Cockroach soldier

The Cockroach soldier is the fifth highest-levelled monster in free-to-play (excluding revenants and dungeoneering), only beaten by Greater demons, Ankous, Skeletons, and Hellhounds in the Forinthry Dungeon.This monster is non-aggressive.

Cockroach soldiers attack with melee or ranged, depending on how they are being attacked; if attacked from a distance, it will attack back with only its ranged attack; if the attacker comes within melee range, the soldier will attack with only its melee attack. It will not move toward a player if attacked from a distance, similar to metal dragons. It's important to keep in mind that their ranged attack can hit higher than their melee attacks, so it's impractical to try and safe-spot these monsters.

Popularity
For several months after their release, Cockroach soldiers were incredibly popular training monsters and the Stronghold of Player Safety became crowded with players training on cockroach soldiers. There was a slight decline in popularity due when the ranged attack was made more powerful. Their relatively high defence and high lifepoints also contributed to the loss of the cockroach soldier's popularity as a money-making strategy.

Recently in free-to-play, however, they have become a bot-infested training grounds.

Killing cockroach soldiers can still be a decent money-making activity, as they commonly drop Crimson charms, Law runes, Death runes, noted Mithril ore, noted Adamant ore, and occaisionally Rune scimitars and Rune sq shields.

Location

 * Stronghold of Player Safety

Combat strategies
Cockroach soldiers are weak against crush and stab attacks, but strong against slash attacks. It's possible to range them; however, due to non-members being restricted to weaker Ranged equipment, ranging is not recommended. High Defence and high Ranged levels are advised because Cockroach soldiers hit often and quite hard. Using magic is discouraged because they have extremely high magic defence.

Free players (Melee) will find a rune weapon to be effective for melee fighting. Since they are weak to stab, a Gravite rapier is the preferred weapon of choice. A Rune longsword can be used as a substitute for those who cannot meet the Dungeoneering requirements. Also, a Rune 2h swords and Gravite 2h swords are both effective although they are slower than one-handed weapons.

Free players (Ranged) should use a maple longbow (sighted) or a maple shortbow with full green dragonhide and a rune full helm or green d'hide coif as this is the fastest free-to-play ranged method to kill cockroach soldiers. 80 range and 70 defence is strongly recommended; players with low range levels should use sighted maple longbows for accuracy, while players with high range levels should use maple shortbows for speed.

Members often prefer to train in other places, such as the aviansies, Barrows or via Slayer. Players who have completed Regicide can use the Dragon Halberd to fight these Cockroach Soldiers, since they're classified as large monsters, so the dragon halberd's special will hit them twice. The best stab weapons used to fight against these monsters at a high level are the Zamorakian spear, Chaotic rapier, and Korasi's sword. Feasible crushing weapons include the Chaotic maul, Barrelchest anchor, Godswords, and the Saradomin Sword. Slashing weapons such as the Abyssal whip are not recommended unless the player's attack level is at least 80. When training on these, it is recommended to bring lobsters or better food. Using Full Guthans is an effective method of healing while fighting here, and it also takes advantage of the roaches' weakness to stab and crush. A player can stay there for a very long time and earn approximately 30 crimson charms an hour. The player needs to bring a strong weapon (preferably a Zamorakian spear, although an abyssal whip works at 85+ Attack) and only use Guthan's spear to heal. Enhanced excalibur could also be brought for its special attack for further healing. Dwarf multicannons cannot be used in the Stronghold of Player Safety.

Note: When having a familiar fighting along side you against these monsters, they will take more damage from the cockroach's attack than you will. The roaches can hit a maximum of 96 and 113 with melee and ranged on players. On familiars, it will only use it's ranged attack, which can hit up to 130. It is rare for the cockroach to attack your familiar directly unless your familiar attacks first.

Weapons and armour

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Runes and Ores

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Uncut gems

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Seeds (members only)

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Other drops

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