Access Directions | Teleport to Edgeville and walk south to Barbarian Village. Go down the hole in the center of town to enter the first level of the stronghold, then use the portal in the southeast corner of the entry room to bypass the maze, taking you to the center of the first level. Climb down the ladder there to the second level. Take the shortcut portal there, then go down to the third level. Repeat again, going through the third level shortcut to the center of that level. Go down again to the fourth floor. Go through the double doors to the northeast, then another pair of double doors northwest of there.
Note that there are other levels of ankous in other rooms, but they are with other aggressive monsters; this is the only spot with just ankous (which is why it is often crowded.) |
Equipment | These are mid-level monsters with a straight melee attack. Very high-level players are fine with standard melee gear (rune/granite/dragon) where those slightly lower may wish to use Barrows. These monsters are considered undead, so be sure to wear your Salve amulet if meleeing.
Ankous can be safe spotted using obstacles in the room, but not reliably until they become unaggressive. So you can wear standard magic or ranging gear if you wish, but expect to take some damage. |
Supplies | Bring with super sets and an amount of food based on your level; at very high levels not much food is needed, and they also drop food items.
Mid-level players will need a full load of good food, and supplemental healing as well. These monsters are well suited to healing with Bones to Peaches, because they drop bones and their other drops mostly stack, so there's lots of inventory space to collect the bones.
Alching runes are not necessary here. |
Familiar | A bunyip is a nearly ideal choice here -- ankous do hit pretty hard, so the healing is useful, and most of their drops are stackable so you don't really need a beast of burden. |
Combat Notes | Because of their superb drops (see below), ankous have become quite popular monsters for training and people looking to make money. At one point they were so crowded that I no longer considered them even worth bothering with, but they have gotten a little better of late. If you do find them crowded, try to pick quieter times, world hop and hope you get lucky, or try your luck with the other ankous where you must also deal with ghosts or skeletons. |
Drop Notes | I can remember when ankous were one of the best kept secrets of RuneScape; few people would bother going down into the depths of the Stronghold of Security, not realizing how good these monsters are. They have truly tremendous drops given how easy they are to get to and kill. A high level player meleeing ankous can expect moderate to large numbers of all of the following: death runes, blood runes, noted pure essence, adamant arrows and gold charms. In addition, you will get a few law runes, the occasional seed or herb, and even a couple of battlestaves for use in the Crafting skill. |
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