Black Dragon - Access and Combat Recommendations

Access Directions

There were originally two spots for black dragons: near the end of Taverley Dungeon, and in the dungeon below the lava maze in the deep Wilderness. When Recipe for Disaster was introduced, four black dragons were added in the Evil Chicken's Lair, an area accessed as part of that quest. This is now my preferred spot for fighting black dragons, as it is quick to get to and close to a bank.

To fight in the Evil Chicken's Lair you must have completed the Sir Amik Varze portion of Recipe for Disaster. Bank in Zanaris, then run east to the main entrance to Zanaris, and use a raw chicken on the evil chicken shrine altar there. You'll be immediately teleported into the lair, with aggressive dragons ready to strike, so be sure you're ready for combat.

The best safe spot here is in the neck of the tunnel that leads off to the mine in the eastern part of the lair, but it's usually quite busy. You can find secondary safe spots in the northeast of the lair and in the far southwest, but beware that in some cases the dragons can get to you in these spots; they are more dangerous.

Getting to the black dragons in Taverley is easy, moderately easy, or a major pain, depending on your Agility level. If you have level 80 Agility (or 75 plus a summer pie) you can use the "spiked blades" shortcut that takes you right from the dungeon entrance to the poison spiders area; just run west to find the dragons. If you don't have 75 Agility but do have 70 (or 65 with a summer pie), use the second-best shortcut, the pipe squeeze to the blue dragons. Run south, then west to the black demons, and north past the spiders to the black dragons. If you can't use either shortcut, you have to run/walk through the entire dungeon.

You can safe spot in Taverley either in the hallway to the south of the dragons, or near the fire obelisk.

The black dragons in the Lava Maze dungeon aren't generally worth bothering with unless you enjoy the challenge of the Wilderness, or you have the ability to use a lava titan familiar (level 83 Summoning), which can teleport you to the maze. Of course, it's also a far less crowded place than the other two spots. :)

Equipment

Ranging is the preferred method for fighting black dragons. In my tests, I was surprised to find that it is even faster than using Veracs with super antifire potions! (If you added Piety or Turmoil, that might change, though.)

Wear your very best ranging gear to increase your ranging bonus. Most players use a rune crossbow as a weapon, with enchanted emerald bolts (to poison), and then adamantite or broad-tipped bolts for the main part of combat -- these are both effective and fairly inexpensive. Some players prefer to use crystal bows, but be careful when it is down to 1/10 so you don't "run up" when it turns into a crystal seed.

If you are an experienced dragon ranger, use an unholy book for your off-hand weapon; just be careful not to get near the dragons or you could get toasted. Remember that you can temporarily put on Protection from Magic if you need to collect drops. If you are new to fighting these monsters, bring with an antidragon shield and an unholy book and swap the shield for the book once securely in your safe spot. You can then switch it out for an unholy book or to use a two-handed bow.

Basic meleeing requires using Protection from Melee, which in turn means wearing prayer gear, a dragonfire shield if you have one, and otherwise an anti-dragon shield. It is slower than ranging, however. If you have level 85 Herblore you can use super antifire potions and try Veracs, which as I mentioned before is nearly as fast as ranging. But it's more dangerous and more expensive as well.

Maging is not recommended for black dragons.

Supplies

Assuming you are ranging, you don't need much in the way of supplies; just ensure you have plenty of ammunition. Ranging or extreme ranging potions can help speed up kills, and are recommended. Tailor the number of potions you bring to how long you go on each trip; this in turn is a function of your beast of burden's capacity.

I bring with five pieces of cheap food per trip "just in case" I get zapped by a dragon (which does seem to happen often enough!)

For meleeing, you need super attack or Zamorak brew potions, super strengths, antifires and prayer potions. For Veracs, use super antifires, of course.

Finally, don't forget the raw chicken if fighting in Zanaris.

Familiar

Bring a beast of burden to carry bones, hides and other drops.

Combat Notes

As mentioned above, ranging is the preferred method for black dragons. It may take you a bit of experimentation to get comfortable with the various safe spots, but once you get familiar with them, it's all rather straightforward.

One issue with the dragons in Zanaris is that they tend to wander. Also, only two of the four dragons will engage you in any of the safe spots; the others will "back away" when you attack them. Again, you'll have to learn which one is which; they are each a slightly different shade of black/gray which helps.

Be sure you put on Protection from Magic if you run out to grab drops when there's another dragon around.

If meleeing, be sure to pay particular attention to your prayer points. If you run out of prayer while fighting in something like proselyte or monk's robes, you're toast. :)

Note that black dragons are a very popular training/moneymaking monster, and since there are only a few of them in the game they tend to get quite crowded during peak times.

Drop Notes

In addition to their guaranteed hide and bone drop, black dragons also provide a decent number of "regular" drops. These include a fairly good chance of rune armor or weapon items. Overall, though, most of the drop value is in the dragonhides and dragon bones you get on each kill.

Black dragons drop three charms at a time, biased towards green.