Tore's King Black Dragon guide (Pre EOC)


Tore

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The King Black Dragon is one of MaSoRS more commonly killed monsters, individually or through our KBD events. It is indeed a great monster to kill for various reasons, whether it is instead of a mundane Black dragon task (KBD pwns black drags for slayer), crimson charms and general loot, visage, for good fun, a famous MaSoRS event or for whatever reason; I really hope this guide can help you to make the most of your time against this three headed black dragon!

King Black Dragon Guide!

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Table of content

  • About the guide
  • General information

    - How to get there

  • KBD killing tips
  • POST 2
  • Killing the Dragon, solo
  • Meleers

    - Mininum

    - Decent

    - Wealthy

    - Rich

  • Rangers
  • I am being crashed!
  • Summing up solo
  • POST 3
  • Teaming the King Black Dragon
  • General teaming tips
  • Small teams

    - Low levels

    - Medium levels

    - High levels

  • Medium teams

    - Low levels

    - Medium levels

    - High levels

  • Large teams

    - Low levels

    - Medium levels

    - High levels

  • We are being crashed!
  • Summing up teaming
  • Credits
About the guide

This guide should have something for everyone thats looking into killing the KBD, low levels to high levels, rangers and meleers, teams and solo, poor and rich, and it's split into several sections. Generally, everyone should have a read through post 1, then post 2 is the guide for soloers, post 3 is for teaming purposes.

Since RuneScape have so many different types of players, it is incredibly hard to write a guide that cover each and every player, but I have in tried to cover different types of players, and you should all find yourself categorized in one, or in between two of the categories; of course if you simply don't have the levels to do KBD you will find yourself excluded from these categories ohmy.gif

Originally I have written a guide about soloing, and mainly for slayer tasks. But with recent(ish) additions of new potions and prayers, I found my old guide to be outdated within two weeks of release, and have for a long time put off updating it. And it would be frustrating to say the least if they should release new weapons soon after I have written this lmfao.gif (which did happen while I was updating it X.gif !)

Anyway, back to updating the guide. I was intentionally only going to update about soloing, but after putting a bit of thought in it I decided I want to make it more complete, for the benefit of more people (and of course so we have a proper guide to link to for our KBD events).

So, I think this should be it about the introduction about the guide, now for the actual guide itself!

General information

Before we start of learning how to actually kill the dragon I think we should introduce him, what he can do, what he can give and of course how to get there! The King Black Dragon was for a long time the strongest monster in all of RuneScape! It has had this title for a reason, and here is a list of KBD's properties:

  • Level 276 with 2400 life points
  • Extremely weak to stab! Relatively weak to range. Strong versus magic.
  • Melee attack that deals up to 250 damage
  • Firebreaths that deal up to 600+ damage with four different versions to it!

    - Normal firebreath. Can be completely blocked

    - Toxic breath. Poisons, starting at 86 damage

    - Icy breath. Can freeze you for 8 seconds.

    - Shocking breath. Weakens your levels

  • The three non normal firebreaths CAN NOT be completely blocked by any means. Antifire shield + antifire potion knocks the max hit down to 100. Protection from Magic and Deflect Magic works as a substitute for antifire shield, but not as good. It's a must to pair magic protection pray with antifire potion, and knocks the breath max hit down to 150. Note that this is a special effect, and the breaths themselves are not magical attacks!
Now thats what the dragon can do, what about possible rewards? If you find youself lucky, you might get either of these:

user posted image user posted image

(note: this visage is not from the KBD, if anyone do get one, I kindly ask permission to steal their picture and use here happy.gif ) These are the two most coveted drops from the KBD. On average the KBD yields a good profit, especially when you get to higher levels. It is also great for charms, among the faster ways of collecting charms (and earning good money while doing so) in the game!

How to get there

The entrance to the KBD lair is located in level 44 wilderness, at the lesser demon cage by the entrance to Lava maze. The lair is down the ladder and then by the use of a teleportation lever, which will not work if you are teleblocked, however the lair itself is not in the wilderness, and you can freely teleport out of it. There are MANY ways of getting there; here are some of the most convenient ones:

- Ardougne/Edgeville lever (requires a slash weapon to take out web)

- Wilderness obelisks

- Wilderness canoe station (57 woodcutting and a good hatchet. Cannot bring a familiar!)

- Ice Plateau teleport (lunar spell, level 89 magic, 3 laws 3 astrals and 8 water runes. Has a Group tele option at level 90, great for teams (16 water runes instead of 8)!)

- Ghorrock teleport (ancient spell, level 96 magic, 2 laws 8 water runes)

- Lava titan teleport (83 summoning)

About the lever: There is a lever located by the entrance to west ardougne, and on the wall by yew trees in Edgeville. This will teleport you to deserted keep in wilderness (level 52 wilderness) where you can walk/run to the lair (must slash through a web to leave the keep).

About the obelisks: The obelisks are ancient obelisks scattered around the wilderness, upon activation the obelisk will randomly teleport you to one of the other obelisks. The relevant obelisks you want to use is marked on map to follow. Note: any revenants following you to the obelisk will follow you when you teleport as well!

Teleports have the downside to take up some inventory space for runes, but it's a very efficient method of getting there. Especially the group teleport for teaming!

The lava titan can teleport you to 1 click away from the entrance, this really comes in handy.

There are mainly three of these I will recommend, ranked in order: Lava titan, teleports, obelisks. The lava titan and teleports will throughout the guide be called as "Fast teleport options", as one can tele home, charge prayer on your altar, bank loot and replenish food/pots and get back up right after the KBD has spawned. If you're just charging your prayer you will be back before the dragon has spawned.

Note: if you die, the canoe station is your best bet unless you can use teleports/titan. The lever takes too long and the obelisk can fail you when you need them the most.

Maps:

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Red circles indicate travel methods starting point.

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Red circles indicate travel methods landing point. Ardy lever is not shown as it sucks.

KBD killing tips

So now that you know what the KBD can do and how to get there, it is time to learn how to kill him. Literally everyone with decent combat levels can grab some gear and go hunt the dragon and be successful, however this guide will teach you how to do it efficiently. First off theres a few things that you need to learn:

General tips:

- Magic defence is a complete MYTH! It does not make ANY difference!

- Again, the dragon is weak to stab/range.

- Antifire potion is extremely important! You can skip it in larger teams as the KBD will die fast and you won't be hit often enough to justify the extra use of inventory space, but in small teams/solo it is a necessity!

- It is possible to kill the KBD without antifire shield or super antifire. Antifire potion + magic protection prayer knocks the max hit down to 150 (for breaths)! This is especially useful for soloing before you get 85 herblore.

- Repot before you're stats are too low. Seriously, I see so many people around everywhere saving their pots for far too long. That is PLAIN STUPID! The cost of a super set is low, and the saved time is massive! I'd repot after it's drained around 8-10 levels from full boost, at latest.

- Try not to eat too often in the heat of the battle, you have plenty of time for that after hes dead. Eating skips attacks which means slower kills.

- Eat while you're frozen! If you're frozen you can't attack or move anyway, you're just a sitting duck. Might as well make some use of it and heal up right?

- The dragon is still a boss monster. Stat boosting prayers help immensely! They're not too important in larger teams, as the dragon will die really fast anyway. And if you don't use them because you're too poor to afford a few ppots, let me just tell you something: not using them will mean fewer kills per trip, more damage taken, thus more food used etc. Summed up ANYONE can make up the extra cost of prayer potions in the saved effect! (Time saved from faster kills to make money back (not to forget you'll make money anyway), less food used, more kills per trip etc)

- And pay attention! Don't panic, just remember to eat when you have to, don't run out of antifire and don't run out of prayer. Follow those rules and you won't die.

- Stuff to have in your bank in case you die: Forthinity brace and antifire shield. Could you imagine how annoying it would be if you had a few millions under a gravestone and got teleblocked by a rev? Or killed by the dragon again because you forgot antifire protection? Should you happen to die it's not too bad as long as you're prepared for it. Grab a hatchet, get to a canoe station (Lumbridge/Edge) make a waka canoe and get up there! Or if you have titan/teleports it's even better!

Soloing/small teams specific tips

- Practice makes perfect. Expect your 50th trip to be way better than your five first.

- I can't stress it enough, antifire potion is EXTREMELY important

- Same goes for stat boosting prayers

- If you do have to eat, set your self to the "walk" more, ie not running, then click underneath the Dragon right after he launched an attack at you. This will position you off his attacks, meaning you can eat undisturbed; but make sure you continue to walk underneath him. Practice makes perfect with this technique and if you do it correctly you wont be hit while eating. It is annoying to eat a shark and be hit for 200 at the same time, means you have to eat another. This doesn't work as well with ranged unless you stand up close (SOLOING ONLY!)

When you've had a read through this, you should be able to be successful at the KBD once you get there. The guide will be moving on to talk about equipment styles and such now, so you can start finding what is relevant for you rather than reading it all smile.gif

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Killing the Dragon, solo

The fun part of the guide happy.gif And also the part that is hardest to write. So far everything I've written is relevant to everyone, however now we need to separate people sad.gif So to start of we need to split rangers from meleers. Melee, if you have the right equipment and levels, is by far more effective than ranging. This comes from the Dragon's weakness to stab attacks. Stab and range are fairly similar in damage type, so it is weak to range as well, but melee has a faster and stronger attack style. However range is more effective than melee at low levels or if you don't have the right equipment. We will of course start with the most effective first, meaning melee.

Different types of meleers

Important note: The classifications are based on levels just as much as equipment, a quick note about the different categories I've made is here:

- Minimum. 75+ melee stats. Wouldn't really recommend soloing at these levels unless you have a slayer task, but it's possible smile.gif Gear worth is about 400k-1M

- Decent. 80+ melee stats and 60+ prayer (for chivalry). Can solo efficiently, gear worth ranging from a couple millions and upwards.

- Wealthy. 85+ melee stats and 85+ herblore (79 with stew, unconfirmed if works). Opens up a ton of options. Gear ranging from 6-7M to beyond reason.

- Rich. 85+ melee stats, 85+ herblore and 92+prayer. At these levels the KBD has gone from being a boss to being a casual monster. You will be eating to make up inventory space. Gear has same options as wealthy class.

Everyone should find themselves at or in between these somewhere. Someone will find themselves with 92+ prayer and not 85+ herblore, which will be a mix of rich and casual. If you are in a mix of these, I'd read both that you would find relevant. The most notable differences comes at 85 herblore and 92 prayer.

Before we go on with equipment, I would like to show you some inventory necessities:

user posted image

1. Spec weapon, D halberd is great, hits the dragon twice with good stats and cheap. Other notable ones: dds, sgs, bgs, d claws. Whatever you personally prefer really.

2. Super set/extreme set. Essential!

3. Teleport out, preferably a one click one in case of emergency. Home teleport is great for two reasons: 1. You might get hit when you tele, and end up dieing in your landing location. If that is your home you will simply end up outside it with no items lost. 2. If you have an altar in your home its a fast way to stock up prayer for free!

4. Antifire potion/super antifire.

5. Super antipoison.

6. Forthinity bracelet, in case you get teleblocked by a rev on the way. Then just equip the brace and it will be lifted when you use the lever to teleport in.

The minimum class

This is for people who maybe want to try out the KBD, kill it every now and then, or take a trip or two on a black dragon task. This will be a great setup:

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Setup is as follows:

Helm: Slayer helm/black mask* > Helm of Neitznot

Necklace: Amulet of Glory > Amulet of power

Cape: Fire cape > Ardougne cloak > Skill cape (t) > Skill cape/obby cape

Torso: Proselyte Hauberk

Legs: Proselyte Cuisse

Boots: Best boots you can afford

Gloves: Barrows gloves > whatever you usually wear (too much personal preference when it comes to gloves)

Shield: Antifire shield

Ring: Berserker ring > Ring of Wealth.

Weapon: Leaf-bladed sword** > Abyssal whip. Yes really

*Only on Black dragon slayer task

**55 Slayer required

When fighting the KBD you should have protection from melee on, so you will only take damage from the breath attacks. However if you're using a D hal for spec wep, flick on mage protection while you're specing or you might be toasted. A beast of burden is really helpful, and can easily help you achieve more kills per trip. Since I have never tested soloing at these levels, I have no idea how many kills you could get per trip, so if anyone using this guide at these levels/setup could tell me how they're getting on I can write up the information here smile.gif I would guess between 2-4.

The set up shown in picture is worth 1M gp (invo and gear, march 2010), more than half of that is in Dragon boots and Halberd which can easily be substituted for cheaper alternatives.

The decent class

This is for people who are getting decent combat levels and maybe want to try out boss fighting a bit more and seek some experience, want to pass some time, hunt a visage or just generally fight the KBD.

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Setup is as follows:

Helm: Slayer helm/black mask** > Verac's helm* > Helm of Neitznot

Necklace: Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory

Cape: Ardougne cloak 3 OR Fire cape > Ardy cape 2 > SW cape > Skill cape (t) > Skill cape/obby cape

Torso: Verac's Brassard* > Other barrows melee tops > Bandos chestplate > Fighter Torso > Proselyte Hauberk

Legs: Verac's Skirt* > Other barrows melee bottoms > Bandos tassets > Dragon legs > Proselyte Cuisse

Boots: Dragon boots

Gloves: Barrows gloves > whatever you usually wear (too much personal preference when it comes to gloves)

Shield: None

Ring: Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Onyx ring (i) > Dragonstone ring (i) > Any other ring you have

Weapon: Verac's Flail* > Zamorakian spear

*All Verac's parts must be used for set effect. Set effect can completely ignore KBD's defence. Using Verac's set used to be the most effective way to solo KBD, and is still the best unless you have slayer task or chaotic longsword.

**Only on Black dragon slayer task. If you have a slayer task it's better to use the slayer helm and Z spear rather than Verac's.

Setup can be mixed around to suit you. If you have high defence, you might prefer bandos over barrows, but generally you will need the defence. Fury can easily be replaced by glory, and berserker ring by another ring to make the setup a lot cheaper.

If you have access to Titan or any of the teleportaion methods for fast access, here is a better way to solo the KBD rather than using a Beast of burden:

Instead of spending money on ppots, when the KBD has died quickly pick up your loot, teleport home, charge prayer and get back up to KBD. With ancient teleport and lava titan you should be able to do that before the dragon spawns. You can also use cheaper food such as monkfish. Or if using the teleport spell, you can use a healer familiar or a good fighter familiar to help in your fighting smile.gif Inventory setup:

user posted image

- If using Ancient or Lunar teleport, replace some food with teleport runes. The prayer potion is there just in case you run out on a dragon, you most likely won't need it.

While fighting the dragon you MUST have magic protection prayer on! If not you will find yourself with 3 items at your spawn point very soon. The main part of the damage here is going to come from the breaths, and if you have low defence you will be hit alot by melee as well, which is why setup emphasizes melee defence and prayer bonus. When waiting for it to spawn, stand in the centre of the ring of coins. That will position the Dragon in a way that it cannot attack you upon spawn, leaving you enough time to flick on your prayers before the fight commences. This was the most effective way of soloing the KBD before the release of new potions and prayers.

The wealthy class

Now we start talking. Level 85+ herblore opens up the option of fighting the dragon with 2 handed weapons without limiting your prayers to magic protection prayer! Now theres varying ways to set up your gear, in previous level classes you've had to emphasize prayer and/or melee defence, now you have complete freedom of choice! It sums down to if you want to kill fast, pray or tank. The variation doesn't come so much from the gear you use, but the inventory to go along with it. If you're not using a set effect and want to pray melee, proselyte is your best bet; if you want faster kills at the cost of more eating use Bandos armour, or you can use Bandos and pray if you wish.

First I want to mention a few set effects you can use:

Void set: Great offensive set, however due to lack of defence bonuses you will have to pray melee protection, and with no prayer bonus this will use a fair few ppots.

Verac's set: Set effect can ignore KBD's high defence, and comes in very handy with a combined good prayer and good defence bonuses. If you choose to pray or tank is up to you really. Can get more kills per trip praying, but at a cost of more ppots.

Setup prioritation: Slayer task setup > Void set with chaotic long > Verac's set > Void set with z spear > Normal setup:

user posted image

Setup is as follows:

Helm: Slayer helm/black mask* > Verac's helm OR Helm of Neitznot

Necklace: Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory

Cape: Ardougne cloak 3 OR Fire cape > Ardy cape 2 > SW cape > Skill cape (t) > Skill cape/obby cape

Torso: Proselyte hauberk OR Bandos chestplate* > Verac's brassard > any other barrows melee top

Legs: Proselyte cuisse OR Bandos tassets* > Verac's skirt > other barrows melee bottom > Dragon legs

Boots: Dragon boots

Gloves: Barrows gloves > whatever you usually wear (too much personal preference when it comes to gloves)

Shield: Rune defender (if using chaotic long)

Ring: Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Onyx ring (i) > Dragonstone ring (i) > Any other ring you have

Weapon: Chaotic longsword > Zamorakian spear

*Only on Black dragon slayer task. Note it's better to use Slayer helm for boost than Void/Verac's set.

**Proselyte if you choose to pray melee. Bandos if you want the extra str bonus for faster kills (praying optional). Personally prefer bandos.

Well, at this stage it's pretty easy. Just stab the dragon to death, eating when you have to and pray melee if you choose to.

If you have access to Titan or any of the teleportaion methods for fast access, here is a better way to solo the KBD rather than using a Beast of burden:

Instead of spending money on ppots, when the KBD has died quickly pick up your loot, teleport home, charge prayer and get back up to KBD. With ancient teleport and lava titan you should be able to do that before the dragon spawns. You can also use cheaper food such as monkfish. Bandos is then a better option than Proselyte, as you're not using any ppots anyway. Or if using the teleport spell, you can use a healer familiar or a good fighter familiar to help in your fighting instead of titan. smile.gif Inventory setup:

user posted image

- If using Ancient or Lunar teleport, replace some food with teleport runes. The prayer potion is there just in case you run out on a dragon, you most likely won't need it.

The RICH class

The KBD at this state is a joke. I hear people talking about 30+kills per trip, I don't find that hard to believe, but I've never tested as I prefer to bank my loot and charge prayer cheap rather than use pots, and to maximize your profit you should do that as well smile.gif Seeing as one can bank and be back like 5 seconds after the KBD has spawned I don't see why you don't want to bank your loot. However if you still don't have access to a fast teleport up, you will find yourself forced to bury a few bones etc to make room by the end of your trip. But I will be amazed if you have these levels and neither 89 magic nor 83 summoning.

First I want to mention a few set effects you can use:

Void set: Great offensive set, however due to lack of defence bonuses you will have to pray melee protection, and with no prayer bonus this will use a fair few ppots.

Verac's set: Set effect can ignore KBD's high defence, and comes in very handy with a combined good prayer and good defence bonuses. If you choose to pray or tank is up to you really. Can get more kills per trip praying, but at a cost of more ppots.

Setup prioritation: Slayer helm setup > Void set with chaotic long > Verac's set > Void set with Z spear > another set:

user posted image

Helm: Slayer helm/black mask* > Helm of Neitznot

Necklace: Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory

Cape: Ardougne cloak 3 OR Fire cape > Ardy cape 2 > SW cape > Skill cape (t) > Skill cape/obby cape

Torso: Bandos chestplate > Fighter torso > Verac's brassard > any other barrows melee top

Legs: Bandos tassets > Verac's skirt > other barrows melee bottom > Dragon legs

Boots: Dragon boots

Gloves: Barrows gloves > whatever you usually wear (too much personal preference when it comes to gloves)

Shield: Rune defender (if using chaotic long)

Ring: Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Onyx ring (i) > Dragonstone ring (i) > Any other ring you have

Weapon: Chaotic longsword > Zamorakian spear

*Only on Black dragon slayer task.

If using teleport to get to the lair don't forget your tele runes wink.gif

Since you can use Soul split prayer, theres no real need to pray melee as you can heal from soul split, thus use less food. Many times you wont even need to heal up after killing one.

When the Dragon is dead, pick up the loot, teleport to your house, charge prayer and get back up there. For titan and ancient teleport you should be there before the dragon spawns, with Lunar spell you will arrive shortly after. This means no ppot usage, the one in inventory is for emergencies smile.gif

Rangers

Aye, time to move away from close up combat! Let it be known that ranged is less effective than stab styled melee, but it is still a good way to kill this dragon. A person with 70+ range can easily hunt the KBD, but I wouldn't recommend range if you are lower than 65. There is mainly two ways rangers deal with KBD:

1. Stand up close and pray melee.

2. Stand away and not pray.

The first option uses less food, but at the cost of prayer potions. The second option uses less ppots, but more food. The second option is the more common approach to the dragon. I will not split rangers into groups, as the variation in armour only depends on what you have! Note that void set is by far the best option you have for ranged armour (unless you have slayer task with focus sight of course)!

user posted image

Setup is as follows:

Head: Full slayer helm/focus sight > Armadyl helm > Robin Hood hat > God coif > Archer helm

Necklace: Amulet of ranging > Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory

Cape: Accumulator

Torso: Armadyl chestplate > Black d'hide body > Karil's top

Legs: Armadyl plateskirt > Black d'hide chaps > Karil's legs

Boots: Ranger boots > Snakeskin boots

Gloves: Mercenary's gloves > Barrow gloves > Black d'hide vambraces

Shield: Unholy book* > Anti-dragon shield

Ring: Archer's ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) > Dragonstone ring (i) > Archers ring > Ring of wealth

Weapon: Chaotic crossbow > Rune crossbow. You can also try hand cannon or magic longbow (sighted), however ammo is much more expensive*.

Ammo: Broad bolts. Theres no need to use diamond bolts etc unless you have to fight over the kill.

*Only if 85+ herblore

The ranged setup can be fairly cheap if you use the cheaper stuff, you can get a great setup for 3-350k. The potions in the picture are respectively: Extreme ranged, super antifire, 2 prayer potions and a super antipoison. The prayer potions are to maintain your stat boosting prayer, the extreme potions to be replaced with normal if you don't have the herblore level for extremes (I didn't have any normal ones when I took the picture). As you get higher leveled, you will find that you will need less food to last you the trip, especially when you get 92+ prayer and can use soul split! Just experiment a bit with how much food you need for a trip.

If you have access to Titan or any of the teleportaion methods for fast access, here is a better way to solo the KBD rather than using a Beast of burden:

Instead of spending money on ppots, when the KBD has died quickly pick up your loot, teleport home, charge prayer and get back up to KBD. With ancient teleport and lava titan you should be able to do that before the dragon spawns. You can also use cheaper food such as monkfish. Bandos is then a better option than Proselyte, as you're not using any ppots anyway. Or if using the teleport spell, you can use a healer familiar or a good fighter familiar to help in your fighting instead of titan. smile.gif Inventory setup:

user posted image

- If using Ancient or Lunar teleport, replace some food with teleport runes. The prayer potion is there just in case you run out on a dragon, you most likely won't need it.

I am getting crashed!

If you get competition over the dragon, ask the other player kindly to leave. If he ignores you he's a ignorant and arrogant (insert insult here). If he replies that he wont hop he's just an arrogant (insert insult here). Wager your odds if he doesn't leave, and if you think you can beat him just fight over the dragon using all the aids you can (iron/steel titan with scrolls, restore special potions to use special attack more often etc).

If you are consistently winning the dragon and the player still isn't hopping and you have a black dragon slayer task, consider hopping yourself. You only get a count for the slayer task if you deal the killing blow. Thus, if the other player deals half the killing blows, even though you're dealing the majority of the damage, you will spend so much longer doing the slayer task.

Summing up solo

With the release of new weapons, new prayers and new potions, the KBD has gone from being a boss monster to a casual monster. Now you have seen how you can change your gear and setup as your levels increase, and after having read this and been to the KBD a few times you can count yourself amongst the professional KBD killers! It is time to move on to teaming smile.gif

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Teaming the King Black Dragon

Teaming the KBD is alot easier than soloing (duh), and a good team can stay there for ages and ages using minimal supplies! Now theres many ways to set up a team, large teams, small teams, high levels, low levels, rich players and poor players... So I have decided to split this part of the guide in three parts, an split each of those parts into three parts again: Small teams, medium sized teams and large teams. All of these are also split up in low levels, medium leveled and high leveled.

Small teams: 2-3 players

Medium teams: 4-5 players

Large teams: 6+ players

Low levels: Levels around the 60-70's

Medium levels: Levels around 70-80+

High levels: Levels at 80+ with soul split prayer (and super antifires)

If you're a player going in a team with mixed low-high level players, read whats appropriate for you. If you're a high level player then whatever is said under low/medium leveled players is irrelevant to you, and vica versa.

A general melee gear setup, assuming you're not using any set effects, is here (gear setup is the same whatever your level is, the inventory is what varies):

user posted image

Helm: Slayer helm/black mask* > Helm of Neitznot

Necklace: Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory

Cape: Ardougne cloak 3 OR Fire cape > Ardy cape 2 > SW cape > Skill cape (t) > Skill cape/obby cape

Torso: Proselyte OR Bandos** > Verac's brassard > other barrow melee top > Dragon plate/chain > Rune plate

Legs: Proselyte cuisse OR Bandos tassets** > Verac's skirt > other barrows melee bottom > Dragon legs

Boots: Dragon boots > Rune boots

Gloves: Barrows gloves > whatever you usually wear (too much personal preference when it comes to gloves)

Shield: Rune defender*** > Dragonfire shield > Anti dragon shield

Ring: Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Onyx ring (i) > Dragonstone ring (i) > Any other ring you have

Weapon: Chaotic longsword/rapier > Zamorakian spear**** > Leaf bladed sword > Abyssal whip > Dragon longsword > Dragon scimitar

*Only if you have a Black dragon slayer task

**Proselyte if you're praying melee, bandos if you're not. See later explanations.

***Only if you're 85+ herblore and using chaotic longsword/rapier

****Only if 85+ herblore and you don't have chaotic longsword/rapier

As for whats best to use? Slayer task > Void melee with Chaotic long/rapier > Verac's set > Void melee without chaotic weps > The above setup

Inventory essentials:

user posted image

1. Spec weapon, D halberd is great, hits the dragon twice with good stats and cheap. Other notable ones: dds, sgs, bgs, d claws. Whatever you personally prefer really.

2. Super set/extreme set. Essential!

3. Teleport out, preferably a one click one in case of emergency. Home teleport is great for two reasons: 1. You might get hit when you tele, and end up dieing in your landing location. If that is your home you will simply end up outside it with no items lost. 2. If you have an altar in your home its a fast way to stock up prayer for free!

4. Antifire potion/super antifire.

5. Super antipoison.

6. Forthinity bracelet, in case you get teleblocked by a rev on the way. Then just equip the brace and it will be lifted when you use the lever to teleport in.

7. Food. Not in the picture tongue.gif

A general ranged gear setup is here:

user posted image

Head: Full slayer helm/focus sight* > Armadyl helm > Robin Hood hat > God coif > Archer helm

Necklace: Amulet of ranging > Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory

Cape: Accumulator

Torso: Armadyl chestplate > Black d'hide body > Karil's top > Red d'hide body

Legs: Armadyl plateskirt > Black d'hide chaps > Karil's legs > Red d'hide chaps

Boots: Ranger boots > Snakeskin boots

Gloves: Mercenary's gloves > Barrow gloves > Black d'hide vambraces > Red d'hidev vambraces

Shield: Unholy book** > Anti-dragon shield

Ring: Archer's ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) > Dragonstone ring (i) > Archers ring > Ring of wealth

Weapon: Chaotic crossbow > Rune crossbow. You can also try hand cannon or magic longbow (sighted), however ammo is much more expensive**.

Ammo: Broad bolts. Theres no need to use diamond bolts etc unless you have to fight over the kill.

*Only i you have a Black dragon slayer task

**Only if you are 85+ herblore

Inventory essentials:

user posted image

1. (Extreme) Ranged potion

2. (Super) Antifire potion

3. Prayer potion

4. Food

5. Teleport out, preferably a one click one in case of emergency. Home teleport is great for two reasons: 1. You might get hit when you tele, and end up dieing in your landing location. If that is your home you will simply end up outside it with no items lost. 2. If you have an altar in your home its a fast way to stock up prayer for free!

6. Forthinity bracelet, in case you get teleblocked by a rev on the way. Then just equip the brace and it will be lifted when you use the lever to teleport in.

7. Super antipoison

General teaming tips

  • Surround the dragon, making him turn more when he is changing his focus on players, means less damage for the whole team.
  • Don't stand in the centre of ring of coins, that will make the KBD move upon spawn and ruin your surrounding ring.
  • Don't eat when you don't have to, you will have plenty of time for that when the KBD is dead.
  • Lunar spell Ice plateau group tele is a good way to get the whole team up at the same time and for simultaneous banking.
  • Remember to have fun!
Small teams

The benefit of going in small teams is that you will all get a fair amount of loot in a short time. You will also use a lot less food and supplies than if going solo. However, you are prone to being crashed by larger teams, although that wont be a big problem if you're higher levels.

Low levels

A small team consisting purely of low leveled people is not worth it. Simply put. But whether you're in a purely low leveled team or a mixed team, heres your approach to the dragon:

Stand up close to the dragon and pray melee and stat boosting prayers. Range is better than melee at low levels. Bring all the inventory essentials, and fill the rest of your inventory with sharks, and preferably a beast of burden too. Eat when you have to. Using a beast of burden to carry extra food is a good idea. That's all there is to say really.

Medium levels

A team of medium levels can easily take the KBD down, follow the setup shown above and bring the inventory essentials and load the rest of the inventory with monkfish. Stand up close and pray melee. Range or melee, whatever you prefer or what equipment you have. Preferably a beast of burden or lava titan to be used as familiar. Remember the stat boosting prayers.

It might be worth using mage protection prayer and use a z spear to speed up the kills if you don't have super antifires. That is for the team to decide smile.gif But I'm just saying that the sped up kill may mean more kills in the time spent, less food used and thus more profit for all of you, despite the cost of ppots. Especially if you're using a fast teleport.

High levels

High levels won't even need a full inventory of food. Start with taking a full inventory and see for yourself how many you need for a trip. It's very individual depending on which armour you have and the team mates you're with. Simply tank the dragon and use soul split when you get hit. If you get badly hit then eat. Melee gets more effective at high levels than ranged. Remember the stat boosting prayers. I assume you have access to one of the fast teleport options mentioned, meaning you wont need a beast of burden to bank/replenish food.

Medium teams

A medium sized team means a prolonged stay and much less supplies used. A fair amount of loot still, and generally good fun. Not many people try to crash a medium sized team either, but it does happen.

Low levels

Follow the setup shown, and bring a full inventory of food still. Whether you choose to use prayers or not largely depends on the team mates around you, if you're in a team with medium and high leveled people, you can skip the prayers If you're not praying, replace proselyte armour for something with higher melee defence, such as rune. If it's a team of low leveled players I will still recommend you to use prayers. Rangers should move away from the dragon and only be attacked by the breaths at this stage. If you choose to range or melee is entirely up to you. Using a beast of burden to carry extra food is a good idea.

Medium levels

Bring 2 of each of the inventory essentials (1 super antipoison should be enough), unless you have access to a fast teleport option. Experiment with food usage, it depends on what armour you have and the team mates around you. Some will need a full inventory of monkfish still, others will need half of an inventory. Using a bunyip for extra healing or a beast of burden to carry a bit of food/loot. Remember to bring extra pouch, as you most likely wont need to bank before the familiar runs out. Praying melee at this stage is a waste of prayer potions. Stat boosting prayers is recommended still, especially if you have a fast teleport option.

High levels

A few monkfish should do for food, soul split should be more than enough to heal. I assume you have access to fast teleportation methods, so stat boosting prayers are a massive help for virtually no cost.

Large teams

Large teams are more for fun than anything, it can take a good while between each time you get some loot, but you will hardly use any supplies at all. The antifire potions can be left in the bank (unless you're using super antifires for 2handed weapon solutions). Being crashed is not really a common issue in large teams, only really occurs in peak times.

Low levels

Purely low levels: Pray melee still, and bring the inventory essentials (including the antifire pot) along with full inventories of food. You should be able to get a fair amount of kills before you have to bank now. Beast of burdens are recommended, and possibly an extra pouch as well.

Mixed team: Prayer is not needed, and the expensive shark can be substituted for a cheaper alternative such as monkfish. Bring stat boosting potions, however you will most likely run out before you have to bank. You will be able to stay for quite a while before you have to bank. Beast of burden shouldn't be necessary.

Medium levels

Bring 2 of each of the inventory essentials (antifire not needed), and some food. A full inventory is no longer needed, experiment a bit with how much you need. It depends on the team and your equipment. Praying is optional and not really needed as the KBD will die really fast anyway. However it helps quite a bit, and is virtually free if you have fast teleports.

High levels

Bring a monkfish or shark in your inventory, just in case. Praying is optional and not really needed as the KBD will die really fast anyway. However it helps quite a bit, and is virtually free if you have fast teleports.

We are getting crashed!

If your team is getting crashed, theres two things one can do: Fight over it, or suck it up and hop world. Hopping means that you either have to search for a free world, or crash someone else, so if you think you have a good chance at outbeating the crashing team, I will recommend to fight for it.

Personally I love fighting over a dragon! Spices it up a little in my opinion smile.gif When you have to fight over a dragon, it's vital to use all the aids you can. It's not normal to be crashed by medium/low leveled players, and similarly your team will most likely need a few high level players to outbeat the crashers. High level summoners yank out iron and steel titans with scrolls, everyone use piety/turmoil, overloads or super potions. If you have a good spec wep, like claws, ags, bgs or similar wep that does a lot of damage, using restore special pots so you can use special attack more often will help a ton in winning the dragon fight! If the other team is not giving up or beating you, consider hopping, depending on the mood of the rest of the team.

Summing up teaming

Teaming the dragon is a lot easier than solo, and you can stay there for hours and hours. It's a fun event to do, and it's not a very hard monster to kill and is a good starter for aspiring boss killers!

Credits

I would like to thank all those people who have written horrible KBD guides before that I have read, inspiring me to make a better one!

I would like to thank those who have supported my previous and outdated guide, and I hope you all enjoyed this guide smile.gif

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Okies, solo melee part should be finished (only missing pictures, I need to borrow some bandos armour for that tongue.gif ).

If you have any questions about solo melee that I seem to have missed, please ask them so I can include anything I've missed in the guide happy.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Guide is finished smile.gif I'll leave it here for a few days before I move it. And can someone else than me do the quality check and tell me if I should alter anything before I copy it to public guides?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

One small suggestion tore:

Add the fact that there are green Dragons right next to the obelisk, nearly got pwned the moment I got there biggrin.gif

EDIT:

Tore, I got pwned pretty bad using the ZS and mage protect using bcp / dlegs / zs/ fury / slay helm / normal antifire with 97 att / 90 str / 90 def. I was able to kill only one per trip using a sup set and a full invo of monkfish,Any suggestions? tongue.gif

Incidentally, I was able to kill 2 per trip using same gear but using leaf bladed sword and a anti fire shield. Hmm.

Edited by gunny
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Weapon: Chaotic longsword/rapier > Zamorakian spear**** > Leaf bladed sword > Abyssal whip > Dragon longsword > Dragon scimitar

****Only if 85+ herblore and you don't have chaotic longsword/rapier

LOL

Uni has taught me how to skip stuff when reading tongue.gif

I read this, in the decent class:

Weapon: Verac's Flail* > Zamorakian spear

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John what are you lolling at? Thats for teaming where I couldn't be bothered to write for all different types..

And gun, you must be doing something wrong. I would never ever recommend leaf bladed for solo if you have the levels to use z spear well... You might have been unlucky, even with super antifires and fully potted I end up having to eat a few bites of food. Occasionally a single dragon can cause over 1k damage to you, so just try a few times you should notice a difference, at least in killing speed but maybe not kills/trip.

And veracs > z spear only when soloing when you're not on a slayer task. It's mentioned above the setup somewhere.

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