General Graardor/Strategies

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This is a guide to killing General Graardor with Melee and Ranged. It will take you through the basics of attacking and tanking, along with providing a few examples of what equipment to bring.

Note that Melee is the most straightforward combat style to use since it suffers no penalties from tank armour. Ranged setups can also deal significant damage, but are less feasible for tanks.

Requirements

Completion of Death Plateau and start of Troll Stronghold to the point where you defeat Dad.
One rope is required to access the dungeon for the first time.
Level 70 Strength is required to enter Bandos' Stronghold (cannot be boosted).
At least 43 Prayer for access to the protection prayers.
A hammer

Solo strategy

General Graardor should never be underestimated in a solo scenario. On top of trading blows with General Graardor, a solo player will also be under constant attack by his bodyguards, who normally switch targets when there is more than one player in the room. As such, a successful solo strategy involves withstanding a high amount of damage while also maintaining a good offence. Getting multiple solo kills in one trip is difficult without a very high Combat level.

Along with using Protect from Melee, solo players need a high level of Ranged Defence in their armour setup. Players struggling to withstand the magic minion's attacks are advised to take a Karil's leathertop or blessed body to resist them; ultimately whether using a ranged top or a platebody in a solo scenario is more worthwhile depends on the player's stats and experience.

Using Saradomin brews in this instance can be counterproductive, as the process of restoring one's stats will give the boss more time to damage the player. Instead, only a small amount should be brought to solo trips for the purpose of healing between kills.

Team strategy

A team of at least three people including a tank (i.e. someone with high Defence and good armour to take Graardor's blows) is advisable. All players should use the Protect from Missiles prayer, except for the tank, who should use the Protect from Melee prayer. Team members can exchange supplies by either dropping them or trading whenever the room is cleared.

Having one player bring runes to cast High Level Alchemy on the many rune items General Graardor drops can help to preserve inventory space.

Attacker

Fighting General Graardor — A pair of players fighting General Graardor and his bodyguards.

Only ever attack General Graardor once the tank has attacked; otherwise, Graardor will focus on you. Extra care should be taken by players using Ranged, as it is easier to attack the boss first by accident.

Once Graardor is dead, kill the minions, beginning with Sergeant Steelwill. Stand against the western wall while waiting for General Graardor to respawn, as this gives the tank more time to draw his attention.

Ideally, melee attackers should use Karil's leathertop, a black dragonhide body, or Void Knight equipment instead of regular melee armour in order to mitigate the magic minion's attacks.

Tank

As a tank, you are required to draw General Graardor's attention before he can reach any other players in the room. To do this, as soon as he spawns, activate Protect from Melee and engage with haste. Once Graardor is dead, kill the minions, beginning with Sergeant Steelwill. Stand in the centre of the room while waiting for General Graardor to respawn, and be ready to draw his attention again.

Tips

Goblins are an easy target for Bandos killcount.
Walking under Graardor can buy a tank some time to eat food without taking unnecessary damage. It can be also done at certain intervals to make Graardor "miss" an attack.
Experienced players can "tick eat"; tick eating is healing on a critical level of health right before taking damage, essentially surviving a hit that would have normally killed the player.
Bones to Peaches can help extend trips; each kill rotation yields 32 Hitpoints worth of bones.
The minions will drop chili potatoes and sharks. If there is an excess of food, continually pick up and drop food again to prevent it from disappearing.
Guthan's equipment may be used to heal on the melee and ranged minions if desired. Cooperate with your team to maximise healing opportunities. Bring less brews and more restores if you choose this method of healing. Guthan's armour also doubles as good primary equipment for tanks.

Example setups

Notes:

The Dragon warhammer's special will reduce Graardor's Defence by a greater amount than the Bandos godsword's special; however, the latter is more accurate.
If you are assigned General Graardor as your slayer task, use your Slayer helmet variant of choice so as to take advantage of its accuracy and damage boost.
An Amulet of fury is generally ideal for tank setups as it emphasises defensive and prayer bonuses.
When bringing a dragon warhammer, you do not need a hammer to bang the door.