Cockroach soldier



The Cockroach soldier is the fourth highest-levelled non-revenant, non-quest and non-random event monster in free-to-play, only to be beaten by Greater demons in the Wilderness and Ankous and level 85 Skeletons in the Stronghold of Security.

This monster is non-aggressive to all players, making the Stronghold of Player Safety dungeon, which was released on 11 March 2008, safe to explore.

They use a somewhat accurate melee attack hitting up to 8, and with an attack speed almost identical to that of a scimitar. They also use a range attack that can hit up to 11 if attacked by long-ranged magic or ranged weapons. They will not move towards you if you attack from a distance, similar to metal dragons.

Cockroaches' range attacks are fairly inaccurate, but the max hit of the range attack is now higher than the max hit of the melee attack (see right). It is important to note this as a perceived upgrade to the attack's strength and accuracy was made since its initial release, with just a maximum hit of 1 by its range attack at that time.

Compared to level 82 Lesser Demons, these monsters have higher hitpoints and defence. Nonetheless, these cockroach soldiers have much better drops for f2p players, and as such it is advised that a player kill them with a clan and have lootshare/coinshare on to get the drops as many player will attack them because they are in a multi-combat zone.

Since it is popular for training on, the dungeon is sometimes crowded with high-leveled players so it may be difficult to get a drop. Also, some players may find it difficult to solo-fight unless they have a fairly high combat level (65+). However, a few weeks after its release, the popularity of these monsters dropped probably due to the increased range attack of these monsters, which may be an attempt to prevent players from ranging these monsters with high-value drops.

For members, cockroach soldiers drop charms quite often. Killing them is a good method for obtaining charms, especially Crimson charms.

Fighting Strategies
They seem to be weak against slash attacks and stronger towards crush. Players should use slash weapons as listed below. Because of their higher defense capabilities, these are good monsters to train the attack skill on. It is also possible to range them, however due to non members being restricted to weaker ranged equipment it is best for free players to train on them. For members a substantial defence and ranged level would be advised as they can hit pretty hard.

One strategy is to fish some salmon and trout outside of the dungeon, cook them in barbarian village on the fire in the helmet shop, and go and fight the soldiers. A level 75 can get around 10+ kills solo per trip, using protect from melee when food runs out. Remember to leave some inventory free because they may not hit as much. Higher levelled player need less food, obviously.

Free players should preferably use a rune weapon for melee fighting.

Members should preferably use a Brine sabre, Dragon scimitar, Dragon longsword, Dragon battleaxe, Dragon two-handed sword, an Abyssal whip, or any one of the Godswords for melee fighting. A mace is not as effective.

Weapons and armour

 * Mithril medium helmet (semi-common)
 * Rune scimitar
 * Rune square shield
 * Rune chainbody (extremely rare)
 * 5 Rune javelins(m)
 * Shield left half(m)
 * Dragon scimitar(m)
 * Dragon spear(m)
 * Dragon medium helmet(m)
 * Dragon longsword(m)

Runes

 * 1-20 Law runes (common)
 * 1-15 Death runes
 * 1-65 Fire runes
 * 1-28 Blood runes (m)

Ores

 * 3 noted Mithril ore (very common)
 * 1 noted Adamantite ore
 * 1 noted Coal (very rare)
 * 1 noted Runite ore (extremely rare)

Gems

 * Uncut sapphire
 * Uncut emerald
 * Uncut ruby
 * Uncut diamond

Charms (members only)

 * Crimson charm (very common)
 * Gold charm (common)
 * Green charm (uncommon)
 * Blue Charm (very rare)

Seeds (members only)

 * Avantoe Seed
 * Cactus seed
 * Jangerberry seed
 * Kwuarm seed
 * Lantadyme Seed
 * Limpwurt seed
 * Marrentill seed
 * Poison Ivy Seed
 * Ranarr Seed
 * Snapdragon seed
 * Strawberry seed
 * Whiteberry seed
 * Watermelon seed
 * wildblood seed
 * tarromin seed

Other

 * 5-400 coins (very common)
 * 1-2 Mushroom(m)
 * Level 2 Clue scroll(m)
 * Nature talisman(m) (semi-rare)
 * Half of a key(m) (very rare)
 * Raw Mackerel(m) (very rare)
 * Nothing

Trivia

 * Cockroach soldiers have the second highest hitpoints of any free-to-play monster, exceeding that of the level 92 Greater Demons and some Revenants, and only beaten by Elvarg, although Elvarg can only be fought once.
 * Cockroach soldiers have the highest maximum hit (11) of any free-to-play non-revenant monster that is neither quest nor random event based.
 * Cockroach soldiers are one of two free-to-play monsters to attack with 2 types of combat styles (Melee and range) outside the wilderness, other than Elvarg or Melzar the Mad. Catablepons use magic and melee.
 * Cockroach soldiers originally had a very inaccurate and weak (only 1-2 damage) ranged attack but Jagex changed this because rangers would have an enormous advantage over melee fighters.
 * They are unaggressive to players, making them the strongest non-aggressive monster in F2P world.