TzHaar Fight Cave/Strategies

The TzHaar Fight Cave is arguably the hardest activity in RuneScape. To win this activity, the player will need to have high combat skills and powerful equipment.

The general approach to the Fight Cave is by using Ranged. This will allow the player to trap monsters and attack them from a distance. Using Ranged gives by far the largest chance of success. Using only melee is a lot harder and one will get hit a lot. A combination of Ranged and Guthan's equipment can be very strong. Using Magic is not recommended as the monsters have a very high defence against Magic.

Playing this activity till the end takes a considerable amount of time and resources, requiring usually 2 to 3 hours of continuous playing and a considerable number of potions. At 90+ Ranged it can take as little as just over an hour to get to TzTok-Jad; however it is advised the player makes sure they can play straight for at least three hours. Logging out between waves can be done, but is risky. A good internet connection is also very helpful, as lag in the Fight Cave at the wrong moment can be deadly. Playing on a low-populated world with very low ping (<65) decreases the chance of lag.

Recommended skills
For the Fight Cave, there are no skill requirements. It is, however, strongly recommended that the player has at least the following stats before attempting the Fight Cave. Recommended stats may vary according to the method of combat chosen.

Choosing your weapon
Rune crossbow

The rune crossbow is a powerful and very cheap Ranged weapon. It is the strongest tradeable crossbow, requiring a Ranged level of 61 to use. It fires semi-slow - at the rate of a scimitar - but can hit high and is quite accurate. It fires bolts - for the Fight Cave, about 1500 adamant bolts or broad-tipped bolts are recommended. For the final fight against TzTok-Jad, diamond bolts (e) are great, since they have a special effect that negates a large portion of the opponent's Ranged defence. Furthermore, one can wield something in the shield slot when using this weapon, and the bolts can be picked up and reused, making this weapon a good choice.

Karil's crossbow

For players with 70 Ranged or higher, Karil's crossbow is an option. It has a Ranged attack bonus almost as high as the rune crossbow. However, this weapon fires much faster - just as fast as a scimitar would hit. This weapon fires bolt racks instead of bolts. One's max hit will be lower when using this crossbow than if one would have used a rune crossbow, but it can still inflict the most damage per second of any non-PvP Ranged weapon. Downsides to using this weapon are that it is two-handed and it is expensive to use, so if one does not have much money, the rune crossbow may be better to use.

Crystal bow

Another Ranged weapon requiring 70 Ranged to use, and 50 Agility as well, is the crystal bow. This bow degrades when used. When fully charged, it has a Ranged attack bonus surpassing that of the rune crossbow. It is also faster, attacking with the speed of a longsword. Although its max hit is only 25% of the player's Ranged level, this bow is very accurate and will hit its max hit quite often. It would be wise to take two fully charged bows into the Fight Cave. Every 250 shots, the crystal bow currently wielded will degrade, decreasing its stats. After 2500 shots are fired, the bow will revert to a crystal seed. If one fires 200 - 240 shots and then swaps to the second bow, the second will degrade and the first one will still have the maximum stats. The player should switch back to the first bow, after another 200 - 240 shots, use the degraded bow to take in the next degradation, and repeat these steps. The price of using this weapon varies greatly, since the more bows the player has recharged, the lower the price. This means this weapon will cost between 360 and 72 coins per shot.

Guthan's warspear

If the player chooses to use Guthan's equipment, they must take this weapon as well as the pieces of Guthan's armour (the helm, platebody and chainskirt) for the set effect, Infestation, to activate. Successful attacks will have a chance of healing the player for the amount of damage they did. This can be very helpful as it will conserve a lot of potions. The warspear is, however, a melee weapon so one must come out of their safespot and run towards the monsters to use it. It is also two-handed, so no shield can be wielded alongside the spear. When one starts the Fight Cave with a full inventory and both a weapon and a shield equipped, the warspear can't be used until an inventory spot is freed up. The use of Guthan's warspear will actually take up 4 inventory spots, since the other pieces of Guthan's are also needed. Note that the set effect will only randomly activate, so one should not rely on restoring health with Guthan's when they have very few life points left.

Saradomin godsword Higher levelled, wealthy players may find that the Saradomin godsword is a useful secondary weapon to bring into the caves. Level 75 Attack is needed to use the weapon. Its special attack, Healing Blade, will restore half the amount of damage they did to their life points and 1/4 to their Prayer points, decreasing the amount of potions needed. The special attack drains 50% of the special attack energy. Despite some of the lower levelled creatures having only 100 or 200 life points, players can still heal the equivalent to what they would have hit, should the given monster have had more health. Players will be able to use the special attack once per wave after roughly wave 20. The godsword should be used for its special attack only - for normal killing, the player should use a Ranged weapon. One good tactic is to kill the strong monsters first, and save a Tz-Kek for last to use the special attack on. Other godswords are, to a lesser extent, also useful in the Fight Cave.

Enhanced Excalibur For players who have completed the hard Seers' Village Tasks, and can't afford a Saradomin godsword, the Enhanced Excalibur is a great secondary weapon to take. Its special attack, Sanctuary, heals the player for 40 life points every 2 seconds, for 10 seconds in total; this means the special attack heals 200 life points. It uses up 100% of the special attack energy. In addition, the special attack will give a 15% boost in Defence. The special attack will not restore Prayer points like the Saradomin godsword, the godsword can heal more life points and only uses up 50% of the special attack energy - but it is guaranteed the Enhanced Excalibur will heal the player and the Defence boost could come in handy as well. If players have completed the Elite Seers' Village Tasks, they can upgrade their sword again; this final upgrade will improve its special attack so it heals 400 life points over 20 seconds.

Dragon halberd The Dragon halberd can be a cheap yet effective 'last resort' weapon for players who don't want to use Ranged and don't have a lot of money to spend. It is a melee weapon that can strike from two squares away, out of range of the monsters' melee attacks. The halberd has a special attack, Sweep, that drains 30% of one's special attack energy. This attack can strike multiple opponents in multi-combat areas if they are lined up properly next to each other. Against large monsters, this special attack will hit twice. For some players, this could be a strong weapon; it may, however, be difficult to use - for example, if one runs a little bit too close to a Ket-Zek they could get hit by their melee attacks and quickly die.

Ranged-only method
The simplest method to use is the Ranged-only method. The Ranged-only setup involves using only Ranged all the way through to the end. This is, perhaps, harder than using Guthan's equipment as well as Ranged, as more food and potions are required, and more damage is taken. However, it isn't very difficult to make it to the end using only Ranged, and it is a good alternative to people who can't afford Guthan's. As the player will be taking more damage, it is highly recommended they maximise their Defence bonus (especially against slash and Ranged, to help defend against Tok-Xil and Yt-HurKot), as well as their Prayer and Ranged attack stats.

Pros


 * This method is cheap and simple


 * No inventory slots will be occupied by armour pieces

'''Cons '''
 * As you will require more potions to restore your LP, this method is usually harder than using Guthan's

Recommended equipment

 * Full slayer helmet (only if the player's Slayer task is Tzhaar) / Verac's helm / Blessed dragonhide coif / Helm of Neitiznot / Proselyte sallet / Armadyl helmet
 * Amulet of fury / God stole / Holy symbol / Unholy symbol / Amulet of glory / Amulet of ranging / Salve Amulet (e)
 * Armadyl chestplate / Karil's leathertop / Black d'hide body
 * Bandos tassets / Verac's plateskirt / Armadyl chainskirt / Proselyte tasset / Proselyte cuisse / Karil's leatherskirt / Black d'hide chaps
 * Chaotic crossbow / Rune crossbow / Karil's crossbow / Crystal bow / Hand cannon (WARNING: The cannon may explode)
 * Dragonfire shield / Blessed spirit shield / Obsidian shield / Granite shield / Elysian spirit shield / Falador shield 3 or 4 / Faithful shield / God book / Broodoo shield
 * Ava's accumulator or alerter / If not using Rune crossbow: Fire cape / Trimmed Skillcape / Soul Wars cape / Ardougne cloak 3 or 4
 * 1000-2000 Adamant bolts / Runite bolts / Broad-tipped bolts / Bolt racks (if using Karil's crossbow); Hand cannon shots / 250 Diamond bolts (e) for TzTok-Jad
 * Regen bracelet / Barrows gloves / Black d'hide vambraces / Other Metal gloves obtained from Recipe for Disaster / Combat bracelet
 * Ranger boots / Snakeskin boots / Dragon boots / Bandos boots / Rock climbing boots
 * Archer's ring (i) / Explorer's ring / Onyx ring (i) / Archer ring

Recommended inventory

 * 1 Ranging potion (4)
 * 6-10 Saradomin brews (4)
 * Fill rest of slots with Super restore potions (4)
 * Purple sweets (stackable food, heals 10-30 LP)
 * Enhanced Excalibur also helps a lot
 * 250 Diamond bolts (when ranging TzTok-Jad)

Guthan's method
Many players use Guthan's armour in the early waves as it helps conserve food, and it also has reasonable defence. Guthan's armour will at random, during some of your attacks, heal you for the amount of damage you deal. Players would normally use Guthan's until the Yt-MejKots appear, in which the player would then switch to their Ranged setup. However, they could still heal on monsters in later waves to replenish their health when needed. Ideal monsters to heal on are Tz-Kih, Tz-Kek, and Tok-Xil. Yt-MejKots are also ideal to heal on if you are using a safe spot: this is done by hiding in the safe spot, hitting Yt-Mejkot and running back to the safe spot. It should be noted that when you run back to your safe spot you should wait until its LP bar goes away so it will not attack you.

Pros Cons
 * Guthan's equipment will heal you when meleeing, so fewer potions will be needed
 * Using Guthan's and Ranged is usually easier than using Ranged alone
 * Guthan's equipment is expensive
 * Some inventory slots will be occupied by armour pieces (however, the amount of LP restored by Guthan's more than makes up for the few potions lost)
 * Changing armours can be difficult for inexperienced players

Recommended equipment

 * Guthan's helm/Proselyte sallet/Armadyl Helm
 * Amulet of fury / God stole / Holy symbol / Unholy symbol / Amulet of glory
 * Guthan's platebody/Armadyl chestplate/Proselyte hauberk/Black d'hide body
 * Guthan's chainskirt/Verac's plateskirt/Proselyte cuisse/Armadyl chainskirt
 * Guthan's warspear/Rune Crossbow/Crystal Bow/Karil's crossbow
 * Ava's accumulator / Ava's attractor / Fire Cape / Obsidian cape / Skillcape / Legends cape
 * Adamant bolts / Diamond bolts (e) / Bolt racks / Broad-tipped bolts / Nothing (if using crystal bow)
 * Regen Bracelet / Karamja gloves(4) / Gloves (barrows) / Black spiky vambs
 * Ranger boots / Snakeskin boots / Dragon boots/Bandos boots
 * Archers ring / Explorer's ring (optional) / Berserker ring

Recommended inventory

 * Black d'hide body / Karil's leathertop / Armadyl chestplate
 * Guthan's helm (if using some other helm)
 * Black d'hide chaps / Karil's leatherskirt / Armadyl chainskirt / Verac's skirt (optional)
 * Rune crossbow / Karil's crossbow / 2 Crystal bows
 * Falador shield 3 / Toktz-ket-xil / Granite shield / Dragonfire shield / Elysian spirit shield (optional, and only if using Rune crossbow)
 * 1 Ranging potion (4)
 * 5-6 Saradomin brews (4)
 * 16-18 Super restore potions (4)

Pure method
''This method is meant for pures only. Regular players should use one of the above methods instead.''

If you are a pure and you have a Defence level of 20 or below, playing this activity is very hard and expensive, but not impossible. You will probably have to spend at least one, if not multiple, million coins. It is recommended to study the Fight Cave and many guides before attempting. You will be hit very hard by the level 90s. When the healers appear in the last wave, it is recommended to use the Steel Skin prayer to aid your low Defence against them for a short period of time.

Pros


 * For this method, no high Defence level is required

Cons


 * This method is very expensive and hard

Recommended equipment

 * Any Mitre (Zamorak, Guthix,Saradomin,Zaros, Bandos, or Armadyl)
 * Monk's robe (top)/ God robe top
 * Black d'hide chaps
 * Rock climbing boots / Ranger boots
 * Rune crossbow
 * Amulet of fury / Amulet of glory/ Unholy symbol
 * 1000-2000 Diamond bolts (e)/ Broad bolts
 * Ava's attractor / Ava's accumulator
 * Archer's ring or Archer's ring (i)/ Onyx ring(i)
 * Regen bracelet
 * God Book

Recommended inventory

 * 10 Saradomin brew (4)
 * 200+ Purple sweets/Biscuits
 * 17 Super restore (4)
 * 1 or 2 Ranging Potion (4)

Map
In the Fight Cave, you will probably be using safespots. There are three bodies of rock in the Fight Cave that can help you: Orb Rock (west), Dragon Rock (north) and Italy Rock (east).

The best safespot in the Cave is marked "the long spot" on the map. If you stand behind the corpse that lies just south of Orb Rock, most monsters will be trapped. If monsters are too far away, walk west; they will be lured to you. When they're close, walk back to the corpse and kill them.

Occasionally, monsters may spawn south of Orb Rock, so they won't be trapped. If this is the case, run north across the cave to Dragon Rock. On the west side of Dragon Rock, not far off the northern wall of the cave, there is another safespot you can use. Walk north to lure monsters. When the wave is over, run back to Orb Rock. Also, if you have the right experience and timing, you can trap larger moving monsters like Yt-Mejkots behind various Sulfur Vents.

Italy Rock, resembling Italy, is the most famous rock and was for a long time the main rock used by players. However, due to an update that allowed the monsters to move diagonally, this rock doesn't work very effectively now. The only time it is useful is during the fight with TzTok-Jad: if you stand just north of Italy Rock, and as far east as you can go, TzTok-Jad will often be trapped behind Italy Rock.

Monsters
In this activity, players must battle past waves of six types of monsters ranging from level 22 up to level 360, before facing the final boss, TzTok-Jad. Each of these monsters require a different tactic by the player, though, due to the structure of the activity, most of them are best fought from a distance. The monsters generally have high Attack and Strength, along with a special ability, but low life points and Defence. This means they will hit hard and often, but can be killed quite easily.

The monsters appear in waves, 63 in total. Here is a detailed breakdown. The monsters are referred to by their combat levels.


 * Due to a new update you can no longer log out right before facing Jad, instead you will get a message saying "There's no point in logging out."
 * The four level 108 healers will appear when Jad is at half health. If they healed TzTok-Jad back to full health and are then killed, they will respawn; otherwise not. They don't have to be killed to complete the Fight Cave.

The progression can be summarized as follows: if a wave has two of the same level monster, the next wave will replace that monster with one monster of the next higher level; e.g.: "22, 22" becomes "45", "90, 90" becomes "180", and so on. If all monsters have different levels, an extra Tz-Kih (22) appears. The running total of monsters is: 48 Tz-Kih (22), 40 Tz-Kek (45) [80 Tz-Kek (22)], 36 Tok-Xil (90), 34 Yt-MejKot (180), 33 Ket-Zek, 1 TzTok-Jad (702), 4 Yt-HurKot (108).

The order in which you should kill the monsters is: The monsters are in order of appearance by wave number:
 * Tz-Kih (level 22)
 * Tok-Xil (level 90)
 * Ket-Zek (level 360)
 * Yt-MejKot (level 180)
 * Tz-Kek (level 45 and 22)

TzTok-Jad
TzTok-Jad is the final monster encountered in the Fight Cave. Examining it yields the discouraging message "This is going to hurt...". It is the third highest level monster in all of RuneScape that players can fight with conventional methods (succeeded by the Corporeal beast and preceded by Nomad). Defeating TzTok-Jad requires a huge amount of persistence and determination, as TzTok-Jad is rarely defeated in the first few tries by even the best RuneScape players.

General information
In order for one to reach TzTok-Jad, one must first endure 62 waves of fighting progressively tougher monsters. The current wave that the player is on is shown at the beginning of each wave. TzTok-Jad himself is a level 702, huge, four-legged behemoth and uses all three sides of the combat triangle - Magic, Ranged and melee. TzTok-Jad will attack with melee only when the player is adjacent to him. When the player is in melee range, TzTok-Jad will use Magic and Ranged attacks as well. If the player attacks from a distance - which is strongly recommended - TzTok-Jad will alternate between Magic and Ranged attacks. During the fight, the player should have auto retaliate on and focus on switching to the correct protection prayer in time. Even when the Yt-HurKots appear or the player gets hit, switching prayers is the most important thing to do.

It is also possible to use the Ancient Curses from The Temple at Senntisten to protect from his attacks. The Deflect Curses are very useful, as they work and drain the same way the normal protection prayers do, (the Curses can also be used against Yt-MejKot, Ket-Zek and Tok-Xil) and have a chance of dealing some helpful damage to the enemies attacking (up to 97 on TzTok-Jad, since its maximum hit is 970) It is widely believed that the Deflect Curses deal 10% of damage of what the enemy would have caused. The disadvantage is you need at least 68 prayer (if using range) or 71 (if using melee for TzTok-Jad.)

Attacks
Survival depends on watching TzTok-Jad's movements - an emote precedes the attack, telling the player which prayer to use.
 * Melee: TzTok-Jad quickly slams his fistTzTok Jad.gif into the player. This is the fastest attack, but if the player stays at a distance, they should not encounter it.
 * Magic: TzTok-Jad lowers his head while a ball of fire is created above his head - the player must turn on their prayer now. Then, the spell will be fired at the player. The same sound as the Retribution prayer being triggered is played before the attack is launched, which makes it easier to identify it.
 * Ranged: TzTok-Jad slams his front legs onto the ground, and large cracks appear in the floor at his feet - the player must turn on their prayer now. Next, a boulder will fall down on the player. TzTok-Jad usually opens the fight with a Ranged attack, so pray against missiles at the beginning of the fight. Note that sometimes TzTok-Jad will still start with a Magic attack; in this case, change prayers when you see the Magic attack emote.

Although somewhat slow, all of these attacks can deal enough damage in a single blow to kill even the most powerful of players if not guarded by use of the correct protection prayer. TzTok-Jad has a maximum hit of 970 and hits very accurately.

Healers
When TzTok-Jad is down to half health, he will summon four Yt-HurKots (level 108 melee fighters with 600 LP and tiny in comparison) which will heal him, effectively causing him to regenerate endlessly until they are dealt with. In order to stop them from healing, they need to be hit once so they turn their attention to the player. The Yt-HurKots' melee attacks hit up to 140, so the player could kill them, but if one has a decent Defence level and good equipment, they should not be extremely dangerous - one should always watch their health, though. Alternatively, when all of the Yt-HurKots are attacking the player, run through TzTok-Jad and they will become trapped behind him. This is not advised unless the player is experienced. If they healed TzTok-Jad back to full health and are then killed, they will respawn; otherwise not.

A recent update has changed the healers' role. Even if the player manages to get the attention of all the healers, they will still heal Jad if he is near the healers. If you're able to stay calm and switch prayers correctly, you can easily defeat the TzTok-Jad. Alternatively, you could either kill the healers or stand away and use the long-ranged attack style so the healers can't heal TzTok-Jad.

Notes:


 * When the Yt-HurKots appear, before attacking them with a Ranged weapon to distract them, the player is advised to set the attack style to long range. Otherwise they may walk too close to TzTok-Jad and get hit by his melee attack.


 * If the player gets hit by TzTok-Jad, they should not panic or consume a large amount of food or potions in one go. Stay calm and focused. Heal once every time he attacks while prioritizing praying first.

Miscellaneous information
Players with close to maxed combat stats, and 88+ Herblore in addition, can use a combination of Ranged and melee. They should have dragonhide and some sort of high level melee armour. Jad will be meleed with extreme pots - that is where the 88 Herblore comes in. The goal is to kill jad before the healers arrive, which can be quite difficult. It can take many tries to get this right, and should only be attempted by those who are willing to die and incur the cost of death. Done correctly with extremes/overloads the entire Fight Cave can be cleared in less than 45 minutes, making this an excellent method for high level slayers on tasks for Tzhaar fight cave creatures.

Another method for high levelled players is to use full Proselyte, a Soul Wars cape (from Nomad's Requiem), a God Stole, and a Dragon Halberd to complete the waves. The benefit to this method is that the gear has extremely high prayer bonus (+36 with a Slayer helm, +39 with a Helm of Neitiznot) which allows the player to use fewer prayer potions. With 90+ attack and strength, and extreme attack and strength potions, this method can be used to complete the caves as quickly as with traditional range-based methods.

While not a method in of itself, players with a high Magic level may wish to bring runes for a multi-targeted Blood spell, as this can speed up the caves considerably while providing additional healing. It takes some practice to learn to hit many monsters at the same time, because when cast on a multi-square monster, the spell only hits creatures adjacent to the monster's southwest-most corner square.

Players who have plenty of time on their hands could bring full penance and rest. This restores both life points and Prayer, but takes quite a long time. This is best used in conjunction with Ranged.

Those who have completed the Elite Karamja Tasks may be resurrected on the spot once per day if they die in the Fight Cave.

Logging out
It is possible to log out and save one's progress in the Fight Cave. In order to do this, the player should click the logout button once. The game will register the player wants to log out, and a message in one's chat box will be displayed. The player should now kill all the monsters in the current wave, after which they will be automatically logged out. When they next log in, they will start on the next wave. If the player clicks the logout button twice, or avoids all combat for 10 seconds while there are still monsters alive and then logs out, their progress will not be saved and they will have to start over again. Note that it can be risky to log out while in the Fight Cave, especially after wave 31 - the player may not be able to activate their protection prayer in time to negate the damage of a Ket-Zek's magic attack. Before logging out, adjust the Quick prayer option correctly (wave 31+ -> Magic protection prayer).

Using function keys
Surviving TzTok-Jad's attacks depends on watching his movements. He warns the player before attacking with magic and ranged attacks. By listening for certain sounds and watching his forelegs prior to his attack, he/she can switch to the appropriate protection prayer and avoid severe damage. Between these attacks the player must switch as quickly as possible otherwise he/she could experience hits up to 970s. One way to do this a little quicker is to use the keys "f1" (inventory) and "f3" (prayer); if one wastes even less than a second, the results could be fatal. Using the f keys to switch between interfaces can be done on a PC, some linux, and mac computers. However, in order to use this feature on a mac you must first press the function (fn) key on the keyboard simultaneously with the f1 and f3 keys which may take more time. (however this can be changed through --> System preferences --> Keyboard -->and then check the box "use F1,F2 keys as Standard function keys" to normally use the function keys without the 'fn' key)

Restoring health


For players who wish to save their high-healing foods for later fights may choose to find a safespot and wait until their life points heal. This is very time consuming, but casting a Lunar Dream spell, having a bracelet of regeneration equipped or Rapid Heal/Rapid Renewal turned on or simply Resting will speed up the healing process. An Enhanced excalibur is very helpful here, it can heal 200 life points (400 after Seers elite tasks) and boosts your defence level every 5 minutes. Higher level players may also find the Saradomin godsword to be useful, as both prayer and life points can be recovered.

At 92 Prayer, the Soul Split curse can also be used against the lower levelled monsters to gain more life points - 20% of the damage the player does will go to their health when this prayer is active. Using melee in combination with Soul Split works well, as the player will be dealing a lot of damage quickly. However, Soul Split is an overhead prayer, meaning the player will not be able to use a deflect curse while using Soul Split. The player should therefore use Deflect Magic instead whenever a 360 is alive, and use Ranged to attack them. Players could also Prayer flash using Soul Split and Turmoil.