TruthScape.com  9  TruthScape Skill Secrets       9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Herblore            9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Herblore - The Best Methods for Obtaining Herbs                 9  Effective Combat Techniques for Fighting Primary Herb Droppers

Flesh Crawlers (Level 28) A Brief Guide to Farming Herbs

Aberrant spectres are different from the four other “big five” herb monsters in that they are higher level, have a significant Slayer level requirement, and are also much more difficult to kill. In fact, given this, you might even wonder why I included them on my short list of primary herb droppers. The simple answer is: because they’re worth it! J Aberrant spectres are the only monster the game with a high drop rate of both herbs and high-level herb seeds, so they support both direct potion-making and also growing your own herbs via Farming.

The spectres are greenish humanoid blobs that meander in the southwest corner of the middle level of the Canifis Slayer Tower. Their examine information calls them “very smelly ghosts”, and their magic attack—which looks like a green ball—is apparently supposed to be some sort of stink bomb. J You must get a nose peg from a slayer master and wear it at all times to protect against this attack, or it will do heavy damage on you and also drain your skill levels rapidly.

Even with the peg, aberrants attack aggressively and will do damage even to high-level players, so proper preparation is mandatory. They are combat level 96 and take a while to kill unless you are fairly high level, and you must have a Slayer level of 60 to attack them (though they’re happy to attack you regardless of your levels!)

Here’s the key information on aberrant spectres:

• Name: Aberrant Spectre
  
  
• Combat Level: 96
  
  
• Slayer Level: 60
  
  
• Hitpoints: 90
  
  
• Attack Style: Magic
  
  
• Maximum Hit: 11
  
  
• Combat Zone: Single
  
  
• Aggressive: Yes
  
  
• Special Attacks: Heavy damage and stat drain if not wearing required nose peg
  
  
• Special Defences: None
  
  
• Special Equipment Required: Nose peg
  
  
• High-Level Player Kill Rate: 125 per hour
  
  
• Herb Drop Rate: 160 per hour

Note the average herb drop rate of over one per kill! J

Aberrant spectres are found in the southwest corner of the middle floor of the Canifis Slayer Tower. Get to the tower using fairy ring code “C K S”, then walk north to the entrance. Another option is to use a portal to Canifis from your house and then go northwest.

Finding the spectres is easy if you can use the spiked chain Agility shortcut, which is in the first room that has crawling hands. You need level 61 Agility to use it, or you can take an agility potion at level 58 or summer pie at level 56. If you can’t use the shortcut, you need to walk all the way around to the stairs in the banshee area, then go up the stairs and walk through the infernal mages and bloodvelds to the door that marks the aberrants’ lair.

I strongly recommend melee here, for three reasons. First, as with the other herb droppers, it is faster, so you get more herbs. Second, the monsters hit hard, so you want to kill them fast to reduce the damage you take or Prayer points you use up. Third, like banshees, these monsters are undead, so you can wear a salve amulet to get a 15% or 20% Attack and Strength bonus. You can range if you want, but it will be slower; maging is not advised.

There are two basic approaches to use for aberrant spectres: wear armor and bring food, or wear prayer gear and bring prayer potions. The first method is generally cheaper, but is riskier and a bit slower; the second is more expensive but simpler and safer. Since I’m cheap, I generally fight with armor and food.

If you’re fighting with armor and food, you need the best magic defence gear you own, which generally means either black dragonhide or Karil’s. You can also wear Armadyl armor, which has better magic defence than either, but it has melee attack penalties, so it’s not advised. Of course, if you’re ranging, the Armadyl equipment is perfect. J

If you’re planning to pray instead, you’ll want standard prayer-enhancing gear. Ideally, this means a proselyte hauberk and a proselyte tasset or monk robe bottom. The +8 Prayer bonus of a godsword is a definite advantage here, but it’s not necessary. See Figure 181 for a typical gear setup.

Regardless of approach, remember your nose peg, and as mentioned above, when meleeing you should definitely wear a salve amulet.

Since aberrants are higher-level monsters, combat boost potions are strongly recommended. If you are fighting with armor, use a super attack, super strength and super defence; if fighting with Prayer, I recommend a Zamorak brew, plus a super strength if you want that bit of extra strength above what the brew provides.

You may wish to get free XP from discarded herbs, by bring with swamp tar and a pestle and mortar to make harralander tar, and ash potions for making Serum 207. A Summoning pouch is also a good idea, and there’s even an obelisk just south of the tower.

Aberrant spectres are a powerhouse when it comes to drops; while not as high profile as abyssal demons, for example, they actually are one of the best Slayer monsters for overall drop value. You can easily get 160 herbs per hour from them—even three at a time (Figure 182)—in addition to lots of herb seeds (only toadflax and above), alchable armor items (including rune full helms), black mystic robe bottoms, gems, charms… it’s quite an assortment. They also drop level 3 clues.

Here’s an example drop list from 30 minutes fighting the spectres, this time using prayer gear (to make drop counting easier). I used a whip and rune defender and no enhancements:

• 100% Drops: None
  
  
• Herbs: 19 guam, 16 marrentill, 11 tarromin, 13 harralander, 6 ranarr, 4 irit, 3 avantoe, 3 kwuarm, 2 cadantine, 2 lantadyme, 1 dwarf weed.
  
  
• Herb Seeds: 2 toadflax, 1 irit, 1 avantoe, 1 snapdragon, 1 kwuarm, 2 poison ivy, 1 cactus, 3 belladonna.
  
  
• Charms: 6 gold, 5 green, 2 crimson, 3 blue.
  
  
• Other: 1 mithril kite shield, 5 rune javelins, 2 steel axes, 2 uncut sapphires, 1 clue scroll.

Here are a few extra tips:

• If you plan to fight these monsters frequently, getting at least level 56 Agility is strongly advised. They drop so many herbs that being able to quickly bank in Canifis is a huge advantage.
  
  
• Take 2-dose super set potions if you plan to bank frequently, so you don’t end up wasting doses. If using a high-capacity beast of burden while leaving behind low-level herbs, you’ll bank less often, so stick with 3-dose or 4-dose pots.
  
  
• If you need to take a break from combat, go down the spiked chain or just run around the corner to where the stairs leading up are, and log off there.
  
  
• Players leave all sorts of good stuff on the ground, so watch for it.

Flesh Crawlers (Level 28) A Brief Guide to Farming Herbs