Cave Horror OSRS Guide: The Fabled Black Mask

Cave horrors have one of the most useful drops in the entire OSRS game. The fabled black mask. They are locked behind some pretty steep requirements. For example, you need to have done the Cabin Fever quest, and you need a level 58 slayer. 

While this is not end-game content at all, it is still quite a hurdle if you are new to the game. If you are an ironman, it is going to be even harder. However, it is more than worth it. The black mask drop is one of the most useful items in the game. Black masks will give you a higher amount of damage and increase your slayer exp with a massive amount. 

There are also a lot of mechanics you have to take into account when killing them. They are almost impossible to kill if you do not bring the Witchwood Icon or have protection from melee activated. 

This guide is intended for people who have never killed them before or are planning on killing them. I will tell you how to do your trips effectively and how to get the most profit out of this. 

Where you can find the Cave horrors in OSRS

There is only one place where you can find the cave horrors, and that is the cave on the island of Mos Le´harmless. To be able to go to this cave, you must have done the quest Cabin Fever. There are a couple of ways to get here effectively. These are the methods you should use, from best to worst.

The easiest way by far is using the free minigame teleports you have. When you use the teleport to Trouble Brewing you will be there in just a few minutes. 

Another option is by drinking Mos Le harmless rum, you can buy this from Honest Jimmy for 20 pieces of eight. This might be a bit hard to get. 

You could also talk to Bill Teach and ask him to sail you to the island. You can find him by using the ectophial and go to the Port Phasmatys. 

Another option is just taking any charter ship here. You can find one near Port Sarim. Tip: One of the most important factors of determining the price you will pay for the ship, is how much money you have on you. So bring about 10k and not your entire cash stack if you want to travel cheap. 

Teleport with a Mos le´harmless scroll, you will then be able to just walk to the cave. Getting these scrolls can be pretty annoying as an ironman, you can only find them in clues. 

Cave horror drops – Everything you need to know

Killing cave horrors is pretty decent money if you are lucky. A kill is worth about 2.5k on average, and a massive part of that number is due to the Black mask (10) they drop. It is worth 720k and is one of the most used items in RuneScape. If you are an ironman, chances are you are going to rush doing all the requirements to kill these monsters just to get this amazing item. 

Weapons and armor

  • Rune dragger – This is one of their highest value drops. As you see, it is not that special. These are worth 4k each and good to alch. You only have a chance of one in 128 to get these as a drop. I advise you to either pick these up or alch them for some money. 
  • Adamant full helm – The adamant full helm is worth about 2k and drops at the same rate as the rune dagger. They can be alched for some money. I don’t think they will make your bank, but it does add up quite nicely. 
  • Mithril kiteshield – This drop is worth only one 1k. It is going to be a pretty rare drop here. You only get it one out of 128 kills on average. 
  • Black mask – This is why you are here, in a dark cave far away from the rest of the OSRS world. So I am going to go a bit more in-depth about this item. When you wear it, you are going to get a 16.67% damage boost in both attack and strength when you are on a slayer task. That is amazing and will boost your exp an hour by a lot. You can wear this mask pretty early, you just need 20 strength, 10 defense en at least 40 combat. They are, in my opinion, the best item (when combined into a slayer helm) in OSRS. Ironman, they are very hard to get at the combat level of 40 due to all the requirements. However, you should aim to get it by combat 70.

You can also imbue this item in the Nightmare Zone or with soul wars reward points. If you pay 1 250 000 nightmare zone points or 500 Soul Wars Zeal Tokens. This gives the mask the power to also boost your ranging and magic accuracy and damage by 15%. It is advised to imbue it as soon as you can. 

Runes

They have 3 different rolls to drop nature runes. They drop 6 at once the most often, you have a chance of about one in 20 to get this drop. There is a one in 25 chance to get four nature runes all at. The rarest drop is getting 3 nature runes at once, but you only have a one in 128 chance of that happening. 

This means you will get quite a lot of them. So either bring bones to peaches runes or high alchemy runes to make your trip more enjoyable. I recommend you bring the bones to peaches runes!

Herbs and seeds

  • Grimy ranarr weed – I always love getting a ranarr weed drop on my ironman. They are a herb that stays useful throughout the entire game. You always need prayer potions, and to make them you need ranarr weed. They drop the ranarr weed about once in 114 kills on average. A ranarr weed is worth about 7.5k so they help to make back your money spend on supplies and more.
  • Grimy avantoe – Avantoes are also dropped by the cave horror. They have a chance of about 1 in 200 to drop them. An avantoe, despite being a higher level herb than the ranarr weed, is only worth 1.5k so nothing special. However, I still like to pick them up.
  • Grimy kwuarm – Kwuarms are a useful herb to have once you get the herblore level to make super-strength potions. You won´t leave with a full inventory of them. They only have a drop rate of one in 250 kills on average. 
  • Grimy cadantine – Another decent herb drop, but nothing special is the cadantine. They only drop these one time every 300 kills on average, so it is more like a bonus. You will get 1.6k if you get the drop, I advise you to pick them up, just to use for herblore during your higher levels.
  • Grimy lantadyme – You have a one in 420 chance to get a grimy lantadyme. Despite being such a high-level herb, they are worth only 1.4k on average depending on the market price. They are pretty useful for ironmen at the higher levels, so you might want to pick them up for later if you have the inventory space. 
  • Snapdragon seed – The cave horror has a pretty decent chance to drop a snapdragon seed. There is a one in 167 chance of them dropping one. So those are pretty decent odds compared to most other monsters at around this level. A snapdragon seed is worth 58k. 
  • Snape grass seed – There is a small chance of one in 420 that the cave horror is going to drop 3 snape grass seeds. This isn´t all that amazing, but they are a nice bonus if you want to train farming or get some materials for herblore in your bank. The drop is worth 7k. 
  • Torstol seed – They also drop torstol seed. These are very useful to make very high-level potions. There is only a 1 in 1092 chance of them dropping these seeds. 

Other interesting drops to look out for

  • Teak logs – The cave horror drops 4 noted teak logs at once. These are a pretty common drop. They have a one in 18 chance of dropping these. These add up pretty decently. You can get a whole lot of them pretty fast. That is very useful for ironmen who want to train some construction. 
  • Ensouled horror head – They have a one in 30 chance of dropping an ensouled horror head. These are worth only 1k and I advise you to only pick them up if you are an ironman who wants to train some prayer. 
  • Clue scroll – They drop hard clue scrolls pretty reliably. You have a one in 128 chance of them dropping them. This is pretty high, and if you like clue scrolls, you should check if you have no hard clues on your bank as you can only have one at a time. 
  • Long bone – Do not bury this bone. You can trade it in for some very nice construction experience. You have a chance of 1 in 400 to get it as a drop from the cave horrors. 
  • Curved bone – These are the superior version of the long bone. They give even more construction experience, so make sure you do not bury them or lose sight of them. They are really rare, only a one in 5000 chance to get them.

Time to get to business – The set up for killing cave horrors

Cave horrors have a pretty low HP for their combat level. Only 55 hitpoints at combat 80. Just like bloodvelds they use a magic-based melee attack. They have a max hit of 9 and are very accurate when you wear normal plate armor. 

I am going to discuss the optimal gear you can wear here. If you do not have an item, no problem. You can just swap out the item you don´t have for a similar less powerful item. You will still be fine as long as you take into account that you should wear a witchwood icon or use melee prayer. 

Melee set up – Defensive and attacking 

With attacking I mean you have a pray against melee protection up and are using prayer potions. You will focus on your armor and DPS. When fighting them without prayer you should wear defensive armor. Since they are using melee-based magic attacks, you should boost your magic defense bonus. 

  • Head slot – Of course, if you are on a slayer task, you should wear the slayer helmet. Otherwise, you should wear the Neitiznot faceguard, both when you are attacking and defending. 
  • Necklace slot – IMPORTANT, if you are defending and not using prayer, you must wear a Witchwood icon, or you will easily die. When you are attacking, you should wear an amulet of torture. 
  • Cape slot – Your cape slot is going to be the same for both styles. I recommend you wear an infernal cape, but a fire cape is fine too if you do not have the infernal cape. 
  • Chest slot – If you are attacking, you should use a Bandos chestplate. When defending, your magic defense bonus needs to be high, so you should wear Karils here or black Dhide. 
  • Legs slot – If you are attacking, your leg slot should be Bandos for the strength bonus, but a prayer bottom-like proselyte is also fine if that won’t cost you a max hit. If you are defending it is useful to use Karil’s bottom and black d´hide bottom.  
  • Weapon slot – In your weapon slot I would recommend you to use the rapier in both setups, that will make it easy to take them down fast. If you do not have one, other weapons are fine too. 
  • Shield slot – If you are defending, I would recommend you wear a dragon fire shield. If you are attacking, an avernic defender is going to be a great pick. This will make it fast taking them down. 
  • Ranging slot – The ranging slot is going to be the same, you should rada´s blessing 4 or any other god blessing. This is going to help your prayer bonus. 
  • Gloves slot – I would take the ferocious gloves with you in both cases. Some will say you should take barrows gloves while defending, and that is fine too. I just like the extra damage to kill them quicker. 
  • Boots slot – For both setups the primordial boots – or dragon boots if you don’t have these – are going to be the best thing you can get in this slot. The primordial boots are only slightly better than dragon boots, so it is not necessary to have them. 
  • Ring slot – For both setups, I recommend you use a berserker ring imbued. This is going to give you 2 extra max hits, which is very nice for your DPS, and it will ensure you kill them a whole lot faster. 

Ranging set up 

I am going to discuss only the best setup to bring here. If you do not have an item, you can just downgrade without any worries. When ranging, you should safe spot them and bring a super restore. Just in case you get attacked by them when you forget to turn off a prayer or when you are out of prayer points. 

  • Head slot – You are going to have to use the slayer helm if you are on a task. If you are not the armadyl helmet is going to be the best here due to the high-ranging bonus and the prayer bonus. 
  • Necklace slot – When you are ranging, there is only one really good amulet that stands out amongst all others. The amulet of Anguish is by far best in the slot when you are doing ranging to kill cave horrors. 
  • Cape slot – The Ava´s assembler is going to be amazing here. It is going to pick up all the ammo, and it is going to be a lot of extra damage to the cave horrors. This makes sure your trips are faster and you lose less money on ammo. 
  • Chest slot – The armadyl chest plate is going to be great. It has a lot of range attacks and a nice prayer bonus. It is much better than other ranging armor, but much more expensive. 
  • Legs slot – The armadyl chain skirt is going to be a great leg slot option. It has a high-ranging attack bonus so you are more accurate and you get some prayer bonus too. 
  • Weapon slot – I think – even after the nerf – the blowpipe is going to be the best option for you to bring here. You can use darts like the adamant or mithril darts. Though using rune darts here would not be out of place if you want a black mask as soon as possible. 
  • Shield slot – If you are using a blowpipe, you are not going to wear a shield. If you are using a crossbow, use a twisted buckler or a similar strong-ranging shield you can use. 
  • Ranging slot – Either your bolts go here when you are going to be ranging them with a crossbow or you should have god blessings here or the rada´s blessing for the prayer bonus. 
  • Gloves slot – The best gloves you can wear while ranging are – oddly enough – still barrows gloves. So, I advise you wear those. Vambraces are okay too.
  • Boots slot – The best boots you can wear while ranging are the pegasian boots. They are pretty decent. However, if you have too little money for these you can also use blessed dhide boots or even snakeskin boots here. 
  • Ring slot – The archer ring (i) is going to be the best ring by far here to use. It gives a nice bonus that is going to make your shots a lot more accurate. 

Your inventory when going to the cave horrors 

Potions – If you are going to be ranging, well-ranging potions are going to be pretty handy. I would also bring a ton of prayer potions to make sure you can use prayers like rigour or eagle eye to make your trip faster. If you are going to be doing melee either super potions or divine super potions are going to be great. If you are going to use the defense method, bring 1/3rd of prayer potions and 2/3rds of food. A stamina potion with one dose is also going to be very handy to get there more quickly.

  • Teleport – Bring a teleport scroll or another teleport, if you are not going to be using the mini-game teleport.
  • Cannon – No matter if you use range or melee, using a cannon is going to be a very good plan. It will make your trips much faster, so bring one if you want to kill them quickly. I would bring about 1 to 2k cannonballs. 
  • Herb sack – these monsters drop quite some herbs, so bringing your herb sack will help you to get the herbs you need for herblore. 
  • Food – If you are not going to use prayer, I advise you to bring very good food with you. Sharks or better. I would also bring a couple of tabs of bones to peaches to make sure you can do an entire trip in one go. 
  • A light source – If you do not have the fire of eternal light, then it is going to be crucial that you have a light source. These are some pretty decent options: Bullseye lantern, a candle, a torch, or the fire-making skill cape. 

Conclusion: Cave horrors are decent money and a crucial monster for ironmen

These monsters have the drop any account training slayer needs. The black mask. This makes it a very important monster to get access to as soon as possible. It is behind some pretty steep requirements, so you will not be fighting them at the very low levels.

For normal accounts, they are optional monsters. The black mask is nice, but it is quite rare to get. They are not worth it money-wise to go out of your way to do all the requirements for them. 

The best way to kill them in my opinion is using your melee gear and pray against them. If you do not pray and fight defensively with the anti-magic armor and have to use the witchwood icon it is going to be a lot slower. 

To speed up your trips, you should always bring a cannon, as they are going to shred through the cave horrors and their low hit points.

Frequently asked questions about cave horrors in OSRS 

Question: What is the profit rate an hour for Cave horrors

Answer: You can kill about 115 to 125 cave horrors in an hour without a cannon. Killing them without a cannon is going to be the best way to go for a profit. A large amount of your profit is going to come from the black mask that they drop. 
If you go there with very high-level equipment and a cannon, you can kill over 300 an hour. You will not make a lot of money this way, but you could get a black mask in less than two hours on average if that is your goal. 
If you want to hear an exact number, you can count on a profit of 200 to 500k an hour depending on your gear, concentration, and luck. 

Question: What is a Witchwood icon

Answer: The witchwood icon is a slayer equipment piece that is used to protect the player against the effects of the screams of cave horrors. It is going to be crucial if you want to survive these monsters. 
You can buy the Witchwood icon from slayer masters for 900 coins. The amulet can not be traded with other players or bought from the grand exchange. You need a slayer level of 35 to equip it. This is kind of strange as it is only usable against the cave horrors who have a 58 slayer requirement. 
If you do not wear this, the cave horrors can hit the player very accurately for 10% of their total hitpoints. 

Question: Should I skip the cave horrors slayer task?

Answer: If you are an ironman without a black mask, you should not skip these. The black mask is one of the most useful items to have in OSRS. They also drop quite some herbs that are useful to train herblore with later on in the game. The rest of the drops aren’t good enough to make it worth it to go out of your way doing them.
If you are a normal account, and you are not short on cash, and you have bought a black mask, then I would not do the cabin fever quest, so you do not have to kill them. They are pretty slow exp and are far away. If you kill them with a cannon, however, they are alright experienced, but you won’t make much – if any – money killing them unless you get a black mask drop. 
In conclusion, I would only kill these and not skip the task if you do not have a black mask already. If you have, these aren’t much fun to kill and the experience you get an hour killing them is not that good. If you want to do the task but still have to, or you don’t want to lose slayer points because you skipped them, bring a cannon and use the attacking method praying melee. 

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