Queen Black Dragon/Strategies

The Queen Black Dragon is the second strongest monster in all of RuneScape. It can only be fought alone so it is recommended to be prepared with the best equipment you can get if you are planning to challenge it.

The only requirement is a Summoning level of 60; you do not need to complete any quests to fight the Queen Black Dragon, although completing Song from the Depths is recommended as incoming damage is reduced.

Combat
The Queen Black Dragon has 8 types of attacks that she uses throughout the fight. They are:

Melee attack

 * The Queen Black Dragon will use this technique if the player stands anywhere closer than one square north of middle artefact.
 * It is an accurate bite attack that can damage up to 1000 lifepoints.
 * Players are advised to wear strong melee gear if they wish to stand anywhere closer than the first artefact.
 * This attack can be partially avoided using protect melee prayer.

Ranged Attack

 * The Queen Black Dragon uses this technique on a player anywhere on the field, including melee range.
 * It is a sweeping attack that she does with her head that is accurate and usually hits in the high 300s, but potentially as high as 525.
 * Ranged Deflect/Protections negate 50% of the attack.

Standard Dragon Breath
The Queen Black Dragon has a dragon breath that even super antifires with a dragonfire shield/anti-dragon shield cannot block. It will hit through both of them and deal damage in the low 400s every time she uses it. Warning: The dragonfire can easily hit 1000 or more if no dragonfire protection is used. After a patch update, it will now have a cooldown, and she will do it once every ten seconds.

Super Dragon Breath
The Queen Black Dragon will use this technique as a last ditch attempt to kill the player in phase 4. Like the standard dragon breath she uses, it is so hot that even super antifires with a dragonfire shield/anti-dragon shield cannot block it. The Queen Black Dragon will aim the attack at the centre of the field, which will deal 1950 damage if you are in the middle and 450 when you stand at the edges.

Note: This attack is also needed in order to forge a Royal crossbow. To forge it, you have to be situated in the centre.

Fire Wave
The Queen Black Dragon has an attack reminiscent of the one used by Char during The Firemaker's Curse quest. When she is about to use this attack, the chat box will display "The Queen Black Dragon takes a huge breath" in orange. It is a slow moving attack that will move towards the player in a linear fashion. If caught within the licking walls of flames, players will be damaged for rapid 750s per game tick. There is a pattern to this attack and when she uses it, holes will always appear in one of the 3 types of fire waves she uses. Players are advised to stand close to the centre when the dialogue appears, specifically to the left of the central dragonkin artefact as that is where one fire wave may fail to pass through.

The field has a platform of 19 squares and:
 * Type 1 will pass through on the 15th or the 5th square from the right
 * Type 2 will pass through on the 9th or 1st square to the left of the centre artefact and
 * Type 3 will pass through on the 5th square.

She will cycle between these waves so a player may predict where the next gap will be.

Summoning
The Queen Black Dragon will summon level 147 tortured souls. She begins using this technique during phase 2. When she is about to use this attack, the chat box will display "The Queen Black Dragon releases one of its captured souls" in purple. On first summon, the souls will appear one square west of the player. After which, the soul will cast a spell one square east of the player which will move every game tick until it hits the player. If hit by the spell, it will hit the player for a random damage between 900-1100 damage. This attack can be avoided by waiting a second after the soul appears on screen and running through the soul. The attack will continue following the player and hit the soul instead of the player, dealing its max hit on the soul at 1000 damage. Other than the spell, the summoned souls will attack with a melee attack when in range that is inaccurate. The souls have a very slow moving speed and are weak to crushing attacks. The best way to avoid possible death (especially on the final phase where you can easily be hit up to 4000!) is to restore health at around 5k or above, relying on successfully stepping out of the way is proven harder than it sounds as it requires perfect timing and the tortured souls move quite frequently as they cast so missclicking on them instead of moving out of the way is a common mistake.

Time Stop
The Queen Black Dragon does not use this technique herself but rather through the tortured souls she summons. This attack happens if players do not kill the souls quick enough. One of the souls will then teleport to a corner of the field and start chanting the incantations. If the soul is not killed by the time the spell completes in 10 seconds, the screen will turn green and players will be unable to move, heal or attack. The summoned souls will also freeze during this duration while the Queen Black Dragon will attack as usual. The effect lasts for approximately 7 seconds and when it's over, the player will take whatever damage was done during the freeze in one tick. There is no way to cancel out of this effect, but killing the soul does prevent the spell from happening. The tortured soul has very high defence against range so bringing a weapon switch will help you finish him off quickly if you are hoping to avoid the time stop.

Souls healing
After phase 3, once the souls are summoned, the Queen Black Dragon uses this ability to heal from them, damaging them in the process. They lose 100 health points every game tick, and heal the Queen for 200 for every 100. A simple method to avoid restoring too much health to the Queen Black Dragon is to quickly dispatch of the souls once the message appears in the game inbox, and thus lessening the amount of health that can be restored.

Grotworms
The Queen Black Dragon will cough up level 105 giant grotworms at the end of each phase. She will not stop coughing up the worms until the player has activated the correct artefact on the field. The worms become larger as the more phases the player takes down. These worms can hit accurate 400s if not protected against as with the ones present in the slayer caves. Their magic attacks can be completely avoided with deflection/protection prayers. Some of the worms may not become aggressive towards you. It is unknown whether or not this is a glitch. It is advised to ignore all worms that are not attacking you. After a patch update, the worms were made bigger due to the zoomed camera. These are very weak to bolts which makes range very effective for the whole fight as they can easily die within 5 shots of a ranged weapon.

Magical platforms
Completing each wave will create a magical platform allowing access to the next artifact. However, a player who stands on these platforms for too long will start taking 1500 damage every few seconds, and receive the game message "You are damaged for standing too long on the raw magical platforms". The game message will not appear if game chat is set to filter.

Crystal Armour
Occasionally the Queen Black Dragon will turn to a crystal form, at which time she will become more resilient against magic attacks, but significantly weaker to melee and ranged attacks.



Hardened Carapace
Sometimes the Queen Black Dragon will harden her carapace, making her more resistant to melee and ranged attacks but weaker against magic attacks.



Phase One
The Queen Black Dragon is fought in four phases. During the first phase, she will attack with melee (if you are within her attack range), Ranged, and Dragonfire. Be aware that this dragonfire attack can hit 700 or higher, so the use of antifire or super antifire potions are a necessity. She will also use a special fire wall attack (shown in the chat box with an orange message). You must pass through the gap in the flames to avoid damage. If this attack does hit, it will hit in the low 200s, dealing damage twice if it passes over you. Running through it may deal damage once, or, timed luckily, may not deal damage at all. In future phases, with multiple waves of flame, reaching a faraway gap may be difficult and running directly through the flames may be a better alternative to taking many hits upon failing to reach the gap. When the health bar for the first stage reaches zero, the Queen will start coughing up level 105 giant grotworms. Touch the dragonkin artefact in the centre of the platform to stop these from appearing. These can hit fairly hard with magic, so it is advised to dispatch them quickly. Avoid letting too many Grotworms spawn by activating the artefact as quickly as possible after depleting the Queen's health bar.

Phase Two
During the second phase, the Queen will summon a level 147 tortured soul to attack. They will use an avoidable attack that hits about 200 every time, and then attack with melee. Kill the tortured souls, and then attack the Queen. During this phase, the fire wall special attack will cause two consecutive walls of fire to appear, instead of just one. When the Queen's lifebar runs out, she will cough up more worms. A quick player can touch the second artifact, which is on the left side of the chamber, while only allowing about two giant worms to spawn.

It is possible, when tortured souls have been spawned, to run through them and make them hurt themselves. To do this, remember that they will always teleport right before doing their special attack, at this time you should run through them, and the special attack will hit the tortured soul and not you. This takes some practice, but does save you a lot of time, because in the fourth wave it is possible to use the souls' special attacks to kill one of the four spawned souls in one hit.

Phase Three
The third phase is similar to the second. However, the Queen will summon two tortured souls instead of one, and there will be three fire waves, instead of two. Once her lifebar reaches zero for the third time, touch the artefact on the right side as quickly as possible.

Phase Four
The fourth phase is by far the most dangerous. She will summon four tortured souls at once to begin the wave. 4 of them will spawn around you and failing to move out of the way results in you being damaged atleast 4000 which is the most common reason for death throughout the whole fight. You should try your best to keep your health above 4000; preferably 5000 in case the Queen decides to breathe dragonfire as this happens. One of these souls will teleport to a corner of the room, and a short phrase will appear over its head. Kill this soul as quickly as possible or it will freeze time. During the time stop, you will be unable to eat, attack or move. However, the Queen Black Dragon and the Tortured Soul who created the Time Stop will be able to function normally, all other monsters will be frozen in time with you. The time stop attack lasts for 7 seconds and nearly guarantees death unless you start with very high life points. If you are unable to kill this tortured soul in time, drink Saradomin brews up to your maximum health and hope for low hits. The Queen has one final attack - an extra strong fire attack. When the Queen uses this attack, move out of its way as quickly as possible. As with other waves, she has a fire wave attack, but it will still only have three waves. Once the Queen's lifebar has been depleted for the last time, touch the final artefact. Stairs will descend from the artefact, taking you to the rewards room.

Setups
For setups you should just wear the best you possibly can; armour does not have unique defences anymore. Therefore the higher the level armour you wear; the better defence and accuracy you will have. So you should mainly focus on weapons.

Optimal Range Set Up

 * Pernix cowl > Armadyl helmet (Enchant if using a steel titan) > Archer Helm > Blessed coif > Helm of neitiznot > Void range helm
 * Pernix body > Armadyl chestplate/ Royal d'hide body > Karil's top > Black d'hide body> Void knight Top
 * Pernix chaps > Armadyl chainskirt/Royal d'hide chaps > Karil's skirt > Black d'hide chaps> Void knight Robe
 * Swift gloves > Pernix gloves > Armadyl gloves > Royal d'hide vambraces > Barrows gloves > Black d'hide vamb
 * Glaiven Boots >Pernix boots? > Armadyl boots > dragonrider boots > spined boots > Ranger boots > Snakeskin boots
 * Saradomin's Murmur > Amulet of fury > Amulet of Ranging > Amulet of glory
 * Completionist cape > Tokhaar-Kal > Ava's alerter > Red/Blue Soul Wars cape > Fire cape
 * Royal crossbow? >? Chaotic crossbow > Armadyl crossbow > Blisterwood stake > Rune Crossbow
 * Zaryte bow (With Super antifire) > Crystal bow (With Super antifire)
 * offhand chaotic crossbow (With Super antifire) > Elysian spirit shield (With Super antifire) > Eagle-eye kiteshield (With Super antifire ) > Dragonfire shield (With Antifire) > Anti-dragon shield (With Antifire)
 * Archer's ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) > TokKul-Zo > Archers ring > Ring of wealth > Ring of life/Explorer's ring 3
 * Ruby bolts (e) and Dragonbane Bolts

Optimal Void Range Set Up
With this set up Dragonbane Bolts far outweigh the special of Ruby bolts (e). Mastery of this setup can lead to 4-6 minute kills using Saradomin brew (unflasked) also making the trip more economical.
 * Void ranger helm
 * Pernix body > Royal d'hide body/Armadyl chestplate
 * Elite void knight robe > Void knight robe
 * Void knight gloves
 * Glaiven Boots > Armadyl boots > Ranger boots > Snakeskin boots
 * Completionist cape > Ava's alerter > Tokhaar-Kal
 * Royal crossbow? >? Chaotic crossbow? > armadyl crossbow > Rune Crossbow
 * Void knight deflector
 * Archer's ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) > TokKul-Zo > Archers ring
 * Dragonbane Bolts
 * (Optional) Chaotic rapier/Chaotic longsword for dispatching worms and ghosts.
 * (Optional) Steel titan > Iron titan > Unicorn Stallion > Pack Yak

Optimal Melee Set Up
Melee is the commonly approved way to kill the QBD. Being a dragon, they are weak to any type of stabbing attacks. This however, is a dangerous way to kill her as it will be harder to avoid damage from her Fire Walls, and you will also need to be tanking her Ranged attacks which can hit high almost all the time.
 * Void Melee Helm > Torva full helm > Helm of neitznot (or Helm of neitznot (e) charged with familiar scrolls) > Fighter hat > Verac's helm > Slayer helmet > Ganodermic visor
 * Elite Void Knight Torso > Torva platebody > Bandos chestplate > Torag's platebody > Verac's brassard > Fighter torso > Ganodermic poncho
 * Elite Void Knight Robe > Torva platelegs > Bandos tassets > Verac's plateskirt > Torag's platelegs > Ganodermic leggings
 * Void Knight Gloves > Goliath gloves > Culinaromancer's gloves 10 > Regen bracelet > Dragon gauntlets (from Fist of Guthix minigame)
 * Steadfast boots > Bandos boots > Dragon boots > Rock climbing boots
 * Saradomin's Whisper > Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory >  Amulet of strength
 * Completionist cape > Max cape > Tokhaar-Kal > Firecape > Soul wars cape > Ardougne Cloak 3 or 4 . If using an Iron or Steel titan's specials, a spirit cape can also be helpful to save on your familiar's special bar.
 * Chaotic Maul (with Super Antifire) > Chaotic rapier > Chaotic longsword > Zamorakian spear (with Super Antifire) > Korasi's Sword > Abyssal vine whip = Abyssal whip
 * Divine spirit shield (with Super Antifire ) > Elysian spirit shield > Dragon defender (with Super Antifire ) > Dragonfire shield > Anti-dragon shield > Chaotic Kiteshield (with Super Antifire )
 * Warrior ring (i) > Berserker ring (i) = Onyx ring (i) > Dragonstone ring (i) > Tokkul-Zo (charged) > Berserker ring > Ring of life > Explorer's ring 3 or 4

Optimal Mage Set Up
Magic is a viable option for killing the QBD, as she is weak to nothing, and magic can easily dispatch the minions that she sends out during the fight. It is recommended that players be of a high level in magic and defense before attempting to use magic to dispatch the QBD, however, as their armor will be highly weak to her frequent ranged attacks. Using staves is recommended for their damage boost in this battle, as the constant interruptions provided by the QBD and her minions will mean that every extra bit of damage you can deal with your infrequent attacks will improve your chances of putting her back to sleep.
 * Hoods: Virtus Mask > Ganodermic Visor > Akrisae's hood > Hood of subjugation > Ahrim's hood
 * Tops: Virtus robe top > Ganodermic Poncho > Akrisae's robe top > Garb of subjugation > Ahrim's robe top
 * Leggings: Virtus robe legs > Ganodermic Leggings > Akrisae's robe bottom > Gown of subjugation > Ahrim's robe bottom
 * Gloves: Spellcaster gloves > Ganodermic gloves > Gloves of subjugation > Barrows Gloves
 * Boots: Ragefire boots > Ganodermic boots > Boots of subjugation
 * Amulet: Arcane stream necklace > Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory
 * Cape: Completionist Cape > Max Cape > God Cape > Skill cape or Quest cape
 * Staves: Chaotic staff > Armadyl battlestaff > Polypore Staff > Staff of Light
 * Wands: Virtus wand > Ahrim's wand > Master wand
 * Offhand: Virtus book > Ahrim's book of magic > Grifolic orb
 * Spells: Bloodfire Blitz > Polypore strike > Air surge
 * Shields: Arcane spirit shield > Farseer Kiteshield > Spectral spirit shield > Ward of subjugation > Crystal shield
 * Rings: Seers ring (i) > Onyx ring(i) > Seers ring > Berserker ring > Tokkul-Zo

Optimal Void Hybrid Set Up
Since the Evolution of Combat, the Queen Black Dragon has undergone a few changes with it's mechanics and this means that methods of putting her to sleep have changed. A rather effective method of sending the QBD into her slumber includes to use of the void melee and range sets, a two handed melee weapon such as a godsword or a maul and a bow / crossbow. You should use the melee method to attack the Queen and the tortured soul and then switch to your Void ranger helm and ranged weapon for when the grotworms spawn at the end of each phase.
 * Void melee helm
 * Void ranger helm
 * Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory
 * Elite void knight torso > Void knight top
 * Elite void knight legs > Void knight bottom
 * Void knight gloves
 * Steadfast boots / Glaiven boots > Bandos boots / Armadyl boots
 * Completionist cape > Max cape > TokHaar-Kal / Ava's alerter
 * Chaotic maul > Godsword > Saradomin sword > Torag's hammer
 * Zaryte bow > Chaotic crossbow & Offhand chaotic crossbow > Crystal bow
 * Royal bolts / Onyx bolts (e) > Dragonbane bolts
 * Warrior's ring (i) / Archer's ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) > TokKul-Zo > Ring of life
 * Penance aura > Vampirism aura

The Action bar above shows some abilities to use to effectively slay the Queen Black Dragon. The Berserk ability can be used to double your damage output against her. By using the vast number of basic abilities, you should be able to charge to threshold quickly. Using the Assault ability, you can deal up to 15,000 damage in a series of 3 hits. Damage on the queen is capped at 5000 per hit.

Inventories

 * 1 overload flask, or one extra brew if you don't have overloads.
 * 1 prayer renewal flask
 * 1 super antifire, or 1 antifire potion if you are using a dragonfire shield/anti-dragon shield
 * 5-8 super restore flasks
 * 16-19 of the best food you can use
 * 20+ dreadnips
 * 200+ steel of legend scrolls if using a steel titan.
 * If using a beast of burden, fill it with food.
 * If you want to do multiple trips use a beast of burden such as terrorbird, tortoise, or yak

Strategy
'''WARNING: THE QUEEN BLACK DRAGON CAN HIT EXTREMELY HIGH, OFTEN 300+. BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR PROTECTION PRAYERS/CURSES. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO USE A DRAGONFIRE/ANTI-DRAGON SHIELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN ANTIFIRE POTION.'''

Once you get inside, place yourself at where you want to be at. The Queen Black Dragon is sleeping, and it takes around 10 seconds to find out that you are in its lair. Use Protect/Deflect Melee if you are going to melee it. If you are going to range beyond the first "crystal", use Protect from Missiles. Here are some of the Queen Black Dragon's attacks:
 * Dragonfire: An attack shared with all types of dragons, but this is a much stronger version, even out-hitting the KBD's three special dragonfire attacks. It is so powerful that even a Super antifire in tandem with a dragonfire shield will only reduce the damage to around 200. Warning: If no dragonfire protection is used, this attack will hit for over 900 damage.
 * Melee attack: The Queen Black Dragon lunges and bites in a manner not unlike that of other dragons. This can hit up to 475.
 * Ranged attack: The Queen Black Dragon sways her head in a slashing motion. This is very accurate, and can hit up to 525 or higher.
 * Fire Wave: This is an attack similar to the fire wall that Char uses in The Firemaker's Curse. The Queen Black Dragon uses this attack with a message "The Queen Black Dragon takes a huge breath". There will always be one or two holes in the wall. Standing still and being hit by the wall will deal around 1500 damage (in two separate hits of 750). If you think you can't make it to the gap in the firewall, then run through the firewall, only dealing one hit, rather than two. The amount of consecutive waves increases in number with each phase from a single wave in phase 1 to two waves in phase 2 and three waves in phases 3 and 4.
 * Time Stop: This only occurs in phase 4. One spirit will say a phrase, and it must be killed or time will stop. Only the spirit who said it and the Queen Black Dragon will be able to move about, which is incredibly dangerous due to the fire waves, chaotic clouds and attacks that can easily kill you. Do not panic, and drink your brews quickly to avoid a nasty death.
 * Extremely hot breath: This only occurs in phase 4. This is the Queen Black Dragon's extreme dragonfire attack, which is required to complete the construction of the royal crossbow. A huge multi-coloured breath of fire will come out of the Queen Black Dragon for ? ticks. Staying at the far corners of the edge will make you take less damage, while staying closer to the middle will cause more damage.
 * Summons -
 * Tortured soul: The message "The Queen Black Dragon releases one of her captive, tortoured souls." means she will spawn a level 147 tortured soul. The spirit has 500 life points and uses a weak melee attack, but it also has a slow-moving, black flame portal-like special attack that can hit 152-199 damage. The special attack cannot be blocked by prayers, but it can be avoided. The special will follow you, and if you time it right you can run through the spirit right after it spawns by clicking on the opposite side of it. This will draw the special attack through the spirit, damaging the spirit and dissipating the special attack. They will only use the special attack once when they spawn and use inaccurate melee attacks, it is instead advised to continue damaging the queen while paying attention to the spirits (the current spirits will be replaced with new spirits who will use their special attack)
 * Giant worms: She will spit out level 105 Giant worms. The longer you wait to activate the crystal in between phases the more Giant worms will spawn. The Giant worms use magic and melee attacks, similar to grotworms. As their magic attack is quite accurate, these should be dealt with by hitting the active crystal as fast as possible and quickly killing them off. It is recommended to use a steel titan (if you have one) to help kill them.

Phase One
This phase should be relatively easy, but watch out for the fire wall attack (it will only be one in this wave, however). The Queen will not summon spirits in this phase. She has very low defence at this stage, as weak-fighting familiars and a decent range level can hit often on her. Make sure to keep your hitpoints above 2000 lifepoints at all times. When her healthbar depletes stand next to the crystal in the centre of the platform to activate it instantly to avoid her spitting out any Giant grotworms. Kill any worms as soon as possible while being attentive to the Queen!

Phase Two
This phase is a bit harder. She will fire 2 fire walls instead of just 1; be careful to move quickly to avoid both walls. She will randomly summon 1 tormented spirit at different times, which will use its special attack immediately, so a good idea is to click on the square opposite the spirit (its special attack will follow you and damage the spirit instead).

Phase Three
Phase 3 is harder than the second. The Queen releases 3 fire waves instead of 2. Also the tormented souls come in groups of 2 at a time and will use their special attack, so try to lure their special back to them and heal to full lifepoints if you cannot avoid the attacks. Tormented spirits are a concern here and should be dispatched as soon as possible.

Phase Four
This is by far the hardest phase, and as such should be executed very carefully. The Queen will use 3 fire waves and summon 4 Tormented spirits this phase. It is possible to be killed if not above 4000 life points. Dodge these attacks like in the previous waves. Instead of clicking on the square opposite of the soul like in the previous phases, try clicking the square diagonal of a soul to avoid possible death. However, in this phase, often times one of the spirits will move off to the side and start saying things like, "Time is short!". It must be killed immediately to prevent the timestop spell from being cast. You cannot eat or move when this happens. The Queen can still attack you and create fire waves, and it is likely you will die even if you have above 4000 life points. Kill the spirit as fast as possible.

If using ranged, it is recommended to stand to one on side of the platform so that you are not directly in front of the Queen when she uses her extremely hot breath attack. When this attack is used it is highly recommended to move to one side of the platform to avoid the highly damaging blue fire.

After depleting her healthbar, activate the final artifact and she will return to her slumber. Any surviving souls or grotworms will die when the staircases appear.