Black demon

Black demons are large monsters that inhabit a few dungeons across RuneScape. They use melee attacks that can hit up to 167 or more on a player, or up to 200 on a familiar, unless your summoning is higher than 50. They are much stronger than their Greater demon cousins and are often assigned by Sumona, Duradel/Lapalok and Kuradal as Slayer tasks. Black demons drop Infernal ashes as a 100% drop and are considered a good source for Crimson charms with more than a 40% drop rate for these charms. Because of their high combat level and relative ease to defeat, black demons are often killed for their Starved ancient effigy drops and slayer experience.

Locations
Black demons inhabit the following locations:
 * The deeper half of Taverley Dungeon (requires dusty key or level 70 Agility, which needs an antidragon shield. 80 Agility is a substitute, bring antipoison if going this route and under 129 combat. Since the 'bot nuke day', this location is normally empty.
 * Underneath Edgeville, in the level 5 Wilderness section of the dungeon. Although this area is not crowded killing here runs the risk of being killed by player killers
 * The Chaos Tunnels. Multicombat area with 4 black demons - Note: a Dwarf multicannon may not be taken down the tunnels.
 * The Chaos Tunnels resource dungeon has lots of black demons, requires 70 dungeoneering, and is rarely crowded.
 * Brimhaven Dungeon, right before the Iron and Steel dragons, and with the Bronze dragons. Area filled with wild dogs and 3 black demons, one in the bronze dragon room.

In each location there is at least one safespot from which the demons can be fought safely with Ranged, Magic, or a halberd.

Edgeville Dungeon
This used to be a convenient place to slay in relative peace as there are three spawns, enough to sustain one player. Since there is a large safe area near the ladder to the air obelisk, the demons can be conveniently cannoned while ranging them. Even in single combat, the cannon will hit all three demons, ensuring fast and safe kills. Unfortunately, this area is in the wilderness, thus there is a risk of being killed by other players, with no gravestone appearing. Having your cannon set up instead of having it in inventory in the event of a death means that you won't lose it/can retrieve it, and the cannon won't protect over other items you have.

Brimhaven Dungeon
This location is also very good for fighting Black demons - getting in and out is no threat and fighting the Black demons is like usual. However, this area is fairly far from a bank and is full of aggressive Wild dogs, which may attack the player and prevent him or her from killing Black demons until it is killed; this area is therefore not recommended for low levels. A cannon can be used to defeat these demons, but it will also fire at the Wild dogs and even Iron Dragons if you're in the wrong spot. A good strategy is to have Ardougne teleports and use the bank there. There is a ship to Brimhaven to the south east of the bank that costs 30gp (or 15gp if you've earned at least Karamja gloves 1. Another good strategy is to use Karamja gloves 3 to teleport to Shilo Village and use Vigroy's cart for 10gp to get to Brimhaven.

Taverley Dungeon
The nearest bank to Taverley Dungeon is the west Falador bank which is quite close to the dungeon. The Black demons, however, are fairly deep within Taverley Dungeon. This makes for a fairly long journey unless a player has 70 Agility to use the shortcut to Blue dragons. If the player does not have the Agility level required to use the shortcuts, a Dusty Key will be required to access the area. This spot can yield very good Slayer exp on tasks if using a cannon and ranging from one of several safe spots. One option for fairly quick banking is to teleport to the Castle Wars bank chest and return using the balloon transport system. Another is to bring Falador tablets and use the west Falador agility shortcut.

Chaos Tunnels
This area may only work well for high levelled rangers because of the safespot located at the sack pile on the north wall. The Black demons in the Chaos Tunnels used to have a much higher drop rate for charms and were best for high levels who wished to raise Summoning, however, this was changed to bring them in line with Black demons in other areas. Players should be advised of the dangers involved in navigating the Chaos Tunnels before fighting here, including traversing through several multi-combat zones with aggressive monsters.

A player with 70 Dungeoneering can use the Resource dungeon located in the Black Demon chamber which also offers multi-combat.

Note: Dwarf multicannons cannot be brought in the tunnels.

Strategy
Despite their combat level, Black demons have fairly low defence. However, they are usually one of the most dangerous monsters in the dungeons they inhabit because of their accuracy and high max hit. The special of Enhanced Excalibur can assist on these tasks. Also in the Taverley Dungeon, around the corner that separates the Black demons from the baby blue dragons, they have an invisible barrier that they can't pass. Mages and rangers can use this to their advantage. Note that when planning to train prayer with the ashes that are dropped, it is advised to bring infernal urns as this will grant more experience than just spreading the ashes.

Melee
Using melee against black demons is the most cost-effective (and in most cases, the fastest) method of killing them and is the advised method for players who have the appropriate equipment and stats. Due to their accuracy and strength, many players choose to use protection prayers to avoid damage; this is more costly than simply using food but is a lot less risky, and picking up the infernal ashes that are dropped can level out the cost of prayer potions or even turn up a profit. Meleeing black demons without prayer is viable, but good armour and food are required, along with a defence level of 85 or better. However, if you are well armed and prepared, 65 defence could simply be used as well. A healing familiar and ring of life are optional although highly recommended. Prayer flashing can also be used to reduce consumption of prayer points, but requires fast reflexes and good timing. Finally, those with level 92 Prayer can utilise the Soul Split curse to heal slightly with every damaging hit.

Use of a Halberd is much slower than conventional melee weapons, but it is much cheaper as it doesn't require Prayer potions. Taverley Dungeon is the recommended location for using halberds, but the Chaos Tunnels and Edgeville Dungeon can be used as well. Also, the Dragon halberd's special attack will work on Black demons as they are "large" creatures.

Guthan's set-effect is useful when training on Black Demons in a single-combat area. Please note that the demons can damage you very fast and you may not be able to heal fast enough unless you have 80+ defence. A Godsword, Saradomin sword, Abyssal whip, or chaotic weapon is strongly recommended when fighting these, as they have high and consistent hits. The godsword is very good for its prayer bonus and high offensive bonuses, while the whip and Saradomin sword are good for their speed. In case the effect of the armour set can't heal enough on the black demons, there are usually weaker monsters nearby that the player can heal on, such as wild dogs or earth warriors.

Darklight, despite its advantages against demons, is not recommended as it is a much slower weapon.

Another technique, relying fully on prayer, is to wear armour that gives you the best prayer bonus (Vestments with a Godsword or God book and Mace). At higher prayer levels, this can make for long trips at no cost. If your house is in Taverly, or you've completed Love Story, bringing teleport tablets and praying at the nearby altar makes for very efficient trips.

The black demons in the Chaos Tunnels can be killed fairly quickly by a player with the right skill levels and equipment. The key is to utilise the fact that the demons are in a Multicombat area to inflict damage rapidly while avoiding damage, allowing for long stays and many kills. If using Protect from Melee, wear equipment that gives decent prayer bonuses whilst not sacrificing too much strength bonus, such as Ardougne cloak 3, and Amulet of fury. A Ring of wealth can be worn for better drops, a Warrior ring for better combat ability, or an Explorer's ring for prayer bonus. The player should bring at least one Spirit kyatt pouch, many Ambush scrolls, alchemy runes to alchemize drops, and several Prayer potions to recharge prayer. Stronger familiars such as the Iron titan can also be used. The player should have auto retaliate on. When in the demons' chamber, summon the kyatt and repeatedly use its Ambush special move. Between the Verac's special effect and the kyatt's special move, black demons can be killed quickly.

Ranged
Ranging Black demons is nearly as effective as meleeing and is generally less risky. Although all areas that Black demons inhabit contain safespots, Taverley Dungeon is generally regarded as the best of the four, followed by the Chaos Tunnels. Using safe spots can extend staying time, or reduce the amount of food consumed.

Magic
As with all other demons, black Demons are weakest against magic attacks, and there are a few safespots dotted around most of their habitats. However, this is not recommended due to black demons also having very low defence against melee, leading to the low speed and max hits of magical attacks slowing down kills in comparison to using melee unless one's attack level is extremely low. In addition, the cost for runes can add up to losses over time, even when collecting the dropped infernal ashes. The lone exception to this is the Polypore Staff, especially at higher magic levels, because of its cheap usage cost, high maximum damage, and the profitability of infernal ashes. When combined with a extreme magic potion, an Arcane Stream Necklace and a Hexcrest/Full Slayer Helmet (on slayer tasks), the Polypore staff can sometimes even yield faster kills than with melee.

Cannoning
Dwarf multicannons are fairly effective against Black demons, so they are a good option to all who can afford the high price of cannonballs. This is done in Taverley Dungeon. Even though it is a single combat area, the cannon still works there. If you use the safespot, you can attack them all at once, and only get attacked while reloading. You can also melee while cannoning for additional melee xp, although this limits you to fighting one demon at a time.

However, cannons are subject to hitting other monsters, such as Wild Dogs, in the Brimhaven Dungeon.

100% drops

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Weapons

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Armour

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Herbs

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Runes

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Gems/Ores/Bars

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Ranging Items

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Other

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Trivia

 * Black Demons are mostly killed for their ashes that are highly valued beacuse of their use in training prayer.
 * Most Black demons were level 156 in RuneScape Classic. The boss of The Grand Tree quest was level 175. It was the strongest quest monster until the release of the Legends' Quest.
 * Black demons, along with the other demons, got a graphical update on 29 August 2006.
 * Slayer Masters say that the Black demon is the strongest demon. This excludes exceptional demons such as the Jungle demon, Tormented demons, K'ril Tsutsaroth and Nezikchened, which are all higher levelled and have higher max hits.
 * Some players have reported seeing a glitch where pinkish fog appear around the feet of a few of the Black Demons in the Taverley, Brimhaven, and Edgeville Dungeons. This has now been fixed.
 * The animation of demons when idle was updated 5 July 2010. Previously, they didn't move their wings as much, and moved their tail more.
 * There was a graphics error with the transparency of the wings where if you looked closely when the wings were lined up with the body of the demon, you could see right through the solid body of the demon, through the wings. They have now fixed this.
 * Even though the attack animation appears to be a black demon swiping at the player with both its hands, you will only be hit once per attack. This also applies to lesser and greater demons.
 * Their sound effects were updated on 19 April 2010.

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