Ice strykewyrm

Ice strykewyrms are the highest level slayer monsters, requiring a Slayer level of 93 to kill. They were introduced into the game along with jungle and desert strykewyrms, and they are the only monster that drops the staff of light.

Like other strykewyrms, ice strykewyrms can only be killed by players who are assigned to them as their current Slayer task. Players must additionally complete The Tale of the Muspah quest before Slayer Masters may assign these creatures. The only Slayer masters who can assign Ice strykewyrms are Duradel/Lapalok and Kuradal, but Kuradal assigns ice strykewyrms more often than does Duradel/Lapalok.

When ice strykewyrms were first released, there was also the restriction that they could only be assigned to players who own a fire cape. However, one month after their release, ice strykewyrms became available to slayers who wished to purchase the ability to fight them by using 2,000 Slayer reward points. Despite this, purchasing the ability does not allow players to kill ice strykewyrms outside of a slayer task; it merely unlocks the ability to have them be assigned by a Slayer Master. Nevertheless, players with a fire cape or the purchased ability to kill these strykewyrms may surface an ice strykewyrm once as part of the elite Fremennik Province Tasks as long as they have 93 Slayer. The Slayer level may additionally be achieved using boosts such as the wild pie. Players without the these requirements, however, will either not be able to surface the strykewyrm or will not be able to deal any damage to it whatsoever, including by means of Deflect Curses, Vengeance, rings of recoil, and/or poison. It seems though that a cannon may be used to deal damage to the strykewyrm without having the necessary abilities to harm them by conventional means. After killing an ice strykewyrm for the Fremennik Tasks, players will no longer be able to surface an ice strykewrym without having them assigned as a current slayer task.

Like all strykewyrms, ice strykewyrms reside underground beneath mounds until provoked by a player with the necessary Slayer task. Slayer Masters claim that only those who have been assigned to hunt them may surface the strykewyrms due to the strykewyrm being able to smell the intent of the slayer. By investigating the mounds, the strykewyrm will surface and attack the player. However, the strykewyrm will not attack for about two to three seconds, so players may take advantage of this time to change their position or to get a few good hits in. Players without the necessary task to kill strykewyrms will not be able to surface the strykewyrm and will instead perform the think emote.

Getting there
The Ice strykewyrms are located in a cave to the east of room just before the cave in which the Muspah was frozen during The Tale of the Muspah.

The quickest way to get to the Ice strykewyrms is to use Fairy ring DKS, which is just south of the cave. The entrance to the Ice strykewyrms is the waterfall to the east; If there is water coming through, blocking the way, the player must use a Spade to dam the eastern river in cave where the Muspah was frozen. This will stop the water from coming through and allowing the player to use the entrance.

Attack styles
Ice strykewyrms have four types of attacks: melee, magic, freezing spell and burrow. If the player is within one square of a wyrm, it will use any of the four attack types. At a distance, the wyrm mostly uses its magic attack but will occasionally uses the freezing spell (which looks like Ice Barrage), which renders the player unable to move for around three seconds and cancels the player's next attack. Simply clicking the wyrm will resume attacking immediately.

The Ice strykewyrm's strongest attack is when it burrows underground during battle and then pops back up, dealing 300 life points to anyone around it. The wyrm becomes invulnerable during this time, so attempting to attack it while it is burrowed is futile. This attack can be easily avoided by quickly moving two steps away in any direction. The further away the player is from the wyrm when it burrows (such as when maging from a distance) the easier it is to avoid this attack. It can also use the burrow attack if a player walks into its square and stays there for a couple of seconds, so it is recommended not to do this. The wyrm will not use the burrow attack at all if the player is standing next to an obstacle, such as the cave wall or a stalagmite. Some players believe moving away from the burrow is easier than trying to stand by an obstacle. However, other players believe it is easy to use obstacles. Ranged and magic users can simply move to the nearest obstacle that is out of melee range when the wyrm surfaces. Melee users have to take a little more care, ensuring that when they investigate the mound there will be a obstacle they can stand next to and yet still can melee the wyrm. There are plenty of obstacles in the cave, so this is not very difficult to arrange.

Strategies


Despite requiring level 93 slayer, these creatures have remarkably low defence and may therefore be killed effectively by many different methods. Using an Abyssal whip seems to be more effective than using a Godsword, as both weapons frequently hit high but the whip is significantly faster. However, using magic or ranged is safer than using melee. Some players report that the wyrms can deal damage at a faster rate than a player wearing a full Guthan's set and praying against magic is able to heal.

Ice strykewyrms are weak against fire. Wearing a Fire cape increases all damage dealt to a wyrm by +40. Furthermore, all fire spells hit for 1.5x damage (2x damage if the player is wearing a Fire cape). Fire Surge is apparently the most effective way to kill these creatures, but this spell requires level 95 magic. Players with lower magic levels can use Fire Blast or Fire Wave instead as these spells also deal a fair amount of damage.

Casting ice spells from the Ancient Magicks spellbook will heal the Ice strykewyrms instead of damaging them. .

It is recommend that players use Protection or Deflection Prayers when fighting the wyrms, as they can deal a lot of damage quickly. Protect from Magic and Deflect Magic stops all damage from the wyrm's magic and freezing attacks (although the freezing attack still immobilises the player). When using prayer, players should consider wearing armour with good prayer bonus, such as Proselyte armour, to prolong their prayer points. If Protect from Magic or Deflect Magic is used and the player is standing at least one square away from the wyrm beside a wall or stalactite, no damage will be taken.

Players with 92 prayer or above can also use Soul Split to utilise the heavy damage dealt by wearing a fire cape and/or attacking with fire spells. Since a player can hit well over 1000 in one hit, they will recover over 200 life points. The player should beware when using this method, in case the Strykewyrm gets a string of lucky hits and the player gets a string of unlucky hits. The shark drops come in quite handy in this situation.

Weapons

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Armour

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Runes/Talismans

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Gems/Ores/Bars

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Herbs

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Seeds

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Other

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Trivia

 * Ice strykewyrms, along with the other Strykewyrms, are the first monsters to incorporate particle effects.
 * As of 3 March 2010, players wearing a Fire cape while fighting ice strykewyrms deal 2.0x damage with fire-based spells. Additionally, players wearing a Fire cape deal 40 extra damage with any combat style.
 * In mid-October 2010, a graphical glitch caused Ice strykewyrms and other strykewyrms to get a stripy, wood-like texture on their armour. This is fixed as of 2 November 2010.
 * If you die at Ice Strykewyrms, your gravestone will appear by the cave entrance outside near the fairy ring.

Ice strykewyrm