Cockroach soldier

Cockroach soldier is the fourth highest-levelled non-revenant, non-quest and non-random event monster in free-to-play, only to be beaten by Greater demons in the Wilderness and Ankous and level 85 Skeletons in the Stronghold of Security.

This monster is located in the Stronghold of Player Safety dungeon which was released on 11 March 2008.

They use a somewhat accurate melee attack hitting up to 8, and with an attack speed almost identical to that of a scimitar. They also use a range attack that can hit up to 11 if attacked by long-ranged magic or ranged weapons. They will not move towards you if you attack from a distance, similar to metal dragons.

Cockroaches' range attacks are fairly inaccurate, but the max hit of the range attack is now higher than the max hit of the melee attack (see right). Those range attacks can be nullified by wearing probably full rune or high defence. It is important to note this as a perceived upgrade to the attack's strength and accuracy was made since its initial release, with just a maximum hit of 1 by its range attack at that time.

Compared to level 82 Lesser Demons, these monsters have higher hitpoints and defence. Nonetheless, these cockroach soldiers have much better drops for f2p players, and as such it is advised that a player kill them with a clan and have lootshare/coinshare on to get the drops as many player will attack them because they are in a multi-combat zone.

Since it is popular for training on, the dungeon is sometimes crowded with high-leveled players so it may be difficult to get a drop. Also some players may find it almost impossible to solo-fight unless they have a fairly high combat level (80+). However, a few weeks after its release, the popularity of these monsters dropped probably due to the increased range attack of these monsters, which may be an attempt to prevent players from ranging these monsters with high-value drops.

Cockroach soldiers drop charms quite often. Killing them is a good method for obtaining charms, especially crimson.

Weapons and Armour

 * Mithril med helm
 * Rune scimitar (semi-rare)
 * Rune 2h sword    (very rare)
 * Rune javelin (5) (very rare, members only)
 * Rune sq shield (semi-rare)
 * Rune chainbody (rare)
 * Shield left half (extremely rare, members only)
 * Dragon spear (very rare, members only)
 * Dragon med helm (extremely rare, members only)

Seeds (Members only)

 * Avantoe Seed
 * Cactus seed
 * Jangerberry seed
 * Kwuarm seed
 * Lantadyme Seed
 * Limpwurt seed
 * Marrentill seed
 * Poison Ivy Seed
 * Ranarr Seed
 * Snapdragon seed
 * Spirit weed seed
 * Strawberry seed
 * Tarromin seed
 * Harralander seed
 * Watermelon seed
 * Whiteberry seed
 * Wildblood seed
 * Mushroom spore
 * Toadflax seed
 * Belladonna seed

Runes

 * 2-97 Fire runes (semi-rare)
 * 1-38 Law runes (very common)
 * 1-19 Death runes (semi-common)
 * 1-28 Blood runes (very rare, members only)

Charms (Members only)

 * Crimson charm (Fairly Common) - about half of charms dropped
 * Gold charm (Common)
 * Green charm
 * Blue Charm (Very Rare)

Gems/Ores

 * Uncut sapphire
 * Uncut emerald
 * Uncut ruby (semi-rare)
 * Uncut diamond (semi-rare)
 * 3 noted mithril ore (very common)
 * 1 noted adamantite ore (common)
 * 2-10 noted Rune ore (extremely rare)

Other

 * 5-760 coins (common)
 * 1-2 Mushroom (members only)
 * Half of a key (very rare, members only)
 * Clue scroll (level 2) (random, members only)
 * Nature talisman (members only)
 * Raw Mackerel (very rare, members only)
 * Nature talisman(semi-rare)
 * Nothing

Trivia

 * Cockroach soldiers have the second highest hitpoints of any free-to-play monster, exceeding that of the level 92 Greater Demons and some Revenants, and only beaten by Elvarg, although Elvarg can only be fought once.
 * Cockroach soldiers have the highest maximum hit (11) of any free-to-play non-revenant monster that is neither quest or random event based.
 * Cockroach soldiers are the only free-to-play monsters to attack with 2 types of combat styles (Melee and range) outside the wilderness, other than Elvarg or Melzar the Mad.
 * Cockroach soldiers have the best drops for free-to-play, they drop Rune chainbodies and Rune 2 handers which can be sold in the Grand Exchange for a decent amount of money, the Rune square shields and Rune scimitars can be alched. Their current highest-valued drop are noted Rune ores (2-10) which are worth 12,000gp per ore.
 * Cockroach soldiers used to drop level 3 Clue scrolls but this has been updated and the soldiers now drop level 2 Clue scrolls.
 * Cockroach soldiers used to have a very inaccurate and weak, 1-2 damage, ranged attack but Jagex changed this because rangers would have an enormous advantage over melee fighters.
 * When fighting the cockroaches evil chicken random events become more common.