General Graardor/Strategies


 * The following lists several strategies and methods for fighting General Graardor and his minions. For the monster, see General Graardor.

General Graardor is the most popular of the five God Wars Dungeon bosses to kill, as he is arguably the easiest, but players should not take him too lightly. To enter Bandos's Stronghold, players must have at least 70 Strength and a hammer (or a sacred clay hammer or golden hammer). To get to the boss room, players must kill 40 minions of Bandos in Bandos's Stronghold or the main God Wars Dungeon area.

Getting the Kill Count


The easiest method of killing 40 Bandos minions is to kill the goblins. The goblins are located in the main area and populate specific locations around the designated Bandos area.

Another method is to kill hobgoblins, who are located just north of the entrance to God Wars Dungeon. Goblins are often full of other players who want to quickly get their 40 kill count, so hobgoblins are a good alternative.

Wearing Bandos-related protection is extremely recommended. Players wearing Bandos-related protection will not be attacked by the Bandos followers in the God Wars Dungeon area or Bandos's Stronghold. It is also advised to wear Zamorak-related protection - Bandos's Stronghold has monsters who follow both Bandos and Zamorak. If a player has a planned armour setup that does not include Bandos- or Zamorak-related protection, they may choose to bring an extra item to wear while getting their killcount. Common items are god books, Ancient maces for Bandos, unholy symbols for Zamorak, or a dip in the Bandos pool which provides full Bandos-related protection for one hour.

Strategies
Whether a player decides to solo General Graardor and his minions or join a team, the general strategy is to kill Graardor first, then pick off his minions afterwards. Killing the minions first will only result in them respawning again, therefore wasting your time killing Graardor.

Graardor has a very high Defence level and can hit up to 605 lifepoints with melee. He also has a multi-target Ranged attack that can hit up to 355 lifepoints.

Team Strategies
There are two main team strategies players may choose to use at General Graardor: The Tanking strategy or the Berserk strategy. Players new to God Wars Dungeon are advised to begin with the Tanking strategy, as the Berserk strategy is for much more advanced players.



Tanking strategy
A team of at least three people, as well as a tank (a tank is a player with high a Defence level and good armour to take Graardor's blows) is highly recommended. Generally, Graardor tanks have at least 80 Defence and 80 Constitution.

Due to a Summoning update, tanking at Graardor can be quite difficult. When a player's familiar attacks Graardor, he will change targets and switch to the player with the attacking familiar. Players who are not tanking are advised not to bring attacking familiars, so as to avoid this. Non-attacking familiars which are commonly brought to General Graardor are bunyips and fruit bats. The fruit bat's scroll, Fruitfall, can be helpful to the entire team by providing low-level fruit to replenish lifepoints.

All players should use the Protect from Ranged prayer, except for the tank being attacked, who should use the Protect from Melee prayer. The tank being directly attacked should watch his or her health very carefully, as he/she can still be hit by Graardor's Ranged attack or Graardor's special melee attack. All players should be careful of Graardor's bodyguards, as one uses melee, one uses Ranged, and one uses Magic.

In most cases, as the fight begins, the tank will stand in the center of the room while the rest of the team will stand either in a designated corner or against the western wall. As Graardor spawns, the tank must attack Graardor first to initiate the fight. If the tank fails to do so, Graardor will choose a random target to attack.

After Graardor is down, the team picks off the three minions, Sergeant Grimspike, Sergeant Steelwill and Sergeant Strongstack, each attacking with Ranged, Magic, and Melee respectively. Steelwill is normally killed first, as he can do a lot of damage with Magic. Meanwhile, if the tank is wearing Guthan's, he/she can attack Steelwill or Strongstack in hopes of raising their lifepoints with the Guthan's special effect.

One common tank setup:
 * Helmet: Torag's helm/Helm of neitiznot
 * Neck: Fury > Glory
 * Torso: Torag's platebody/Bandos chestplate
 * Legs:Torag's platelegs/Bandos tassets
 * Boots: Dragon boots > Rune boots
 * Cape: Fire cape/Soul Wars cape/Skillcape
 * Side/Spec weapon: Bandos godsword/Saradomin godsword/Enhanced excalibur/Darklight
 * Main weapon: Abyssal whip/Godsword
 * Shield/sidearm: Divine spirit shield > Elysian spirit shield > Spectral spirit shield > Chaotic kiteshield > Dragonfire shield (if a whip is used)
 * Gloves: Barrows gloves
 * Ring: Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Ring of life

Guthan's tank setup:
 * Helmet: Guthan's helm
 * Neck: Fury > Glory
 * Torso: Guthan's platebody
 * Legs: Guthan's chainskirt
 * Boots: Dragon boots > Rune boots
 * Cape: Fire cape/Soul Wars cape/Skillcape
 * Side/Spec weapon: Bandos godsword/Saradomin godsword/Enhanced excalibur/Darklight
 * Main weapon: Guthan's warspear
 * Shield/sidearm: None with main weapon
 * Gloves: Barrows gloves
 * Ring: Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Ring of life

Non-tank setups:
 * Helmet: Verac's helm > Helm of neitiznot
 * Neck: Fury > glory
 * Torso: Bandos chestplate > Zamorak body > Black d'hide body
 * Legs: Bandos tassets > Torag's platelegs > Zamorak chaps > Black d'hide chaps
 * Boots: Dragon boots > Rune boots
 * Cape: Fire cape/Soul Wars cape/Skillcape
 * Side/Spec weapon: Bandos godsword/Saradomin godsword/Enhanced excalibur/Darklight
 * Main weapon (if melee): Bandos godsword/Saradomin godsword/Abyssal whip
 * Main weapon (if ranged): Chaotic crossbow > Rune crossbow
 * Shield/sidearm: Divine spirit shield > Elysian spirit shield > Spectral spirit shield > Chaotic kiteshield > Dragonfire shield
 * Gloves: Barrows gloves
 * Ring: Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Ring of life
 * Bolts: Ruby bolts (e) (for the first half)/Diamond bolts (e) (for the second half) > Dragon bolts (e)/Onyx bolts (e) > Broad bolts

Berserk strategy
Experienced players often choose the Berserk strategy to quickly kill General Graardor and his minions. Berserk teams often consist of three maxed or near-maxed players. Generall, Graardor Berserkers have 99 in most, if not all, combat stats, and have at least 96 Herblore for use of overloads.

Berserk teams usually stand in the middle of the room and use powerful special attacks in combination with overloads to quickly take Graardor and his minions down.

One common berserk setup:
 * Helmet: Verac's helm > Helm of neitiznot
 * Neck: Fury > Glory
 * Torso: Karil's top > Bandos chestplate
 * Legs: Verac's plateskirt > Bandos tassets
 * Boots: Dragon boots > Bandos boots
 * Cape: Soul Wars cape > Fire cape > Skillcape
 * Side/Spec weapon: Dragon claws
 * Main weapon: Chaotic longsword > Chaotic rapier > Armadyl godsword > other Godsword
 * Shield/sidearm: Divine spirit shield > Elysian spirit shield > Spectral spirit shield > Chaotic kiteshield > Dragonfire shield
 * Gloves: Barrows gloves
 * Ring: Onyx ring (i) > Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Ring of life

Solo Strategies


General Graardor can be soloed with Ranged or Melee at very high levels. Magic is not recommended, as Graardor has a high Magic defence. If a player wishes to be able to stay at Graardor for more than one kill, 85+ Defence, 80+ Magic, 67+ summoning, and 85+ Attack and Strength or Ranged (depending on the method) are recommended.

Melee is the foremost recommended strategy, as Graardor is weak to slash. Players with a high Ranged level and diamond bolts (e) or dragon bolts (e) may choose to range instead.

Graardor often hits very high with his Melee attacks so the Protect from Melee prayer is a must. His second attack is a Magic-based Ranged attack, similar to that of Waterfiends. When he uses this attack, he slams both fists on the ground and a shock-wave hits the player, inflicting up to 355 damage if the player is not using Protect from Ranged. Furthermore, this attack's emote may not always show - take necessary precautions if you notice the General suddenly "stops" attacking, as he most likely about to slam the ground with his second attack.

A beast of burden, such as a spirit terrorbird, war tortoise or pack yak, is a great help in solo tasks. The higher the level of the familiar, the better a player's chances of a longer stay are. If players do not bring a familiar of any kind, they should expect a short stay.

General Graardor should be attacked first. After he is dead, most players choose to deal with Sergeant Steelwill next, as his Magical attack will be dangerous for soloers wearing melee armour. Sergeant Grimspike comes next, to get his Ranged attacks out of the way. Lastly, Sergeant Strongstack, the meleer, should be killed. It is advised to keep Protect from Melee on as players finish up the sergeants, as Graardor might respawn faster than a player is able to kill Sergeant Strongstack.

Common solo setup (Melee):
 * Helmet: Verac's helm > Helm of neitiznot
 * Neck: Fury > Glory
 * Torso: Karil's top > Zamorak body
 * Legs: Verac's plateskirt > Bandos tassets
 * Boots: Dragon boots > Bandos boots
 * Cape: Soul Wars cape > Fire cape > Skillcape
 * Side/Spec weapon: Dragon claws/Enhanced excalibur > Bandos godsword > Darklight
 * Main weapon: Chaotic longsword > Chaotic rapier > any Godsword > Abyssal whip
 * Shield/sidearm: Divine spirit shield > Elysian spirit shield > Spectral spirit shield > Chaotic kiteshield > Dragonfire shield
 * Gloves: Barrows gloves
 * Ring: Onyx ring (i) > Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > Ring of life

Common solo setup (Ranged):
 * Helmet: Armadyl helmet > Robin hood hat > Helm of neitiznot
 * Neck: Fury > Glory
 * Torso: Armadyl chestplate Karil's top > Zamorak body > Black d'hide body
 * Legs: Armadyl chainskirt Karil's skirt > Verac's skirt > Zamorak chaps > Black d'hide chaps
 * Boots: Dragon boots > Ranger boots
 * Cape: Ava's alerter > Ava's accumulator > Skillcape
 * Side/Spec weapon: Bandos godsword > Darklight > Enhanced excalibur
 * Main weapon (if Ranged): Chaotic crossbow > Rune crossbow
 * Shield/sidearm: Divine spirit shield > Elysian spirit shield > Spectral spirit shield > Chaotic kiteshield > Dragonfire shield
 * Gloves: Barrows gloves > Zamorak vambraces > Black d'hide vambraces
 * Ring: Archers' ring (i) > Archers' ring > Ring of life