MASSIVE SLAYER UPDATE BLOG (OSRS)


Date	2025-07-18
Type	news-opinion
Video	youtu.be/0hoSb6coaVk

Summary

Gnomonkey reacts to the Slayer QoL blog: per-master block lists, a new Slayer UI, cheaper unlocks with refunds, a combined metal dragons task, unnoted herb drops, plus miscellaneous changes to Mage Training Arena, moon keys and Arceuus spells. He is extremely positive, with a few suggestions such as cheaper Slayer helmets and more combined tasks.

Outline

0:00 Introduction to the Slayer blog
0:53 Slayer block list overhaul: a block list per Slayer Master
3:30 New Slayer UI with task chances
4:20 Early-game point adjustments for Mazchna and Vannaka
5:03 Unlock point cost reductions and refunds
8:36 Dragon task consolidation into metal dragons
11:43 Noted herb drops becoming unnoted for the herb sack
13:25 Overall thoughts on the Slayer changes
14:42 Gargoyle granite hammer effect and Mage Training Arena rune pouch
16:11 Moon key drop rate buffs and moon helmet collection log
18:31 Arceuus spell rune cost tweaks
20:21 Final thoughts: Slayer helmet cost and further task ideas
23:48 Teaser for the Doom of Mokhaiotl delve boss and its new items

Topics covered

Update: Slayer block lists per master

(0:59) The Slayer blog announced that every Slayer Master gets their own block list, so players no longer need to unset and reset blocks when switching between goals such as Wilderness Slayer and regular Slayer.
(1:26) As of the update, different Slayer Masters have different prices for blocks: Gnomonkey cites 40 points to unlock the Turael block list, 80 points for Konar, 90 for another master (heard as Steve), and 100 for Krystilia.
(1:53) Gnomonkey made a Turael block list for when the update goes live: banshees, bears, dogs, dwarves, lizards, skeletons and wolves, and he intends to leave cow fights unblocked on Turael because the Desert Amulet 4 takes him right to the cave.
(2:25) Gnomonkey estimates that Turael point boosting with the new Turael-specific block list will be easily 25% faster, because the tasks left are much faster than the ones blocked.
(2:59) Gnomonkey says a Wilderness Slayer block list makes Wilderness Slayer the fastest way to get Slayer points, roughly 50% faster than point boosting through Turael.
(2:59) Gnomonkey considers the per-master block list an amazing change because players can do Wilderness Slayer at will without rebuilding their block list, and says it drastically improves Turael.
(7:00) The update wipes everyone's block list and refunds all the points, letting players immediately set up block lists for every master; Gnomonkey expects a large lump sum of points on his main.
(13:30) Gnomonkey says the per-master block lists, including a Konar-specific list, will change how people approach Slayer and make many things faster.

Update: Slayer UI

(3:30) The Slayer blog adds a new UI with a view list button that shows the possible task amounts and the percent chance of getting each task based on the player's blocks.
(3:30) Gnomonkey says the percent-chance display saves players from going to the wiki and calculating task weights against other weights.
(3:30) Players can block tasks directly from the new task list interface.
(4:02) Gnomonkey considers the new interface far more intuitive for new players and much cleaner than the old block interface.

Slayer

(4:29) The Slayer blog raises the Slayer point rewards of the early masters, so Mazchna gives 6 points and Vannaka gives 8 points per task.
(4:29) Gnomonkey says Mazchna and Vannaka tasks still will not be worth doing, but new players are not getting hit as hard by the early masters.
(5:03) The blog reduces the Bigger and Badder unlock from 150 points to 50 points.
(5:03) Gnomonkey says Bigger and Badder can now be unlocked on a new iron with a single 10-point streak, and thinks superior creatures like the giant cave crawler will now actually be seen early.
(5:36) The blog reduces task storage from 1000 points to 500 points.
(6:06) Gnomonkey says task storage was previously mostly a post-99 unlock, for example storing a Lizardman shaman task for Chambers of Xeric speed runs, and is now probably worth unlocking on the way to 99.
(6:38) The blog reduces Ring Bling from 300 points to 150 points, and reduces Slug Salter and Reptile Freezer to 10 points each.
(6:38) Gnomonkey says Ring Bling, which makes Slayer rings, is an incredibly good unlock that was too expensive at 300 points, and calls 150 way more fair.
(7:12) All of the reduced unlock costs are refunded, and Gnomonkey expects to immediately get 500 points back from the task storage change, 100 from one unlock and 150 from another on his main.
(7:42) Gnomonkey suggests that re-toggling an unlocked task toggle, such as Lizardman shaman, could cost about a third of the unlock price, because Jagex worries free toggling would create an unfun UI-toggling gameplay loop.
(13:45) Gnomonkey says Slayer is the slowest skill in the game and feels clunky and archaic, and that tasks added over time are not worth doing for Slayer XP, but these changes remove many of the pain points.

Update: Metal dragons task

(8:36) The blog combines bronze, iron, steel, mithril, adamant and rune dragons into a single metal dragons Slayer task.
(8:36) The metal dragons task default quantity is bumped to 20 to 40 and can be extended up to 150 to 200, so in theory a player could slay 200 rune dragons at a time.
(9:15) Gnomonkey says rune dragons are not crazy for XP but are very good GP and a solid AFK option, and expects a lot of people to start doing them.
(9:15) Gnomonkey says the Dragon hunter wand is a lot better than the Dragon hunter lance against rune dragons, doing more damage while also taking less damage.
(9:40) Gnomonkey recommends fighting rune dragons with the Dragon hunter wand, full mage robes and insulated boots, standing in the middle of the room so they shoot arrows (prayed against with Protect from Missiles) while the only damage taken is mage, which he prays Augury against.
(10:14) The weightings of the existing dragon tasks are combined into the metal dragons task but set a little lower than the sum of their parts, so better tasks come up more often.
(10:14) Metal dragons can be blocked with a single block slot; players who paid for mithril dragons are refunded the points because blocks are reset anyway.
(10:50) The blog notes that blue dragon tasks have their place for ironmen banking prayer XP or players wanting to fight Vorkath, and black dragon tasks are a quick couple of points at the baby black dragons in Taverley, so those stay separate.
(11:10) Gnomonkey notes that rune dragons may need an additional Slayer spot or world hopping because many people may start doing them.

Update: Unnoted herb drops

(11:43) The blog makes low-quantity noted herb drops unnoted so they can be stacked in the herb sack, for creatures that drop one to three herbs at a time.
(12:11) Creatures listed for unnoted herb drops include adamant dragons, Basilisk Knights, Fossil Island wyverns, lubstrosities (as heard), Ancient Zygomites, Shayzien criminals, Lizardman shamans and others (names as heard in the video).
(12:11) Gnomonkey says the biggest meta effect is on Lizardman shamans for the Warhammer grind, since trapping them to boost quickly on an iron will fill the herb sack or inventory fast and force leaving sooner.
(12:39) Gnomonkey would have done it differently: noted herbs would not go in the herb sack on fill, but would be deposited into the sack if the player manually uses the note on the herb sack.
(13:13) Gnomonkey still considers the unnoted herb change good overall, though he says it kind of sucks for Lizardman shamans.

Mage Training Arena

(15:09) The blog adds a rune pouch to the Mage Training Arena, costing roughly 25% less than Bones to Peaches, as an alternate way to get it.
(15:09) Gnomonkey thinks getting the rune pouch via Mage Training Arena is still slower than Last Man Standing but is a good option because it gives Magic XP, whereas Last Man Standing gives only points.
(15:40) Gnomonkey says Mage Training Arena is a very good training method early on an account and a solid option for early irons.

Moon keys

(15:40) The blog makes moon key tooth halves about 10 times more common from frost crabs, and buffs several other moon key sources.
(16:07) Frost crabs are in the dungeon where Moxie is, with one spot holding three of them; Gnomonkey says they have about 100 health and 100% fire weakness, so a Twinflame staff or any staff works for AFK magic training and gathering keys quickly.
(16:53) Blue dragons' moon key drop rate goes to 1 in 250, and Moxie's goes from 1 in 500 to 1 in 125.
(17:31) Huey's moon key drop rate goes from 1 in 150 to 1 in 75, which Gnomonkey says was the best source.
(17:31) Gnomonkey says on his irons he has 10 to 30 saved key halves from calcified rocks, over 30 on the backup account, and that he might now use some of those.
(17:31) The blog adds the moon helmet to the collection log.
(18:01) Gnomonkey says the moon helmet will still be one of the rarest collection log items even with roughly 10x faster rates, but seems reasonable now compared to before when it was the rarest item in the game.

Arceuus spellbook

(18:31) The blog changes Dark Demonbane's rune cost from two soul runes and seven fire runes to one soul rune, four chaos runes and seven fire runes.
(18:31) Gnomonkey notes a Reddit comment that the new chaos rune cost forces bringing loose chaos runes outside the rune pouch at Yama, and thinks it should be one or two death runes instead, which fit with Death Charge runes.
(18:59) The blog changes the rune cost of Thrall spells from five blood runes to four soul runes.
(18:59) Gnomonkey says Thrall casting is the main sink for his blood runes on the iron, and thinks moving the cost to soul runes evens things out, though Death Charge still needs a soul rune and a blood rune.

Gargoyle

(14:42) The blog adds a gargoyle-bean-style effect to the Granite hammer (as described by Gnomonkey), which he says will not be a huge deal but is nice for early gargoyle tasks on an iron or main.
(14:42) Gnomonkey says the Granite hammer gargoyle change is not a huge deal but is nice on an iron or main for early gargoyle tasks, and likes the flavour.

Slayer helmet

(20:21) Gnomonkey notes the Slayer helmet variants cost 1000 Slayer points each, and each also requires a drop from a boss.
(20:21) Gnomonkey says a player earning a semi-rare drop like an Araxxor head and then having to grind 1000 Slayer points feels obnoxious.
(20:58) Gnomonkey thinks the Slayer helmet variants should be way cheaper, around 300 to 500 points or even under 100, because the main hurdle is the boss head drop such as the Araxxor head, and the points do not flex anything.

Opinion: More combined Slayer tasks

(21:56) Gnomonkey says the main other tasks that should be combined like metal dragons are demons: black, greater and lesser demons as one demons task.
(22:24) Gnomonkey also suggests a devils task covering dust and smoke devils, and a half-dragons task covering wyverns, drakes, wyrms and wormlings.
(22:51) Gnomonkey admits combining these would be a huge Slayer buff but says Slayer needs it as the slowest skill in the game, and he is fine leaving black and blue dragons separate.
(22:51) Gnomonkey says other newer tasks, such as the dragons weak to demonbane added with the Farming Guild update, could also be lumped together.

Doom of Mokhaiotl

(23:48) Gnomonkey says the Delve boss Doom of Mokhaiotl comes out the following week as a new high-level boss with somewhat similar difficulty to Yama, getting harder through caves up to cave eight, where players can choose to repeat for better loot.
(23:48) Gnomonkey says the new boss adds an incredibly powerful wand slightly weaker than the Shadow that also has a special attack, new tribrid boots and confliction gauntlets which increase accuracy after a miss.