General Graardor/Strategies


 * The following lists several strategies and methods for fighting General Graardor and his minions. For the monster, see General Graardor.

General Graardor is the most popular of the five God Wars Dungeon bosses to kill, as he is arguably the easiest, but players should not take him too lightly. To enter Bandos's Stronghold, players must have at least 70 Strength and a hammer (the hammer in the tool belt can be used in this situation). To get to the boss room, players must kill 40 minions of Bandos in Bandos's Stronghold or the main God Wars Dungeon area.

Getting the Kill Count


In the past, goblins were very low level and therefore frequently used to make up the Bandos killcount very quickly. These have since been buffed considerably, and are now more in line with any other of the Bandos minions. The best monster to build killcount on now is the Spiritual rangers in Bandos's Stronghold, providing you have the required 63 slayer. If you do not have the required slayer level to combat Spiritual rangers, it is recommended that you fight Bandosians in the Northwest corner of the main room, as these are generally lower level than the minions within the stronghold.

Popularity
Because Graardor is the easiest of the five bosses, he is commonly killed. It can be difficult to find a world in which he is not being killed, especially at peak times. Once players get 40 killcount, they will then be able to kill General Graardor for a chance to get his helmet, boots, gloves, tassets, chestplate or his belt buckle as a shield, and the bandos hilt. Players new to fighting Graardor may have to hop to find an empty world, as Graardor is often killed by high levelled players in groups of 2-4.

The best way is to go north of the big door to the chamber room, and hop there so a misclick won't make you lose your 40 killcount. A Zamorak item is optional but it will save you food from the constant Bloodveld attack.

Attacks
Here are General Graardor's basic attacks:
 * Melee attack: He thrusts his right arm for a bone-crushing blow. This can deal extremely high damage, up to 3000 but doesn't tend to hit over 1800 (900 with Melee prayers)
 * Ranged attack: Graardor only uses this when he is attacking a player outside of melee range. He smashes his hand into the ground creating shockwaves. This is not as accurate now, but can still deal over 600 lifepoints of damage occasionally.

Strategies
Whenever players decide to fight General Graardor and his minions, Sergeant Steelwill, Sergeant Strongstack, and Sergeant Grimspike, everyone will attack Graardor first. When Graardor dies, some players attack Steelwill first, while others attack Grimspike because of his higher damage rate. Strongstack is usually left for the tank (if they can use Soul Split) because of his relatively low defence against players.

After the Evolution of Combat update, Graardor has no weaknesses to any point of the combat triangle. This allows for players to range, mage and melee him at their own accord. A player with 80+ combat stats and a reasonable prayer level (60+) can expect to prevail against Graardor at least once before having to bank.

Solo
As of late, Soloing for high level players is very common. It requires high stats for effectiveness. ​
 * Helm:Superior tetsu helm > Tetsu helm > Torva full helm > Bandos helmet > Barrows helm > Helm of neitiznot
 * Body:Superior tetsu body > Tetsu body > Torva platebody > Bandos chestplate > Barrows platebody
 * Legs:Superior tetsu legs > Tetsu legs > Torva platelegs > Bandos tassets > Barrows platelegs
 * Weapon: Drygore > Chaotic maul > (Zamorak, Saradomin, Bandos, Armadyl) Godsword > Chaotic longsword >Chaotic rapier
 * Offhand: Spirit shields > Off-hand Drygore > Enhanced Excalibur >Off-hand chaotic longsword > Off-hand chaotic rapier
 * Boots: Steadfast boots > Torva boots > Bandos boots > Dragon rider boots > Dragon boots
 * Gloves: Pneumatic gloves > Goliath gloves > Torva gloves > Bandos gloves > Dragon rider gloves
 * Aura: Penance aura > Reverence aura (any tier) > Vampyrism aura (any tier)
 * Cape: TokHaar-Kal > Skill cape(any) > Fire cape > Soulwars cape
 * Amulet: Saradomin's whisper > Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory
 * Ring: Ring of wealth (if soloing/ffaing) > Berserker ring (i) > Berserker ring > TokKul-Zo > Ring of life
 * Ammo: Zamorak arrows
 * If desired the amulet slot can be replaced with the Demonhorn Necklace.  This will restore 150 prayer points per kill.  This will dramatically reduce the need for prayer potions.

Abilities:
 * Attack: Slice, Sever, Smash, Hurricane, Overpower, Slaughter, Massacre, Berserk, Backhand
 * Strength: Dismember, Cleave, Fury, Quake, Assault
 * Defence: Anticipation(no shield or adrenaline required)
 * Health: Regenerate
 * Adrenaline keep: Anticipation, Escape, Freedom

Familiar: war tortoise/Pack yak Inventory (prayer):
 * (non prayer method): 6-8 prayer potions
 * Rest of familiar is food (sharks or better)
 * all food if using prayer method
 * Bonecrusher
 * teleport tablet/runes for trollheim teleport as well as alchemy runes
 * 1 prayer potion/flask
 * 2-4 overloads or 1 super/extreme attack, strength and defence
 * 1 super restore flask for familiar renewing
 * 4-5 spare familiars
 * food(sharks or better)
 * note* as food drops from minions and graardor be sure to pick up if needed

Strategy for solo:

First of all get your 40 KC and enter the boss room. For the first fight, try to kill him and his minions as fast as you can, Soul Split curse is highly recommended so you don't lose adrenaline by eating. It is best to keep your adrenaline up for the following fights. Firstly wait until you sheathe your weapon then use Freedom, again wait until you sheathe and use Anticipation, the third time you sheathe your weapon use Escape, (make sure you are not against the wall), keep repeating until they spawn and you're ready to fight using your ultimate or thresholds. This section is universal and can be used for any weapon set up, either two-hand, dual, or main hand + shield.


 * Note: if using a shield, use rejuvenate if needed (it is an ultimate and requires a full bar, however it has a 5 minute cooldown).
 * A shield can also be very useful with the Reflect ability, as it can possibly deflect large amounts of damage back at Graardor if he hits high enough.

For those of you who get crashed or like to crash quite often, here is a tip, while your adrenaline bar is up, use the Berserk Ultimate followed by Sever and your other abilities. Try to get half adrenaline before Berserk runs out and use assault. Make sure you keep an eye on your health after you use Berserk because you do take 100% more damage than normal but also do double the damage to enemies.


 * Note: It is also a really good idea for player without a pack yak familiar to bring high alchemy runes (fire runes & nature runes) to alch any runite drops you get to preserve space in your inventory, along with food should Graardor hit unreasonably high for a while.
 * Note: It is not recommended to use soul split if using dual wield or main hand + shield when fighting Graardor and his minions as you will only be dealing damage to 1 target typically, which would be Graardor himself. However, you can use the Flurry ability as it deals damage to all adjacent targets, for a potential healing of 1000+, however this does require you to be near Sergeant Steelwill since he won't move from his spot unlike the other two who walk towards you.

Duo/Trio teams
Duo and trio teams tend to be common. These teams require high stats, such as maxed or near-maxed melee, as well as the prayer and herblore level requirements to use Turmoil and Overloads.


 * Helm: Torva full helm > Helm of neitiznot
 * Body: Torva platebody > Barrows platebody> Dragon platebody
 * Legs: Torva platelegs > Barrows platelegs > Dragon platelegs
 * Weapon: Chaotic maul > Drygore > Chaotic longsword > Chaotic rapier > Abyssal vine whip
 * Offhand: Divine spirit shield > Drygore > Off-hand chaotic longsword > Off-hand chaotic rapier > Dragon defender
 * Boots: Steadfast boots > Torva boots > Bandos boots > Dragon rider boots > Dragon boots
 * Gloves: Dragon rider gloves > Ganodermic gloves > Grifolic gloves > Culinaromancer's gloves 10
 * Aura:
 * Cape:
 * Amulet: Saradomin's whisper > Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory
 * Ring: Ring of wealth > Warrior's ring (i) > Warrior's ring > TokKul-Zo > Ring of life
 * Ammo: Zamorak arrows

Note: The Ring of Wealth will not work in LootShare/CoinShare. Due to this, it should only be used in FFA teams.

Abilities:
 * Attack: Slaughter, Massacre, Slice, Berserk, Backhand, Sever
 * Strength: Fury, Dismember, Assault
 * Health: Regeneration

Dharoking
Ever since the Evolution of Combat update, Dharok's greataxe has extremely powerful stats (1599 slash bonus), and so, can deal extremely high damage against Graardor and his minions. As before, the damage is better when your health is low, but even then, you can still hit over 2000 quite frequently with your abilities.


 * Helm: Dharok's helm
 * Amulet: Saradomin's whisper > Amulet of fury > Amulet of glory
 * Body: Dharok's platebody
 * Legs: Dharok's platelegs
 * Weapon: Dharok's greataxe
 * Boots: Bandos boots > Dragon boots
 * Cape: Skill cape(any) > Tokhaar-kal > Fire cape > Soulwars cape
 * Ring: Ring of wealth > Warrior's ring (i) > Warrior's ring > Ring of life
 * Gloves: Ganodermic gloves > Dragon rider gloves
 * Aura: Penance > Vampirism
 * Ammo: Zamorak arrows

Abilities:
 * Attack: Slaughter, Backhand, Smash, Sever, Hurricane, Meteor Strike (not usually recommended because your opponent needs 50% or more lifepoints remaining)
 * Strength: Quake, Cleave, Assault, Pulverise
 * Health: Regeneration

Using these suggest abilities above, when Graardor spawns, make sure you have all three Sergeants on you and near each other (one space from you any direction will work). Unleash some abilities on Graardor. Remember to use Cleave so you can deal damage to the melee and ranged sergeants. When you reach 50% on the adrenaline bar, remember to use Hurricane, as it is quite effective and deals heavy damage fast. Sergeant Strongstack and Sergeant Grimspike tend to die fast from your barrage of multi-hitting attacks. When Graardor dies, kill off any remaining sergeants, and leave Sergeant Steelwill last as you should be praying from magic attacks, and the other two tend to hit harder when this happens.

Maging
Since the Evolution of Combat, General Graardor no longer has any weakness. This opens up the ability to mage him. This has proven to be very effective if opting for a barrage spell. Because of the multi-hitting nature of the barrage spells, the sergeants can be killed more than once per boss kill. This typically results in 7 killcount per boss kill, instead of the usual 4. This means more chance at loot, which is very desirable. Mage armour's high melee defence will also prevent Graardor from hitting as often.

Using Ganodermic or higher armours will prevent usually Graardor from hitting often. If Ahrim's is used instead, Graardor will hit much more often, due to the fact that it is a level 70 equipment. Graardor has level 75 Attack, which results in him hitting through it.
 * Helm: Sea singer's hood > Virtus Mask  > Ganodermic visor > Ahrim's hood
 * Amulet: Arcane Stream Necklace > Demon horn necklace > Split dragontooth necklace
 * Body: Virtus robe top > Ganodermic poncho > Ahrim's robe top
 * Legs: Virtus robe bottoms > Ganodermic leggings > Ahrim's robe skirt
 * Weapon: Chaotic staff > Virtus wand > Staff of light > Master wand
 * Shield: Ward of Subjugation and Damaged book(bandos) for kc (only if you are using a wand)
 * Boots: Ragefire boots > Virtus boots > Dragonrider boots > Ganodermic boots
 * Gloves: Static gloves > Virtus gloves > Ganodermic gloves
 * Ring: Ring of Wealth* > Seer's ring (i) > Seer's ring
 * Cape: Completionist cape > Max cape > TokHaar-Kal > Fire cape > Skill capes
 * Ammunition: Saradomin arrow or Zamorak arrow
 * Only if you are soloing. The Ring of Wealth does not work in LootShare/CoinShare.

Tips and Tricks

 * Killcount is slightly harder now. When grabbing the killcount, you should do it in Bandos's Stronghold because it is full of Bandosians and a few Zamorakians. If you grab the killcount outside, avoid using your multi-hitting attacks. The Spiritual rangers inside die very fast. If you run low on health, avoid eating your Rocktails and instead use the Regenerate ability when your health runs low.
 * Avoid killing Spiritual mages for the killcount unless you are ranging, as they are now more resilient to melee attacks but weaker to range attacks.
 * Since Graardor will not hit often (melee armour is strong against respective melee and ranged attacks), the use of Saradomin brews and Super restores are usually pointless when killing him. A set of Prayer flasks and Rocktails is good enough to last for over 20 kills if you are lucky with food drops.
 * The Bandos altar is useful for recharging prayer. It will recharge your Prayer points completely, and also +10 (1) Prayer points for every Bandos item you have. After recharging your Prayer, you must wait 10 minutes to do so again. Remember you cannot use this while in combat!
 * The tank should stay near Graardor's spawn point.
 * When waiting for the boss to respawn, stay on the altar corners. When Graardor spawns, only him and Sergeant Grimspike will attempt to attack you. The other two Sergeants will not attack you unless you get too close to them or you manage to hit Graardor. This is useful as Sergeant Steelwill's attack is short-ranged.
 * Organize drops carefully. Unless you have a Pack Yak to deposit all Graardor's drops, it is not recommended to pick the bones up unless you bury them.
 * Prayer potions are not usually needed in quantities more than 1-3 as the altar can recharge your prayer points every 10 minutes.

Drops
General Graardor is known for his common Rune platebody, Rune 2h sword, Rune pickaxe and Rune longsword drops. Many of his lower value drops are conveniently noted. Graardor is known to have a higher drop rate of Bandos armour than his bodyguards. His non rare drops can also be valuable, with the average kill worth between 15,000 and 40,000 gp. His special drops are of quite high value due to the large defence bonuses associated with each piece. Graardor's bodyguards are known to drop a decent number of Chili potatoes, Sharks, noted Limpwurt roots, Nature runes and Cosmic runes quite frequently. As with all bodyguards of their respective general, they also drop Steel darts and Steel arrows in high numbers often.