King Black Dragon

The King Black Dragon (also known as "the KBD") is the 23rd strongest monster in RuneScape, but it was the strongest monster available to kill when it was released. Recently, the King Black Dragon has lost popularity since most of the loot that it drops may be acquired from monsters that are easier to kill, such as the Giant Mole in Falador Park. He is still fought, however, by clans or individuals looking to pass time or just for the experience of killing it. Additionally, many players choose to kill the King Black Dragon in hopes of receiving a draconic visage. Even though some easier monsters drop similar loot, the KBD drops high-priced items very often so it still can remain a good source of money.

The King Black Dragon was the highest level monster in the game until 7 September 2004 when it was replaced by the Kalphite Queen. Afterwards, it was the highest level monster in the Wilderness, but it was soon replaced by the Chaos Elemental. Afterwards, it was the highest level dragon but was replaced by the mithril dragon. It is now the highest level dragon in the Wilderness, as well as the highest level chromatic dragon. The King Black Dragon is still the highest level monster in RuneScape Classic.

The King Black Dragon can also be killed for Slayer if a player's task is black dragons.

The King Black Dragon Lair


The King Black Dragon Lair is a multi-combat area, allowing groups of players to fight him simultaneously. The lair is a level 44 Wilderness dungeon near the Lava Maze. The dungeon may be accessed via a ladder in a fenced area on the west end of the Lava Maze containing four Lesser Demons. The ladder leads to an area with poison spiders, and a lever which will teleport the character to the King Black Dragon's lair. The lair itself isn't in the Wilderness, but players are in the Wilderness until they pull the lever. If a player gets teleblocked, they can't pull the lever. Players also do not need to leave via ladder, as teleporting can be used to exit the lair.

It is common to use the obelisks located throughout the Wilderness, which will teleport you randomly to other obelisks in various places within by activating them, one of them being in level 44 Wilderness at the Frozen Waste Plateau, and another one being found south of the Lava Maze, which are both right near the KBD lair. The only danger when using this method is players may be teleported to a multicombat area and be confronted by multiple revenants at once. This is especially notable at the obelisk near the Rogue's Castle, as 2 or more revenant knights, revenant orks and the Chaos Elemental have been known to patrol nearby together, and since it is in deep Wilderness, it is very likely players may get poisoned by them, as well as being teleblocked, preventing players from using the obelisks. Also, the Chaos Elemental CAN come close to the obelisk, so it is advisable to turn off auto-retaliate when using the obelisks.

Attacks
The King Black Dragon only uses melee when fighting, but he has very high defence, and also uses 4 different types of dragon breath attack that have fairly devastating effects, which makes him a well-rounded and difficult foe. His 4 dragonbreath attacks consist of the following:


 * Regular dragonfire. (All adult dragons have that)
 * Shock-like breath that can reduce your stats. It is suggested that you have 75 defence or higher and good mage defence armour.
 * Ice breath that can stop players from moving or attacking.
 * Poison breath that will deal 80 poison damage. You should bring at least 1 anti poison potion if you want to kill him.

All of these breath attacks are long ranged, including the regular dragonfire. They can also cause severe damage to those without the proper protection. When a player is using both an antifire potion and anti-dragon shield, the King Black Dragon can hit up to 100 with his 3 unique breaths, though his normal breath will hit 0. Killing him becomes easier if the group forms a circle around him as he cannot attack everyone at the same time, and needs to pause between attacks in order to choose a target. Note: Do not just use an antifire potion to defend against the King Black Dragon's attacks. This will do almost nothing and he will hit very high 400s with dragon fire breath. Wearing a antifire shield reduces his max hit from over 638 with fire to 250 with melee. A Super antifire can also be used to protect you as much as an AntiFire potion+Anti Dragonfire shield would protect you from the KBD's attacks, However you need 85 herblore and you cannot use the assist system to make this.

Suggestions for Fighting
An anti-dragon/dragonfire Shield is essential as all dragons can deal well over 500 life points of damage to a player not wielding one (unless you use a super antifire). Using an antifire potion in conjunction with an Antifire shield or a Dragonfire shield completely protects the player from the dragon's breath. There are no specific levels required to fight this monster, but for players who wish to Melee in a team, having a combat level in the mid 80's should be enough and for players who wish to fight using Ranged in a team, having a Ranged level in the mid 60's will suffice for two to three kills if in a two man team with 70+ defence and using ruby bolts (e). If not then ranged level 75+ is recommended.

Remember that the amount of kills you can get per trip depends on the levels of the people on your team, and the amount of people on it. Teams with two players and the levels stated above may only get one, or two kills in one trip, whereas teams with higher level players and/or more players will invariably get more kills each trip.

Cannon does not work, it will blow up.

With a Team
Killing the King Black Dragon in a group of two or more people makes it much easier than doing it alone due to the damage taken being split in half. The most effective way of dealing damage is by using melee or range. For those looking to use regular combat against the dragon, it is recommended to use the Protect from Melee prayer while using an anti-dragon shield. To evade the fire breath completely, use an antifire potion with your shield. It is highly recommended to use super attack and super strength potions to take less damage and make the fight faster. A typical inventory for a person using melee has the following items:


 * One click teleport(in case things go bad or just to leave after you are done)
 * Antipoison potion as the King Black Dragon can poison you sometimes, for players without an Abyssal Whip or another powerful weapon, poison can take affect around 2 or 3 times before the player or KBD dies. For players with powerful 1-handed weapons the KBD will only poison around once every three kills provided the player is hitting 150+ damage and hitting 2 out of every 3 attacks
 * Stat boosting potions for Attack and Strength
 * Antifire potion
 * Prayer Potions
 * Food (Monkfish or higher is strongly advised)

Using range is also effective to deal damage. Rangers should remember that using a crossbow is the only powerful way to range while wielding a shield (toktz-xil-ul, throwing knives, darts , javelins and throwing axes still work), so it is the only way to range this tough beast, unless the player has a very high Herblore level to make Super antifires. Rangers are also advised to use antifire potions so as to completely negate the effects of the dragon's fire. Additionally, rangers are also advised to take a ranging potion to boost their level throughout the fight, thus having a higher chance of hitting the Dragon. Rangers are not required to use prayer because they do not take melee damage, but prayers to boost your Ranged level such as Eagle Eye or to reduce damage like Deflect/Protect from Magic. This inventory is typical for a ranger:


 * One click teleport(in case things go bad or just to leave after you are done)
 * Antipoison potion as the King Black Dragon can poison you time over time
 * Stat boosting potions for Ranged
 * Antifire potion
 * Food (monkfish or higher is strongly advised)

The melee and Ranged setups are very basic and you can switch numerous parts of it to better suit your levels (like using an amulet of fury instead of an amulet of glory or using Karil's instead of black dragonhide armour).

Solo
Warning: Soloing the King Black Dragon is DANGEROUS and should not be attempted by low levels and people who do not wish to lose their items.

Before you attempt to kill the KBD alone, remember that all its attention will be focused on you, so do not rely on the experience from trips to kill the King Black Dragon in a team, to work for a solo trip.

For a rough estimate, you should be at least level 95-110 combat to get at least one kill by using melee and if you are ranging, then your range should be around the high 70's or low 80's. Some level 60s - 80s have soloed the King Black Dragon (non-pures) but this is very hard to achieve. However, using ruby bolts (e) you can solo the kbd with level 61+ ranged. Please remember that these are very rough numbers; the KBD can be killed with lower stats, but the lower your level the harder it becomes and even at these levels, its not easy to do. Melee users should use Prayer retaining armour such as Initiate armour or Proselyte armour and the Protect from Melee prayer as well as Super attack, super defence and a super strength potion. Rangers are advised to use Karil's armour and at least Ruby bolts with a Ranging potion.



Melee users as well as rangers are advised to use the inventories previously stated with a few changes, these items are more of a necessity than a recommendation:


 * A one click teleport (Ectophial will work)
 * Stat enhancing potions
 * Antifire potion or Super antifire
 * Super anti-poison
 * Food (at least sharks), Monkfish if level 110+
 * Summoning pouches for a combat familiar or Beast of Burden (not necessary but very helpful)
 * Dragon dagger (super poisoned) (melee only, use at start of fight and when special bar recovers)

Remember that when you solo, the dragon will focus only on you, increasing the damage done in comparison with a team, so you must watch your life points, as well as your prayer points very carefully.

Those with level 85 herblore to make super antifire potion (a normal antifire potion WILL NOT WORK) are highly recommended to wield a Zamorakian spear. Its stab bonus makes it very accurate and if using extreme potions and turmoil it has been known to crash teams of up to five level 99 rangers. The King Black Dragon is far weaker to stab than anything else, even ranged.

100% drop

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Weapons

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Arrows and Runes

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Armour

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Ores and Bars

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Gems
Note: There sapphires around the area of fighting


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Other

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Trivia

 * The King Black Dragon can talk, as seen in A Tail of Two Cats. During the final cutscene he is visited by Bob the Jagex Cat. During the chat between the King and Bob, a range player attempts to solo the King, is unable to damage him, and is killed in one hit as he had no fire protection.
 * The Three Headed Dragon from Learning the Ropes is very similar in appearance to the King Black Dragon, other than the green scales.
 * All of the fighters on the right art picture have no protection (unless they have super antifire potions) shown except for the warrior, which is being eaten by the right head. (It is hard to tell but you can see the picture of an anti-dragon shield.) However it's worth noting that they could be using antifire potions, instead of a shield. A thing to notice is that according to the picture, the king is somewhat far from the fighters, and the shield is still bigger than the warrior himself. The warrior is using what looks like a dragon platebody (perhaps a chainbody) and a dragon longsword (before the 09 graphical update). The ranger is using a magic longbow. The mage looks like she's wearing blue mystic robes; however, this is unknown.
 * The King Black Dragon makes an appearance as a playable monster in the FunOrb game Armies of Gielinor.
 * Unlike most dragons, the king black dragon has not received the latest graphical update. Mod Wayne has confirmed that the King Black Dragon is soon going to receive a graphic update along with pet dragons, POH dragons and Elvarg.
 * Flametongue, a King Black Dragon that fought during the God Wars, shows that the King Black Dragon may not be the only of his kind.
 * There is a player in the concept art at the king black dragon and he appears to be alarmed at his height based on the exclamation marks slightly above his head.
 * In a letter in the Postbag from the Hedge, the King Black Dragon makes references to "The Kin", possibly referring to the Dragonkin, further implying that the Dragonkin created the Wyverns, and that dragons are a descendant of the Wyverns, and possibly have inherited knowledge from them.

Königs-Schwarzdrache