Desert strykewyrms are Slayer monsters located east of Al Kharid, through the east gate. They may only be killed if a player is assigned to kill them by a Slayer master (level 77 Slayer required). You cannot use temporary boosts, as you need to be assigned these from your master.

Note that the desert in this area no longer drains life points. As such, waterskins are unnecessary.

A wyrm initially appears as a mound on the ground; the mound may be still or be moving about. Before battle can be initiated with the wyrm, a player must investigate the mound by clicking on it. This causes the player's character to perform the Stomp emote, after which the wyrm bursts out of the ground. When the wyrm appears, the player should immediately click on it to initiate combat, as otherwise a small amount of time will be wasted before combat begins.

Desert strykewyrms are an excellent source of various noted items, and the occasional focus sight, which is needed to create a full slayer helmet. If the player is not currently assigned a desert strykewyrm task, investigating the mound still causes the player's character to perform the stomp emote, but the wyrm does not burst forth. Instead, the character will then perform the Think emote.

Contents 1 Attacks 2 Tips 3 Drops 3.1 Charms 3.2 Runes and Talismans 3.3 Weapons and armour 3.4 Seeds 3.5 Herbs 3.6 Other drops 3.7 Rare drop table drops 4 Trivia

AttacksEdit

The desert strykewyrm's standard attacks are melee and magical ranged. The wyrm will usually use melee and only occasionally use magical range when the player is not within melee range. This attack however, rarely hits and even if it hits, it usually does not hit over 100.

The desert strykewyrm also has a special attack which consists of it burrowing under the ground, moving toward the player fighting it, and then bursting out of the ground which can deal 500-2000 damage. Running over the strykewyrm right as it bursts out of the ground will hit the player twice with its special attack, possibly adding up to 4000 damage.

The special attack may be avoided by running 2-3 squares away from where the player was standing when the wyrm starts to burrow. Timing is important; hesitating a moment when the wyrm burrows could cause the wyrm's special attack to hit. Many players run directly away from the wyrm when it burrows, but depending on your reaction time, this might not be a good idea, so running to the sides is a good idea for those with laggy computers or if they are too slow to react to the attack.

TipsEdit

When running away from the special attack, it is best to click on the ground itself instead of the minimap, as the player can react to the tactical situation in the area. A player should not click on another mound when trying to get away, as the player will run up to (not onto) the mound and stop, which might leave the player too close to the surfacing wyrm.

Desert strykewyrms have a high amount of health for their level, but have low defence, making it quite easy with powerful weapons to cause a large amount of damage. The wyrm's special attack can be disabled by standing near any kind of obstacle. There are several cacti and bushes around their area, but they are relatively spread out and few in number.

This special attack occurs on average once every 15-20 attacks. Depending upon how fast the player can kill a desert strykewyrm, the special attack may or may not occur with each wyrm battle, but one special attack per 2 or 3 wyrms is very likely. The ultimate defence skill rejuvenate, which requires a shield, is very useful for healing in the occasional event that players are unable to dodge the special attack. Players need not wear a shield the entire trip; they can merely equip a shield and use the ability, waiting until the healing is complete, and then resume attacking with another weapon. Bunyips provide a useful source of sustained healing as well. 

For players who have difficulty moving out of the way in time, it is advised to range strykewyrms from a distance. Range them at the maximum distance of your crossbow/shortbow/shieldbow as they will slowly advance towards you occasionally. Keep in mind that these strykewyrms may be fairly resistant to ranged attacks, so it may be in your best interest to use melee. 

DropsEdit

CharmsEdit

Charm drop percentages

No charms
80–81%	4–5%	2–3%	11–12%	0.9–1.1%

Represents 90% confidence range, based on a sample of 26,214 kills.
1 charm is dropped at a time.

Please add to the log (only if 50 or more creatures killed).

Runes and TalismansEdit

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Death rune	15	3 Uncommon	2,385
	Water rune	2–100	3 Uncommon [1]	22–1,100
	Law rune	15	3 Uncommon	2,850
	Air talisman	1	3 Uncommon	122
	Earth talisman	1	3 Uncommon	762
	Body talisman	1	4 Rare	191
	Mind talisman	1	4 Rare	68
	Cosmic talisman	1	4 Rare	199
	Fire talisman	1	4 Rare	2,016

Weapons and armourEdit

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Mithril battleaxe	1	3 Uncommon	765
	Rune hatchet	1	3 Uncommon	7,646
	Focus sight	1	4 Rare [2]	99,329

SeedsEdit

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Cadantine seed	1	2 Common	1,087
	Avantoe seed	1	3 Uncommon	2,191
	Kwuarm seed	1	3 Uncommon	118
	Toadflax seed	1	3 Uncommon	805
	Irit seed	1	3 Uncommon	51
	Watermelon seed	1	3 Uncommon	1,898
	Poison ivy seed	1	3 Uncommon	51
	Belladonna seed	1	3 Uncommon	34
	Cactus seed	1	3 Uncommon	38
	Lantadyme seed	1	3 Uncommon	24,106
	Dwarf weed seed	1	4 Rare	38,840
	Maple seed	1	5 Very rare	23,265
	Snapdragon seed	1	5 Very rare	2,087
	Torstol seed	1	5 Very rare	51,085

HerbsEdit

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Grimy guam	1–4(Noted)	2 Common	361–1,444
	Grimy marrentill	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	57–228
	Grimy lantadyme	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	7,791–31,164
	Grimy avantoe	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	3,979–15,916
	Grimy cadantine	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	2,156–8,624
	Grimy dwarf weed	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	9,087–36,348
	Grimy harralander	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	467–1,868
	Grimy toadflax	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	3,461–13,844
	Grimy irit	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	1,863–7,452
	Grimy kwuarm	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	2,245–8,980
	Grimy ranarr	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	2,244–8,976
	Grimy tarromin	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	168–672

Other dropsEdit

Note: Can occasionally drop two drops at once.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Coins	200, 240, 286, 346, 400, 440, 1,201–4,500	2 Common [3]	Not sold
	Waterskin (4)	2	2 Common	302
	Super defence (2)	1	2 Common	75
	Potato cactus	5–10 (noted)	2 Common	3,290–6,580
	Yew logs	10 (noted)	2 Common	5,250
	Pure essence	120 (noted)	2 Common	7,800
	Swordfish	2	3 Uncommon	294
	Adamant bar	3 (noted)	3 Uncommon	8,514
	Anagogic ort	20	3 Uncommon [4]	Not sold
	Clue scroll (Hard)	1	4 Rare	Not sold
	Court summons	1	4 Rare	Not sold
	Spin ticket	1	4 Rare	Not sold
	Starved ancient effigy	1	5 Very rare	Not sold
	Clue scroll (elite)	1	5 Very rare	Not sold

1. ^ Always dropped with a seed
2. ^ Estimated at 1/484 using gathered Adventurer's Log data as of 18 September 2012.
3. ^ 200 coins will always be dropped along with the yew log drop.
4. ^ Only with seeds or RDT drops.

Rare drop table dropsEdit

This monster drops items from the rare drop table.
The ring of wealth improves the chances if equipped but is not required to access the table.

Show/hide rare drop table
Item		Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Coins	250; 381; 450; 3,000; 9,000; 12,000	2 Common	Not sold
	Uncut sapphire	1	2 Common	1,082
	Uncut emerald	1	2 Common	1,884
	Uncut ruby	1	2 Common	3,172
	Uncut diamond	1	3 Uncommon	7,110
	Loop half of a key	1	3 Uncommon	10,649
	Tooth half of a key	1	3 Uncommon	17,280
	Uncut dragonstone	1	4 Rare	12,885
	Dragonstone	1	4 Rare	10,457
	Dragon dagger	1	3 Uncommon	16,857
	Rune javelin	5	4 Rare	1,240
	Adamant javelin	20	5 Very rare	1,320
	Rune 2h sword	1	5 Very rare	37,963
	Rune spear	1	5 Very rare	12,049
	Dragon spear	1	5 Very rare	36,917
	Dragon dagger	50 (noted)	5 Very rare	842,850
	Rune sq shield	1	5 Very rare	22,650
	Rune kiteshield	1	5 Very rare	32,283
	Shield left half	1	5 Very rare	65,284
	Dragon helm	1	5 Very rare	59,692
	Adamant bolts	200	3 Uncommon	20,000
	Onyx bolts	150	4 Rare	1,297,050
	Rune arrow	150–200; 500	4 Rare	29,850–199
	Battlestaff	200 (noted)	4 Rare	1,680,400
	Air orb	1,000 (noted)	4 Rare	1,587,000
	Fire orb	1,000 (noted)	4 Rare	1,723,000
	Vecna skull	1	5 Very rare	91,765
	Water talisman	1	3 Uncommon	5,606
	Earth talisman	25–35 (noted)	3 Uncommon	19,050–26,670
	Fire talisman	25–35 (noted)	3 Uncommon	50,400–70,560
	Chaos talisman	1	3 Uncommon	175
	Nature talisman	1	3 Uncommon	195
	Pure essence	500–15,000 (noted)	3 Uncommon	32,500–975,000
	Nature rune	47–77	4 Rare	5,405–8,855
	Soul rune	20	4 Rare	2,460
	Law rune	45	4 Rare	8,550
	Death rune	50; 121	4 Rare	159
	Blood rune	50	4 Rare	14,450
	Raw swordfish	125 – 250; 1,000 (noted)	3 Uncommon	36,750–294
	Raw shark	250–500 (noted)	3 Uncommon	250,500–501,000
	Big bones	150 – 500 (noted)	3 Uncommon	68,100–227,000
	Coal	150–7,500 (noted)	3 Uncommon	38,850–1,942,500
	Adamantite ore	150–800 (noted)	3 Uncommon	214,200–1,142,400
	Silver ore	100 (noted)	4 Rare	11,200
	Runite ore	100 (noted)	4 Rare	1,056,600
	Adamant bar	1,000–7,000 (noted)	4 Rare	2,838,000–19,866,000
	Rune bar	1,50,150 (noted)	4 Rare	13,017–1,952,550
	Clean ranarr	33 (noted)	3 Uncommon	75,768
	Clean toadflax	25–250 (noted)	3 Uncommon	85,700–857,000
	Clean snapdragon	30–120 (noted)	3 Uncommon	103,980–415,920
	Clean torstol	10–100 (noted)	3 Uncommon	91,330–913,300
	Saradomin brew (4)	250 (noted)	5 Very rare	64,750
	Watermelon seed	3	3 Uncommon	5,694
	Yew seed	1–50	4 Rare	60,155–3,007,750
	Magic seed	1–6	4 Rare	163,646–981,876
	Palm tree seed	10	4 Rare	1,017,430
	Snapdragon seed	1	4 Rare	2,087
	Torstol seed	1–31	4 Rare	51,085–1,583,635
	Fellstalk seed	2	4 Rare	1,000
	Yew logs	100–20,000 (noted)	4 Rare	52,500–10,500,000

TriviaEdit

• Using the stomp emote to attract the strykewyrm is possibly a reference to the sandworms (Shai'Hulud) from Frank Herbert's Dune novel series, which share some common characteristics.
• As with all other strykewyrms, desert strykewyrms can attack diagonally with melee. This is not a glitch.
• Desert strykewyrms could be based off the monsters Graboids from the movie Tremors, in which gigantic worm-like beings travel underground in the Nevada desert in search of people to eat, or more likely, the sandworms from the classic sci-fi novel Dune.
• The release of strykewyrms was hinted at by the Twitter hint, "Three strykes and they're out" and the Chaos Elemental hint in the Postbag From the Hedge a few weeks earlier.
• Desert strykewyrms, along with the rest of the strykewyrms, were the first monsters in RuneScape that made use of Particle Effects.
• In October 2010, a graphical glitch caused desert strykewyrms and other strykewyrms to get a stripy, wood-like texture on their armour. This was fixed as of 2 November 2010, although it had reappeared. The glitch was fully fixed on 26 July 2011.
• In the lead up to the release of Strykewyrms, the encrypted message from the Chaos Elemental in Postbag from the Hedge contained the phrase 'from beneath you, it devours' - this possibly relates simultaneously to the burrowing nature of the strykewyrms and also that they were slayer-related content. 'From beneath you, it devours' is a recurring phrase in season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• If a player runs behind an obstacle just as a strykewyrm burrows into the ground, the strykewyrm will disappear. Although it will seem to respawn normally, it will leave no drops. This will not count towards a kill, and it has not been fixed yet.
• Standing next or on your own dwarf multicannon prevents wyrms from using their special attack. This is probably a glitch.

v • d • e Strykewyrms
Jungle strykewyrm • Desert strykewyrm • Ice strykewyrm(Freezy pet) • WildyWyrm

v • d • e Slayer monsters
Slayer Tower	Crawling Hand • Banshee • Infernal Mage • Bloodveld • Aberrant spectre • Gargoyle • Nechryael • Abyssal demon
Fremennik Slayer Dungeon	Cave crawler • Rockslug • Cockatrice • Pyrefiend • Basilisk • Jelly • Turoth • Kurask • Aquanite
Lumbridge Swamp Caves	Cave bug • Cave crawler • Cave slime • Wall beast
Poison Waste Slayer Dungeon	Warped terrorbird • Warped tortoise
Pollnivneach Slayer Dungeon	Banshee (Mighty) • Cave crawler (Monstrous) • Basilisk (boss) • Turoth (Mightiest and Swarming turoth) • Kurask (overlord) • Aberrant spectre
Meiyerditch Dungeon	Zombie hand • Skeletal hand • Bloodveld • Mutated bloodveld
God Wars Dungeon	Pyrefiend • Bloodveld • Spiritual ranger • Spiritual warrior • Spiritual mage
Jadinko Lair	Mutated jadinko baby • Mutated jadinko guard • Mutated jadinko male
Polypore Dungeon	Grifolaroo • Grifolapine • Ganodermic runt • Ganodermic beast
Monastery of Ascension	Gladius • Capsarius • Scutarius • Rorarius
Daemonheim	Crawling hand • Cave crawler • Cave slime • Pyrefiend • Night spider • Jelly • Spiritual guardian • Seeker • Nechryael • Edimmu • Soulgazer
Others	Gelatinous Abomination • Desert Lizard • Mogre • Harpie Bug Swarm • Killerwatt • Molanisk • Terror dog • Brine rat • Fever spider • Mutated zygomite • Cave horror • 'Rum'-pumped crab • Dust devil • Skeletal Wyvern • Jungle strykewyrm • Desert strykewyrm • Dark beast • Ice strykewyrm
Specials	Bork • Skeletal horror • Phoenix • Jade vine(wild)
Slayer pets	Soul Wars Creeping hand • Minitrice • Baby basilisk • Baby kurask • Abyssal minion • TzRek-Jad Social Slayer Baby Aquanite • Freezy Other Cresbot