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For the Dragonkin Laboratory monster, see Onyx dragon (Dragonkin Laboratory).
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Onyx dragon icon

Onyx dragons are high-level Slayer monsters requiring level 98 Slayer to kill. They are part of the gemstone dragon group, and are the second strongest dragon of this type.

A total of six onyx dragons are located in the gemstone cavern under the Shilo Village mining site. They require the completion of the hard Karamja achievements in order to access them in the gem rock cavern underneath. In order to pass the barrier to confront them, players are also required to sacrifice a number of uncut dragonstone, uncut onyx, or uncut hydrix gems - with each gem type allowing the player to kill a certain number of dragons within their respective chamber; up to a limit of storing 60,000 kills at a time.

If the player is on a Slayer task for gemstone dragons, however, they may enter the gemstone cavern without the need for charges, and, if the player has already donated gems for charges, the charges will not be consumed while on-task.

Entrance fee to killing onyx dragons
Uncut gem Kills per gem Cost per kill
Uncut dragonstone Uncut dragonstone 2 6,039
Uncut onyx Uncut onyx 400 5,745
Incomplete hydrix Incomplete hydrix 4000 6,390

Strategies[]

Onyx dragons attack primarily with magic, although they will use both magic and melee if within melee range in addition to the regular dragonfire attack.

Onyx dragons will periodically use their special attack which steals some of the player's life points and heals the dragon for 5,000 life points. This can be avoided by moving away from the black spikes that come towards the player as a ripple effect, when they reach the player's location they will emerge as a 3 by 3 area of effect attack (AoE) and can be avoided completely by moving out of that area. They will not use their special attack if the player is within melee range.

Resonance may be used to heal from their special attack, but the attack will still heal the dragon. Of all the gemstone dragons' special attacks, this attack's effect is the least punishing, so it may be safer to do so with these dragons. Beware that overuse of Resonance to block the special attack over the course of the task results in having to deal a lot more damage to complete it. Similarly, Devotion may be used with Protect / Deflect Magic to block the attack's damage, but this does not prevent the attack from healing the dragon.

It is possible to kill onyx dragons with an aggression potion active and while not paying attention to the possible special attacks rather safely by placing an onyx dragon soul in their own Slayer dungeon and standing on top of the dragon's spawn point. This makes it likely that the dragon targets the player before it gets out of melee distance, and thus prevents it from using its special attacks.

Drops[]

100% drop[]

Item Quantity Rarity GE price
Hardened dragon bonesHardened dragon bones1Always10,861

Charms[]

No charmGold charmGreen charmCrimson charmBlue charm
58–64%7–10%20–25%6–9%0.8–2.3%
Represents a 90% confidence range based on a sample of 683 kills.
3 charms are dropped at a time.
Add data to the log (requires JavaScript).

Main drops[]

Monster often drops two from this table.

Item Quantity Rarity GE price
Ring of lifeRing of life1Uncommon4,238
RubyRuby(noted)Uncommon2,190
Gold oreGold ore25–30 (noted)Uncommon14,675–17,610
OnyxOnyx1Very rare2,307,534
DiamondDiamond(noted)Uncommon3,876
SapphireSapphire5–7 (noted)Common2,130–2,982
Onyx bolt tipsOnyx bolt tips1Common7,107
Runite boltsRunite bolts4–6Common788–1,182
Ring of duelling (8)Ring of duelling (8)2Common8,194
Coins 1000Coins1,000–3,000Common1,000–3,000
Ruby bolt tipsRuby bolt tips48–60Common5,616–7,020
Dragonstone ringDragonstone ring1–2Common9,215–18,430
Gemstone helmGemstone helm1Very rare640,853
Gemstone greavesGemstone greaves1Very rare3,154,867
Draconic visageDraconic visage1Rare1,187,911

Tertiary drops[]

Item Quantity Rarity GE price
Sealed clue scroll (hard)Sealed clue scroll (hard)1RareNot sold
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