Kalphite Queen

The Kalphite Queen (Kalphiscarabeinae Pasha), also called the KQ, is the 15th highest level monster in all of RuneScape (14th highest level monster fought by conventional means), and is the sixth highest level monster that is neither quest or activity related.

The Kalphite Queen is famous for dropping the moderately valuable Dragon chainbody armour (having an Exchange price of about coins), and is the only monster besides the Dust Devil to do so. It can also be received from a high-level Barbarian Assault gamble, but this is very rare with odds rumoured to be 1:10,000. Many players also hunt for the Kalphite Queen head for their trophy room.

The Kalphite Queen is one of the toughest monsters in RuneScape, and she can inflict incredible amounts of damage, sometimes constantly. It is recommended for players to only bring items into the hive they are willing to lose.

The addition of various options to the Quick Chat menu has allowed players a convenient method of communicating when organising and undertaking a Kalphite Queen attack.

Location
There are three ways to get to the Kalphite Hive.

Kharidian Desert
One way involves the player finding their way through the Kharidian Desert. The easiest way to do this is from the Shantay Pass. (Various Teleportation methods also go to locations in the desert somewhat near the hive's entrance.) The Shantay Pass is located south of Al Kharid. To go through the pass, the player will need either to buy a Shantay pass from the nearby Shantay for a small fee of 5 coins or to bribe the nearby guard into granting passage for 200 coins.

The hive's entrance is due west of the Shantay Pass and is really a short run. Players who are lucky and fast may get to the hive before being affected by the Desert heat. Many players instead sacrifice an inventory space and bring a Waterskin to beat the heat.

Dorgesh-Kaan
Another way requires players to have completed the Death to the Dorgeshuun quest, so that they can access Dorgesh-Kaan's southern agility course and thus the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon below the course. In the dungeon a tunnel connects to the upper level of Kalphite Hive, in a cave with many Kalphite Workers.

Players should take Light sources for the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon or else they will constantly be attacked by stinging insects in the dark.

Fairy Rings
A third way requires partial completion of the Fairytale II - Cure a Queen quest, so that players can use the Fairy ring network. Ring BIQ is quite close to the hive's entrance and is the fastest way to get there. Typically, players can run from the ring to the entrance without being in the desert long enough to be affected by desert heat. However this will take an inventory spot away, unless you have done the final part of the fairy quest.

Accessing the hive
Players entering the hive from the surface will need two Ropes, unless coming from the cave entrance, one to enter the upper level of the hive and another to enter the lower level where the queen is found. Both ropes will be used up in the process. Players entering the hive from the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon only need one rope, to enter the lower level where the queen resides.
 * ropes are only needed for the first time. Subsequent trips will NOT need more ropes

The Kalphite queen's Abilities
The kalphite queen has two forms, each one having a high combat level of 333 and exactly 2,550 life points. Her first form resembles a immense scarab beetle, and her second form resembles a giant wasp. While each form has the same combat level and life points, the second form has proven itself to be much harder to defeat than the first one.

In her first form she uses protect from magic and protect from ranged, making ranged and magic attacks useless against her first form. However, it is still possible to hit with these attack styles since her prayers do not offer 100% protection. She uses all three combat styles, each with a max hit of 314.

Once the first form is defeated, the second form appears. This form uses protect from melee, but still uses the same attack styles with the same max hit. In this form she also start to summon lvl 28 kalphite workers. It should be noted that the second form is much more difficult to defeat than the first form.

Luckily her attacks are somewhat predictable: Whenever she uses a ranged or magic attack she usually continues it for 3-4 hits. This makes a prayer switch partially effective, as there is a good chance she repeats the same attack style after a few hits before switching to another. (Note: This is only for her ranged and magic attack.)

According to the Jagex Game Guide, "While the Queen does not pray to any gods, she is naturally immune to certain forms of attack. In her first form she is immune to Magic and Ranged attacks, and will happily eat any adventurer foolish enough to try."

WARNING!: Her magic and ranged attacks have a 100% accuracy, meaning that she will always hit with these styles. Armour does not prevent this. However, her melee attacks are normal so armour can respond to it.

Her ranged and magic attacks also have the ability to bounce to other players, meaning that she can damage all players inside the room with one attack. These attacks cannot, however, turn corners. And her ranged attack cannot go through the Kalphite Queen.

She is immume to leech curses and will destroy dwarf multicannons set up in the room.

Preparations and strategies
Players who wish to fight her should not take her lightly. She is very difficult to kill and can hit very high and rapidly. Recommended stats would be 80+ attack,80+ strength,60+ defence and 75+ ranged. 37 prayer is a must, but 43 recommended.

Take the best melee armour you can bring, with the most ranged and melee defence. The Kalphite queen has a weakness against crush attacks. So a good crush weapon such as a godsword would be very useful. Also bring some ranged equipment for the second form. A rune/chaotic crossbow and ruby bolts (e) is a very good choice. Be sure that you can switch combat styles as fast as possible. It's also be useful to bring an extra weapon with a good special attack to use at the beginning of the battle. A dragon dagger (p++) or a dragon mace are recommended, but a dragon halberd could do it as well.

It is recommended to bring a summoning familiar with you. This can be both a fighting familiar (iron/steel titan) to aid you in the battle, or a beast of burden (spirit terrorbird or war tortoise). to carry extra food. A healing familiar (unicorn stallion) is even more useful.

Recommended Items

 * Anti-poison potion or Super antipoison potion - Highly recommended as the guardians poison starting at 68. You also have soldiers that can poison you possibly on your way to the queen.
 * Two ropes to acces the lair (Only for your first time, unless you came in from the third room.)
 * Super or Extreme attack potions
 * Super or Extreme defence potions
 * Super or Extreme strength potions
 * or an Overload potion (if you have 96 Herblore)
 * A few Prayer potions for using protection prayers.
 * Shantay pass to access the desert (only if going to the Kalphite hive via the pass; other routes are possible)
 * One click teleport for emergency reasons (such as the Ectophial or Teleportation Tablet).
 * Food to heal yourself (generally the best available, such as rocktail, sharks, manta rays, or tuna potatoes. High levels can take some monkfish if they have a good team.)
 * A Black mask or Slayer helmet for extra damage (ONLY if Kalphites is the player's Slayer task.)
 * Keris, if possible.

The queen is mostly fought in sets of two. This is the easiest method. The tactic is to stand each player on opposite sides of the Queen; one in front of her and one behind her. This is done for two reasons: 1) She has to turn 180 degrees to damage either of you, so she will rapidly turn between you, and thus hitting you as little as possible, and 2) so her Magic attack can no longer ricochet from one player to another. Her Mage attack however will ricochet between each person. It is highly recommended to pray protect mage at all times.

The best armour for fighting the Kalphite Queen is considered to be a full set of Verac's armour, since the special effect of the Verac's set has a chance to ignore protection prayer and defence bonuses. This makes it also possible to use melee against the second form with much success.

If you have completed as a first resort, Using the spa pool at oo'glog before going to the hive can be very useful, as the spas boost both prayer and life points and give unlimited amount of run energy for a time. (The spas also give temporary immunity to poison, but this will wear off before the player is able to kill the queen, so anti-poison protection will still be needed besides the spa.)

The battle
Once you made your way into the lair you have to walk through a long tunnel in order to reach the queen's room. This tunnel contains poisonable Kalphite soldiers and 2 guardians. You might get poisoned while making your way through the tunnel. if so, just drink one dose of your anti poison potions.

Once you entered the queen's room, you can prepare yourself for the battle. Such as drinking boosting potions, turn on your prayer or summoning the familiars you brought if you haven't done so already. The queen wanders around the other side of the room and can not reach you here.

Once you ran to the queen she will start attacking you. Her ranged and magic attacks are the most dangerous, Protect from magic is the most recommended prayer to use, since it covers the bad magic resistance of your melee armour. While her magic attacks are useless, your armour will protect her ranged and melee attacks normally. Still, even with very high ranged defence her ranged attacks hit very much and high. So keep a close eye on your health when she starts to use it.

First use the special attack weapons you brought before switching to you main weapon. Keep an eye on your health and prayer points. During the battle you might get attacked by the kalphite guardians which wander around the room. If so, turn off your auto retaliate and ignore them. If you brought a beast of burden, take some of it's food once you start to run out.

After the first form is defeated, you get some time to prepare yourself for the next form. Such as switching to ranged and changing attack style. You can also switch your familiar during this time. If you managed to defeat the first form, but can't take on the second one, teleport away to restock and come back once you have a new supplies of food and potions. She will remain at the other side of the room and she remains at the form you took her into before you escaped.

In her second form she starts to summon a lot of lvl. 28 Kalphite workers. They are weak, but come in great numbers. It is now necessary to turn off auto retaliate if you haven't done so already. She also uses protect from melee in this form, so many players switch to ranged or verac.

Solo method
The Kalphite Queen is very difficult to solo, and should only be attempted by players highly experienced in boss fights. To effectively solo her in one trip, near-maxed stats are essential. Bring at least super potions (overload and extreme potions highly recommended), and piety/turmoil. Verac's set is very effective here as well, providing decent bonuses and hitting through the 2nd form's prayer quite often. A special attack weapon such as Dragon Claws is highly recommended, but not required.

As always when attempting dangerous battles, bring a one-click teleport. House teletabs are recommended, as you may sometimes die upon arriving at your teletab destination if you wait until you are very low on health before clicking. A typical high-levelled player might bring the following gear and items:


 * Verac's helm or Helm of Neitiznot


 * Fire cape


 * Amulet of Fury


 * Verac's flail or Chaotic maul or a Barrelchest anchor (it may be a strange choice but its very effective as it has high crush attack and a decent special attack)


 * Verac's brassard or Bandos chestplate


 * Verac's plateskirt or Bandos tassets


 * Barrows gloves


 * Dragon boots


 * Berserker ring

Use the full Verac's set or the Bandos + maul set, of course.


 * Special attack weapon: Dragon claws > Dragon halberd > Armadyl Godsword > Dragon mace


 * Super Prayer (4) > Prayer potion (4)


 * Overload (4)


 * Saradomin brew (4)


 * Teleport to House (Recommended)


 * Antipoison++


 * 22 Rocktail > Cavefish> Shark

More fish in a BoB:

Pack yak > War tortoise > Spirit terrorbird

Alternatively, the fish can be replaced with brews and super restores, but this is much more expensive and unlikely to increase the number of kills/trip enough to cover the cost.

Even with a chaotic maul, 99 attack, overload and turmoil, you will be quite inaccurate on the second form. Hence it can be worth bringing ranged attacks if you can get them sufficiently powerful. Example gear:


 * Void ranged helmet


 * Alerter


 * Amulet of fury


 * Armadyl chestplate


 * Void deflector


 * Void robe bottom


 * Void gloves


 * Chaotic crossbow


 * Ranger's boots


 * Archer ring


 * Diamond bolts (e)

Notable drops
The Kalphite Queen is quite a tough creature, but the drops are very rewarding.

Some of her more enviable drops include:
 * Dragon two-handed sword
 * Kalphite Queen head (see Construction to learn more about the Kalphite head)
 * Dragon Chainbody

Weapons

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Armour

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Ammunition

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Runes

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Gems

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Other

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Trivia

 * When the Kalphite Queen was first released, she only used two attack styles: magic and melee. Players with the protect from magic prayer and a halberd or ranged attack could kill her in both forms without taking any damage if the Guardians did not attack the player, making it possible to achieve many kills in one trip. Jagex has added the ranged attack since then.
 * Both of the Queen's forms are similar to the life cycle of the Cicada. She starts off as a beetle, then transforms into an airborne opponent.
 * It was revealed in the April 2011 BTS that the Kalphite Queen and the King Black Dragon are due to be married on 29 April 2011, to coincide with the wedding of Prince William Windsor and Catherine Middleton in the UK.

Kalphite queen Kalphite Queen

Kalphite Queen