Runescape God Wars Dungeon Guide: Bosses, Killcounts, and Loot

The God Wars Dungeon (GWD for short) is the original endgame boss room in Old School RuneScape. Four generals, one for each of four warring gods, and each one sits on a pile of loot that still matters years later. Bandos armour, Armadyl armour, the godswords. It all comes from here.

It's also one of the first places players go when they're ready to graduate from barrows and baby bosses. The good news is the structure repeats for every chamber: grind some killcount, walk in, kill a general plus three bodyguards, loot, repeat. The catch is that each general fights totally differently, and walking into the wrong one with the wrong setup is a fast trip back to Lumbridge.

So here's how to actually get inside each chamber, what each general throws at you, and which drops are worth the walk.

Getting Into Each God Wars Chamber

GWD sits north of Trollheim. Getting there the first time means either partial completion of the Troll Stronghold quest (up to beating Dad) or finishing the Easy Combat Achievements so you can teleport with Ghommal's hilt. You also need 60 Strength or 60 Agility to push past the boulder at the entrance, plus a rope for your very first visit.

The trip in

The clean way in is the Trollheim Teleport, which needs 61 Magic and the Eadgar's Ruse quest. You land on top of the mountain, then run down and north. There are agility shortcuts along the way (levels 41 and 47) that shave real time off the run.

No Trollheim Teleport? Teleport to Burthorpe with a games necklace and walk. Bring climbing boots and a stamina potion, because it's a hike. Watch for the thrower trolls on the ridge near the entrance. They tag you with ranged attacks, so flip Protect from Missiles on as you pass through.

The dungeon entrance has a cold effect that slowly drains your stats and eats your run energy. You can build a Fire of Unseasonal Warmth just south-west of the hole (it needs Making Friends with My Arm and 60 Construction) and the chill is gone for good. Pretty worth it if you plan to camp here for a while.

Killcount and god protection

Two big rules before you touch any chamber.

One: you need 40 killcount of a god's followers to enter that god's boss room. Kill 40 Armadyl creatures to fight Kree'arra, 40 Bandos creatures for Graardor, and so on. Each entry burns 40 of your stored count. The number drops to 35, 30, 25, or 15 as you finish the Hard, Elite, Master, and Grandmaster Combat Achievement tiers. Or you skip the whole thing with an ecumenical key, which drops in the Wilderness God Wars Dungeon. A lot of regulars just bring keys and never grind count at all.

Two: wear one item aligned to a god and that god's followers stop attacking you in the main dungeon. This matters more than people expect, because Zamorak monsters wander into the Armadyl, Bandos, and Saradomin areas. A cheap Zamorak item (an unholy symbol works, or a zamorak monk robe top) plus one item each for the other gods keeps the walk to the door peaceful. The Armadyl pendant is a freebie that covers Armadyl.

Each boss room also has an altar that tops up your prayer. You can use it once every 10 minutes and only when you're out of combat. Right-click it to teleport back outside the door if a trip is going sideways on you.

Each chamber's door

| Chamber | What you need at the door | |---|---| | Armadyl's Eyrie (Kree'arra) | 70 Ranged, plus a crossbow and a mithril grapple to cross the chasm | | Bandos' Stronghold (Graardor) | 70 Strength, plus a hammer for the big door | | Saradomin's Encampment (Zilyana) | 70 Agility, plus 2 extra ropes the first time | | Zamorak's Fortress (K'ril) | 70 Hitpoints (you can boost this one) |

None of those levels can be boosted except Hitpoints, so don't bank on a potion to shove you through a door you're not leveled for.

Kree'arra and the Armadyl Chamber

Kree'arra is the aviansie general of Armadyl, and he's a pain for one simple reason: he's flying. Normal melee doesn't touch him at all. You're fighting with Ranged or Magic, full stop. (Halberds and salamanders technically work, but his melee defence is so sky-high it's not worth bothering.)

What he throws at you

By default Kree'arra uses two attacks, and both hit everyone in the room. His ranged attack is a grey dust tornado that can smash you for up to 69 damage. His magic attack is a blue tornado that caps at 21, with a twist. It rolls against your ranged defence, not your magic defence, so stacking magic defence does nothing here. Either attack can knock you back a tile unless you're tucked into a corner.

So the rule is dead simple. Keep Protect from Missiles on the entire time he's alive. Drop it for a second and he'll usually end you inside a couple of ticks.

If nobody is attacking him, he strolls over and swipes for up to 26 melee. That pretty much only comes up if you fumble your target picks.

His three bodyguards are Flight Kilisa (melee, up to 15), Wingman Skree (magic, up to 16), and Flockleader Geerin (ranged, up to 25). Kilisa is the one that actually lands hits. Skree is pretty inaccurate, and Geerin's damage is fully covered by your Protect from Missiles.

How to fight him

The most common setup is Ranged with a crossbow or the Bow of faerdhinen, wearing ranged gear and standing in a corner. Walk under Kree'arra after each attack. He swings every 3 ticks, so stepping underneath him slows down how often he tags you. On the high end, the Tumeken's shadow melts him, and there's a chinchompa method that bypasses his huge defence by splash-damaging him off the minions stacked next to him.

Bring runes for Blood Barrage. Once Kree'arra dies, the bodyguards drop bones, and bones-to-peaches tablets turn those into food. That's 32 health back per kill. A staff that can autocast ancient spells lets you heal off the minions too, which stretches a trip a ton.

Want kill times that don't make you sad? Aim for 85+ Ranged minimum (70 is just the door requirement), with solid Defence and Magic underneath. Much lower and you'll be tickling him for ages.

General Graardor and the Bandos Chamber

Graardor is the Bandos general, an enormous ourg, and he's usually called the easiest of the four. That doesn't mean you can phone it in, because he still hits like a truck. It just means his fight is the most forgiving one to learn on.

What he throws at you

Graardor swings melee about two thirds of the time, a punch for up to 60 damage. The other third he slams the ground for a ranged shockwave that hits 15 to 35 on everyone in the room. That ranged attack only fires when his target is in melee range, so you can't outrange it. You just eat it.

His three goblin sergeants cover all three combat styles. Sergeant Grimspike throws axes (ranged, up to 21). Sergeant Steelwill lobs magic (up to 15). Sergeant Strongstack swings a flail (melee, up to 15).

Here's the part that catches people out. When Graardor dies, all three sergeants lock onto one player, usually whoever landed the killing blow. That person needs to pray against the most dangerous minion, which nine times out of ten is the magic one.

How to fight him

If you're the one being targeted, pray Protect from Melee and wear gear with high ranged defence. If you're not the target in a team, pray Protect from Missiles to block the ground slam instead.

The standard kill order once Graardor drops is Steelwill first (switch to Protect from Magic), then Grimspike (Protect from Missiles), then Strongstack last since he's the weakest of the three. Graardor attacks every 6 ticks, so with a 4-tick weapon you can hit him twice, then step underneath before he swings again.

Solo melee is the simplest approach, though trips tend to run short and kills stay slow until you've got better gear. Justiciar armour makes a big difference here because the ranged defence keeps Grimspike and the ground slam in check. An amulet of blood fury helps you sustain through the damage. There are also fancy ranged-kiting methods that dodge his melee entirely, but those are advanced and take practice.

Graardor and his minions drop bones, so bones-to-peaches works here. He drops super restores, and the minions drop sharks, chilli potatoes, and kebabs. All of that extends your trip for free.

70 Strength and a hammer get you in the door. A dragon warhammer or an elder maul actually counts as your hammer, which is handy if you use the warhammer's special attack to shave his Defence down.

K'ril Tsutsaroth and Commander Zilyana

These two are the harder half of GWD. K'ril hits you right through your prayer, and Zilyana attacks so fast she'll delete you if you stand still. Different problems, same dungeon.

K'ril Tsutsaroth (Zamorak)

K'ril is the Zamorak general, and you get into his fortress with 70 Hitpoints. His attacks are melee (up to 46, about two thirds of the time) and magic (10 to 30, the rest). Both are single-target. His melee can poison you even through Protect from Melee, starting at 16 damage.

The nasty part is his prayer smash. If you're praying Protect from Melee, there's a 1-in-9 chance he yells "YARRRR" and hits you for 35 to 49 while draining half of your current prayer. A spectral spirit shield cuts that prayer drain in half, down to a quarter. Most melee fighters just accept the risk and pray melee anyway, because the alternative leaves you open to worse.

His bodyguards are Balfrug Kreeyath (magic, up to 16), Tstanon Karlak (melee, up to 15), and Zakl'n Gritch (ranged, up to 21). When K'ril dies, each minion picks a random player to gang up on, not the kill-stealer.

One annoying detail: K'ril and his demons drop ashes, not bones. That means bones-to-peaches is useless here, so you have to manage your health with food and Blood Barrage instead. The clean solo method these days is a scorching bow with a lightbearer. The bow's special attack binds K'ril in place so he can't reach you, and people pull 20 to 40 kills a trip that way.

Commander Zilyana (Saradomin)

Zilyana is the Saradomin general, and her whole thing is speed. She attacks every 2 ticks (1.2 seconds) with melee (up to 27) or magic (10 to 20), and she's wildly accurate. Fight her in melee range and she'll chew through you before you can react.

The answer is to not stand still. You kite her around her large chamber, hitting her while moving so she and her melee bodyguard never catch up. The only damage you take is from whichever bodyguard you're not praying against.

Her bodyguards are Bree (ranged, up to 16), Growler (magic, up to 16), and Starlight (melee, up to 15). They're weaker than the other generals' minions, but don't get cocky about it.

If you're ranging her, pray Protect from Magic. If you're maging her, pray Protect from Missiles. A crossbow with enchanted diamond bolts, a twisted bow, or the Bow of faerdhinen with crystal armour all work well. There's also a precise tile-walking method with the Bow of faerdhinen that lets you kill her without using any stamina potions, which is great since kiting eats run energy fast.

Entry needs 70 Agility and two extra ropes on your first trip.

What both drop

K'ril drops the Zamorakian spear, the staff of the dead, and the Zamorak hilt. Zilyana drops the Saradomin sword, the Armadyl crossbow (yes, really, she stole it as a trophy), and the Saradomin hilt. Both can also drop godsword shards.

Loot Priorities and Killcount Strategy

So which boss is worth your time? It depends what you need, but there's a clear logic to the order you tackle them.

The godsword grind

Every general drops a hilt (a 1-in-508 rate) and godsword shards (1 in 762 for any specific shard, 1 in 254 for any shard at all). Three shards forge a blade, and a blade plus a hilt makes a godsword. The hilt decides the special attack, because the godsword's raw stats are identical no matter which one you attach.

Hilt prices bounce around on the Grand Exchange, but roughly: the Armadyl hilt sits near 6.7m, the Zamorak hilt around 15.7m, the Bandos hilt near 17.7m, and the Saradomin hilt up around 23.8m. The Saradomin godsword's heal-on-hit special keeps its hilt pricey.

Your chance of any unique per kill is about 7 in 508, which works out to roughly 1 in 73. Strip out the shards and it's about 1 in 102. The armour pieces (the Armadyl and Bandos sets) are 1 in 381 for a specific piece, or 1 in 127 for any piece.

What to chase first

Graardor is the usual starting point, because he's the most forgiving boss to learn and Bandos armour (chestplate, tassets, boots) is a genuine upgrade. The chestplate gives a +4 strength bonus, and the tassets are a top-tier leg slot for a long time. The wiki's money-making guide pegs camping him at around 4m coins an hour, which is solid for a beginner-friendly boss.

Kree'arra is the ranged armour factory. The Armadyl set (helmet, chestplate, chainskirt) is best-in-slot ranged gear for a big stretch of the game. The catch is that his killcount is slow and you need real ranged levels, so he's more of a project than a quick farm.

Zilyana and K'ril are less about the armour and more about the hilts, the Saradomin sword, the staff of the dead, and the Armadyl crossbow. K'ril in particular is more of a "kill it because it's fun or you're on task" boss. The drops are good, but he's not the most efficient money unless you're after a specific item.

Killcount tactics

A few habits stretch your trips and your patience a lot less:

• Bring an ecumenical key. Armadyl and Saradomin killcount are slow, so regulars just skip it. Kill the boss instead of 40 followers and you progress way faster.
• Use the altar. Every 10 minutes it refills your prayer. Time your trips so you top up between kills rather than burning prayer potions.
• Bones to peaches everywhere but Zamorak. Every general except K'ril drops bones, so a stack of tablets turns each kill into free food.
• Get on a Slayer task. Aviansie tasks cover Kree'arra, and the slayer helm's 15 percent accuracy and damage boost makes a real dent in kill speed.
• Pets and clues are a bonus. Each general has a 1-in-5,000 pet, and they drop elite clues at about 1 in 250. Nice when they happen, not something to plan a trip around.

Pick the boss whose loot fills an actual gap in your gear, grind until the drop lands, and don't be afraid to bounce between chambers as your needs change. The dungeon isn't going anywhere.