Ultimate Guide to Ancestral Bones - Range XP + Money! v1.8

Ancestral Bones Guide

Range XP + Money! Version 1.8

News and Updates:

Thread Opened 10/13/2008!

This is my very first guide ever! : Constructive feedback is appreciated!

Coming Soon: Experience Rates and Profit Rates per hour (still calculating, sorry! :? )

I am working to make this guide more visually appealing. If anyone would like to make a banner or other special image for me, I would eagerly welcome that :mrgreen: !

[hide=Introduction and Requirements]Welcome to my guide on collecting the infamous Zogre ancestral bones! You will learn how to do so efficiently and with potential profits, or even some nice prayer experience :pray: ! Before you continue reading, make sure you meet at least the minimum requirements listed below:

Minimum Requirements

Zogre Flesh Eaters

30 Ranged (to wield the composite bow)

Recommended Levels

70+ Ranged

70+ Defense (if tanking)

Mithril Brutal Arrows and above

The Ideal Levels

89+ Combat

80+ Ranged (very fast kills with this)

Adamant Brutal Arrows and above[/hide][hide=Equipment and Inventory]Our goal is to loot the Ogre Coffins. There are two ways to do so. One way is to pick-lock them, which is discussed at the end of this guide. The other, far more efficient way is to kill the Zogres that roam the tombs. They have just about a 100% chance of dropping Ogre coffin keys, and are very easy to kill with the right equipment. The Zogres can only be effectively attacked with brutal arrows (I tested the whip, it has a max hit of 5-6 at 80 strength). The Ogre composite bow, which is created during the Zogre Flesh Eaters quest, is the only bow that can fire these arrows. Therefore, we will be using Ranged to tackle these opponents. Below is what I recommend you bring:

Tank Setup

Helmet: Torags/Guthans/Dharoks > Helm of Neitiznot (charged if using familiar) > Armadyl Helmet > Robin Hood Hat > Archer Helmet

Cape: Accumulator > Attractor > Any cape with defense bonuses

Amulet: Fury > Glory

Arrows: Brutal Arrows (over mithril preferably)

Chest: Armadyl Chestplate > Black Dragonhide > Karils Leathertop

Legs: Armadyl Plateskirt > Black Dragonhide > Karils Leatherskirt

Weapon: Ogre Composite Bow

Boots: Ranger Boots > Snakeskin > Bandos Boots (for defense)

Gloves: Barrows > Black Dragonhide Vambraces

Ring: Duelling* > Archer Ring

*The main use for the ring of duelling is getting to castle wars. It is a very short walk from the bank to the Zogre tombs, so after you arrive you may want to consider banking the duelling ring and switching it for an Archer.

I recommend this setup for players new to the Zogre tombs, as well as players with a combat lower than 89. The key here is balancing Ranged Attack Bonus with Defense bonuses. The Zogres will inflict disease upon you if they damage you, but will not if they deal 0 damage. Therefore, it is ideal that you wear at least some melee armor to decrease the chances of becoming diseased.

The inventory contains a Range potion, for increasing your performance versus the Zogres. The defense potion is recommended so as to further decrease the chances of becoming diseased. What could the 20k coins be for? This is for buying Relicyms Balm from the ogre outside the tombs should you become diseased. Three doses will fully cure your disease.

Important: be sure to have already unlocked the ogre general store by the tombs. Taken from the Zogre Flesh Eaters quest guide...

"After the quest, mix a bottle of Relicym's Balm and give it to Uglug Nar who will pay you some coins for it (1000 gp for 4 doses). After that, you are able to buy from his store (the prices will be lower). Among the items are achey wood, bowstrings and Relicym's Balm."

The ring of duelling should be equipped to save inventory space and to provide easy access to the nearby Castle Wars bank.

Void Setup

Credit to Aslan for the Void Image

Helmet: Void Ranger Helm

Cape: Accumulator > Attractor > Any cape with defense bonuses

Amulet: Fury > Glory

Arrows: Brutal Arrows (over mithril preferably)

Chest: Void Top

Legs: Void Bottom

Weapon: Ogre Composite Bow

Boots: Ranger Boots > Snakeskin > Bandos Boots (for defense)

Gloves: Void Gloves

Ring: Duelling* (footnote above) > Archer Ring

This setup is ideal for high level rangers who will be using safespots. Because Zogres become unaggressive at 89 combat, you will find yourself not in need of much defensive equipment. You may want to replace the defense potion with a super restore potion, in case the disease lowers your Ranged stat before you get the chance to drink a Relicym's balm. Also, you may want to consider using the Hawk Eye prayer (+10% Ranged), to increase your kill speed.

Bracelet of Inoculation

While it may seem like a helpful tool after reading the knowledge base entry, it has a very minimal effect versus disease damage. It lessens the effect of disease by a small amount. You will still take disease damage, just not as much. I do not recommend taking this item, as Barrows Gloves or vambraces are a better alternative for their range bonuses.[/hide][hide=Getting There]The map below shows the easiest way to get to the Zogre tombs. Use a ring of duelling to teleport to Castle Wars.

Once you reach the entrance, climb over the rubble as shown below:

[/hide][hide=Obtaining Coffin Keys]The combat begins! Here you will kill Skogres and Zogres, whichever is closer to you, I haven't found a particular difference between the two, although Skogres might possibly be weaker. There are two main safe spots in this area in which you can avoid being hit and possibly diseased, shown below:

Safespot #1

Your accumulator will NOT retrieve arrows using this safe spot, so do not delay in picking them back up. This is the easiest safe spot to use, a Skogre spawns very close to the fence.

Safespot #2

This one is a bit more tricky. You have to attack the Zogre/Skogre when it is walking beyond the square blockage so it will get stuck on it when it tries to attack you. You may have some problems using this safespot, practice makes perfect! :

Bestiary Information: Zogre (level-44), Skogre (level-44)

Once a Zogre is dead, pick up the bones and the key (you may also want to pick up any gold charms that they drop). The bones currently sell for around 500 gp each in the Grand Exchange. Hang on to them! Once you have a full inventory of bones and keys, proceed to the three coffins in the room beyond.[/hide][hide=The Spoils!]The Ogre coffin keys may only be used once. They disintegrate in the lock when used, and so you must kill more Zogres to continue collecting loot.

Possible junk loot includes:

-Nails

-Coins

-Daggers

-Axes

-Rusty Swords/Damaged Armor

The rewards that we are after include (GE prices may be out of date, I will update when I can):

-Zogre Bones --> 500 each in GE

-Fayrg Bones --> 2k each in GE

-Raurg Bones --> 4k each in GE

-Ourg Bones --> 18k each in GE :o

While the better bones are more rare, every trip I get at least 2 or 3. Even if you are unsuccessful in getting the better bones, you are guaranteed income from the Zogre bones. Per trip (about 5-10 minutes a trip) I can collect a minimum of 8k cash value in Zogre bones!

If you would like to explore the tombs underground, here is the map:

When you are done with the trip, simply bank at Castle Wars and repeat!

Alternative Way

You can stock up on keys and bones, bank the keys every trip, and then later travel to the tombs with a full inventory of keys, rather than half Zogre bones, and the other half filled with keys (thanks Aslan!)[/hide][hide=Thieving Method]Unless you are extremely skilled at thieving (90+), this is a very bad way to collect Zogre bones. While the coffins have a low requirement to pick-lock, you fail very often at 60+ thieving and are diseased as well. Also, failure results in a -2 drain to your thieving level. I do not want to explain this method much more simply because I have tried and failed many, many times.

Thieving Example (credit to Aslan for this information!)

Experiment 1: 100 Thieving (99 + Skillcape)

Started at 5:35:45

Ended at 5:36:45

Result: 1 minute for 5 chests

Conclusion: A lot better than Experiment 2, but still rivals the ranging method

Experiment 2: 65 Thieving

Started at 5:58:20

Ended at 6:00:50

Result: 2 minutes and 30 seconds for 3 chests->sick and caught

Conclusion: Even at 65 Thieving this method is almost 5x as slow as ranging[/hide][hide=Summoning in the Zogre Tombs]I have tested many familiars, and I have found one that I particularly find helpful when killing Zogres.

The Karamthulu Overlord is very effective versus Zogres and can almost double the speed of kills. It is also ideal because it does not require a high summoning level to use. Of course, you can use any combat familiar you wish. BoB familiars are also useful for more bones/trip, but the close proximity of Castle Wars bank makes this less important.

Beasts of Burden are also helpful to hold more bones and ogre keys. You can decide which class of familiar you wish to use. The bank is a short walking distance from the tombs, so BoB's might not be needed here.[/hide][hide=Credits]Thanks for reading my guide! I wish you well in your trips to the Zogre tombs! :D

Credits to:

Me for typing this guide

Thanks to Aslan for Thieving information, and the void setup image

Jagex for creating RuneScape

Tinypic.com for hosting my pictures (imageshack didn't do so well)

Tip.it Forums for hosting my guide![/hide][hide=Loot Pictures]Post pictures of your loot on this thread and I will add it here so others can see what kind of profits they could make!

Loot from 35 Ogre Coffin Keys:

[/hide]

Nice guide : I was collecting some info about the same topic,just as we speak, then I saw your guide in the section.I could give you some info about the thieving part if you'd like.

EDIT:also i have some keys in the bank; I will loot the chests and see if i get any bones that you don't have pictures for.

That would be helpful! Have you had the same bad luck?

I will give credit to any info you give :

Thieving :

picard7777 99 thieving+cape(thus 100 thieving)

5:35:45 START

5:36:45 END

1 minute for 5 chests

________________________________________

filipe947 65 thieving

5:58:20

6:00:50

2min and 30 seconds for 3chests->sick and caught

I did not bother looting more chests myself as I only have 57 thieving.

Ouch, the difference is clear. Low level thieves beware :ohnoes:

I'll post that example, thanks!

When you get the 1st item from the chest if you "Click here to continue", there is a chance for a 2nd item.I say that you should keep hold of the broken armour/rusty sword.(Repaired some armour and i got 4 steel plates for free).

Loot from 35 keys(the items worth keeping,remember that 35 bones are from getting the keys):

Fayrg bones:

That's a lot of profit for 35 keys, over 40k just from the 2 ourg bones. I would say that's a lucky round, but a useful image to use. Thanks for the fayrg image!

I'm currently doing about 100 runs to see the average range xp per hour and money earned per trip.

Regarding the Equipment and Inventory part; I bring full Void and just safespot them around the square box. You might wanna add the combat level:89(44*2+1), keeps you safe from monsters, so there is no need to tank.I also like to bank the keys(cwars ) then loot the chests later when I have more keys , rather than looting every time the inventory is full.

Ah, yes full void would be ideal after 89 combat. I'm 110, but I have never done PC enough to have full void, do you have a picture of the setup of full void?

I suppose I can keep the tank method up as a way for players under level 89. Although you are correct after 89 tanking isn't necessary.

Banking the keys is actually something I normally do as well. I thought I said this in the guide, I'll add this.

Thanks! :

New, original, complete, interesting stuff, I like it :thumbsup:

Enjoy.

wow this is a really good guide :

keep it up, i will definitely have to give this place a go.

Thanks everyone!

I have updated the guide with the Void Setup and some other small changes.

If you follow this guide, please post pictures of your loot to add to the new loot section of the thread! Thanks : !

Zogres almost NEVER damage you, trust me. You probably don't know this, try it out.

And they seem to be immune to higher leveled combat familiars...

I tried this long before, there is a thread on this on Truthscape.

Really? They usually damage me at least once per trip with 82 defense, usually only 1, but it still diseases you. Maybe I'm unlucky?

Weird about the familiar immunity. That makes karamthulus even better as a choice :)

UPDATED: Best > Better > Good setup lists added to Equipment section

Currently I am working on profit and range xp rates per hour/trip.

Not bad for a first, 200+ views in 10 hours :D

Stop double/triple posting, it makes you look stupid. (Which you obviously aren't)

Don't worry, your guide will become famous if it is good. (Starting guides gets hundreds of views on the first day or two)

Don't double/triple post.

Also, isin't...32k/hour...kinda..bad?

I mean, you could make that much theiving lvl 2 men

Thank you, it has been established not to double/triple post. I'm new to these forums, I have learned.

Also, the money per trip is very random, you can theoretically make 1.7m every hour, and a minimum of 48k per hour.

It depends on your luck with the loot. I'm currently calculating an average, please have patience.

This is interesting; i've always wanted to try it but never really knew how. I think i'll go and try this on friday.

Also, exp/money rates would be nice but I see you're working on them right now.

10/10 on the guide

Yes, I haven't been able to play this week, I need to do some more trips to finish calculating the average. Good luck with your loot! Last time I got 3 ourg bones (free 60k) in 1 trip :D

Thanks for the rate!

 

I tried this long before, there is a thread on this on Truthscape.

Late reply to your last statement, sorry:

I checked out the thread on truthscape, he claims 44k range xp in 2 hours. I have been getting significantly higher numbers of xp and loot money (I also have a higher range level :roll: )

It gives me an idea to post the possible prayer rewards if anyone decided to use the bones with a gilded altar rather than to sell them. I'll go calculate that too, waiting for the weekend again :? .

You may want to look into the Amulet of Inoculation. Its an enchanted Ruby Bracelet that protects against Disease. For ANY player doing the Thieving method, this is a must to help avoid disease. May come in handy for Ranging too, if the monsters are still aggressive and safe-spotting isn't working. After they go non-aggressive, you can switch back to Vamps/Dark Gloves.