Grotesque Guardians/Strategies

The Grotesque Guardians are gargoyle slayer bosses that reside at the top of the Slayer Tower.

A player fights the Grotesque Guardians on the Slayer Tower's roof.

In order to access and fight them, the player must be assigned gargoyles as a Slayer task or be assigned a Grotesque Guardians boss task. Prior to this, the player must also obtain a brittle key to permanently unlock the gate. The brittle key has a 1/150 drop rate from regular gargoyles (on task only) and marble gargoyles.

Like gargoyles, players must bring a rock hammer, granite hammer, or rock thrownhammer to finish them off.

Suggested skills

• 70+
• 70+
• 70+
• 75+
• 70+
• 44+ (74 recommended)

Mechanics

Attack Styles

• During phases 1-3, Dusk performs a simple melee attack consisting of a swipe with his left arm, dealing up to 15 damage if not protected against. This attack is crush-based, but rolls on the player's slash defence.
• Dawn performs a simple ranged and melee attack:
  • The ranged attack deals two separate hits, both with a max hit of 9 if not protected against.
  • The melee attack consists of a simple kick that deals up to 15 damage if not protected against.

Damage Immunity

• Dusk's intact stone wing protects him from all types of damage during phases 1 and 3. In phases 2 and 4, he can only be harmed with melee attacks.
• As Dawn is flying above the ground, she can only be harmed with ranged or magic attacks.

Lightning Strike

• During the transition to phase 3, Dawn and Dusk will stand on the left and right side of the rooftop and discharge electrical bolts onto the ground.
• This is indicated with blue circles for Dawn, and orange for Dusk.
• The vortices have a 3x3 AoE (1 tile from the centre), dealing anywhere from 5-10 damage per tick regardless if the player is directly on or adjacent to one. There is a one-second warning frame indicated with a vortex of the respective colour before the player starts taking damage. One of these vortices will always target the player's position when the mechanic initiates.
• The vortices spawn anywhere on the rooftop. They do not stack on each other, and up to three circles may be in close proximity to each other (as in being in range to be damaged by all three).

Trample

• This mechanic is unique to Dusk only.
• This mechanic is active only during phases 2 and 4. Standing underneath Dusk may prompt him to trample the player for 30-40 damage.

Stone Ball

• This mechanic is unique to Dawn only.
• Dawn will fire a stone ball around the player's position.
• The ball has a 3x3 AoE (1 tile from the centre).
• If struck by the ball, the player will become encased in stone, similar to the marble gargoyle's special attack, which essentially acts as a stun for 5 seconds and deals up to 15 damage.

Equipment

During the fight, players will need both a ranged weapon and a melee weapon, plus a rock hammer, granite hammer, or rock thrownhammer to deal the final blow. An eternal slayer ring is highly recommended for quick access to the bosses.

Recommended equipment for Melee

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i)	Black mask (i)	Slayer helmet	Black mask	N/A
	Amulet of torture	Amulet of fury or Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of glory	Amulet of strength	N/A
	Infernal cape	Fire cape	Ranging cape(t)	N/A	N/A
	Torva platebody	Bandos chestplate	Fighter torso	Verac's brassard	Black d'hide body
	Torva platelegs	Bandos tassets	Verac's plateskirt	Obsidian platelegs	Dragon platelegs
	Scythe of vitur	Ghrazi rapier/Blade of saeldor/Inquisitor's mace	Abyssal tentacle	Abyssal whip	N/A
	Avernic defender	Dragon defender	Dragonfire shield	N/A	N/A
	Rada's blessing 4 or Diamond dragon bolts (e) with Crossbow	God blessing / Rada's blessing 3/2 or Diamond bolts (e) with crossbow	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious gloves	Barrows gloves	Dragon gloves	Rune gloves	N/A
	Primordial boots	Guardian boots	Dragon boots	N/A	N/A
	Berserker ring (i)	Brimstone ring	Archers ring (i)	Warrior ring (i)	N/A
	Dragon claws	Toxic blowpipe	Saradomin godsword	Dragon dagger(p++)	Crystal halberd

Recommended equipment for Ranged switches

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i)	Black mask (i)	Slayer helmet	Black mask
	Necklace of anguish	Amulet of fury or Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of glory	N/A
	Ava's assembler	Ava's accumulator	Ranging cape(t)	N/A
	Masori body (f)	Karil's leathertop	Blessed body	Black d'hide body
	Masori chaps (f) (optional switch. See Phase 3 strategy below)	Karil's leatherskirt (optional switch. See Phase 3 strategy below)	Blessed chaps (optional switch. See Phase 3 strategy below)	Black d'hide chaps
	Toxic blowpipe	Zaryte crossbow	Armadyl crossbow	Dragon crossbow
	Twisted buckler with crossbow	Book of law with crossbow	Unholy book with crossbow	N/A
	Rada's blessing 4 or Diamond dragon bolts (e) with Crossbow	God blessing / Rada's blessing 3/2 or Diamond bolts (e) with crossbow	N/A	N/A
	Zaryte vambraces	Barrows gloves	Dragon gloves	Rune gloves
	Pegasian boots	Ranger boots	N/A	N/A
	Berserker ring (i)	Brimstone ring	Archers ring (i)	Warrior ring (i)
	Dragon claws	Toxic blowpipe	Saradomin godsword	Dragon dagger(p++)

Inventory

• Ranged switches
• 9 super restores
• 7 pieces of food or saradomin brews
• Divine super combat potion
• Divine ranging potion
• Rock hammer
• Slayer ring
• Divine rune pouch with runes for High Level Alchemy and Teleport to House

Strategy

Note: Ranged/Magic and Melee are required for this fight, along with a rock hammer!

Phase 1

Upon ringing the bell, a cutscene ensues where the guardians awaken and face the player. Dusk will be unattackable as he uses his wing to defend himself from all sources of combat, so the player must attack Dawn first. Dawn is airborne, so the player must attack her with ranged or magic, as melee cannot reach her. As she is more resistant to magic, it is recommended to range her.

To minimise damage, players should use ranged armour while using Protect from Melee, standing next to Dawn. This will cause her to occasionally attack with melee. You can also stand under Dusk during this phase and pray Range, ignoring much of Dawn's damage while completely negating Dusk's damage since he lacks a trample attack during this phase.

When Dawn reaches 55% of her life points, she will fly up. She can still take additional damage as she ascends, but this is hard capped at 50% and she will not fall below this threshold from a larger hit. Dusk will remain on the field and attack the player, this time without covering himself.

Phase 2

The player fails to evade Dusk's explosive attack, and gets knocked back.

Dusk will attack once after Dawn flies off before performing his explosive shock wave attack. Simply move one space away from Dusk when he performs this attack. The knockback animation will only occur if you're right next to or under him. The frame in which you get hit by this attack is relatively short; it is safe to return back and attack Dusk once his wings cover his face. If you run back to Dusk just as he expands his wings, you will be hit by the attack. Throughout this phase, Dawn will send debris down into the arena (9-10 debris at 3-4 various speeds). These debris have a 3x3 AoE (1 tile from the centre). If struck, players will be dealt up to 22 damage, and stunned for several seconds (along with a message stating "You have been knocked out!"). Shadows will indicate where these rocks will fall. Avoid walking under Dusk during this phase as doing so will result in 30-40 trample damage.

The lightning AoE attack at the end of phase 2.

When Dusk reaches 55% of his life points, Dawn will descend, while Dusk will quickly fly over to his position to the west. The two guardians will then perform a lightning strike attack. Stand in a spot clear of any vortices. Although some vortices have a slight delay when appearing, they all expire as soon as the pair become attackable.

Phase 3

As in phase 1, Dusk will cover himself with his wing once more, so you must focus on Dawn.

She will start the phase off by launching three energy spheres across the rooftop in an attempt to heal herself. There are three growth stages for these spheres: small (deployed), medium and then large. The spheres advance to the next stage after a few seconds. The player can absorb these spheres at any time. If the player doesn't absorb the spheres after they grow large, Dawn will absorb them, restoring 90 health for each orb she absorbed.

Players with 90+ Ranged, a blowpipe, and amethyst darts or better can equip their ranging legs and outdamage Dawn before the orbs heal her around 75% of the time. This allows you to save on prayer/food supplies and also decreases the time it takes to kill them. Players without *all* of the aforementioned recommended items should instead absorb the spheres to avoid a prolonged fight. As darts can be rather costly, players wishing to conserve some money may swap to amethyst or dragon darts for this phase while using adamant darts for phase 1.

Once Dawn reaches less than 10 health, use the rock hammer on her (unless you have unlocked the Gargoyle smasher ability using slayer reward points). Dusk will absorb her essence, and initiate the final phase of the fight. Occasionally a sphere may reach Dawn and heal her, but she will still die if the player smashed her before the restoration kicks in. This typically depends on the ticks of the orb and the hammer itself. If the player tries to smash Dawn just slightly after the restoration kicks in, she will survive the attempt.

Like in phase 1, stand next to Dawn and use Protect from Melee.

Phase 4

A player failing to escape Dusk's special attack.

Upon shattering Dawn, Dusk will immediately absorb what is left of her essence, empowering himself in the process, increasing his combat level from 246 to 328, with his Attack level increasing by 100, Strength, Magic and Ranged by 110, and Defence by 50; he does not obtain any additional bonuses. Dusk will also begin to use Ranged attacks during this phase, copying Dawn's attack style of two hits per ranged attack. His melee hit has a max hit of 26, while his ranged attacks have a max hit of 15.

Prayer reduces the strength of Dusk's melee attack by roughly 65%, and ranged by roughly 55%. Dusk has a 1/6 chance to switch attack styles if the player is not praying correctly. If the player is praying correctly, he has a 1/3 chance to switch attack styles. This means that the player should always switch prayers to match Dusk's last attack. Doing so will yield correct prayer coverage for 72% of attacks.

Dusk uses a new special attack, where he drags the player somewhere in the arena and traps them in a barrier of blue flames. One of the flames is missing, so use that to escape immediately after he drags you. If you fail to get out of the enclosed area in time, the fires will deal up to 50+ damage, and Dusk will heal himself for the same damage he dealt to you. When Dusk reaches less than 10 health, use the rock hammer on him to finish him off (unless you have unlocked the Gargoyle smasher ability).

Like phase 2, Dusk's passive trample effect returns into action.

Warning: Sometimes, Dusk may drag the player to the edges, then create a barrier where the exit cannot be used because there is no space to escape. In this case, simply running into the missing fire tile will prevent Dusk from damaging the player and healing himself. When he first uses this attack, he is invulnerable, but he can still be attacked in subsequent drag attacks. The player may automatically path themselves out of the enclosure when moving to attack Dusk if the exit tile is not obscured, but it is recommended to click a safe tile first.

Bugs: It is possible for Dusk's second phase special attack to happen as/shortly after Dusk is killed with a rock hammer, the player can still take damage from the special attack after Dusk dies. Additionally, if the player is inside the barrier and Dusk is at low enough health to be smashed with the Gargoyle smasher ability, the player may path directly to Dusk instead of trying to exit the barrier first, or may not move at all.