Cave horror

A Cave horror is a Slayer monster that requires level 58 Slayer, a witchwood icon, and a light source to successfully hunt and kill. You must also have completed the Cabin Fever quest to have access to Mos Le'Harmless, as cave horrors live in an unlit cave on this island. They also have a weaker relative outside on the island called jungle horrors.

Players can buy a witchwood icon from any Slayer Master and must wear it while fighting cave horrors in close combat. You can damage them without the icon, but the icon protects against the cave horrors' screams. Without the icon, the scream reduces your stats by a significant amount, similar to the effect of a banshee when fought without earmuffs. The scream can also inflict damage which is not blocked by the icon.

The witchwood icon is not necessary when engaging in long range combat from a safe spot, so neck wear with better combat modifiers can be worn instead. It is recommended to carry an icon in inventory when using this tactic, in case close combat occurs by accident.

In contrast to most RuneScape monsters, the cave horror has an irregular attack speed, which can shift in the middle of a battle. Time between attacks can be either 2.4 seconds or 3.0 seconds. This makes it somewhat difficult to utilise the prayer flashing tactic effectively. However, this is compensated by their generally low amount of life points.

Cave horrors are generally known for dropping black masks.

Cave horrors are an effective place to train Ranged for players with 85+ Ranged looking for a chance of high profit (from black masks and various seeds) as well as a decent amount of green and crimson charms. A recent update (August, 7th 2010) allows players using the zamorak bow to recieve a special drop of a Zamorak godsword hilt (approx. 22 million coins) this allows possiblilty of a huge profit for rangers because of the drop rate of about 1:50 (leaked from mod mark).

Locations

 * Mos Le'Harmless Caves - in a cave on the southeast side of the island. Players need a light source (such as a bullseye lantern) to operate in the cave. If a player goes in without a light source, bugs will rapidly bite them hitting 10-100 and can kill the player quickly depending on their number of life points.

Tactics
An effective method of killing cave horrors is as follows:

Players using melee should use armour that is high in magical defence bonus (+100) whilst at the same time not giving negative offensive melee bonuses such as: Karil's top, Karil's skirt, helm of neitiznot, or for those who wish not to use degrading armour, black dragonhide armour can be used, however it is not advised if one's Defence level is below 90 and Magic level is below 80, but this method can be done just as easy using and whip there is no danger here if you have a full inventory of monkfish then banking when you run out. Guthan's set can be effective with a magic level of around 70 or higher, in which case the nearby Albino Bats prove effective for healing if health gets too low. Some other Guthan's users may prefer to use prayer, in which case it is advised that they bring prayer potions or super restore potions in order to restore their prayer points. Killing cave horrors is often much easier than the majority of players would lead you to think. Black dragonhide armour, an abyssal whip, an obsidian shield, and a bunyip familiar will keep you there long enough to fill your inventory, although with around 80 defence and 70 magic, you should take 8 monkfish or so just-in-case.

Healing familiars such as bunyips or beasts of burden full of extra food are recommended. Food that heals 140 or higher is also highly recommended.

An other used effective way is going to the cave horrors with bones to peaches tablets, and pick up the bones and turn them into peaches. It is recommended to save bank trips by only picking up the nature runes, seeds and black masks (noted teak logs may also be picked up) as peaches heal 80 life points and they serve well for camping in the cave.

Rangers should use the safe spot shown below, or one of the very few other safe spots if they wish not to receive damage from the cave horrors. Reasonable ranged attack bonus is recommended, 160+ is preferable. If one wishes to use the method of tanking taking the hits of the cave horrors whilst ranging, it is advised they have high magical defence, such as +100 magical defence bonus with 85 Defence, 75 Magic. Knives, darts and shortbows are very effective against these when a player has high levels in ranged, 80+.

Sacrificing magical defensive armour for equipment like dragon boots and the toktz-ket-xil which give significant strength bonuses, and a fast weapon such as an abyssal whip or saradomin sword, can be used for quick kills. This is effective because the monsters only have 550 life points, and can be easily taken down by a player with 70+ Strength in 3 to 4 hits.

A halberd may also be used for killing cave horrors in one of the safespot locations.

Warning: If you forget to bring a witchwood icon and fight cave horrors with melee without stopping, you will get hit for 86-87 each time it attacks.

Ring of Wealth
The ring of wealth will increase your chances of getting any item from the rare drop table, but will not increase your chances of getting a black mask or any other item not on the rare drop table. See the ring of wealth page for a more thorough description of how the ring of wealth works.

Safespots
There are many safe spots, but these seem to be the most efficient.

100% drops

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Weapons and armour

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Seeds

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Herbs

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Runes

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Gems

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Raw materials

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Other

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Trivia

 * Although the hexcrest & focus sight are related items to the black mask, they appear in the Adventurer's Log, while the black mask does not. This is probably due to the higher levels required to obtain the hexcrest & focus sight, but may also have been because the black mask has been in-game for much longer (and therefore may have been looked over.) This still has not been fixed.
 * Cave horrors seem to have a resemblance to dagannoths by the shape of their bodies and teeth.
 * A Cave Horror's roar counts as a melee attack, and will be blocked by Deflect/Protect from Melee.