|Release date||29 March 2004 (Update)|
|Drain rate||150 points per minute (1 point per 0.4 seconds)|
|Effect||Reduces damage from attacks - 50% monsters and 40% players.|
Protect from Melee is accessible at level 43 Prayer and was the highest level prayer until the 22 August 2006 update. When used, the player receives a 50% damage reduction from Melee attacks used by monsters and players. However, some monsters do have the ability to hit through Protect from Melee. Players using this prayer will have a sword icon above their character.
Protect from Melee cannot negate the damage done by Kharid scorpions, the Troll guard when he pushes players down the hill and inflicts 300 life points, the swarms of insects that assault the player when they extinguish their light source, and the blows of the NPCs whom players pickpocket through Thieving.
Additionally, the protection of this Prayer can be pierced by certain high-level NPCs, such as K'ril Tsutsaroth, whose more powerful Melee attacks can actually "slam through" the Protect from Melee Prayer, as well as draining your Prayer points, and the Death spawn summoned by a Nechryael.
However, the Protect from Melee prayer is able to completely nullify all damage from the sudden strikes of the Undead tree, though it is still impossible to retaliate to its attacks.
It has been confirmed that Protect from Melee is also unable to negate poison, whether the NPC is a Kalphite or a mere Tribesman, despite their attack style being physical in nature.
On RuneScape Classic, this prayer was known as "paralyze monster". It required a Prayer level of 37 to use and was 100% effective on all NPCs (since NPCs did not use magic or ranged on RuneScape Classic). This prayer did not work on players in the Wilderness or in duels. Before the Evolution of Combat, this prayer prevented all melee damage from monsters and blocked 40% of melee damage from other players.