TruthScape.com - Specialty Herb Droppers

There are 11 different herbs that are normally dropped by monsters, ranging from guam leaf at the low end to dwarf weed at the top. Each time you get an herb drop it is random, but the herbs you get over time from most monsters tend to fall roughly into a standard pattern, where the number of herbs obtained decreases as you move from the low-level to the high-level. A typical example distribution would be these actual results from an hour spent killing aberrant spectres: 39 guam, 33 marrentill, 21 tarromin, 26 harralander, 12 ranarr, 9 irit, 7 avantoe, 6 kwuarm, 3 cadantine, 4 lantadyme and 3 dwarf weed.

A small number of monsters deviate from this common pattern, though: either they drop only certain herbs, or they drop all 11 herbs but with a bias towards one herb or another. In most cases these biases are not in a player’s favor: sorry, but I didn’t find a monster that drops tons of ranarrs instead of guams. J But there can be cases where getting more of a low-level herb is advantageous anyway.. thus, this topic.

Note also that the special herb gloves from Fist of Guthix can also effectively turn any regular herb dropper into one that gives a disproportionate amount of irit leaf, avantoe, kwuarm or cadantine.

Cave bugs are simple low-level monsters that are easy to kill and drop large quantities of herbs. In fact, in terms of total herb drops, they are up there with the best monsters, giving as many as 150 per hour. I was ready to include them as a primary herb dropper, until I noticed their uneven herb distribution: they drop an inordinate amount of guam leaves.

I was intrigued and so conducted several tests, and routinely found that with cave bugs, about half the herbs dropped are guams. For example, here are the results from one 30 minute test: 42 guam, 7 marrentill, 4 tarromin, 4 harralander, 1 ranarr, 6 irit, 5 avantoe, 4 kwuarm, 2 lantadyme and 2 dwarf weed. This pattern was consistent, and clearly more than can be explained by simple random variation.

Most players don’t want guam leaves, so cave bugs didn’t make the grade as a top herb dropper. However, given that guams are now used in items like macaw pouches, super potion explosive and guam tar, there is renewed interest in them. Also, those who are just starting out in Herblore may prefer to get more guams so they can level up faster.

The best place to kill cave bugs is the Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon, which you can access after finishing Death to the Dorgeshuun. Access the fairy ring network and go to code “A J Q”. When you arrive, run east, north and then west and follow the corridor to the end (you can see the right spot in Figure 211). You’ll find an area there with lots of monsters, including a bunch of level 6 cave bugs. (There are also level 96 ones; leave them alone as they take forever to kill.) The bugs are weak, so you don’t need armor or food unless you are very low-level yourself; just remember to bring a covered light source.

If you can’t get into Dorgesh-Kaan, there are three cave bugs in the room just west of the entrance to the Lumbridge Swamp Caves. Watch out for the wall beast! There are also some in the chaos tunnels, but getting to them is somewhat of a nuisance.

(Trivia: Cave bugs are one of only two monsters in RuneScape that have a higher Slayer level than combat level. Can you name the other? Answer at the end of the topic.)

These are “untransformed” citizens of Mort’ton, who wander around like zombies. They always drop tarromin, which is used for making Serum 207 (an integral part of the Shades of Mort’ton quest.)

One of the more annoying creatures in the game, these are found sticking out of holes in the Lumbridge Swamp Caves. They drop small amounts of herbs, which are only guams, and also provide Summoning charms, but most of their other drops are junk. They are sometimes assigned for Slayer, but usually in small quantities; while their drops are lousy, they have a lot of HP for their level so some players like to do them, but most head straight to Burthorpe.

Anyway, if you want to try these be sure to remember your spiny helmet, or they will deal you heavy damage and you won’t be able to fight back.

These are one of the rare monsters in the game, other than high-level bosses, that only drop one type of good herb, in this case, kwuarm. You can get many more kwuarms from fever spiders than you can from any other monster, but unfortunately that’s all you get (Figure 173). They have no other drops, so the total number of herbs is quite low: in a half-hour test I got 13 kwuarms and that’s it.

**Figure 173: I’ve Got a Fever for Some Grimy Kwuarms :)**
If you want kwuarms, these guys have ‘em.. but nothing else.

Fever spiders are located on Braindeath Island, where you do the quest Rum Deal; go back by talking to Pirate Pete on the dock north of Port Phasmatys, then head downstairs when you arrive. If you want to fight them, you need special slayer gloves, but otherwise standard melee gear is fine.

These are tough monsters found on Moonclan Island; they play a role in the quest Lunar Diplomacy, and afterwards are sometimes given as high-level Slayer assignments. They drop herbs, but only guams and marrentills, and their other drops are not great either; on the plus side, they provide big bones, and some of them are close to the Moonclan bank, so you can save their drops pretty easily. They also are easy to kill and give decent Slayer XP.

There are two types of suqahs, and the ones with magic attacks are deadly, so avoid them: they are located to the northeast of the bank. Be careful when there are many suqahs around as they are aggressive, and much of the island is multicombat.

There are seven boss-level monsters in the game that drop only ranarr weeds. These include all three of the Dagannoth Kings (Prime, Rex and Supreme), and the four boss monsters in Saradomin’s Encampment of the God Wars Dungeon (Commander Zilyana and her sergeants Bree, Growler and Starlight).

Yes, I include this mainly to amuse you, since I doubt you’ll be going after these to get herbs. J

Note that Kree’ara, the boss of the Armadyl room in the God Wars Dungeon, and Kril Tsutsaroth, the Zamorak boss, can drop noted herbs; not sure what they are, though.

(Answer to trivia question: level 12 small lizards, which count as desert lizards, level 22 Slayer required.)