Dragon Slayer

NOTE': For a guide specifically for pures please consider 'this article.''

Dragon Slayer is widely regarded as the hardest free-to-play quest available in RuneScape. It is usually the last quest that free players embark upon, and upon successful completion, players may use the ultimate free-to-play Melee and Ranged body armours: the rune platebody and green dragonhide body, respectively. It was also the last quest in RuneScape to be released before the addition of membership.

Walkthrough


Talk to the Guildmaster in the Champions' Guild. After asking him for a quest, he will tell you to talk to Oziach, who is located west of Edgeville in a small house very close to the Wilderness. Oziach says that to be able to buy a rune platebody from him, you have to kill Elvarg the dragon, who is located on Crandor Isle. He will tell you to go the Guildmaster for information on how to kill Elvarg. '''Ask the Guildmaster about ALL three map pieces and he will give you the 'key' to 'Melzar's Maze'. '''



NOTE: You must talk to him about all three map pieces, or else you cannot obtain them.

Obtaining an Anti-Dragon shield


Go to Lumbridge and then talk to Duke Horacio on the second floor of Lumbridge Castle. Ask him about a shield that will protect you from a dragon's fire breath, and when he asks you which dragon you're going to use it to fight against with, tell him you're "going to slay the mighty Elvarg  of  Crandor Isle  ". He will then give you an Anti-dragon shield and tell you a bit more about the story of Elvarg and the fall of Crandor. Note that if you lose your current shield, you can talk to him again to obtain another. It is also possible to receive multiple shields by getting one from the Duke, dropping it, and asking for another.

You won't need the shield until the end of the quest, so bank it for now.

Obtaining the Map Pieces
These map pieces may be obtained in any order. Once you have all three, use any of the three pieces on any one of the other pieces to form the complete Crandor map.

First Map Piece
For this section, it is recommended that you have a combat level of at least 30, and substantial food.



The first piece is found in Melzar's Maze, south of the Crafting Guild. If you are low combat level, bring some food and armour for the fight with the Lesser demon. To enter, use the maze key on the door.
 * Kill a medium sized zombie rat until one drops the red key. Use this on the north-west door, then go up the ladder.
 * The orange Key is dropped by ghosts. Kill the ghost located in a separate room until you get the key, then go through the middle door, second from the north, on the east wall and climb the ladder.
 * Kill the skeleton with the small round buckler, not the square shield or no shield, which drops the yellow key. Use it on the south-west door and keep climbing down until you get to the zombies.
 * Kill Zombies which wield swords until you get a blue key. Use it on the north-west door.
 * You must now fight Melzar the Mad. He primarily uses melee attacks but be cautious of his magic, mainly Fire Strike and Weaken. While you are fighting him cabbages will pop out. When killed he drops the magenta key. Use this key on the magenta coloured door.
 * Now you have to fight a lesser demon, which drops the final green key you need. Silverlight may be useful if you melee the demon, cakes are ideal. Rangers should use their strongest Ranged equipment, preferably a maple shortbow and steel arrows (or stronger). Mages should cast bolt spells or stronger. Note that there is a safe spot beside the sacks for those who choose to range, mage or use a halberd against the demon. Bring a friend to help you if you can't kill a lesser by yourself as long as they lower the demon's life close to halfway but not to the point that they will get the key.

Once the demon is defeated, open the final green door and take the map piece from the chest and walk/run out to get the first map piece.

Second Map Piece
Go to Ice Mountain and speak to the Oracle. She will tell you a riddle which holds the answer to the location of the map piece:

"'''The map's behind a door below, but entering is rather tough This is what you need to know, You must use the following stuff:

First, a drink used by a mage, Next, some worm string changed to a sheet, Then, a small crustacean cage, Last, a bowl that's not seen heat.'''"



To obtain this piece of the map, you'll need an unfired bowl ("bowl that's not seen heat"), whether it be bought or created with the Crafting skill, a Wizard's Mind Bomb ("drink used by a mage"), which can be bought in Falador for 3 coins, a lobster pot or a crayfish cage ("small crustacean cage"), which can be bought in Port Sarim's fishing shop, and a piece of silk ("worm string changed to a sheet"), which can be bought in Al Kharid or in Varrock.

Once you have all these items, venture down into the mysterious and damp Dwarven Mine.



Inside the mine is a room with a sealed door in the northeast part of the mines, just north of the scorpions. When you've found it, use all the items on the "Magical Door." Be sure to use the Wizard's Mind Bomb with the door, as the left-click action for it is to drink it. They will disappear after usage.

Trying to use the items on the door without consulting the Oracle results in the message "I have no idea what I should put in the opening of this door. Maybe I should just leave it for now."

When you open the chest inside, the following message is displayed: "Here I rest the map to my beloved home. To whoever finds it, I beg of you, let it be. I was honour-bound not to destroy the map piece, but I have used all of my magical skill to keep it from being recovered. This map leads to the lair of the beast that destroyed my home, devoured my family, and burned to a cinder all that I love. But revenge would not benefit me now, and to disturb this beast is to risk bringing its wrath down upon another land. I cannot stop you from taking this map piece now, but think on this: if you can slay the Dragon of Crandor, you are a greater hero than my land ever produced. There is no shame in backing out now."

The chest in this room contains the second map piece.

Third Map Piece
The third and final map piece is in the possession of a goblin named Wormbrain, who is being held in the jail at Port Sarim. There are two ways to obtain the map piece:
 * Kill Wormbrain using Ranged, Magic or a halberd and cast Telekinetic Grab on the map piece (requires 33 Magic, or 31 Magic for which you can drink 1-2 Wizard's Mind Bombs to temporarily gain level 33 Magic)
 * Speak to him and pay him 10,000 coins for the piece.



Obtaining a Ship
Go back to the Guildmaster and ask him about acquiring a ship. You will need 90 steel nails, a hammer and 3 regular wood planks (other, such as oak, won't work). You can smith 6 steel bars into 90 steel nails, or buy the nails from the Guild Master in the Champions' Guild or the Grand Exchange. Bring these items and 2,000 coins to Port Sarim and look for Klarense, a sailor. He is located on the southern docks. Buy his boat, the Lady Lumbridge, for 2,000 coins. Board the ship and descend down the ladder, where you will see a hole in the hull. Repair the hole in the ship by using the planks with the hole. Do this three times and the hole will be repaired.

Go to Draynor Village and talk to Ned, the person who makes ropes for you. Bring your map. Ask him to be the captain and help sail you to Crandor. He will agree and tell you to meet him on your ship.

The Fight
Before setting off for Crandor Island, stop at the Draynor Village bank. Get out your anti-dragon shield, your best armour suited for your fighting style, your one-handed weapon, any potions, runes/bolts (if maging/ranging, although it is advised not to mage monsters like this), teleport runes, and fill the rest of your inventory with food (lobsters or better). Member foods, such as sharks and sea turtles will heal you if you have low hitpoints easily; make sure your health is at least 13 because it can deal up to 12 damage even if you are wearing rune armour. She can also hit faster than you can eat. If possible, try to avoid bringing food that is eaten in more than one bite, such as pizzas. They may heal more hitpoints in the long run, but the extra time needed to eat them could mean defeat in the battle with the dragon.

NOTE: Elvarg can be killed in more than one trip, so if you run out of food you can go to bank, come back and Elvarg 's hp will still be when you left off (Elvarg 's hp will still slowly recover).

Board your ship, talk to Ned and tell him you're ready to sail to Crandor Isle. A short cutscene will play, during which Elvarg flies over your ship in circles and sets it on fire! Cabin Boy Jenkins starts to panic. He will catch on fire, take 10 damage and die. After crashing on the shore, make your way across the island to the peak, avoiding the progressively stronger monsters. Run past the lesser demons at the top and take the stairs into the heart of the island.

Another cutscene plays, showing Elvarg's lair, full of bones, skeletons, and a silhouette of a warrior that came before (and was burnt-down) on the wall, before moving the camera angle to Elvarg, showing her as if she was coming closer to you (well, the camera, actually), and the theme tune (Attack 2) starts playing. Please note that your Prayer will drain upon entering the lair.

Move past the skeletons until you see Elvarg behind a short wall of spikes protruding from the ground on the east. Climb over it, making sure that your anti-dragonfire shield is equipped, and begin the fight. If in the middle of the fight you leave Crandor Island, via teleport or any other means, you don't need to repair the Lady Lumbridge or convince Ned again, you can just use the secret passage way through the Karamja Volcano dungeon, after you unlock it first, of course. To do this, you must have first walked through the secret passage wall at least once from Crandor heading to Karamja Volcano, and it will always be open for you, so you can use it to travel underground from Karamja to Crandor and vice versa.

It helps to unlock this passage before fighting Elvarg, to provide a fast escape route should the battle go wrong. For obvious reasons, you can't use this passage from Karamja if you haven't reached this point during or after the quest before, as you can't reach Crandor before doing so.

After unlocking this passage, it becomes the only way to reach Crandor, as Klarense won't let you board the ship again under the excuse that it is another ship (he supports this by painting Klarense's Cruiser on top of Lady Lumbridge).

Melee
Being a dragon, Elvarg is weakest to stab attacks. If you use a slashing weapon, such as the popular rune scimitar, you can still defeat Elvarg but you will not hit her as often. Crush attacks will do moderately well against Elvarg, but not as well as stab attacks.(Avoid using the Silverlight or Darklight they do little damage, and are very inaccurate unless against a demon.) For stab attacks an adamant sword/rune sword would work the best. You could also use a rune battleaxe for its crush attack, but avoid adamant battleaxes. If you are a member then you could use a dragon dagger p++ or a dragon longsword (if you've completed Lost City, that is). Also, a rune dagger p++ could get the job done if you poison then stand in a safe spot.

Always be sure to equip your anti-dragon shield, as it reduces Elvarg's dragonfire damage. Members can use antifire potions to further reduce damage from dragonfire. With an anti-dragon shield and antifire potion, Elvarg's maximum hit with fire is only 7.

Many players have been able to defeat Elvarg with a combat level of about 40 to 45. If you attempt to beat her with a low level, make sure you bring plenty of swordfish or lobsters (if F2P), or monkfish (if P2P). If you have a combat level of about 60 you should be able to beat Elvarg more easily.

Some people find that a combination of mage and melee works, but it depends on wether you have a high enough mage lvl (so you can mage the dragon while you have rune or adamant on.)

Ranged


If you use ranged on the dragon, make sure you are using a crossbow since it is one-handed, unlike a bow which is two-handed. With the crossbow, you are still able to equip the anti-dragon shield necessary for the quest. Bring plenty of bolts (at least 500) and wear your best leather and dragonhide equipment. As your armour will not have high melee defence, make use of the safespot in the south-east area of her lair behind a wall of stalagmites. This won't protect you from her dragonbreath, which can hit at a distance, but will keep you away from her melee attacks, which can be devastating to you if you wear anything besides adamant armour. Another method would be to wear the Anti-dragon shield until you get to the safe spot. You can then switch to a bow using long range and snipe Elvarg to death.

Magic
Magic is not a common approach to the fight with Elvarg and will almost hit nothing on the dragon unless you have at least 50 magic. Magic is more effective against Lesser Demons and Greater Demons and is not highly recommended, but it is still possible to carry out, and can give certain members an advantage. Mages should cast at least Fire Bolt and bring lots of runes for casting offensive spells. If you choose to mage Elvarg, use the safespot behind the stalagmites in the south-east corner of the room. In members', it'll be much easier with antifire potions with an anti-dragon shield as Elvarg's dragonfire can shoot over long distances, and if you are far away from Elvarg, she will automatically use dragonfire. Plus, anti-dragon shields give no negative mage bonuses.

Defensively
Whatever your fighting style, as stated before, an anti-dragon shield is a must. Members can make use of antifire potions to completely negate the damage from Elvarg's dragonbreath attacks. If your Prayer is high enough, Protect from Melee will block Elvarg's melee attacks; a combination of Protect from Melee, an antifire potion, and an anti-dragon shield will negate melee damage and reduce fire breath damage to 7 at a maximum. However, prayer points are drained during combat, so a prayer restoration method (such as prayer potions) may be necessary if you choose to pray.



Elvarg's dragonbreath can hit up to 60+ without an anti-dragon shield; you have been warned! Keeping your health above the 20s, just to be safe, is a good strategy in case Elvarg hits multiple times in a row with her dragonbreath. Her melee attacks can hit up to 10, so wear the best armour possible!

If you run out of food, teleport unless you can kill Elvarg in one or two more hits. It is better to retreat from the fight with your items intact then die and lose them. Because only players who are doing Dragon Slayer and are on the fight with Elvarg may enter the lair, it is extremely unlikely that anyone will be able to repair or bless your gravestone. Elvarg is extremely strong, therefore, bring foods which heal plenty of HP, such as lobsters or swordfish for F2P and monkfish and sharks for P2P.

Conclusion


Once you kill Elvarg, a cutscene will play during which you cut off Elvarg's head. It will appear in your inventory. Leave Crandor and take the head to Oziach, who will declare you worthy and give you your reward.



There are several ways to leave Crandor after the fight:
 * Teleport away, using Lumbridge Home Teleport, an explorer's ring or a teleportation spell; teleport directly to Edgeville using an Amulet of Glory
 * Exit Elvarg's lair and continue along the dungeon, avoiding the skeletons and lesser demons, until you come to a wall. If you push that wall you will pass through a secret door and end up inside the Karamja volcano. From there you can pay 30 coins (which you can bring with you or raise on the island by selling items to the general store or working for Luthas) to sail to Port Sarim.
 * If you have not opened the secret door, it is advised you teleport out because if you are on low health from the fight then the lesser demons outside the lair might kill you.

'''If you lose the head, you cannot go back and kill Elvarg for another. Simply return to Oziach and the quest will end as normal. '''

Reward

 * 2 Quest Points.
 * The ability to equip a rune platebody and a green dragonhide body.
 * 18,650 Strength Experience
 * 18,650 Defence Experience
 * Unrestricted access to all of Crandor Isle.
 * Free anti-dragon shield (given by Duke Horacio in the beginning, or whenever you want another)

Music
Music tracks unlocked:
 * Attack 2
 * Melzar's Maze
 * The Shadow

Trivia

 * The lowest level to ever complete the quest with proof was a level 3. Please see this video for reference.
 * It used to be that when Elvarg died, the player would be teleported outside with the Quest Complete banner, without cutting off Elvarg's head. There was no need to return to Oziach.
 * Elvarg used to be locked in a cage with a door to go through, rather than a wall to jump over.
 * In RuneScape Classic, Telekinetic Grab was the only way to complete the quest after some quest items were made nontradeable, as there was no option to buy the map piece from Wormbrain. Thus the quest carried a requirement of 33 Magic. Before the transition to RuneScape 2 a few players could wear rune platebody without 33 Magic, as they had completed the quest before the map pieces were made nontradeable. There are very only a few few accounts remaining that possesses those retained items and skills, however.
 * Before the Crandor Isle update, there were no cut scenes of Elvarg at all. The dragon never set fire to the ship; rather, Ned said the ship crashed because he made a "wrong turn." Strangely enough, there was no mention of the cabin boy after you set sail to Crandor.
 * There was an old glitch before the quest update that allowed Elvarg to send dragonfire towards you through the cage like the Brimhaven dragons after you entered then exited from the cage. The only way to escape was going up to the rope that leads to the surface of Crandor Island, or to teleport away.
 * If you talk to Ned in Draynor Village after setting sail to Crandor, and ask him how he got back, he will say "I got towed back by a passing friendly whale." Yet Ned remains on the crashed Lady Lumbridge on Crandor even after the quest.
 * Previously, before the Crandor update was introduced, it was possible to attack Elvarg, then have someone else to finish him, wait until they finish, walk out of his lair and a message would come up saying,"You have completed the Dragon Slayer quest" complete with the regular award for doing the quest. This is no longer possible, due to the requirement of bringing back the dragon head (as proof of your deed) to truly finish the quest. The dragon head acquired is only visible to a player who has taken on the quest and killed Elvarg himself.
 * It once was possible to enter Elvarg's lair and fight it; but if you died before you managed to kill it; you could travel to Crandor and enter again before she recovered completely. This would make the fight very much easier, and if the player only carried three valuable items (four if the player uses the "Protect Items" prayer) the loss would be minimal.
 * Long ago, the exp reward was determined by the attack style you used. If you used "Accurate" attacking style, you would get strength and defence exp, if you used "Aggressive" attacking style, you would get attack and defence exp, and if you used "Defensive" attacking style, you would get attack and strength exp. This, of course, no longer applies.
 * If you enter the lair, and someone else is attacking Elvarg, if Elvarg decides to attack you instead, both of the players will receive Elvarg's head.
 * If you accidentally exit the cutscene after the cabin boy died, you'll be back in Port Sarim and he'll be alive again.