A guide to soloing the King Black Dragon

[Icarium]

Some guidelines to help you kick-start or improve your kbd experience

Contents

 

 

Introduction

 

Basics

 

Ranged

 

Melee

 

Summoning

 

Loot

 

Conclusion

 

Acknowledgements

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

The fabled King Black Dragon was the very first ‘boss’ monster, created by Jagex to challenge high level players and to introduce the now commonplace dragon med helm. This beast laid the path for a multitude of similar creations, from the Kalphite Queen to the Corporeal Beast. Many people now mock the ease with which the King is defeated; however His prowess should not be taken out of context. On the date of release the ambitious adventurer was battling with rune weapons, and had far fewer prayers and potions to choose from. This meant that any trip was extremely dangerous, especially combined with the old wilderness – it’s easy to imagine how the lair entrance would be a common hangout for pkers.

 

That said, in this day and age it is rather easy to beat the King Black Dragon, either at high levels or in large groups. Therefore this guide will attempt to help anyone who so wishes to try out their skills on the original boss, whether they plan to track down the ever elusive draconic visage, make a slayer task more interesting, or just get a kick out of a high–risk activity.

 

The guide will be split into five sections: basics, ranged, melee, summoning and loot. Before we begin know that I would never recommend the use of magic, as his resistance is extremely high. Theoretically if several players used the seercull’s special attack on him he could be hit, but that would result in a good portion of his health gone, leaving little point in changing combat style for the close.

 

Basics

 

 

Route

 

There are several options for reaching the King’s lair. It is possible to run a rather long way from Edgeville, Wilderness Volcano (formerly Bounty Hunter) or the Ardougne teleport lever, however this is not recommended. There are two options that stand out from the rest and are easy to use.

 

 

The first option is to build a waka canoe at Edgeville, Barbarian Village, Champion’s Guild or Lumbridge.

 

 

Take the canoe to the wilderness (level 35), then run west to the lair. A hatchet and level 57 woodcutting are required.

 

 

The second option is to teleport to the Wilderness Volcano using a games necklace and run a short distance south east to the wilderness teleport.

 

 

Activate the teleport repeatedly until you appear in level 44 wilderness, then run another short distance to the east.

 

 

 

There is one more method by which to arrive at our destination, which requires 83 summoning. This involves the summoning of a lava titan, which has the option of teleportation to a spot right outside the entrance to the lair. For much reduced trip costs, it is also possible to teleport out to either the duel arena or POH to recharge lifepoints and prayer each kill.

 

The duel arena is recommended over the POH for this, as it would be difficult to heal fully from waiter service in good time, whereas the altar, free healing from nurses and bank all combine to make the arena a rather adventurer-friendly spot. It isn’t even necessary to wear the ring of dueling for this, due to the vastly reduced inventory space needed from banking each time.

 

 

 

 

Enter the fenced area, put on protect from melee prayer if your defence is low, and run down the ladder. Immediately go about 10 steps east and pull the lever, you don’t want to dawdle in a room full of poisonous spiders. At some point between the gate and the lever make sure to drink a dose of antifire potion, especially if you don’t have an antifire shield equipped (500+ damage isn’t a very nice way to be welcomed into the cavern!). See the ranged an melee sections for details on what to do next.

 

The King

 

 

The King Black Dragon boasts a tidy 2,400 lifepoints, and a max hit of 254 (with melee) and over 600 with dragonfire. This drops to no more than 200 with an antifire shield and 0 with a combination of antifire shield and potion.

 

 

The dragonfire attack looks like this:

 

 

This unique creature also has 3 other attacks, loosely classed as ‘special fire’. These are classed neither as magic attacks nor dragonfire (in that the shield + potion combats them), and as such are not affected by armour type. They also ignore defence level, so low defence pure accounts take as much damage as 130+ combat players. The special fire attacks max out at 100 damage, however each can potentially cause its own negative side effect, which occur with similar regularity to the special attack of an enchanted bolt. The three attacks are:

 

 

The poison breath. This appears as a green ball of fire, and when successful inflicts 86 poison damage to start.

 

 

 

The ice breath. This resembles a peach-coloured ball of flame, and occasionally freezes the character for approximately three of the King’s attacks.

 

 

 

The draining breath. When a blue ball of fire appears, it is possible for all of your stats (except constitution) to be lowered by three levels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ranged

 

 

Required levels: 80 ranged

 

Recommended levels: 90+ ranged, 44 prayer

 

 

When ranging there are two different strategies, the choice of which will determine inventory, equipment and tactics.

 

 

Longrange

 

 

The strategy adopted by the majority of rangers. This involves standing at a distance from the King, making full use of antifire shield and antifire potions – thus only the special breath attacks are able to do damage.

 

Pros:

no prayer used other than optional boosts.

 

Cons:

damage taken at a steady rate. Even with 99 ranged and constitution, eating during the battle is all but guaranteed.

 

 

Equipment

 

The goal here is to take down the foe as soon as possible in order to minimise food usage, therefore the range bonus should be as high as possible. Here is a sample setup and some alternatives. Void is less accurate than dragonhide but does more damage – those with a low ranged level may find it difficult to hit.

 

 

 

 

• Helm

full slayer helm (black dragon task), armadyl helmet, Robin Hood hat, blessed coif, archer helm

 

• Amulet

amulet of ranging, amulet of fury

 

• Ammunition

ruby bolts (e), diamond bolts (e), broad bolts

 

• Cape

soulwars cape, fire cape, trimmed skill cape, Ardougne cloak

 

• Weapon

crystal bow, Karil’s crossbow (both only with super antifire)

 

• Shield

Dragonfire shield, unholy book, divine / elysian spirit shields (all but dragonfire with super antifire)

 

• Body

armadyl chestplate, black dragonhide body, monk robe (with low defence)

 

• Legs

armadyl platelegs, black dragonhide chaps

 

• Gloves

black dragonhide vambraces

 

• Boots

ranger boots

 

• Ring

archer’s ring, ring of life, explorer’s ring

 

 

Inventory

 

 

 

 

As supplies go, it couldn’t be simpler. During the battles antifire potion must always be in effect, and each dose lasts 5-6 minutes, so to last forty minutes two potions are taken. With 99 constitution and ranged this is the upper limit, and only then with a war tortoise stuffed with food... however only taking four doses may cut a trip short. Take two potions on your first trip and then adjust to suit your own capability.

 

Ranging potions should be measured in a similar fashion. The time it takes to finish Him off, along with an average of one draining breath per fight, means that usually four or more levels are lost. This invites a renewal of potion at the beginning of each round, though in the case of a particularly speedy kill it is unneeded.

 

Antipoison is a necessity – without it perhaps 20% of your food would be wasted. It is usually safe enough to take a normal antipoison, however the super antipoison removes the chance of being poisoned moments after curing it.

 

The prayer potion is optional, however it can be very handy to flick on eagle eye when you don’t hit for a while (which will happen quite often at lower ranged levels).

 

As food goes, baskets of strawberries are unnecessary if it seems like too much effort making them (buy strawberries from the grand exchange, baskets from farming store or grand exchange and fill them yourself), however healing 30 per inventory space is rather helpful. These should only be consumed in the time between fights, as the King can easily hit 60 damage, rendering them pointless. Sharks can be replaced with monkfish, rocktails, pineapple pizza, karambwan or any other single bite high healing food (pizza is an exception, however two bites of 11 are still effective). These should be reserved for the battles.

 

If you have a saradomin godsword, then take it along and use the special attack to heal and restore a few prayer points. An alternative is enhanced excalibur, which requires completion of the seers village achievement diary and heals 200 lifepoints for the full special bar.

 

Close and personal

 

 

This strategy relies upon praying, so 43 prayer is needed. Using this method, the player deliberately stands within melee range of the King, turns on protect from melee and attacks as before. This results in a good number of melee hits delivered, which means fewer special breaths (still the only ones doing damage).

Pros:

less food used, making for potentially longer trips.

 

Cons:

much more prayer used, thus trips more expensive.

 

 

Equipment

 

It is best to wear as much prayer-boosting equipment as possible, while still retaining a reasonable ranged attack bonus. Void is again an option, though slightly less appealing due to the number of spaces taken.

 

 

 

 

• Helm

full slayer helm (black dragon task) , helm of neitiznot, armadyl helmet, Robin Hood hat.

 

• Amulet

amulet of fury, holy symbol, amulet of glory.

 

• Ammunition

ruby bolts (e), diamond bolts (e), broad bolts

 

• Cape

Soulwars cape, Ardougne cloak, fire cape, accumulator

 

• Weapon

crystal bow, Karil’s crossbow (both only with super antifire)

 

• Shield

Dragonfire shield, unholy book, Falador shield, divine / elysian spirit shields (all but dragonfire with super antifire)

 

• Body

Armadyl chestplate, monk robe top (with low defence)

 

• Legs

Armadyl platelegs

 

• Gloves

black dragonhide vambraces, white gloves

 

• Boots

ranger boots, white boots

 

• Ring

archer’s ring, ring of life, explorer’s ring

 

 

Inventory

 

 

 

 

This shan’t differ much from the longrange inventory, simply requiring more prayer potions and a higher proportion of strawberries to sharks. Again, the best way to find optimum amounts is to try out a run yourself – lower prayer and / or ranged levels will require more prayer potions, lower ranged levels will also require more sharks. Remember to take your saradomin godsword or enhanced excalibur if you have either.

 

 

A note on bolts

 

 

 

Most people would agree that for any boss monster, the best ammunition to take (barring onyx) is ruby bolts (e), switching to diamond bolts (e) at half health. Admittedly this is a powerful combination; however there is a case to be made for the rune bolt.

 

Firstly, the average shot is more powerful than either of the enchanted bolts. Their special move only occurs once in every ten or so shots, whereas rune bolts are consistent. Secondly, each of the enchanted bolts has a downside. The diamonds bolts ‘ignore a part of your opponent’s ranged defence’, yet still are not at all ensured a high hit. It is just as common to hit 0-100 as it is to hit close to the max of 490 (ranging potion, eagle eye and void at 99 ranged).

 

Ruby bolts on the other hand can only hit their max of 480 when the King is at full health, so for high level rangers they are rapidly surpassed by rune (max of about 460). Yet the killer here is the 10% damage taken in return. This may not seem like much, but it adds up, especially when it could potentially combine with 100 damage from breath and 86 damage from unseen poison.

 

Finally at time of writing the ruby and diamond bolts both cost more than rune, which over time could be a setback. Of course, with a ranged level lower than 90, much of what was just said will become meaningless, since the max hit of rune will be significantly lower and the diamond effect will be greatly appreciated. Choose whichever you like, just be sure it is an informed decision.

 

 

 

Melee

 

 

Required levels: 80 attack, 75 strength, 43 prayer or 70 defence.

 

Recommended levels: 90+ attack, 85+ strength, 70 prayer, 85+ defence (if not protecting).

 

There are several different choices to make when killing the King Black Dragon with melee, which affect what items should be worn and what supplies to bring.

 

 

Praying

 

This strategy is the one that should be used with a defence level of less than 85, however does require a prayer level of at least 43. The idea is to drink a dose of antifire potion and run up to attack the King, with protect from melee prayer on at all times. This cancels out all but the special fire attacks, which max at 100 damage.

 

 

Pros:

less food used; high levels shouldn’t have to eat during fight, so longer trips. No need for armour, so prayer boosting / void armour can be worn (also means that low defence pure accounts can attempt with impunity).

 

Cons:

multiple prayer potions needed.

 

Note: some players may be tempted to try flashing the prayer on and off to coincide with His hits. I would not recommend this, for two reasons. Firstly, it takes a decent amount of concentration, and it would be easy to let lifepoints fall too low, not heal poison or miss drinking a dose of antifire potion. Secondly, since the big hitpoints update attacks all seem to ‘hit’ a few seconds before damage shows up (if you have ever got past the level 360s in the fight caves you will know what is meant by this). This makes flashing more difficult and less effective.

 

Equipment

 

The general idea here is to use every available slot to boost either strength, prayer or your attack style. If you find yourself using too much prayer too quickly, or not doing enough damage, then you can adjust to cover that. Here is a sample setup and a list of alternatives.

 

 

 

 

• Helm

black mask / slayer helm (black dragon task), warrior helm, proselyte sallet

 

• Amulet

amulet of fury, amulet of glory, amulet of strength, holy symbol

 

• Cape

soulwars cape, fire cape, Ardougne cloak, god cloak

 

• Weapon

leaf-bladed sword, dragon longsword

 

• Shield

dragonfire shield

 

• Body

bandos chestplate, fighter torso, monk robe top

 

• Legs

bandos tassets, monk robe bottom

 

• Gloves

regen bracelet, dragon gauntlets, combat bracelet

 

• Boots

rune boots, climbing boots, bandos boots, white boots

 

• Ring

warrior ring (with whip), berserker ring, ring of life, explorer’s ring

 

 

Inventory

 

 

 

 

This strategy relies on prayer, therefore the length stay is governed by the quantity of prayer potion. The trip ends when either the prayer potions or the food run out, thus it is recommended to try several trips in order to discover the correct ratio for each character’s stats.

 

It is also necessary to consider the food usage during each kill, so as to determine our second ratio – that of strawberries to sharks / monkfish / karambwan. Getting this right will help maximise trip length by eating the single bite food solely during the fights, and the massive five bite baskets of strawberries solely between fights. The strawberries heal sixty lifepoints each, which is below the King’s max hit, therefore using these to heal in mid – battle really is a last resort.

 

The other potions are required to fight efficiently – antipoison starts at 86, and though a normal antipoison often is all that is needed, it would be possible to be poisoned again right after drinking it, which would be a real annoyance. It is possible to fight without super attack and strength potions, however even with both at level 99 it is not recommended, since with the boosts much more damage will be done.

 

Any weapon with a good special attack will suffice, the best examples being dragon claws, armadyl godsword, bandos godsword or dragon halberd (lower budget). See below for more detail on special attacks.

 

 

Tanking

 

 

 

This strategy is simple, requiring the player simply to run up and attack the King, while dosed up on antifire potion. This means that both the special fire attack (max 100 damage) and the melee attacks (max 254 damage) will be dangerous. At least 85 defence is recommended.

 

Pros:

no prayer potions needed.

 

Cons:

max hit (and consequently KO factor) of King Black Dragon is increased. High food usage.

 

 

Equipment

 

 

No great surprises here, equipment needs to have a good defence bonus or else the strategy will fail. Here is a sample setup and a list of alternatives.

 

 

 

 

• Helm

black mask / slayer helm (black dragon task), barrows helm (other than dharok’s), dragon full helm, warrior helm

 

• Amulet

amulet of fury

 

• Cape

fire cape, ardougne cape, soulwars cape, untrimmed skill cape

 

• Weapon

leaf-bladed sword, dragon longsword

 

• Shield

dragonfire shield

 

• Body

barrows platebody (except verac’s), bandos chestplate, dragon platebody

 

• Legs

barrows platelegs/skirt (except guthan’s), bandos tassets, dragon platelegs/skirt

 

• Gloves

regen bracelet, dragon gauntlets, combat bracelet

 

• Boots

bandos boots, rune boots

 

• Ring

warrior ring (with whip), berserker ring, ring of life, explorer’s ring

 

 

Inventory

 

 

 

 

The supplies required for tanking the King are very similar to those listed under the prayer strategy. No prayer pots are needed, though one is always recommended, since He drains prayer with one of his special breaths, and in a tight spot protect from melee can be flicked on. There is also nothing wrong with turning on boosting prayers such as piety or incredible reflexes, for those annoying times when nothing seems to hit.

 

The ratio of sharks to strawberries should sway towards the sharks, since a lot more damage will be taken during combat. When meleeing the King Black Dragon without protection prayers it is strongly advised not to bring any food that heals less than sharks (sea turtles, manta rays, rocktails are all fine). The reason for this is that, with his new max hit of 254, healing off anything lower than sharks would be straying dangerously close to a k0. Even sharks heal less than he could do a turn later, so long as food is eaten at a decent amount of lifepoints (eg 400), there shouldn’t be any problems.

 

 

 

Protect from Magic

 

 

 

When in combat with the King Black Dragon there is another possible method of defending against His fiery breath, requiring neither an open shield slot nor 85 herblore. Simply flick on the protect from magic prayer before combat and continue as previously discussed. This will mean more damage is taken, therefore the ratio of sharks to strawberries will need to change.

 

Pros:

abillity to wield two handed weapons.

 

Cons:

cannot use protect from melee, and so hits must be tanked while still needing prayer potions.

 

 

Equipment

 

The equipment for this method should be a cross between those of the previous two melee strategies, combining defence with prayer bonuses. Thus the perfect gear for this would be verac’s – high defence values, prayer boost and the added advantage of being able to ignore armor when hitting. Here is a sample setup and a list of alternatives.

 

 

 

• Helm

verac's helm, black mask / slayer helm (black dragon task), other barrows helm (not dharok’s), god mitre, proselyte helm

 

• Amulet

amulet of fury, amulet of glory, holy symbol

 

• Cape

soulwars cape, ardougne cape (with godsword), fire cape

 

• Weapon

verac's flail, zamorakian spear, other godsword

 

• Body

verac's brassard, barrows platebody, bandos chestplate, proselyte hauberk

 

• Legs

verac's skirt, barrows platelegs, bandos tassets, proselyte cuisse

 

• Gloves

regen bracelet, dragon gauntlets, white gloves

 

• Boots

bandos boots, white boots

 

• Ring

warrior ring (with godsword), berserker ring, ring of life, explorer’s ring

 

 

Note: This is only recommended for melee, since the negatives created are not outweighed by any of the positives while ranging. The rune crossbow is better than any two-handed alternative, and the small range bonus of the unholy book is not worth the increased amount of food and prayer potions consumed. Even a divine or an elysian spirit shield would do nothing to justify this, since 33% of damage would need to be removed to make up for the increased max hit.

 

 

 

 

 

Elite

 

 

The final melee strategy requires 85 herblore, though 89 would be ideal. With a herblore level this high, it would be reasonable to assume a good prayer level, and so either piety or turmoil is also recommended. The plan is to use superantifire potions, in order to allow the wielding of the Zamorakian spear. This is the perfect weapon for the task, rivaling the whip in speed strength and accuracy, but with powerful stab attacks, to which the King is vulnerable. With high attack and strength levels and using extreme potions as well as the best stat boosting prayer available, He should stand no chance whatsoever – simply attack him as usual, with one of protect from melee, deflect melee or soul split activated.

 

Using full Verac’s is a powerful alternative to the Zamorakian spear. It is slower and uses crush attacks, making it potentially less effective, however can ignore armor which more than makes up for it. When using extreme potions at 95+ attack the Zamorakian spear is still recommended, as the massive accuracy should outshine the set bonus in speed of kills.

 

 

pros:

fastest and most efficient method of killing the King Black Dragon.

 

cons:

high level requirements

 

 

Equipment

 

 

 

 

Due to the expected high levels of anybody attempting this strategy, there are many different options for armour. Both fighting with protection prayers on and off are acceptable, since the King is unlikely to deal out much damage before succumbing to the damage dealt against him. Here is a sample setup and a list of alternatives.

 

 

• Helm

verac's helm, helm of neitiznot, warrior helm, barrows helm (except dharok’s)

 

• Amulet

amulet of fury, amulet of glory, amulet of strength

 

• Cape

ardougne cape (with godsword), soulwars cape, trimmed skill cape, skill cape

 

• Weapon

verac's flail, any godsword

 

• Body

verac's brassard, bandos chestplate, proselyte hauberk, barrows platebody

 

• Legs

verac's plateskirt, bandos tassets, proselyte cuisse, barrows platelegs

 

• Gloves

barrows gloves, dragon gauntlets, regen bracelet

 

• Boots

bandos boots

 

• Ring

warrior ring (with godsword), berserker ring, ring of life, explorer’s ring

 

Inventory

 

 

The supplies required match up with those of the two previous melee strategies, and as such should be selected respectively (praying or tanking), and then modified to match ability and desired trip length. One thing to note is that, because of the speed of kills, few sharks will be necessary (only a few should be included just in case of a run of bad hits)

 

A note on special attacks

 

 

 

When using any of the strategies listed above, it is always recommended to have a weapon to use for its special attack. The best of these are dragon claws, armadyl godsword or bandos godsword – the first and second inflicting high damage and the third lowering the King’s defence, making the rest of the fight easier (if it hits). One drawback of all three of these weapons is that they are two-handed. This means that, unless superantifire potions are available, a potential 400 damage could be hit while unleashing the special attack. This can be avoided by timing it to coincide with one of His melee attacks, and then running immediately underneath Him so as to dodge whatever attack may follow. This may take some practice to get used to, so always make sure to be above 600 lifepoints before attempting.

 

Alternatively, if dodging takes too much skill or effort, simply flash on protect from magic. This allows for a hit up to 150 damage (breath) or 250 damage (melee) for the duration, however that is nothing compared to the 400+ damage while unprotected.

 

 

 

 

 

Summoning

 

 

 

Though not required, taking along a familiar is absolutely recommended. Depending on what is brought, they can prolong a trip, bring in more kills per trip, or a combination of both. In general the higher level the familiar is, the more use it will be, and any familiar chosen sensibly will be able to help (for example, any combat familiar will do damage to the King, yet a beaver or ibis would not be very useful.) With a familiar, a trip will generally end as the familiar’s timer runs out, however there is nothing wrong with taking two or more pouches (there is a small summoning obelisk in the lair), or with leaving early.

Here is a breakdown of different types of familiar.

 

Beast of burden

 

 

These creatures are great to take, increasing the carry capacity and effectively allowing for a prolonged visit. When filling the beast, simply reproduce the ratio of potions to sharks to strawberries listed earlier. Beasts of burden include the spirit terrorbird, war tortoise and pack yak.

 

 

 

 

Healing

 

 

A healing companion will also lengthen a trip, and may require a rebalancing of inventory, since less food will be used, requiring more potions. Some good healing familiars are the bunyip, fruit bat and unicorn stallion.

 

 

 

 

Combat

 

Combat familiars aid simply in the slaying of the King, making for faster kills and thus longer trips. These are not recommended until a quite high level, as lower level fighters would be better replaced with a beast of burden. No familiar that uses magic based attacks should be considered, since the King Black Dragon has exceptionally high magic defence. Some combat familiars include the steel titan, geyser titan, lava titan (also providing a teleport to the lair) and the moss/ice titans (also healing upon use of a special attack).

 

 

 

 

Loot

 

 

 

When soloing the King Black Dragon, there is very little to make a profit from other than the draconic visage. The visage was worth 35m at the time of writing, and for many people would be the only reason for considering the King. He has the highest drop rate for the visage, however is in no way guaranteed (plenty of people spend weeks here without seeing a sign of it).

 

Because of this, it is necessary to take whatever loot can be had in order to pay for the trips. This should be manageable by ensuring that at the end of each trip as many inventory spaces are taken up as possible. All bones and hides should be picked up, and by this comparison anything worth more than a piece of dragonhide is also worth taking. There is a price checker in the equipped inventory window, do not hesitate to use it! It can be easy to forget the value of something and discard it, the classic example being iron arrows, of which he drops 690. These are worth 13.8k, yet many people take a dragonhide instead.

 

The King Black Dragon is a decent source of charms – not up to the standard of the waterfiend or rock lobster, yet still quite impressive. He drops charms roughly 80% of the time, in groups of four. He can drop each kind; however the most common by far is crimson, which is good news for summoning experience. Many trips of ten kills will be finished with over 20 crimson charms, which builds up quickly in the bank.

 

Conclusion

 

 

In conclusion, there are many different approaches to anything in the land of Gielinor, the slaying of the King Black Dragon being no exception. However much of the information in this guide that you choose to use, please keep in mind that every set of stats has it's own perfect setup. Those discussed higher up the page will do fine as platforms, but will most likely need adjusting to fit each and every person's capabilities. The same goes for the strategies - if you would rather tank until 600 life points and then pray, go right ahead and mix up the equipment so that both defence and prayer are strong. The "best" way will be whichever you feel you are most comfortable with.

 

thank you for taking the time to read my guide, any constructive criticism or questions you may wish to share will be appreciated, either on this thread or in a message to kwl dudes0. I will try to update whenever it is needed.

 

 

Acknowledgements

 

 

I would like to thank the following:

 

Jagex ltd - for creating the game we all enjoy.

 

Sir Nos173, Lorenzo Cash, l onte l, Bloody Dill, Mitryn, Kirbyallstar - for their support during the making of this guide.

 

Praetor95 - my first kbd partner.

 

phil hoyle - introduced me to runescape.

 

squareroot2 - recommended additions to guide.

 

 

[Icarium]

reserved

[sohkmj1]

Very nice guide, written well, lacks some images here and there but still very good! Will definitely be using this guide often. :smile:

[ghjkl]

If you are decently high level, you should never use a whip. Mage pray and antifire pots lower his max hit for mage to 15. I think verac's is better than zamorakian spear off task. Also, you forgot about the Lava Titan, which literally teleports you right outside his lair. Using it, you can basically tele to house to charge pray then tele back before he spawns.

[Icarium]

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.

[12pure34]

I've read this yesterday and was surprisingly impressed about this guide. It is very much complete! What I am personally very interested in, is the discussion about whip vs. Leaf-bladed Sword.

What the above posters pointed out, it is possible to tank with antifires + mage pray. What levels you reckon this can be done at? Never even considered this would be possible.

 

PS. If you need chatlogs of the KBD head --> I have a mounted KBD in my house if you want to add it. Quite a fun addition to your guide. I reckon there was already a topic on this forum about all the head-conversations in one's POH. Perhaps you could look that up instead.

 

All in all, a great guide and perhaps a worthy post for AoW in the near future

[Icarium]

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:

[bedman]

Nice guide, but I think you should add more on summons. For high lvls, there is really too much choice:

 

Pack yak: Easy banking of your hides and bones

Unicorn: Don't need any food, or barely any

Steel titan: Faster kills

Lava titan: Can tele each kill and recharge prayer

 

I personally prefer a pack yak.

 

I would also like to add that for high lvls, you can bring 100% basket of strawberries. Maybe one or two sharks/brews (I say brew because I overload) for emergencies, but normally I never have to eat mid fight. I'm very glad other people have found out how completely amazing strawberries are here. I never end up being bored and waiting for spawns because of it (keeps you busy) and it's so damn cheap :-).

 

However, recently with soul split, I think strawberries have become totally obsolete. I haven't tested it solo, but duo'ing (and crashing/getting crashed a few times) I could survive perfectly by flashing soul split every now and then. I did eat some strawberries though, just out of easyness.

Soul split means you will tank, so tanking outfit would be suggested. I personally wear V skirt, BCP, Slayer helm/Neit/..., SW cape, drag boots, zerker ring, Z spear and fury.

[Icarium]

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 :)

[Kirbyallstar]

Hey its me =D

 

Great guide, I use this all the time. With this guide, I got a vissy split!