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Mithril Dragon Guide - Location, Access and Positioning Mithril Dragon Guide - Basic Melee Technique with Protection from Melee

This is the most straightforward method of killing mithril dragons. It uses ranged equipment with enchanted bolts and attempts to balance simplicity, killing speed, cost and safety.

What I like most about this method is that it is by far the easiest and most relaxed: there’s little worry about dying if you pay attention, and even a little lag won’t kill you. It’s definitely the one a first-time mith killer should start with.

Here’s a summary of the key information about this technique:

• Technique: Basic Ranging with Protection from Melee
  
  
• Risk Level: Moderate to high. Fairly safe if done right; fairly high chance of death if you lag out for a long period of time or stand in the wrong place for the prayer you have activated.
  
  
• Risk Level Relative to Other Techniques: Low. This is the safest of the mith dragon methods.
  
  
• Kills Per Trip: 4 or 5; sometimes 6.
  
  
• Kills Per Hour: Approximately 16 to 18.
  
  
• Cost Per Kill: Approximately 12k to 14k.

Note that the estimates above are based on using the recommended equipment and skills of about the following levels: 90 Ranged; 95 Defence; 97 Hitpoints; 94 Mage; and 80 Prayer.

Nothing fancy here: you generally want the best possible ranging equipment, as shown in Table 69 and Figure 344.

Table 70 summarizes my recommended inventory items for this method (also see Figure 344).

You will also use the following items at the bank for preparation:

• One dose of antifire potion
  
  
• One dose of Saradomin brew
  
  
• One dose of regular restore potion

And finally, get some cheap food to heal up between runs.

Do the following to get yourself ready for the first trip or between trips:

1. Use cheap food (trout, salmon, cakes, etc.) to heal up completely.
   
   
2. Put on or check all your equipment to make sure it is correct.
   
   
3. Take out more bolts and teleport tablets from the bank if necessary.
   
   
4. Take out all of the inventory items except for the food.
   
   
5. Take out an extra antifire pot, Saradomin brew and regular restore and drink one dose of each in that order. This will ensure you have a few minutes firebreath protection at the start, will boost your defence and give you a hitpoint bonus as well. Then put the pots back in.
   
   
6. Take out all the food you are going to use.

Once you enter the cavern, drink the first dose of ranging potion. Choose rapid fire for attack mode; I have tested accurate and rapid still works better. Put on protection from melee before going downstairs to where the brutal greens are. Run past and up to the mith dragon stairs.

Choose a dragon to fight following the order of preference I described earlier. Get right next to it to ensure you are in melee range or you’ll get hit by missile attacks. Use the enchanted ruby bolts until the dragon is down to about 50-60% of its hitpoints; then switch to diamond bolts. You want to do this because the ruby bolt special (called Blood Forfeit) takes away 20% of the dragon’s current hitpoints in exchange for 10% of yours. If the dragon is down to 25 hp and you are at 80 hp, the dragon will be hit a 5 and you will be hit an 8—not a good trade. You only want to use it when the dragon is near full health, when it can as high as 50 (see Figure 345).

While fighting, pay attention to the following:

• Ranged Level: As soon as your Ranged level drops down to 3 or 4 below its potted maximum, take another sip of your ranging potion. For example, at Ranged level 90 you pot up to 103; drink when you hit 100 or 99. You have enough to last you for 12-15 minutes or so, which is all you will need.
  
  
• Prayer Level: Watch your Prayer level carefully; if it runs out you are in trouble. Take a sip of prayer mix when needed, though this can usually be done between kills. Try to take it when you are down more than 6 HP so you don’t waste the healing of the prayer mix pots.
  
  
• Hitpoints Level: When using the ruby bolts, keep your health between 50% and 75% so you take less damage if the spec activates. Bring your health back above 75% when using the diamond bolts for the second half of the kill.
  
  
• Bolts: Pick them up occasionally, especially if Ava’s accumulator decides to malfunction, as it sometimes does.
  
  
• Firebreath: If you find you are taking damage from firebreath and no longer see the “Your potion protects you from the heat of the dragon’s breath!” message, take a swig of firebreath potion.

After you finish a kill, turn off your prayer while the dragon is doing its “fade into the sunset” routine. Then pick up drops. Put the ruby bolts back in your quiver for the next kill, check your prayer, hitpoints and ranged level and eat/pot as necessary.

You should leave the lair as soon as you are no longer sure you have enough food and prayer potions to complete the next kill. Due to the infamous luck factor in RuneScape, don’t assume that because you killed four dragons quickly that the fifth will go just as quick. Normally you should be able to get that fifth kill, but sometimes I only get four. I have also had a couple of trips where everything went my way and I got six—getting shark drops can help make this possible as well.

To leave, either use your home teleport tablets, or you can also use the level 0 Home Teleport spell (once every 30 minutes), which saves you a tablet. My home is Lumbridge, so I cast the spell, recharge in the chapel nearby and then use either bank in the castle to restock.

If you are banking at Grand Tree, then use a home tablet, recharge prayer at your altar, then rub an Amulet of Glory that you should have mounted on the wall in your house. Teleport to Al Kharid, run north to the glider and take it to the Grand Tree, and bank there.

Here are a few additional notes and tips for success using this method:

• Use the safe spot when needed, to deal with drops, healing, and so forth. You can even cast the slow home teleport from the one under Mith #1 while it is trying to attack you!
  
  
• If you get a good drop always pick it up first before doing anything else, like drinking potions or burying bones—people lose drops to randoms.
  
  
• If your health is full and you need more inventory space for drops, temporarily drop some food near where you will stand during the next fight. Then pick it up as needed when you get hit. Watch out for twits who may steal it though, if it is a busy time.
  
  
• If you aren’t in a safe spot and aren’t sure you will be done dealing with drops and healing before the dragon respawns, put protection from melee on so you don’t get hit with a cheap shot.
  
  
• If you run out of prayer with a dragon that is nearly dead and you still have food, back up a few paces and finish it off without prayer. You should be fine for a while; I have done this many times. However, if the food runs out, you need to get out too!

Mithril Dragon Guide - Location, Access and Positioning Mithril Dragon Guide - Basic Melee Technique with Protection from Melee