Armoured zombie

Armoured zombies are level 85 undead monsters that are encountered during the Defender of Varrock quest. The attack style of the zombie can be identified by the colour of the crest on its helmet. Armoured zombies with yellow crests on their helmets use Melee. Some of these wield scimitars and the others wield battleaxes. Others have blue crests on their helmets use Ranged. All of these wield throwing axes. When they are killed, a red mist is left behind and the player will receive the following message in the chatbox: "A strange red mist rises from the dying zombie". During the Defender of Varrock quest, this mist must be captured in bottles to open doors further into the dungeon, after this quest, they have no use.

As armoured zombies are classed as undead creatures, hence a salve amulet, or a salve amulet (e) is useful for fighting these creatures. The Crumble Undead spell will also work against them. Armoured zombies will also give Slayer experience when assigned a zombie task by a Slayer Master. Note that the effects of a Salve amulet does not stack with those of a black masks or slayer helmets, for players who use this headgear on slayer tasks.

Armoured zombies are commonly used monsters for training, as they give a relatively high experience rate for combat stats, ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 experience per hour, depending on skills and if any prayers and/or potions are used. Due to the convenience of an altar above the location of armoured zombies, combat boosting prayers such as Piety may be used to increase the experience yield. When using piety, with a dragon battleaxe special attack and a Salve amulet (e), a player can gain a total bonus of +63% Strength, +40% Attack and +25% Defence.

Because these zombies frequently drop noted planks and runes, some players may find them a decent source of money, gaining over 150,000 coins per hour. To maximize profits when killing these zombies, players should pick up most of the stackable/noted drops which include charms, types of planks, pure essence, Runes, and mithril arrows but not the eyes of newts. For maximum experience per hour players should not bury bones or bother with herbs lesser in value than Ranarr weeds, but they should pick up the valuable herbs and other valuable drops like key halves.

Locations

 * The Chaos Temple Dungeon during and after the Defender of Varrock quest. The entrance to this dungeon is in level 13 wilderness but the dungeon itself is not part of the wilderness so there is no threat from revenants. Revenants can occasionally be nearby the entrance, so it is advised to take care on the journey to the altar. A quick way to reach the temple is using a Games necklace to teleport to either Clan Wars or the Wilderness Volcano, and travel from there. It is also reasonably fast to travel from the Grand Exchange, using the shortcut to travel under the wall and head north-east to the altar.
 * Varrock castle, only during the invasion during Defender of Varrock. At the castle, the armoured zombies only drop bones and grant 10 experience when killed.

Strategies
To maximize experience per hour players should try to keep zombies aggressive at all times. Since they will become tolerant, players have to pass a line to restart their tolerance timer. The line is shown on the picture.

The two most popular methods of killing armoured zombies are:

Protection prayers
The player may use protection prayers to kill the zombies because of the nearby altar. The zombies use both ranged and melee attacks, so some attention must be paid. Players may also use skill-boosting prayers such as Piety and Chivalry to increase the experience gain along with Rapid Heal to reduce the need for food. It is sometimes difficult to see the colour of the crest on the zombies' heads through the clouds of mist, so the player may want to switch on hearing the attack sounds instead. The melee zombies attack with a trademark zombie grunting sound. Ranged zombies attack with a spinning, hissing sound. Players may try lowering the camera angle and adjusting monitor brightness.

It is a good idea to bring a full inventory of moderately cheap food that could heal enough to compensate the life you lost through wrong prayers, but cheap enough for you to drop without regret to make room for zombie drops. Climbing up the ladder and praying at the altar does not count as leaving the area and the zombies will not become aggressive on your return. After the zombies have become tolerant, it is recommended that players only attack one type of zombie to avoid damage from forgetting to change prayers.

Tank method
The player may also tank the armoured zombies. By using strong defensive armour, such as Bandos armour or Barrows equipment, coupled with a healing familiar (such as a Bunyip) or the Saradomin Godsword, there is no need for protection prayers or food. Bandos is advised due to the fact that it doesn't degrade, but it is not vital. Of course, the player can still use boost prayers such as Piety to increase the overall experience gain. Bring around 2-3 void spinners, bunyips or a better healing familiar, one summoned when players head out. This means players need something to restore summoning points, so a summoning potion or super restore potion is recommended. In addition to the familiar's healing ability it might also be wise as to bring an enhanced excalibur for extra healing to remain in the dungeon even longer. If using your standard prayers, always plan to have piety or chivalry on, and watch your prayer points. If you prefer to use ancient curses, it's advised to bring a combat potion and activate Berserker. Climb back up the ladder at around 5 prayer points remaining to ensure maximum points are spent in the dungeon each trip.

For those who desire to train using a near effortless method, travel deeper into the tunnels where fewer players are found. The first two gates are unlocked. This can be a simple way to train for those tired of crowded entrance areas and for those who train with strong armour, a bunyip, super strength, and super attack. A super defence potion may be needed for those with lower defence (below 80). Be sure to bring an extra bunyip pouch for longer stays. When zombie aggressiveness wears off simply run down the corridor and back. Very little clicking is needed. Using this method provides good experience while requiring little to no attention.

Bones to Peaches is also effective here, as not only do the zombies have a 100% drop of bones, but multiple sets of bones respawn around the altar outside the dungeon.

Super strength potions or the dragon battleaxe's special attack, along with restore potions or super attack potions can be used to increase the experience per hour. Another way to boost Strength without the need to pay much is by using an Obsidian Golem with the Volcanic Strength scroll. It doesn't boost as much as a Super Strength Potion but it's a cheaper alternative.

Almost infinite prayer method
This requires a player to have a Bonecrusher and a Twisted bird skull necklace at the very least however any one of the dungeoneering prayer by bone burial restore necklaces can be used. However, ideally the player will be able to use the Demon horn necklace as it has the highest prayer bonus of the necklaces, as well as any neckware in Runescape. To perform this it is also recommended to have curses and probably turmoil as curses are relatively the same, but more effective than normal prayers, and this method also requires the player to kill zombies relatively fast so high combat stats help. When performing this method the Bonecrusher will automatically bury the zombie's bones and grant one prayer point per zombie. This allows the player to have almost infinite prayer points and requires much less effort than going without the necklace and Bonecrusher as you will have to use the altar less often. The only downside is you will not hit as high as with the Salve amulet (e) as the player will be wearing one of the prayer necklaces, however this can be partially recovered by using a Void armour set, and if the player has completed the Grandmaster quest The Void Stares Back they will have access to the "Elite" Void equipment, which provides a slight prayer bonus which in turn will allow for the player's prayers lasting longer. Basically, any equipment with a prayer bonus helps immensely with this strategy.

100% drops

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Weapons, armour and ammunition

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Runes

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Herbs

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Others

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Trivia

 * "It hasn't quite got round to dying" is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
 * They seem to be wearing a mangled version of Elite black armour.
 * There is a glitch where sometimes the player will kill an Armoured Zombie, and their loot will be floating on top of the red mist. This glitch has not yet been fixed.
 * Sometimes when a player steps in the same spot as the red mist, they will become slightly transparent, allowing the loot to be seen under them.
 * There is currently a bug that when you turn your camera to different angles you aren't able to see dropped items.