Access Directions | Ever wondered why red dragonhides cost more than black dragonhides? It's all about location, location, location. :) Red dragons are only found in two rather inconvenient places: deep in Brimhaven Dungeon, and deep in the Wilderness -- and both spots have major disadvantages. The Wilderness spot takes a while to get to, is multicombat (dangerous!) and of course there are revenants around. Brimhaven is a bit easier to get to, but there are wild dogs in the area that will interfere with combat if your level is below 127. I still think Brimhaven is better, though (but I hate going into the Wild.)
Bank in Ardougne, then pay for the boat ride to Brimhaven, and run south to the dungeon and pay Saniboch his 875 gp fee to enter. An alternative to coming from Ardougne is to teleport home if your house is in Brimhaven, then just exit the portal.
Once in the dungeon head west, chop the vines, and take the second passage heading north (the first is blocked by more vines.)
Go to the end of this passage, and hop the stones across the lava (level 12 Agility). Run south and you'll find passages leading southeast and south; take the south one, which brings you to a chamber with fire giants. Run due east to get to a small anteroom with a log balance; when you cross that, you'll be in a large room that contains red dragons, baby red dragons and of course, wild dogs.
For ranging, a good spot is in the alcove just to the southeast of the entrance. For meleeing, you're better off heading northeast, above the rockslide in the center of the room, as there are more dragons closer together there.
I have no experience fighting red dragons in the Wilderness, but it seems that the only reasonably quick way of getting to them is to use the lever in Ardougne, run southeast, then go through the gate and continue south. |
Equipment | These can be effectively meleed or ranged from safe spots; maging is not recommended. If meleeing, you need either an anti-dragon shield or dragonfire shield, or you must use Protection from Magic to avoid high firebreath damage.
For basic meleeing, you need either an anti-dragon shield or dragonfire shield, or you must use Protection from Magic to avoid high firebreath damage. High level players who are able to make super antifire potions (level 85 Herblore required) can forego the shield, which allows the use of two-handed weapons. This significantly speeds up combat, allowing more kills (and thus more drops) per hour. Dharoks is quite effective here, allowing an average of over one kill per minute. You need to use prayer for this, however, unless you really like living on the edge.
For more conventional meleeing, use either high defence Barrows gear, healing with food, or use prayer gear with prayer potions; I do the former but my melee stats are all 99. A dragonfire shield is preferred for meleeing due to its higher defence and its +7 strength bonus.
For ranging you can use standard ranging gear and trap the red dragons along walls to avoid damage, but you'll need to deal with the wild dogs until they become unaggressive (unless over level 126). If you are conservative, wear an anti-dragon shield just in case you get blasted by a dragon when picking up drops. Otherwise, use an unholy book as your off-hand item. |
Supplies | Red dragons are now Slayer monsters, but most people fight them for their hides. You will want to plan your trip length (and thus supplies) around how many kills you can get per trip. Normally, this will be a function of both your combat levels and how good a beast of burden familiar you are able to summon. You'll need to experiment to find the right quantities of potions and/or food to bring with. If fighting with prayer, make sure you bring enough prayer potions for the length of your trip. Extreme or super sets are always recommended. And of course, don't forget the antifire or super antifire potions! Note that these dragons sometimes drop three chocolate cakes -- 450 LP of healing that can come in handy.
Those who are high enough level to summon a pack yak can bring with Winter Storage scrolls to remotely bank bones and hides, allowing them to stay for an extended period of time.
For ranging, you still need the antifire potions, but should use ranging potions instead of the super sets. Bring food to heal damage from wild dogs or accidental dragon hits.
To get to the dragons in Brimhaven from Ardougne, you need 905 gold coins for the boat and entry fee to the dungeon, and a cheap axe to cut the vines within it.
Bring a small number of alching rune sets per trip -- these dragons don't often drop alchables. |
Familiar | Use the highest capacity beast of burden you can summon, even the expensive war tortoise. |
Combat Notes | As mentioned above, the biggest hassles with fighting red dragons are getting to them, and then avoiding either the wild dogs or the revenants, depending on where you are fighting. I only fight these in Brimhaven so I can't provide much guidance for the Wilderness location.
Having a combat level of 127 or higher means you are home-free in Brimhaven as the dogs won't bother you. In that case, simply fight as you would any other monster. If you aren't using prayer, though, watch your health as these can hit up to 140. Also be sure to take another antifire potion every six minutes.
If you are below level 127, you'll just have to periodically stop and kill a wild dog in between dragons. Pick a spot where only one dog spawn will normally bother you, and try not to move around too much. After about 10 minutes the monsters lose aggressiveness and then the dogs will stop bugging you (at least until you get kidnapped by a stupid random.)
A nice aspect of the red dragons is that, unlike the other three colors, they are never crowded (again, because of their location). |
Drop Notes | Red dragons obviously drop dragon bones and red dragonhide on each kill. Beyond that, though, their other drops are surprisingly disappointing. In fact, you often get more valuable secondary drops from an hour of killing green or blue dragons than you do red ones. |
|
