Queen Black Dragon/Strategies

The Queen Black Dragon is the third strongest monster in all of RuneScape. There is no option to fight it with friends, so fighting it is a personal challenge between you and the boss.

The only actual requirement is a Summoning level of 60. No quests are required to fight the Queen Black Dragon, but completing Song from the Depths is recommended as incoming damage is reduced.

Equipment
As the Queen Black Dragon has no actual weakness, all combat styles can be well-utilized during the fight. The choice of which class to use is up to the player. However she may acquire weaknesses and resistances to certain styles randomly throughout phases 3 & 4.

Offensive armor is a good choice because the QBD's damage is tolerable even with lowered defensive and life bonuses.

Ranged
Defence-wise, Ranged is lacking against the QBD: rangers are weak to her melee attacks and are not strong against her ranged attacks. Even so, by staying at a distance the player can completely avoid her melee, and, as with mages, rangers are not limited to close distance, which means easier dodging of fire walls and souls.

The royal crossbow performs well against her and should be used if the player has no stronger weapon – although of course, to obtain the crossbow you must have already reached the last stage of the fight. However, if the player uses the Ascension crossbows, it becomes easier, compared to meleeing her with Drygores and is somewhat equal to using Seismics.

Magic
While Magic armour is weak to the ranged attacks of the Queen Black Dragon, standing in melee distance allows for good tanking of incoming melee attacks – while running south from fire walls is always an option.

The QBD has no weakness, so use the highest level spell you have available regardless of its element.

Melee
Theoretically Melee is the safest way to fight QBD as the Ranged attacks can be well-blocked while the subsequent Melee attacks can be moderately tanked. However, in practice Melee is the most dangerous way to do the fight as souls may spawn erratically and there is less time to react to fire walls. If you are new to the fight or inexperienced, it is better to try Ranged or Magic as they are easier while also managing good kill rates.

Hybrid
Players wishing to take advantage of the QBD's occasional weakness to either physical or magical attacks can consider using either Void or Hybrid armour. Do note that these armours have lower defence and that you can instead use a set of Tank or Power armour for each style.

It is recommended to use Tank or Power helmets, gloves and boots to compensate for the lost defence, while still having no negative offensive bonuses to all attack styles.

Another use of hybridding is to use multiple powerful abilities while others are on cooldown.

Examples of action bars for hybridding are below.

Note how Rapid Fire and Asphyxiate, as well as Anguish and Turmoil, are in the same action bar slot, so you can press the same buttons when switching action bars to activate the required prayer and then use the combo threshold.

Combat breakdown
The fight consists of many different mechanics. They are listed below in the general order that they become available to the boss during the fight. All the damage values are are given assuming that the player has completed Song from the Depths.

Ranged attack

 * The Queen Black Dragon uses this attack on a player anywhere on the field, including the range at which it performs its melee attack.
 * It is an accurate sweeping attack with her head that usually hits in the high 1000s, but potentially as high as 2480.
 * The Protect from Ranged prayer or Deflect Missiles curse will halve damage from this attack.

Melee attack

 * The Queen Black Dragon will use this attack if the player stands more than one square north of the middle artefact.
 * It is an accurate bite attack that can damage up to 1500 lifepoints.
 * Strong melee armour helps if standing in range of this attack.
 * The Protect from Melee prayer or Deflect Melee curse will halve damage from this attack.

Standard Dragon Breath
The Queen Black Dragon has a dragon breath that even super antifires with a dragonfire shield/anti-dragon shield cannot fully block. This attack is reduced to low 800s with full antifire protection. There is a ten second cooldown on this attack, preventing the player from being inflicted with continuous typeless damage. This attack will hit over 1000 without any dragonfire protection.

Fire Wave
An orange message appears in the chatbox prior to this attack, saying "The Queen Black Dragon takes a huge breath." Some seconds later, a fire wall will appear at the northern edge of the fighting area, moving south at moderate speed.

The fighting area consists of a platform 19 squares from west to east. As the wall descends, there is always one gap out of three possibilities available for the player to pass through.


 * Possibility 1 has the gap on the 5th square,
 * Possibility 2 has the gap on the 9th square (one square to the left of the centre artefact),
 * Possibility 3 has the gap on the 15th square (the 5th from the right).

750 damage is dealt for every game tick of contact with the wall when the player has antifire protection. Without proper protection, the flame walls will hit 2500 per game tick of contact, and 750 with full protection. If you do not move from the flame walls and let it hit you, you will be hit two times per flame wall if you refuse to move from your spot. Note that it is possible to avoid the flame walls without running through the gaps. To do so, the player must stand still until the flame wall is one square north of them, and then click to run straight through the fire. If done properly, the player will take no damage. Be aware, however, that this is a difficult strategy to perfect, and even when done properly, can fail due to lag.

Grotworms
The QBD coughs up level 105 Mature grotworms every time its current health bar is depleted. These magic-based worms will continue spawning until the correct artefact for the stage has been activated. The Queen Black Dragon cannot spawn them infinitely; they will stop spawning when 15-25 of them are on the arena.

While these worms hit for 400s, it is oftentimes more convenient to ignore them and continue fighting the QBD. Their weakness is Bolts.

Magical platforms
The start of the second, third, and fourth stages comes with an extension to the playing area: a magical platform that extends over the ocean, allowing reach to the next appropriate artefact. Standing on one of these platforms for too long at once deals 1500 damage every few seconds until the player returns to solid ground. It is a good idea to keep your lifepoints over 2500+ while running to touch a southern artefact, as you can easily get combo'ed by the QBD's attacks, the grotworms and the magical platform damage.

Summoning
One of the most notable aspects of the entire fight is the summoning of tortured souls. Seconds before the attack is used, a purple message will appear in the chatbox saying "The Queen Black Dragon summons one/several of her captured souls.".

This attack is not used at all during the first stage. Of the others:


 * Stage two: One soul will spawn one square west of the player.
 * Stage three: Two souls will spawn, one on each side of the player.
 * Stage four: Four souls will spawn, each soul on a different square one diagonal away from the player (eg. one tile northeast of the player).

If any of the spaces mentioned is occupied by water, the soul will spawn somewhere else. After a tick, it releases a chaotic cloud which chases after the player unless it hits a soul, a worm or the player. Regardless of what it hits, it deals up to 1050 damage on whatever it comes in contact with. If the soul is killed while a cloud is active, the cloud that soul summoned will disappate immediately.

Players should note that the souls do not target the player immediately and may instead wander around before they do so. Eating is not required but optional incase the soul moves away and the player gets hit with all the clouds. They have a combat level of 134 and 1675 hitpoints, and so can be dispatched with ease.

Healing
Not only do the souls fight for the QBD, but they can heal it too. During phases 3 and 4, if souls spawn and are not killed the boss will after some time siphon health off of them with 200% efficiency: 100 health is taken off each soul every tick and given to the QBD for 200. It is generally a good idea to kill these monsters, although it may be best to finish the fight if on the final phase or if she uses her crystal form while she is doing so, as you can easily deal more damage on her compared to the health she regains.

The text "The Queen Black Dragon starts to siphon the energy of her mages." appears preceding this.

Crystal form
On phases 3 or 4 the QBD can enter a "crystal form" where damage from physical (Melee and Ranged) attacks are increased while damage from magical attacks are reduced. This state wears off within one minute if the player is unable to finish the phase. If the player is able to reduce all of her lifepoints, she will automatically lose this form.

The player is notified of this move in the chatbox with the message, "The Queen Black Dragon takes on the consistency of crystal; she is more resistant to magic, but weaker to physical damage.".



Hardened carapace
This is the inverse of the previous move, also occuring on phases 3 and 4. Damage from magical attacks is increased while damage from Melee and Ranged is reduced. This state wears off within one minute if the player is unable to finish the phase in time. If the player is able to reduce all of her lifepoints in that phase she will automatically lose the form.

The player is notified of this move in the chatbox with the message, "The Queen Black Dragon hardens her carapace; she is more resistant to physical damage, but more vulnerable to magic.".



Extreme Dragon Breath
This is the QBD's most extreme dragonfire attack, only available on the final stage. The text "The Queen Black Dragon gathers her strength to breathe extremely hot flames." appears in dark orange on the player's chatbox seconds prior to the move. Once the attack begins, the damage will depend on how far you are from the Queen Black Dragon's head. Being in or very close to the middle will result in three hits of 1950, which totals up to 5850 lifepoints. Staying on the side will results in three hits of 450, which totals up to 1350 lifepoints.

Note that this is what charges the Royal crossbow. Stand in the center (the zone which takes increased damage) and click the Brandish option on the unforged crossbow. You will have to stand next to her (at melee range, or the distance at which you can use dragon breath) or it won't work. Remember that you will need to absorb all three hits of the damage, so make sure you have at least 5850 life points before doing this or you will die.

Time Stop
A single soul teleports to the edge of the arena (not on the platforms), shouting "Kill me mortal...quickly! HURRY! BEFORE THE SPELL IS COMPLETE!". If not killed, the soul will proceed to shout:


 * "Time is short!"
 * "She is pouring her energy into me...hurry!"
 * "The spell is nearly complete!"

The dreaded spell takes effect seconds after the final dialogue, ten seconds after the initial warning. A haze appears over the screen, freezing the whole arena execpt for the Queen Black Dragon and the soul which used the ability. During this time, players cannot move, eat or teleport until it ends. The Queen Black Dragon will use all attacks at her disposal during that time, and when the ability ends the player will take all the damage in one tick, meaning that it is easy to die from this attack if not prepared. To tell when this attack is coming, you should focus on the screen and the minimap; if a soul disappears while attacking you it is very likely that it has begun the time stop.

Note: If a soul uses this just as the phase ends, incoming grotworms will not be affected by the freeze.

The fight
This section explains the basic mechanics of the fight, regardless of what combat style the player is using.

Phase one
There are no soul spawns whatsoever. The QBD will only use her Ranged attack, her Melee attack (if the player is more than one square above the northernmost artefact), and the occasional singular fire wall.

The correct artefact to activate at the end of this stage is the northernmost one, in the center of the fighting platform.

Phase two
The QBD will use all of her previous attacks along with an occasional summoning of one tortured soul. Fire walls now come in groups of two at a time when she uses them.

The correct artefact for this stage is to the south-west. A magical platform allowing access to it will have appeared at the start of this stage.

Phase three
This QBD can now temporarily either harden her carapace or enter crystalline form. Two souls will be summoned everytime she needs to. Fire walls appear in groups of three. Along with that, she is now able to siphon the souls to heal herself if they linger in the field too long.

The next correct artefact is the south-eastern one. Similarly to the second artefact, a glowing platform will have arrived at the start of this stage.

Phase four
All attacks from previous stages remain available. Time Stop and Extreme Dragon Breath are now potential attacks, and soul spawns will come in fours. The fire wall attack is unchanged.

The fourth and final artefact is to the direct south, between the second and third. Once activated, all NPCs die except for the QBD, which then enters its slumber.

Tips

 * Don't run when souls are about to be summoned. If they spawn behind you, you won't be able to lure their clouds properly.
 * Always remember to take a dose of prayer potion or super restore at the beginning of each stage to ensure prayer doesn't drop when most needed
 * Check how much health is left on the current stage before using powerful abilities such as Unload.
 * Ensure you have a decent amount of health when running to touch the southern artefacts. Grotworms and the possible damage from the platforms can kill an unprepared player.
 * If timed correctly, it is possible to run directly through a fire wall without taking damage. Click north when the wall is roughly two squares north of you.
 * Be ready to run/touch artefacts as soon as they turn red, because grotworms spawn until you start the next stage. If she is low on health, use bleeds on her to save time and if done properly, a meleer can reach the artifact before she starts coughing up grotworms.
 * While the souls are weak to Crush, any decent-level weapon will kill them with ease.
 * Keep an eye on the chatbox in order to identify upcoming attacks, and if applicable, the time left before the effects of certain potions (such as a superantifire) wear off.
 * Regular antifires alone will only block 25% of the firewall's damage, from 2500 to 1875.
 * Sacrifice can be used on tortured souls to heal a decent amount of health.

Ranged

 * Try not to stand any further north than the first artefact. This way, the QBD can't exploit your armour's weakness to Melee attacks.
 * Bombardment and Ricochet are excellent for dispatching multiple souls.
 * Fragmentation Shot is of less use than normal due to the QBD being stationary.
 * Don't activate Death's Swiftness when souls have just spawned or the stage is about to end.

Magic

 * Stay some distance between the first artefact and QBD. The more melee the boss uses on you, the better, because that means it's not using your weakness of Ranged.
 * Standing at a distance provides more reaction time to fire walls but prevents your use of the ability Dragon Breath.
 * If using a shield, the ability Revenge at 100% Adrenaline then building back up to use Metamorphosis to then use Asphyxiate has a large chance to do extremely heavy damage against QBD, especially with a few grotworms or souls attacking you.
 * Dragon Breath and Chain are good for dispatching souls.
 * Don't activate Metamorphosis when souls have just spawned or the stage is about to end.

Melee

 * Be aware that Berserk results in heavy damage to you too.
 * Slaughter is of less use then normal due to the QBD being stationary. You can combine this attack with Dismember however to get a head-start on the artefact, and if timed properly, no grotworms will spawn while you turn the artefact off.
 * Hurricane and to a lesser extent, Quake, can kill multiple souls at once.
 * Don't activate Berserk when souls have just spawned or the stage is about to end.