K’ril Tsutsaroth/Strategies Guide – OSRS

This is a guide on killing K’ril Tsutsaroth. K’ril Tsutsaroth is commonly killed for his drops which include the Zamorakian spear, staff of the dead and the Zamorak hilt. He can be fought with any of the three combat styles and either solo or in a team.

The Zamorakian encampment, including K’ril Tsutsaroth’s chamber, appears shadowy and dark; the farther down players venture, the darker it becomes, becoming near pitch dark when outside the door leading to his chamber and inside itself. This is purely a visual change and has no actual gameplay effects. The shadow effect can be removed by consuming a Saradomin’s light.

Mechanics

Attack Styles

K’ril attacks with both Magic and Melee:

• K’ril swipes at his target with his scimitars for his melee attack, dealing up to 46 damage. The attack also has a chance of inflicting poison, starting at 16 damage. He has a 2/3 chance of performing a melee attack.
• K’ril raises both of his scimitars in the air before slamming them down as his magic attack, emitting a magical shock wave at his target. This attack deals a minimum of 10 damage and a maximum of 30 damage if it hits. He has a 1/3 chance of performing this attack.
• Both attacks are single-target.

Prayer Smash

K’ril has a 1/9 chance of using this attack instead of a melee hit if his target is using Protect from Melee. He will yell YARRRRRRR! when using his prayer smash, which deals 35-49 damage and drains his target’s current prayer points by half. There is no way to avoid this attack.

Bodyguards

K’ril is protected by three demons:

• Balfrug Kreeyath, the magic bodyguard; a black demon that launches fire spells at his target, dealing up to 16 damage.
• Tstanon Karlak, the melee bodyguard; a greater demon that uses melee, clawing his target, dealing up to 15 damage.
• Zakl’n Gritch, the ranged bodyguard; a lesser demon that throws snowballs at his target, dealing up to 21 damage.

The bodyguards will focus on a random player in the room when K’ril is killed, regardless of whoever deals the killing blow.

Strategy

General strategy

K’ril attacks with both melee and magic, but his magic attack can only be used against players in melee range. As such, if using melee, it is recommended for solo players (or in groups, the tank) to wear armour with high magic defence and use Protect from Melee during the kill. While this approach does leave players susceptible to his occasional prayer smash attack, it is still generally more efficient than doing the opposite.

After K’ril has been killed, the minions each focus on a random player. Because of this, players should adjust their prayers accordingly and focus on killing minions which are focusing on the same player. As K’ril and his minions drop ashes, bones to peaches cannot be used, and players should manage their hitpoints adequately. In group encounters, using Guthan’s is recommended; in solo encounters, Blood Barrage is more effective. When casting Blood Barrage, make sure to stack Tstanon on Zakl’n so both demons can be hit by the spell. Bringing water runes (or a Kodai wand) is optional for Ice Barrage, but can freeze Tstanon in place so the player doesn’t have to flick between ranged and melee prayers as frequently.

Because bones to peaches cannot be used, it is worthwhile to bring runes for Boost Potion Share and Stat Restore Pot Share to extend trips when going in a team. If not using Lunar spells, players can use Ward of Arceuus to reduce damage taken, and Death Charge to boost special attack energy. In a team it is helpful (but not required) for one or more players to be on task.

Solo

The best solo strategy against K’ril is using a scorching bow with a lightbearer. While Tumeken’s shadow does give slightly higher DPS with max mage gear, the bow’s special attack can be used to 100% guarantee binding K’ril in place and thus avoiding all damage from him. This allows extremely long trips of up to 20-40 kills.

Players should pray Protect from Missiles to avoid damage from Zakl’n Gritch, and start each kill in the room’s north-west corner (as this is far from where Tstanon Karlak spawns). Bind K’ril as soon as he spawns and again whenever it wears off, moving anti-clockwise around the room to kite him and Tstanon Karlak. With good stats and gear players should never run out of special attack energy. Once K’ril is dead, kill Balfrug Kreeyath and then stack the other two minions to heal from blood barrage.

Tank

For tanks, K’ril Tsutsaroth can be extremely dangerous when using Protect from Melee, as there is a very slim chance to take incredibly high damage should K’ril’s prayer slam and both Balfrug and Zakl’n hit on the same or near ticks. For this reason, the tank should bring typical tank setup as with Graardor.

Another alternative is to focus solely on melee and ranged defence, using Protect from Magic to cover the magic weakness, as K’ril will not be able to use his prayer slam, Balfrug becomes completely harmless while Tstanon and Zakl’n will have trouble hitting the player. This in turn means K’ril’s melee attacks are the only thing to watch out for as a tank.

This defensive setup is particularly favourable using a full set of justiciar armour with echo boots or guardian boots; while the player will miss out on a slayer helm’s bonuses if on a task, justiciar provides the best melee defence, which can be combined with an elysian spirit shield or dragonfire shield for very high defensive bonuses, complementing the set’s passive damage reduction bonus, with the former adding onto it. The glove and amulet slots aren’t as of much concern for a defensive setup, and should be focused on improving the player’s accuracy.

Similar to tanking General Graardor, the player should hit K’ril Tsutsaroth twice for every hit he inflicts on them to avoid as much damage as possible. This means that a player using Melee will be hit every 8 game ticks, while a player using Ranged with an Armadyl crossbow will be hit every 10 game ticks. In a solo scenario, using Melee practically is the only viable option due to the high damage-per-second of the arclight compared to the Armadyl crossbow, however in a team, Ranged can also be used in combination with Armadyl armour for greater magic defence. Generally soloing K’ril Tsutsaroth is only viable on a Slayer task, and the same strategy should be used for soloing Graardor, see here. Finally the tank may use the Lunar spell Vengeance to occasionally reflect high amounts of damage back onto K’ril Tsutsaroth. Further details on each tanking strategy are given in the equipment tabs.

Attacker

At the beginning of the fight, the attackers should all stand in one of the corners near the altar, as this both is the furthest away you can get from K’ril Tsutsaroth’s spawn and allows prayer restoration in the last few seconds before the boss respawns. Attackers should only attack K’ril Tsutsaroth once the tank has hit him, this is especially important when the tank is using ranged as it takes a little more time for a ranged attack to hit K’ril Tsutsaroth compared to a melee attack. As K’ril Tsutsaroth’s attacks only hit the tank, the attackers should pray against whichever minion does the most damage to their respective combat style, and wear armour to tank damage against the other combat styles. This effectively means that attackers take relatively small amounts of damage during kills, especially if their Defence is high. Players using Melee should use Protect from Magic, players using Ranged should use Protect from Missiles. It is important to note that should K’ril Tsutsaroth focus on you, the armour you are wearing is generally quite bad at tanking him and you will take excessive amounts of damage. Should this happen, players using Melee should use Protect from Magic, players using Ranged should use Protect from Melee. All attackers should also bring an antidote++, both for this eventuality and to share with the tank should they run out of antidotes.

Suggested skills

Tank:

•  90+
•  90+
•  85+
•  85+ and  85+ or  85+
•  70+

Attacker:

•  80+
•  80+
•  75+
•  85+ and  85+ or  85+
•  70+

Killcount

The 40 (35/30/25/15) Zamorak followers kill count (reduced kill count requirement with the hard/elite/master/grandmaster combat achievements respectively) is quite easy to achieve although it will take longer than Bandos. There are several tips to get a quick kill count:

• Main room: The place north and east of the rope has Zamorakian followers fighting both Bandosians in the north and Saradominists in the east. There are two imps which can be quickly killed, and other followers such as bloodvelds, goraks, werewolves and icefiends battling spiritual warriors and spiritual mages.
• Zamorak’s Fortress: There are four imp spawns which can be quickly killed for kill count. Switching back and forth between two worlds while killing the imps with ranged attacks is the fastest way to gain kill count.

Equipment

The scorching bow’s special attack is highly recommended as using it on K’ril Tsutsaroth allows players to avoid most damage, extending trip length, along with the bow also providing the highest Ranged DPS.

Slot	Recommended equipment for Ranged – Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i) (task only)	Masori mask (f)	Armadyl helmet	Crystal helm (Bow of faerdhinen)	Void ranger helm
	Necklace of anguish	Amulet of fury	Amulet of glory	N/A	N/A
	Dizana’s quiver	Ava’s assembler	Max cape	Ava’s accumulator	Ranging cape
	Masori body (f)	Armadyl chestplate	Crystal body (Bow of faerdhinen)	Karil’s leathertop	Elite void top
	Masori chaps (f)	Armadyl chainskirt	Crystal legs (Bow of faerdhinen)	Karil’s leatherskirt	Elite void robe
	Scorching bow	Twisted bow	Bow of faerdhinen (Crystal set)	N/A	N/A
	Dragon arrow	Unholy blessing (Quiver or Crystal set)	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Zaryte vambraces	Barrows gloves	Zamorak bracers / Black spiky vambraces	Void knight gloves	N/A
	Pegasian boots	Echo boots	Ranger boots	Blessed boots	N/A
	Lightbearer	Venator ring	Archers ring (i)	Ring of suffering (ri)	N/A
	Scorching bow	Toxic blowpipe	N/A	N/A	N/A

Inventory

• A mage switch and rune pouch with runes to cast Blood barrage, if using
• A toxic blowpipe for special attacks (with no Scorching bow)
• 3-4 Bastion potions or Ranging potions
• 9-10 Super restores or Prayer potions
• 1 Antidote++(4)
• Guthan’s equipment for healing (teams only)
• A Construction cape or house tab for escaping
• Some food: Manta rays, Sharks or Saradomin brews
• A Zamorak item if not equipped
• Ghommal’s hilt 1 or better for teleporting there
• Explorer’s ring 4 (For high alchemy)

The player focuses on Magic defence while using Protect from Melee to defend themselves against K’ril’s powerful melee attacks. This will leave them vulnerable to his prayer smash attack however, so they should keep their health high to avoid being comboed out by the resulting damage from this attack and from minions.

Slot	Recommended equipment for Solo Melee – Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i) (task only) / Torva full helm	Neitiznot faceguard	Serpentine helm	Helm of neitiznot	N/A
	Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of rancour	Amulet of torture	Amulet of fury	Amulet of glory
	Infernal cape	Fire cape	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Masori body (f)	Karil’s leathertop	Crystal body / Blessed body	Elite void top	Black d’hide body
	Masori chaps (f)	Crystal legs	Karil’s leatherskirt / Elite void robe	Blessed chaps	Black d’hide chaps
	Emberlight	Osmumten’s fang	Arclight	Inquisitor’s mace / Ghrazi rapier	Abyssal tentacle
	Avernic defender	Spectral spirit shield / Elysian spirit shield	Dragon defender	Dragonfire shield	N/A
	Rada’s blessing 4	Unholy blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Barrows gloves	Ferocious gloves	Rune gloves	Regen bracelet	N/A
	Primordial boots	Echo boots	Guardian boots /Dragon boots	N/A	N/A
	Lightbearer	Bellator ring	Ultor ring / Ring of suffering (ri)	Berserker ring (i)	Brimstone ring
	Saradomin godsword	Voidwaker	Dragon claws	Ancient godsword	Elder maul / Emberlight / Arclight

Inventory

• 2-3 Super combat potions
• 7-8 Super restores or Sanfew serums
• 1 Antidote++ (If using Super Restores and not using a Serpentine helm)
• 14 Anglerfish
• Rune pouch with runes to cast Blood Barrage for healing
• A Construction cape or house tab for escaping
• A saturated or imbued heart to boost the player’s Magic level to increase their Magic defence (Optional)
• Explorer’s ring 4 (For high alch if not bringing runes)

By focusing on melee defence, players can use Protect from Magic to protect themselves from K’ril’s magical attacks and his prayer smash. However, his melee attacks are significantly more accurate compared to his magic attack and have a higher max hit. K’ril’s melee attack is slash-based, so high slash defence is recommended. Because of this it is not recommended to use this setup without Justiciar armour. The given inventory setup assumes a team of 3 players

Slot	Recommended equipment for Melee Tank – Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i) (task only) / Torva full helm	Justiciar faceguard (If using full set)	Serpentine helm	Neitiznot faceguard	Guthan’s helm	N/A
	Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of rancour	Amulet of torture	Amulet of fury	Amulet of glory	N/A
	Infernal cape	Fire cape	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Justiciar chestguard	Guthan’s platebody	Torva platebody	Bandos chestplate	N/A	N/A
	Justiciar legguards	Verac’s plateskirt	Torva platelegs	Bandos tassets	N/A	N/A
	Emberlight	Arclight	Zamorakian hasta	Ghrazi rapier	Scythe of vitur	Abyssal tentacle
	Elysian spirit shield	Dragonfire shield	Spectral spirit shield	Crystal shield	Avernic defender	N/A
	Unholy blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Barrows gloves	Ferocious gloves	Rune gloves	Regen bracelet	N/A	N/A
	Echo boots	Guardian boots	Primordial boots	Dragon boots	Rune boots	N/A
	Ring of suffering (ri)	Bellator ring	Ultor ring	Berserker ring (i)	Brimstone ring	N/A
	Voidwaker	Saradomin godsword	Dragon claws	Emberlight	Arclight	N/A

Inventory

• Special attack weapon (if not Arclight)
• 3-4 Super combat potions
• 7-8 Super restores or Sanfew serums
• 1 Antidote++
• 4-5 Saradomin brews
• Rune pouch with runes to cast Vengeance or Potion share
• Guthan’s equipment for healing
• A Construction cape or house tab for escaping
• Some food: Manta rays, Sharks or Saradomin brews
• Explorer’s ring 4 (For high alch if not bringing runes)

As a melee attacker, you should maximise your damage per second while keeping your ranged and melee defences high. Fortunately melee gear has high ranged and melee defences, hence you can simply use your max DPS gear. It might be worthwhile to bring an extra antidote++ for the tank should they run out, as they have quite limited inventory space.

Slot	Recommended equipment for Melee – Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i) (task only) / Torva full helm	Neitiznot faceguard	Serpentine helm	Helm of neitiznot	N/A
	Amulet of rancour	Amulet of torture	Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of fury	Amulet of glory
	Infernal cape	Fire cape	Max cape or Hitpoints cape	Cape of Accomplishment (t)	N/A
	Torva platebody	Bandos chestplate Fighter torso	Guthan’s platebody	Karil’s leathertop	Blessed body
	Torva platelegs	Bandos tassets	Verac’s plateskirt Guthan’s chainskirt	Obsidian platelegs	N/A
	Emberlight	Arclight	Osmumten’s fang	Ghrazi rapier	Abyssal tentacle
	Avernic defender	Dragon defender	Rune defender	Dragonfire shield	Elysian spirit shield
	Unholy blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious gloves	Barrows gloves	Rune gloves	Regen bracelet	N/A
	Primordial boots	Dragon boots	Guardian boots	Rune boots	N/A
	Bellator ring	Ultor ring	Berserker ring (i)	Brimstone ring	N/A
	Voidwaker	Dragon claws	Elder maul	Emberlight / Arclight	Bandos godsword

Inventory

• Special attack weapon (if not Arclight)
• 4-5 Super combat potions
• 9-10 Super restores or Prayer potions
• Rune pouch with runes to cast Potion share
• 1 Antidote++(4)
• Guthan’s equipment for healing
• A Construction cape or house tab for escaping
• Some food: Manta rays, Sharks or Saradomin brews
• Explorer’s ring 4 (For high alch if not bringing runes)

Tumeken’s shadow provides the highest DPS against K’ril. Mage is not recommended with any weapon weaker than a Tumeken’s shadow or Purging staff. Using the 5:0 method to avoid all damage from K’ril is highly recommended due to magic armour’s low defences, while praying Protect from Range to protect against the range minion. Blood Barrage is used to heal off the melee and range minions in between kills — a Sanguinesti staff can work as well.

Slot	Recommended equipment for Magic – Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i) (task only)	Ancestral hat	Virtus mask	N/A
	Occult necklace	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Imbued zamorak cape	Max cape	N/A	N/A
	Ancestral robe top	Virtus robe top	Ahrim’s robetop	Bloodbark body
	Ancestral robe bottom	Virtus robe bottom	Ahrim’s robeskirt	Bloodbark legs
	Tumeken’s shadow	Purging staff	N/A	N/A
	Elidinis’ ward (f)	Arcane spirit shield	Elidinis’ ward / Ancient wyvern shield / Malediction ward / Mage’s book	N/A
	Rada’s blessing 4	Unholy blessing	N/A	N/A
	Tormented bracelet	Barrows gloves	N/A	N/A
	Eternal boots	Infinity boots / Aranea boots	Bloodbark boots	N/A
	Magus ring	Ring of suffering (ri) / Seers ring (i)	N/A	N/A
	Eldritch nightmare staff	N/A	N/A	N/A

Inventory

• Staff to autocast Ancient magicks against the minions like Kodai wand or Blood ancient sceptre
• Saturated heart to boost magic level
• Sanfew serums, or Super restores and Antidote++
• Stamina potions
• Anglerfish or other high healing food
• Rune pouch with runes to cast Blood Barrage for healing
• A Construction cape or house tab for escaping
• Explorer’s ring 4 (For high alch and energy recharges)