TzHaar Fight Cave

The TzHaar Fight Cave is an advanced area in RuneScape introduced in October 2005. It is a safe combat minigame in TzHaar City, which means if you die, you will retain all of your items. Up until the release date, the Kalphite Queen had been the most powerful of all creatures within RuneScape. However, the introduction of the TzHaar Fight Cave created 2 monsters, the level 702 TzTok-Jad and the level 360 Ket-Zek, both of which are higher in level. However, the Kalphite Queen is widely regarded to be more difficult to defeat than the level 360 Ket-Zek, despite their lower combat level. More recently the Corporeal Beast has been added to the game which has been the most powerful creature ever since.

Location
Deep under the ground of Karamja, a new species of creature has been discovered. This was introduced in early October 2005. To find the entrance to this underground city, or TzHaar, players must go into the volcano dungeon on Karamja. Once there, players will see a cave entrance, which leads to TzHaar.

Monsters
The residents here are much stronger than most places, which is to be expected from a race living inside a volcano, and have devised many tests of skill and strength. Some, like the TzHaar fight pit, are meant as tournaments between bold adventurers. However, the TzHaar Fight Cave pits adventurers against a succession of waves of monsters, each harder than the last. To get to the final boss, the immensely powerful Level 702 TzTok-Jad, players must battle past six other types of monsters ranging from level 22 up to level 360. Each of these monsters require a different tactic by the player, though, due to the structure of the mini-game, most of them are best fought from a distance.

The monsters are in order of appearance by wave number:

The goal of the Fight Cave is to reach and defeat the level 702 TzTok-Jad, this is however painstaking and very long to do, players will need to keep focus and not panic if they wish to succeed. Unlike the Kalphite Queen, players cannot team up against these monsters.

TzTok-Jad
TzTok-Jad (sometimes referred to as "702" or "Jad") is the final monster encountered in the TzHaar Fight Cave Minigame. Examining the monster yields the discouraging message "This is going to hurt..." TzTok-Jad is also the 2nd highest level monster in all of RuneScape that players can fight with conventional methods (the highest level monster is the Corporeal beast). Those who are skilled enough to defeat it are in for a grand reward, namely the Fire cape, considered one of the best, if not the best, cape in the game (it is also the only animated cape in the game!).

Tactical analysis
In order for one to reach TzTok-Jad, one must first endure 62 rounds of fighting progressively tougher monsters. The current round that the player is on is recorded on the screen. TzTok-Jad himself is a level 702, huge, four-legged behemoth and uses Magic, Melee, & Ranged attacks - he will only melee you when you are adjacent to him; otherwise he alternates between using Magic and Range. All of these can deal enough damage in a single blow to kill even the most powerful of players if not guarded against via using the correct protection prayer. TzTok-Jad has a max hit of 97. When TzTok-Jad is down to half health, he will summon four Yt-HurKots (level 108 with 60 HP and tiny in comparison) which will heal him, effectively causing him to regenerate endlessly until you deal with them. In order to stop them from healing you need to hit them once to draw their attention to you. In order to compensate from Yt-HurKot's 14-Hitpoint damage, turn on the Steel Skin prayer, or kill them. Alternatively, when all of them are attacking you, simply run through TzTok-Jad and they will become trapped behind him (this is not advised unless you are experienced and know his actions). You can use a bow such as Karil's crossbow or the Crystal bow to attack.

Note: When attacking the healers with a bow/crossbow to turn their attention to you, it is advised to set the attack style to longrange first, otherwise you may walk too close to TzTok-Jad, and get hit by its melee attack.

Survival depends on watching his movements; he warns the player before attacking with non-melee attacks. By listening for certain sounds and watching his forelegs prior to his attack, he/she can switch to the appropriate protection prayer and avoid severe damage. Between these attacks the player must switch as quick as possible otherwise he/she could experience hits up to 97s. One way to do this a little quicker is to use the keys "f4" (inventory) and "f6" (prayer), if one wastes even less then a second, the results could be fatal.

Reaching TzTok-Jad takes a considerable amount of time and resources, requiring usually 2-3 hours of continuous playing and a considerable number of potions. Actually defeating TzTok-Jad requires a huge amount of persistence and determination, as TzTok-Jad is rarely defeated in the first few tries from even the best RuneScape players.

Contrary to popular belief, a player's Ranged or Combat Level to a point do not considerably affect the player's performance in the Fight Caves, as the immense difficulty of dealing with the trials and the final battle with TzTok-Jad still remains. A higher defence level, however, DOES help the player to get to TzTok-Jad easier, as the player can equip better armour and will get hit less often.

For players who wish to save their high-healing foods for later fights may choose to find a safespot and wait until their hitpoints heal. This is very time consuming, but casting a Lunar Dream spell, having a bracelet of regeneration equip or Rapid Heal turned on will speed up the healing process.

Recommended Setups
There are generally two approaches to get through the caves. One is using Guthan's and ranged, the other is using ranged only. Magic is ineffective in the caves as a vast quantity of runes is needed, and all the monsters have high magic defence. Note that these setups are only a suggestion, and they can vary from player to player depending on skill levels.

Guthan's Setup
Many players use Guthan's in the early waves as it helps conserve food, and it also has reasonable defence. Players would normally use Guthan's until the Yt-MejKots appear, in which the player would then switch to his/her ranged setup. However, they could still heal on monsters in later waves to replenish their health when needed. Ideal monsters to heal on are Tz-Kih, Tz-Kek, and Tok-Xil. Yt-MejKot's are also ideal to heal on if you are using a safe spot, this is done by hiding in the safe spot, hitting Yt-Mejkot and running back to the safe spot. But it should be noted that when you run back to your safe spot you should wait until its HP bar goes away so it will not attack you.

Here is a suggested equipment setup if you are using Guthan's:


 * Guthan's helm
 * Amulet of fury / God stole / Holy symbol / Unholy symbol / Amulet of glory
 * Guthan's platebody
 * Guthan's chainskirt
 * Guthan's warspear
 * Ava's accumulator / Ava's attractor / Fire Cape / Obsidian cape / Skillcape / Legends cape
 * Adamant bolts / Diamond bolts (e) / Bolt racks / Broad-tipped bolts / Nothing (if using crystal bow)
 * Black spiky vambs / Barrows gloves (Recipe for Disaster)
 * Ranger boots / Snakeskin boots / Dragon boots
 * Archers ring / Explorer's ring (optional) / Berserker ring

And here is the suggested inventory to go with it:


 * Black d'hide body / Karil's leathertop / Armadyl chestplate
 * Black d'hide chaps / Karil's leatherskirt / Armadyl plateskirt / Verac's skirt (optional)
 * Rune crossbow / Karil's crossbow / 2 Crystal bows
 * Granite shield / Dragonfire shield / Elysian spirit shield (optional, and only if using Rune crossbow)
 * 1 Ranging potion (4)
 * 5-6 Saradomin brews (4)
 * 16-18 Super restore potions (4)

Ranged-only Setup
The ranged-only setup involves using ranged all the way through to the end. Many players say this is harder than using Guthan's, as more food and/or potions is required, and you would take more damage. However, it isn't very difficult to make it to the end using only ranged, and it's a good alternative to people who can't afford Guthan's. As you'll be taking more damage, it is highly recommended to maximise your defence bonus (especially slash and ranged, to help defend against Tok-Xil and Yt-HurKot), as well as prayer and ranged attack. Falador Shield 3 gives 100% prayer point restore once per day and a +7 static prayer bonus, making it a good shield alternative to the Elysian shield and the Dragonfire shield. Falador shields 1 and 2 are not recommended as their statistics and prayer restore percentages are not very effective.

Here is the suggested equipment setup if you are using ranged only:


 * Verac's helm / Saradomin coif / Guthix coif / Zamorak coif / Helm of Neitiznot
 * Amulet of fury / God stole / Holy symbol / Unholy symbol / Amulet of glory
 * Black d'hide body / Armadyl chestplate
 * Verac's skirt / Armadyl plateskirt
 * Rune crossbow / Karil's crossbow / Crystal bow
 * Granite shield / Dragonfire shield / Elysian spirit shield / Falador Shield 3 / Any god book and they do not have to be full.
 * Ava's Accumulator / Ava's Attractor
 * Adamant bolts / Diamond bolts (e) / Broad-tipped bolts / Rune bolts for fighting Jad.
 * Barrows gloves / Black d'hide vambraces / Other Gloves obtained from Recipe for Disaster
 * Ranger boots / Snakeskin boots / Dragon boots for defence bonuses.
 * Archers ring / Explorer's ring (optional)

And here is the suggested inventory to go with it:

Note: While using Crystal bows, players will find that they will reach Jad with their bow at 2/10. Most players using this method find it wise to bring two Crystal bows, or just one and Karils c'bow for Jad.
 * 1 Ranging potion (4)
 * 14 Saradomin brews (4)
 * 12 Super restore potions (4)

Note: If you have completed the Seer's Village Achievement Diary then you might want to bring the enhanced Excalibur instead of a Saradomin brew. The enhanced Excalibur special takes the entire special attack bar but it heals you by 20 hp and boosts your defence by 15%.

Alternative method
Higher levelled players may find that the Saradomin Godsword is a useful weapon to bring into the caves. This allows for regular boosts in prayer and hitpoints. This eliminates the need for food up until the Jad (in most circumstances), and cuts down on prayer restore potion usage.

Despite some of the lower levelled creatures having 10 or 20 hp, players can still heal the equivalent to what they would have, should the given monster have had more hitpoints. The saradomin godsword heals on a 1:2 ratio to hitpoints (and 1:4 for prayer), meaning that a hit of 40 damage will restore 20 hitpoints (as well as 10 prayer!).

The Saradomin Godsword is best used in conjunction with range (for details of equipment, see above). Using the two methods, rangers can afford to be a little more relaxed as to the damage they receive, due to the fact that they will find they are able to use one special attack per round from roughly round 20.

An effective method of using range and the godsword, is to use a Crystal bow (or alternative) as you otherwise would, and save a Tz-Kek for last, and healing on that to prepare for the next round.

Recommended Levels
To complete the fight caves, it is strongly recommended one has the following skill levels:


 * 70+ Attack (if using Guthan's) 75+ (if using the Saradomin Godsword)
 * 70+ Strength (Not required to use Guthan's, but recommended)
 * 70+ Defence (if using Guthan's)
 * 70+ Ranged
 * 70+ Hitpoints
 * 60+ Prayer

Rewards


If one is successful in completing all the waves and defeating TzTok-Jad, they receive 8032 Tokkul and the much-coveted fire cape. This cape has an animated "lava" pattern. The animation shows lava flowing downwards continually.

The Fire Cape is considered the best cape in RuneScape. It provides much more protection than the Cape of Legends and the Obsidian cape. It is, of course, non-tradable. The only capes better in any area are the God capes which provide a higher magic offensive bonus only, Ava's attractor or accumulator in ranged attack bonus, and trimmed Capes of achievement as well as Vestment cloaks which are only higher in prayer.

Defeating TzTok-Jad subsequently after obtaining the Fire Cape awards the player with another Fire Cape and 8,000 Tokkul, allowing you to have more than one fire cape at a time. Any spare fire capes can also be sold to TzHaar-Mej-Jal for 8,000 Tokkul per cape.

If a player dies in the fight caves, they will still get Tokkul, but not as much as they would if they defeated TzTok-Jad. The farther a player gets the more Tokkul, if one dies at TzTok-Jad then they will receive only 4,400 Tokkul, four times less (including the fire cape), then if the player defeats TzTok-Jad.

Map


The Italy Rock is on the east wall, just south of the entrance. The Italy rock is a rock that you can hide behind and range. It got its name because it's shaped like Italy.

It is generally considered a safer tactic to stay on the side of the Italy rock near to the exit as most of the monsters spawn on the other side, preventing them from hitting you unexpectedly.

A useful spot to range/mage the lvl180 Yt-MejKots is in the north-west "cave" standing against the east wall there. The lvl180 Yt-MejKots will almost always get trapped there so you can safely range/mage them. This is useful on waves like 30 and 61, where you get attacked by two Yt-MejKots at once.

Wave breakdown

 * 1) 22
 * 22, 22
 * 1) 45
 * 45, 22
 * 45, 22, 22
 * 45, 45
 * 1) 90
 * 90, 22
 * 90, 22, 22
 * 90, 45
 * 90, 45, 22
 * 90, 45, 22, 22
 * 90, 45, 45
 * 90, 90
 * 1) 180
 * 2) 180, 22
 * 3) 180, 22, 22
 * 4) 180, 45
 * 5) 180, 45, 22
 * 6) 180, 45, 22, 22
 * 7) 180, 45, 45
 * 8) 180, 90
 * 9) 180, 90, 22
 * 10) 180, 90, 22, 22
 * 11) 180, 90, 45
 * 12) 180, 90, 45, 22
 * 13) 180, 90, 45, 22, 22
 * 14) 180, 90, 45, 45
 * 15) 180, 90, 90
 * 16) 180, 180
 * 17) 360
 * 18) 360, 22
 * 19) 360, 22, 22
 * 20) 360, 45
 * 21) 360, 45, 22
 * 22) 360, 45, 22, 22
 * 23) 360, 45, 45
 * 24) 360, 90
 * 25) 360, 90, 22
 * 26) 360, 90, 22, 22
 * 27) 360, 90, 45
 * 28) 360, 90, 45, 22
 * 29) 360, 90, 45, 22, 22
 * 30) 360, 90, 45, 45
 * 31) 360, 90, 90
 * 32) 360, 180
 * 33) 360, 180, 22
 * 34) 360, 180, 22, 22
 * 35) 360, 180, 45
 * 36) 360, 180, 45, 22
 * 37) 360, 180, 45, 22, 22
 * 38) 360, 180, 45, 45
 * 39) 360, 180, 90
 * 40) 360, 180, 90, 22
 * 41) 360, 180, 90, 22, 22
 * 42) 360, 180, 90, 45
 * 43) 360, 180, 90, 45, 22
 * 44) 360, 180, 90, 45, 22, 22
 * 45) 360, 180, 90, 45, 45
 * 46) 360, 180, 90, 90
 * 47) 360, 180, 180
 * 48) 360, 360
 * 49) 702 TzTok-Jad, four Level 108 healers when TzTok-Jad is at half health

Trivia

 * When the mini-game originally came out you could use the Dwarf multicannon in there. This was remedied later on by Jagex.
 * TzTok-Jad originally only used Range and Melee; however, Jagex later added Magic to his attacks so players couldn't kill TzTok-Jad that easily.
 * A big problem with this game was that when it was first released, you could not log out during the fight caves unless you were willing to give up all your progress. However, you can now logout during the fight caves and pick up where you left off! Click the logout button and it will say you will be logged out after the current wave or click "logout now" to abort the mini-game entirely. Once you're sure you've finished off all the monsters in that wave, click logout. When you next login, you will start from the next wave.
 * When summoning was released, scrolls could be brought to the caves and familiars summoned. This was probably fixed with the release of TokTz-Ket-Dill Quest.
 * Before the random event update it was possible to receive Genie, Evil Chicken, and Jekyll and Hyde Random Events inside the fightcaves. This was to combat a problem with botting inside the caves for training purposes. These events were removed with the update, and random events do not occur in the Fight Cave anymore.
 * The fight caves can also be used as a place to recover for players killing Tzhaar monsters when their prayer/hp is low. This is effective because it is faster to die in the caves than to go find a prayer altar.