Dust devil/Strategies
Dust devils are a slayer monster requiring 65 Slayer to kill. Players must start Desert Treasure I before dust devils may be assigned as a Slayer task. When using Ice Barrage and fought in the Catacombs of Kourend, dust devils can provide high Slayer experience rates per hour, varying on how well the player can group them and collecting their loot. Valuable common drops like the air battlestaff as well as mystic air staff generally compensate the rune cost when bursting. Barraging generally loses money or breaks even, yet yields much better Slayer experience rates.
Requirements
- Level
65 - Level
43 for Protect from Melee
Recommendations
- Level
94 for Ice Barrage. Ice Burst could be used at 70 . - High
to equip mage armour such as ancestral robes. - Level
82+ for an ornate pool and portal nexus for a teleport to Kourend Castle. Alternatively bring a Xeric's talisman and use the option Xeric's Heart to teleport to Kourend Castle and a ring of dueling for teleports to Ferox Enclave to restore stats.
Additionally, having a bonecrusher helps save on Prayer potions since burying bones inside the Catacombs of Kourend also restores Prayer points.
Getting there
Bank with preferred banking method; Kourend Castle has a bank on the 2nd floor[UK]3rd floor[US]. Use your house portal or Xeric's talisman to teleport to Kourend Castle. Investigate the statue in the courtyard to enter the Catacombs. Run east, then south, then east again. If your room has bloodvelds in it you went too far. This room and the southern room contain the dust devils.
Mechanics
Attack styles
The dust devils attack only with a melee attack. Protect from Melee will prevent all damage.
Dust
The dust devils use clouds of dust, sand, ash, and whatever else they can inhale to blind and disorient their victims. Players not wearing a facemask or Slayer helmet will take very rapid damage that also drains stats. When using the slayer helmet to check how many kills you have left on the task, take care not to misclick on unequipping the helmet; this can quickly lead to a death with dust devils attacking you.
Tips
Grouping
The most effective method for dust devils is to group and burst them in the Catacombs of Kourend. Turn on Protect from Melee, then attack the dust devils with a fast ranged weapon (such as darts or toxic blowpipe) to get them aggressive towards you. Run to a side which has two corners adjacent to each other and run back and forth between the two corners so that the dust devils clump into a small area. Switch to magic attack and use Ice Burst/Barrage. Since the dust devils have very little Magic defence, magical accuracy doesn't matter much, and players may choose to use equipment with high Prayer bonus to save Prayer potion doses, though you will want to keep your magic attack bonus higher than about -20. Equipment that increases magic strength, such as a Tormented bracelet, Ancestral robes, Ahrim's Robes, Imbued god cape, Occult necklace and Elidinis' ward are still worth bringing for their ability to increase your max hit.
Safespotting
Another option is to safespot using the corridors in between rooms to shoot/cast on the dust devils without the need to pray although, this is much slower than grouping.
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Equipment
Magic
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This is the best-in-slot available equipment for maging dust devils. See the table below for an overview of equipment alternatives in case this setup is not accessible or too expensive.
Notes
- The occult necklace (+5%), tormented bracelet (+5%), imbued god capes (+2%), and virtus robes (+2% each) or ancestral robes (+3% each) increase the maximum hit of the player's Magic spells. However, the tormented bracelet is generally inefficient to use as the bracelet of slaughter will increase the task's length and maximise overall Slayer experience rates.
- It is recommended to use a staff or wand that can autocast Ancient Magicks. Kodai wand provides +15% magic damage bonus as well as infinite water runes and a chance to save runes, making it the most effective.
- Darts, knives or a blowpipe may be used to lure. The special attack of the Dinh's bulwark in conjunction with a Lightbearer may also be used to lure, however it may cause stamina issues due to its weight for players with lower agility levels.
- A Hunters' crossbow or Hunters' sunlight crossbow is also an effective luring weapon, having the same speed as shortbows and 1 more tile of range. It is also 1-handed, so magic off-hands aren't unequipped. Kebbit bolts and Sunlight antler bolts are much more expensive than the cheapest arrows and darts, however.
- A Venator Bow can also be effectively used.
Equipment upgrades and downgrades
- ^ If not using Kodai wand, to save on water runes.
- ^ Particularly useful if paired with Dinh's bulwark special attack.
- ^ For coin drops.
- ^ Optional for luring.