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The TzHaar Fight Cave is among the hardest minigames in RuneScape. To fully complete it, the player must have high combat skills and good equipment.
If the player clicks log out while fighting in the Caves, they are automatically logged out at the end of the wave. Logging out manually before that means they have to repeat the wave.
Logging out between waves can be necessary, but it can be risky whilst logging back into the game. A good internet connection is also very helpful. Playing on a low-populated world with very low ping (<65) decreases the chance of lag.
Recommended skills
For the Fight Cave there are no skill requirements. However, it is recommended that the player has at least the following stats before attempting the Fight Cave. Recommended stats may vary according to the method of combat chosen.
Ranged
- 80
Ranged for the chaotic crossbow, royal crossbow, or Zaryte bow.
- 52
Defence strongly recommended for Rejuvenate. 70/75/80 Defence for Karil's equipment / Armadyl armour / Pernix armour.
- 40
Prayer practically necessary as Protect from Missiles and Protect from Magic are essential in surviving TzTok-Jad. Optional 70 for Rigour. For Ancient Curses, 68 for Deflect Missiles and optionally 95 for Anguish. For high level players, 92 Prayer for Soul Split makes the waves faster as they could rely less on Rejuvenate and perhaps use more offensive Ultimate abilities, but there is a problem with that.
- 70 Constitution, preferably higher, to be able to withstand a hit from Jad without the correct prayer.
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An example of a possible inventory setup.
Melee
- 90 Attack for drygore equipment.
- 52 Defence strongly recommended for Rejuvenate. 70/80 Defence for Verac's equipment or Bandos armour / Torva armour.
- 40 Prayer strongly recommended as Protect from Missiles and Protect from Magic are essential in surviving TzTok-Jad. Optional 60 for Chivalry 70 for Piety. For Ancient Curses, 68 for Deflect Missiles and optionally 95 for Turmoil. For high level players, 92 Prayer for Soul Split makes the waves faster as they could rely less on Rejuvenate and perhaps use more offensive Ultimate abilities, but there is a problem with that.
- 70 Constitution, preferably higher, to be able to withstand a hit from Jad without the correct prayer.
Magic
- 80 Magic for Chaotic staff or Virtus wand. However, 94 Magic is also recommended for Ice Barrage/Blood Barrage, ice barrage is useful for rooting, while blood barrage will cut down your food substantially, especially if paired with Vampyrism aura and Soul Split
- 52 Defence strongly recommended for Rejuvenate. 70/75/80 Defence for Ahrim's equipment / Ganodermic armour / Virtus armour.
- 40 Prayer strongly recommended as Protect from Missiles and Protect from Magic are essential in surviving TzTok-Jad. Optional 70 for Augury. For Ancient Curses, 68 for Deflect Missiles and optionally 95 for Torment. For high level players, 92 Prayer for Soul Split makes the waves faster as they could rely less on Rejuvenate and perhaps use more offensive Ultimate abilities, but there is a problem with that.
- 70 Constitution preferably higher, to be able to withstand a hit from Jad without the correct prayer.
Changes in Evolution of Combat
- The Fight Caves are much easier than before the Evolution of Combat. For medium-high level players, Rejuvenate along with Regenerate are enough to support them for the whole minigame.
- Prayer is no longer a necessity, other than against TzTok-Jad. Ket-Zeks are much weaker, with a max hit of around 700-800.
- Most creatures are now assigned a noticeable weakness. While higher levelled (with tier 80+ weapons) players may ignore this, it would be a very good idea for low level players to keep it in mind.
- Another benefit of the Evolution of Combat is that some armours now are offence orientated, while others have a more defensive set of stats. This can come in handy when choosing your set-up.
Combat styles overview
In the Evolution of Combat, the three combat styles are more balanced, and Ranged is actually less effective than Magic and possibly Melee, but of course it depends on the player's stats, skills, equipment available and playing style.
Magic
Possibly the fastest method, as Tz-Kihs, Tz-Keks and Yt-MejKots are very weak to Water Spells. Ice Barrage is overall excellent for the whole minigame. Water Surge could be used as a less effective, lower level alternative. Despite Ket-Zeks being classified as a magic monster, it is easy to hit them with tier 80 weapons. The multi-hitting properties of Ice Barrage are very useful - both for dealing with multiple small opponents (like a crowd of Tz-Kihs and Tz-Keks) and for the boss fight.
Melee
The most difficult way to beat the Fight Caves, as three different protection prayers have to be used during the fight against TzTok-Jad.
Yt-MejKots are nearly impossible to kill with melee, as they heal every time they fall below 50% health when you're in melee range. This can be avoided by performing interrupted attacks. Let one attack land on Yt-MejKot, retreat one square back and wait until the LP bar above his head disappears. Afterwards repeat the process. Ket-Zeks are tough to deal with.
Prayer
Simply put, the player has two options. Either to do it the old way of prioritizing killing the prayer-draining Tz-Kihs and pray against the most damaging attack, or simply tank the whole Caves except for Jad. The former does not work as well as before for several reasons.
- Tz-Kih now have 3000 life points and quite high melee and ranged resistance.
- Ket-Zeks, commonly prayed against in the past due to their extremely dangerous magic attack, have been massively de-powered, and tanking them is virtually easy with recommended stats.
- Prayer does not fully block damage.
- Prayer potions restore less.
Basically, more trouble for less protection compared to before. Therefore, higher level players should have no problem with letting the Tz-Kihs drain their prayer to zero and get it back up right before Jad. Low levels may want to keep Tz-Kihs away from them, and pray magic against the Ket-Zek. However, inventory space would be an issue due to prayer potions being less effective as stated above.
Very high level players, especially those using Ice Barrage, may wish to kill Tz-Kih first and use Torment throughout the caves to make it go quicker. Ice Barrage's freezing ability and the Tz-Kihs weakness to Water Spells make relatively safe and fast work for them, and is a viable option for more experienced players. It should be noted that Ice Barrage's freezing time has been halved to 10 seconds.
The correct protection prayer would help the player to partially block any of TzTok-Jad's attacks.
Healing
For players with the recommended stats, use the Rejuvenate ability to heal when low on health to save Rocktails for the fight with TzTok-Jad; the ability should be much more than enough if done correctly. An alternative for players who have completed The World Wakes is the ability Guthix's Blessing. Another option is Ice Asylum, which requires 91 Constitution and the completion of The Dig Site quest. Neither Ice Asylum nor Guthix's Blessing requires a shield. However for Ice Asylum to be an efficient way of healing, the player needs to stay nearby the crystal that spawns, and by standing in the centre of it, you will receive its maximum healing.
It should be noted that rocktails are not necessarily the best food - it depends on your Constitution level. If less than level 93 it could heal less than a shark. Simply try both to see which heals more. Rocktails do have the advantage of healing over maximum though, so bringing one for healing right before Jad would be a good idea even if sharks are normally better.
A Saradomin godsword is also useful for its ability to restore your health and prayer.
Choosing a weapon
Ranged
Rune crossbow
The rune crossbow is a good weapon for low levels as it is very cheap and only requires 50 Ranged.
The downside to it being that the higher ammo requires stronger bows to fire. The rune crossbow can only fire up to sapphire bolts (e) and runite bolts. Changes in ranged damage bonus also means that gem-tipping bolts now gives a significant boost. The two bolt types have the same bonus, and as the former's special effect only works against players, they are exactly the same. However, the latter may be more expensive. Broad-tipped bolts can also be used with 55 Slayer.
An advantage of a rune crossbow is that it is a one-handed weapon, allowing for use of a shield or off-hand. A disadvantage, however, is the extremely low damage output, and most monsters in the fight cave being resistant to range.
Elder shortbow
The Elder shortbow is considerably better than the rune crossbow in terms of both damage and accuracy (due to the Ket-Zeks being weak to arrows), but doesn't allow the use of a shield, and is still slightly inaccurate.
Karil's crossbow
For players with 70 Ranged or higher, Karil's crossbow is an option.
It hits much higher than the rune crossbow and the elder shortbow and the ammo is used is stronger than any the latter could fire. However, it is slower and it degrades, and is two-handed.
Armadyl Crossbow
For players with 75 Ranged or higher.
It has better stats than Karil's crossbow, doesn't degrade and it has a +1 prayer bonus. The main downside is its cost. It can shoot any bolts except ascension.
Crystal bow
Another Ranged weapon, requiring 70 Ranged and 50 Agility, is the crystal bow. This bow degrades when used and does not require ammo. It has the same hit bonus and slightly higher ability damage than Karil's crossbow with bolt racks. The crystal bow is also faster than Karil's and exploits the arrow weakness of the Ket-Zeks. If you consistently use abilities, the bow should not revert to a crystal weapon seed.
Zaryte Bow
The zaryte bow, requiring 80 Ranged, is a more powerful version of the crystal bow. It costs 26 times as much as a crystal bow, but this is a one-time cost, and the repairing fee is much lower. It also endures much longer, so an extra is not needed.
Chaotic crossbow
The chaotic crossbow is a more accurate version of the rune crossbow. It could fire all bolts except for ascension bolts, and is one-handed, allowing for use of a shield or its off-hand counterpart. However, it degrades and is quite expensive to maintain.
Royal Crossbow
The royal crossbow is a powerful and accurate crossbow. It is also relatively cheap to buy the parts and ammunition.
Ascension Crossbow
The Ascension crossbow is the 2nd strongest ranged weapon available in the game and can fire any bolt. It can also be used with a shield or an off-hand. The main drawback is the high up-front cost of the weapon. It also degrades and is rather expensive to maintain.
Noxious Longbow
The Noxious longbow is currently the strongest ranged weapon outside of Dungeoneering.
Magic
It should be noted that for staves, their hit bonus is always ten times their magic level requirement. Barring some special effects, those with a higher magic level requirement would always be more accurate, unlike the diversity in main game.
Polypore staff
The polypore staff is one of the most accurate magic weapons (1694 accuracy) while also possessing its own spell requiring no runes.
Armadyl battlestaff
The Armadyl battlestaff has a magic requirement of 77 and Ritual of the Mahjarrat is required to use the spell it enhances. It is the second most accurate staff in the game (1783 accuracy) behind the Chaotic staff's 1924. The Armadyl Battlestaff also increases the damage of the Storm of Armadyl spell, with the added benefit of acting as a staff of air providing unlimited air runes.
Staff of light
The staff of light has a magic requirement of 75. Along with having a fairly high accuracy (1694 accuracy), it also has a chance to save all runes when casting offensive spells. This can be very helpful if using Ancient Magicks.
Greater runic staff
The Greater runic staff can be bought from Wizard Finix's Runecrafting Shop for 25,000 Runespan points. It requires 75 magic and 90 runecrafting to wield. It has a fairly high accuracy bonus (1,694) and can hold 1,000 charges of a single spell, thus eliminating the need to carry the runes in your inventory. This can free up inventory spaces for food or potions. It does not, however, have the ability to save runes when casting offensive spells.
Chaotic staff
The Chaotic staff can be bought from dungeoneering for 200,000 tokens. It requires 80 magic to use. It is an excellent choice for hard hitting offensive spells for those without money for tier 90 weapons.
Abyssal wand
The abyssal wand is very effective in combination with the Abyssal orb. Experienced players can combine the wand with the Arcane spirit shield, however this method is quite dangerous when fighting TzTok-Jad. The damage soak ability of the shield heavily drains your prayer when a mistake is made, and a hit from TzTok-Jad can drain a maximum of 430 points, so it is very important to keep track of prayer if using this method.
Noxious staff/Seismics
The Noxious staff, Seismic wand and Seismic singularity are the strongest magic weapons outside Daemonheim. They require 90 magic to use and are the best choices for mages.
TzTok-Jad
TzTok-Jad is the final monster encountered in the Fight Cave and has a combat level of 702. Examining it yields the discouraging message "This is going to hurt..." Defeating TzTok-Jad requires a huge amount of persistence and determination, as TzTok-Jad is rarely defeated in the first try by even the best RuneScape players.
General information
In order for one to reach TzTok-Jad, one must first fight 62 progressively tougher waves of monsters, with TzTok-Jad on the 63rd wave. The current wave that the player is on is shown at the beginning of each wave. TzTok-Jad himself is a huge, four-legged behemoth and uses all three sides of the combat triangle - Magic, Ranged and melee. TzTok-Jad will not attack with melee unless the player is adjacent to him. When the player is in melee range, TzTok-Jad will use Magic and Ranged attacks as well. If the player attacks from a distance - which is strongly recommended - TzTok-Jad will alternate between Magic and Ranged attacks. During the fight, the player should focus on switching to the correct protection prayer in time. Even when the Yt-HurKots appear or the player gets hit, switching prayers is always the most important thing to do.
It is also possible to use the Ancient Curses after completing The Temple at Senntisten to protect from his attacks. The Deflect Curses are very useful, as they work and drain the same way the normal protection prayers do, and can also be used against Yt-MejKot, Ket-Zek and Tok-Xil. They also have a chance of dealing some helpful damage to the enemies attacking. It is widely believed that the Deflect Curses deal 10% of damage of what the enemy would have caused. The disadvantage is you need at least 68 prayer (if using range) or 71 (if using melee for TzTok-Jad). Note that it is no longer possible to kill TzTok-Jad using only deflect curses.
Abilities that are very useful if you have a shield are Resonance and Reflect. When Resonance is used you can purposely "miss" a prayer switch and heal whatever TzTok-Jad hits you for, though timing is crucial with this ability, and his attack might not hit you. Reflect is also useful as it reduces any damage by 50% and reflects 50% back to TzTok-Jad, though it is highly not advised unless you want to take damage from his attacks, or use it in conjunction with Resonance.
TzTok-Jad randomly spawns in any one of the spawn points in the arena, just like the other monsters.
Attacks
Survival depends on watching TzTok-Jad's movements - an animation precedes the attack, telling the player which prayer to use.
- Melee: TzTok-Jad slashes the player with his right claw. This is the fastest attack, and TzTok-Jad gives no warning of it. If the player stays at a distance, however, they should not encounter it.
- Magic: TzTok-Jad will dip his head down and then rear up, standing up straight and will begin to breath fire after about half a second. You can hear him inhale/growl loudly while rearing up and before he actually attacks, so listen for it. Protect from magic needs to be activated while he's rearing up, as after he begins to breath fire it will be too late, and you will be hit. This attack looks almost identical to his original magic attack, and veteran players should be able to identify it easily.
- Ranged: TzTok-Jad slams his front legs onto the ground, and large cracks appear in the floor at his feet - the player must turn on their prayer now. Next, a boulder will fall down on the player. TzTok-Jad usually opens the fight with a Ranged attack, so pray against missiles as soon as you defeat the second Ket-Zek in the wave before Jad. Note that sometimes TzTok-Jad will still start with a Magic attack; in this case, change prayers when you see the Magic attack animation. An easy way to remember if it is a ranged attack is that TzTok-Jad will always at one point slam his front legs down during it.
Although somewhat slow, all of these attacks can deal enough damage in a single blow to kill even the most powerful of players if not guarded by use of the correct protection prayer. TzTok-Jad has a maximum hit of at least 8000 and hits fairly accurately. However, if you do accidentally activate the wrong prayer, you might still have time to switch to the correct one.
Healers
When TzTok-Jad is down to half health, he will summon four Yt-HurKots which will heal him, effectively causing him to regenerate endlessly until they are dealt with. In order to stop them from healing, they need to be hit once so they turn their attention to the player. The Yt-HurKots' melee attacks hit up to 250, so the player could kill them, but if one has a decent Defence level and good equipment, they should not be extremely dangerous - one should always watch their health, though. Alternatively, when all of the Yt-HurKots are attacking the player, run through TzTok-Jad and they will become trapped behind him, but Jad may attack with melee. This is not advised unless the player is experienced. If they healed TzTok-Jad back to full health and are then killed, they will respawn; otherwise not.
After each is hit, lure them to a safe spot (pillar provides many safe squares) and keep them a distance from Jad, as long as you don't see the swirling healing effect on Jad, you can safely kill the healers and carry on with Jad.
Notes:
- Ice Barrage is very efficient for dealing with multiple healers once lured by a ranged weapon or a non-freezing spell, as the healers are weak to Water Spells. Players might even hit Jad at the same time. Higher levels should be able to kill them in less than four hits.
- If the player gets hit by TzTok-Jad, they should not panic or consume a large amount of food or potions in one go. Stay calm and focused. Heal once every time he attacks while prioritizing praying first.