Access Directions | The original location for iron dragons is deep in the Brimhaven Dungeon. Additional spawns have recently been added as well, in Kuradal's Dungeon and around the perimeter of the Ghorrock Fortress (which you encounter during The Temple at Senntisten.)
If you have iron dragons for a Slayer assignment, then Kuradal's Dungeon is a no-brainer: they are easy to get to there, can be fought without interference from other monsters, and you can use a ferocious ring for a +4 damage boost on each hit. Otherwise, I recommend Brimhaven. Ghorrock is not a bad place to fight these, but getting there can be a hassle and is also dangerous, as we'll discuss shortly. Brimhaven is also a bit of a pain to access, but it's not that bad, and there is at least one spot where you can fight iron dragons without steels getting in the way.
Follow these steps to fight iron dragons in Brimhaven. 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 all the way to the southeast and chop vines to enter an "O-shaped" room. Go to the east and chop the vines again and you'll enter the black demon area. The iron and steel dragons are in the large chamber just south of here, so sip your antifire potion and stat boosting potions and put on Protection from Melee before proceeding through. Once you are ready, run all the way to the far southwest corner of the dungeon. There are three iron dragon spawns you can fight there without being attacked by a steel dragon.
If you want to go to Ghorrock, the best way to get to the fortress is to use a lava titan familiar to teleport to the lava maze and then run northwest to the fortress. Otherwise you'll need to use the Wilderness lever to teleport to the deep Wild and run all the way west. The iron dragons are located roughly from the eastern wall, clockwise around the fortress to the western wall. Be sure to watch out for revenants when running to the fortress (though it is not actually in the Wilderness itself). |
Equipment | These dragons can be killed effectively using any of the three basic combat styles. Meleeing is fastest, but only if you use full Veracs; its special set effect helps punch through the dragons' tough armor. Be sure to put the flail on the "stab" setting, and you must use super antifire potions (level 85 Herblore) to avoid being toasted by dragon fire. You will want to use Protection from Melee, or even better, Deflect Melee (since you get a few points of recoil damage). Conventional meleeing can be done using a fairly standard setup of an abyssal whip, anti-dragon or dragonfire shield and prayer gear.
For ranging or maging, you don't need to use prayer or heavy armor, because as long as you stand out of melee range, these monsters will just try to hit you with dragonfire. So wear your usual ranging or maging setup, including an anti-dragon or dragonfire shield. If you have 85 Herblore and want to use super antifires here, you can leave the shield at home and use something to boost your attack stats, like an unholy book for ranging or mage's book for maging. Usually, though, you are better off saving those for other dragons where they make more of a difference.
If praying, bring your holy wrench to get extra prayer points. |
Supplies | For meleeing, bring prayer potions and attack and strength boosting potions (extreme/super attack or Zamorak brews, and extreme/super strength). You also need antifire or super antifire potions, depending on whether you are using a shield or not. The dragons also drop super attack and strength potion doses you can use in combat, but this is not reliable.
For ranging, you still need the antifire potions, but not the prayer potions. Add at least two 4-dose ranging (or extreme ranging) potions to increase your kill speed.
To get to the dragons 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.
Bringing a few pieces of cheap food "just in case" is advisable (also to offset damage from Zammy brews, if you are using them).
For ranging, I recommend enchanted emerald and broad-tipped bolts. Start with the emerald (e) to poison, then switch.
For maging, either use fire bolt with chaos gauntlets (cheap but slower) or a higher level spell (faster and gives more XP, but is more expensive.)
Finally, bring some alching runes for the armor and weapon items they drop. |
Familiar | I recommend a beast of burden so you can carry home bones, bars or other drops. |
Combat Notes | These beasties are level 189 and so not be trifled with. If meleeing, be sure to watch your prayer carefully, and top up whenever you are down more than 40% from your total.
Spread out your boosting potions. If meleeing, use them more frequently if you get super attack or super strength drops. Look for the message that appears when your antifire is about to wear off and take another dose when needed. Be particularly careful if using super antifires, as they are your only protection.
If you are maging or ranging, simply stand out of melee range and fire away; the dragons will simply attack with firebreath rather than closing to melee you. Just be careful when going to pick up drops and/or ammunition. Maging these dragons can be a good way of training the Magic skill while getting drops to at least partially cover the cost of combat.
The firebreath of these dragons has a long range. If you get attacked by a steel dragon, keep running all the way to the far southwest corner of the dungeon to get away from it. |
Drop Notes | Like bronze and steel dragons, the main attraction of iron dragons at one time was the chance at a valuable dragon platelegs/plateskirt drop. The value of these items has diminished over time, and the popularity of the dragons has decreased as well. However, they also do have other good drops, including the chance at a draconic visage, and the availability of the spawns in Kuradal's Dungeon has made Brimhaven less crowded.
Iron dragons drop two charms at a time, and like most dragons, these are biased towards green. |
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