Guthix dragon/Strategies

The Guthix dragon is the second strongest creature in the games (surpassed by Vorago/Yakamaru), and the strongest of all creatures which can be soloed. Defeating the monster requires level 99 in all skills, as during the fight the player will need to use all their skills rather than just combat skills to kill the dragon. The first kill will give the players a dropped loot, from then on all other kills will reward players with Altar tokens which can be exchanged with the Guthix dragon for some very attractive rewards.

Getting there
The dragon is located in Guthix's altar, at the end of the middle path. Using the portal at the end of the middle path requires 99 Attack, Defence and Strength. Players can get to the altar by going into the Lumbridge swamp caves and then passing through the tunnel that leads to the Tears of Guthix cavern. From here you use a Sapphire bullseye lantern on a light creature to travel into the chasm. Once inside the chasm there are stairs going down directly next to the player leading deeper into the chasm. Once a player goes down the stairs they appear inside the Guthix altar. Once inside the player must cross the portal at the end of the middle path and they arrive outside what looks like a perished amphitheatre. Entering through the passageway and the player will be confronted by the Guthix dragon. It resides in the centre of the amphitheatre guarding the amulet of life. The dragon is as tall as the amphitheatre, so as a player enters they will only be able to see the dragons legs.

The fight
The fight is broken up into different stages depending on which floor of the amphitheatre the player is on.

Ground floor
Once the player enters the dragon will instantly use its fireball ability, which can be avoided by running to a different spot. During this phase the dragons attacks are very slow, 1 attack every 5-6 seconds, but it can also use the ability, Shallow nightmare. The goal for this stage is to deplete the dragons health with an ancient weapon called the War cannon. But the weapon can only be obtained by constructing it while in the fight with the dragon. Several rocks are located on the ground floor, but only one of them is active at any point. Mining these unknown rocks requires level 99 Mining. The ores from the rocks don't take long to obtain, however the dragon is still pursuing the player meaning that not much time is given for the player to mine the rocks before they must gain distance from the dragon, before coming back to mine. A minimum of five ores must be mined in order to create the four pieces to the cannon (the barrels, base, furnace and stand) and the rest for creating cannonballs for the cannon.

The ores must then be smelted, but there is no furnace around. Instead the player must fish an Oversized angler (requiring 99 Fishing) from any of the available fishing spots around, then drop the fish and all ores on the same spot. Once the dragon spots the fish, it will stop attacking the player and send a flame towards the fish in an attempt to cook, after the dragon moves closer to gobble up the cooked fish. Left on the ground will be bars in place of the ores. Note, that using the angler as a diversion for the dragon can be used anytime throughout this stage, and is very useful for when trying to mine the ores.

An anvil is located on the ground floor of the amphitheater, which the player can use to covert their bars into the four main pieces of the cannon or into cannonballs (requiring 99 Smithing), with each bar creating 4 cannonballs (these cannonballs can be made with an anvil rather than needing a furnace, such as for cannonballs outside the minigame). The cannon can then be set up at any location. Each cannon ball must then be enchanted (requiring 99 Magic) before they can harm the Guthix dragon. Once enchanted, launching and firing the cannonballs into the cannon requires 99 Ranged. A successful hit on the dragon will deal 25,000 damage, hence four successful hits are required to progress past the first stage.

After depleting the dragons health, it starts to stumble around the room and accidentally hits a platform on the second floor of the amphitheater, creating a crumbling staircase up to the next floor.

Second floor
The second floor consists of several platforms attached to the inner walls of the amphitheater. The second floor can be traversed by jumping from platform to platform, which requires 99 Agility. At anytime during this stage, the guthix dragon may summon Guthixian locusts, which move swiftly towards the player and start attacking within melee range. 99 Slayer is required to attack these creatures and they can drop charms, spirit shards and a primwood vine seed. The player must keep killing these creatures until they receive a seed, which can then be planted (requiring 99 Farming) in any one of the three marked farming spots within the cracks of the amphitheaters inner walls, then by using a watering can on the crack in which the seed was placed, a vine slowly grows out of the crack, taking 2 minutes to fully grow in which time the player can focus on evading the dragons attacks. Once fully grown, the player must hack at the vine (requires 99 Woodcutting) to get atleast 3 primwood vines, which can then be fletched into primwood splinters (requires 99 Fletching).

While moving around on the platforms, the player should notice a large out of place vertical rock on one of the platforms, with 99 Construction the player can carve this rock into a summoning obelisk. From the obelisk, the player would then need to create an Elder ent pouch which requires 99 Summoning. Three of these pouches are required, for the next part. After releasing each Elder ent, these large creature (half tall as the dragon) jump down to the ground and wrap themselves around the dragon one after another. Once three ents have wrapped around the dragon, vines start to grow out of them connecting between the three ents and gripping a stronger hold on the dragon. The vines are so strong that even the Guthix dragon struggles to release itself from them. The enraged dragon stomps on the ground several times before another platform from a higher level collapses down to create a staircase to the next floor.

Third floor
Once again the player would need 99 Agility to jump across the new platforms on this floor. While trapped within the vines, the dragon releases a giant line of Green dragonbreathe in a random direction and starts to rotate clockwise. As the line of fire burn through the ents' wooden skin, the ents almost instantly regenerate the wood to keep the dragon trapped. This line remains present throughout this whole floor. The player can avoid all damage from the fire by jumping in a clockwise direction across platforms to escape the fire. If hit by the fire, the player is dealt constant 2000's (if the player is wielding a Supreme dragonfire shield or has a super antifire active, otherwise the player will instantly die), until the line passes by the player. Several Balance wisps are floating around on this floor, which require 99 Divination to be harvested. Balance energies can be extracted from the wisps, but no memories can be harvested. Using the remaining primwood vines from the previous floor, the player must make a primwood net, which requires 4 vines and 99 Crafting to create. Two alcoves can be found on the floor, in which a player can lay out a trap using the net and place a guthixian locust carcass above the net, laying out the trap requires a Hunter level of 99. Within a minute of so, a Large crypt spider will be seen scaling the inner walls of the amphitheater and into the alcove with the carcass. The success rate of the trap is near 30% and can be very frustrating as the guthixian locust carcass disappears and if the player has no more carcasses left, then more must be obtained by descending to the lower floor and waiting for another respawn of the locusts (the creatures only respawn while the player is on the lower floor). If the trap is successful, the player can then cut open the spider and catch the liquid pouring out in a vial, doing so will give the player a vial of Crypt spider blood, and a crypt spider leg can be cut from it's body. The crypt spider leg can be transmuted into a unicorn hoof, requiring 15 balance energies and 99 Divination. Grinding the hoof using a pestle and mortar gives unicorn hoof dust, which can then be mixed into the crypt spider blood to create an unfinished starlight explosion, both acts require 99 Herblore. The unfinished potion is then blessed to create the finished product, blessing the potion requires 99 Prayer. Using a tinderbox, a flame can be lit inside the vial above the liquid. Unless the player has 99 Firemaking, the vial will explode upon trying to light the fire, killing the player in the process. The vial is then tossed onto the dragon. As the vial break, the potion reacts with the ent's skin, turning it into a highly explosive material, and the fire spreads rapidly along the ent's bodys. The dragon takes rapid 20,000's from the fire before the ent's body is damaged enough for it to burst out (after 200,000 damage has been dealt onto the dragon). After breaking free of the ent's grasp, the dragon's almost impenetrable scaly skin is burnt off with the explosion, revealing a thin layer of skin and several bruises. Through its tremendous rage, the dragon snaps its long neck towards the player and eats the player.

Inside the belly of the beast
If the player has 99 Dungeoneering, then the dragons sharp teeth are avoided when eaten and they are taken inside the dragon's body, which acts as a medium sized dungeon from Dungeoneering. Otherwise the dragons fangs rip apart the player when they are eaten and the player instantly dies. While inside the dungeon, a long meter appears showing the time until the guthix dragon digest the player. The meter completely runs out in 15 minutes, the player needs to complete the floor in that time, just like any normal dungeoneering floor. However, dying the dungeon will not respawn the player at the start of the dungeon. The dungeon is random for all players, however the boss will always be a guardian spirit, a spirit enslaved within the dragon by Guthix himself to prevent any damage to the dragon from the inside. After the spirit has been defeated, it releases a burst of energy which blows a hole in the ceiling. The inner walls of the dragon can be climbed to escape through the whole, doing so, the player emerges from the dragons back. While the dragon is still agonizing in pain, the player must then run along its back towards the dragons tail. Once reaching the tip of the dragons tail, it whips its tail upwards, throwing the player upwards towards a higher tier of platforms.

Fourth floor
Once the player lands on a platform, four staircases now appear leading inwards towards the center of the amphitheater and on a higher level than the platforms of the fourth floor. The staircases seem to be made of a slightly see-through material. The base of each staircase is connected to a single platform from the fourth level. On this floor the player is at eye level with the dragon. One of the platforms on this floor contains a large rune essence rock, similar to those found in the rune essence mine. The essence mined from the rock is untradeable and stackable. After mining at least 15 of the rune essence, the essence need to be converted into Guthixian runes at the Guthixian rune altar located on the opposite side of the four staircases. In the center of each of the 4 staircases lies a stone chest blocking the rest of the staircases path. Two of the four stone chests contain a trap which are triggered when a player tries to pick the lock (requires 99 Thieving). One of the remaining two chests contains an elder branch and the last chest contains quartzite dust. The contents of each chest is randomized for every player. There's roughly a 1/3 chance of successfully looting any of the four chests. Looting a chest without a trap will not remove the chest, so in order to get to the opposite end of the staircases, the player must take a different staircase and trigger atleast one of the chests with a trap. The trap inside a chest will cause a small explosion dealing 1500 damage to the player and pushes the player back, the explosion removes the chest and a small piece of the staircase along with it.

The player can now jump the gap and reach the opposite end of the staircase, at the center of the amphitheater, above the dragons head. While the player is in the center, the dragon tilts its head upwards and releases a heavy splash of green dragonfire. The dragon is weakened and its fire is not strong enough to break through the floor of the center platform, however it does heat up and cause the player 1000 damage for every 4 ticks that the player is there. For this reason, the player must quickly convert their rune essence into guthixian runes at the guthixian run altar, which requires 99 Runecrafting. On the ground in the center platform is a morphing pouch re-spawn, which the player can pick up if they do not already have the item.

Back at the base of the stairs, the player needs to locate a dark patch of stone by one of the platforms, darker than the rest of the inner wall of the amphitheater. Mining the rock gives the player a blackberry rock, it's recommended the player mine at least three of the rocks. The player must then jump onto the dragons back once more, but this time, strange spikes begin to squeeze out of the dragons back and then go back into its skin after 2 seconds. The dragon cannot attack the player while they are on its back, however if a spike appears out under the player, the player is dealt 1500 damage. The whole from which the player had emerged has shrunk in size, due to a blessing placed on the dragon to rapidly heal most of the damage it takes, however it is not enough to completely cover the hole. The hole now acts as a steam vent, which can be used to cook the blackberry rock making the rock as chewy as a brownie, which requires 99 Cooking. It's highly recommended not to eat the cooked rock.

Now by placing 15 guthixian runes, the elder branch, the quartzite dust and the cooked blackberry rock into the transformation rock, the player can then transform into a Quartzite golem, which requires 99 Transformation. While transformed, 10/11 of damage dealt to the player is absorbed, while the rest is dealt to the player. The Transformation lasts for only 2 minutes and every time the player is hit, the remaining time is reduced by 10 seconds. Eating a cooked blackberry rock while transformed will increase the timer by a minute. The player needs to absorb at least 100,000 damage (which means they must take at least 10,000 damage from the dragons attacks). A meter at the top of the screen shows how much more damage the Quartzite golem needs to obsorb. If the player lets the timer of the transformation run out, then the damage absorbed is reset and the ingredients for the transformation need to be recollected. The elder branch and quartzite dust can be looted from the same chests as before. After absorbing enough damage, the player can then fall and crush, whilst still as a Quartzite golem, the guthix dragon's head, the absorbed damage is then released into the attack onto the dragon. The impact of the hit causes the dragon to faint. After the cutscene the player return back to their normal form and can then loot the giant body of the dragon to get their reward. If this is not the first time the player has killed the dragon, then the dragon gets back up after the fight and rewards the player with 260-340 altar tokens, 30 ancient dragon bones, 40-50 green dragonhide and a pair of Dragon slayer gloves (e).