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Tormented Demon

This article is compiled from the videos of GnomonkeyRS. It records what Gnomonkey said, with sources, not verified game fact. See About.

Tormented Demon

Tormented Demon
Type Slayer monster
Requirements Completion of the quest that unlocks them as a Slayer assignment1
Weakness Demon bane weapons, Arclight, abyssal dagger2
Gp/hr ~10m at 80 kills/hr, ~7.5m at 60 kills/hr3
Kills/hr 50-804
Slayer xp/hr ~60k45
Videos 5 (first 2024-07-15, latest 2026-04-09)
Main source Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS)

Tormented Demons are Slayer monsters unlocked by completing a new quest. They are the mobs Jagex took the idea for demonic gorillas from, and were changed completely in mechanics from their RS3 counterpart1. Gnomonkey enjoys them and says they have far more depth than the RS3 version, and that he loves Old School taking something from RS3 and making it enjoyable1.

He considers them the best Slayer monsters in the game for GP (as of March 2025) and recommends any new account unlock them as soon as possible6. By April 2026 they are his favourite Slayer monster, and he calls them more complicated than any Slayer boss7.

Contents

Mechanics

Shield and roar cycle

A Tormented Demon has a shield that gives a permanent 20% damage reduction against all weapons that are not abyssal or demon bane weapons, so only items such as the demon weapons, Arclight, Dragon... bludgeon and the abyssal dagger do their full max hit2. Two mechanics make specific items good: a punish mechanic for very slow weapons, and guaranteed accuracy rolls8.

  • Roar and punish. At the start of almost every kill the demon roars, and the next attack, whatever it is, bypasses the damage reduction. A crush weapon, or a ballista or crossbow on accurate, gets a huge bonus with its attack speed slowed, and the slower the weapon the more damage8.
  • Guaranteed accuracy. After the punish a timer runs. After 25 game ticks (roughly 4 demon attacks) all of the player's attacks cannot miss, until the demon has made 10 attacks in total9. The shield dropping is shown by the flames on the demon's back going out, an animation Jagex added after his earlier guide10. The shield drops roughly after four attacks, and from then on no hit can miss, including mage hits in non-mage gear, until the player punishes again and the fires return11.
  • Fireballs. At the end of the cycle the demon snares the player and drops fireballs, which can be dodged by control-clicking away or by walking in a specific pattern. It then roars again, allowing another punish and repeating the cycle9. The fireball special turns the player's run off, and comes after the demon uses the same attack style ten times in a row12.
  • True DPS. To work out a weapon's real DPS, take 13 of its hits against the demon's normal defence and 17 hits against zero defence and average the 30 hits, which is roughly how many land per roar13.

Combat styles and prayers

Tormented Demons require two combat styles, similar to demonic gorillas but, in his words, not boring6. In 2024 he describes them changing combat style every 150 damage dealt, swapping to the last style used against them14. In 2025 he states that they change their protection prayer every 25% of damage dealt15.

Their attacks use a random style (mage, range or melee). A demon walking towards the player is meleeing, and safe spotting a meleeing demon makes it switch to other styles16. By judging the style correctly a player usually takes about one hit per kill17. Eclipse armour doubles as both ranged and melee armour, so fewer switches are needed6.

Aggro and bugs

The demons have a huge aggro radius, so players on the other side of the room or in tunnels can aggro the demons, making them de-aggro completely or mess up their prayer and special rotations18. They sometimes bug out and stop so they cannot be attacked, and can aggro people on entirely different planes. On packed worlds this means extra aggro or lost aggro when others are nearby19.

Strategy and gear

The following table summarises the 2024 recommendations.

Role Recommendation Notes
Main weapon Toxic blowpipe Awful before it ramps up, then "deletes" the demons; directly better than the Bow of Faerdhinen or any crossbow as the main weapon20. A 100% accurate blowpipe is some of the best DPS in the game but poor when it actually rolls against the demon's large defence, which is why the guaranteed-accuracy window feels strangely good14
Budget Arclight (on stab) Costs nothing and is basically the second-best weapon; a bludgeon is about 5% worse if Arclight's charges are not wanted13
Ranged punish Heavy ballista or Zaryte crossbow on accurate Required, since a slower weapon deals more damage. He is unsure which is better and calls them similar, with the ballista a great cheap option20
Melee punish Dharok's greataxe on crush For when the demons pray ranged; Dragon 2H sword or Abyssal maul a close second20
Best with unlimited cash Twisted bow and Emberlight When not 100% accurate the Twisted bow is directly better than the blowpipe, and at 100% accuracy it is the same DPS21
Special attack Abyssal dagger Against all odds the best spec option: it bypasses the shield so it maxes higher than a Dragon dagger special, costs 25% spec, is 4-tick and maxes 98 in max melee gear with Blood fury, whose procs should outweigh any sustain from the Saradomin godsword2223
Venom switch Toxic blowpipe Brought to inflict venom when the demon cannot be missed, though he calls it pretty marginal22

At the time of the 2024 video the Scorching bow would have been the superior option but was bugged with a reduced max hit, and would beat the Twisted bow if patched the following Wednesday21. The Purging staff was also bugged and should be 5% better DPS than the Scorching bow, but since it cannot punish with a weapon like other styles he thinks it is probably worse21.

In February 2025 he compares the Atlatl to the blowpipe: it has about 41% accuracy against 35% for the blowpipe because it punches through defence better, and just beats a blowpipe with adamant darts on paper even before burn damage. With burn added it is about 18% better2425. The blowpipe needs dragon darts to barely beat the Atlatl on paper (about 1.8% better), while rune darts would be about 7% worse than the Atlatl25.

When the fires go out, he recommends waiting to use a special attack, which lets a Dragon dagger special, for example, hit repeatedly for around fifty26.

Slayer and profit

Tormented demons give a huge XP multiplier, with about 1k Slayer XP per kill drop27. Kill rates reach at most about 80 per hour for a fully maxed setup, 50 to 60 for less experienced players with worse gear, and he gets about 60 per hour on his account, around 60k Slayer XP per hour45.

Kills per hour Profit after supplies
80 ~10m gp/hr
60 ~7.5m gp/hr

These figures (March 2025) were noted as using an outdated synapse price; synapses were about 56 million and rising3. For mains with under a 200 million bank it is really hard to beat Tormented demons for GP per hour, and early grinding them is great28. The demon bane weapons are very useful rare drops5.

An extended task gives 200 to 250 greater demons at about a minute each, roughly four hours29. He trained most of his combat stats by Turael-cancelling to get Tormented demon tasks29. He advises always doing them on task rather than off task, because of the Slayer helm bonus, the 1k Slayer XP drop per kill, and the ability to Turael-cancel for a better task30. Killing several at once is technically faster because the punish is slightly faster, but it barely raises kills per hour in practice, so it is not worth it31.

Loot table

He describes the base loot table as non-existent, a common community complaint. He would like Jagex to keep very bad drops with sparse good drops to prevent inventory clogging, with a buff to the occasional good drops being enough32. A loot table like the Desert Treasure 2 bosses would work really well32.

Combat achievements

He rates the Tormented Demon combat achievements as quite good, including 'Three times the thrashing' (killing three within three seconds)33. When three are tagged together, one fires skulls while the other two off-tick with alternating attacks and still do their triple punish attack, making it a mini boss fight of its own33. The achievement is difficult and needs a lot of APM, but encourages swapping prayers and movement and makes the player better34.

Comparison with Sailing pirates

In April 2026 he rejects Jagex's comparison of the Sailing pirates to Tormented Demons, since the pirates give worse XP and the current Sailing systems cannot support mechanics as engaging75. He says Sailing combat has little depth, and that Jagex can do little beyond trading blows with the pirate ship and then hitting the boarding pirates35. When Jagex collected Sailing feedback, the main point players gave was that the combat is weak and needs to change36.

Revision history

Date Video Change
2026-04-09 NEW PIRATE COMBAT! - Sailing Blog (OSRS) Added favourite Slayer monster status and the comparison with Sailing pirates.
2025-09-11 How to Make Combat Achievements in OSRS Better Added the three-demon combat achievement.
2025-03-04 Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS) Added profit and kill rates (~10m gp/hr at 80 kills/hr), Slayer advice, and prayer change every 25% damage.
2025-02-22 No More Bofa Rush! (OSRS) Added Atlatl comparison against the blowpipe (about 18% better with burn).
2024-07-15 Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS) Page created: quest unlock, shield, roar and accuracy cycle, gear recommendations, loot table opinion.
## See also

References

  1. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩↩

  2. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 1:25 ↩↩

  3. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 13:42 ↩↩

  4. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 13:08 ↩↩↩

  5. NEW PIRATE COMBAT! - Sailing Blog (OSRS), 2026-04-09. ▶ 13:53 ↩↩↩↩

  6. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩↩

  7. NEW PIRATE COMBAT! - Sailing Blog (OSRS), 2026-04-09. ▶ 2:29 ↩↩

  8. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 1:54 ↩↩

  9. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 2:27 ↩↩

  10. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 9:53 ↩

  11. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 10:00 ↩

  12. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 6:45 ↩

  13. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 3:26 ↩↩

  14. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 2:56 ↩↩

  15. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 11:22 ↩

  16. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 5:53 ↩

  17. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 7:14 ↩

  18. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 0:28 ↩

  19. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 0:58 ↩

  20. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 3:53 ↩↩↩

  21. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 4:23 ↩↩↩

  22. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 4:54 ↩↩

  23. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 5:27 ↩

  24. No More Bofa Rush! (OSRS), 2025-02-22. ▶ 17:42 ↩

  25. No More Bofa Rush! (OSRS), 2025-02-22. ▶ 18:07 ↩↩

  26. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 10:40 ↩

  27. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 8:40 ↩

  28. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 13:45 ↩

  29. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 16:43 ↩↩

  30. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 17:30 ↩

  31. Tormented Demons Guide (OSRS), 2025-03-04. ▶ 17:23 ↩

  32. Tormented Demons Guide + Triple KC CA (OSRS), 2024-07-15. ▶ 9:23 ↩↩

  33. How to Make Combat Achievements in OSRS Better, 2025-09-11. ▶ 12:51 ↩↩

  34. How to Make Combat Achievements in OSRS Better, 2025-09-11. ▶ 13:22 ↩

  35. NEW PIRATE COMBAT! - Sailing Blog (OSRS), 2026-04-09. ▶ 14:20 ↩

  36. NEW PIRATE COMBAT! - Sailing Blog (OSRS), 2026-04-09. ▶ 14:50 ↩

Bosses

Nex • The Wardens • Akkha • Doom of Mokhaiotl • Yama • TzKal-Zuk • Kephri • Zebak • Ba-Ba • Alchemical Hydra • Great Olm • Zulrah • Sol Heredit • General Graardor • The Nightmare • Vorkath • Araxxor • Corrupted Hunllef • Verzik Vitur • TzTok-Jad • Tormented Demon • Phosani's Nightmare • JalTok-Jad • Shellbane Gryphon • Vanguards • The Hueycoatl • Kree'arra • Tekton • Maggot King • Vasa Nistirio • Kalphite Queen • Maiden of Sugadinti • Muttadile • Ice Demon • Vespula • Sotetseg • Grotesque Guardians • Xarpus • Corporeal Beast • Smoke devil

Category: Bosses