Armoured zombies are undead monsters that are encountered during the Defender of Varrock, The World Wakes, and Ritual of the Mahjarrat quests and other locations, see below. The attack style of the zombie can be identified by the colour of the crest on its helmet. Armoured zombies with yellow crests on their helmets use Melee, and those with blue crests use Ranged. Some of these wield scimitars and the others wield thrownaxes.
Armoured zombies are a commonly used monster for training, as they give a relatively high experience rate for combat stats, ranging from 60,000 to 70,000 experience per hour. Using Sacred Clay armour you will be able to reach 130,000 to 160,000 experience per hour; depending on skills and if any prayers and/or potions are used. Armoured zombies will give Slayer experience when assigned a zombie task by a Slayer Master, as well as giving the player 340 combat experience each kill. Because these zombies frequently drop noted planks and runes, some players may find them a decent source of money, gaining over 150,000 coins per hour.
Since 1 February 2011, armoured zombies can no longer be reached by going through the Wilderness. Instead, one must get Hartwin to teleport him or her to a safe version of the wilderness, where armoured zombies can be fought by going down the trapdoor to the Chaos Temple Dungeon.
Armoured zombies are encountered in Varrock during the Defender of Varrock quest, but these only give 10 experience per kill and have no drops. They do leave behind a "red mist". During the Defender of Varrock quest, this "red mist" must be captured in bottles, making Bottle of mist, used to open doors further into the dungeon, and after this quest they have no use.
There is one Armoured zombie outside of Zemouregal's fort in The North, but this does not have the usual drops.
As armoured zombies are classed as undead creatures, a salve amulet/(e) is useful for fighting them. Note that the effects of a Salve amulet do not stack with those of a black mask or slayer helmets (although it does stack with the effects of melee Void equipment).
Due to the convenience of an altar above the location of armoured zombies, combat-boosting prayers such as Turmoil, Leech curses, Chivalry or Piety may be used to increase the experience yield.
To maximize profits when killing these zombies, players should pick up most of the stackable/noted drops which include charms, types of planks, pure essence and Blood Runes, but not mithril arrows or eyes of newt. For maximum experience per hour, players should not bury bones (unless using a Bonecrusher) or bother with herbs (unless using Herbicide), but may pick up the valuable herbs and other worthy drops like key halves (rare).