Old School RuneScape (OSRS) has been revamped immensely due to the massive rebalancing that started a few weeks ago. The changes to OSRS—called “Project Rebalance”—feels like it’s a new game. But it isn’t. In this article, we’ll look at the changes to OSRS and discuss the impact they have on the game.

What is Project Rebalance?

OSRS is based on the 2007 version of RuneScape and was launched before the release of RuneScape 3 in 2013. Since OSRS is based on an older version of the base game, it has a separate development team with fewer people running it. Hence, the slower development time than that of the newer versions of RuneScape. Despite this, the game is one of the better-received iterations of RuneScape.

As players grew out of the game’s usual grind OSRS developers, Jagex, announced in early 2024 that the game would have massive changes. This is part of what they call “Project Rebalance” and would be released in cycles. In this rebalancing act, OSRS will have massive revamps across the board while maintaining its accessibility for players old and new.

Key changes include a nerf of the infamous Occult Necklace which gave players a ton of Magic Damage for the price of 800k OSRS GP. Meanwhile, Elemental Weakness is streamlined and more apparent, making combat easier as you level up.

Massive Changes in OSRS

Here is a rundown of the most impactful combat-related mechanics affected by Project Rebalance.

• Elemental Weakness: Jagex says that Elemental Weakness has always been part of OSRS but in a “complex, roundabout way.” With the rebalance, Elemental Weakness is now more seen and felt. How Jagex did this was that every point of Elemental Weakness an enemy has will translate into an equivalent amount of damage and accuracy on the player. So, if the enemy has a 50% Elemental Weakness to fire, the player will deal 50% bonus damage to the enemy while having 50% bonus accuracy as long as it’s the appropriate Element. This streamlines the whole combat system with regards to PvE. Personally, this is very much a welcome change since OSRS is too “grind-y” for more casual players. Adjusting this aspect for PvE makes the game a bit more enjoyable. This change in combat mechanics is directly related to the next item on this list.
• Elemental Spells: These are now scaled according to the highest level of the spell that you have unlocked.ITthis seems to be common thing in role-playing games nowadays. But since OSRS is based on an old game, the mechanics don’t exactly feel right for modern RPG players. This combat mechanic now adopts the linearity of modern RPG in terms of combat. For most combat Magic spells, like Fire Strike, it will cap at a max hit of 8, which is the highest level for that spell.
• Magic Damage Redistribution: Occult Necklace Nerfed!It came as a big announcement for veteran OSRS players that the Occult Necklace will receive a substantial nerf. And now, the time has come. The infamous Magic Damage item is now nerfed while other Magic Items are adjusted accordingly. Think about it, the 10% Magic Damage bonus is now halved (it was at 4% in the first version of the nerf). It’s a very welcome adjustment since it allows other Magic Items to have more of an impact, rather than having to solely focus on grinding for the Occult Necklace. Despite this, the necklace is still one of the best items in the game, aside from the Obsidian Cape, since its Magic Damage bonus stacks with other items.
• Soulreaper Axe and Elder Maul buffs: The two powerful melee items are now buffed with important changes to their mechanics. First is the Soulreaper Axe’s behavior with stacks. It now no longer degrades instantly since it has a 12 second allowance when not in active combat. If the stacks are depleted, it heals your character for the damage you received while building the stacks.
•  Elder Maul: The change to Elder Maul is big enough that it has a corresponding new animation frames. This is the addition of a Special Attack that costs 50% of your Special Attack energy that hits with 25% accuracy and deals a 35% defense reduction to enemies. Neat!
• Inquisitor’s Armor set pieces: Each piecenow provides 2.5% Accuracy and Damage when paired with the Inquisitor’s Mace. This falls in line with streamlining items so that bonuses are much more impactful.

Conclusion

The changes to OSRS have been well-received by fans of the game. The combat mechanics are now on par with modern RPGs, the nerf to the Occult Necklace makes obtaining it not a priority, and the melee items have been changed so they can be useful. Of course, these changes are just the first step in making OSRS a game that is catching up with the times. We have yet to see if these changes will impact the meta of OSRS, but it will shake things up for quite some time.