Black equipment

The RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: rsw:Black equipmentThe Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:Black equipment

Black equipment is weaker than Mithril, but stronger than Steel. Black armour and weapons require level 10 in Defense and Attack respectively to wield.

Black is unique among the equipment types, as there is no way to smith it. Black equipment is available only from monster drops, and from some shops, though some black items (such as the black pickaxe) do not exist. Due to this, some other black items were often mistakenly considered 'rare' when in fact obtainable through drops. Another mistaken assumption made among newcomers was that Black armour was made through smithing coal.

Weapons

Melee weapons

Item		Bonuses
		Aim	Power	Armour	Magic	Prayer
	Black dagger	+10	+8	0	0	0
	Poisoned Black dagger	+10	+8	0	0	0
	Black Axe	+10	+14	0	0	0
	Black Mace	+15	+11	0	0	0
	Black Short Sword	+16	+13	0	0	0
	Black Scimitar	+18	+14	0	0	0
	Black Long Sword	+20	+16	0	0	0
	Black battle Axe	+19	+26	0	0	0
	Black 2-handed Sword	+28	+22	0	0	0

Ranged weapons

Item		Bonuses
		Aim	Power	Armour	Magic	Prayer
	Black throwing knife	+6	+6	0	0	0
	Poisoned Black throwing knife	+6	+6	0	0	0

Armour

Item		Bonuses
		Aim	Power	Armour	Magic	Prayer
	Medium Black Helmet	0	0	+9	0	0
	Large Black Helmet	0	0	+12	0	0
	Black Square Shield	0	0	+15	0	0
	Black Kite Shield	0	0	+18	0	0
	Black Plated skirt	0	0	+20	0	0
	Black Plate Mail Legs	0	0	+20	0	0
	Black Chain Mail Body	0	0	+24	0	0
	Black Plate Mail Body	0	0	+40	0	0
	Black Plate Mail top	0	0	+40	0	0

Trivia

• Black Plate Mail Body, black plate mail legs, and large black helmet were the first three pieces of black equipment in the game, with the first being available since the launch, and the other two since the addition of Champions' Guild on 13 February 2001. Besides the update on 24 May 2001, which introduced plate mail tops to the game, most of the other black equipment were added in an update on 8 December 2001, and the rest even as late as the launch of Members on 27 February 2002.
• It is noticeable that before the December 2001 update the armour bonuses of the black armour were just one above their steel counterparts. Thus, the plate mail body and top had armour bonuses of +32 (later +40), the plate mail legs +17 (later +20), and the large helmet +10 (later +12) . With black armour being almost as expensive as mithril armour, but having only slightly better armour bonuses than steel armour, it was mainly FashionScape for almost the whole year of 2001.