A Guide to Killing Moss Giants at Pirate's Cove

[LinkOlaran]

 

 

 

This is my first guide (heck, this is the first time I've been on a forum, period) so bear with me.

 

 

 

 

 

Update: This guide now uses what I've heard referred to as a 'Quickfind' system. As you can see, in the header of every section and the table of contents below, there is a number in square brackets. The number associated with each section is only displayed at the header of that section and the table of contents. To use the quickfind system:

 

 

 

1. Highlight the bracketed number in the table of contents (including the brackets themselves).

 

2. Hold down the Control (Ctrl) button and tap the F key. This will bring up the find function of your browser.

 

3. Some browsers are designed so that, when you open the find window, it will automatically enter whatever section of text you have highlighted so you can search for the matching section immediately. If it doesn't, right click on the section of highlighted text (in this case the bracketed number) and copy and paste it into the find window. Alternatively, just type the bracketed number into the find window.

 

4. Click on the 'Find' button, or the 'Next' button if there isn't a find button. This should move your screen down to the header that the bracketed number you selected is in.

 

 

 

Hopefully, this will make the information in this guide a little bit easier to find. Thanks everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

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Table of Contents: [001]

 

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{i} Table of Contents ---------------------- [001]

 

{ii} Updates -------------------------------- [002]

 

{iii} Introduction --------------------------- [003]

 

{iv} Quick Overview for the Impatient -- [004]

 

{v} Drop List ------------------------------- [005]

 

{vi} Where Are They? --------------------- [006]

 

{vii} Requirements ------------------------ [007]

 

{viii} Equipment & Inventory (Melee) --- [008]

 

{ix} Equipment & Inventory (Ranged) --- [009]

 

{x} Tips and Tricks ------------------------ [010]

 

{xi} Conclusion & Credits ------------------ [011]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Updates: [002]

 

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May 27, 2009, 3:59pm

 

[+]Added the Fremennik Achievement Diary boots to the Tips & Tricks section.

 

[+]Added De_Lille_D to the Credits section.

 

 

 

May 26, 2009, 12:41am

 

[+] Added the Updates section.

 

[+] Corrected the obsidian shield vs. granite shield statement. The obsidian shield has an extra +5 strength bonus and +10 summoning defence bonus, while the granite shield doesn't.

 

[+] Also added in the quickfind function I've seen in larger guides (I think this one needs it, lol). The table of contents was a pain to change, by the way (stupid lines don't wanna match up...).

 

[+] Made the header of each section stand out a bit more (made the dashes underneath match up with the length of the title itself).

 

[+] Merged the Links with the Credits section (couldn't figure out how to link everything properly, lol)

 

[+] Split the Equipment & Inventory section into two smaller ones - original one was too big. Updated Table of Contents accordingly.

 

[+] Added on to the Tips & Tricks section.

 

[+] Added a recap of melee and ranged methods to the end of their respective sections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Introduction: [003]

 

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So, you, like many others before you, require a place to train melee and ranged (and possibly magic). Tried to fight through the crowds at the fire giants and yaks? Feel like a sardine in a can while killing Ankous? Starting to feel claustrophobic with all the bandits and/or giant spiders swarming you? Well, I'd like to introduce a (sorta) new training spot that I've only seen mentioned once or twice on the Tip.It forums. I would like to introduce to you, the only decent, uncrowded, good exp/hour, good gp/hour, and (if you need them) the giver of tons of gold charms. The creature (as seen in the banner), is the good old moss giant!

 

 

 

(fear my editing skills)

 

 

Moss Giant:

 

 

 

Combat level: 48

 

Hitpoints: 85

 

Examine: "His beard seems to have a life of it's own."

 

Max Hit: 5-6, but doesn't hit that often.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Quick Overview for the Impatient: [004]

 

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Moss Giants give me about 60k exp combat exp/hour (if strength training, about 59k exp/hour), 45-47k ranged exp/hour, between 60-150k gold (in herb and watermelon seeds, plus alched items and picking up gold). They also drop a large number of runes and other seeds that one can either use or sell.

 

 

 

My average killing time for a Moss giant (slightly outdated) is 20.5 seconds with whip, 20.9 seconds with obsidian sword, and 25.8 seconds with rune crossbow using broad bolts.

 

 

 

FYI, my stats (for comparison purposes:

 

 

 

Attack: 80

 

Strength: 80

 

Defence: 76

 

Ranged: 76

 

 

 

Times are a little bit off, due to the fact that I gained a number of attack and ranged levels since the time I did these trials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Drop List: [005]

 

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Gold: 2-700 {1}

 

 

 

100%: Big bones

 

 

 

Weapon: Rune javelin(5) {2}, Adamant dart(5p) {2}, Mithril spear, Rune spear {2}, Dragon spear {2}, Magic staff, Mithril sword

 

 

 

Armour: Black sq shield, Steel med helm, Steel kiteshield

 

 

 

Runes/Arrows: Air (18-28), Earth(27), Chaos(7), Nature(6), Law(3), Cosmic(3), Death(3), Iron(15), Steel(30), Blood(1)

 

 

 

Misc: Steel bar, Spinach roll, Coal, Uncut gem, Herb, Half key, Nature talisman, Chaos talisman {2}, Body talisman {2}, Shield left half(dragon) {2}, Long bone {3}, Curved bone {3}

 

 

 

Seeds: Herb(1) {4}, Poison ivy(1), Mushroom spore(1), Wildblood(1), Strawberry(1), Jangerberry(1), Limpwurt(1), Whiteberry(1), Cactus(1), Watermelon(1,2) {5}, Belladonna(1)

 

 

 

Charm(1): Gold, Green, Crimson, Blue {6}

 

 

 

 

 

{1} I tend to get between 100-300 gold per drop. I don't ever remember getting anymore than that.

 

 

 

{2} All of these items are very rare drops - I've never encountered them before, and I have killed several thousand moss giants here.

 

 

 

{3} Also are rare, but I have encountered them numerous times. Expect 1-2 every other trip/every third trip or so.

 

 

 

{4} These drop a large number of herb seeds, the notable ones being ranarrs and the occasional snapdragon. Expect at least one ranarr seed per trip (my personal best is 6-7 in one trip)

 

 

 

{5} I've encountered watermelon seed drops (usually several per trip), but only one at a time. I've never gotten two in one drop before.

 

 

 

{6} The charm drops for Moss Giants favor Gold Charms far, far more than the other three. Expect Crimson and Green drops to add up to less than 10 per trip (10 of each, that is), and count yourself lucky to get a single blue charm per trip.

 

 

 

Notes - All of the drop list notes (expect x of y item per trip) are based off of my own stats (Attack 80, Strength 80, Defence 76, Hitpoints 81, Ranged 76, Combat level 106) so if you have lower skill levels you will most likely get less drops per trip. Also, I use a Berserker Ring/Archer Ring when I'm training - a Ring of Wealth will change my estimates. The drop list itself (and the examine information) I obtained from the Moss Giant entry in the Tip.It bestiary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Where Are They? [006]

 

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These particular Moss giants are located at Pirate's Cove, which you pass by while doing the Lunar Diplomacy quest. In order to get to Pirate's Cove:

 

 

 

1. Teleport to house (if your house is outside of Rellekka) OR use enchanted lyre OR use fairy rings (A J R to Slayer Cave - run west then north-west to Rellekka, or C I P to Miscellania - run south-east to boat back to Rellekka)

 

 

 

2. Once in Rellekka, go north west to the docks and onto the western most one (the middle one being the boat to Eceteria and Miscellania). Talk to Lokar Seerunner, and choose to sail to Pirate's Cove.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Requirements: [007]

 

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Skills:

 

Preferably 85 combat or higher (for Dream Mentor). If not, then a combat level where you can kill moss giants efficiently.

 

55 magic (for high alching drops, get 62 if you're planning on using the dragon battle axe special since it drains magic by 7 points).

 

The skills you need to complete Lunar Diplomacy (even better if you can complete Dream Mentor as well).

 

 

 

Quests:

 

Rune Mysteries

 

Lost City

 

Shilo Village

 

Fremennik Trials

 

Lunar Diplomacy

 

 

 

Dream Mentor (preferably)

 

Eadgar's Ruse (needed for Dream Mentor, NOT Lunar Diplomacy)

 

Druidic Ritual (for Eadgar's Ruse)

 

Death Plateau (for Eadgar's Ruse)

 

Troll Stronghold (for Eadgar's Ruse)

 

 

 

The requirements are, without a doubt, a majority of the reason why no one uses this spot. They are pretty high, so if you don't have the skills neccessary to complete the quests, ask yourself this question: is it worth skilling for a day or two to get the requirements to do this quest, or could I use my time training elsewhere? Personally, I'd go for it (I find it is that good of a training spot, plus you unlock Lunar Magicks as well), but I may be a little biased due to the fact that I'm writing this guide.

 

 

 

Dream Mentor should be done so you can bank without having to carry the Seal of Passage (that you obtained in Lunar Diplomacy). Keep in mind that, without the Seal, any NPC you interact with on Lunar Isle other than Birds-Eye Jack will throw you off the island (presumably you'd end up back in Rellekka, but I haven't tested this).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Equipment & Inventory (Melee): [008]

 

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Equipment:

 

 

 

Helmet - Helm of Neitiznot

 

Torso - Dragon Chainbody

 

Legs - Dragon Platelegs

 

Boots - Dragon Boots

 

Arm - Barrows Gloves

 

Ring - Berserker Ring

 

Neck - Amulet of Glory

 

Cape - Skillcape of Fletching

 

Left Hand - Obsidian Shield

 

Right Hand - Abyssal Whip

 

 

 

 

 

Inventory:

 

 

 

1x Basket of Strawberries (5) (approx 232 gold)

 

1x Super Attack Potion (4) (approx 802 gold)

 

3x Super Attack Mix (2) (approx 567 gold per potion)

 

1x Dragon Battle Axe (approx 127.3k)

 

1x Fire Staff (1k for fire staff, 10.5k for Lava Battlestaff)

 

50x Nature rune (approx 237 gold per rune)

 

 

 

Add 1x Seal of Passage if you haven't done Dream Mentor.

 

 

 

The above is the exact equipment and inventory that I use. Ideally, you'd leave the arrow slot open so you can pick up and equip any steel arrow drops you might get. This, with the accumulator making steel arrows of it's own means an extra bit of cash the next time you go to the Grand Exchange.

 

 

 

If you don't have the money for the gear I use, then replace it with whatever you can afford. Bare minimum would probably be full rune, berserker helmet, amulet of glory, ring of wealth, rune boots, granite shield (granite shield doesn't have the +5 strength bonus and an extra +10 summoning defence bonus that the obsidian shield has though, but it's still 100k cheaper), and a dragon longsword/scimitar. Keep in mind that the cheaper your armor is, the more damage you'll take, and you'll use more food plus have shorter trips as well.

 

 

 

If you don't have a skillcape, then use an obsidian cape instead - they have the exact same stats. Obviously, if you happen to have either a fire cape or a trimmed skillcape, use one of those instead (fire cape>trimmed skillcape).

 

 

 

If you so happen to have full void with melee helmet, then use it - but only if you are prepared to take a fair bit more damage than usual. In that case, bring more food.

 

 

 

If you haven't done any of Recipe for Disaster (or haven't done enough to gain access to dragon or barrows gloves) then you should probably take a bracelet of regeneration. It'll double your natural healing ability, and provides the same strength bonus as the rune gloves you can buy during Recipe for Disaster.

 

 

 

Switch out the Obsidian Shield and/or Amulet of Glory for a Rune defender and/or Amulet of Fury. The Fury amulet is an obvious choice, if you can afford one. The Rune defender should only be used if you can sacrifice the defensive ability of the Obsidian shield - if you start taking too much damage, switch back to the shield.

 

 

 

If you want to train strength, you've got a couple of choices:

 

 

 

Dragon Longsword/Scimitar + Rune defender/Obsidian Shield on Aggressive (max hit of longsword is 30, scimitar is 29)

 

Saradomin Sword on Aggressive (max hit is 31)

 

Obsidian Sword + Rune defender/Obsidian Shield + Berserker Necklace on Aggressive (max hit is 29)

 

 

 

All max hits are using my setup, with 80 strength, and dragon battle axe special.

 

 

 

If you are going to train strength using the obsidian sword, note that it drains your attack and defence bonuses, so Super Attack potions are especially important, and you can also use the obsidian shield to make up for the drain in defence.

 

 

 

While the whip has a special attack, it is rather worthless for fighting moss giants, in my opinion. So, here's a list of what to use that special attack bar on:

 

 

 

[*]Dragon Battle Axe - use this if your defence is fairly high level to begin with, or if you're willing to bring extra food. Will speed up training quite a bit - usually increases my max hit by 3-4. Make sure to bring some super attack potions as well, to make up for the decrease in accuracy. Drains Attack, Defence, Ranged, and Magic by 10%, but increases Strength by 20%. Fully drains the special attack bar.

 

 

 

[*]Excalibur/Enhanced Excalibur - use this if your defence is particularly low, or if the moss giants are aggressive to you. Honestly, I'd still use the dragon battle axe and just bring food. Boosts Defence by a certain amount (10% boost for normal Excalibur, 15% boost for enhanced Excalibur plus it heals 20 hp over a few seconds). Drains the entire special attack bar.

 

 

 

[*]Dragon Dagger - is a decent weapon for using the special, but I'd still stick to either dragon battle axe or Excalibur. The Dragon Dagger's special hits twice very quickly, with slightly increased accuracy and strength. Drains 25% of the special attack bar. If you use the dagger, don't poison if you want a little extra experience (damage taken from poison doesn't earn experience, from what I've heard), or poison it if you want faster kills and therefore more drops.

 

 

 

[*]Dragon Halberd - is particularly effective here due to the size of the moss giant (the special of this weapon hits twice if the target is larger than a 1x1 square). The special attack itself is more or less the same as a normal attack, only slightly stronger. At my levels, using up the entire bar will either completely kill a moss giant, or very nearly kill it (I can hit double 20s with it). Drains 30% of the special attack bar. Keep in mind that this is a weapon that has longer reach, so you can safespot the moss giants if you want by just using this weapon.

 

 

 

If you want to make and use your own combination of armor, feel free. My method works best for me, but others may need something else (added defence if they're getting hit too often, for instance). Just try to maximize your strength and accuracy bonuses while maintaining enough defence to avoid getting hit too often.

 

 

 

There are three main areas that you can train melee at Pirate's Cove:

 

 

(yes, the compass was cut and pasted from the minimap)

 

 

 

South-western spot (by the tree): This is the best spot of the three, for both melee and ranged training. Has the most moss giant spawns out of the three spots, plus some of the moss giants from the eastern spot will wander over here on occasion. If you are a low enough combat level for moss giants to be aggressive, west of the tree is a safespot, as well as within the fenced in area in the dead center of the map.

 

 

 

Eastern Spot: The middle one, also the one I started off using. Has a decent number of moss giant spawns, but not much for safespots if you take too much damage. Only use this spot if the south-western one is taken.

 

 

 

North-western spot: The poorest one of the three. Only two moss giant spawns, no safespots. Only use this one if the other two are taken. Actually, don't. If the place is that crowded you have to go to this spot, then just switch worlds. Also, this spot may be better for lower level players that would normally get attacked by moss giants - less spawns=less moss giants wandering around=less moss giants attacking you=less food used.

 

 

 

When you are ready to bank, head back to the ladder due south of the eastern spot, head up the ladder, head up the next ladder further to the south, go on the ship and talk to the captain to go to Lunar Isle.

 

 

 

 

 

Quick recap of the melee method, starting off at the start of your trip:

 

 

 

1. Use dragon battle axe/excalibur/other speccing weapon special.

 

2. Drink dose of super attack potion (save the mixes, if you're using them, for when you take some damage later in the trip).

 

3. Attack a moss giant, kill it, and pick up the drops.

 

4. Attack the next moss giant, and quickly bury the bones so it doesn't interrupt combat (explained in further detail in the Tips & Tricks section). Loot the moss giant when it's dead.

 

5. When it's time to use your speccing weapon (for the dragon battle axe, that would be when your defence level returns to normal), finish off the moss giant you're currently fighting. Then, equip and use the special, then switch back. Then, depending on how much damage you've taken, decide to drink either a dose of normal super attack, or a dose of the super attack mix (the mix heals 6 hp, by the way).

 

6. If you start taking too much damage to be healed by a mix potion, then start eating your normal food. Higher levels can wait until they're down to the halfway mark or so (or lower), but those who are low enough level to be attacked by moss giants shouldn't wait that long - eat when it won't be a waste of food (for instance, if you're using monkfish, you should wait until you're 16 lower than your max hp, and then eat).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Equipment & Inventory (Ranged): [009]

 

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Equipment:

 

 

 

Helmet - Guthix Coif

 

Torso - Guthix Dragonhide

 

Legs - Guthix Chaps

 

Boots - Snakeskin Boots

 

Arm - Guthix Vambraces

 

Ring - Archer Ring

 

Neck - Amulet of Glory

 

Cape - Ava's Accumulator

 

Left Hand - Book of Balance

 

Right Hand - Rune Crossbow

 

Ammunition - Broad Bolts

 

 

 

Inventory:

 

4x Ranging Potions (4) (approx 2.1k per 4-dose potion)

 

1x Broad Bolt (for placeholding your dropped ammo) (approx 59 gold per bolt, 55 slayer to use, equivalent to adamantite bolts)

 

1x Steel Arrow (for placeholding the steel arrows your accumulator will make)

 

1x Fire Staff (approx 1k)

 

50x Nature runes (approx 237 gold per rune)

 

 

 

Again, add 1x Seal of Passage if you haven't done Dream Mentor.

 

 

 

Yet again, this is the setup that I currently use. Other possible weapons to use (particularly if you don't have 55 slayer) would be: rune crossbow with mithril/adamantite bolts (addy bolts=broad bolts in power, but are far more expensive, at about 181 gold a piece), magic shortbow with steel or better arrows (I rarely use the magic shortbow for anything other than Barrows, so I don't really know what ammo to use here), or (the ultimate cheap route) bone crossbow with bone bolts.

 

 

 

I use Guthix blessed dragonhide mainly for looks (green is my favorite color, by the way, hence Guthix rather than the other two). If you don't have the cash for blessed dragonhide, then use black dragonhide, or whatever color you can use with your current ranged level plus the archer helmet from Freminnik Trials. If you don't have the money (or don't have the Horror from the Deep quest done) for a Guthix or Zamorak prayer book, then... I don't know what you should use - I don't know if there is anything else that can be wielded in the shield slot that gives ranged bonuses.

 

 

 

If you have the cash, use a fury amulet instead of a glory amulet, a robin hood hat instead of archer helm/blessed coif, and ranger boots instead of snakeskin boots. Keep in mind that a fury amulet costs about 2 mill now (was 2.7 mill a month ago), ranger boots are 7.2 mill, and the robin hood hat is 2 mill.

 

 

 

If you have full void with the ranger helm, then use it - defence doesn't matter here, so you need to be maximizing your ranged accuracy and strength.

 

 

 

Try to bring enough ammunition to last you the trip. For me, I use around 200-400 bolts a trip (I haven't really payed much attention to it, so I can't be more exact).

 

 

 

For using special attacks, since the rune crossbow doesn't have one (and I don't know of a decent ranged weapon to use for special attack purposes), I really can't suggest anything. However, at a quick glance over the Ranged Guide on Tip.It, the bone crossbow's snipe special (80% drain, lowers defence by amount of damage dealt), and Zanik's crossbow (Defiance, 50% drain, does slightly increased damage based on what god items the target is wearing) are viable choices, but I've never used either of them so I can't vouch for their usefulness.

 

 

 

Don't bother bringing a cannon. While the whole area is multicombat, moss giants are just too weak to bother cannoning - unless if you are willing to stand out in the open refilling it every 10 seconds or so. Also note that there are level 23 and 37 pirates that the cannon will waste ammo on. I will admit, however, that it's funny as all heck to watch everything around you die at once.

 

 

 

There are three main areas that you can safespot from:

 

 

 

 

South-western Spot (the tree):

 

This is, again, the best spot for either melee'ing or ranging, although with ranged we will be using that windswept tree to our advantage:

 

 

 

 

You'll notice the placement of my character for the two spots is slightly different. The picture on the left (camera is facing towards the south) I am standing one square behind the tree (just northwest of the tree), and in the picture on the right (camera is facing to the north) I am standing exactly south of the tree (also note that the branches pointing towards the east take up space as well, making the tree actually take up a 2x2 square, although it looks more like it takes up a 1x1 square at first glance. If you place yourself in exactly these two positions, the moss giant won't be able to hit you.

 

 

 

But, of course, how do you lure the moss giant into this position? These images should provide the answer:

 

 

 

 

 

As for the comment on burying bones, I'll explain in the Tips section. Now, these pictures should be clear enough. If you require clarification, just tell me. The only possible problem is if a moss giant gets jammed up on one of the two pirates and can't get to the spot described in the picture. The usual solution is either to wait for the pirate to walk away so the moss giant will continue into the correct spot, or you can move to the other safespot (starting from north of the tree to the south edge of the tree, or vice versa). Either of these two strategies will work. Oh, and don't bother killing the pirates to get them out of the way. They respawn extremely quick.

 

 

 

 

 

Middle Spot (inside the fenced in area):

 

 

A decent spot to use, but since it is right in the middle of the other two spots, you'll end up interfering with anyone who happens to be training at the other two spots (this is because this spot has no unique spawn points, it's placement just allows you to open fire on a majority of the moss giants at the other two spots. Keep in mind that a moss giant can fit into the gap on the north-eastern edge of the 'box'. Also note that you can't seem to fire over the barrels and chests in the fenced in area too well, and you may end up running out just in time to get a club to the face. A similar thing can happen with the tree safespot (can't fire through the branches of the tree) but you usually don't get hit, assuming you're quick to correct your movement.

 

 

 

 

 

Eastern Spot (next to the flag):

 

 

This spot can be the most dangerous to the lower level people who want to train ranged due to the fact that this safe spot requires a bit of skill (in comparison to either of the other two) to pull off. You'll note that, while the moss giant that I am currently attacking can't reach me, were the others aggressive to me, they very easily could. I haven't found another safespot near here, so this one will have to do. The trick to luring the moss giant into getting stuck on the flag is to only attack the moss giant when it is either exactly north of the flag, or a little to the north east (also note that the two spawn points are set up just right for this - one is to the north, the other is to the northeast of the flag - just make sure to have finished the previous moss giant by the time the next one spawns).

 

 

 

Quick recap of the ranged method, starting off at the start of your trip:

 

 

 

1. Upon arrival, get to your normal spot, and drink a dose of ranging potion.

 

2. Shoot at a moss giant, and run into safespot/lure moss giant into getting stuck on something.

 

3. Kill the moss giant, pick up loot.

 

4. Shoot at another moss giant, run back into safespot.

 

5. Once the moss giant is in position, click to attack - at this point, your character will, as usual, either turn around to shoot (if you're facing away from the moss giant), or just lift their crossbow. At this point, click to bury the bones from the previous moss giant, and quickly reclick the moss giant so you don't lose a round of combat.

 

6. Kill the moss giant, loot it, and pick out your next target.

 

7. When the effects of the potion have worn off (I usually wait until my ranged level is still 2 above normal), drink another dose of ranging potion. Try to do this during combat (using the same trick as with burying bones) so you don't waste time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tips & Tricks: [010]

 

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Burying bones while not interrupting combat (melee and ranged):

 

A simple tactic that can probably also be used when eating or drinking a dose of your potion. For melee, right after your first attack (before the moss giant attacks you) click to bury the bones. The animation for burying will start, and then be interrupted by the moss giant attacking you, putting you back into normal combat (and usually attacking the moss giant right after it hits you, too). If you delay it too long, you'll see your character's 'defend' animation (either lifting a shield to block, or stabbing with a defender). The bury bone command will still go through, but you'll usually lose that round of combat. Do it properly, there is no delay in your next attack.

 

 

 

For ranged, it's nearly the same thing - of course, since you're safespotting, you can't rely on the moss giant's attack to knock you out of the bury bones animation. Instead, you must click to bury the bones just as your attack animation starts - i.e. lifting the crossbow to fire. The combat animation can't be interrupted, so the prayer animation can't play either - but, the usual message "You dig a hole in the ground, you bury the bones" will pop up as usual. Remember to reclick attack after you bury the bones, otherwise your character will just sit there staring at the moss giant stupidly until you do. Keep in mind that, the longer it takes for your character to fire at the moss giant, the longer you have to bury the bones - considering that, when you run into the tree safespot, you are facing away from the moss giant, it'll take a little extra time to turn around and continue attacking the moss giant. This is the preferred time for burying the bones.

 

 

 

 

 

Why do some of the moss giants back away from you after you shoot at them? This, I imagine, is a fairly common question for pretty much any creature that you safespot for ranged/magic. The reason, as I see it, is because when all creatures spawn, they can only wander a certain distance away from that spawn point. The reason the creature will back away is simply because it detects you are out of it's wander range, so it can't respond by attacking you - thus, it resorts to fleeing, usually making you fire at the creature a second time, and then run out of your safespot and getting damaged by the same creature. For this particular situation, the moss giants that will back away from you are the ones that either spawn just north/northeast of the fenced in area, or a little farther northeast. What can we do to stop it? Unfortunately, not much. With something like these moss giants, they all look exactly the same so we can't just not attack the ones we know spawn too far away to be able to lure to the safespot. Personally, I'll run out and finish that moss giant off - this is when I'll use the fenced in area to safespot that particular one. I've noticed that moss giants, if you just attack them once and they back off - at which point you stop attacking them and move closer (into the fenced in area) they won't attack you. If you allow your character to continue attacking the same moss giant, it will result in you running out of the safespot and getting clubbed on the head. Honestly, one moss giant attacking you once isn't that big of a deal since they are very inaccurate (chances are they won't damage you).

 

 

 

To not waste time while ranging, here is a small tip. Considering the fact that a moss giant takes a couple of seconds from the final blow to actually disappear and allow the drops to appear, try to run to the square that the drops are going to appear on - this will be the same spot that the bolts/arrows that your accumulator failed to pick up will drop as well. Keep in mind that, due to the moss giant having so much health, they tend to 'redbar' very often (in other words, their health bar is completely red, but they still have 1-2 hp left). To avoid clubs on the head when trying to pick up your drops and ammo, wait until the moss giant's death animation starts (the moss giant will lift both arms up into the air and... well, I can't really describe how the body disappears - it melts, I guess).

 

 

 

In my personal experience, the first and final bolt/arrow fired usually drops onto the ground more often than not - whether this is just poor luck on my end or actual fact I don't know.

 

 

 

Timing a run to moss giants is nearly impossible due to the different kinds of drops it has - some trips will only last long enough to use up half your potions, others will use up all of your potions and you'll still have room to spare. The same can be said about the values of the drops from trip to trip. On average, I can expect 1-2 ranarr seeds per trip, but occasionally I'll get 3-4 instead - once I ended up with 7!

 

 

 

Don't drop your vials/re-equip ammo until you need the inventory space - I'd rather wait until I need the spaces for drops rather than drop vials/re-equip ammo when I finish off potions/pick up dropped ammo. To me, it just wastes time.

 

 

 

Consider switching your house location to Rellekka - it'll provide fast access to this training spot, as well as access to Eceteria & Miscellania (for Manage thy Kingdom), the Slayer Cave (for slayer tasks), and Keldagrim (if you use the Blast Furnace). Also note that there are oak trees outside of the house portal, so you can just cut oak at your house and have your butler plank them for you for training construction.

 

 

 

Also consider designing your house with speed in mind - place the chapel, portal room, quest hall, and workshop next to the entrance to your house so you waste as little time as possible recharging prayer, repairing barrows armor, and teleporting somewhere else. This is something you should do, regardless of if you're training at the Moss Giants or not - a proper house design will aid you in numerous other tasks as well.

 

 

 

If you have the Fremennik Achievement Diary done (at least the easy tasks), consider using the Fremennik boots to deposit your loot at Peer the Seer. Although, I don't know how you'd restock on potions and food - you could fish and cook everything there, I guess. I'd say, use this method if you wanted to just collect big bones - for normal combat training, you'd need to bank eventually to get more potions at the very least.

 

 

 

De_Lille_D not only recommended the Fremennik sea boots, but also stated that using the glory amulet to bank in Edgeville and teleporting back using the enchanted lyre as an alternative to banking on Lunar Isle - you still need to have started Lunar Diplomacy to get to Pirate's Cove, although you wouldn't need to do Dream Mentor to bank on Lunar Isle instead. Banking using this method is most likely faster than banking on Lunar Isle, but is slightly more expensive, due to the enchanted lyre having to be recharged every couple of trips (using some fairly expensive raw fish to do it, too).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---------------------------------

 

Conclusion & Credits: [011]

 

---------------------------------

 

 

 

Well, thanks for reading (or skimming over) my guide. Any (constructive) feedback is welcome, and feel free to pm me ingame if you have any questions about my guide (or just me in general). I'll try to update this guide as much as possible, but I honestly can't see anything else (that's useful, anyway) to add to it.

 

 

 

I'd like to thank the following people:

 

 

 

Myself, for spending 4-5 hours to write up this guide.

 

 

 

lady_ninane, for providing me the information I needed to get a screencap program - without this program, there would be no pictures.

 

 

 

gonpost, for writing A Comprehensive Guide to Melee Training (P2P) - for mentioning the Moss Giants at Pirate's Cove.

 

 

 

Benjamin6264, for writing The Berserker Necklace: A Forgotten Artifact - provided me with the obsidian sword + berserker necklace method.

 

 

 

De_Lille_D, for mentioning the Fremennik Sea Boots (from the achievement diary), and the boots' ability to use Peer the Seer as a deposit box. Also recommended using glory amulet to bank in Edgeville, and teleporting back with the enchanted lyre.

 

 

 

The Tip.It site in general for providing me with more information than I know what to do with.

 

 

 

And everyone else who replied to my first post.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everyone, and I hope to see some of you at this training spot!

[Danqazmlp]

Looks like a good guide from face value, i didn't read into it much though sorry. It looks finished though, so can probably go straight into the general guides section.

[dubcit]

you can use an enchanted lyre to get to relleka

[Hedgehog]

Its a great guide, I just don't like how you recommend dragon armor. It makes me cringe.

[LinkOlaran]

To Danqazmlp:

 

 

 

Yeah, the guide is pretty much complete - I'm just waiting to see if anyone sees something else I can add in before I get it moved to general guides. Oh, and don't worry about not reading the whole thing - I realize it's absolutely huge and would take a fair bit of time to read. Thanks for responding, by the way.

 

 

 

To dubcit:

 

 

 

Yes, the enchanted lyre is in the guide, although I've never used it before - I've always had my house outside of Rellekka, so I never needed a different method for getting there. Again, thanks for responding.

 

 

 

To hedgehog1:

 

 

 

Yeah, I realize dragon armor is expensive - honestly, I don't think you really would need it, it's just what I use. I used granite platebody with dragon legs & boots before, and it worked perfectly fine. Full rune will probably work as well, although I'd recommend more food in that case. Thanks for responding, too.

 

 

 

 

 

Edit:

 

 

 

Updated the guide:

 

 

 

May 26, 2009, 12:41am

 

[+] Added the Updates section.

 

[+] Corrected the obsidian shield vs. granite shield statement. The obsidian shield has an extra +5 strength bonus and +10 summoning defence bonus, while the granite shield doesn't.

 

[+] Also added in the quickfind function I've seen in larger guides (I think this one needs it, lol). The table of contents was a pain to change, by the way (stupid lines don't wanna match up...).

 

[+] Made the header of each section stand out a bit more (made the dashes underneath match up with the length of the title itself).

 

[+] Merged the Links with the Credits section (couldn't figure out how to link everything properly, lol)

 

[+] Split the Equipment & Inventory section into two smaller ones - original one was too big. Updated Table of Contents accordingly.

 

[+] Added on to the Tips & Tricks section.

 

[+] Added a recap of melee and ranged methods to the end of their respective sections.

 

 

 

Hopefully things are a little clearer and easier to look at now.

[walka92]

i dont want to sound mean, but is this guide really necessary? really, saying "kill moss giants, go here. bring this" is all youve done. and also a coupleof range safespots. which in themselves are not hard to find. all youve done is thrown together some basic information and calculations and a drop table.

 

 

 

in all honesty, this is to simple for a guide. if you say, added many more monsters and just chnged to to be a guide on training melee and range effectively with little cost, then that would be fine. however, this guide is really, really pointless. theres better places to train where you need less quests, lower non combats, that give more exp and cash....and ones that cost money and give MUCH more exp..

 

 

 

however, the set out of the guide is good, and its easy to find what you need....

[LinkOlaran]

To walka92:

 

 

 

Firstly, thanks for responding, even if you don't like the guide. I completely agree with you, it is a very simple guide - but keep in mind it is my first ever, so bear with me. I may expand it outwards to cover other common training spots, but I prefer this one to the other common suggestions due to the fact that it is completely empty, pretty much regardless of what world you're on at what time of day. With the other common training areas (rock crabs, yaks, fire giants, bandits and ankous) they are almost always crowded regardless of the time of day - making it all the more difficult to actually find a spot in the room to train, unless you are willing to switch worlds.

 

 

 

The other two areas I've heard were good for training (Giant Skeletons at Damis' Lair, Armored Zombies from Defender of Varrock quest) still require quests (some of them rather difficult) to access, and still are (probably) going to be crowded - regardless, they still probably give better exp/loot per hour than moss giants.

 

 

 

To sum things up, sure, there are better spots to train - if you are willing to fight through the crowds. This spot provides a decent spot to train melee and ranged, plus earn a little bit of cash along the way - but it's still deserted. It's also a decent spot if you don't have the combat levels to fight against Giant Skeletons or Armored Zombies. Of course, one can just train here until they do have the combat levels necessary to take on the above creatures.

 

 

 

Again, thanks for responding. Any constructive criticism is welcome - I will most certainly consider covering other common training areas - Giant Skeletons and Armored Zombies are probably the ones I'd target first.

[Everyonedies]

My 2 cents maybe use the moss giants as just the first place to train maybe find other non- crowded places that you could train at for low cost decent xp and a little profit. Like Walka is saying this guide as it is on its own doesn't really make much sence. But you provided great details about this location. Make find 2 or 3 other places and do the same thing and turn this guide into something that people will go to when the want to train off the beaten path away from the crowds. Very good start.

[LinkOlaran]

To Everyonedies:

 

 

 

Thanks for responding. Yes, I am perfectly willing to add in other (mostly unknown) good training spots, but I don't really know of any. I will be doing research on this, though (I've been looking at camping at mutated bloodvelds using bones to peaches, but I haven't really looked that far into it yet).

 

 

 

Again, thanks for the positive feedback. If you have any monsters to suggest to train on, just tell me, and I'll try to add a section for them.

 

 

 

On another note, I am looking at making a Shades of Mort'ton Temple Building guide (including a section on burning vyrewatch, as well). If anyone is interested in me making a guide about that, I'll go and do it - it is my favorite minigame after all.

[Skeptical]

Great guide, I may use some of this.

 

 

 

Quick question: is it really feasible to bank the bones, and use at ecto or altar later?

[LinkOlaran]

To cooldog08:

 

 

 

Firstly, thanks for responding. You can bank the bones if you want, the bank really isn't that far away - for me it takes about three 'ticks' off of whatever stat I have potted up to run to the bank and back. Also note that, since your agility is a bit lower than mine, you might not make it to the bank and back - a round trip usually puts me down to... 30-40% run energy, I believe. I personally don't bother to bank the bones, since I kill moss giants in 3-4 hits anyways, so my inventory would fill up really quick - I'd rather have the combat experience anyways.

 

 

 

I'd recommend a spirit terrorbird if you just wanted to get big bones, but since you don't have 52 summoning... you could use whatever beast of burden summon you can make (or buy). I believe a bull ant (40 summoning required, uses a gold charm and 11 shards, plus a marigold as a secondary) would be ideal in your case - although marigolds are fairly expensive (3.3k market price, according to Tip.It). Also note that bull ants restore run energy as well (relies on your agility level) and they carry 9 items (terrorbird carries 12).

 

 

 

Well, thanks for responding!

[De_Lille_D]

Did you mention that Peer the Seer, in Releka, is a walking deposit box, just one boat ride away from Pirate's Cove (after some quests and the diary i think; you might need the boots) ? Then again, useing a glory to bank in Edgy and taking a lyre to Releka is about the same speed i guess.

[LinkOlaran]

To De_Lille_D:

 

 

 

Thanks for responding, first of all. Yes, I thought about including Peer the Seer, but I'm not entirely sure how his deposit function actually works - does it deposit everything in your inventory and everything you have equipped? Or, can you choose what items from your inventory you can deposit? I'm definitely going to look into this, thanks. If this works... well, there really isn't much point to doing Dream Mentor for banking purposes.

 

 

 

P.S. I've read your Advanced Farming Route Guide, and I've just started using it. An excellent guide, although I can't seem to grow hops and bushes properly without them dieing, lol.

 

 

 

Edit: Just checked the Fremennik Achievement Diary. You need the first set of boots to bank with Peer the Seer - explains why I've never used it before, lol. The boots are pretty junky though, in terms of stats - even the level three version awarded for the hard tasks doesn't compare to dragon boots. Still, I'll add them in. Thanks for mentioning them to me.

[Peter144]

Tank ranging the giants should be an option, as their attacks have low accuracy. Just swap the coif for a melee helmet, and a spirit shield if you're using a crossbow.

[scribbles001]

a tip on the dba...instead of bring super attack mix. just bring one super attack pot and restore mixes instead ( regular not super restore). this way u get ur def lv back and dont gotta waste extra sips on attk pot.