Craven Reviews: Slayer & Summoning For Lower Levels
Table Of Contents:
i – Slayer
• Rewards
• What to wear
• What to eat
• What to drink
• Task Breakdown
ii – Summoning
• Charm Drops from Slayer
Subsection i - Slayer
Preface: This review aims to go in depth into the ways in which lower levels can train their Slayer and summoning at the same time with increased efficiency. This review will assume medium stats, of around 70 attack and Strength, and that the Quest Smoking Kills has been completed. I have tested a number of different training methods, and came to the conclusion that Slayer is the best way to train, not just for those high level people. It was right for me, and I’ll bet that it will be right for you too
The basis of this guide will not go deep into things such as Flesh Crawlers, SoS Spiders, DT Skeletons and Yaks, instead it will focus mainly on gaining xp from Slayer. I believe any of the ‘fast methods’ are a waste of time and give hollow xp. If you want fast xp and don’t care about being efficient, stick to the methods outlined above, though I wouldn’t recommend these to anyone. For this guide, I will be referring to Sumona, who is the Slayer master unlocked once the Quest Smoking Kills has been completed. To use Sumona you must have level 35 Slayer, and at least 85 combat. I would recommend that you have completed Smoking kills before doing any slayer, as the points you receive after the quest are quite valuable, especially when working towards unlocking the Slayer helm, a vital tool for any serious slayer. Points can be used to unlock certain rewards, which will make your time slaying a lot more efficient. Each master gives a set amount of points per task
Choosing your kit: Before you start your slayer, you should buy some decent armor. For lower levels, i would recommend the following: Guthans Body (180k), Verac's Plateskirt (500k), Slayer Mask (450k), whip (1500k), Obsidian Shield (300k), Dragon Boots (330k), and optional: Rune Defender and Fighter Torso. Initially this sounds like a lot, but most of you would already own most of this gear. Of course, you can upgrade and downgrade as you please, but as a start I would reccomend having at least this gear.
- ○ Guthan's body defends just as well as Dharok's and Torag's, at a fraction of the cost. It's a common myth that Torag's provide the best defence, this is just plain wrong, as they all offer the same protection for the body slot.
○The Verac's Plateskirt is probably the most useful piece of armor for slayer, it's defence is equal to Torag's and Dharok's legs, and superior to Guthan's skirt, though it has an added Prayer Bonus. It lacks the range bonus of the other legs, but the difference is small, and there aren't many tasks that will require range defence.
○A Slayer Mask is a must for any serious slayer, it's very important for the added boost to slayer whilst on task. If you slay without one of these you are just wasting time. The mask adds 15% Attack and 15% Strength on tasks, which works out to a lot. For example, you have an attack strength level of 80, whilst using the mask on a task, effectively your Strength and Attack levels are 92, a nice boost indeed! You need level 10 Defence, 20 Strength and 40 Combat to wear the Slayer Mask.
○Abyssal Whip; The whip is, in my opinion, the best weapon in the game. Its suitable for almost any task. It’s one handed, which means it can be used with any shield or defender, making it the best weapon for tasks like Dragons, Basilisks and Skeletal Wyverns, where the shield slot is essential to have open! The whip Requires level 70 attack to weild.
○The Obsidian Shield is another useful item, it defends well and provides a strength bonus, which is great for hitting higher, while still getting the defence you need. The only other shield I would recommend that exceeds the Obsidian Shield in stats is the DragonFire Sheild, or DFS, which offers the best defensive stats in the game, whilst giving a strength bonus. The only downside is that it costs in excess of 20million coins, whilst the Obsidian Shield costs only 300k coins.
○ Dragon Boots are the best boots for melee. Bandos boots may compare, but are over 5x more expensive and lack the Strength boost of the Dragon Boots. The choice is really up to you, but the Dragon Boots are better in the long run.
○The defender and torso are optional for tasks such as cave crawlers, where high defence isn't needed. You can use these items to hit higher and more accurately, increasing task speed.
A Note on barrows: I would not reccomend Dragon items to be used for slayer at any time. You will only be using two barrows pieces, the body and legs. These cost 90k and 80k to repair respectively, this equates to a maximum of only 11k per hour of cost. You can get barrows repaired much cheaper with an in-house armor repair stand, up to 49.5% Cheaper if you are level 99 Smithing, coming to 5665gp per hour. Of course, not many lower level are 99 Smithing!, but with a modest smithing level of 50, 25% can be saved off barrows repairs costs, meaning only 8250gp per hour! Well worth it for the huge increase in defense bonuses compared to any other armor. Here is a picture example of a beginner slayer set, which I would recommend as a minimum.
Culinary Delights: For food, I would recommend using monkfish, these are cheap, easy to buy and heal 16 hitpoints, I believe these are the perfect balance when it comes to healing. They come in at around 20gp per hp healed, which is quite cheap. Another food option would be pineapple pizzas, which cost 600gp each, but heal 22hp in two bites. These are great for tasks where you need that bit extra food, such as fire giants. The extra 6 healing per inventory space means around 150hp extra healed per full inventory, making your two trip tasks become one! Pineapple pizzas come in at around 27gp per hp healed, a bit more expensive than Monkfish, but well worth it in many cases. For tasks where not much food is needed, i would reccomend taking lobsters, these heal 12hitpoints and only cost around 220gp, meaning you spend around 18gp per hp healed. A Small amount cheaper than monkfish. Overall, if you want to pick one food, go with Monkfish. They are easy to buy in large amounts and you don’t really need more healing that what they offer.
Potions: There are a number of different situations where different potion sets would apply, normally I would recommend using Super Potion sets, consisting of Super Attack, Super Strength and Super Defence potions. These greatly increase your Xp per hour when doing slayer, and these coupled with the Slayer Mask/Helmet provide some fairly high Xp rates. If you are a bit tight on money, I would recommend using regular potion sets, or even a Super Attack, Strength and Super Defence potion. As the Super Attack and Super Defence sell for next to nothing. For tasks where you constantly pray, I would recommend Zamorak Brews. Not many people know about these, but they are actually very handy. They increase your attack and strength in one sip, give you prayer points, but can damage you 10-11 and take away some defence points, Of course, you won’t need defence and hp on tasks where you are praying, so these are perfect! Examples of tasks to use these on would be black demons and Abbarent Spectres, where you are using constant prayer.
Not only do I believe Slayer is the best way to train melee skills, I believe it is the best way to train your Summoning. This is efficiency at its best. Where else can you train at least four skills at once? Each Slayer Task, you are training at least One Combat Stat, your Hp, Slayer and Summoning (when collecting Charms), you can also combine this with many other skills that you may come across when slaying, such as Prayer (burying bones), Herblore (Cleaning Herbs and Making potions), etc, etc. So how does charm collecting through Slayer stack up against other methods? Quite well i'd say!
Subsection ii - Summoning
Summoning comes hand in hand with training Slayer. Each task you do will most likely have monsters that drop Charms. Even if you don’t plan to train summoning, pick up your charms. They may be very useful in the future. One of the most important levels to train to when for Slayer is level 68 Summoning, to unlock the Bunyip. The Bunyip is the ultimate Slayer friend, it heals 8hp a minute and no effort is required once Summoned. It simply follows you around healing you. The Bunyip lasts for 44 Minutes, meaning it heals you 352Hp. That equates to carrying 22 Monkfish with you per task, but not having to eat them. Basically, a Bunyip cuts out the need for food on most tasks. Of course, you may want to bring a few sharks in case of emergency : - )
So, how does charm collecting sum up? Well.. Waterfeidns drop aroud 76% Crimson charms.. This is what i have come to, from data collected by me, lord klostki and blizaga.
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3254/datarg1.png
As you can see, Slayer sums up pretty well! With the ability to train 4 combat stats at once
~Craven Range
