God Wars Dungeon

The God Wars Dungeon is a cavern where four divine armies have been killing each other for longer than anyone can remember. Each god holds a stronghold, and each stronghold is held by a general with 20,000 health. Players come for the god armour sets, the god weapons, and the hilts and shards that build a godsword.

Getting down there

The entrance is a rope in a ring of old ruins, high in the frozen mountains east of the Ice Path, and it stays shut until you have finished Troll Stronghold. That quest also unlocks the Trollheim beacon, which is how most people get near. The ruins themselves are hostile: an old form of black magic chips away at anyone standing in them every few seconds, so do not linger. Going down needs 60 Strength to hold your weight on the rope, or 60 Agility to climb without it.

That same rope is the way out, and using it in either direction wipes your faction kill counts. Plan a full trip before you descend. Everything below ground is multi-combat, monsters spot you from a long way off whenever they have line of sight, and dwarf cannons cannot be set up anywhere inside. If you die, in the cave or in a boss room, your gravestone appears back up at the dungeon entrance rather than where you fell.

Which faction attacks you

Every monster down here belongs to Armadyl, Bandos, Saradomin or Zamorak, and all of them will come for you. A faction ignores you if you are wearing or wielding a single item of that god's allegiance, counted across your helmet, body, legs, boots, shield, cape, necklace, ring and arrow slots, plus your main hand. The item only counts if you actually meet its requirements, so a chestplate you cannot equip protects you from nothing.

The list is wider than the four god armour sets. Blessed dragonhide, blessed shields, vestment robes, mitres and cloaks, repaired god books and the god weapons themselves all carry an allegiance, and Saradomin adds monk robes, holy sandals and a holy symbol while Zamorak adds Dagon'hai robes. Pick one god to hide behind and expect the other three to come for you. Only one monster locks onto you at a time, and the rest hold off until it dies or you get well clear. The factions also fight each other on sight.

A counter on your screen tracks kills for each god, marked A, B, S and Z, and only kills made inside the dungeon count. Bandos and Zamorak have the most varied fodder: ogres, jogres, cyclopes, goblins and hobgoblins carry Bandos' mark, while imps, pyrefiends, hellhounds and bloodvelds carry Zamorak's. Saradomin fields knights and priests alongside his spiritual warriors, rangers and mages, Zamorak has a spiritual trio of his own, and Armadyl fields only aviansies.

The four barriers

Each stronghold is walled off by an obstacle that doubles as a skill gate. Bandos' Stronghold needs 70 Strength and a hammer in your inventory to smash the block. Armadyl's Eyrie is opened at range across the gap in the rock, which needs 70 Ranged and an arrow. Saradomin's Encampment sits behind two jumps that need 70 Agility. Zamorak's Fortress is sealed by a magic barrier that needs 70 Constitution to push through. The same levels gate the boss doors behind them, except Zamorak's, which asks only for kills.

Zamorak's half of the dungeon punishes you for being in it. Crossing the barrier costs 100 prayer points, and while you are anywhere in Zamorak's territory the darkness blinds you, bleeds prayer away every second and burns your health every few seconds on top. Commander Zilyana drops a Saradomin light rarely. Use it and the darkness stops affecting you for good, and the barrier stops charging you prayer as well.

Opening a god's door

Walking up to a god's door with 40 of that god's kills banked brings up a prompt. You can join the shared room, which tells you how many players are already inside, take a private instance on your own, or lead a party in if you are the leader and they are stood beside you. Party members each need their own 40 kills and the door's skill level, and ironmen cannot be brought along. Entering spends 40 kills from your counter.

Each general has 20,000 health and that figure does not scale with the size of your group, which is a deliberate push towards teaming up. Every boss room has a prayer altar: click it to restore prayer when it is ready, sneak-click it to leave the fight. Thirty seconds after the general dies the room resets. If nobody is stood near a general it heals back to full and its bodyguards vanish, so a half-finished attempt buys you nothing.

All four generals award Slayer experience and can be handed out as a Slayer task by Sumona, so a trip can clear an assignment as well as chase a drop. Each also drops its own boss pet token, an untradeable keepsake that stacks and is rare enough that most trips end without one.

General Graardor and Kree'arra

General Graardor is Bandos' general, combat level 624, and the slowest striker of the four. Stand inside his reach and he mostly swings at you. Step out of it, or simply get unlucky, and he slams the ground instead, a ranged blast that catches every player gathered near his target. His three sergeants cover every style between them: Strongstack in melee, Steelwill with magic, Grimspike with a bow. He always drops bones, very rarely a Bandos armour piece, the Bandos hilt or a godsword shard, and commonly rune weapons and armour, a rune pickaxe, unstable potions and a heavy pile of coins.

Kree'arra, combat level 580, is Armadyl's general and fights almost entirely at range, each volley hitting everyone clustered around his target. He will only claw at you occasionally, and only when you are stood right on top of him, so spreading out matters more here than anywhere else. Flight Kilisa closes to melee, Wingman Skree casts and Flockleader Geerin shoots. He always drops bones and feathers, very rarely an Armadyl armour piece, the Armadyl hilt or a godsword shard, and commonly a rune crossbow, a black dragonhide body, rune arrows and bolts, mind runes and extreme potions.

Commander Zilyana and K'ril Tsutsaroth

Commander Zilyana, combat level 596, is quick on her feet and only attacks what is inside her reach, so she chases you rather than letting you kite her. Most of her swings are melee, the rest magic followed a moment later by lightning landing on your position. Starlight, Growler and Bree cover melee, magic and ranged. She is the only general with no armour set to her name. Very rarely she drops the Saradomin sword, the Armadyl crossbow, the Saradomin hilt or a godsword shard, with the Saradomin light rare, over a common base of adamant and rune gear, extreme potions, law runes and noted diamonds.

K'ril Tsutsaroth, combat level 650, is the highest levelled of the four and the only one with a trap built into him. If you have Protect from Melee active when he attacks, he ignores it, hits for around ten times a normal melee blow and drains 100 prayer points. Without it he mixes melee up close and magic at distance. Balfrug Kreeyath casts, Tstanon Karlak brawls and Zakl'n Gritch shoots. He always drops infernal ashes, very rarely the Staff of the dead, the Zamorakian spear, a steam battlestaff, the Zamorak hilt, a subjugation piece or a godsword shard, and commonly rune and adamant gear, super potions, death and blood runes.