TruthScape.com  9  TruthScape Skill Secrets       9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Herblore            9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Herblore - Techniques for Obtaining Vials, Secondary Ingredients and Special Items                 9  Acquiring Secondary Ingredients for Potions

Overview of Methods for Obtaining Secondary Ingredients General Tips to Improve Secondary Ingredient Gathering Efficiency

There are a small number of monsters in RuneScape that drop a variety of secondary ingredients used in Herblore. Generally speaking, these aren’t sources for getting seconds in quantity, so they aren’t going to replace any of the methods designed to collect secondary ingredients in bulk. But they are certainly options for supplementing other sources, especially because they also have other drops that are valuable to herblorists.

These monsters also enable “opportunistic potion making”, because sometimes they will drop all of the items needed to make a potion, letting you actually assemble one on the spot. For example, cave crawlers drop vials of water, herbs and seconds, so if you get a water vial, kwuarm and limpwurt root, you can make a super strength potion right in the dungeon! This doesn’t save time so much as inventory space, because it effectively lets you carry three drops in one slot.

Again, I am not saying that I necessary recommend all of these monsters as ideal sources for Herblore; for example, while some are what I consider secondary herb sources, only one is on my short list of the very best monsters for getting herbs. Still, they can be a nice change of pace when you get tired of killing “the same old monsters that always drop the same old things”.

These are easy (level 6) monsters that I classify as specialty herb droppers, because they give a disproportionate number of guams. In addition to the herbs they provide, they are also a decent source of five different secondary ingredients. Table 40 shows the results of two 30-minute tests I conducted in the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon (the best place to fight them).

This is one of the nicest selections of seconds in the game; an example inventory is shown in Figure 211. They do not drop vials of water, but if you brought some with you could easily make potions “on the spot”.

These are one of the most underrated monsters in the game, period. First of all, they are a primary herb dropper; they don’t drop as many herbs as chaos druids, but they do have a good herb drop rate. Beyond that, they are a great source of white berries, a decent source of five other secondary ingredients, they drop vials of water, and they even provide charms for Summoning!

In a one-hour test I got 5 eyes of newt, 3 limpwurt roots, 2 red spiders’ eggs, 2 snape grass, 3 unicorn horn dust and a nice 18 white berries. These are a lot of fun to kill, using their ingredients to make potions. Even if you don’t get seconds you need, you can save on vials of water by putting herbs in the ones they drop to finish off later. Just remember your antipoison—though you could likely make one from the drops if you run out!

Found in the Agility Dungeon, these cousins of the chaos druids give fewer herbs than they do, mainly because they have more hitpoints and so take longer to kill. But if you are interested in secondary ingredients, they give a much better assortment of seconds than chaos druids. In a 30 minute test I got three vials of water (probably below average), 5 snape grass, 4 unicorn horn dust and 5 white berries, along with 49 herbs.

Note that they are supposed to also drop limpwurt roots; maybe I’ve been unlucky but I’ve never gotten any from them.

The newest secondary herb dropper in the game, these aren’t the best monsters for herbs, and also aren’t the best for seconds. But they are very low level and easy to kill, so they’re a good choice for low-level players. I got 3 red spiders’ eggs and 2 limpwurt roots from them in 30 minutes.

These level 32 monsters congregate around a simmering cauldron southwest of Brimhaven, and are infamous for the potent poison they inflict upon the unprepared. While their drops overall are not that impressive, they are the only monster in the game that drops a decent amount of snape grass, as well as limpwurt roots, a small number of regular herbs, and the jungle herbs rogue’s purse and snake weed.

In a 30 minute test they dropped 23 snape grass and 16 roots. Be sure to remember a super antipoison potion; they also drop these from time to time, so you don’t need to bring a lot. Regular melee gear works just fine, and you can get to them easily by boat from Ardougne or using the house portal in Brimhaven (if your house is there).

These are now killed mainly for their cockatrice egg drops, but many players don’t realize that they used to be better-known as a good source of limpwurt roots. Hobgoblins are still better, but the combination of roots and eggs makes these a nice option. In a test I got 18 limpwurt roots and 19 cockatrice eggs in 30 minutes.

To fight them, use the fairy rings to get to code “A J R “, then enter the Slayer dungeon and walk past the cave crawlers and rockslugs. Be sure to remember your mirror shield or they will zap you for damage and drain your stats.

Overview of Methods for Obtaining Secondary Ingredients General Tips to Improve Secondary Ingredient Gathering Efficiency