Spiritual Mage {Saradomin} - Access and Combat Recommendations

Access Directions

Teleport to Trollheim, go down the rocks and run to the north, putting on Protection from Ranged before getting near the thrower trolls. Take the crevice (60 Agility) or move the boulder (60 Strength) to get to the ice area. Put on Protection from Melee and walk northeast to the entrance. A rope is needed on your first visit.

Once you enter the dungeon, head to the southeast corner, where you'll find several of the spiritual mages. You can also fight them in Saradomin's Encampment.

Equipment

Prayer boosting gear strongly recommended -- these guys hit frequently and hard, and even high magic defence does not help much. Bring your holy wrench.

You need one piece of Saradomin gear to prevent all the Saradomin monsters from attacking. One item of Zamorak gear also recommended since they are in the area as well. Until recently I used a Saradomin mitre and a Zamorak cloak as my "god items". However, the release of the new Soul Wars cape, with its +12 Prayer bonus, makes it the ideal item for the cape/cloak slot. I subsequently discovered that regular monk's robes count as Saradomin items, so I was able to swap the Saradomin mitre for a Zamorak mitre, and I think that is now the ideal setup. If you are on a Slayer assignment, use a different piece of Zamorak gear with your Slayer helmet.

Do not use a ring of wealth here -- it won't help you get dragon boots. (I used one before how they work was well understood.)

Supplies

Prayer potions required. I also recommend adding super sets, extreme sets and/or Zamorak brews to speed up combat. Remember that Zammy brews also restore prayer.

Familiar

The God Wars Dungeon is multicombat so you can use a combat familiar to aid you, but be sure it doesn't have a multiple-target attack. I usually don't bother, because these die fast and I don't want to have to constantly order my familiar into combat.

Spiritual mages mostly drop runes and noted pure essence, so a beast of burden is of limited use. However, they do drop five unnoted antipoisons at a time, and those are actually reasonably valuable now, so that's an option. Alternately, just use a magpie for its foraged gems and rings.

Combat Notes

Spiritual mages have low defence and are quite easy to kill. Just make sure to watch your prayer.

When there's a Zamorak monster around, the mages are much more interested in attacking them than you, so you can sometimes get a few licks in with prayer off. Watch out, though, as they can turn on you unexpectedly.

If you accidentally attack the wrong monster, be sure to switch prayers!

Sometimes an aviansie will get too close and start attacking. Just move east and fight mages there for a while until it leaves.

Drop Notes

Spiritual mages (of all types) are best known for being the source of dragon boots, which they actually drop fairly routinely -- one set of boots per average is common, and getting multiples in a single Slayer assignment is not rare.

Most of their remaining drops consist of small amounts of runes, along with noted pure essence. Since these all stack, you might as well pick them up!