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Vorkath

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

Vorkath

Vorkath
Type Boss
Requirements Dragon Slayer II, 80+ Ranged, 74 Prayer for Rigor, 80+ Magic, Defence and Hitpoints112
Best gear Full elite void, imbued salve amulet, dragon hunter crossbow (2019)23
Trip length Six kills, about 14 minutes at most45
Fastest kill About 126 seconds with Osmumten's fang and a mixed hide budget setup6
Tier B (2022)7
Videos 7 (first 2019-04-08, latest 2025-09-11)
Main source How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE)

Vorkath is a dragon boss that Gnomonkey treats as a standard, consistent money boss that everyone does.89 He made his 2019 guide because he felt most guides did not show comprehensively how to deal with the acid phase.10 In 2022 he placed Vorkath in B tier, lower than Zulrah, calling it not bad but not great, and said there is little going on beyond avoiding fireballs, Woox walking and clicking the spawn when frozen.117 He rates the pet, a little blue dragon, D tier, just above Hellpuppy.9

Later videos (2024 and 2025) use the fight as a test bed for downgraded and budget setups, and he values the Woox walk as a teachable mechanic.12131415

Contents

Requirements

Dragon Slayer II is required to fight Vorkath at all.1 The 2019 guide assumes the following levels.112

  • Ranged: 80 minimum; going from 80 to 99 is about a 20% DPS difference. Each level is about a 1% DPS increase, so he keeps his boost high, letting it decay to +9 before re-potting immediately.116
  • Prayer: at least 74 for Rigor, a 6-10% DPS increase, though kills are possible with Eagle Eye.1
  • Magic, Defence and Hitpoints: 80+ of each are effectively necessary. Magic makes up 66% of the player's magic defence and Defence makes up 33%.2

Equipment and inventory

The setup needs full elite void, an imbued salve amulet and a rune pouch. Kills are possible with regular void but are significantly slower and use more prayer.2

  • Gear (2019): full elite void including gloves, imbued salve amulet, Ava's assembler (or accumulator), enchanted ruby dragon bolts, dragon hunter crossbow, dragonfire ward, Pegasian boots and an imbued archers ring.3
  • Weapon: at the time of the 2019 video the dragon hunter crossbow is the most effective weapon.10 By 2022 he notes that a ZCB may now be faster, and that Torva with the dragon hunter lance is another method.17
  • Shield: with an odium ward or anti-dragon shield instead of a dragonfire ward, the player must pray Protect from Magic instead of Ranged or the dragon breath does heavy damage.18
  • Boots: blessed dragonhide boots are acceptable until Pegasian boots are affordable, since the Pegasian boots are only about a 1% DPS increase.18
  • Inventory: three 4-dose prayer potions (one can be swapped for food if very experienced with prayer flicking and 96+ Prayer), diamond dragon bolts, a 4-dose ranging potion, anti-venom+, a 3-dose super antifire, 19 manta rays, a rune pouch with law, dust and chaos runes, and Fremennik sea boots 4.19
  • Antifire: a 3-dose super antifire gives 18 minutes of protection, up to 23 minutes if the next trip begins immediately. A six-kill trip should not take more than 14 minutes, so he brings no fourth dose.4
  • Food: manta rays or the cheapest 22+ healing food; lower-healing food is inefficient here.20
  • Runes: law, dust and chaos runes allow casting Crumble Undead and teleporting to house.20

Without the Elite Diary, a Lunar Isle teleport portal in the player's house plus Bird Eye Jack's bank booth can prep the next trip; talking to another banker then kicks the player off the island in front of the dock to Vorkath.21

He advises against a melee setup because a dragon hunter lance can give a negative magic attack bonus, which can make Crumble Undead splash on the spawn.22

Mechanics

Vorkath uses six regular attacks before each of his two special attacks. The regular attacks are chosen completely randomly, so the same attack can be used up to six times in a row. After six regular attacks he begins the ice phase or the acid phase; the first special is random, after which he alternates between them.2324

Regular attacks

Attack Notes
Ranged hairball Most common attack, max hit 35; the reason he plays ranged rather than magic.23
Magic Used about a third as often as ranged, max hit 30, and the player's main source of incoming damage.23
Orange dragonfire breath Zero damage with full fire protection.23
Green dragonfire breath Zero damage with full protection but inflicts venom without anti-venom; one dose of anti-venom cures it.25
Pink dragonfire breath Turns the player's prayers off; clicking the quick prayers icon turns them back on without breaking the player's attack.25
Fireball Most powerful regular attack, up to 121 damage if the player is directly under it; half damage one tile away, avoided completely two or more tiles away.26
Melee Heavy damage if the player enters melee range; should not occur when using ranged.26

Vorkath's attacks take five ticks to reach the player, which makes him one of the easiest monsters to tick eat. When health is below 30 the player can wait to eat until Vorkath fires a magic attack.27

Ice phase

The ice breath does no damage but instantly freezes the player in place and prevents Vorkath from taking any damage until the phase ends.28 A zombified spawn crawls towards the player and explodes for a max hit of 60 if it arrives before it is killed.28 Crumble Undead always instantly kills the spawn.22 Magic attack bonus matters here: with the budget setup he had enough mage attack bonus not to worry about the spawn, while the downgraded melee setup's very negative magic bonus forced him to take off pieces.2930

The player should count six regular attacks after the acid phase to know when the freeze comes, and be ready to click a tile, because the character continues attacking when the phase starts. Attacking twice at the start leaves no time to kill the spawn, let alone eat; with no attack at all the player can eat as many as three pieces of food.2231

Acid phase

He calls the acid phase by far the most mechanically complicated and difficult attack.31

  • All damage dealt is halved, including ruby bolt specials.31
  • Vorkath spews acid on random tiles; if the player is far enough from the entrance no acid spawns near it, which is why he stands on his marked tiles.32
  • Fireballs land where the player stood each tick, so standing still can mean hits well over 30 each.32
  • Walking into acid deals 7 to 10 damage each tick, and each splat heals Vorkath by an equal amount.32
  • A blob of acid always lands where the character stood when the phase started, so the player must move as soon as the phase starts. The acid is visible in the air right before it hits, giving one tick to react.33

Beginners who struggle are advised to walk around the arena without attacking during the acid phase until they have a handle on the other attacks.33 The Woox walk, which gives faster kills, is the advanced version: he considers the combat achievement for hitting Vorkath 12 times during the acid special without being hit by rapid fire or acid pools a good one that teaches an emergent piece of gameplay, and wishes there were more like it.1415

Eating

He ranks the most efficient times to eat as between kills, then the ice phase, then the acid phase because damage is halved.2234 Eating one piece of food as the breath leaves Vorkath's mouth wastes zero ticks; two pieces are possible if the player has not accidentally attacked, and a third after casting Crumble Undead on the spawn.34 Eating more during the ice phase slows killing the spawn and risks being hit by it.34

Loot and trips

Items on the ground in Vorkath's instance do not disappear for 30 minutes, so loot can stay down for the whole trip.5 Trips typically last six kills because that is when the inventory is usually full of loot.5 A player who never dies could leave everything until the end, but he does not, because he still occasionally dies and all ground drops are lost on death.5 He calls the Wrath talisman basically the worst drop and leaves it on the ground.5 He describes Vorkath as consistent money, unlike the Corrupted Gauntlet, where most of the money comes from the Blade of Saeldor, and suggests players who struggle to become consistent there try something less difficult like Vorkath.835

Downgraded and budget setups

In 2024 he killed Vorkath with the OSRS Wiki's worst melee setup: Justiciar armour, Bandos boots, granite gloves, a Slayer helmet, an Abyssal dagger and a Rune defender, with no salve amulet.12 The max hit is 37 with Piety and 44 with extra boosts.29 The Abyssal dagger special reduces the max hit but is probably still better than Arclight, whose special drains Vorkath's defence by 10 levels (he first said 12).3637 The kill took about three minutes.38 He calls the blowpipe option standard and boring, and thinks a crossbow with rune bolts is probably worse than his setup.39

The Osmumten's fang and mixed hide budget setup killed Vorkath in about 126 seconds on the first attempt and 144 on the second, using fewer supplies than the downgraded setup.6

In 2025 he tried the old wiki setup. It downgrades the salve amulet to an amulet of power, the Infernal cape to a skill cape (a thieving cape), the Bandos chestplate to an Ink hauberk, the tassets to a Fremennik kilt, and uses a Leaf-bladed sword, a Toktz-ket-xil shield, a ring of life and an Armadyl godsword spec.13

  • The Fremennik kilt downgrade is a pure item, and a pure cannot complete Dragon Slayer II, so he says it has no use case for Vorkath.40
  • With the Toktz-ket-xil shield the setup gives about 125 ranged defence even with empty slots (about 60 without it), against 105 in the Fremennik-way max gear, according to Gearscape.41
  • He finds it surprisingly slightly easier than the Fremennik way because the shield also gives a strength bonus and is decently tanky.42
  • He questions the wiki's Ring of the gods listing, since the trip is always the same length and prayer potions are barely needed.43
  • The listed specs were not the worst, except the Armadyl godsword, which he called absurd.43
  • He tries to brew only on Vorkath's specials, which wastes less DPS; damage is halved while standing in acid, so that is a good time to brew.4445
  • The kill with empty helm, glove and boot slots, the Leaf-bladed sword and AGS took 5 minutes 40 seconds, which he called not that bad.46

Fang is so good on Vorkath: a later Fang and Burning claws kill took roughly two minutes, a bit better than the 5:40 old wiki kill.4748 A 1k setup kill took about four minutes, slow against expectation, and used 40 knives worth about 8k GP.49

Revision history

Date Video Change
2025-09-11 How to Make Combat Achievements in OSRS Better Added Woox walk combat achievement opinion.
2025-09-06 WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS) Added old wiki setup comparison and its 5:40 kill, plus the later Fang and Burning claws kill.
2024-05-18 WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS) Added downgraded wiki melee setup and Osmumten's fang budget kills.
2022-03-19 PVM Boss Tier List (ALL BOSSES) OSRS Added B tier placement and remarks on Woox walking, the lance and a possible ZCB.
2022-03-12 Pet Hunter Tier List (Bosses, Skilling, Etc) OSRS Added pet opinion (D tier, above Hellpuppy).
2020-04-14 Corrupted Gauntlet Guide (5M GP/HR) INSANE MONEY MAKING GUIDE OSRS Added view of Vorkath as consistent money compared with the Corrupted Gauntlet.
2019-04-08 How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE) Page created: 2019 guide covering requirements, gear, inventory, attacks, ice and acid phases, eating and loot.
## See also

References

  1. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 0:59 ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 1:33 ↩↩↩↩↩

  3. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 2:12 ↩↩

  4. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 2:59 ↩↩

  5. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 15:52 ↩↩↩↩↩

  6. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS), 2024-05-18. ▶ 8:25 ↩↩

  7. PVM Boss Tier List (ALL BOSSES) OSRS, 2022-03-19. ▶ 38:13 ↩↩

  8. Corrupted Gauntlet Guide (5M GP/HR) INSANE MONEY MAKING GUIDE OSRS, 2020-04-14. ▶ 0:27 ↩↩

  9. Pet Hunter Tier List (Bosses, Skilling, Etc) OSRS, 2022-03-12. ▶ 28:02 ↩↩

  10. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩

  11. PVM Boss Tier List (ALL BOSSES) OSRS, 2022-03-19. ▶ 37:45 ↩

  12. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS), 2024-05-18. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩

  13. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 0:26 ↩↩

  14. How to Make Combat Achievements in OSRS Better, 2025-09-11. ▶ 10:26 ↩↩

  15. How to Make Combat Achievements in OSRS Better, 2025-09-11. ▶ 10:55 ↩↩

  16. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 16:47 ↩

  17. PVM Boss Tier List (ALL BOSSES) OSRS, 2022-03-19. ▶ 37:16 ↩

  18. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 2:29 ↩↩

  19. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 2:48 ↩

  20. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 3:30 ↩↩

  21. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 3:48 ↩

  22. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 8:42 ↩↩↩↩

  23. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 6:29 ↩↩↩↩

  24. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 8:07 ↩

  25. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 7:07 ↩↩

  26. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 7:40 ↩↩

  27. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 17:47 ↩

  28. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 8:11 ↩↩

  29. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS), 2024-05-18. ▶ 3:01 ↩↩

  30. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS), 2024-05-18. ▶ 7:01 ↩

  31. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 9:11 ↩↩↩

  32. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 9:40 ↩↩↩

  33. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 10:10 ↩↩

  34. How to kill VORKATH (OSRS VORKATH GUIDE), 2019-04-08. ▶ 17:14 ↩↩↩

  35. Corrupted Gauntlet Guide (5M GP/HR) INSANE MONEY MAKING GUIDE OSRS, 2020-04-14. ▶ 1:32 ↩

  36. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS), 2024-05-18. ▶ 4:01 ↩

  37. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS), 2024-05-18. ▶ 4:30 ↩

  38. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS), 2024-05-18. ▶ 5:55 ↩

  39. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH (OSRS), 2024-05-18. ▶ 2:30 ↩

  40. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 0:53 ↩

  41. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 1:23 ↩

  42. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 1:55 ↩

  43. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 2:27 ↩↩

  44. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 4:25 ↩

  45. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 4:53 ↩

  46. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 8:30 ↩

  47. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 14:23 ↩

  48. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 14:54 ↩

  49. WIKI GUIDES - VORKATH V2 (OSRS), 2025-09-06. ▶ 21:04 ↩

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