General Graardor

Finally! I successfully soloed General Graardor today! Yay!

It took me just about a year and a half :) Yes, I know, most people are able to solo Graardor with lower combat stats, but it's not only about stats, believe me... I made several attempts late in 2009, came close, but not quite - and after that I simply couldn't make myself to go there again - I'd always find something less stressful to do :)

So how did I end up there? It was Nex's voice that did the trick. After yesterday's post I was so eager to hear one of those monsters speak, that suddenly there was nothing else for me to do in Runescape - I had to face Graardor or quit in disgrace :)

The first fight was very messy, I was mostly concerned with staying alive and didn't pay much attention to anything else. I ate and ate and ate and 30 sharks later found a pile of Ourg bones at my feet. Not exactly 30 kills in one trip as some people do. Anyway I teleported out, restocked, came back but this time turned "auto-retaliate" off. 30 sharks later I had two more piles of Ourg bones in my inventory.

And, of course, during all that time he kept talking to me about "breaking bones" and "splitting skulls" in that very charming voice of his :)

Goals for 2010

I am still reading through a huge backlog of blog posts which appeared while I was away. And it seems like some topics were discussed more then others. For instance, Canting Away winter festival got a lot of attention (and rightly so). Of course, the Christmas event (which was nice BTW). And finally, people were setting goals for 2010. That one got me thinking. Do I have goals for 2010? Hmm, I don't think I ever set goals for a year in my life. I mean, I do set goals from time to time, but "a year" is never a defining timeframe for my goals. What is the significance of a new year? Why is the "new year resolution" is such a big thing? Just a conveniently marked time interval?

Anyway, I decided to try and set myself a few Runescape related goals for 2010. I think I failed with this task..., but here is the list:

• Make at least two updates to Runewise (I am really not paying much attention to the site now. It runs, people use it and I maintain it, but I am not doing anything to enhance it...)
• Keep the Runescape Reader's Digest up (duh :-))
• Raise my herblore to 96 (from 93), so I could use overload potions
• Raise mining a bit (at least to 75), so I could mine at the Living Rock Caverns (BTW, here goes a useful post about mining with a clan over there)
• Focus on Prayer and Summoning, so I could use more curses and summoning creatures.
• Finally successfully solo Graardor.

And that was it. Couldn't get anything else planned :-)

P.S. Saw this question on Wiki Answers.Com today: "where is runescape?". Indeed, where?

Soloying Chaos Elemental

If you remember, about a month ago I was going to solo Graar. Well, it didn't happen. Every time I tried to muster my courage the thought of getting kill count only to be exterminated a few seconds later by Graar and his generals would put me off. Somehow I was always finding something better and easier to do in Runescape. That is - until today.

Today I finally admitted to myself that I was simply not ready for Graar. At least not yet. Plus I was skipping another Boss, which was presumably a bit easier - Chaos Elemental. So I decided to go hunting for Chaos Elemental instead. I've met it before, but never really fought against it. Our previous meetings had always ended up in the same way: me running away wounded, disarmed and confused. I read about the disarming spell of Chaos Elemental and how counter it by filling inventory with stews or potions. I opted to use potions, as I knew I'd need all hitpoints I could get.

So here I was with inventory full of saradomin brews and super restores. I also had extreme potions, antipoison and dragon dagger (which proved invaluable). I dressed into "I don't mind to be killed" costume comprised of dragonhide, glory, snakeskin boots, elemental shield, ring of wealth, helm of Neitiznot, barrow gloves and Farming cape, took whip and summoned an Obsidian Golem to keep me company. And off we went, to Ardougne, teleported to the deep wilderness and proceeded east to the Chaos Elemental's hunting ground. It was there all right...

The fight was long and messy. I poisoned the cloud, switched to the whip, turned on piety and spent the rest of the time frantically gulping potions and trying to engage in a close combat. And Chaos Elemental would teleport me out every few seconds, while hitting hard with its magic lightning bolts (or whatever it was). Half an inventory later Saradomin (brews) prevailed and here I was hitting the final blow :-) I need to note also that my fellow Obsidian Golem companion proved it worth and was frequently hitting 9-13 on its own.



"Phew, that wasn't that hard", - I thought and decided to repeat. Fortunately, I didn't stay with my half inventory or pots, but went back to fully resupply myself. Soon I was glad I did that. This time, when we reached the place, Chaos Elemental wasn't at home, so I sat down to rest and wait. The yellow dot appeared on the horizon and magic bolts soon followed. Yet again I managed to poison the monster and we engaged into our little deadly dance. However, this time we weren't alone. A big white wolf joined in, but I ignored it. I guess it got offended and called for relatives (or ancestors?). Anyway revenant werewolf appeared and now I was getting hit hard from two different directions. Still I concentrated on the Chaos Elemental only, trying to finish it off before my supplies run out. Then, as you might have already guessed, revenant knight appeared and joined in. Quickly it became real ugly... I ran for my life around the Rogue Castle. Once on the other side, I restored my health, drank extreme super set and assessed the situation. I still had a few potions left, angry revenants were between me and escape rout and Chaos Elemental was poisoned and almost finished. I decided to stay, single out revenants and finish off the Chaos Elemental. I knew I wouldn't even have to move - revenats always chase. And, indeed, the werewolf soon appeared with the knight trailing after it. I was fortunate to 3 hit the werewolf (extreme potions FTW!) and ran toward the knight. Two saradomin brews later the knight crumbled (or evaporated?) - the path was clear, so I went for the Chaos Elemental. It was already dying (presumably from poison), so we danced just a little bit. It died and left weapon poison and five bat bones lying on the ground (so that's how it flew!).

And that was it.

God Wars Crasher

Tim is writing about "parasitism" at God Wars (General Graardor's room in this case). I've seen people using similar tactic at Blue Dragons (ranging one dragon from a safe spot till half health and then switching to another). I my opinion, it is one of the sickest ways to play the game. It is really a shame, there are people who would use this tactic.