Cockroach soldier

The Cockroach soldier is the fifth highest-levelled non-revenant, non-quest, non-random event, and non-dungeoneering monster in free-to-play, only beaten by Greater demons, Ankous, Skeletons, and Hellhounds in the Forinthry Dungeon

This monster and all others besides muggers in the Stronghold are non-aggressive to all players, making the Stronghold of Player Safety dungeon, which was released on 11 March 2008, safe to explore (which is likely the point).

Cockroach soldiers attack with melee or ranged, depending on how they are being attacked: if attacked from a distance, it will attack back with only its ranged attack; if the attacker comes within melee range, the soldier will attack with only its melee attack. Cockroach soldiers have a somewhat accurate melee attack that hits up to 96 with an attack speed of 6 (same as a scimitar), as well as a ranged attack with a maximum hit of 113. It will not move toward a player if attacked from a distance, similar to metal dragons. Cockroach soldiers' ranged attacks are fairly inaccurate, but the max hit of the ranged attack is now higher than the max hit of the melee attack. It is important to note this as a perceived upgrade to the attack's strength and accuracy was made since its initial release, with just a maximum hit of 10 LP (1 hitpoint) by its range attack at that time.

Compared to level 82 Lesser Demons, these monsters have higher life points and defence. Therefore, at lower levels (50-70), free players are advised to them with a clan and have lootshare/coinshare enabled to get the drops. Not many players attack these monsters in groups, however, despite their placement in a multi-combat zone.

Popularity
For several months after their release, cockroach soldiers were very popular training monsters and the Stronghold of Player Safety became crowded with players training on cockroach soldiers. A few weeks after release, the popularity of these monsters dropped due to the increased range attack of these monsters. Their relatively high defence and high lifepoints also contributed to the loss of the cockroach soldier's popularity as a money-making strategy.

Killing cockroach soldiers can still be a decent money-making activity for non-members, as they commonly drop Law and Death runes, noted mithril and adamant ore, uncut gems, and also rarely drop Rune scimitars and Rune sq shields. The profits can range up to 30,000gp or more if you are lucky enough to obtain a rune item.

For members, cockroach soldiers drop charms quite often. Killing them is a good method for obtaining charms, especially Crimson charms. They also drop snapdragon seeds and torstol seeds, which sell for and  coins, respectively. Members are recommended to wear a Ring of Wealth when fighting cockroach soldiers to increase the rate of gem drops.

Location
The Stronghold of Player Safety is located south of Edgeville, and north of Gunnarsgrunn (Barbarian Village). Players can enter the Stronghold by either entering the crack outside of the jail or by entering the trapdoor outside of the building. The crack will lead straight to the area with cockroach soldiers, while the trapdoor leads to a distant part of the stronghold.

For meleers, there is a fishing spot in nearby Gunnarsgrunn next to the bridge that crosses over the River Lum where powerfishers drop raw salmon and raw trout. Cooking these fish with the fire at Peksa's helmet shop offers a quick method of restoring health.

Rangers may find that simply returning to the Edgeville bank and withdrawing wine may be a more efficient method of restocking on food than collecting fish from powerfishers, as wine heals more than either trout or salmon and is inexpensive. Returning to the bank to bank drops also frees up more inventory space for food in the next trip.

Players can also take a prayer-based approach against cockroach soldiers, as there is a monastery on the other side of the cliff where players can restore health with the help of monks, restore prayer at the altar, and pick up a free set of monk robes.

Combat strategies
Cockroach soldiers appear to be weak against crush and stab attacks, but strong against slash attacks. Players should therefore use crush weapons as listed below. It is possible to range them; however, due to non-members being restricted to weaker Ranged equipment, ranging is not recommended. High Defence and high Ranged levels are advised because Cockroach soldiers hit often and quite hard. They have extremely high magic defence, possibly higher than that of a blue dragon, so use of Magic is not advised. Low-level players should max out life points without wasting food between fights.

Free players (Melee) will find a rune weapon to be effective for melee fighting. Since they are weak to stab, a Rune sword will do the best job, and second would be the Rune longsword. If a player prefers Crush weapons, then a Rune 2h sword, Rune battleaxe, or Gravite 2h sword is recommended. Some players will find that using a rune scimitar can still be very effective if the player has a high enough attack level (80+). Free-to-play meleers are strongly advised to use full Rune armour while meleeing cockroach soldiers, since cockroach soldiers have decent accuracy. Having high defence (65+) is advised for free players.

Free players (Ranged) should use a maple longbow (sighted) or a maple shortbow with full green dragonhide and a rune full helm or green d'hide coif as this is the fastest free-to-play ranged method to kill cockroach soldiers. 80 range and 70 defence is strongly recommended; players with low range levels should use sighted maple longbows for accuracy, while players with high range levels should use maple shortbows for speed.

Free players (Ranged Tank) will find that substituting green d'hide chaps for rune platelegs may be more effective. In addition, players with low ranged levels may find the use of a sighted maple longbow, used with a rune platebody, more effective; this method provides a 100+ ranged attack bonus while providing great defence.

Members often prefer to train in other places, such as the aviansies, Barrows or via Slayer. Players who have completed Regicide can use the Dragon Halberd to fight these Cockroach Soldiers, since they're classified as large monsters, so the dragon halberd's special will hit them twice. The best stab weapons used to fight against these monsters at a high level are the Zamorakian spear, Chaotic rapier, and Korasi's sword. Feasible crushing weapons include the Chaotic maul, Barrelchest anchor, Godswords, and the Saradomin Sword, although. Slashing weapons such as the Abyssal whip are not recommended unless the player's attack level is at least 80. When training on these, it is recommended to bring lobsters or better food.

Using Full Guthans is an effective method of staying healed while fighting here. A player can stay there for a very long time and earn approximately 50 crimson charms an hour. The player needs to bring a strong weapon (preferably a Zamorakian spear, although an abyssal whip works at 85+ Attack) and only use Guthan's spear to heal. Enhanced excalibur could also be brought for its special attack for further healing. Dwarf multicannons cannot be used in the Stronghold of Player Safety.

Note: When having a familiar fighting along side you against these monsters, they will take more damage from the cockroach's attack than you will. The roaches hit respective maximums of 96 and 113 with melee and ranged on players, while it only uses a ranged attack with max hit 130 on familiars. A misprint from the summoning update resulted in the cockroach's melee attack on your familiar maxing just 70, if you are using a bunyip, but it is rare for the cockroach to attack your familiar directly unless your familiar attacks first.

Weapons and armour

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Runes and Ores

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Uncut gems

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Seeds (members only)

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Other drops

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Trivia

 * Cockroach soldiers have the second highest life points of any non-revenant free-to-play monster not related to quests and the Dungeoneering skill, behind the Hellhounds found in the Wilderness Volcano, yet still exceeding that of the level 92 Greater Demons. It was beaten by the high level monsters in Random events, and is still beaten by some Revenants.
 * Cockroach soldiers have one of the highest maximum hits (96 with melee, 113 with ranged) of any free-to-play non-revenant monster that is neither quest nor Dungeoneering based.
 * Cockroach soldiers are one of only four free-to-play monsters outside of Daemonheim to attack with two combat styles (melee and range), the others being Elvarg, Melzar the Mad, and Dragith Nurn. Catablepons use the Weaken spell, but only use Melee to attack.
 * Cockroach soldiers originally had a very inaccurate and weak (only 10-20 life points) ranged attack, but Jagex changed this because rangers would have an enormous advantage over melee fighters.
 * They are non-aggressive to players, making them the strongest non-aggressive monster in free-to-play.
 * Cockroach soldiers used to drop level 3 Clue Scrolls, but now they only drop level 2 Clue Scrolls.
 * Cockroach soldiers have the best drop table for any F2P monster, as it drops rune scimitars and rune sq shields. It took this title from the greater demon, who drops a rune full helm and held the title for years.
 * Cockroach soldiers and kalphite workers give similar sound effects when they die.
 * It was long rumoured that they could drop a Dragon scimitar, but this has been confirmed to be untrue.
 * Cockroach soldiers had a previous max hit of only 80 but Jagex then changed it to 96.
 * As of recently Cockroach soldiers have become one of the few monsters that have drops that survived the economy crash.