General Graardor/Strategies

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This is a guide to killing General Graardor with Melee and Ranged. It will take you through the basics of attacking and tanking, as well as provide a few examples of what equipment to bring.

Note that Melee is the most straightforward combat style to use since it suffers no penalties from tank armour. Ranged setups can also deal significant damage, but are less feasible for tanks.

Requirements

• Completion of Death Plateau and started Troll Stronghold to the point where you defeat Dad.
• One rope is required to access the dungeon for the first time.
• Level 70 Strength is required to enter Bandos' Stronghold (cannot be boosted).
• At least 43 Prayer for access to the protection prayers.
• A hammer (if not bringing a dragon warhammer).

General Strategy

Graardor attacks with melee and ranged. His combat stats consist of 280 Attack, 350 Strength, 250 Defence, 80 Magic and 350 Ranged. Both his melee and ranged attacks possess accuracy and strength bonuses, with an additional 120 Attack bonus and 43 Strength bonus for melee, and 100 Ranged bonus with 40 Ranged strength bonus.

His melee attack consists of punching his target, which can deal up to 60 damage; he has a 2/3 chance of using a melee attack. His ranged attack consists of him slamming the ground, emitting a shockwave that hits all players in the arena, dealing up to 35 damage with a minimum of 15 if it hits; he has a 1/3 chance of using a ranged attack. His ranged attack is unique - it is classified as a standard ranged attack, even though it splashes when the attack fails to hit.

Graardor has three bodyguards - Sergeants Grimspike, Steelwill and Strongstack, who use Ranged, Magic and Melee and deal up to 21, 16 and 15 damage respectively.

After Graardor is dead, the goblin sergeants will all focus on a single player, typically the one who landed the killing blow on Graardor. For this reason, Steelwill should be killed immediately, allowing the targeted player to switch to Protect from Ranged once he is dead, as to block Grimspike's attacks.

In group encounters, it is courtesy to leave Strongstack alive for the tank to heal off him with Guthan's set. If the tank is low on health, Grimspike may also be left for the tank to heal off of. Should the goblins focus on the tank after Graardor dies however, then it may be necessary to kill Grimspike.

In solo encounters, the player should kill Steelwill as usual and lure Strongstack onto Grimspike and cast Blood Barrage on the two goblins, as it heals faster than Guthan's set does. Water runes may be brought along (if not using a kodai wand) for Ice Barrage if necessary, so the player doesn't have to flick as much between melee and ranged.

Graardor and his bodyguards drop bones, so players should bring bones to peaches tabs and collect all the bones before converting them into peaches. Peaches heal for 8 health, so the player can restore 32 health after each encounter with Graardor and his minions.

Tank

Compared to K'ril Tsutsaroth, tanking Graardor is slightly more difficult in solo encounters.

The player must optimize both magic and ranged defence (as trying to tank Graardor's melee attacks means certain death), preventing the use of justiciar armour, as taking the set would result in Steelwill hitting frequently and causing unnecessary damage in solo encounters. As a result of increasing their magic defence, their ranged defence will suffer, causing Graardor's ranged attacks and Grimspike to hit more often.

In group encounters, this is less of a worry as the sergeants tend to focus on whoever successfully struck Graardor.

When using a weapon with an attack speed of 4 (2.4 seconds), attack Graardor twice before moving under him. Graardor has an attack speed of 6 (3.6 seconds), so this reduces the frequency of his attacks and saves food in the long run. The player may also flick attacks from Steelwill and Grimspike if they're attacking on different ticks while under Graardor.

A more experienced version is to simply flick the attacks from Graardor and his minions. This requires all Grimspike, Steelwill and Graardor to attack on different ticks, but this also saves a considerable amount of food when performed properly, as Graardor's ranged attacks will be the only cause of damage inflicted.

Magic Tanking

Due to Graardor's reduced Magic level as a result of the twisted bow, magic is another viable method to fight Graardor. Although Graardor has a magic defence bonus of 298, his Magic level of 80 still makes it relatively easy to hit him with high magic accuracy. When Graardor is moving, freeze him with Ice Barrage - this will keep him bound for 20 seconds, before switching to a toxic trident or sanguinesti staff. The tanking player should use Protect from Missiles, as they will be out of Graardor's attack range. Although overall defence is lower, it is still relatively high to protect against Strongstack's attacks.

When Graardor breaks free of his bind, do not freeze him immediately, as all targets struck by an ice spell have a short immunity from another bind. Wait at least 2 seconds before doing so. If Graardor gets too close, switch to Protect from Melee until he is safely out of range.

Attacker

A group of players fighting General Graardor and his bodyguards.

Only ever attack General Graardor once the tank has attacked; otherwise, Graardor will focus on you. Extra care should be taken by players using Ranged, as it is easier to attack the boss first by accident.

Once Graardor is dead, kill the minions, beginning with Sergeant Steelwill. Stand against the western wall while waiting for General Graardor to respawn, as this gives the tank more time to draw his attention.

Ideally, melee attackers should use Karil's leathertop, a black d'hide body, or Void Knight equipment instead of regular melee armour in order to mitigate Steelwill's attacks, as the sergeants shift aggression based on whoever damaged Graardor recently.

An attacker should bring runes for High Level Alchemy due to the frequent drops of rune equipment.

Tips

• Goblins are an easy target for Bandos killcount, and also have a chance to drop a hammer.
• Walking under Graardor can buy a tank some time to eat food without taking unnecessary damage. It can be also done at certain intervals to make Graardor "miss" an attack.
• Experienced players can "tick eat"; tick eating is healing on a critical level of health right before taking damage, essentially surviving a hit that would have normally killed the player.
• Bones to Peaches can help extend trips; each kill rotation yields 32 Hitpoints worth of bones.
• The minions will drop chilli potatoes and sharks. If there is an excess of food, continually pick up and drop food again to prevent it from disappearing.
• Guthan's equipment may be used to heal on the melee and ranged minions if desired. Cooperate with your team to maximise healing opportunities. Bring less brews and more restores if you choose this method of healing. Guthan's armour also doubles as good primary equipment for tanks.
• If you are assigned General Graardor as your slayer task, use your Slayer helmet variant of choice so as to take advantage of its accuracy and damage boost.
• An Amulet of blood fury is generally ideal for tank setups as it emphasizes healing, defensive and prayer bonuses.
• When bringing a dragon warhammer, you do not need a hammer to bang the door.
• During the fight, the bodyguards will target the most recent player who attacked Graardor. Because of this, weapons with a slower attack speed will result in the player being targeted less often in a team. This can be useful in a team where some players have significantly lower defences.

Suggested skills

• 80+ (90+ Tank)
• 80+
• 70+ (Required, 80+ Recommended)
• 70+ (90+ Tank)
• 80+
• 70+ (75+ Recommended)
• 44+ (Eagle Eye, 70+ Piety)

Equipment

Recommended equipment for Basic Tank

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Verac's helm	Neitiznot faceguard	Helm of neitiznot	Warrior helm	N/A
	Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of fury	Amulet of glory	N/A	N/A
	Fire cape	Hitpoints cape	Vestment cloak	Zamorak cape	N/A
	Torag's platebody	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Verac's plateskirt	Torag's platelegs	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Abyssal tentacle	Abyssal whip	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Dragonfire shield	Crystal shield	Toktz-ket-xil	Dragon sq shield	N/A
	Unholy blessing	War blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Barrows gloves	Rune gloves	Combat bracelet	N/A	N/A
	Bandos boots	Dragon boots	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ring of suffering (i)	Granite ring (i)	Berserker ring (i)	Seers ring (i)	Ring of dueling
	Saradomin godsword	Bandos godsword (lesser defence reduction, more accurate)	Dragon warhammer (greater defence reduction, less accurate)	N/A	N/A

Inventory

• Saradomin godsword > Bandos godsword (special attacks)
• Hammer
• 3 Super combat potion
• 14 Saradomin brews
• 3 Anglerfish
• 7 Super restores
• Teleport to house (tablet) or a one-click teleport (for emergency)

Recommended equipment for Advanced Tank

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Justiciar faceguard	Neitiznot faceguard	Verac's helm	Helm of neitiznot	N/A
	Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of fury	Amulet of torture	Amulet of glory	N/A
	Infernal cape	Max cape	Prayer cape	Fire cape	Hitpoints cape
	Justiciar chestguard	Bandos chestplate	Guthan's platebody	Karil's leathertop	Zamorak d'hide body
	Justiciar legguards	Bandos tassets	Verac's plateskirt	Guthan's chainskirt	N/A
	Ghrazi rapier	Abyssal tentacle	Zamorakian hasta	Abyssal whip	N/A
	Elysian spirit shield	Spectral spirit shield	Dragonfire shield	Crystal shield	Toktz-ket-xil
	Unholy blessing	War blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Barrows gloves	Regen bracelet	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Guardian boots	Primordial boots	Bandos boots	Dragon boots	N/A
	Ring of suffering (i)	Ring of the gods (i)	Berserker ring (i)	Ring of life	N/A
	Saradomin godsword	Bandos godsword (lesser defence reduction, more accurate)	Dragon warhammer (greater defence reduction, less accurate)	N/A	N/A

Inventory

• Saradomin godsword > Bandos godsword (special attacks)
• Hammer
• Teleport to house (tablet) or a one-click teleport (for emergency)
• Bones to peaches (tablet)
• 4 Super combat potion
• 6 Saradomin brews
• 1 Anglerfish
• 9 Super restores

Recommended equipment for Ranged Tank

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Verac's helm	Neitiznot faceguard	Helm of neitiznot	Armadyl helmet	N/A
	Amulet of fury	Necklace of anguish	Amulet of glory	N/A	N/A
	Max cape	Ranging cape	Ava's assembler	N/A	N/A
	Armadyl chestplate	Karil's leathertop	Zamorak d'hide body	Black d'hide body	N/A
	Verac's plateskirt	Armadyl chainskirt	Karil's leatherskirt	N/A	N/A
	Armadyl crossbow	Dragon crossbow	Rune crossbow	N/A	N/A
	Elysian spirit shield	Dragonfire shield	Crystal shield	Blessed spirit shield	Dragon sq shield
	Diamond bolts (e)	Ruby bolts (e)	Runite bolts	Broad bolts	N/A
	Barrows gloves	Regen bracelet	Blessed vambraces	N/A	N/A
	Guardian boots	Pegasian boots	Blessed boots	Bandos boots	Holy sandals
	Ring of suffering (i)	Ring of the gods (i)	Archers ring (i)	Ring of life	N/A

Inventory

• Hammer
• Bones to peaches (tablet)
• 4 Ranging potion
• 13 Saradomin brews
• 7 Super restores
• 150+ Diamond bolts
• Teleport to house (tablet) or a one-click teleport (for emergency)

Recommended equipment for Melee Attacker

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Neitiznot Faceguard	Helm of neitiznot	Warrior helm	Berserker helm	Verac's helm
	Amulet of torture	Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of fury	Amulet of glory	N/A
	Infernal cape	Max cape	Fire cape	Prayer cape	Vestment cloak
	Karil's leathertop	Black d'hide body	Bandos chestplate	N/A	N/A
	Bandos tassets	Verac's plateskirt	Karil's leatherskirt	N/A	N/A
	Ghrazi rapier	Abyssal tentacle	Abyssal whip	Zamorakian hasta	Bandos godsword
	Avernic defender	Dragon defender	Rune defender	Dragonfire shield	God book
	Unholy blessing	War blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious gloves	Barrows gloves	Rune gloves	Regen bracelet	Granite gloves
	Primordial boots	Guardian boots	Dragon boots	Holy sandals	Climbing boots
	Berserker ring (i)	Ring of the gods (i)	Warrior ring (i)	Ring of suffering (i)	Ring of dueling
	Bandos godsword	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Inventory

• Bandos godsword (for special attacks)
• Hammer
• 3 Super combat potion
• 6 Saradomin brews
• 10 Super restores
• Bones to peaches (tablet) tablets
• Teleport to house (tablet) (emergency teleport)
• Rune pouch (with runes to cast High Level Alchemy)
• Guthan the Infested's equipment (for healing off of minions)

Recommended equipment for Ranged Attacker

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i) (on task)	Armadyl helmet	Blessed coif	Verac's helm
	Necklace of anguish	Amulet of fury	Amulet of glory	N/A
	Ava's assembler	Ranging cape	Ava's accumulator	N/A
	Armadyl chestplate	Blessed body	Karil's leathertop	N/A
	Armadyl chainskirt	Blessed chaps	Karil's leatherskirt	N/A
	Toxic blowpipe	Armadyl crossbow (not recommended)	Dragon crossbow	Rune crossbow
	Twisted buckler (not recommended)	Dragonfire ward	Odium ward	Crystal shield
	Unholy blessing	Diamond bolts (e)	Ruby bolts (e)	Runite bolts
	Barrows gloves	Blessed vambraces	Regen bracelet	N/A
	Pegasian boots	Blessed boots	N/A	N/A
	Archers ring (i)	Brimstone ring	Ring of suffering (i)	N/A
	Dragon warhammer (greater defence reduction, less accurate)	Bandos godsword (lesser defence reduction, more accurate)	N/A	N/A

Inventory

• Dragon warhammer or Bandos godsword (for special attacks)
• Avernic or dragon defender switch if using dragon warhammer
• Guthan the Infested's equipment
• 3-6 Saradomin brews
• 6-8 Super restores
• 3-5 Divine ranging potions
• Rune pouch with runes for High Level Alchemy, and Trollheim Teleport, Bones to Peaches or empty for picking up Cosmic runes
• 2 Trollheim teleport (tablet) tablets if not bringing runes for Trollheim Teleport (revert once inside the dungeon for teleport out)
• Rest high-healing food such as sharks or better

Recommended equipment for Solo (Melee)

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Justiciar faceguard	Serpentine helm	Neitiznot faceguard	Guthan's helm / Verac's helm	Helm of neitiznot
	Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of fury	Amulet of torture	Amulet of glory	N/A
	Infernal cape	Fire cape	Max cape	Defence cape	Obsidian cape
	Justiciar chestguard	Zamorak d'hide body (if not flicking)	Karil's leathertop (if not flicking)	Bandos chestplate	Guthan's platebody
	Justiciar legguards	Bandos tassets	Verac's plateskirt	Guthan's chainskirt	N/A
	Ghrazi rapier	Abyssal tentacle	Zamorakian hasta	Abyssal whip	Guthan's warspear
	Elysian spirit shield	Dragonfire shield	Crystal shield	Spectral spirit shield	Toktz-ket-xil
	War blessing	Unholy blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Barrows gloves	Ferocious gloves	Regen bracelet	N/A	N/A
	Guardian boots	Primordial boots	Dragon boots	Bandos boots	N/A
	Ring of suffering (i)	Berserker ring (i)	Ring of the gods (i)	Ring of life	N/A
	Dragon warhammer (greater defence reduction, less accurate)	Bandos godsword (lesser defence reduction, more accurate)	N/A	N/A	N/A

Inventory

• Dragon warhammer or Bandos godsword (for special attacks)
• Avernic or dragon defender switch if using dragon warhammer
• A weapon to autocast Ancient Magicks (such as kodai wand, master wand or ancient staff) if using Blood Barrage
• Rune pouch filled with runes for Blood Barrage (optional)
• Bones to peaches (tablet) tablets (or runes for Bones to Peaches in a rune pouch if not using Blood Barrage)
• 1-2 super combat potions
• 2-3 Saradomin brews
• 4-5 super restores
• Teleport to house (tablet) or a one-click teleport (for emergency)
• Rest high-healing food such as anglerfish or manta rays

Recommended equipment for Solo (Magic)

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i) (on task)	Ancestral hat	3rd age mage hat	Ahrim's hood	N/A
	Occult necklace	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Imbued zamorak cape	Zamorak cape	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ancestral robe top	Ahrim's robetop	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ancestral robe bottom	Ahrim's robeskirt	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Sanguinesti staff	Trident of the swamp	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Arcane spirit shield	Ancient wyvern shield	Mage's book	Malediction ward	Book of darkness
	War blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Tormented bracelet	Barrows gloves	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Eternal boots	Infinity boots	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Seers ring (i)	Brimstone ring	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Zamorakian hasta (for minions)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Inventory

4000

16000

16000

• Kodai wand or other weapon to autocast Ancient Magicks (bring water runes for ice barrage if not using Kodai)
• Zamorakian hasta for pushing the minions into a barrage pile (optional but recommended)
• Rune pouch filled with runes for Ice Barrage and Blood Barrage
• Bones to peaches (tablet) tablets
• Imbued heart
• 4-5 Saradomin brews
• 4-5 high-healing food such as anglerfish or manta rays
• Teleport to house (tablet) or a one-click teleport (for emergency)
• Rest super restores