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. It is also advised for members for those with 69 or less attack to use the Dragon Scimitar if at all possible.

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 (85+). 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.

Cockroach Soldiers are also a fairly nice way to make money as compared to other conventional methods for members and free players, as cutting for Yew Logs, or mining rune essence, as they drop rune scimitars and rune square shields. For members, they also drop Snapdragon seeds and Ranarr seeds which goes for 38k and 23k respectively (As of 12/2/09).

Fighting Strategies
They seem to be weak against slash attacks and stronger towards crush attacks. 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, ranging is not highly recommended. A substantial defence and ranged level would be advised as they can hit pretty hard. They have extremely high magic defense, more so than a blue dragon, thus maging really is not advised.

Note: * Using these are not recommended.

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

Members should preferably use a Dragon mace (on stab), Dragon scimitar, Dragon longsword, Dragon battleaxe*, Dragon two-handed sword*, Dragon Dagger (p++), saradomin sword*, an Abyssal whip, Dharok's greataxe*, or any one of the Godswords* for melee fighting. Players who have completed Regicide can use the Dragon Halberd to fight these Cockroach Soldiers, since they're classified as large monsters and the dragon halberd's special will hit twice on them.

Note: Be aware when having a familiar fight along side you against these monsters that they will take more damage from the cockroach's melee attack than you will. The melee attack's max hit is 8 on players while it is 10 on familiars.

Drops
It is strongly recommended for players that have finished Monkey Madness to kill Cockroach soldiers since they drop the Dragon scimitar. Or, if you have done Lost City you can kill them for a Dragon Longsword or a Dragon Dagger.

Weapons and armour

 * Mithril medium helmet (fairly common)
 * Rune scimitar (semi-rare)
 * Rune square shield (semi-rare)
 * Dragon Scimitar (m) (extremely rare)
 * 5 Rune Javelin (m) (very rare)
 * Rune Spear (m)  (rare)
 * Dragon dagger (m)  (very rare)

Runes

 * 1-39 Law runes (common)
 * 1-18 Death runes
 * 1-63 Fire runes
 * 1-29 Blood runes (m)
 * 1   Cosmic runes (semi common)

Ores

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

Uncut Gems

 * Sapphire (common)
 * Emerald (common)
 * Ruby (semi-rare)
 * Diamond

Charms (members only)

 * Crimson charm (common, at least 1 in 5-6 kills)
 * Gold charm (common)
 * Green charm (uncommon)
 * Blue Charm (semi-rare)

Seeds (members only)

 * Avantoe Seed (semi-rare)
 * Belladonna seed(ultra-rare)
 * Cactus seed (semi-rare)
 * Cadantine seed (rare)
 * Dwarf weed seed (very rare)
 * Irit seed (very rare)
 * Jangerberry seed (semi-common)
 * Kwuarm seed (rare)
 * Lantadyme Seed (semi-rare)
 * Limpwurt seed (fairly uncommon)
 * Marrentill seed (uncommon)
 * Mushroom spore (Ultra-rare)
 * Poison Ivy seed (rare)
 * Ranarr seed (rare)
 * Snapdragon seed (very rare)
 * Strawberry seed (uncommon)
 * Tarromin seed (rare)
 * Toadflax Seed (confirmed)
 * Whiteberry seed (very rare)
 * Watermelon seed (fairly uncommon)
 * Wildblood seed (very rare)
 * Harralander seed (rare)
 * Spirit weed seed(Ultra-rare)

Other drops

 * 5-400 coins (very common)
 * Level 2 Clue scroll (m) (uncommon)
 * 1-2 Mushroom (m)(Semi-common)
 * Nature talisman (m) (semi-rare)
 * Half of a key (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, the high level monster in Random events and some Revenants, and only beaten by Elvarg, although Elvarg can only be fought once.


 * Cockroach soldiers have one of the highest maximum hit (8) of any free-to-play non-revenant monster that is neither quest nor random event based.


 * Cockroach soldiers are one of only three free-to-play monsters to attack with 2 types of combat styles (Melee and range) outside the wilderness, the others being Elvarg and Melzar the Mad. Catablepons use the Weaken spell, but only use Melee to attack.


 * Cockroach soldiers originally had a very inaccurate and weak (only 1-2 damage) ranged attacks but Jagex changed this because rangers would have an enormous advantage over melee fighters.


 * They are non-aggressive to players, making them the strongest non-aggressive monster in F2P.


 * These are one of the most profitable monsters in F2P, as a player can earn up to a minimum of 10,000 GP a trip.


 * Cockroach Soldiers can be soloed more often on a quick-chat world, since they are less populated.