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%	12%	0.9–1.1%

Represents 90% confidence range, based on a sample of 25,763 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	1,395
	Water rune	2–100	3 Uncommon [1]	26–1,300
	Law rune	15	3 Uncommon	2,700
	Air talisman	1	3 Uncommon	145
	Earth talisman	1	3 Uncommon	793
	Body talisman	1	4 Rare	187
	Mind talisman	1	4 Rare	76
	Cosmic talisman	1	4 Rare	210
	Fire talisman	1	4 Rare	2,018

Weapons and armourEdit

Item		Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Mithril battleaxe	1	3 Uncommon	777
	Rune hatchet	1	3 Uncommon	7,417
	Focus sight	1	5 Very rare [2]	66,232

SeedsEdit

Item		Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Cadantine seed	1	2 Common	2,354
	Avantoe seed	1	3 Uncommon	1,890
	Kwuarm seed	1	3 Uncommon	363
	Toadflax seed	1	3 Uncommon	702
	Irit seed	1	3 Uncommon	74
	Watermelon seed	1	3 Uncommon	2,010
	Poison ivy seed	1	3 Uncommon	54
	Belladonna seed	1	3 Uncommon	33
	Cactus seed	1	3 Uncommon	26
	Lantadyme seed	1	3 Uncommon	34,922
	Dwarf weed seed	1	4 Rare	38,269
	Maple seed	1	5 Very rare	29,564
	Snapdragon seed	1	5 Very rare	2,196
	Torstol seed	1	5 Very rare	78,509

HerbsEdit

Item		Quantity	Rarity	GE Market Price
	Grimy guam	1–4(Noted)	2 Common	539–2,156
	Grimy marrentill	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	44–176
	Grimy lantadyme	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	7,850–31,400
	Grimy avantoe	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	4,128–16,512
	Grimy cadantine	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	2,507–10,028
	Grimy dwarf weed	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	8,195–32,780
	Grimy harralander	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	652–2,608
	Grimy toadflax	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	3,771–15,084
	Grimy irit	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	1,743–6,972
	Grimy kwuarm	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	2,471–9,884
	Grimy ranarr	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	2,160–8,640
	Grimy tarromin	1–4(Noted)	3 Uncommon	249–996

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	348
	Super defence (2)	1	2 Common	77
	Potato cactus	5–10 (noted)	2 Common	3,155–6,310
	Yew logs	10 (noted)	2 Common	5,610
	Pure essence	120 (noted)	2 Common	10,200
	Swordfish	2	3 Uncommon	302
	Adamant bar	3 (noted)	3 Uncommon	9,504
	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 1,143 Uncut emerald 1 2 Common 1,783 Uncut ruby 1 2 Common 3,576 Loop half of a key 1 3 Uncommon 8,548 Tooth half of a key 1 3 Uncommon 12,668 Uncut diamond 1 3 Uncommon 7,160 Uncut dragonstone 1 4 Rare 14,935 Dragonstone 1 4 Rare 9,966 Dragon dagger 1 3 Uncommon 17,221 Rune battleaxe 1 4 Rare 24,627 Rune javelin 5 4 Rare 1,270 Adamant javelin 20 5 Very rare 920 Rune spear 1 5 Very rare 12,048 Dragon spear 1 5 Very rare 36,856 Dragon dagger 50 (noted) 5 Very rare 861,050 Rune kiteshield 1 5 Very rare 32,145 Shield left half 1 5 Very rare 65,188 Dragon helm 1 5 Very rare 59,636 Adamant bolts 200 3 Uncommon 17,400 Rune arrow 150–200; 500 4 Rare 29,850–199 Onyx bolts 150 4 Rare 1,303,050 Battlestaff 200 (noted) 4 Rare 1,665,400 Air orb 1,000 (noted) 4 Rare 1,418,000 Fire orb 1,000 (noted) 4 Rare 1,612,000 Vecna skull 1 5 Very rare 133,474 Water talisman 1 3 Uncommon 4,721 Earth talisman 25–35 (noted) 3 Uncommon 19,825–27,755 Fire talisman 25–35 (noted) 3 Uncommon 50,450–70,630 Chaos talisman 1 3 Uncommon 227 Nature talisman 1 3 Uncommon 270 Pure essence 500–15,000 (noted) 3 Uncommon 42,500–1,275,000 Nature rune 47–77 4 Rare 5,217–8,547 Soul rune 20 4 Rare 2,420 Death rune 50; 121 4 Rare 93 Blood rune 50 4 Rare 8,150 Raw swordfish 125 – 250; 1,000 (noted) 3 Uncommon 37,250–298 Raw shark 250–500 (noted) 3 Uncommon 246,500–493,000 Big bones 150 – 500 (noted) 3 Uncommon 67,350–224,500 Coal 150–7,500 (noted) 3 Uncommon 41,700–2,085,000 Adamantite ore 150–800 (noted) 3 Uncommon 227,700–1,214,400 Silver ore 100 (noted) 4 Rare 10,500 Adamant bar 1,000–7,000 (noted) 4 Rare 3,168,000–22,176,000 Runite ore 100 (noted) 4 Rare 1,041,900 Rune bar 1,50,150 (noted) 4 Rare 13,002–1,950,300 Clean ranarr 33 (noted) 3 Uncommon 74,448 Clean toadflax 25–250 (noted) 3 Uncommon 95,050–950,500 Clean snapdragon 30–120 (noted) 3 Uncommon 106,530–426,120 Clean torstol 10–100 (noted) 3 Uncommon 118,420–1,184,200 Saradomin brew (4) 250 (noted) 5 Very rare 172,000 Watermelon seed 3 3 Uncommon 6,030 Yew seed 1–50 4 Rare 71,385–3,569,250 Magic seed 1–6 4 Rare 160,602–963,612 Palm tree seed 10 4 Rare 1,064,590 Snapdragon seed 1 4 Rare 2,196 Torstol seed 1–31 4 Rare 78,509–2,433,779 Fellstalk seed 2 4 Rare 932 Yew logs 100–20,000 (noted) 4 Rare 56,100–11,220,000

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
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