Dust devil

The Dust Devil is a very popular monster for Slayers of level 65 and up. A Face mask, Masked earmuffs, or Slayer helmet is always required to slay them, whether in the Smoke Dungeon or Chaos Tunnels, because of their effects on players without protection.

Dust devils drop the coveted Dragon chainbody, although it is an extremely rare drop. They are also known for their high drop rate of crimson charms and are hunted by players looking for fast Summoning experience. They drop charms around 50% of the time and crimson charms make up most of them.

Players may consider using the low graphics detail setting when fighting Dust devils, as this will reduce the visual effects of their dust, which some players may find an annoyance.

Locations

 * Smoke Dungeon west of Pollnivneach in the Kharidian Desert.
 * Chaos Tunnels

Strengths and weaknesses
Dust devils are vulnerable to Ranged attacks. They attack with melee at close range. Their dusty, gritty attack, even if it causes no damage to hitpoints, has the special effect of greatly reducing an unprotected player's combat skill levels. A single attack can reduce attack, strength, ranged, and magic to 0 whilst halving a player's prayer points. A Facemask, Slayer helmet, or Masked earmuffs completely protects the player from the dust devil's special effect, however.

Players need at least level 65 Slayer to fight these creatures. The protective facemask, slayer helmet, or masked earmuffs are also required just to survive in the Smoke Dungeon, one of the dust devil's habitats. In the Chaos Tunnels, their other habitat, the protective equipment is only required when fighting the devils themselves.



The Smoke Dungeon has many safe spots where players can use ranged, magic or halberds to defeat them.



Melee is also effective; a good strategy is to use the spell Bones to Peaches to maximise one's stay. It is possible to use Guthans armour to heal, although players must be careful switching the helm with the face mask or the dungeon will hit them for 20 damage every 12 seconds or so, only allowing 3-4 hits in before having to switch back to the face mask. Players should note that they can use Guthan's armour to heal only on nearby Fire elementals, Pyrefiends, or Fire giants, as attacking a Dust devil without a face mask causes attack, strength, defence, range, and magic stats to be drained to 0, and deals 15 damage every few seconds.

If the player chooses to use the Chaos Tunnels instead, he/she will still need the facemask to kill the Dust devils themselves, but since there is no environmental smoke, Guthan's can be used to heal on the Giant crypt rats in the next cave to the east.

Another method is to use the special attack of the Saradomin godsword, which will keep a high level character at a fairly good amount of hitpoints. This, along with Protect from Melee at full prayer points, can keep the player there for a long amount of time. Players should also bring super sets if they are on a slayer task and want to finish it quickly.

Alternatively players with 68 summoning can use a Bunyip Familiar to stay for long periods of time and heal them. Just two pouches can ensure the player can stay for their slayer task without running out of food.

Drops
100% Drop:
 * Bones

Weapons and armour

 * Dragon chainbody (extremely rare)
 * Dragon spear (extremely rare)
 * Rune spear (rare)
 * Shield left half (extremely rare)
 * Rune dagger (fairly common)
 * 12-19 Rune arrows (common)
 * 5 Rune javelins (rare)
 * Earth battlestaff (rare)
 * Red dragonhide vambraces (common)
 * Adamant full helm (rare)

Runes

 * 37, 150 or 300 Fire runes (Usually 150) (Common)
 * 2 or 5 Soul runes (Usually 5)
 * 5 Chaos runes (common)
 * 2 Nature runes
 * Nature talisman (rare)
 * 60 Pure essences (noted) (rare)

Herbs
Common drop, including:
 * Grimy guam
 * Grimy marrentill
 * Grimy tarromin
 * Grimy harralander
 * Grimy ranarr
 * Grimy avantoe
 * Grimy cadantine
 * Grimy lantadyme
 * Grimy kwuarm
 * Grimy irit
 * Grimy dwarf weed
 * Grimy snapdragon (14-150 noted)

Other
(rare)
 * 15, 25, 60, or 300 Coins (Common)
 * Loop Half of a key/ Tooth half of a key
 * Mithril bar
 * 1-2 Ugthanki kebab (Un-noted) (common)
 * Uncut gems (common)
 * Steel hatchet
 * Iron ore
 * Nothing (uncommon)

Trivia

 * The "Dust devil" is a model of a vacuum cleaner, hence the examine text.
 * They also have a resemblance to the stress release toy Popping Martian (Martian Popper, Bug Out Bob).
 * Although they drop bones, Dust devils do not appear to have bones, as they are supposedly filled with air. They may have a skull of some sort, however.
 * Dust devils have similar drops to Fire giants, albeit slightly worse. They drop better charms with greater frequency though, and are arguably better for training due to a lower max hit and stats.
 * Many of their drops are the colour of dragon metal (Crimson charm, Red d'hide vambraces, Uncut ruby). This often misleads players, making them think that they have received a Dragon chainbody drop.
 * Smoke devils are the summoning counterpart of the Dust devil.
 * In the American Midwest and American Southwest, dust devils are a miniature whirlwind strong enough to whip dust, leaves, and litter into the air.
 * It is rumoured that the drop rate for Dragon Chainbodies is only 1:5,000.
 * When attacked, a dust devil will bounce off the ground, swell up with air, and then attack you and deflate.