TruthScape.com  9  TruthScape Monster Secrets       9  TruthScape Monster Secrets - Mithril Dragon Guide

Mithril Dragon Guide - Challenges and Strategy Mithril Dragon Guide - Basic Ranging Technique with Protection from Melee

Still with me? Hopefully that means you have decided to go for it and become a mith dragon hunter. Good for you! J Now I will start to get down to the nitty-gritty, showing you where the lair is located, and telling you about the two best ways of getting there. I will also show you the lair, tell you which of the seven mith dragons is best to fight, and where you should stand to avoid “kill stealing” and other hassles.

Note that getting to the mith dragon lair can be considered a three-step process: first, accessing the Barbarian Training area; second, entering the cavern; and third, getting to the mith dragon lair itself. I cover each in a separate subsection below.

The mithril dragon lair is located in the Ancient Cavern, which is in the Barbarian training area near Otto Godblessed’s house. The cavern itself is actually under the lake in this region, accessed by a small whirlpool. Otto’s place can be found southwest of the Barbarian Outpost and the Barbarian Assault minigame building; it is due east of the Grand Tree of the gnomes and north of Baxtorian Falls.

First, getting to the area. There are two good ways to do this:

1. Games Necklace: Using a games necklace, teleport to Barbarian Outpost. Then just run south about 4 or 5 clicks to the pier at the lake. This is shown as the red path in Figure 339.
   
   
2. Grand Tree Shortcut: Bank at the Grand Tree. When ready, run down the ladder and out the front doors of the tree, then northeast to the rock climb Agility shortcut (level 37 required.) Scramble down, then run east to the pier (the blue path in Figure 339).
   

   Figure 339: Getting to the Ancient Cavern

   This map shows the two best ways of getting to the cavern. The red path starts from the games necklace teleport location and heads nearly due south to the end of the pier in Otto’s lake. The blue route begins at the Grand Tree bank; you go over to the stairs, down, out the door, across to the agility shortcut and then east to the pier. In both cases, you click on the whirlpool and the game will automatically run you down the pier and jump into it to access the cavern.

   
   

The first method is simpler and easier; you can bank anywhere, just teleport and run south. It is also slightly faster. The second method, though a bit more complicated and taking a bit longer to traverse, gives a notable advantage: an extra inventory space for food. Which you choose is up to you; I normally use a games necklace for the simpler methods and the Grand Tree for Veracs.

The cavern is accessed by jumping into the whirlpool that is at the end of the pier at the northern edge of Otto’s lake. In order to jump in you must be standing somewhere on the pier. Click the whirlpool and your character will walk back to the start of the pier, then take a running leap into the pool (Figure 340). Everything will go dark and then the cavern will appear.

There’s a trick to getting into the cavern a bit more quickly that you may wish to use. Don’t click on the minimap to run to the end of the pier and then click the whirlpool; this wastes time as the character walks back to the start of the pier to run. Rotate your view so you are looking south, then click near the start of the pier; once there, click the whirlpool and you’ll run in more seamlessly.

Once you appear in the cavern, you’ll be in a little “landing area” that Jagex was nice enough to provide (see Figure 341). This gives you a place to prepare before you face the monsters that lie within. In this area I recommend drinking your antifire potion (if you didn’t before leaving the bank) and other stat-boosting potions such as ranged or super attack.

Go down the stairs to the east of the landing and you’ll be in the main part of the cavern. The stairs up to the mith dragon lair are about two minimap clicks to the southeast (Figure 342). You will run past some brutal green dragons and waterfiends, both of which have multiple distance attacks, so be prepared; the brutal green dragons are level 227 and nothing to be trifled with.

Again here, it’s faster to angle the camera down and be looking south so you can click the stairs up quickly. If you have low melee defence put on protection from melee before going up the stairs as you will be attacked immediately when you enter the mith dragon lair (unless someone is already fighting the one near the entrance.)

As mentioned in my discussion of their attacks, mith dragons have a habit of “kill stealing” players, by which I mean that one dragon can interrupt another during combat. This means you can get a dragon 90% dead and not be able to finish it off—very annoying. The best way to avoid this is to choose the right dragon to kill and then stand in the right place.

The mithril dragon lair is oddly shaped; it features one large area and four smaller ones connected by narrow passageways. You can see a full map of the dungeon in Figure 343, along with annotations to which I will refer later. The large area has three dragons and the smaller alcoves one each. Most of these areas are actually too small for the dragons to move around much, which can be very useful, as you will see.

The large area with three dragons is definitely to be avoided; with them in close proximity steals are far more likely. Also, as soon as you kill one another will attack you right away, giving you no time to heal or pick up drops. The dragons in the other four areas are easier to deal with, though some are better than others.

In Figure 343 I have numbered the dragons 1 through 7, ranked in order of which I prefer to kill. Here’s a quick analysis of them:

• Mith #1: This dragon is in its own area set apart from all of the others except Mith #2, and is close to the entrance. What makes it the best is that there is a “neutral safe spot” right in the very center of the area; if you stand there you cannot attack the dragon but it cannot attack you either. This gives you a chance to breathe between kills, eat food, take potions and so forth; it is also helpful if you get in trouble or lag during a fight. Even if you aren’t in the exact center it often can’t get you. (In Figure 343 you can see “one of the me’s” standing in the safe spot right under the head of Mith #1.)
  
  If you fight this dragon, stand well into its spot to avoid getting hit from a distance by Mith #2. Also, if you are planning to use a method where you must stay out of melee range, be careful when it respawns as it may be hard to get far enough away from it without moving.
  
  
• Mith #2: The advantage of this dragon is that you will be in combat with it as soon as you go up the stairs, so you don’t waste time running. It is also in a secluded area safe from kill stealing by other dragons. It does not have a total safe spot like Mith #1, but if you stand in the south-center of its area, it will usually take the dragon at least 20 seconds before it figures out that it has to move to the north to attack you.
  
  Again here, I recommend standing well into the dragon’s area, either to the southwest or southeast, to avoid interference from Mith #1.
  
  
• Mith #3: If both Mith #1 and Mith #2 are taken, this dragon is the next best choice, as it is the only other one where you are safe from kill stealing. It’s far from ideal, though, for two reasons. First, you have to run past three other dragons to get to it, letting them take shots at you; and second, there’s a skeleton warlord in the northeast corner who will sometimes attack you when you try to pick up drops. Even so, I have used this dragon with success during busy times.
  
  Stand in the southwest corner of this dragon’s lair if you fight it.
  
  
• Mith #4: This is the last of the dragons I might consider fighting. It is far from the entrance and only “mostly” safe from kill stealing; sometimes Mith #7 will interfere. If you try it, stand in the far southwest.
  
  
• Mith #5, Mith #6 and Mith #7: Avoid unless you like a challenge or are a masochist. J If you really must do one of these, range Mith #5 from the isthmus between Mith #2 and Mith #5.

Another option if the good spots are taken is to switch worlds. If you want to do this, first move into the neutral safe spot under Mith #1, so you won’t be attacked as soon as you log back in.

Mithril Dragon Guide - Challenges and Strategy Mithril Dragon Guide - Basic Ranging Technique with Protection from Melee