Defender

Defenders are off-hand equipment that are wielded in the shield slot and provide positive offensive and defensive bonuses. While these offer both armour and attack stats, defenders are considered weapons when using abilities. Their damage style is stab. To wield a defender, a player must have an Attack level high enough to wield a weapon of that metal and a Defence level high enough to wear armour of that metal. The look of the defenders were updated on 9 August 2011. Three more melee defenders were added on 30 November 2015. A week later on 7 December 2015, high level Ranged and Magic defenders were added, Reprisers and Rebounders respectively.

Dungeoneering
The Flameburst defender is a defender obtained in Dungeoneering only and can not be taken out of Daemonheim. Unlike normal defenders it requires only a defence and magic level to wield, and doesn't act as a shield.

When wielded with a Frostbite dagger, the dagger has an accuracy boost of 10%, however its normal maximum hit is decreased by 10.

Obtaining defenders
Defenders are non-tradeable members-only items. The metal defenders (bronze through dragon) can only be obtained by killing the cyclopes or the cyclossus on the top floor of the Warriors' Guild. Twenty warrior guild tokens (or 15 if in multitoken mode) are used up for every minute spent in the cyclops room. Eventually, a cyclops will drop a bronze defender, and when a player has this, they need to show that to Kamfreena who is located just outside the room. The next time that player enters, Kamfreena will inform the player that the cyclopes will now drop the next-tier (iron) defender. The player will then have to kill cyclopes until they eventually receive this drop. This process is continued for steel, black, mithril, adamant, and rune; until the player finally gets to the dragon defender.

The time needed to obtain a defender varies and it generally takes between 700 and 2,400 tokens (about 1–4 hours) to get to a rune defender. However, it may take over 10,000 tokens to get to Rune, if you are extremely unlucky.

A Ring of Wealth does NOT affect a player's chance to receive a defender, because it's a unique drop from cyclopes and the cyclossus. However, the 'increased chance of defenders dropping' from multitoken mode appears to be very significant, and it is recommended that this method be used if hunting for defender drops.

Three more defenders were released on 30 November 2015, and they are obtained differently than the metal defenders. The Corrupted defender requires the player to obtain a corruption sigil from the Barrows chest, and use it on a fully repaired or new dharok's greataxe, verac's flail, torag's hammers or guthan's warspear. The ancient defender requires the player to obtain an ancient emblem from killing Nex, and use it on a chaotic splint, a reward from Dungeoneering. The drygore defender requires the player to obtain a perfect chitin from killing the Kalphite King, and use it on an off-hand drygore rapier, off-hand drygore longsword or off-hand drygore mace. Like the original defenders, the previous defender must be carried or worn for the components to be dropped.

Ranged and Magic defenders were released on 7 December 2015. They are obtained similarly to the defenders that were released in November of 2015. The tainted repriser (level 70) requires the player to obtain Karil's two-handed crossbow, an item from the Barrows minigame, and use it on a corruption sigil from the Barrows chest. The blighted rebounder (level 70) requires the player to obtain Ahrim's staff, an item from the Barrows minigame, and use it on a corruption sigil. The ancient repriser (level 80) and ancient lantern (level 80) both require the player to obtain an ancient emblem, an item obtained from killing Nex, and use it on a chaotic splint, a reward from Dungeoneering (150,000 tokens). The kalphite repriser (level 90) requires the player to combine an off-hand ascension crossbow (see link on how to obtain) with a perfect chitin. The kalphite rebounder (level 90) requires the player to obtain a seismic singularity from killing Vorago and use it on a perfect chitin.

If a player loses their defender, they will need to start over. Because of this, it is wise for a player to keep duplicate/lower-tier defenders in their bank, so that they can show Kamfreena and start on the defender they dropped. For example, if a player loses his or her dragon defender, but has a rune defender in the bank, the player can show Kamfreena the rune defender and not be forced to start over. Alternatively, the player can obtain two or more dragon defenders which only take up one bank slot.

Once you've got a certain level of defender, you can still get a lower level of defender. By using a lower level defender on Kamfreena, she will put out cyclops that drop one higher than that level, for instance, if you have a rune defender, and want more rune defenders, wield your rune defender, but use the adamant defender on Kamfreena. The new cyclops will drop rune defenders.

Option responses
Use defender on Kamfreena - "I have a [metal] defender, please let me in to kill some more cyclopes!"

Kamfreena responses -
 * Bronze - "Bronze eh? The next cyclopes are ready, toddle in when you're ready."
 * Iron - "Wow, iron eh? The next cyclopes are ready, toddle in when you're ready."
 * Steel - "Strong as steel eh? The next cyclopes are ready, toddle in when you're ready."
 * Black - "Black, hmmm, about half way to Rune then! Keep going! Cyclopes have been released, enter when you're ready."
 * Mithril - "Mithril? Getting good at this aren't you? Ok, I've released those cyclopes that sometimes drop adamant defenders, enter when you're ready."
 * Adamant - "An adamant defender, eh? Trying for the Rune defender I'm betting. Ok, I've released those cyclopes, enter when you're ready."
 * Rune - "Well done, you truly are a brilliant warrior! I've released some cyclopes that may well drop a dragon defender, enter when you're ready."
 * Dragon - "Well done! You truly are a warrior of the highest order! I've released the cyclopes; enter when you're ready."

Trivia

 * Defenders seem to be based on a main gauche (left hand), or, which is a defensive weapon used in fencing and rapier duels.
 * After an update on 9 June 2010 the inventory icon was slightly altered.
 * Several years ago it was possible to alch defenders, rune defenders alching at 30,000, adamant at 17,000, and anything below that anywhere from 300 coins to 7,000. This was before dragon defenders were released.
 * Defenders gained the ability to use defence abilities on 30 November, 2015. The same update added level 70, 80, and 90 melee defenders, with ranged and magic versions following shortly afterwards.

Defender Defenders Defender