Fight Caves
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Introduction

The Tzhaar Fight Caves are a safe solo minigame with a prestigious reward for completion - the Fire Cape, which is the best melee cape in the game. This is an endurance test first and foremost, as you will need to go through a total of 63 waves of enemies that gradually increase in difficulty until the final wave containing the level 702 TzTok-Jad, the strongest monster in the entire game able to one-shot any player with less than 99 Hitpoints. All in all, the Caves require high stats with many valuable items in order to succeed, and the entire thing will take at least two hours to complete.
Note that relogging during any wave will reset you to the start of it when you log back in. If you absolutely need to take a break, do so just as a new wave is starting (indicated in the text box) and not when it's almost over.
As a general tip, you might want to disable Public, Global, Private, and Clan chats so you can focus. One distraction could mean you'll have to start over, it has happened before.
It is also recommended to keep Auto-Retaliate set to OFF at all times in the Caves.

The Caves are located in the Tz-Haar city which is inside of the Karamja Volcano, the easiest way to get there is to take the Port Sarim or Ardougne ship to Karamja, or use an Amulet of Glory to teleport to Karamja and then enter the volcano from the top.
Once inside the volcano enter through the cave entrance nearby and you'll be in the Tzhaar City. The entrance to the Fight Caves itself is across from the bank in the city.

Recommended Skill Levels

The best method for the Fight Caves is to use pure Ranged due to safespotting and most of the monsters being more dangerous in melee ranges. The minimum recommended stats for this method are as follows (obviously higher is better):

  • 75+ Hitpoints
  • 75+ Defence
  • 75+ Ranged
  • 43+ Prayer (70+ HIGHLY recommended, almost essential)
  • High Magic levels will help too; your Magic defence is calculated by your Magic + Defence levels, which is then added on to your Magic defence from worn equipment. A high Magic level can possibly mean the difference between life and death against a magic attack you fail to Pray against.

Keep in mind that since the update of reworked NPC defenses, the mobs will be even more difficult to kill, especially in later rounds. Consider this if you are not confident that your stats are high enough.

Recommended Equipment and Inventory

There is no reason why you cant win with worse-than-optimal equipment or stats, but it's certainly going to be more difficult. Obviously your Ranged Attack bonus is the stat to focus on, followed by your Defences and then Prayer bonus. If you don't have the best or even second best gear pictured, try and configure your own similar setup or simply wait until you have these items. Note however that because of Crystal Bow correction to have 2500 instead of 25,000 charges, it is no longer viable for use at Fight Caves.

Preferred setup:
fight_caves_setup_1.png
^ Karil's gear provides the same Ranged Attack bonus as Black Dragonhide does, but with much higher Magic Defences. Because Magic attacks are what you have to worry about arguably the most in the Fight Caves, the slightly lower Stab/Slash/Crush Defences from Karil's compared to Black D'hide aren't as important. You'll be safespotting nearly every monster in the Caves that could possibly melee you anyway.
Verac's Helm is for a very good boost to your defences and also a small Prayer bonus. For a piece of Melee gear, it also doesn't detract any Magic defence which is very useful.
Mith bolts can possibly be upgraded to Addy ones or Emerald (e) if you can afford them; and also bring more bolts than you think you may need if you're able to, for peace of mind.

Budget Setup:
fight_caves_setup_2.png
^ This is for those with less money available for better gear but with the same or similar stats for the above setup. Continue substituting things if needed, such as Snakeskin Boots instead of Ranger Boots.

The recommended inventory:
fight_caves_inventory.png
If you didn't already know: Blue potion = Ranging Potion, yellow potions = Saradomin Brews, and pink potions = Super Restores.

Twelve pieces of the best food you can muster (Tuna Potatoes heal 22HP, Sharks heal 20) are necessary in case you miss any Protection Prayers.
Ranging Potions temporarily boost your Ranged level, but should only be sipped once as each of the final 4 waves start as there are only 4 doses; this will help with the level 360 tank-y mages when they have a lot of backup in the later waves, and Jad as well.
Saradomin Brews temporarily boost your Defence and Hitpoints levels past their maximum, but drain your combat stats. To counter this, sip a Sara Brew and then a Super Restore dose to heal your damaged stats but still retain your Def/HP buffs. This is for help during the later waves (50+) and Jad, don't use any Brews before then.
Super Restores are obviously for restoring your Prayer points, sip as necessary. 12x4 = 48 doses total, you should not run out at all.
The Diamond (e) Bolts are for the later waves as well, switch over to them as soon as wave 50 starts. Feel free to bring more bolts if you think you may need them or just want to be safe.

Safespotting (READ)

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Pictured above is a map of the Caves showcasing the famous Italy Rock along with spawn locations in green, and safespots circled in Blue you'll be in those spots for almost the entire time in the Caves. In the later waves when multiple groups of monsters using varying attack types spawn, you may also safespot using the smaller and weaker ones instead of the Italy Rock to kill them in a more manageable way.
If you are having trouble with Italy rock, the southwestern Long Rock spot circled in yellow is also extremely useful. You can also position the ranged/magic enemies behind melee units to make your own "safespot." With the correct positioning the ranged/magic users will not be able to attack you and you are free to kill off the healers first thing, while not having to pray. A little kiting goes a long way in conserving prayer points, just remember to be patient.

The alcove at enemy spawn position 1 presents the most pathing difficulties for large enemies. On waves 38-45 standing in the alcove itself often means avoiding tanking ranger hits while killing frogs. On waves 53-60 you may prefer to stand directly south of dragon rock itself to avoid unnecessary melee damage in the event a healer spawns within the alcove itself, and then quickly run into the alcove if not. Positioning Jad in the alcove gives the highest chances of healers getting stuck on rocks and can also be useful for lining up aggro'd healers.

Base map yet again blatantly taken from the OSRS wiki, call the cops I don't give a fuck.

Enemy Information

Below is a collapsible table showcasing information on each of the monsters that will spawn throughout the various waves.


Wave Breakdown

Below is a collapsible list of each wave, detailing which creature from the above chart (referred to by their combat level) is going to spawn.
Keep the 29314 killing order in mind in the later waves when many monsters spawn. The order is easily remembered by the first number of the combat level of each monster.
If you have trouble with this order in the later rounds, consider kiting the ranged/magic using enemies behind the healers at long rock, and killing the healers first. After they are taken care of, you can pray magic and take down the ranged as usual.


TzTok-Jad Strategies (Wave 63) : This is going to hurt…

When the final wave starts, you'll want to immediately head to a safespot like the north side of the Italy Rock and turn on Protect from Ranged, because if Jad sees you before you see him and decides to do his Ranged attack it will near-instantly bear down on you and most likely catch you off guard, possibly killing you. If he opens with his Magic attack instead, it will be easy to look for and react to by switching Prayers, because his Magic projectile is slower than his Ranged one.
TzTok-Jad.png
Jad Thundercock is capable of attacking with Melee, Ranged, and Magic, and can deal up to 98 damage with Melee or 97 with Ranged or Magic if you miss a Protection Prayer. With 250 HP, he is a force to be reckoned with and is not to be taken lightly. The way to deal with him is to look for the unique tells that show his next attack and then activate the corresponding Protection Prayer.
For his Ranged attack, he will slam his feet and a rock will fall on you.
For his Magic attack, he will stand on his hind legs for a few moments and shoot off a fire wave. Look out for the little ball of fire that appears near his mouth.
A good strategy is to keep protect ranged on and just flick mage when you see the fireball, as it is an easier indicator.
Here is a gif showcasing his magic and ranged attacks to help you time your prayers, thanks to the OSRS wiki.
For his Melee attack, if you are within his melee range, he will do a quick swipe that you likely will not be able to Pray against in time. Because of this, stay back away from him at all times. He will not attempt to approach and melee you if you're out of his range, he'll attempt to Mage/Range you instead.

The key to dealing with him is patience. Don't panic or you might misclick the wrong Protection Prayer.
Like the level 360 Ket-Zeks, do NOT attempt to Prayer Flick Jad as you have more than enough Super Restores to not need to bother, it's better to stay safer. You may also put on the Eagle Eye and/or Steel Skin Prayers for extra damage and defence respectively if you're able to deal with the extra Prayer drain too.

When Jad's HP is down to 50%, four Yt-Hurkot Healers will spawn and then walk towards Jad and try to heal him to full HP.
When this happens, do not panic and be as patient as you can. Aggro the healers one at a time to make them focus on you while Praying against each of Jad's attacks. Do not get too distracted by the healers, just take your time and keep most of your focus on Jad's attacks. Try not to concern yourself with their healing and assume that Jad will be at full HP once you've wrangled them all. Rushing or panicking here is an easy way to miss one of Jad's attacks and die. If you're lucky one or more of the healers may get stuck and won't interrupt the fight, but assume all 4 of them will be there anyway.

Once you have all the healers focused on you, there are a few different strategies to finish the fight:

  • Stay still and tank them, but only if you have enough food left and are confident that Jad will die before you do. Be careful as the healers can deal considerable damage if you are not paying attention.
  • Kite them around Jad so they get stuck behind him while still aggro'd on you, all while staying out of Jad's melee range. Run a wide circle around Jad while keeping an eye on his attacks.
  • Kill the healers while Jad is below full HP. The healers will only respawn if you kill them while Jad is at full HP. They will not respawn again once Jad dips below 50% a second time. This way you can get rid of them completely and finish the fight. Just remember to focus on Jad's attacks while doing this.

Once Jad is defeated, you will get your Firecape as well as 8,032 Tokkul as a reward. Congratulations!

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Fight Caves is a very difficult minigame. Dying means you'll have to start all over, so preferably you'll want to focus your efforts on patience and defence more than attacking. Don't be discouraged if you fail multiple times, very few people have beaten it on their first try. Remember to stay determined!

Alternative Methods/Items

Want to do it again? If so, then the sheer amount of resources needed to get multiple fire capes can start to be a real issue. Here's some tips for those on a budget:

  • To save on ammo, a whip can be used against melee users like the Tz-Kih(bat), Tz-Kek(slime), and Yt-MejKot(lizard).
  • To save prayer, an Ancient Mace's special attack can be effective. Rune defender recommended for accuracy.
  • Even better than that, a Saradomin Godsword combines both the advantages of a whip and an Ancient Mace, gives +8 prayer bonus, and effectively grants a free shark every couple minutes with its spec.
  • Lastly, you can make a huge impact with prayer flicking. When multiple rangers and mages are active, it's not as effective; but when it's just you and a lone Ket-Zek(toad), you can make a big impact on your total prayer usage by prayer flicking. With good technique, each cape will only cost you around 4 ppots!


If you have completed this guide, congratulations! If you're just passing through, thank you for reading!

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