Slayer

Slayer is a members-only skill that allows players to kill normally immune monsters. Players must go to a slayer master and get an assignment, and will only gain experience for killing the assigned monsters. The slayer experience gained per monster is equal to the monster's hitpoints. Combat experience is also given, so some players use slayer as their major form of combat training. It can be profitable when in the high levels, as special types of mystic robes, granite armour, abyssal whips, dark bows, and many other slayer monster-dropped items can sell for a lot of money.

Variations of monsters count towards the slayer assignment. For example, if a player has been assigned to kill blue dragons, then they can kill baby blue dragons as well. If a player has been assigned to kill crawling hands, then they can kill level 8 or level 12 crawling hands (however, the amount of experience received is based on the monster's hitpoints).

Introduction
Slayer is a more unique skill in terms of having to go around the world to see special people (known as Slayer Masters), but be able to kill a lot of more off-beat monsters somewhat different from the normal ones. Some monsters require special equipment, such as earmuffs for Banshees. The idea is that, for a normally equipped player, the monster has a special ability that stops said player from being able to attack and kill it normally. Slayer can lead to making a lot of money. There are a wide variety of unique things dropped by slayer monsters, such as Armoured Boots, abyssal whips, dark bows, and white/gold and black/red Mystic armour for mages, as well as dropping better non-unique items and larger amounts of cash than most non-slayer monsters per combat level.

There are currently 5 slayer masters located around RuneScape. They give players assignments to increase their slayer level, varying from level 2 goblins to the fearsome level 246 Steel Dragons. The monsters assigned are not necessarily slayer monsters. Slayer monsters or normal monsters killed whilst a player has not been assigned to kill them by a master will not increase the players slayer level.

All slayer masters sell the same batch of slayer equipment which is necessary to kill certain slayer monsters. When a player gets their task, they can ask the master for advice on killing the assigned monsters, they will inform the player if any special equipment is required. If there is no equipment necessary they will give the player some other tips such as: this monster is weak to poison/magic. However, it is agreed by many slayers that asking for information isn't very useful.

One of the things the masters sell is an enchanted gem, once a player starts training (this involves some begging from their chosen master) the player is given one for free, afterwards players can buy them for 1 coin each. These allow players to contact their slayer master, ask for tips, ask who the master is and where they are located, and most importantly see how many monsters are left to kill. The gems cannot be used to get a new assignment, for that the player must see a master in person. An alternative to the gem is a worn Combat bracelet, which will update the player every 10 kills. Players who have unlocked the Lunar Spells can also use the spell NPC Contact in order to receive a new assignment from a slayer master of their choosing. The slayer gems automatically put the player in contact with the slayer master who will be best for training him/her, this may not be the one who gave the player the assignment. It is advised to use the master the slayer gems contact the player to.

The masters vary in the level of difficulty of their assignments, two of them require certain combat levels before players may get assignments from them. If a player goes to a slayer master that is too hard for them, the master in Burthorpe may consider giving players an easier assignment if they talk to him. However, this only works if the assignment is something that he doesn't assign. For example, if Duradel assigns a player Desert Lizards, then the Burthorpe slayer master cannot change their task, as he too assigns Desert Lizards. All slayer masters can assign the same monsters as the masters below them, however as their difficulty increases there is a substantially higher chance of getting a more difficult monster. The masters are shown on the map with a yellow skull icon.

Slayer Masters
A handful of slayer masters dot the map; each master gives assignments oriented towards a general range of combat levels.

In total, there are five Slayer Masters: Turael, who is in Burthorpe; Mazchna, who is in Canifis; Vannaka, who is in the Edgeville Dungeon; Chaeldar, who is in Zanaris; and Duradel, who is in Shilo Village.

Slayer monsters
Some monsters can ONLY be killed once players have reached a certain level in Slayer. Not all of them require special equipment.

Training
Note:This beginner's training guide assumes that the player is either a low-level of combat or a player who cannot afford Guthan's. This guide assumes that the player has the best equipment affordable.

Highly recommended to start
The following quests are essential to do, mainly because they give access to either more slayer monsters or make slaying easier. Some of these may be taken out, depending on players combat level.
 * Cabin Fever- Access to Mos Le'Harmless to fight Jungle and Cave Horrors.
 * Death to the Dorgeshuun- Access to Molanisks.
 * Desert Treasure- Access to Dust Devils, and Ancient Magicks for getting around.
 * Dwarf Cannon- Allowed to use Dwarf Multicannon.
 * Ernest the Chicken- Access to Killerwatts
 * A Fairy Tale Part II- Access to Fairy Ring teleportation system and Goraks.
 * Ghosts Ahoy- Ectophial, which gives a quick teleport to the Slayer Tower.
 * Horror from the Deep- Access to Dagannoths and prayer books.
 * Lost City- Access to Chaeldar.
 * Lunar Diplomacy- Access to Suqahs.
 * Mourning's Ends Part I- Tiny Elf Crystal allows players fast access to Elves and Bears.
 * Olaf's Quest- Access to Brine rats.
 * Rum Deal- Access to Fever Spiders.
 * Shilo Village Quest- Access to Duradel.
 * The Path of Glouphrie - Access to Warped terrorbird and Warped tortoise as well as crystal chime equipment.
 * Priest in Peril - Access to Morytania's monsters, the Slayer Tower, and Mazchna

Highly recommended for long-term slaying
The following quests are essential to do, mainly because they give access to either more slayer monsters or make slaying easier.
 * Cabin Fever- Access to Mos Le'Harmless to fight Jungle and Cave Horrors.
 * Death to the Dorgeshuun- Access to Molanisks.
 * Desert Treasure- Access to Dust Devils, and Ancient Magicks for getting around.
 * Dwarf Cannon- Allowed to use Dwarf Multicannon.
 * Ernest the Chicken- Access to Killerwatts
 * A Fairy Tale Part II- Access to Fairy Ring teleportation system and Goraks.
 * Ghosts Ahoy- Ectophial, which gives a quick teleport to the Slayer Tower.
 * Horror from the Deep- Access to Dagannoths and prayer books.
 * Lost City- Access to Chaeldar.
 * Lunar Diplomacy- Access to Suqahs.
 * Mourning's Ends Part I- Tiny Elf Crystal allows players fast access to Elves and Bears.
 * Olaf's Quest- Access to Brine rats.
 * Rum Deal- Access to Fever Spiders.
 * Shilo Village Quest- Access to Duradel.

Recommended

These quests are recommended as they only make slaying easier. Like the essential quests, some of these may be taken out if the player has a low combat level.


 * Dragon Slayer- Access to Melzar's Maze's Ghosts.
 * Dream Mentor- Access to level 96 Spell Book Swap and efficient use of lunars for Slayer.
 * Elemental Workshop- Allowed to use Elemental shield, required against Skeletal Wyverns.
 * Enakhra's Lament- Camulet allows easy access to switching between Ancient and Regular Magics.
 * The Fremennik Trials- Players make the Enchanted Lyre which gives players a faster route to the Slayer Dungeon.
 * Garden of Tranquility- Ring of Charos (a) allows players cheap travel and lets the player enchant Lyres for a raw bass.
 * The Grand Tree- Access to Gnome Glider.
 * The Lost Tribe- Quicker access to Lumbridge swamp caves for Cave Bugs, Cave Slime, and Wall Beasts. Also unlocks quick route to Juna from Tears of Guthix.
 * One Small Favour- Key ring makes finding keys without hassle.
 * Roving Elves- Needed for Mournings End, but specifically allows players access to the Crystal bow. Essential when ranging Abyssal Demons.
 * Rune Mysteries and Abyssal Runecrafting Mini Game- Quick access to nature altar outside of which has many monkeys to kill.
 * Tears of Guthix- Free experience once a week if Slayer is the player's lowest skill.
 * Watchtower- Fast access to Blue Dragons and caged Greater Demons.

These quests are recommended as they make increasing the slayer skill easier.


 * Dragon Slayer- Access to Melzar's Maze's Ghosts.
 * Dream Mentor- Access to level 96 Spell Book Swap and efficient use of lunars for Slayer.
 * Elemental Workshop- Allowed to use Elemental shield, required against Skeletal Wyverns.
 * Enakhra's Lament- Camulet allows easy access to switching between Ancient and Regular Magics.
 * The Fremennik Trials- Players can make make the Enchanted Lyre which gives players a faster route to the Slayer Dungeon.
 * Garden of Tranquility- Ring of Charos (a) allows players cheap travel and lets them enchant Lyres for a raw bass.
 * The Grand Tree- Access to Gnome Glider.
 * The Lost Tribe- Quicker access to Lumbridge swamp caves for Cave Bugs, Cave Slime, and Wall Beasts. Also unlocks quick route to Juna from Tears of Guthix.
 * One Small Favour- Key ring makes finding keys easy.
 * Roving Elves- Needed for Mournings End, but specifically allows players access to the Crystal bow. Essential when ranging Abyssal Demons.
 * Tears of Guthix- Free experience once a week if Slayer is their lowest skill.
 * Watchtower- Fast access to Blue Dragons and caged Greater Demons.
 * Slug Menace- Access to Proselyte armour
 * The Path of Glouphrie- Access to a new slayer dungeon.

Skills
These skills are aimed at lower levels. Higher levels, please see the skill chart on the Advanced Training section.

Items
Highly recommended


 * Lots of food, such as lobster, swordfish, monkfish, and/or sharks.
 * Full rune or better
 * Full blue dragonhide or better
 * Amulet of glories, one for raising bonuses, others for teleports.
 * Games necklaces for a quick teleport to Turael.
 * A lot of teleport runes.

Recommended


 * Dwarf Multicannon. It'll make tasks easier, although a lot more expensive.
 * Black Mask. Charges aren't necessary. The Black Mask will greatly help players when slaying, as it gives a 15% increase to strength and attack during player's tasks.
 * Amulet of fury, assuming the player can afford one of course.
 * Any melee barrows set. This is assuming that the player can afford Torag's, but cannot afford Guthan's.
 * Fighter torso
 * Rune defender. This is assuming, yet again, that the player has the proper levels to gain entrance to the Warrior's Guild.
 * Full black dragonhide
 * Crystal bow with recharge cost down to 180k. This is assuming that the player have completed Roving Elves.
 * Holy book (Saradomin book)
 * Bones to Peaches, obtained from the Mage Training Arena
 * Full Initiate or Proselyte for their prayer boost.
 * Salve Amulet. Obtained from the Haunted Mine quest, can be helpful for all undead tasks.  Does not stack with the Black Mask effect.

Strategy
Since the player does not have Guthan's to heal, their priority will be to kill as many of their assigned monsters as possible before having to bank for food. There are a few ways a player can kill more monsters per trip.


 * Use the cannon when necessary. Do not use it in single-combat areas where there are no safespots and the monsters are spaced out. Players should save their cannonballs for tasks that are in multi-combat areas, such as Kalphites and Dagannoths. Players cannot use their cannon in the Slayer Tower nor in the Slayer Dungeon.
 * Use Vannaka under Edgeville. If the player feels up to it and have completed Lost City, they can try Chaeldar. If the player is a high level of combat without Guthan's, he or she could try Duradel, but they should expect a lot more bank runs during the tasks.
 * To easily reach Vannaka, use the Amulet of glory to teleport to Edgeville. The dungeon where he is located is easily reachable from there.
 * Accept the tasks that are assigned, unless the player can't do it. In that case, change tasks.

Equipment and set-up
Generally, players will be using melee for a lot of their tasks. This chart will give players a general idea for what to wear. Any cape and gloves may be used. It is suggested to wear an obsidian cape and any gloves from Recipe for Disaster.

A player's inventory should include the Slayer gem and a teleport to the closest bank. It is recommended to bring a few alching runes as well as bones to peaches runes. They should then fill the rest of their inventory with food, leaving 2 to 4 spaces open for drops.

Leveling slayer when a player has a low combat level or without guthan's is tedious work. However, there are slayers who achieved 99 without using guthan's at all. Yes, it is possible to get level 99 using only food. It may be expensive, but it is still possible. However, many high level slayers agree that guthan's makes slayer a lot easier to level.

Advanced Training
Note:This advanced training guide assumes that the player is an above average player with decent skills, have plenty of cash (or the ability to make plenty of cash), and don't mind training slayer with little profit.

Quests
Essential

Recommended

Items
Essential:
 * Full Guthans
 * Dramen staff or Lunar staff.
 * Plenty of Amulets of glory
 * Plenty of Games necklaces.
 * Super sets 1
 * Ranging potions
 * Plenty of good food, at least lobsters or better. Suggested: monkfish, because they're easy to fish or buy, and sharks for the hard tasks.
 * Dwarf multicannon and PLENTY of cannonballs or the money to buy lots of them. Cannonballs will be the most major expense whilst training slayer.
 * Full rune or better
 * Full black dragonhide armour (or the best the player can wear)
 * Good melee weapon such as an abyssal whip, or if the player can't afford a whip then a dragon scimitar is almost as useful.
 * Plenty of starting cash, at least 1 million is suggested.
 * Black mask (charges are irrelevant).

1: It is possible to substitute super defence with Excalibur which has a +10% defence bonus as its special.

Recommended:
 * Dharok's if the player has prayer potions to burn
 * Fighter torso
 * Amulet of Fury
 * Fire cape
 * Clue hunting apparatus - spade, watch, sextant, chart, anti-poison potions, and food.
 * Energy potions or Super energy potions.
 * Crystal bow with recharge cost at 180k. May be substituted with a Dark bow, if a player can afford the arrows and the bow itself.
 * Item merchants that will take drops off the player's hands cheaply and quickly to resell.
 * Bones to Peaches spell.
 * Saradomin book
 * Barrows gloves, available after completing Recipe for Disaster
 * Rune defender
 * a Ring of Wealth is entirely optional, but if the player is only training slayer for the drops, then it is highly suggested that the player wear one. Using a Berserker ring or a Warrior ring is a lot better for those who are slaying to level.

Strategy
Ideally, the player wants to get to the set task, and stay there until the task is complete. If players wish to break-even (or better) whilst training slayer, they should do the clue scrolls that get dropped. It is recommended that they use high alchemy on most of the dropped items, alching anything above a steel battleaxe. Generally, the player gets as many nature runes as he or she needs whilst training slayer for the player to be able to alch comfortably.


 * Use cannon on every task where it reasonable to do so. This means that not only multi-combat area monsters should be targeted, but if there is a safe spot, players can also set up a cannon there, and just pop out to refill the cannon whilst it's doing its work.  Examples of monsters that may be cannoned that aren't in a multi-combat area are hellhounds and fire giants.
 * Cannons cannot be used in the Slayer Tower nor in the Slayer Dungeon
 * Don't make cannonballs, they're bad smithing exp, and very slow. Buy them.
 * Use Chaeldar in Zanaris. Once the player reaches 50 slayer and 100 combat, the player can use Duradel in Shilo Village, although it is recommended that the player does not use Duradel until the player reaches 70 slayer, as then he can assign some of the better tasks to the player, such as Dust Devils and Jellies.
 * Having lunar spells set may be a reasonable strategy if players don't mind not alching some of the drops and are able to complete a task in one go, they should have plenty of bank space to alch drops later, and plenty of teleport tablets. It allows them to contact the slayer masters without having to visit them in person.
 * To get a new task, glory to Edgeville, go east across the river with the dramen or lunar staff to the fairy ring, and run north to Chaeldar.
 * Players should be permanently potted (super set, range pot) whilst training slayer.
 * Slayer Tower tasks - bank at edgeville as necessary, then use the fairy ring code CKS to get there
 * Slayer Dungeon tasks - bank at edgeville as necessary, use fairy ring code AJR to get there, use a super energy potion when the tasks are deep in the dungeon, unless the player has 78+ agility for the shortcut.
 * In general, accept the task given, except in the cases noted below.
 * Always take some cash to the slayer master (100k recommended), so the player can buy equipment as necessary.
 * For the truly advanced: If the player really wants to spend a LOT of money on it, then he or she could do the following:
 * Have lunar spells set, use NPC Contact, and only do cannon tasks, changing all ones where he or she can't.
 * Using prayer potions and Dharok's would be extremely fast experience too, but expensive.
 * Hire fellow players that the player can kill-steal from. In theory, a player could receive a large amount of slayer exp if other players reduce monsters of his or her task to a small amount of hitpoints, then run away so the player receives the kill - players only get half slayer experience when doing this, but this wouldn't really matter as the experience would be extremely fast.

Equipment and attack-styles
A player's choice of equipment should be based on the monsters attack style. By keeping the customary "sets" that a player will need together in the bank, it will speed up moving from one task to the next. Of course, this may involve buying 2 sets of the required items, which can be expensive. For the vast majority of players, melee is the best option for most tasks, though there are a few notable exceptions.

Temporary boosts
The Salve amulet is a reward from the Haunted Mine quest. The player can make it enchanted by defeating Tarn Razorlor and using the book on the amulet. Black Masks are available by fighting Cave Horrors in a cave on Mos Le'Harmless. When meleeing Cave Horrors, a Witchwood Icon is required.
 * A Slayer's respite will boost slayer by 1. This can be made brewed using the cooking skill.
 * A mature Slayer's respite will boost slayer by 2. This can also be brewed using the cooking skill.
 * A Wild pie will boost slayer by 5.
 * A Black mask will boost both Attack and Strength by 15% while fighting monsters that have been assigned by a Slayer Master. The Masks have a number of charges, represented by a number behind them from 10 to 1.  When the player still has charges, he or she will sometimes have his or her opponent's defence decreased. Each time this effect takes place, the player will lose one charge.  When Black Masks lose all their charges, they have no number.  There is no known way to recharge them at this time.
 * Salve amulet (e) is useful when fighting any undead monster (Aberrant Specters, Banshees, Shades, etc. The bonuses do not stack with the effect of a Black Mask.

Trivia
The idea of some slayer monsters having a special quality that makes them not normally attackable is similar to the various tricks Hercules and Perseus employed in Greek mythology.