Mithril dragon

Mithril dragons are found in the Ancient Cavern, which may be accessed by starting the Pyre ship section of Firemaking in Barbarian Training. The dragons have extremely high defence, but since they are made of metal, they are weak to magic attacks.

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

Strengths and Weaknesses
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. It is shown that one can only kill several in one trip unless a healing Familiar is used.

Ranged
The most common approach to Mithril dragons is Ranging using enchanted ruby and diamond bolts. The ruby bolts special effect will remove a sizeable portion of their hitpoints (up to 50) and diamond will decrease their Ranged defence. Ruby should only be used while the target is above half health, below half and the special effect will start to take away smaller portions that could be hit without the enchanted effect. Karils or Armadyl armour is a much better choice over Black dragonhide because of the increased magic defence. The Protect from Missiles prayer is recommended when using Ranged, especially for players with lower defence who are not using a Dragonfire shield.

Recommended equipment
 * Armadyl helmet > God coif or Mitre > Seers' headband 3
 * Armadyl chestplate > Karil's leathertop > Black d'hide body
 * Armadyl plateskirt > Karil's leatherskirt > Black d'hide chaps
 * Barrows gloves > Black d'hide vamb
 * Ranger boots > Snakeskin boots > Infinity boots - Silly jester boots
 * Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory or Stole > Holy symbol - Unholy symbol
 * Ava's accumulator
 * Rune crossbow
 * Dragonfire shield > Anti-dragon shield
 * Archers ring > Explorer's ring or Ring of wealth Note:Ring of life is also a very good choice,because of the dangers you face.
 * Ruby bolts (e) and Diamond bolts (e)

Tanking equipment Note: Mithril dragons are immune to poison and highly resistant to mithril based weaponry, so broad bolts or higher would be a better choice
 * Verac's helmet > Torag's helmet - Guthan's helmet
 * Armadyl chestplate > Karil's leathertop > Black d'hide body
 * Verac's plateskirt > Torag's platelegs - Dharok's platelegs
 * Barrows gloves > Black d'hide vamb
 * Ranger boots > Snakeskin boots
 * Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory
 * Ava's accumulator or Fire cape or Skill cape (t)
 * Rune crossbow
 * Dragonfire shield
 * Archers ring > Explorer's ring or Ring of life or Ring of wealth
 * Ruby bolts (e) and Diamond bolts (e)

Melee
The less commonly seen method is using melee, and is best attempted with a Slayer helmet while Mithril dragons are the assigned task. Protect from Melee is a must while meleeing. Mithril dragons will hit up to 28 even against armour as strong as Torags. Karil's is best used instead of Armadyl due to the negative Melee bonuses given by Armadyl. Much more HP regeneration is required when using Melee so a Unicorn or Titan is imperative for any player who desires a significant number of kills.

Recommended equipment
 * Slayer helmet > Black mask
 * Karil's leathertop > Armadyl chestplate > Black d'hide body
 * Karil's leatherskirt > Armadyl plateskirt > Black d'hide chaps
 * RFD gloves
 * Dragon boots
 * Fire cape or Cape of accomplishment
 * Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory
 * Leaf-bladed sword or Dragon dagger
 * Dragonfire shield > Anti-dragon shield
 * Ring of wealth > Explorer's ring 3 or Ring of life

Magic
The spell Claws of Guthix has shown to be very effective against Mithril dragons, with its ability to remove a sizable portion of their defence. This comes at the cost of the player's own defence as magic armour has significantly less defensive value than Ranged or Melee. Hence, praying ranged protection and wearing a high defensive shield, such as Dragonfire shield is recommended. Also, because of the negative effect of saradomin brew being less interruptive to magic than ranging and melee, it may also be used as food source to significantly lengthen the trip.

Familiars
Familiars will significantly extend the number of kills per trip, the most popular being the Bunyip and Fruit bat for their ability to heal a player's hitpoints. Familiars can NOT be taken through the whirlpool so any familiar will have to be summoned from a pouch the player has brought with them. This also means that a Beast of Burden can not be used to bring extra supplies; however, they are still favourable if one wishes to collect the mithril bars and dragon bones to help pay for the cost of the trip. The elemental titans are a step up from the Bunyip and Fruit bat, negating the need to bring down a Defence booster with its active scroll ability boosting the Summoner's defence and HP. Finally, the Unicorn Stallion can help the player get up to 30 kills per trip, assuming the player receives some shark drops.

Chewed bones
See full article.

Chewed Bones are the bones of barbarians who have fallen victim to the Mithril dragons. Brutal Green Dragons only dropped Mangled Bones. Chewed Bones can be burned on a pyre ship and in return the Barbarian spirit that appears will give the player an item.

Habitat(s)
The Ancient Cavern.

Weapons

 * Rune battleaxe (common, may also drop 1-5 sharks in the same kill)
 * 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 (10)
 * Nature rune (67)
 * Rune arrow (8)
 * Rune bolts (10-27)

Charms

 * Gold charm (4)
 * Crimson charm (4)
 * Blue charm (4)
 * Green charm (4)

Potions

 * Super attack potion
 * Super strength potion
 * Super defence potion
 * Super attack mix
 * Super strength mix
 * Super defence mix
 * Prayer mix
 * Prayer potion

Other

 * Coins (600-3000)
 * 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)

Trivia

 * Mithril Dragons are the only Slayer task that Duradel and Lapalok do not give advice for; "You are a battlemaster; test your skills."
 * Mithril Dragon drop of a Draconic Visage is more common then other Dragons.
 * Mithril Dragons tend to not be hunted by players except ones who have it as a slayer assignment, since the fact the Dragon full helm has decreased a lot. People also prefer to kill a lower level dragon such as Iron dragons for the Draconic Visage drop.