Icarium

Besides, Jagex tends to come back on what they said then change it, so there's no real point in arguing over things if Jagex said they will never do it because they know it and we know it that they might do it. I think Jagex likes arguments like these because like i said, even when they say never, it's still an idea with potention, Jagex said they do not exclude any ideas and every idea has potential so whenever they say they will never do something like raising the cap for skills to lv 120 makes me laugh because in the back of their head they're probably already planning on implenting it and perhaps not right now but within the next 5 years. very true. If it makes people want to stay in the game who would otherwise quit, adds more diversity to the game, makes them more money... I think, as with real-world trading countermeasures, this will be a very slow and carefully carried out affair if it ever happens. The one thing the company cannot afford is to upset the balance of the game, especially after so much effort fixing the combat triangle, feeding the market etc etc.

...so instead we get GODCLAWS and lvl 40 pures start one hitting the high level mages, who most likely won't be shadow barraging with staves of light, since these are 'uncool'. Jagex keep raising the combat game with KO items anyway, would higher levels of actual skills (as opposed to moneymaking for all the new items) be such a bad thing? when the skillcapes were first introduced, nobody cared what there was to do at 99 fletching and just focused on destroying the economy whilst getting it. Perhaps true skill mastery in a game of grinding means having nothing other than a cape to grind for?

i've done jad quite a few times (first was 3 years ago with this guide ^^), and in a couple of days will be doing for yet another friend.... I've been told that jagex updated jad so that now the healers don't stop healing him. Firstly is this true and if so, would the best way to get round this mean killing them quickly enough so that they don't respawn?

squareroot2 - i have added in your suggestions bedman - I'll add in more of the details you mentioned soon thanks for all the constructive criticism, keep it coming. If you read the guide and have anything to add or any questions it'd be lovely to hear from you :)

Whip vs leaf-bladed sword... I have very little experience in this area, as I have barely meleed on my account since getting 99 defence (almost two years ago), and have actually only ever fought the kbd with range. From what I've heard and from what the stats of the weapons tell us, there shouldn't be much of a difference between the two. The whip is more accurate and does more damage, but loses a lot due to it's lack of anything other than a slash attack. As the kbd is weak to stab attacks, the leaf-bladed sword should seem to hit more often, though will average less damage. I was planning to collect some data on the differences, but the leaf-blade refused to buy in the g.e. I will renew my efforts to get hold of one (may mean killing some turoths lol), and go record a couple of trips with each. The only problem would be that, with my stats (84 attack, 82 strength), the results may be different for someone with 90+ in each, as the higher attack would swing the argument in the whip's favour (hit more with both, therefore higher damage from whip adds up). Tanking with protect from magic shouldn't be any different to the recommended stats for tanking with an antifire shield and whip/leaf-blade, as discussed in the melee section of the guide. I reckon anything lower than 85 defence would use up too much food, but I'll go along with some zamorak brews sometime and check it out (tanking with barrows, unholy book and rune crossbow = win!). The chatlogs would be an interesting addition, perhaps to be added on in the future. I have three sets of kbd heads in the bank (yet no visage!), and so will probably wait until I get 70 construction myself to add this in, which should be reasonably soon. thanks for all the feedback and hope some of this helped. :smile:

sohkmj1 - thanks very much :) I'll get some more pics up asap squareroot2 - much of the guide was written to make this possible for lower levels who may not have the defence to tank with veracs or the summoning level to use the lava titan... however I did check the antifire + mage prayer, and you're absolutely right, so i'll add it in later today. I did make a brief reference to the lava titan's teleport in the summoning section, but will provide a more detailed account as a travel option soon. Thanks for the input.

reserved

Some guidelines to help you kick-start or improve your kbd experience Contents Introduction Basics Ranged Melee Summoning Loot Conclusion Acknowledgements

ok thanks :) If and when I do go for 99 summoning I'd get the charms through slayer; right now the lazier approach appeals to me (i'd guess double the xp of rock lobs could be possible, since no luring). I'm pretty sure i heard about the undead thing training slayer when I first became a member (about four years ago), I was given zombies as a task by vannaka, and when I asked for advice he told me that, being udead, they were weak to magic... since this was a jagex tip rather than player i've always stuck by it. Turns out the xp is not double that at rock lobsters, since a lot of time is spent walking about arranging the skeletons. Perhaps if I get better at arranging them quickly and spend 90% of the time barraging then it would be better, but I only recorded 180k xp in 50 minutes (just under 220k/h).

only just checked this <_< thanks for clearing that up, I thought you would have put in brackets to indicate the seperation of the power (even though not necessary of course) do you think the exact same spot would work as well (or better) for bursting/barraging? i'm planning to smoke barrage rather than ice since it's cheaper and ice could potentially stop you arranging them into 3x3... I would go to rock lobsters, but already have 88 banked and want to keep mine at 68 for now to keep cb a bit lower for pking. Since they're undead i think that would also mean magic was more accurate...?

that spot is fine if you pick up loot quickly, before they spawn. However you can instead stand one step to the right of the one in the guide, luring the lobs round the corner by standing a step left from the lobs' position in the guide. Looting like this you won't get spawned on, but if the one to the north of you dies first and spawns before you fnish killing he'll be on you (doesn't happen 90% of the time)

ah ok, that makes sense. Battle robes will still be better for me, as I have a load of tokens in the bank :smile:

For the last eight years or so I've been experiencing heavy OCD, needing to make patterns in everything I do. If I step on a bit of pavement that feels uneven I have to do it again 3 times, to make 2 with each foot. This never goes away. It used to bother me to the point of distraction, and I tried to find a way to stop it. About five years ago I realised it wasn't going to go away and so let it become part of who I am. Now it almost feels good, as if I have a close personal friend who appreciates the patterns I create. What I'm trying to say is, if picking your skin is a manifestion of OCD, it probably won't do much good trying to break free of it. Instead you need to try and divert it onto something else. This is a very common example, but I used to bite my nails all the time. I could never get myself to stop because it became a ritual almost. Instead I trained myself to clean and groom them rather than bite. At first it was hard but now I have no problem with it. It also happens that I went through some serious depression only a few weeks ago. I came far too close to killing myself, composing suicide notes in my head. I got through this by having many lengthy conversations with my sister, who is the only person I can truly confide in. I didn't want to talk to anyone but was willing to try for her sake. She made me realise that the problem was school, where I felt seriously undervalued and opressed. I have now pulled out and got a job, and a week on am feeling great. I'm not saying your case is the same as mine, but if things get bad again have a think about a change of scene and lifestyle. It may well be what you need.

I agree... yet surely there's no harm in using only one, if you don't have the cash for the staff or the patience for the robes? For myself I have very little money at any one time since I spend impulsivelyy on expensive skill training (such as this!), and no friends who own a staff to lend me. I could try and rent one but I imagine it would be difficult to get for the 6 hours or more that i'd spend on a trip.

great guide, I'll probably use it for a large part of 99 mage / 88 summoning :grin: here's a bit of info for anyone thinking about taking battle robes. equipped inven: full battle robes glory god cape zammy book void mace barrows gloves mystic boots ring of life that leaves me with +96 mage and +14 prayer while casting. I average about 19 casts per kill, bursting at level 91 mage. I haven't ever recorded the amount of runes saved, but at 88 mage i had 6k ice bursts and 400 blood bursts. It took me 750k hitpoints xp to use them up (not sure how much mage xp) one must with the robes is to unequip them for lures, since they degrade during all combat. i take proselyte plate, legs and neitiiznot. I also take a stole, since I get bored staying for a full load of ppots and so don't need the inven space. It can be an effort changing every lure, if this bothers you. as for worrying about fog time to get the robes, I had mine long before I considered bursting and so it wasn't a problem... since the latest update they only cost 275 tokens to recharge, which only take an hour or two to get. My robes were on 20 after the first trip, in which i used about 4k casts worth of runes, though i probably cast more like 4,8k spells. When recharging, use the robes on the guy to first degrade them to 0 (if you finished a trip before they did themselves), then use them on him again to recharge. all said, and from reading / seeing other people bursting with the same level, I'd highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys playing fog - if 99 mage cost you 60m, it would potentially cost only 48m with the robes. another quick tip. If for any reason you end up with a dag on you while bursting, always cast on him. The game mechanics take the defence of the target, and they have much lower magic defence than the rock lobs. When I do this every spell hits for damage, meaning more xp and cheaper charms. That said, never do this deliberately, as only 9 monsters can be hit at once so you'll end up with a rock lob at the end. This only applies if you accidently lure one and can't be bothered to repeat the lure, or if you're interrupted by a range dag half way through.

wouldn't battle robes degrade too quickly to make them worth bringing? I've only used them briefly at clan wars and they seemed to go from 100 to 80 pretty fast

amazing guide, got me 99 range a lot cheaper than I'd been expecting! one thing that I'm confused about however is your calculation at the end. you say : At lvl n for all n > 70, one can get up to 280(n/99)^1.1 xp/red chin, and 360K(n/99)^1.1 xp/hr. This is using your results at 99 and adjusting them accordingly. Yet the power of 1.1 at the end adjusts any number input to above the original values for 99. Is this a mistake or am I simply doing the calculation wrong?

there is something to be said for the fact that many people either wish they could lose xp in skills (eg pure with 2 def), or simply get no joy out of having levels in a skill and only train it for quests. However you don't often see someone regretting the extra few mil sitting around in the bank, or failing to find something to spend it on.... I'm not saying that I disagree with the 'only point of money is skills' argument - if I have spare cash I tend to spend it on training a skill. Yet the majority of players in the game own less than a mil, and may well prefer 50 - 100m cash to a 99 skill.

if you did increase max hp to say 126 (200m xp), then the logical step would be to increase ALL skills to 126 as well. This would mean atk and str would remain in exactly the same proportions to hp as they are now, solving nothing. Jagex would never increase one skill and leave the others at 99. to be honest, most of the people worrying about the one or two hit kill factor are either pures or those who use something similar themselves.... Pures choose to have low defense and rightly suffer the consequences, while the other high-hitters may complain when they get K0'd, but in the end would rather still be able to use the same techniques themselves than get rid of them.

by this do you mean grand exchange merchanting investments? This would not be the case, as Jagex would surely announce the change at least a month before it was implemented, meaning that merchanters would have plenty of time to sell off any investments they had made into pure ess. Jagex have made plenty of changes in the past without resorting to price range limitations, what makes you think they would do so here? For example, when infinite npc shop stock was introduced, they must have known that prices of runes such as natures, deaths and bloods would be affected. Yet they were happy to let the players and the GE sort it out themselves. I see no great difference between the two.

awesome guide, I love def and will be sure to use your methods when I make a pure :) 10/10