Dark wizard

Dark wizards are Zamorakian mages that cast strike spells when provoked. Depending on which location the Dark Wizards are, their aggression will be acted upon players differently. See the Dark Wizard location section for more information on how the NPCs react. There are three types of dark wizards: the ones that wear red and black clothes, the ones that wear green and grey clothes, and the ones that wear green clothes.

They play a small role in the Demon Slayer quest. When it was more common to see macroers south of Draynor Village, it was possible to lure the dark wizards there to them, making the bot run away, or even be killed (there are no longer dark wizards present south of Draynor Village, ever since the "Advisors and Objectives" update). These wizards are also a great way to collect runes for free players. However, they are an inefficient source on member worlds as there are many better ways.

Locations
These Dark Wizards will automatically attack the players who's combat level is less than double the wizards level. For example, the level 22 Dark Wizards will only begin a fight with the players who have a combat level less than 45.
 * Dark Wizards' Tower, levels 12 & 23.

Because these Dark Wizards are in the wilderness, they will automatically attack players that come within their attack range, regardless of the player's combat level
 * Level 6 and 7 Wilderness.

Because the Stone Circle is within the "Starting area" of Gielinor, these wizards would make it a very dangerous place to pass by for low combat level players. Jagex has changed their attacking style in a recent update that made them non-aggressive. They are really good for non-members to make money because of the runes and talismans they drop
 * Delrith's domain, outside Varrock's south gate, levels 7 & 20.

Strategy
Dark wizards attack with magic. The level 7 ones cast Confuse and Water strike spells, hitting effectively through metal armour and continuing to attack while players run. The water strike spells they attack with are weaker than normal, only hitting up to 20 life points instead of the standard 40. The level 20s' main attack spell is Earth Strike, and hence their max hit is 60. They may also cast Weaken against the player, which lowers their strength by 5% if successful. Also note that Dark Wizards cast magic at a slightly faster rate than players normally do. This difference can be observed by autocasting spells on them.

The Dark Wizards in the Stone circle below Varrock used to be aggressive and would attack players below level 15. Many low-levelled players unfortunate to be attacked by the level 20 dark wizards there were usually killed, therefore it was common to see at least one gravestone at the stone circle in Free-to-play worlds. However this no longer occurs, as these certain dark wizards are not aggressive anymore.

Those with decent magic levels may be able to fight the dark wizards for hours without using the bank. This is because the wizards drop all of the runes necessary for Bones to Bananas and Bones to Peaches (members). Dark wizard killers may heal themselves with bananas / peaches after collecting a sum of bones.

Players are strongly advised to wear armour which has a good magic defence bonus, preferably dragonhide, as the wizards always use magic attacks to fight. Warriors attacking in metal armour will not have an effective defence against the wizards' spells. However, rangers with a good supply of arrows will have an advantage. Mage-to-mage duels are also effective.

The level 7 wizards sometimes will constantly cast confuse on a player until the spell is successful. Since their casting is generally inaccurate on players with decent magic defence, they tend to do very little damage for long periods of time.

100% drop

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Runes

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Other

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100% drops

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Runes

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Other

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Trivia
Dunkler Magier Dark wizard
 * Dark wizards were once notorius for harassing and killing most new players on their way to Varrock, and were used in many scams to get players' items in 2007, but these scams are now obsolete due to gravestones and the fact that the wizards in the stone circle south of Varrock are no longer aggressive.
 * There is a glitch when fighting Dark wizards that makes the wizards cast spells without moving their arms.
 * Dark wizards have the same attack speed as a shortbow (6, non-Rapid), but their range is one square less.
 * The Dark wizards south of Varrock are a great place to train for a Range/Magic player. Wizards are weak against Range, and drop runes for spells.
 * Once there were Dark wizards located in Draynor Village, Right by the willow trees. Jagex once used these wizards to combat low level autoers. A somewhat recent update removed these wizards due to the fact that the wizards are located in the starting area of Gielinor.
 * Despite wearing a black hood, they instead drop black wizard hats. It is unknown whether Jagex will make the hood available to players.

Dark wizard