Kurask - Access and Combat Recommendations

Access Directions

For the primary location, use a ring of slaying to get quickly to the cave; if you can't make them yet, access the fairy rings and dial in code "A J R"; the cave entrance is just to the east.

Walk west past the cave crawlers; if you have level 81 Agility, use the spiked blade jump shortcut to take you to the pyrefiend room, then walk west to the basilisks room, use the crevice shortcut to the turoths, and continue west to the kurasks.

If you have level 62 Agility (or can get to that with a potion or pie), then walk around through the rockslugs and cockatrices, then take the crevice shortcut to the turoths and continue to the kurasks.

If you can't get to level 62 Agility, you must walk all the way through the dungeon, past the cave crawlers, rockslugs, cockatrices, pyrefiends, basilisks, jellies and turoths. And yes, it takes a long time. :) You might want to bring a super energy potion.

You can also fight these monsters in the Desert Slayer Dungeon in Pollnivneach. To access them there you must complete the Smoking Kills quest and wear masked earmuffs or a Slayer helmet.

Get to Pollnivneach using a slayer ring or whatever other method you prefer. Run south from Sumona and go down the well, then run north to the Mighty Banshee area. Run north through the banshees, then northwest, and pass through the magic barrier there. Go down the stairs and north through another barrier. The first time you visit you will have to kill the Kurask Overlord, a nasty level 240 kurask boss. You need the same gear to fight this monster as other kurasks but it is much tougher, and it summons kurasks to attack you. Once dead, you can access the kurasks in this spot at will.

Equipment

This is one of two special Slayer monsters that must be killed using special equipment (the others being the various turoths.)

For meleeing, you must use a leaf-bladed spear or leaf-bladed sword. The spear can be purchased from any Slayer master, while the sword is a rare drop from turoths and kurasks, or can be bought from players. The sword is far superior to the spear, being both faster and more accurate -- it increases kill speed by 25% or more. And of course, you can use it with a shield or defender, even further enhancing your combat prowess.

If you have completed the Ardougne Achievement Diary, wear the Ardougne Cloak 3 -- it gives a nice +6 stab attack bonus, and every bit helps with these leaf-bladed weapons.

Rangers must use either broad arrows with a standard bow, or broad-tipped bolts with a crossbow. You can buy the arrows at a Slayer master, but the bolts can only be either made using the Fletching skill or bought from players. You must buy the ability to make broad-tipped bolts from a Slayer master by trading in 300 Slayer points. They increase kill speed by a decent amount compared to the arrows (around 15%).

Mages must use the Magic Dart spell with a Slayer staff; the staff can be purchased from any Slayer master.

For meleeing, good armor is recommended: I used Guthans, but Torags or a mix of Barrows armor will work well. In the Desert Slayer Dungeon, prayer gear is pretty much mandatory, since it is multicombat and they are aggressive.

Rangers and mages can use standard gear as there are safe spots.

Supplies

Super sets are advised for meleeing, and you'll also need food for healing. If you plan to stay for a long time, then a single inventory of food may not be sufficient. You'll need to supplement with a healing familiar, Saradomin brews, Bones to Peaches runes/tablets, or a beast of burden familiar carrying extra food.

Bring a few sets of alching runes.

If meleeing without prayer, bring a knife. You can use it to eat the unnoted pineapples these drop. They even drop plain pizzas so you could make pineapple pizzas -- which heal 22 -- right in the dungeon!

Familiar

A healing familiar is an obvious choice here, but I prefer a beast of burden. By loading it with lots of extra cheap food, I am able to avoid using expensive food, while still keeping plenty of inventory slots for drops. This is actually fairly important for kurasks, because their drops aren't that great to begin with, so you don't want to waste them.

Combat Notes

First you have to decide where you want to fight. The Desert Slayer Dungeon spot is arguably easier to get to than the one in the Fremennik area (if you can make slayer rings). It's also multicombat, though. On the plus side, this means you can use a combat familiar; on the other hand, it also means you get swarmed by high level monsters, so using Protection from Melee is pretty much mandatory. In most cases, I think the conventional Slayer Dungeon location is better unless you want to use a combat familiar. It's definitely easier for ranging or maging.

Meleeing these monsters is quite straightforward; just whack them until dead. As mentioned above, the leaf-bladed sword is far better than the spear, if you are able to buy one or are lucky enough to get one as a drop.

Ranging and maging are slower than meleeing -- especially with the sword -- but are a good option for those who like to balance their combat stats while doing Slayer. The bolts are faster than the arrows.

Drop Notes

Given their level and the need to use special equipment, kurasks have rather poor drops. (And that's after an improvement -- prior to 2008, they were even worse.) They drop a wide range of items, including high level herb seeds, herbs, nature runes, and good alchables like rune longswords and adamant platebodies. Unfortunately, they don't provide anything in decent amounts, so at the end of a trip you just don't have a lot. Even their lesser cousins, the turoths, are better...