Drakes are a pretty new monster on Runescape, so if you have been away for quite a while you might have never heard of them before. This guide is intended for players like you and players who are generally new to killing them. I will try to give some expert tips for the more experienced players.
Drakes are pretty easy to kill, but it takes quite some time, and you might not kill a lot during a trip. The reason for this is their high defensive bonuses. If you want variation in your slayer tasks and have different mechanics compared to most slayer monsters, you will love drakes. If you want the maximum amount of slayer experience an hour, I strongly advise that you block the task. The combat exp and slayer exp is really low, so you won’t gain new levels quickly.
For ironman accounts, if you want some best gear in the slot in the game, you will have to kill them until you get certain drops like their claws and teeth. The Drakes can only be killed at 84 slayers, so you will likely have the combat you need to kill them by that level.
What stats do I need to kill Drakes and what is recommended?
These monsters aren’t pushovers, you can start killing the moment you get off the tutorial island. They are intended for higher mid-level to high-level accounts that have a high combat and slayer lever.
Required stats and requirements to kill them
84 slayer – Drakes are just a level below the slayer requirement of abyssal demons. This is a pretty high level that will take you weeks, if not months, to get. If you want to train your slayer all the way to 84 from a low level, it won’t be worth it. You are better off aiming for 85, as the abyssal demons have nicer drops.
Access to Mount Karuulm – by the time you have this slayer level you will probably have done the requirements to get here. You will need to do some easy and short quests if you have not. You will also get access to a new slayer master once you get to this Mount. He is named Konar and gives a special kind of slayer tasks.
Recommended stats to kill Drakes effectively
You will need to have a decent combat level. Your magic won’t be very useful here due to the defensive bonuses of a Drake. You can kill them quite effectively with either melee or ranged attacks. I think ranging is most effective here if you do not have Dragonbane weapons at your disposal.
Melee stats:
You will need an Attack level of 80 or higher, I think 90 is where you are going to see some real difference in speed of kills.
I recommend you have at least a Strength level of 80 or higher, I recommend at least 85 so your hits do nice damage.
A Defense level of 80 or higher is very useful. The higher the better. If you have strong gear, you will have decently long trips starting from level 85 and higher.
You will need to have about a Hitpoints level of 80 or higher. The higher your hit points the better of course, but if you are for some reason 60 hit points at this combat that isn’t a problem. Just make sure you are not getting KO´ed.
If you are using melee, you are going to need a prayer level 70 or higher for the Piety prayer. If it is higher your prayer potions will restore more, which is very useful to prolong your trips.
Ranging stats:
You will need to have at least a ranging level of at least 75 to do somewhat effective trips. However, I highly recommend you have at least 85 or you will take quite some time to kill a single drake.
A Defense level of 90 or higher is very useful. The higher, the better. If you have strong gear, you will have decently long trips starting from level 95 and higher. The reason this level is higher is because of the difference in gear between range and melee armor. If you are holding your distance, and you have a decent magic defense, you can get away with 70 defense.
Just like when using melee you will need to have about a Hitpoints level of 80 or higher. The higher your hitpoints the better of course, but if you are for some reason 60 hit points at this combat that isn’t a problem. Just make sure you are not getting KO´ed.
A Deep Dive into Drake Drops
Killing a drake is going to be pretty profitable. While they are slow to kill, the reward for killing them is fair. On average, these wingless dragons will net you about 8k per kill depending on the market prices.
Doing a Konar slayer task will make you a little bit more money per kill due to the Brimstone Keys and the rewards the chest gives you. In that case you will on average get about 9k per kill, of course, this also depends on the market prices.
There is also a difference in drop rate for Drake´s tooth, Drake´s claw, dragon thrown axe, and dragon knife drop rates when you are on a slayer task. If you are on a slayer task, you will get a higher chance to get these drops.
I recommend you are on the normal spellbook, so you can alch your drops with the alch runes you get.
100 Percent Drops
Drake bones – They always drop these bones. Depending on the ge, they are worth about 2k each. I recommend you pick them up to bury them. Going to the bank is quite a long trip and will hamper your exp and gp an hour even more. You will get 80 prayers exp if you bury them without using a sinister offering, gilded altar, or the ectofungus.
High-Value drops
Drake´s tooth – This is a unique drop from the drakes. They are used to make devout boots. You need to have a pair of holy sandals and a drake´s tooth to make them. If you make those boots you now have the best in slot boots for prayer bonus. It gives a massive +5 prayer bonus and is very useful for when you need as much prayer exp as possible.
Drake´s claw – You can get the drake claw too at a fairly decent rate of 1 in 500 drakes. It is useful as you can combine it with the boots of stone to make a pair of boots of brimstone. These boots don’t only protect your feet from the cavern floor, but you also get some extra stats that are pretty decent. They are worth – depending on market prices – somewhere around 400k to 600k.
Dragon Thrown Axe – While the weapon is not very useful for boss slaying, it does have one of the best special attacks in pvp if you are not on a slayer task you only have a 1 in 10 000 chance, if you have such a task you will have a 1 in 2 000 chance to get them.
Dragon Knife – This is one of the best-ranging throwing weapons for training. However, these are very expensive and not an item you can just use whenever you want if you want to keep some money in your bank. If you are not on a slayer task you only have a 1 in 10 000 chance, if you have such a task you will have a 1 in 2 000 chance to get them.
Weapons and Armor
Rune full helm – They drop the rune full helm about once in 28 times. This is a pretty good rate and with 20k apiece, they will definitely add up if you have a large slayer task.
Red d’hide body – This is another drop you can alch and you will have quite a lot of them during your trips. They are only worth about 6k, so at most, you will make back some money on your supplies with them.
Black d’hide vambraces – They drop these about once in 85 kills. It is only 2k, if your inventory is full I recommend you to skip it and just leave it on the ground. If you are walking by, and you have space in your inventory, you should alch them.
Mystic earth staff – Just like the vambraces they drop these about once in 85 kills. These are worth a bit more. They are worth 25k and are great to alch. They do add up after a while, so that is pretty cool.
Dragon mace – Just like the vambraces they drop these about once in 85 kills. This drop is worth 29k per kill, which is a pretty decent number that will add up rather quickly.
Runes and Ammunition
Fire runes – If you want to get a lot of fire runes, go to the drakes. They drop a lot of them. They drop 100 to 200 at once at a 1 in 8 drop rate on average. That isn’t half bad. Unfortunately, fire runes are worth only 5 gp each.
Nature runes – These runes are worth a lot more than fire runes, and they drop about 30 to 60 at once. They also drop these kinds of runes at a rate of 1 time per 8.5 drake kills.
Law rune – Another very decent rune drop. They drop these 25 to 50 times at once. They also drop these kinds of runes at a rate of 1 time per 8.5 drake kills. They are a very good source for law runes for ironmen.
Death rune – These runes are also pretty nice to get. You only get 20 to 40 of them. They also drop these kinds of runes at a rate of 1 time per 8.5 drake kills. These will also help you get a few of your supplies back.
Rune arrow – Just like the runes, rune arrows are being dropped at a one in 8.5 rate. They are not worth a lot anymore. Despite dropping up to 65 at once, this is only worth up to 2.5k.
Herbs and Seeds
Drakes drop both normal and noted herbs. This is pretty unique in OSRS. However, I only recommend you to pick up one kind of non-noted herb. These are the grimy ranarr weeds. They drop them about once every 200 kills, and they drop 1 to 3 grimy herbs at once.
These are noted herbs that you should look out for:
Grimy ranarr weed – They drop these herbs about once every 113 kills. You will get one to 3 ranarr weeds per drop. They are very useful for ironman, as you can never have enough prayer potions. The drop is worth somewhere around 8 to 22k.
Grimy snapdragon – These have the same drop rate as the ranarr weeds, 1 in 113 kills. These are also very useful for ironman. They are used to make super restore potions, a better version of the prayer potion. Getting them as a drop will net you 8 to 26k depending on, if you get one, two or three of them.
Grimy torstols – These are a bit rarer. These are a one in 151 drops. They are also worth the least out of all the interesting herb drops. You will get about 7 to 21 k for them. These also drop one to 3 times at a time.
Tertiary drops
The drakes only have one interesting tertiary drop, which is the clue scroll. They drop the hard version. So make sure you have done the clues on your bank that are (hard) clue scrolls if you want to get others. You can only have one at a time.
How do you get to the drakes effective: Best to Worst Methods
- The best method of them all is to use the Mount Karuulm teleport, you can get this teleport from Rada’s blessing 3 or Rada’s blessing 4. Getting the blessings is quite some work as the requirements are very high. The blessing (4) is the best in the slot for the arrow slot as it gives a +2 prayer bonus.
- By the time you get to slayer level 84, you should be able to use the fairy ring code c i r. You can use this to teleport at the base of the volcano and then start traveling up the volcano by the stairs and shortcuts. Do not forget the Dramen staff or the Lunar staff.
- Another option is casting Battlefront Teleport, of course, you can also use the magic tablet variant, and then you will have to start running north-west for a while.
- The skills necklace is very useful for a teleport and so is the Farming cape, they can provide teleports to the nearby Farming Guild, which is just southwest of the volcano where you need to be.
Best and Minimum Gear to Kill Drakes in OSRS
As I said, there are 2 different ways to kill the drakes that are somewhat good. Those are range and melee. You will need to make sure you do have some decent gear to do effective trips. In this chapter, I am going to tell you what the best gear is that you can use there, and the worst gear that is still going to work there. Of course, if you have something better than the worst possible gear, you should use that and upgrade the slot.
For melee combat with drakes
Head slot – Obviously if you have a slayer helmet, and you are on a slayer task you should wear one. If you are not, the second-best option you have is the Neitiznot faceguard. For the worst slot, you can choose between the Berserker helm and the Verac’s helm. The latter one is good for prayer, the former one is good for the strength bonus.
Neck slot – the best weapon you can get is the amulet of torture. It gives great attack bonuses. The amulet of glory is still a fine option, however, due to the defensive bonuses it has.
Cape slot – The best cape you can use here is the infernal cape. If you do not have that one a fire cape or an obsidian cape will also work.
Chest slot – The bandos chestplate is the best plate chest you can use here. It gives excellent bonuses and strength. The Verac’s brassard is the best of the worst option.
Legs slot – Bandos tassets are another great option to use here. It has defensive bonuses, prayer bonuses, and strength. The other option which is still fine is the Verac’s plate skirt. It has a good defensive bonus and prayer bonus.
Weapon slot – The dragon hunter lance is amazing here. It is a dragon bane weapon, and thus has a bonus against drakes. The best weapon that still works is the abyssal whip, it has decent enough stats to have a good DPS against drakes.
Shield slot – The best thing to use here is the Avernic defender, this will set you back a couple of millions GP. The best of the worst is the anti-dragon shield or the rune defender. I would pick the rune defender.
Arrow slot – The best thing you can have in the arrow slot is the Rada´s blessing 4. Your other option that still is kind of decent is the normal god blessings you get from clues.
Gloves slot – The ferocious gloves are perfect for these monsters. The second option you have are barrow gloves. If you are level 84 slayer and do not have these gloves, get them before you do drakes.
Boots slot – The only real option here is the boots of brimstone, unless you have done the elite Kourend diary, then you can use your primordial boots here.
Ring slot – In the ring slot, I would put the berserker (i) ring as my first pick. Another option that will still be decent will be the brimstone ring.
Special attack weapon – The best spec weapon you can bring at drakes are the dragon claws. If you have a smaller budget but still want to do some very nice damage, I would suggest you bring a dragon dagger p++.
For ranging drakes
Head slot – Use the slayer helm if you have one and you are on a slayer task. The blessed coif is your best option if you are not on a slayer task. The worst of the best is the Archer helm.
Neck slot – The Necklace of anguish is going to be great to use here. It is by far the best amulet to use when ranging. The amulet of glory still holds up somewhat, but the difference is very noticeable.
Cape slot – Ava´s assembler is very useful to have, you will save on ammo and do more damage. The ava’s attractor is still somewhat useful here, better than using nothing at all.
Chest slot – The armadyl chestplate is great, it has defensive bonuses and a prayer bonus. The best of the worst is the dragon d’hide body. It is very cheap but still decent.
Legs slot – The best legs you can get is the Armadyl chain skirt. It is pretty expensive. The black d’hide chaps are the best of the worst in this case. They did have to nerf some time back, so take that into account.
Weapon slot – The best weapon by far is the dragon hunter crossbow when you are killing Drakes. This is a dragon bane weapon, this means it has a bonus against dragons. The best of the worst here is the rune crossbow. You will need to take very decent bolts when you are planning on using this crossbow.
Shield slot – The Dragonfire ward is going to give you some decent-ranging bonuses and will also defend you from Drake´s power. The anti-dragon shield will help you out too, but the defense bonus is almost non-existent.
Arrow slot – Diamond dragon bolts (e) are going to be very useful here. You will need to get those bolts if you want the fastest exp possible. You can not use Diamond dragon bolts (e) when using a rune crossbow, then you will need to use diamond bolts (e).
Gloves slot – The best gloves for the glove slot are barrows gloves. If you do not have those you can use black d’hide vambs to fight them.
Boots slot – If you have done the elite Kourend diary you can use the pegasian boots without a problem. If you have not done that diary, you will need to use boots of brimstone or boots of stone.
Ring slot – The best ring to use here is the archer’s ring (i), if you do not have one you can still use the brimstone ring here for some bonuses.
FAQs about Killing Drakes in OSRS
Question: What do you need to pray against drakes in OSRS
Answer: You are going to need a dragonfire shield or a dragon fire ward to negate the damage. You should also bring an antifire. This way you will take minimum damage. Protection prayers are not that useful here. I would suggest you just heal with either the Saradomin Godsword and the Blowpipe. Use your food to heal too, and then you are going to be fine.Â
Instead of using your prayer as a protection prayer, you should use a damage boosting prayer. I would suggest you use piety if you are going to use melee. Anything less will make your trips even slower.
If you are fighting with range here, the thing I would save up for is the rigour prayer. It is going to make your trip here – and OSRS in general – a lot more interesting.Â
Question: Can you cannon drakes in the Karuulm dungeon
Answer: Yes, you can! However, there is a problem with this. The dungeon is for the most part single combat. This includes the zone where you can find drakes in this dungeon. In my opinion, you should still bring your cannon with you. This is going to help you kill the drakes much faster. Your cannon can hit some very nice 30’s and help kill them off much faster.
You should also bring your cannon while you are using melee, it is still going to be effective. The cannon rolls of your best attack stat, so your ranging bonus does not really work.Â
Question: are drakes seen as dragons in OSRS?
Answer: Yes, they are described as wingless dragons. This means that dragonbane weapons like the dragon hunter lance will work on them. The dragon crossbow is going to be very effective too when you are going to kill them.Â
On average, going with a dragon hunter lance or a dragon hunter crossbow with Diamond dragon bolts (e) is going to kill drakes about 10 to 15$ faster due to the special effect these weapons have on draconic creatures.
Despite them being dragons, you can not swap out the task for another chromatic dragon task. They also do not have a boss monster that you can kill instead of doing the regular drakes in the dungeon.Â
Conclusion: A hard to kill monster that isn’t very fun to grind
Fighting drakes is going to be quite a horrible experience if you are under-leveled and if you don’t have the necessary gear. The best strategy in my opinion is going with a dragon hunter lance or a dragon hunter crossbow with Diamond dragon bolts (e). This is going to make sure you have a fun and interesting trip as opposed to a boring grind with a lot of banking.
The things drakes drop are not that special. The unique drops like the claws and tooth are useful for ironmen and are worth grinding for. If you have a regular account, they will not make you a lot of profit.
Further Read:
Long Bone OSRS Guide: Take Advantage of Them!
Underground Pass OSRS Guide: Be Prepared For the Dungeon
Black Mask OSRS Guide: Become a Slayer
- Regen Bracelet OSRS Guide: A Rapid Healing Essential - September 30, 2021
- Ferocious Gloves OSRS Guide - September 30, 2021
- Numulite OSRS Guide: The Ultimate Guide - September 30, 2021