Hellhound

Hellhounds are mid to high level demons often given as a slayer assignment to mid to high level players. The introduction of the Summoning skill brought about a rise in players killing them due to their gold charm drop rate. They have the second highest combat level of any monster outside of Daemonheim in F2P, only to be surpassed by the Revenant Knight.

With the removal of Bounty Hunter, Hellhounds were put in the Wilderness crater. Because of this, they are now the strongest non-revenant monster in free-to-play worlds. They have been moved to the Forinthry Dungeon with the re-release of the Old Wilderness system.

An update on March 16 2011 caused hellhounds to drop gold charms less frequently. Rather, they seemed to drop blue charms much more often. This was, however, fixed in the same update as A Clockwork Syringe on March 28 as noted in the patch notes of that date.

Locations

 * Taverley Dungeon
 * Taverley Resource Dungeon (Multi-combat)
 * Witchaven Dungeon, lots of safe spots but requires the quest Family Crest. Only 2 spawns, and very slow respawn time.
 * God Wars Dungeon (level 127)
 * Kuradal's Dungeon
 * Forinthry Dungeon
 * Level 50-56 Wilderness

Fighting strategy
Hellhounds are vulnerable to stab attacks, more so than slash.

Hellhounds have a low defence for their levels, but make up for this with a high strength level. The level 122 and 127 hellhounds have maximum hits of 120 and 130, respectively. They can be ranged and cannoned fairly easily in the Taverley Dungeon, making it a decent way to train the Ranged skill. In addition to several safe spots, players can stand outside of the target's wander zone to stay safe.

If fighting them in Level 50 Wilderness, there is a safe spot next to the southern most dead tree right next to the lava around the Deserted Keep; if you stand directly to the west of that tree, the hellhound will back against the fence and will not attack you while you range it.

The two hellhounds in the Witchaven Shrine Dungeon can also be easily ranged and maged once they become tolerant of the player. There is a gold rock in the middle eastern part of the room that is commonly used as a safe spot. If the hellhounds are not yet tolerant, the player can use the safespot next to the column (see photo) to hide from both of them. This dungeon is a quick trip to and from the south-east Ardougne bank.



Since there are only two, and the respawn rate is approximately 45 seconds on a medium-populated world, this may not be the most efficient place to slay them for a Slayer assignment, if you are able to kill them very quickly. An option for fastest kills for a slayer task is entering the Dungeoneering resource dungeon in the Taverley dungeon.The area is multi-combat and because of the 12 Hellhounds found here is an excellent place to set up a cannon and an attacking or healing familiar. Using prayer boosting gear and a few prayer potions one can finish a task in very little time.

However, the hellhounds in the Witchaven Shrine Dungeon are also the most cost effective, as players can use the Protect From Melee prayer while slaying the hounds. After the player's prayer points has run out, he/she may exit the dungeon to recharge prayer at the altar in Witchaven, then run back to the dungeon to kill more hellhounds. (Depending on the player's levels, 15-30 hounds may be slain before prayer must be recharged.)



Despite the high accuracy and damage of their attacks, a player can still fight Hellhounds for a nearly limitless amount of time using either Guthan's set, a combination of Bunyip pouches, or unicorn stallion with healing aura scrolls.

If one refrains from picking up any bones, or uses a Bonecrusher, one would theoretically only need a maximum of 5 free inventory slots to pick-up any items that the hellhounds drop (All four kinds of charms + any eventual clue scroll). However, additional inventory spaces could be taken up by Ancient effigy drops, although this is quite rare. The rest of the player's inventory could then be filled with potions or food in order to prolong the trip. Wearing the complete Guthan's Set can also be helpful. If killing the Hellhounds in Kuradal's dungeon, several spaces should be left open for possible Ferocious Ring drops. However, with a full inventory of lobsters or better, a level 50+ with level 36 ranged and using emerald bolts (e) could use their special effect to kill them easily.

Free-to-play strategy


These monsters can be easily killed with all three attacks in the combat triangle with a fairly high combat level (90+) in the Wilderness Volcano or Forinthry Dungeon, the only places where non-members can kill them. Their low defence stats can easily fool a player as they have high offensive stats, and can hit at their max very often. Killing these is not a good way to train. If you did choose to train on these beasts, then take into consideration they have no drops for F2P besides bones. Wearing full rune is the best option for killing them. As they do a maximum damage of 118, it is advised to bring a full inventory of swordfish or anchovy pizza as food.

Although they have high hits, the protect from melee will nulify any damage they would have done to you. with some prayer sustainers like monk's robes, you won't need much food to fight these monsters.

For rangers and mages, they can take a safespot just near the south-western entrance of the volcano, and not to worry about other hellhounds. This is one of the few safespots in the volcano.

Melee

 * Head: Slayer Helmet (if task) > Black Mask (if task) > Fighter Hat > Helm of Neitiznot
 * Neck: Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory
 * Torso: Bandos Chestplate > Fighter's torso > Dragon platebody > Granite Body > Rune Platebody
 * Legs: Bandos Tasset > Dragon platelegs > Rune Platelegs
 * Boots: Steadfast boots > Dragon boots
 * Gloves: Barrows gloves > Regen Bracelet > Combat Bracelet
 * Cape: Completionist cape > Max cape > Ardougne Cloak 3 > Fire cape > Soul Wars Cape > Skillcape (t) > Skillcape > Obsidian Cape
 * Weapon: Chaotic Rapier > Abyssal Whip > Zamorakian Spear > Brackish Blade
 * Shield: Dragon Defender > Dragonfire Shield > Chaotic Kiteshield > Toktz-Ket-Xil (obsidian shield)
 * Ring: Ferocious Ring (if slaying in Kuradal's Dungeon) > Onyx Ring(i) > Berserker Ring > Ring of Vigour > Warrior Ring (On slash) > Ring of Wealth (Helps with drops) > Ring of Life (Pure or low levels)
 * Aura: Greater Reverence > Reverence

Other

 * }

Using a ring of wealth while killing them will greatly increase your chances to get level 3 clue scrolls, making killing them very worthwhile.

Trivia

 * Slayer masters describe hellhounds as "a cross between dogs and demons". However, even though they are demons, they are not affected by the powers of Silverlight or Darklight, also along with the bloodvelds, they are the only demons that drop bones rather than ashes.
 * On 16 June 2009, hellhounds were placed in the Wilderness Volcano.
 * After the ring of wealth update, the charm drop rates of hellhounds and rock lobsters had "gone walkabouts". This has been fixed as of 28 March 2011.