Strategies for Hellhound

This article is a strategy guide for Hellhound. Information on mechanics, setups, and tactics is on this page.

Hellhounds have a low defence for their levels, but make up for this with a high strength level. The level 92 and 95 hellhounds have maximum hits of 224 and 272, respectively. All hellhounds are weak to slash attacks, except for the hellhounds in the God Wars Dungeon, which are weak to water spells.

Locations

Location	Recommended	Suggested skills/items	F2P/P2P	Notes
Taverley Dungeon		At least 70 Agility; having a level of 80 would further reduce travel time.		A very popular location for killing hellhounds with both melee and ranged, since several safespots are available. If the hellhounds become unaggressive, simply enter and then exit the resource dungeon to make them aggressive again. If you don't have 55 dungeoneering, go up the ladder west of hellhounds, and come back down.
Taverley hellhound resource dungeon		Dwarf multicannon, at least 55 Dungeoneering		Using a dwarf multicannon while using protection prayers is recommended for an increased experience output, since there are 12 hellhounds in the dungeon. If the hellhounds become unaggressive, simply exit and engage combat with a hellhound, and then enter the resource dungeon to make them aggressive again.
Witchaven Dungeon		None		Despite the presence of several safespots, there are only two hellhounds in the dungeon and the respawn rate can be slow.
God Wars Dungeon		Protection from various god-aligned creatures		God protection from Armadylean creatures is not needed as there are no aviansie near the hellhounds. There are very few hellhounds around the dungeon, and are extremely spread out. These hellhounds have moderate spawn rates and are usually found fighting other followers, making it an ideal method for killing them without requiring a lot of food. However, they do not drop any charms and have a higher combat level than the ones found elsewhere. Even though they offer larger experience per kill, the constant movement required to search for a hellhound will most likely negate the effect.
Kuradal's Dungeon		Ferocious ring (Cannon not allowed.)		If you are assigned a hellhound task by Kuradal, her dungeon is the best place to kill them. The ferocious ring provides a 4% damage bonus to every hit and thus can speed up tasks. If you have rebuilt the fairy ring, quick banking is also available.
Forinthry Dungeon		Brawling gloves		The dungeon is present in a PvP area, so you must watch out for PKers. If on a slayer task, you may also kill the revenant hellhounds in the area for it to count towards the task. There are less obstacles than the Wilderness Volcano location. This location is at level 27 wilderness.
Level 50+ Wilderness		Brawling gloves		This is not a particularly popular hotspot for PKers and is close to both the Mage Arena lever and the Ardougne lever. There is a safe spot next to the southern most dead tree, near the lava and the Deserted Keep; if you stand directly to the west of that tree, the hellhounds will back against the fence, unable to attack you.
Wilderness Volcano		Brawling gloves		Generally not recommended, except for F2P players who do not wish to enter the forinthry dungeon. However, be aware that the Wilderness volcano is a very popular hotspot for PKers. A safespot is available near the south-western entrance of the volcano. This location is at level 20 wilderness, so all teleports work here. Members can use a games necklace to teleport to the corporeal beast, and head to the volcano from there.

Strategy

Witchaven safe spot

The two hellhounds in the Witchaven Dungeon can be easily safespotted once they become unaggressive; the gold rock near the east column, and the spot as shown in the image can be used as safespots to attack the hellhounds.

If you wish to fight the hellhounds in the Wilderness, remember to hop worlds to check for other occupants in the area. If you are attacked by another player, quickly run to a safe zone and teleport out using an emergency teleport; if you are stunned, you must first use Freedom () to mobilise yourself.

Soul split and deflect melee can be used alternately while fighting hellhounds - soul split when life points are low, and deflect melee when life points are high.

One popular method when fighting hellhounds is to equip Guthan's set, the vampyrism aura, a demon horn necklace, a healing familiar such as bunyips or unicorn stallions, and making use of a bonecrusher. This allows players to sustain their prayer points, with the added benefit of providing an efficient healing method; it is very easy to kill hellhounds using this method, without paying much attention at all. At high levels, it is possible to amass up to 180,000 experience/hour.

Free-to-play

For free players, the only available hellhounds reside in the Wilderness. Only bring items you are prepared to lose. As such, equipping a set of rune equipment and bringing a full inventory of food may be the safest course of action. Using a gravite 2h sword can make it easier to kill hellhounds, but makes you susceptible to damage because of the absence of a shield.

For higher levelled players (70+ Attack, Strength, and Defence), hellhounds can net from 117,000 experience/hour (325 kills/hour) to 200,000 (550 kills / hour) at maxed combat. To maximise this experience, take a sip of any available potions - attack, strength or defence - and be sure to constantly monitor the boosted levels.

One advanced strategy is to use the Twisted bird necklace to keep multiple prayers activated, such as Protect from Melee and Ultimate Strength. While wearing this necklace, each pile of bones buried yields 50 prayer points. To speed up the process of burying bones activate Area loot and and bury bones using the Action bar. Rune God armour gives a prayer bonus which may help with this strategy. A legendary pet using the Scavenge ability makes gathering bones personally almost unnecessary.

Action bar

Use of the Revolution combat mode is strongly recommended while fighting hellhounds. Members may utilise any one of the action bars as shown here.

Some considerations to make while fighting hellhounds include:

• If you have Sacrifice unlocked, you may choose to use this ability to heal yourself while in combat. It is suggested to use this ability to effect the killing blow on a hellhound and maximise the health restoration.
• If you have Devotion unlocked, you may choose to use this ability to reduce damage taken to 0 for up to 20 seconds while having Protect from Melee activated.
• Use the Slaughter ability when the hellhound has high health, making sure that you walk away from the hellhound to make it move. If the hellhound moves, it takes triple the amount of damage that the ability would normally inflict.

Free-to-play

Two-handed melee
Main hand (and shield) melee
Shieldbow ranging
Two-handed ranging

Recommended equipment

• Melee
• F2P Melee
• Ranged
• F2P Ranged

Recommended equipment for members

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (if on task)	Torva full helm	Bandos helmet	Rock-shell helm	N/A
	Split dragontooth necklace (if Praying, with  bonecrusher)	Brawler's blood necklace	Brawler's knockout necklace	Saradomin's whisper	N/A
	Completionist cape	TokHaar-Kal-Ket	Max cape	Fire cape	Obsidian cape
	Torva platebody	Bandos chestplate/  Hardened fighter torso	Gud raider chainbody	Rock-shell plate	N/A
	Torva platelegs	Bandos tassets	Rock-shell legs	N/A	N/A
	Drygore weaponry	Lava whip/  Tetsu katana	Attuned crystal dagger	Chaotic weaponry	Abyssal vine whip/  Korasi's sword
	Saradomin godsword	Attuned crystal halberd	Chaotic maul	Other  godswords	N/A
	Drygore weaponry	Tetsu wakizashi	Off-hand attuned crystal dagger	Chaotic weaponry	Enhanced Excalibur/  Jessika's sword
	Attuned crystal shield	Chaotic kiteshield	Bandos warshield	N/A	N/A
	Torva gloves	Goliath gloves	Bandos gloves	Culinaromancer's gloves 10	N/A
	Torva boots	Bandos boots	Rock-shell boots	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious ring (if in Kuradal's Dungeon)	Warrior ring (i)	Asylum surgeon's ring	Sixth-Age circuit	Warrior ring
	Supreme reverence aura	Master reverence aura	Greater reverence aura	Reverence aura	Vampyrism aura

Recommended equipment for free players

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Rune full helm	Warpriest helm	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Brawler's hook necklace	Amulet of strength	Holy symbol	Amulet of power	N/A
	Starfury cape/  Starfire cape	Veteran cape	Team capes	Warpriest cape	N/A
	Gud raider chainbody	Rune platebody	Warpriest cuirass	Rune chainbody	Monk's robes
	Rune platelegs/ Rune plateskirt	Warpriest greaves	Monk's robes	N/A	N/A
	Gud raider axe	Gravite longsword	Rune scimitar	Rune longsword	Rune battleaxe
	Gravite 2h sword	Rune 2h sword	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Off-hand gravite longsword	Off-hand rune longsword	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Gud raider shield	Rune berserker shield	Rune kiteshield	N/A	N/A
	Rune gauntlets	Warpriest gauntlets	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Rune boots	Warpriest boots	Fighting boots	N/A	N/A
	Explorer's ring 4	Ring of potency	N/A	N/A	N/A

Recommended equipment for members

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (if on task)	Pernix cowl	Armadyl helmet	Royal dragonhide coif	N/A
	Split dragontooth necklace (if Praying, with  bonecrusher)	Farsight blood necklace	Farsight sniper necklace	Saradomin's murmur	N/A
	Ava's device	Completionist cape	Max cape	TokHaar-Kal-Xil	Obsidian cape
	Pernix body	Armadyl chestplate	Demon slayer torso	Royal dragonhide body	N/A
	Pernix chaps	Armadyl chainskirt	Demon slayer skirt	Royal dragonhide chaps	N/A
	Attuned crystal chakram	Chaotic crossbow	Crystal chakram	N/A	N/A
	Attuned crystal bow	Royal crossbow	Zaryte bow	Crystal bow	N/A
	Off-hand attuned crystal chakram	Off-hand chaotic crossbow	Off-hand crystal chakram	N/A	N/A
	Attuned crystal deflector	Eagle-eye kiteshield	Armadyl buckler	N/A	N/A
	Royal bolts	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Swift gloves	Armadyl gloves	Royal spiky vambraces	Culinaromancer's gloves 10	N/A
	Pernix boots	Armadyl boots	Demon slayer boots	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious ring (if in Kuradal's Dungeon)	Archers' ring (i)	Asylum surgeon's ring	Sixth-Age circuit	Archers' ring
	Supreme reverence aura	Master reverence aura	Greater reverence aura	Reverence aura	Vampyrism aura

Recommended equipment for free players

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Blue dragonhide coif	Green dragonhide coif	Warpriest helm	N/A	N/A
	Amulet of zealots (if praying)/  Amulet of power	Amulet of defence	Holy symbol	N/A	N/A
	Veteran cape	Team capes	Warpriest cape	N/A	N/A
	Blue dragonhide body	Green dragonhide body	Warpriest cuirass	N/A	N/A
	Blue dragonhide chaps	Green dragonhide chaps	Warpriest greaves	N/A	N/A
	Gravite knife	Rune javelins	Adamant javelins	N/A	N/A
	Gravite chargebow	Magic shortbow	Magic shieldbow (sighted)	Yew shortbow	N/A
	Off-hand gravite knife	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Blue dragonhide shield	Green dragonhide shield	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Rune arrows	Adamant arrows	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Blue dragonhide vambraces	Green dragonhide vambraces	Warpriest gauntlets	N/A	N/A
	Turoth boots	Blue dragonhide boots	Starfury ranged boots/  Starfire ranged boots	Warpriest boots	Mystic Boots
	Explorer's ring 4	Ring of potency	N/A	N/A	N/A