

Many players assume "Controlled" is safe because it also gives Attack XP. It is not. Controlled style gives a split of Attack, Strength, and Defence XP (plus Hitpoints). For an attack-only pure, that means unwanted Strength and Defence XP — often enough to ruin a carefully built account in minutes. The only safe style is Accurate.

Also note that some special attacks and shared-XP weapons may award unintended XP. Always check the weapon's style options on the wiki before equipping it on a pure.

Quest Rewards: The Fastest Attack XP Without Strength or Defence

The fastest way to skip the slow early levels is to complete quests that reward Attack XP only. The Pay-to-play Melee training guide lists a set of early quests that give a combined 61,775 Attack, 20,375 Strength, and 15,300 Defence XP. For an attack-only pure, we must filter that list to only those that give no Strength or Defence. The safe quests are:

• Vampyre Slayer — 4,825 Attack XP. No requirements, defeat Count Draynor (level 34). This quest is available to free-to-play players.
• Death Plateau — 3,000 Attack XP. No requirements. Unlocks climbing boots, a useful early boot with strength bonus (but the boots themselves are fine; wearing them does not give Strength XP).
• Fight Arena — 12,175 Attack XP. No requirements. The bosses can be safespotted with Magic, making it easy at low combat.
• Tree Gnome Village — 11,450 Attack XP. No requirements. Khazard Warlord (level 112) can be safespotted or flinched.
• The Grand Tree — 18,400 Attack XP. Requires 25 Agility. Black Demon (level 172) can be safespotted with Magic.
• Mountain Daughter — 1,000 Attack XP. Requires 20 Agility and completion of a small favour chain. The Kendal (level 70) can be safespotted.

These six quests total 49,850 Attack XP, which will take you from level 1 to roughly the low 40s without any direct training. That is a massive head start for a pure.

Quests to avoid for attack-only pures include Waterfall Quest (13,750 Attack + 13,750 Strength), Holy Grail (15,300 Defence), Horror from the Deep (4,662.5 in Attack, Strength, Defence, and Hitpoints), Dragon Slayer I (18,650 Attack + 18,650 Strength), and the Fremennik Trials (gives XP in all melee skills). Completing any of these will add unwanted Strength or Defence XP, so skip them entirely — the Attack XP they give is not worth the account damage.

Free-to-Play Monster Path for Early Levels

If you prefer to train Attack manually before questing, or you are stuck in free-to-play for a while, the Free-to-play Melee training guide provides several low-risk monsters. Always use the Accurate style. Here is a progression from level 1 to 40 Attack:

For a pure, the Monk at Edgeville Monastery is especially attractive because you can ask the monks to heal you, eliminating food costs. Seagulls are also popular because they cannot deal damage, letting you AFK without risk. As you approach 40 Attack, you can move to Barbarians for higher XP per kill while still using the Accurate style.

Once you hit 40 Attack, upgrade to a rune scimitar. The Free-to-play Melee training guide notes that scimitars are the best free-to-play melee weapon due to high attack speed and strength bonus. For pure attack training, the strength bonus only matters if you train Strength (which you won't), but the attack speed still helps you land hits; the rune scimitar remains the best option for accurate-style training.

Efficient Members Methods After Questing

After completing the safe quests, you should be in the low 40s Attack. From here, members have several high-XP options. The Pay-to-play Melee training guide outlines these methods for general melee, but you can adapt them by using the Accurate style exclusively.

• Gemstone Crab — Requires partial completion of Children of the Sun. Infinite Hitpoints, low Defence and Attack, deals little damage. AFK-friendly: only re-engage every 10 minutes. Gives 87.5% of normal XP per hit, but no downtime or overkill loss. Great for low-attention training.
• Sulphur Naguas — Requires partial Perilous Moons (48 Slayer), 55 Attack for glacial temotli or sulphur blades, 43 Prayer for Protect from Melee. Very fast: up to 75k XP/hr at 60 Strength (more at higher Strength, but you won't train Strength, so use this as an Attack XP rate). High attention and risk for low Defence pures; bring food and prayer potions.
• Nightmare Zone — Customizable bosses, can be AFK with absorption potions. Not detailed in the excerpt, but widely used from 60+ Attack. Verify current strategies on the wiki before starting.
• Maniacal monkeys — Mentioned as 75–99 method with Hallowfell (likely Hallowed Sepulchre? The excerpt says "Hallowfell" but may be a new area). Requires high-level quests and is more suited to maxed accounts. Skip unless you know the requirements.

For a more relaxed post-quest route, you can stay at Gemstone Crabs until 60 or 70 Attack. The method is nearly zero-risk and very AFK, making it ideal for players who value low effort over maximum speed.

Gear, Supplies, and Unlocks

Your gear choices on an attack-only pure are simpler than on a main. Because you won't train Strength, the strength bonus of an amulet matters less, but accuracy and defence still matter. The Free-to-play Melee training guide recommends scimitars as the best weapon type, and the amulet of power for accuracy and defence. Use an amulet of strength only if it increases your max hit; otherwise, the power amulet is better. For a pure, the amulet of power is usually the safest choice because it boosts accuracy without relying on Strength.

• Weapon: Best scimitar you can equip — iron (1 Attack), steel (5), black (10), mithril (20), adamant (30), rune (40), dragon (60, requires Monkey Madness I for dragon scimitar).
• Amulet: Amulet of power for accuracy and defence; amulet of accuracy if very low level and cheap.
• Armour: Full melee armour (iron, steel, etc.) against melee monsters; ranged armour (green d'hide) against magic-using monsters. Chainbody has more crush defence than platebody.
• Boots: Stronghold of Security boots (fighting/fancy) or leather boots. Decorative boots from Castle Wars give minor bonuses but are not worth the time for pure training.
• Food: Jug of wine is cheap and heals 11 HP; monks at the monastery can heal you for free if training nearby.

As you reach 40 Attack, the rune scimitar is a major unlock and will speed up all remaining training. At 60 Attack, if you have completed Monkey Madness I, the dragon scimitar is the next big step. The Pay-to-play Melee training guide suggests prioritising balanced stats on a main, but on a pure you should push Attack first to unlock better weapons, then use those weapons to train Attack faster.

Common Mistakes That Ruin Attack-Only Pures

Most pure accounts are ruined by a single moment of inattention. Here are the most common errors:

• Using Controlled style by accident. This is the number one account killer. Controlled style is the default for some weapons if you don't select a style. Always check the combat tab before and after logging in.
• Trusting shared-XP weapons. The abyssal whip (70 Attack) has Accurate, Controlled, and Defensive styles. If you misclick Controlled, you gain Defence XP. It is easy to avoid by using Accurate, but many players forget.
• Doing Waterfall Quest for the huge Attack XP. Waterfall gives both Attack and Strength XP. On an attack-only pure, it is off-limits. The same applies to Holy Grail, Horror from the Deep, and Dragon Slayer I.
• Letting auto-retaliate train the wrong style. Auto-retaliate uses your currently selected style. If you selected Aggressive earlier for some reason, your character will train Strength on its own. Always set Accurate before going AFK.
• Forgetting to check quest rewards. New quests are released regularly, and some may give Strength or Defence XP even if they seem safe. Before starting any quest not on the safe list, check the wiki reward section.
• Training on high-damage monsters without food or prayer. A 1 Defence pure has very low physical defence. Monks and seagulls are safe, but something like Sulphur Naguas can hit hard. Bring food, use Protect from Melee if you have Prayer, or safespot where possible.

Time-to-Goal and Cost Tradeoffs

Let's put the numbers in perspective. The safe quest list gives 49,850 Attack XP, which lands you in the low 40s. To reach 60 Attack, you need about 273,742 total Attack XP, so roughly 220,000 XP remains. Using an efficient method like Sulphur Naguas at 75k XP/hr, that remaining XP takes about 3 hours of active play. A more AFK method like Gemstone Crabs might take 6–8 hours for the same goal, but with far less attention required. These are rough estimates; actual time depends on your gear, focus, and any banking time.

For many players, the biggest cost in this build is not gold but attention. One mistake erases hours of careful progress. If you value your time, there are two honest shortcuts:

• Buy gold to fund better gear (rune scimitar, amulets, stamina potions, food) and skip the slow money-making grinds that can distract from training. You still have to do the training yourself, but you avoid the time spent earning GP for supplies.
• Use a leveling service to have an experienced player train your Attack while you are offline. This is the ultimate time-saver, but you must trust the service provider and understand that you are handing over account details. Never buy from unverified sellers, and always use a marketplace with escrow and buyer protection.

If you decide to purchase gold to fund your training supplies, check live gold rates before you buy. A small amount of gold can cover weeks of food, potions, and teleports, making the grind far more comfortable.

Practical Next Step

Start today by confirming your account has no Strength or Defence XP. Then set your weapon to the Accurate style and complete Vampyre Slayer if you haven't already. From there, follow the safe quest order: Death Plateau, Fight Arena, Tree Gnome Village, The Grand Tree (get 25 Agility first via The Tourist Trap or rooftops), and finally Mountain Daughter if you want the extra 1,000 XP. After that, choose your training method: Gemstone Crabs for AFK or Sulphur Naguas for speed.

If you want a deeper dive into efficient melee training for the 40–70 range, read our OSRS Melee Training 40-70 guide — just remember to adapt the advice to Accurate style only.

Finally, always verify quest rewards and monster stats on the official wiki before acting. One wrong quest can end the account, but with the right method, an attack-only pure is a rewarding build that turns discipline into low-combat dominance.

Sources

• Free-to-play Melee training
• Pay-to-play Melee training
• Agility training
• Free-to-play Hitpoints training