The Gryphons
The Great Conch is the ancestral homeland of the Tortugan race, however, it has been surrounded and inhabited by the Gryphons for centuries. To a Gryphon, Tortugans are no more than their next meal. These terrifying beasts regularly scout the skies and shores for isolated targets, often baby Tortugans who don’t know how to protect themselves. While it’s rare for humans to be nearby, they won’t taste any different to a hungry Gryphon!
You will meet these fantastical apex predators through the Tortugan Questline. They attack with Melee and are particularly weak to Magic (especially air spells), but Melee will also be a viable way to take them down. They will have a special mechanic where, if a player’s total weight is too low, the Gryphon will knock them back, dealing unavoidable damage. They have a few more tricks up their claws as well, and you’ll need to think carefully about how to avoid their attacks. We won’t spoil the details just yet… but let’s just say the Tortugans might have a trick or two worth borrowing.
We’re looking to make them their very own unlockable Slayer task, and yes, there’s a superior version! This tougher version won’t go down easily! Gryphons and their superior variants can be found in single and multi-combat areas and are also cannonable!
We appreciate that players might be concerned about Sailing’s impact on the existing Slayer meta. We’ve carefully balanced all of the new Slayer tasks included within this blog to ensure that the new additions to Slayer feel new and exciting, but they won’t shake up the current status quo too much. In the survey linked below, we’ll be asking the community how you feel about these tasks. Please rest assured, we’re willing to make adjustments based on community concerns. You can let us know how you feel about these tasks (weightings & quantities) in the survey linked at the bottom of the blog. Be sure to tell us if you would like us to make adjustments before we poll this content!
| Creature | Slayer Unlock Requirements | Quantities | Weightings | Slayer Point Unlock |
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| Gryphons |
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Unique Drops
Gryphon Feathers
All gryphon variants will drop Gryphon Feathers. They’re tradeable items specifically used to charge a new unique item, the Horn of Plenty.
Horn of Plenty
The Horn of Plenty is a new tradeable Hunter item, equipped in the off-hand slot and requiring level 50 Hunter. When equipped – and charged with Gryphon Feathers – it provides an invisible +4 boost to your Hunter level. While the Horn is equipped, it consumes a charge every 1/25 Hunter catches. Additionally, you can toggle it on to give a 1/10 chance to double a Hunter catch. If you successfully double a Hunter catch, it will consume an additional Gryphon Feather, but this extra catch does not grant additional XP.
You can only obtain the Horn of Plenty as a drop from regular Gryphons or their superior versions.
Dev Comment: With the Horn of Plenty, we wanted to explore using the off-hand slot for a meaningful skilling purpose, since it’s pretty under-utilised for skilling in particular. Skilling rewards from PvM are also relatively rare, and we felt it was a great opportunity to bridge that gap. Traditionally, PvM has often acted as a way to bypass skilling by pumping large amounts of resources into the game. This time, we want to flip that idea on its head by using a PvM encounter to create an item that directly enhances a skill. By doing so, we hope to make Gryphons feel like a more natural addition to the game. Hunter in particular can sometimes feel like it has long stretches where new levels don’t unlock much value. The invisible Hunter boost improves your success rate, making those activities feel a bit more rewarding. Meanwhile, the chance to double your catches provides a nice extra benefit, reinforcing our goal of getting PvM to support skilling content.
