Kalphite Queen

The Kalphite Queen (Kalphiscarabeinae Pasha), also called the KQ, is the 14th highest level monster in all of RuneScape (13th highest level monster fought by conventional means), and is the sixth highest level monster that is neither quest or activity related. She is regarded as one of the few difficult enemies to defeat in the entire game.

WARNING: The kalphite queen will destroy your cannon if you use it in the kalphite lair. The Kalphite Queen has a fixed 100% accuracy in her ranged and magic attack. (This has been proven as armour in even 400+ Defence bonus and 99 Defence makes no difference then wearing no armour at all. Also Leech Ranged and Leech Magic have no effect on her, possibly due to her coding). What this means is only damage soaking of equipment can realistically affect the damage they hit due to their special effect, but wont affect her accuracy as they still hit 100% of the time. However her melee attack are normal so armour and defence can respond to it, also Leech Attack can activate on her. Luckily her attacks are somewhat predictable: Whenever she uses a ranged or magic attack she usually continues it for 3-4 hits. This makes a prayer switch partially effective, as there is a good chance she repeats the same attack style after a few hits before switching to another. (Note: This is only for her ranged and magic attack.)

The Kalphite Queen is famous for dropping the valuable Dragon chainbody armour (having an Exchange price of about coins), and is the only monster besides the Dust Devil to drop it. It can also be received from a high-level Barbarian Assault gamble, but this is very rare with odds rumoured to be 1:10,000. Many players also hunt for the Kalphite Queen head for their trophy room.

The Kalphite Queen is one of the toughest monsters in RuneScape, and she can inflict incredible amounts of damage, sometimes constantly. It is recommended for players to only bring items into the lair they are willing to lose.

The addition of various options to the Quick Chat menu has allowed players a convenient method of communicating when organising and undertaking a Kalphite Queen attack.

Location
There are three ways to get to the Kalphite Lair.

Kharidian Desert
One way involves the player finding their way through the Kharidian Desert. The easiest way to do this is from the Shantay Pass. (Various Teleportation methods also go to locations in the desert somewhat near the lair's entrance.) The Shantay Pass is located south of Al Kharid. To go through the pass, the player will need either to buy a Shantay pass from the nearby Shantay for a small fee of 5 coins or to bribe the nearby guard into granting passage for 200 coins.

The lair's entrance is due west of the Shantay Pass and is really a short run. Players who are lucky and fast may get to the lair before being affected by the Desert heat. Many players instead sacrifice an inventory space and bring a Waterskin to beat the heat.

Dorgesh-Kaan
Another way requires players to have completed the Death to the Dorgeshuun quest, so that they can access Dorgesh-Kaan's southern agility course and thus the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon below the course. In the dungeon a tunnel connects to the upper level of Kalphite Lair, in a cave with many Kalphite Workers.

Players should take Light sources for the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon or else they will constantly be attacked by stinging insects in the dark.

Fairy Rings
A third way requires partial completion of the Fairytale II - Cure a Queen quest, so that players can use the Fairy ring network. Ring BIQ is quite close to the lair's entrance and is the fastest way to get there. Typically, players can run from the ring to the entrance without being in the desert long enough to be affected by desert heat.

Accessing the lair
Players entering the lair from the surface will need two Ropes, one to enter the upper level of the lair and another to enter the lower level where the queen is found. Both ropes will be used up in the process. Players entering the lair from the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon only need one rope, to enter the lower level where the queen resides.
 * ropes are only needed for the first time. Subsequent trips will NOT need more ropes

Forms
The Kalphite Queen has an extremely high combat level of 333. Each form has exactly 2,550 life points. She transforms into two varieties of insects. In her first form, the Kalphite Queen is an immense scarab beetle; in her second form, she is a giant wasp.

As a beetle, she activates protection prayers. With them, she has such incredibly high defence that normal magic and ranged attacks are rendered useless. According to the Jagex Game Guide, "While the Queen does not pray to any gods, she is naturally immune to certain forms of attack. In her first form she is immune to Magic and Ranged attacks, and will happily eat any adventurer foolish enough to try." However, contrary to popular belief, you CAN still hit her with the attack styles she's protecting against and at full damage. As a wasp, she uses the protect from melee prayer. She uses melee, magic, and ranged attacks. Challengers must prepare beforehand for these changes, or must be able to adapt styles. It should be noted that the second form is much more difficult to defeat than the first form.

Her ranged attack consists of her shooting Barbed Spines from her underside, inflicting up to 314 damage. Her melee attack can also hit 314 damage, but is more likely to hit around 250. She also possesses a mage attack that hits up to 310 damage and bounces from player to player, hitting each of them very hard. This spell cannot, however, turn corners or go through the Kalphite Queen, which is why players like to stand on her opposites sides.

The Fight
Come prepared. She is very tough to kill, much more powerful than her level suggests, and very difficult to kill by yourself. If you do decide to kill her alone, it may take multiple trips. Be prepared to leave and come back to reload on food and potions. Beware of the level 28 Kalphite workers; they are weak, but come in great numbers.

It is recommended NOT to use Ancient Curses in groups, because the Magic Deflect will cause the Queen's magic to bounce towards other players instead of the Kalphite Queen herself.

For more efficient killing, players usually bring at least one other player to kill the Kalphite Queen.

Recommended Items

 * Anti-poison potion or Super antipoison potion - Highly recommended as the guardians poison starting at 68
 * Two ropes
 * Super attack potions
 * Super defence potions
 * Super strength potions
 * A few Prayer potions for using protection prayers.
 * Shantay pass (only if going to the Kalphite lair via the pass; other routes are possible)
 * One click teleport (such as the Ectophial)
 * Food (generally the best available, such as rocktail, sharks, manta rays, tuna potatoes, or curry). High levels can take some monkfish if they have a good team.
 * A Black mask or Slayer helmet if Kalphites is the player's Slayer task

Using the spas at Oo'glog before going to the lair can be very useful, as the spas boost both prayer and life points and give unlimited amount of run energy for a time. (The spas also give temporary immunity to poison, but this will wear off before the player is able to kill the queen, so anti-poison protection will still be needed besides the spa.

The best armour for fighting the Kalphite Queen is considered to be a full set of Verac's armour, since the special effect of the Verac's set has a chance to ignore prayer and defence bonuses. A Godsword is also very effective if you have Kalphites as a task, but otherwise, it is not recommended for soloing.

Usually, killing the Kalphite Queen is done in sets of two, as this is the easiest. Both players usually use the following tactic.

The tactic is to stand each player on opposite sides of the Queen; one in front of her and one behind her. This is done for two reasons: 1) She has to turn 180 degrees to damage either of you, so she will rapidly turn between you, and thus hitting you as little as possible, and 2) so her Range attack can no longer ricochet from one player to another. Her Mage attack however will ricochet between each person. It is highly recommended to pray protect mage at all times.

A good idea is to bring items such as a Dragon Dagger (p++) or a Dragon Mace and use the Special Attack as soon as you enter the room. The Dragon Mace can hit harder, but the Dragon Dagger (p++) is recommended because it is faster (allowing you to switch back to Verac's Flail). A Dragon halberd is also an alternative spec weapon. BE WARNED that the Dragon halberd will protect over a piece of Verac's armour.

Once the first form of the Queen is dead, the second form appears. The second form has the same amount of hitpoints and her maximum hit does the same amount of damage, but many believe she has better attack and hence hits her max-hit more often. Also, she'll summon dozens of Level 28 Kalphite Workers. At this point players should have their auto-retaliate off, to avoid retaliating and wasting attacks on the workers should the player use food or potions during the fight.

Another tactic that may help is to bring your highest levelled familiar (combat level, not summoning), but still using the normal tactic. This makes the battle easier, plus extra damage may come from your familiar.

Players who have a high Summoning level have a very good advantage. First, summon a melee based familiar to fight the first form, such as an iron titan. Once the first form is killed, dismiss the current familiar, and summon a ranged based familiar, such as a steel titan.

Another tactic for Summoning is to bring a beast of burden along with you, which can carry extra food, thus allowing your team to get more kills per trip. A recommended familiar is the spirit terrorbird or war tortoise, which carry 12 and 18 items respectively. Any beast of burden, however, is always recommended - even if it is a Spirit Kalphite (6 slots). A unicorn stallion or elemental titan is very useful, as the healing effect can be stacked with eating a piece of food.

Notable drops
The Kalphite Queen is very hard to kill, but the rewards can be very satisfying.

Some of her more enviable drops include:
 * Dragon two-handed sword
 * Kalphite Queen head (see Construction to learn more about the Kalphite head)
 * Dragon Chainbody

Weapons

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Armour

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Ammunition
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Runes

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Gems

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Other

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Trivia

 * When the Kalphite Queen was first released, she only used two attack styles: magic and melee. Players with the protect from magic prayer and a halberd or ranged attack could kill her in both forms without taking any damage if the Guardians did not attack the player, making it possible to achieve many kills in one trip. Jagex has added the ranged attack since then.


 * The Kalphite Queen has become less popular to take on now that there is a Dragon platebody. The most famous drop, the Dragon chainbody, has dramatically fallen in price, thus making it difficult for big groups to get a decent amount if the chain were to be dropped while the Coinshare option was on. For example, if a clan of 20 people got a Dragon chainbody drop, they would only receive around 300k each from Coinshare.


 * Mainly after the release of the God Wars Dungeon with new generals and bosses, the Kalphite Queen is now usually fought by players for fun, rather than for the drops. This is because other bosses are just as hard as the Kalphite Queen, but their drops are much more valuable compared to the notable drops of the Dragon chainbody or Dragon 2-hand sword.


 * Both of the Queen's forms are similar to the life cycle of the Cicada. She starts off as a beetle, then transforms into an airborne opponent.


 * The Kalphite Queen has the same examine text as the Flesh Crawler.


 * In the quest Swan Song the Wise Old Man can be seen killing a Kalphite Queen.


 * It is now possible to get a slayer challenge from Sumona in which a player must kill the Kalphite Queen. The task can be completed with a team, as long as the player with the challenge deals the most damage.


 * The Kalphite Queen is featured in the Funorb game Armies of Gielinor, and is seen in the Guthix Awakens campaign. She is an interloper, or an ally to Zilyana, Dag'eth, Dinsdale, and Graardor.
 * The Kalphite Queen apparently has 100% accuracy in her Ranged and Magic attack. This has been proven as no amount of ranged/mage defence bonus makes any difference at her. Further proof is that Leech Magic and Leech Ranged has NO effect on the KQ. This may have been a bug for a very long time every since she was developed, or is intentional. Players are advised to be very cautious.