Steel dragon

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Steel dragons are powerful dragons made out of metal found in Brimhaven Dungeon, Kuradal's Dungeon and Fortress of Ghorrock. They can also be bought as a guard for player-owned dungeons (only for the treasure room) for 10 million coins if the player's Construction level is 95 (see Steel dragon (POH)).

Please note that with all player-owned dungeon monsters; that monsters in the dungeon will not drop any items and will not give any experience in combat.

Steel dragons have a chance to drop the famous draconic visage, but as a very rare drop. They can drop rune items, and have an increased chance of dropping dragon platelegs/skirt over its counterparts, the iron and Bronze dragon. However the rune hatchets, maces, and limbs can make quite a nice profit from high alchs, ranging from 8k to 9.6k in total.

Weakness
Like most metal dragons, Steel Dragons have extremely high defence. Since they are made out of metal, they are fairly weak to magic attacks, so spells like fire surge or magic dart are useful against them. The spell of a Polypore staff is also very effective. An anti-dragon shield or dragonfire shield will reduce most damage from dragonfire, an antifire potion or antifire mix reduces some dragonfire damage, and an appropriate shield and potion/mix used together negate all damage from dragonfire. (With no protection, dragonfire has a maximum hit of 490. With just a shield, it has a max hit of 50. With just a potion/mix, the max hit is reduced a bit to 250 but is still quite high, making it difficult to slay even one steel dragon without taking extensive damage.)

Melee tactics
As with all other dragons, steel dragons are weak to stab attacks, although they have a secondary weakness to crush as well. Arguably the best weapons to use are the Chaotic longsword and the Chaotic rapier because of their high stab accuracy and strength bonuses. One might also use the Brackish blade, as it is the most accurate one-handed non-degrading stab weapon, tied with the Leaf-bladed sword, but has a much higher strength bonus than the leaf-bladed sword and does not require a specific Slayer level. For those who have completed The Void Stares Back, another alternative is Korasi's Sword, which has the third best stab bonus for non-degrading one handed-weapon, behind the Leaf-bladed sword and the Brackish blade, but a higher strength bonus as well as a very useful special attack that can hit very high.

Alternatively, if crush attacks are preferred, weapons such as the dragon battleaxe, dragon mace, goliath gloves whilst unarmed and Tzhaar-ket-em can be a good choice for meleeing because of their ability to be wielded with a shield, high crush attack bonus, and high strength bonus.

An Abyssal whip, despite having no stab or crush bonuses whatsoever, is another choice, since the fast attack speed and high strength bonus can sometimes be considered more effective than slow crush weapons like a Dragon mace or weak stab weapons such as the leaf-bladed sword. Even with boosts, however, the accuracy of the whip against the dragon's very high slash defence will often be a problem, particularly if the player's attack level is below 90.

Alternatively, a player who can make Super antifire potions can use Verac the Defiled's set. This option has a very high crush and prayer bonuses and a chance to hit through armour, so it provides a very effective and fast alternative to kill these dragons. Another option is Dharok the Wretched's set which also provides fast kills on Crush setting although care should be taken.

Cautions
Steel dragons also have the ability to use their fire breath from a distance, an ability shared with the other metal dragons, Elvarg during the Dragon Slayer quest, Brutal green dragons, the King Black Dragon, and frost dragons, so using a safe spot will not help against these beasts. Steel dragons can hit up to 229 with melee, and even harder with their breath if the player is not wearing an anti-dragon shield. However, some people bring runes to mage steel dragons while not getting hit at all by standing at least one space away from the dragon's head (Being on low detail helps, as you can see the floor grid), wearing an anti-dragon shield and drinking antifire potions. It is also advisable to range these dragons, as rangers can kill 50 or more dragons in one trip. Players planning to range them should bring several ranging potions and anti-fire potions (usually around five ranging potions and 9 anti-fire potions). Rangers should also bring blessed dragonhide armour or black dragonhide armour with several emerald bolts (e). Players seeking to melee steel dragons will need to use prayer potions to kill them effectively (typically about 10-15 per inventory). It is, however, not recommended that players kill these dragons with melee unless all their melee stats are at least level 85. Meleers should use the Protect from Melee prayer; even players with level 99 Defence will otherwise take heavy melee damage. Even with prayer, players should bring two to three pieces of high-level food just to be safe.

It is recommended to put the game setting (under the chat box) on "filter." Otherwise, the message stating that the player's dragonfire resistance is running out may get lost.

Kuradal's Dungeon
One of the best locations to kill steel dragons (if assigned by Kuradal) is Kuradal's Dungeon, due to its close proximity to a fairy ring and the ferocious ring's bonus in the dungeon. However, cannons cannot be used in Kuradal's Dungeon. Players with at least level 86 and 90 Agility will find shortcuts in the dungeon, reducing the time required to reach the dragons. This location is fairly popular and can become crowded with more slayers than there are spawns.

There are four steel dragons in this location. The dragons are tightly grouped together, and the area in which they are located is rather small, thus increasing the risk of mages and rangers finding themselves inside melee range of an attacking dragon after completing a kill. Unless using the shortcut from the abyssal demon room, players run the risk of being attacked by an iron dragon; this is also a risk if players stray too close to that end of the metal dragon chamber.

Ghorrock
The fortress of Ghorrock, accessible once a certain point has been reached in the Temple at Senntisten quest has been reached, at the far north-west corner of the Wilderness contains several spawns of both iron and steel dragons. Like in Kuradal's Dungeon the two species occupy the same space without mingling, allowing players to kill one type with minimum interference from the other.Steel dragons occupy the north and west sides of the outer courtyard of the fortress. It is within the area where the Stone of Jas' residual effects will boost damage, making it an appealing option. Players using super anti-fire potions are strongly recommended to drink a dose before using any of the entrances.

The fortress can be reached in several ways. The quickest safe way requires completion of Ritual of the Mahjarrat; by using the D-K-Q fairy ring to the Glacor Cave (gaining the damage-boosting effect of the Stone of Jas energy as well), exiting the cave and running directly north over the Ritual Plateau players can enter the fortress among the iron dragons and run west to the steel dragons. A slower safe option is to go to the D-K-S fairy ring, run north to the canoe at the west edge of the snowy hunter area and then run east from the landing point to enter the fortress from the west.

The other ways to access Ghorrock are from the east side, through the Wilderness. Players with 89 Magic can use Ice Plateau Teleport (Lunar Spellbook) or players with 96 Magic can use Ghorrok Teleport (Ancient Spellbook) to teleport slightly south of the entrance. Those without access to these spells can use the Wilderness obelisks to try and reach the level 44 obelisk and run north-west, although this method is subject to random chance. The final method, and most risky, is too use the Ardougne or Edgeville teleport lever to reach the Deserted Keep and run west past the Mage Arena and Wilderness Agility Course.

Brimhaven Dungeon
See Brimhaven Dungeon for how to get there efficiently.

Players who haven't earned Karamja gloves 3 (which do not need to be worn to enter the dungeon) must pay Saniboch 875 coins to enter Brimhaven Dungeon. There are aggressive fire giants, wild dogs, black demons and iron dragons between the entrance and the steel dragon. Players using the pipe shortcut from the red dragons should activate Deflect/Protect from Melee before using the shortcut, due to the risk of being attacked by a black demon immediately upon exit of the pipe.

This location is not recommended for players that have access to any of the other options, due to the low number of steel dragons available and the fact that they are among a larger number of aggressive iron dragons which will make it difficult to target only steel dragons.

Brimhaven Resource Dungeon
Located within Brimhaven Dungeon, this is a much less crowded location available to players with level 80 Dungeoneering. The Brimhaven Dungeon resource dungeon houses about five steel dragons south of the entrance and about seven iron dragons to the northeast. There is a hammer spawn and an anvil present here, which allows players to smith the bars dropped. Players may be interested in smithing high demand low level ranged ammo, such as steel knives from the regular steel bar drops of the dragons. Mages may be interested in smithing steel platebodies to alch for coins if they have the appropriate Smithing level. There are four anvils in the dungeon, and the steel dragons are close to one of them. However, it is better not to pick up the bars they drop until they become nonagressive, as the dragons will interrupt any attempts to smith before that time.

100% drops

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Weapons

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Armour

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Ammo and Runes

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Other items

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Trivia

 * As with all dungeon monsters, Steel dragons that are purchased and placed in dungeons do not drop items when they die. However, the dragon's dragonfire can still be used to charge the Dragonfire shield, making the dragon a highly desired guardian.
 * The steel dragon's max hit with dragonfire against an unprotected player is 490. The dragon seems to hit higher more often when using its dragonfire attack from afar.
 * Contrary to popular belief, Steel dragons cannot break a cannon as they are not in a multi-combat area.
 * Steel dragons, like all other metallic dragons, received a voice update. Instead of hearing large noise when you hit it, it makes a smaller, softer noise.

Steel dragon Steel dragon