Desert strykewyrm

Desert strykewyrms are slayer monsters located east of Al Kharid, over a stile due east of the palace. They may only be killed if a player is assigned to kill them by a slayer master (level 77 Slayer required).

A wyrm initially appears as a mound on the ground; the mound may be still or be moving about. Before battle can be initiated with the wyrm, a player must investigate the mound by clicking on it. This causes the player's character to perform the stomp emote, after which the wyrm bursts out of the ground. When the wyrm appears, the player should immediate click on it to initiate combat as otherwise a small amount of time will be wasted before combat begins. (Note that using the stomp emote itself from the emote tab while standing next to the mound will not cause the wyrm to surface.)

If the player is not currently assigned a desert strykewyrm task, investigating the mound still causes the player's character to perform the stomp emote, but the wyrm does not burst forth. Instead, the character will then perform the think emote.

Attacks
The desert strykewyrm's standard attacks are melee and ranged. The wyrm will usually use melee and only occasionally use range when the player is next to it. If the player is not within melee range, the wyrm will use its range attack.

The desert strykewyrm also has a special attack which consists of it burrowing under the ground, moving toward the player, and then bursting out, dealing 300 damage to all players above the wyrm (not just the player fighting it). Running over the strykewyrm right as it bursts out of the ground is very dangerous as it will hit the player twice with its special attack, dealing a total of 600 damage.

The special attack may be avoided by running 2-3 squares away from where the player was standing when the wyrm starts to burrow. Timing is important; hesitating a moment when the wyrm burrows could cause the wyrm's special attack to hit. Many players run directly away from the wyrm when it burrows, but this is not the most effective escape tactic since the wyrm always moves toward where the player was standing when it burrowed and then forward another square. Running off to either side makes it easier to escape. Running toward and beyond where the wyrm submerged may be the most effective escape tactic as it is the faster way to put distance between the player and where the wyrm will surface. Timing is very important with this latter tactic, however, as flubbing it is a good way to get hit twice by the special attack.

Tips
When running away from the special attack, it is best to click on the ground itself instead of the minimap as the player can react to the tactical situation in the area. (For example, if another wyrm is doing a special attack, do not click in its path. This cannot be seen on the minimap.) A player should not click on another mound when trying to get away, as the player will run up to (not onto) the mound and stop, which might leave the player too close to the surfacing wyrm.

The wyrm's special attack can be disabled by standing near any kind of obstacle.

This special attack occurs on average once every 5-10 attacks. Depending upon how fast the player can kill a desert strykewyrm, the special attack may or may not occur with each wyrm battle, but one special attack per 2 or 3 wyrms is very likely.

The special attack of the Enhanced Excalibur is very useful for healing in the occasional event that you are unable to dodge the special attack.

The area is in the desert so waterskins or an enchanted water tiara are needed here. The Lunar spell Humidify is useful to fill up waterskins. Players may bring a knife to refill their waterskins from nearby healthy cacti.

Be careful where you step! You will lose 300 life points by running in the path of another player's wyrm as it performs its special attack!

It is also possible to wear desert robes while killing these for higher combat levels (90+) to prevent too much damage from the desert heat. Alternatively, high levelled players may chose to bring a bunyip with them to heal the damage done by the heat.

Runes

 * 15 Death runes (uncommon)
 * 2-100 Water runes (uncommon) Always together with a grimy herb or seed.
 * 15 Law runes (uncommon)

Weapons and armour

 * Focus sight (rare)
 * Rune hatchet (uncommon)
 * Shield left half (extremely rare)
 * 5 Rune javelins (very rare)
 * Mithril battleaxe (uncommon)
 * Rune spear (very rare)
 * Dragon spear (extremely rare)

Seeds

 * Cadantine seed (uncommon)
 * Avantoe seed
 * Kwuarm seed
 * Toadflax seed
 * Irit seed
 * Watermelon seed
 * Poison ivy seed
 * Snapdragon seed (rare)
 * Maple seed
 * Yew seed
 * Magic seed
 * Cactus seed
 * Torstol seed

Herbs
All herbs are noted.
 * Grimy guam (1-2)
 * Grimy marrentill (1-2)
 * Grimy harralander (1-4)
 * Grimy tarromin (1-4)
 * Grimy toadflax (1-15)
 * Grimy ranarr (1-4)
 * Grimy avantoe (1-4)
 * Grimy kwuarm (1)
 * Grimy cadantine (1-4)
 * Grimy lantadyme (2)
 * Grimy dwarf weed (1-4)
 * Grimy irit (1-4)

Other drops

 * Coins (200, 240, 400, 1201) (very common)
 * Nothing
 * 2 cooked Swordfish (uncommon)
 * 2 Waterskins (4) (common)
 * Super defence potion (2 doses) (very common)
 * Uncut ruby (common)
 * Uncut sapphire (common)
 * Uncut emerald (common)
 * Uncut diamond (common)
 * 5-10 Potato cactus (noted) (uncommon)
 * 10 Yew logs always dropped with 200 coins (noted) (uncommon)
 * 3 Adamant bars (noted) (uncommon)
 * Loop half of a key (rare)
 * Tooth half of a key (rare)
 * Air talisman (uncommon)
 * Body talisman (rare)
 * Mind talisman (rare)
 * Earth talisman (rare)
 * Fire talisman (rare)
 * Chaos talisman (rare)
 * Cosmic talisman (rare)
 * Nature talisman (uncommon)
 * Water talisman (rare)
 * Level 3 Clue scroll (rare)
 * 120 Pure essence (noted) (common)

Trivia

 * Using the stomp emote to attract the Strykewyrm is possibly a reference to the Sandworms from Frank Herbert's Dune norvel series, which are enormous creatures that resemble Strykewyrms in appearance and behaviour.
 * The release of strykewyrms was hinted at by the Twitter hint, "Three strykes and they're out" and the Chaos Elemental hint in the Postbag From the Hedge a few weeks earlier.
 * Desert strykewyrms, along with the rest of the strykewyrms, are the first monsters in RuneScape that make use of Particle Effects.
 * As of 9 March 2010 a bug exists in the game where you can stop Strykewyrms from burrowing into the ground by having a Banner carrier summoned. However this only works when the carrier is close by, i.e. it cannot be stuck behind something.

Desert strykewyrm