Black salamander

The Black salamander is the strongest salamander and can be caught using the Hunter skill at level 67. It requires level 70 Ranged, and it is 2-handed. Harralander Tar is used as ammunition for the salamander. The ammunition is not retrievable like regular bolts and arrows, even with the use of one of Ava's devices, but it is relatively cheap and little ammunition is spent with the use of abilities.

The black salamander is a popular weapon and is cheaper alternative to Karil's crossbow. The damage and accuracy is similar Karil's crossbow. Nevertheless, it is a cheap yet effective weapon when slaying monsters weak to bolts. However, this will deny you access to using abilities that require a shield as it is a 2-handed weapon.

Warning: The black salamander will not appear under your gravestone if you die. This is because it is a live creature, and it will run away. Should this happen, you will need to buy or catch a new one. They are fairly easily replaced, however, as they are cheap at a price of coins each, but can be difficult to buy from the Grand Exchange.

Trivia

 * Prior to the Evolution of Combat update, the black salamander dealt damage up to 2.5 times the level of the fighting style you were using. Black salamanders could use all three fighting styles: Scorch (strength), Blaze (magic) attack styles, and Flare (ranged) attack style. The attack speed of the Black Salamander when using Scorch or Blaze was 5, whereas Flare (ranged) attacked at a speed of 6, which is similar in concept to the Rapid style of most ranged weapons.
 * Prior to the EoC update, salamander gave combat expierence equivalent to 2/5 of your damage as exp.
 * Prior to the EoC Update, it is possible to hit 638 life points of damage using the Black Salamander when combat stats are boosted to level 255 during the While Guthix Sleeps quest. (255*2.5= 637.5)
 * Prior to the EoC update, there used to be a glitch that was introduced with the new hitsplat update in December 2010. It would claim every hit made with the salamander's magic attack was a player's maximum hit, even if it only did one life point of damage. This was fixed when Nex was released on 10 January 2011.
 * Like Chinchompas and Flags/Standards, the character's animations when wielding a salamander used to use the obsolete and choppy animation, even after the RuneScape "High Detail" update
 * Prior to the EoC update, it was possible to use this item on the melee setting to attack monsters that could not previously be meleed, for instance Aviansies or even Kree'arra.


 * In Clan Wars and the Duel Arena, if magic is turned off (or set to a certain spellbook/binding spells in the case of Clan Wars), the Salamander's magic option still works and counts as magic damage.
 * When PvP worlds were active, it was possible to receive a black salamander drop, even though they normally run away from the player upon death
 * If the black salamander is stored inside a familiar such as a Spirit Terrorbird, if the familiar is dismissed all the salamanders will drop to the ground, even though you cannot normally drop them.
 * Void Knight equipment does affect the salamanders's damage/accuracy.
 * Previously, the black salamander was commonly used in Barrows as it was an effective magic weapon.
 * Before 13 May 2013, this weapon also required 70 Attack and 70 Magic. This was because it was a multi-style weapon before the Evolution of Combat, although the Attack and Magic requirements were not removed immediately after it became a ranged weapon with the update.

Black salamander