Mithril dragon

The Mithril dragon is found in the Ancient Caverns, which may be accessed by starting the Pyre ship part of firemaking in Barbarian Training. They have extremely high defence, but since they are metal, they are weaker to magic attacks.

Its release shattered the King Black Dragon's long standing record as being the strongest dragon in RuneScape. Mithril dragons are currently the strongest dragon.

Its Melee attacks can hit 28s, and its Mage and Ranged attacks can hit 18s, and they are not firebreath attacks. They do not use their ranged attack if the player is within melee distance of the dragon. Mithril dragons are also immune to poison. Many high-leveled players have stated that they can only kill several in one trip unless they are using a Unicorn stallion, although it has been reported that players with a decent range level and an optional Bunyip can kill 8-10 in a trip. Even more is possible using a familiar such as the Fruit bat, though it is recommended to bring a Beast of Burden familiar, to hold extra Mithril bars and Dragon bones that the Dragons drop.

Players have found that by wearing Full Karil's armour with a Rune crossbow and using Enchanted ruby bolts and Enchanted diamond bolts, Mithril dragons can be killed fairly easily and quickly:
 * The enchanted ruby bolts have a chance to reduce your health by 10%, and your opponent's by 20% (both rounded down). Because Mithril Dragons have such high hitpoints, this can hit up to 50 damage.
 * After half health, the damage dealt is no longer as high. So switching to enchanted diamond bolts is effective because they have a chance to negate a large amount of your opponent's Ranged defence, making them much easier to hit.
 * They use their ranged attacks most frequently, so protect from missiles prayer works well, or standing in melee distance with protect melee activated.
 * With this strategy, and providing that players are also using an Antifire potion with an Anti-dragon shield, players will only be damaged by the dragon's magic attack, which is why range armour with very high magic defence (Karil's) should be worn.
 * If players have access to Armadyl armour, then this can be worn instead of Karil's armour, as Armadyl armour gives a higher ranged attack and magic defence bonuses and doesn't degrade, however meleers at Mithril Dragons are advised to use Karil's even if they own Armadyl Armour, because it has a negative melee attack bonus.

For meleeing these, it is suggested to use a Leaf-bladed sword, or a Dragon longsword with high magical defence, such as Karil's, against Mithril dragons, while having Protect from Melee activated. You can also wear very high melee defence, with Protect from Magic. However, this is not recommended, since their melee hits very hard.

These aren't the only effective methods. Some players have realized that using Claws of Guthix seems a more effective way as they can last for 15 kills per trip, despite it being slightly costly.

Chewed Bones (See Other Drops) can be sacrificed on a Pyre Site around the lake while having in your possession a woodcutting axe, a tinderbox, a set of logs, and the appropriate Firemaking and Crafting levels for that type of log. Doing this results in an item appearing in your inventory, ranging from Barbarian Potions to a Dragon Full Helm. Some logs on the RuneScape Forums report having received Dragon Full Helms while making multiple pyres in a row, but it is not confirmed whether this increases the odds of receiving a Dragon Full Helm. It has not been confirmed by Jagex whether or not better logs actually improves the drops received from chewed bones, however it is widely believed that it does not affect the drops.

Habitat(s)
The Ancient Cavern.

Weapons

 * Rune battleaxe (common)
 * Rune spear
 * Rune mace
 * Rune 2h sword
 * Dragon spear (uncommon)

Armour

 * Dragon full helmet (extremely rare)
 * Rune medium helmet
 * Rune full helmet
 * Dragon medium helmet (uncommon)
 * Rune Sq Shield (uncommon)

Arrows and runes

 * Rune dart (p) (14)
 * Adamant dart (p) (20)
 * Rune knife (8)-(18)
 * Rune javelin (8)- (12) (common)
 * Blood rune (27) (common)
 * Soul rune (100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
 * Nature rune (999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999)
 * Rune arrow (89999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999)
 * Rune bolts (99999999999999999999999999999999999999999-999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999)

Other

 * Coins (600-3000)
 * Super attack potion
 * Super strength potion
 * Super defence potion
 * Super attack mix
 * Super strength mix
 * Super defence mix
 * Prayer mix
 * Prayer potion
 * Shark (1, 6)
 * Runite bar (1, 2)
 * Gems
 * Silver ore (100 noted)
 * Herbs
 * Uncut gem
 * Ancient page
 * Chewed bones (rare)
 * Clue Scroll (Level 3) (uncommon)
 * Loop half of a key (uncommon)
 * Dragon shield half (uncommon)
 * Draconic visage (very rare)Results say about 1 in 2000}
 * Gold charm (4)
 * Crimson charm (4)
 * Blue charm (4)
 * Green charm (4)

Trivia

 * Mithril Dragons are the only Slayer Task that Duradel and Lapalok do not give advice for; "You are a battlemaster; test your skills."