Dragon platebody



The Dragon platebody is an item that was released with the While Guthix Sleeps quest on 26 November 2008. It is considered one of the best non-degradable platebodies in the game and is comparable to the 3rd age platebody and the Bandos chestplate. It requires level 60 Defence to wear. Level 92 Smithing is needed to repair the body from its 3 broken parts, along with 1 million coins for the purchase of a blast fusion hammer. Completion of While Guthix Sleeps is not needed to wear this platebody. On 25 March 2009, the dragon platebody underwent a graphical refurbishment to look the way it does today.

Smithing


The 3 parts needed to create the Dragon platebody:

All 3 pieces of Dragon Armour are only dropped by Tormented Demons which are found in the former area of the Stone of Jas inside the Ancient Guthix Temple.

After the completion of While Guthix Sleeps, it is possible to unlock the mithril door upstairs near the mithril dragons by using a dragonkin key. This key can be made by using half of the strange key (acquired during the quest While Guthix Sleeps) on a mithril dragon, while both pieces of the key are in the player's inventory. This will fuse the pieces together into the dragonkin key.

Beyond the mithril door are three hanging dragon skulls, rib cages, and a giant orb in the centre. Using fire wave on each head will cause a flame to appear in their mouths and they will be moved towards the orb in the centre.

Once the orb is lit, the player can go back in the Ancient Cavern towards a corner north-east of the Green Brutal Dragons. Up the stairs, the player will find the Dragon Forge. It is here, using a blast fusion hammer purchased from the Foreman at the Blast Furnace for 1,000,000 coins, that the player can fuse together the three parts of the dragon platebody with 92 smithing, originally 99 smithing at its release.

History


Multiple years before the release of the Dragon platebody, spinning plates were released, joking that "dragon plates" (since the spinning plates had a picture of a dragon) were then available. With Jagex's joke, many players were disappointed and thought it would never be released.

On 2 September 2008, a new banner was released after the Distractions and Diversions update, showing a female character wearing what appeared to resemble a Dragon platebody. Also, an image representing the dragon platebody was posted onto the internet by an anonymous user, and resembles the one in the banner.

On an unknown date, long before the platebody was released, Jagex put concept art of what appears to be the dragon platebody in the "Membership benefits" section of their website (shown right). There is also speculation that the dragon platebody was shown in two news post screenshots. The Clan Wars improvements were accompanied by an image of a player wearing what is believed to have been a dragon armour body, though because the image is so small, it is possible that it was a dragon chainbody. The PvP worlds update also revealed a screenshot, this time clearer, of what appears to be a player wearing a dragon platebody. Looking closely at the PvP picture, the piece of armour seems to have three horns on its shoulder.

Even after the release of the dragon platebody, players were still not satisfied. They complained the platebody did not look attractive or intimidating enough for such a sought after item. Jagex posted a sticky in the forums to collect feedback on what the Dragon platebody should look like. Several weeks later, on 25 March 2009, the new Dragon platebody was released, along with an unannounced graphical update of many other pieces of Dragon armour.

Trivia



 * When it was released on 29 November 2008, the starting price on the Grand Exchange was 30 million coins. It quickly rose to around 45 million, then plummeted.
 * When the platebody was first released, level 99 Smithing was required to smith the three pieces together. It also was not possible to use the assist system. Within a few days, the requirement was lowered to 92 and the Assist system was opened to use.
 * On 10 February 2009, the Dragon platebody icon was changed from a slanted position to an upright position like all other Platebodies. The brown "belt" near the waist of the platebody's icon was also changed to a dark-red colour. The old image of Dragon platebody was: [[File:Dragon platebody (old).png]]
 * This is the only metal platebody that does not give a negative Ranged attack bonus.
 * This is one of only two pieces of Dragon equipment that can be actually forged (the other being the Dragon sq shield).
 * The Dragon platebody has the same image on the chest as the Dragon chainbody.
 * Ironically, the Smithing level required for Dragon platebody is 7 levels LESS than for a Rune platebody. This is probably because a Dragon Platebody is merely repaired, while a Rune Platebody is made from scratch (or rather, Runite bars).
 * When wearing any skillcape, one of the spikes on the Dragon platebody may stretch. This occurs if a player is fishing or doing anything else that moves the character in such a way. Jagex has yet to fix this.