Bork/Strategies

General Information
Bork has moderate defence, although he is weak to magical attacks. He attacks with melee, is immune to poison, and can hit up to 254. While you are fighting Bork, Surok (during the miniquest) or a Dagon'hai Elite (afterwards) will attack you every 20 seconds (or approx. every 6-7 hits made by Bork) with magic that has a 100% hit rate, and does between 100 and 250 damage. The magic defence of your armour does not help to defend against this attack. Magic absorption is factored in, but since the max hit is 250, even on the high hits you usually won't absorb more than 5-10 lifepoints. However, the protect from magic prayer or the deflect magic curse will completely block this attack.

There are several safe spots for fighting Bork along various walls. If using ranged or magic, you can use Protect from Magic and avoid taking damage from the Dagon'hai Elite. Although, when the Ork legions appear, you might temporarily switch to Protect from Melee or Protect from Range until you kill them. If you are using range, black dragonhide should be worn and diamond bolts(e) should be the choice of ammunition. Bork is immune to the rebound effects of Deflect melee and Vengeance.

When Bork gets to around two-thirds health, he will summon 3-9 level 70 Ork legions, which will attack you using melee and range. (Three small orks form one ork legion. In a combat round you will only be attacked once per legion, not once per ork.) The Protect from Summoning prayer will not protect against them. For high-level players, the legions are not much of a threat, so these players can ignore them and focus on defeating Bork, although the Ork legions are sometimes killed for the charms they drop at a 100% rate.

When Bork dies, Surok or the Dagon'hai Elite will teleport away, and the cave will start to collapse. Players who do not leave of their own accord after some time will be forced out of the cave. Surok is only in the room with Bork during the miniquest. However, the Dagon'hai Elite who is there afterwards is just as dangerous as Surok; his attacks have the same mechanics and do the same amount of damage.

If a player dies after defeating Bork, or is disconnected near the end of the fight and manages to defeat Bork during the disconnect time, the player's dropped items will be found in the Dagannoth chamber at the entrance portal to Bork's chamber.

You cannot fight Bork more than once in the 24-hour time period starting at 00:00 (UTC) (7:00pm EST/8:00pm EDT). Trying to enter the portal to Bork's room too soon results in you seeing the message: 'The portal appears to have stopped working for now. Perhaps you should return later?' The cutoff would appear to be when you exit the portal instead of enter the portal. If you enter at 11:55 (UTC) and exit at 0:01 (UTC) after defeating Bork you will not be able to fight him again immediately.

Battle Tactics
Note: When fighting Bork, it is useful to keep auto-retaliate OFF at all times. This allows a player to direct their blows at specific legions or at Bork.

Melee
One possible plan of battle therefore is to use the Protect from Melee prayer to defend against Bork, and bring high-healing food such as Sharks. Piety or Turmoil is highly recommended. One with a high defence level could bring high melee defence armour while praying against magic, as this is the only way to defend against Surok's magic attacks (armour with a high magic defence such as Dragonhide armour does not work but high magic damage absorption does). For skilled players who don't want to risk armour it is possible to kill Bork and his legions with just a Superset, 2 prayer potions, whip and no armour, while using only monkfish. (Combat 110+ advised).

If a player stands where the portal is and does not move from that area, Surok or the Dagon'hai Elite may wander out of range at the beginning of the battle and will not attack with magic. Surok's attack range is the same as the player's range of sight on the screen. After Bork has summoned the Ork Legions, Surok or the Dagon'hai Elite may randomly wander again. Surok may move out of his attack range, or into it if he was out of range before. Players can also run south, and then west, north to trap the mage,ork legions(if any) and Bork. This keeps you immune,until the mage wanders out of the trap.

Weapon
The Dragon dagger's special attack is useful, dealing quick damage. Players should also note that any high-hitting weapon like the Saradomin sword or a godsword (preferably a Bandos godsword to lower Bork's defence) works too. It is worth noting that godswords and the Saradomin sword offer good prayer bonuses. The negative side to godswords is that they are slow.

The Dragon claws are a more expensive alternative to a Dragon dagger, but can do much more damage and is recommended for players who do not need to have anything in the shield slot.

Another excellent weapon to use is the Abyssal vine whip. Being a multi-combat area, the 'vine call' special attack will do damage to all monsters adjacent to the summoned vine. Since the damage over all 10 hits from the vine is approximately equal to 3 accurate hits from the whip itself (to each monster), this is often enough to kill the Ork legions as well as do decent damage to Bork himself. Total damage done is more than dragon claws or dagger - but players who ignore the legions to kill Bork faster may still prefer claws for the greater single-target damage they do.

Weapons: Dragon claws | abyssal vine whip > Saradomin sword > Bandos godsword (alone) > dragon dagger

Prayer
A good tactic for players using melee is to change from praying melee to praying magic BEFORE Surok or the Dagon'hai Elite attacks to negate his magic attacks. The player has to time the change correctly for this tactic to work well. Only experienced players with high defence level and strong melee armour should use this tactic.

Yet another tactic to deal with the mage when you are under attack by Bork is to maintain Deflect Melee when Bork is attacking, flash Soul Split in the single game tick in which you attack, and turn Deflect Melee back on in the next game tick. If timed properly, Bork will not be able to hit you still, but now you can heal from damaging Bork and therefore get through the entire fight without needing any food at all even when under attack from the mage. For obvious reasons, 92 Prayer is required for this tactic, as well as relatively high defence armour just in case the player fails to activate Deflect Melee again in time.

Armour
Players intending on taking no damage should bring Verac's set because it offers good prayer bonuses and has good stats. Full Verac's also allows players to occasionally deal damage, ignoring Bork's defence. This allows for huge damage. If a player used a Bandos Godsword also, Verac's can be devastating. Dragon boots and Barrows Gloves also help. A player may also wish to use either an amulet of fury or amulet of glory instead of a holy symbol etc, as they give good stat bonuses. If a player, however, is also using a no-damage method, a prayer-boost can help.

In the cape slot, a/an Obsidian/legend's/skill cape cape is a good choice. Trimmed skillcapes offer the best bonuses, with an added prayer boost. A Soul Wars cape is a very good option for the hefty prayer bonus, as well as having +8 defence, which is only one less than a skillcape's +9.

Safespotting
It is recommended to run west, south of some stalagmites. From there, the player should get Bork trapped by getting him south of the player, and then running north behind the stalagmites. However, when Bork summons his minions, they will be able to attack the player with melee and they tend to deal moderate damage quickly—this therefore means that prayer should be used when they are alive/summoned. Even in a safe spot, the mage will still attack if he is in range. A way to overcome this is to take melee-protected gear such as Barrows and equip this when Bork summons his minions (with Protect from Magic prayer). You could then kill his minions and switch back to your ranged/magic set up to finish off Bork.

If using ranged or magic, you can use Protect from Magic and avoid taking damage from the Dagon'hai Elite. Although, when the Ork legions appear, you might temporarily switch to Protect from Melee or Protect from Range until you kill them. If you are using range, black dragonhide should be worn and diamond bolts(e) should be the choice of ammunition

Warning: Whenever players using ranged/magic are not in the protection of a safespot, they should immediately turn on protect from melee. Players using magic especially can be finished off very quickly. Players may also have to take a few blows when trying to trap Bork.

Magic
Remember: ALWAYS keep auto-retaliate OFF.

Probably the cheapest, quickest and easiest way to kill Bork at level 80+ magic is the use of a Polypore staff. Using a Vecna skull, Magic focus scrolls of the Wolpertinger familiar or Extreme magic potions, Bork may die before the Dagon'hai Elite even has a chance to use their magic.'

An easy, if expensive, technique is to use Blood spells from the Ancient Magicks spellbook (Desert Treasure must be complete). You will not need any food if you pray against Melee. You can kill Bork at level 56 magic with only Blood Rush, and at 62 magic you can use Smoke Burst to damage Bork AND the Ork legions, and then switch back to Blood Rush to heal after Surok or the Dagon'hai Elite hits you. At level 68 magic the fight becomes incredibly easy as you can use Blood Burst to damage everything and keep yourself at full health. If you use this method you will only need the necessary runes and 2 prayer potions.

Players should use the safespot mentioned in the above section. When Bork summons his legions, players should immediately switch their attention to the legions. As they are all grouped together, a player can recover massive amounts of health and they can get rid of the legions fast. Because of this, there is no need to worry about the Dagon'hai elite or Surok's magic attack whilst you pray against ranged. Once you defeat the legions in melee range, turn your attention to the legions closest to Bork (if any). Cast Blood Burst on the legions rather than Bork. If players cast Blood Burst on Bork instead, the legions may not take damage as bork himself covers a 3X3 square. The player, by following this method, can finish off both the legions and Bork at the same time.

Players using Mystic robes with an ancient staff and perhaps a god cape should find this laughably easy, and if players can they should use Barrows gloves and Infinity boots. If the player does not mind risking a larger amount of money, players can use infinity robes, but this is usually unnecessary.

When using magic, it is also possible to wear Dragonhide armour, but if using Blood Spells this is not recommended as it only serves as a negative magic bonus. Also, if you kill Bork fast enough the mages should not be that much of a problem.

Players should NOT buy anything to boost their magic in the ring slot. A ring of wealth is more worth it as players will receive more charms.

Finally, players should also note that it can take from 30 to 50 Blood Burst shots at level 70+ to kill Bork and his legions. This can cost from approxiamately 36k-60k worth of runes, but along with a Ring of Wealth players can get 15k-20k worth of gems and other drops besides charms. So players can lose as little as 16k to as much as 45k per Bork trip. This amount that players lose can be treated as the "cost" for the charms and Slayer experience.

Another effective way is to use Iban Blast (cheap, but still high hitting and accurate), Flames of Zamorak (lowers magic level, and thus magical defence) or Claws of Guthix (lowers general defence, 5%). These are all cheaper alternatives than Ancient Magics and Surge spells. However, the built-in spell of the polypore staff mentioned before is far cheaper than any of them.

Another cheap, yet effective way is the use of Fire Wave for players with a Magic level of 75+. Taking aproximately 50 blood runes, 500 air runes and a lava battlestaff is enough. The tactic remains the same, pray against melee and heal after Surok Magis/Dagon'hai Elite damages you.

Note: If you die while attacking Bork, your gravestone and all your items will appear outside the portal where you can get it. You are encouraged to use the Edgeville route to get to your items faster.