Beginning Slayer Guide

[MstrMonopoly]

Only start slaying at AT LEAST all 60+ combats. Before that, go do rock crabs or experiments or something.

 

Before you start slaying at 60, make sure you have AT LEAST these items or better

 

 

/ / / / /

 

1) Weapons

 

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The three weapons you should carry at maxed slayer levels.

 

The classic slayer weapon is of course the Abyssal Whip. In my opinion, the whip is the best weapon in the game - not the most versatile, but the one that will provide the most experience per hour over the long run. The Whip is criticized for not being able to train strength, but unless you like to PK and want to keep your stats a certain way controlled is a good option for keeping your melee skills balanced. The next best weapon is the Dragon Scimitar, which is worse than the whip in every way but has the option to train Strength. Honestly, I would not recommend the Dragon Scimitar in any situation if you have access to the Whip, unless, of course, you're a pure. Lower down on the Slayer tier list comes the Dragon Longsword, often the first dragon weapon for most players. The dragon longsword honestly isn't that much worse than the Dragon Scimitar for most activities and in some places even outclasses it (most notably special attack and stab bonus). Then there are a few situational weapons - the Dragon Mace is one-handed and gives +60 to crush, which makes it valuable at Waterfiends and Basilisks, for a few notable examples. I would recommend the Dragon Mace over the Obsidian Mace (Tzhaar-ket-em) because of its prayer bonus and superior special attack. For stab, the Leaf-Bladed Sword is an effective option for low leveled players (+67 to stab, +50 to strength with scimitar speed), but requires 55 slayer. Alternatives to the LBS include the Dragon Longsword and the more expensive Zamorakian Spear.

 

While using ranged, the only weapons you should carry are Rune Darts and the Rune Crossbow. Use the Rune Crossbow on higher defence monsters outside of Kuradal's Dungeon. Use Rune Darts on all Kuradal Dungeon monsters (except Metal Drags, but ranging them is an exercise in futility anyway) and lower defence monsters outside of Kuradal's Dungeon.

 

The best weapons for mage are the Staff of Light and the Master Wand. I would highly recommend the purchase of a Staff of Light to anyone interested in maging Slayer at all.

 

In essence...

 

For Slash

 

> >

For Crush

 

> > > >

 

For Stab

 

> >

 

For Range

 

/

 

For Mage

 

> > >

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2) Special Weapons

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As their name implies, Special Weapons are used for their special attacks. There are a few you should consider-

 

OFFENSIVE

 

Armadyl Godsword / Dragon Claws > Dragon Dagger (p++)

 

These three are really the only ones worth using. They can speed up kills significantly. The Dragon Claws are for Kuradal's Dungeon - I've seen reports of special attacks hitting up to 48-24-12-12 (96 damage) in the Dungeon. Yeah. A LOT of damage. The AGS is if you like to hit big numbers and use it for boss hunting. I wouldn't recommend the purchase of either one solely as a spec weapon, but both have uses outside of Slayer too (D Claws for pking and boss hunting, AGS for boss hunting and pking). If you're poor, the Dragon Dagger is also pretty damned good for a measly 40K. If I had to choose the best of these, I would pick the Dragon Claws as their spec in Kuradal's Dungeon is pretty amazing. They are also a lot cheaper. Use an offensive special weapon if you are praying protection and completely negating damage or simply at a task that doesn't require too much hitpoint regeneration (such as Greater Demons).

 

> >

 

DEFENSIVE

 

Saradomin Godsword

Enhanced Excalibur

 

The SGS is the king of Defensive Special Weapons, allowing you to recharge both prayer and HP. The EE heals only HP, making it less versatile but useful in certain situations where guaranteed HP and defence is more useful than prayer. Note that you must complete the Seers Village Diary to use the Enhanced Excalibur. I would recommend using the Ancient Mace, another possible defensive special weapon, pretty much only at Spectres if you prayer flash melee instead of cannoning.

 

>

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3) Armor

 

[hide]Well, of course, the Slayer Helm, but what else?

 

BOOTS

 

The most expensive metal boots you can buy are always a plus. Dragon boots are fairly cheap for what they provide, usually +1 to max hit. Ranger boots are very nice to have if you're uber rich and love to range slayer tasks, but snakeskin boots will usually do just fine. Other than those two, mystic/infinity boots are nice if you like to mage iron/steel dragons and for ice strykewyrms, but that's about all. Do not bother with Bandos boots.

 

Dragon Boots > Rune Boots

Ranger Boots > Snakeskin Boots

 

For Melee

 

>

 

For Range

 

>

 

For Mage

 

>

 

GLOVES

 

Obviously, the RFD gloves are the best gloves in the game. There are, however, a few alternatives. Here's the way that gloves as far as offense go

 

Barrows/Dragon/Rune RFD Gloves > Regen Bracelet > Adamant Bracelet > Combat Bracelet > Mithril/Lower

 

The Onyx bracelet (e) (aka the Regen Bracelet) is slightly better than adamant gloves, but far more pricey at 500k. In my opinion, Barrows gloves are more than worth doing all the quests required, but if you really hate quests...

 

Black d'hide vambraces are good for ranging unless you have Barrows gloves. Dragon Slayer gloves are good if you have a hankering for totally wasting FoG points - to use them most effectively, use your Barrows gloves most of the time and switch to the Dragon Slayer gloves at the last second before the monster dies. Other than that? Kwuarm gloves are good at Aberrant Spectres maybe? I haven't tested them out much, but they seem like another waste of good Fist of Guthix tokens.

 

Conclusion?

 

for melee, range, and mage.

 

AMULET

 

Fury > Glory

 

Nothing else is needed, save perhaps the 3rd age amulet (45m) and amulet of ranging (a more reasonable 1m, and a decent investment). Salve amulet (e) is not as good as Slayer Helm + Fury in most cases, and barely beats Slayer Helm + Glory when you have maxed melees. I'd tend to stay away from it. An entire flowchart is here, however, for your perusal.

 

> > for Melee.

 

> > for Range

 

> > > for Mage

 

RING

 

A good Slayer will need to have a decent ring collection. The Fremmennik Rings all have their uses - I would buy an Archer Ring and a Warrior Ring if you are on a budget, or an Archer Ring, Berserker Ring, Warrior Ring, and Seer's Ring if you are not. In my opinion, the Warrior Ring is nearly as good as the Berserker ring because it is better with Slashing attacks (such as the whip), and obviously worse on Crush/Stab attacks. Other than that, there is obviously Kuradal's Ring (use ALL of the time in Kuradal's dungeon), and the Ring of Life, which is only to be worn outside of Kuradal's Dungeon on dangerous tasks if you lag a lot. The Explorer's Ring 3 can be useful for the prayer bonus.

 

The Mobilizing Armies rings are valuable but in no way necessary. They are nice if you like to play MA, but I wouldn't waste your time getting them (not worth the massive amount of time it takes to get them)

 

Never use the Ring of Wealth. Ever. Never ever ever ever NEVER, unless you have literally nothing else to wear.

 

In Kuradal's Dungeon:

When not in Kuradal's Dungeon:

 

> with Abyssal Whip or other slashing weapon

 

with Stab/Crush Melee

 

with any Ranged

 

with any Mage.

 

If you do choose to get the MA rings, the Onyx (i) replaces the Zerker ring at Stab/Crush melee (if you so choose), and the (i) versions of the respective Fremennik rings replace their non (i) counterparts.

 

CAPE

 

A whole bunch of capes come to mind - the Fire Cape for its +4 to strength and impressive defensive bonuses, Ava's Attractor for its +4 to ranged attack and ability to pick up fired projectiles, the Ardougne Cloak 3 for its +6 to stab and prayer, and the Soul Wars cape for its +12 to prayer. These are the only four capes that a maxed slayer should carry. However, there are other alternatives. The standard Obsidian Cape should be used at all times if you do not have access the Fire Cape and are not using stab, and the trimmed skillcape is a step above that. The God Capes are the best choice when maging, although you won't be doing this too much. They are also the best low leveled capes against Bloodvelds and other monsters that attack with magical attacks.

 

In conclusion:

 

When using melee and using non-intensive prayer:

When at melee, using stab, and using prayer:

When using any sort of intensive prayer and meleeing:

When ranging:

While maging:

 

HEADGEAR

 

I'm going to list to you some wastes of money in my opinion -

 

Dragon Full Helm

Torag's Helm

Dragon Med Helm

Dwarven Helmet

 

And the only helms you should carry:

 

Slayer Helm / Black Mask / Focus Sight / Hexcrest (Full Slayer Helm)

 

Meleeing there's really no other option. The Full Slayer Helm is worth it even if you don't range/mage for the extra +10 to magic defense it provides.

 

>

 

SHIELDS

 

There are only three shields a maxed player should carry, the Rune Defender, the Zamorak (unholy) Book, and the Dragonfire Shield. There's really no substitute for the Rune Defender, as its unique blend of offense and defense (+19 to stab) makes it invaluable. There is a line of succession for defensive shields, though, and it goes

 

Dragonfire Shield > Blessed Spirit Shield > Toktz-ket-xil (for range defence)/Dragon Sq Shield (for melee defence) > Granite Shield.

 

Honestly, however, the Dragonfire Shield is a waste of money if you don't have lots of it. The Rune Defender excels on most tasks. You only use the DFS on five Kuradal tasks anyway (Iron, Steel, and Mithril Dragons as well as Skeletal Wyverns, and Blue Dragons and Super Antifires make 3 of those immaterial). 4 of those tasks are fairly commonly blocked. Black Dragons don't count as most players opt for the baby variety.

 

The Divine and Elysian Spirit Shield are better, but extremely expensive and out of reach for most slayers. Crystal shield unfortunately degrades and turns into a piece of rubbish. The Unholy Book is the best option for mages and rangers and also gives +5 to prayer. The Falador Shield 3 is nice for the free pray pot per day, but I wouldn't bother with it when you can use the Rune Defender.

 

Use on almost every Slayer task.

 

Use for Wyverns, metal dragons, and blue dragons (Blacks as well if you KBD or Adult the task).

 

> for Ranging

 

> > > for Maging

 

BODY

 

For the love of Sweet Jesus, there are so many ways to go wrong here. Say no to the D Chain and D Plate for sure.

 

All I'm going to say here is there is an order of melee defence, range defence, and mage defence.

 

While Using Melee

 

MELEE: (on hard tasks) Bandos Chestplate (at high defence and cash) / Torag's Body/Dharok's Body/Guthan's Body (at low defence and cash) > Granite Body > Rune Platebody

 

/ > >

 

MELEE: (on easy tasks) Bandos Chestplate > Fighter Torso > Best non-degradable platebody

 

>

 

MELEE: (while praying protection or intensively) Proselyte Hauberk

 

 

RANGE: Bandos Chestplate > Granite Body > Rune Platebody

 

> > >

 

MAGIC: Karil's Leathertop > Black d'hide body > Highest magic defense you have.

 

>

 

While Using Ranged

 

AT ALL TIMES: Armadyl Chestplate > Black D'hide Body

 

>

 

While Using Magic

 

AT ALL TIMES: Ahrim's Robetop > Infinity Top > Dagon'hai Robes > Mystic

 

> >

 

LEGS

 

Don't go overboard here. Use Verac's Skirt on hard melee tasks, Proselyte on easy ones. Bandos Tassets are a waste of money but use them if you have them. Karil's leatherbottom is useful for tanking Aberrant Spectres. This is the only area where a dragon item isn't a waste - the 170K Dragon Plateskirt provides adequate defensive bonuses for minimal cost.

 

Defending Against Melee OR Range (While Meleeing): Verac's Skirt > Bandos Tassets > Dharok's/Torag's Legs > Dragon Plateskirt

 

> > >

 

Defending Against Magic (While Meleeing): Karil's Skirt > Black D'hide Chaps

 

>

 

If Ranging or Maging, emphasize offensive bonuses and neglect all defence. If the monster hits you hard, it's a sign you should be using melee or a safespot.

 

At all times (While Ranging): Armadyl Plateskirt > Black D'hide Chaps

>

 

At all times (White Maging): Ahrim's Robeskirt > Infinity Bottoms > Dagon'hai Robes > Mystic Robes

> > >

 

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Task-by-task breakdown for Chaeldar, Sumona, Duradel/Lapalok, and Kuradal. I will list only which weapons are best on any specific task, as the rest of the options are up to you. For example, a higher leveled player at Chaeldar will not need to use Protect from Melee while a person with just over 70 combat will most definitely have to at Bronze Dragons. I will, however, go more in depth on Kuradal's tasks.

 

Chaeldar

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Bronze Dragons

 

with > > >

 

Harpie Bug Swarm

 

> >

 

Infernal Mages

 

> >

 

Lesser Demons

 

> >

 

Mutated Zygomites

 

> >

 

Shadow Warriors

 

> > >

[/hide]

 

Sumona

[hide]

Banshees

 

> >

 

Basilisks

 

> > >

 

Cave Crawlers

 

If doing the level 23's

 

> >

 

If doing the level 138's

 

> > >

 

Kurasks

 

> with Broad Bolts

 

Red Dragons

 

> > >

 

Spiritual Warriors

 

> >

 

Turoth

 

> with Broad Bolts

 

[/hide]

 

Duradel/Lapalok

[hide]

Aquanite

 

> > >

 

Gorak

 

> >

 

Scabarite

 

> >

 

Warped Terrorbird

 

> >

[/hide]

 

Kuradal

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When you come to Kuradal, I'm assuming you have maybe 120 combat and 75 slayer. You're going to have to make a tough decision - to pray piety/turmoil on every task or not. This guide will assume that you're using the 10% strength prayer / leech strength or none at all, since you're going to use the exact same equipment for piety/turmoil every time.

[/hide]

 

A Miniguide on Barrows Equipment (in terms of Slayer)

 

[hide]

 

Every single Barrows set is useful for slayer, however, some are more useful than others. Here, I'll explain their relative strengths and weaknesses, as well as a guide on which tasks the Barrows sets work well on

 

Ahrim's Set

 

Ahrim's set is often overlooked as most people do not mage tasks, however, there are a few tasks that one can mage - Ice Strykewyrms, Terror Dogs, Nechrayels, Iron/Steel Dragon... yep, that's pretty much it. It IS the best mage armour outside of Third Age, however, and that means that it's the best mage set you'll own in all likelihood. Ahrim's robeskirt is very expensive - 4M, while the body is only 1.1M - so, you may want to skip this piece in favor of Dagon'hai or Mystic robes. The hood is also replaced by a hexcrest/FSH on most tasks so that's worthless. The set effect itself is totally useless. Do not buy the staff, as there are other, one-handed staves that can be used with a Mage Book or Anti-Dragon/Dragon Fire shield. As far as staves go, the Staff of Light is obviously your number one choice, followed by the Master Wand and Ancient Staff. Of course, your standard Staff of Air comes in very handy in some cases.

 

Karil's Set

 

Karil's set provides some of the best magic defense bonuses in the game if you're meleeing (Armadyl gives negative melee attack bonuses). It is thus useful for tanking monsters with magic based attacks, a list of which can be found in this guide.

[Championfurydelta123]

Looks like an awesome guide so far! Can't wait till you finish it cuz I'm trying to get 90 defence right now via slayer.

[Zaaps1]

I disagree on the potions. Always use the best potions available (supers or extremes) unless you can consistently 1-hit or 2-hit the monster.

[Championfurydelta123]

Gasps! First time me and Zaaps1 disagrees on something! Then again i didnt exactly read the guide as carefully as him >.<

[Zaaps1]

Lol, I just happen to notice things like that when I read it.

 

Also, your format could use a little adjustment. It's a bit tricky to read the entire section on equipment due to insufficient organization as well as lack of formatting separating fields (ex. the Amulet, Ring, etc. part). At times your headers and outline formatting is completely inconsistent with the established format you used before. Also, use of consistent colors and font for alike fields is good. By just switching a few fonts and formatting styles, you can make your guide a lot easier to read.

 

But I would agree (:P] with Crybaby, it does look like a very promising guide! :)

[MstrMonopoly]

Thanks, I'll change that Zaaps. Anyway, I was just trying saying that you don't really need the extra attack on fire giants when you're hitting them every time, but I just tested it out and my data (albeit limited) showed that super sets (including super attack) yield far better results than w/o super sets or with super strength alone. Thanks for the comments =D

[Bladewing]

Always cannon. If you cannot afford to cannon you cannot afford to slay.

 

The only weapons worth using are: Abyssal Whip, Saradomin Sword, Zamorakian Spear. Other weapons may be useful for special attacks. Only use the spear on Steel Dragons, Black Dragons, Mithril Dragons (stab), and Waterfiends (crush). Whip + Defender > Spear at irons.

 

If you are maxed and are using Kuradal, to maximize experience you want your block list to be:

Hellhounds

Living Rock Creatures

Warped Tortoises

Skeletal Wyverns

 

Note that even while cannoning and turmoiling every possible task you will profit.

 

The only task you should need a unicorn for is Waterfiends.

 

I disagree on the potions. Always use the best potions available (supers or extremes) unless you can consistently 1-hit or 2-hit the monster.

1. This never happens in slayer.

2. You should still use your best attack potion, to ensure you are always hitting.

[MstrMonopoly]

This guide isn't written solely for maxed players - Living Rocks in particular can be very fast melee xp and very good cash - Hellhounds should be blocked pretty much regardless of level.

 

How does the recent cannon nerf affect its usage?

[Mischlings]

I personally block hellhounds, but I can definitely see the draw of being able to just range and cannon them in Taverly -- if you have your cannon set up in the right spot, you can just let your cannon fire away and run out on the rare occasion that it drops a decent charm or a clue.

 

Question: does "beginning" in the title mean that this guide is for beginners or that you are just beginning on it? If it's the second, take it out of the title, as the fact that it's in "beginning guides" should tell the story by itself.

 

Also, about the cannon "nerf": I haven't noticed much of a difference -- in multi-combat when you're being swamped, there's almost no difference as it would just fire at a different NPC rather than firing backwards -- in non-multi, most of the time that I use that is when safespotting so it can attack anything anyway, so I don't really see a difference there either. It will slow you down, yes, but it's not as much as people are making it out to be from my observations.

[MstrMonopoly]

The beginning in the title indicates that I'm just beginning the guide, yes.

[Zaaps1]

I disagree on the potions. Always use the best potions available (supers or extremes) unless you can consistently 1-hit or 2-hit the monster.

1. This never happens in slayer.

2. You should still use your best attack potion, to ensure you are always hitting.

 

It never happens in high level slayer, but for lower masters it may very well be the case, or if you are using alternate monsters (Baby Blues instead of Adults, for example).

[schmuall]

I'm one of those few people that actually regulaly ranges while slaying (because of my low mellee stats which I am slowly training) and I'm guessing that the same way that the black mask + fury combo is greater than void mellee, the focus sight + fury/amulet of ranging will be better than void range.

 

Unfortunately I don't own a focus sight yet (damn merchants) and so can't do the tests required to back up this claim, but I strongly expect to be right.

 

Also, think about using hide tags as much as possible. The 2 slay guides that I look at are Master Jacks and Robin Hoodies and it's instantly clear upon opening them both that the layout on Robin hoodies is far superior because of the amount of hide tags.

 

[Please note I didn't say that the content was far superior, just the layout]

 

PS Nice guide =)

[Robert_R]

If you plan on making a short guide for each slayer monster I have two words to say: Hide tags

 

Good guide so far though

[bedman]

Always cannon. If you cannot afford to cannon you cannot afford to slay.

 

The only weapons worth using are: Abyssal Whip, Saradomin Sword, Zamorakian Spear. Other weapons may be useful for special attacks. Only use the spear on Steel Dragons, Black Dragons, Mithril Dragons (stab), and Waterfiends (crush). Whip + Defender > Spear at irons.

 

If you are maxed and are using Kuradal, to maximize experience you want your block list to be:

Hellhounds

Living Rock Creatures

Warped Tortoises

Skeletal Wyverns

 

Note that even while cannoning and turmoiling every possible task you will profit.

 

The only task you should need a unicorn for is Waterfiends.

 

I disagree on the potions. Always use the best potions available (supers or extremes) unless you can consistently 1-hit or 2-hit the monster.

1. This never happens in slayer.

2. You should still use your best attack potion, to ensure you are always hitting.

I heard living rock creatures are up to 42k slayer xp an hour (use a cannon too), so they should definitely not be blocked if you are in for quick xp. I do have them blocked because I find them absolutely boring though. Skeletelal wyverns are also supposedly 32k xp an hour if you cannon them.

[Skeptical]

Great guide!

 

However, I do have to say that I love my drag plate. :thumbsup: