Shellbane gryphon/Strategies

After completion of Troubled Tortugans, the Shellbane Gryphon can be fought again, but requires the player to be assigned a gryphon slayer task, or to have an elite clue directing them to kill the Shellbane Gryphon (in which case the player will be only be able to kill the boss once).

• Completion of Troubled Tortugans

• Partial completion of Fairytale II - Cure a Queen for access to fairy rings
• 65 Attack
• 65 Strength
• 43 Prayer minimum for access to Protect from Melee
  • 70 Prayer and 70 Defence to unlock and use Piety

• The fastest way to the shellbane gryphon's cave is by using fairy ring CJQ, then running north.
• Players without access to fairy rings may opt to use a charter ship to reach the Great Conch, with the cost dependent on the departure location.

Like normal gryphons, the shellbane gryphon is primarily weak to melee, but magic can also be effective due to its elemental weakness to wind spells; however, due to one of its special attacks, this is not entirely practical. Additionally, a tortugan shield is recommended for the encounter with the shellbane gryphon, otherwise the player will take heavy damage from gryphon's melee attacks even through Protect from Melee, and receive a game message stating The gryphon's attacks are devastating! You need some sort of protection! Using Protect from Melee whilst having the tortugan shield equipped will fully negate all melee damage dealt.

The shellbane gryphon primarily attacks with melee, but also uses a ranged attack occasionally. It also has three special attacks:

• Knockback - The boss will throw the player backwards, dealing up to 30 unavoidable damage. Despite the audio from this attack, the player is not stunned and can immediately resume attacking. The knockback is countered by having the player's equipped weight be ≥40kg, which also causes the boss to prioritise using its other two special attacks.
  • Negating the knockback stuns the boss for 2 ticks (1.2s). During this short window, the player can quickly click to attack the boss to knock it back one tile and grants player one additional attack free of attack delay. However, if the player does not click to attack the boss while it's stunned, they will be knocked back regardless of equipped weight, indicated by the game message The gryphon regains its focus and strikes!
  • Players may not be able to perform the knockback in time if their attack is delayed by eating food.
• Corrosive spit - An orange blob is launched, which corrodes the player's worn equipment if they do not move one tile away from where they stood. This causes a player to take 3-12 damage 6 times (18-72 damage total) over the course of 32 ticks (19.2s), which can be interrupted by quickly unequipping all of the player's items.

• Whirlwind - Whirlwinds begin to form at the player's current position, indicated by the game message The gryphon aggressively flaps its wings...
  • The boss will form a whirlwind every 3 ticks (1.8s), up to a maximum of 5. If a whirlwind would have formed on top of an existing whirlwind, that whirlwind instead grows more powerful. 6 ticks (3.6s) after the last whirlwind forms, all whirlwinds will begin damaging every tick the player stands on them.
  • 15 seconds after that, all summoned whirlwinds will burst and deal large amounts of damage, indicated by the game message The whirlwinds explode outwards in a large gust of wind! As such, its recommended to move one tile every attack in order to avoid whirlwinds stacking and increasing their size, resulting in less damage received.
  • When countering the knockback attack, players should be cautious on where they move to, as a whirlwind may inadvertently end up in range of damaging the player upon shoving the boss.

Since the Shellbane Gryphon's knockback is effective against players with less than 40 kg of worn equipment, some of the best options do not necessarily provide the highest damage, but rather a balance between strength bonus and heavy weight.

A 40kg+ setup can be easily achieved with most melee armour coupled with both a tortugan and dragonfire shield, even when using a slayer helmet. If a black mask is used, its higher weight over the slayer helmet means that the player can slot in an avernic defender for better DPS. If not being used, the dragonfire shield is recommended to meet this requirement.

If using low-level gear, adamant armour may be preferred to rune as it is heavier.

Recommended equipment for Melee

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Black mask[a]	Slayer helmet (i)	Gold helmet[b]	Granite helm / Obsidian helmet	Adamant full helm
	Amulet of rancour	Amulet of torture	Amulet of strength	N/A	N/A
	Tortugan shield	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Torva platebody / Oathplate chest	Bandos chestplate	Granite body[b] > Obsidian platebody	Adamant platebody	N/A
	Torva platelegs / Oathplate legs	Bandos tassets	Granite legs[b] / Obsidian platelegs	Adamant platelegs	N/A
	Scythe of Vitur[c] > Soulreaper axe[c]	Ghrazi rapier > Noxious halberd / Osmumten's fang / Blade of Saeldor	Abyssal tentacle > Zamorakian hasta > Abyssal whip / Abyssal dagger	Zombie axe[c] / Belle's folly	Arkan blade / Colossal blade[b][c] > Dragon scimitar[c]
	Avernic defender / Dragonfire shield[d]	Dragon defender	Rune defender / Toktz-ket-xil[d]	Granite shield > Adamant kiteshield	Green d'hide shield[e]
	Rada's blessing 4	God blessing	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious gloves / Bracelet of slaughter	Barrows gloves	Granite gloves	Combat bracelet	Elven gloves[e] / Rock-shell gloves[e]
	Avernic treads (max)	Echo boots[f] > Guardian boots[f]	Primordial boots > Spiked manacles > Dragon boots	Boots of Brimstone[g] / Granite boots	Mixed hide boots > Climbing boots
	Ultor ring	Berserker ring (i)	Granite ring (i)	Steel ring	Explorer's ring 4
	Dragon claws	Crimson kisten > Burning claws	Voidwaker / Dragon dagger / Arkan blade	Bone dagger	N/A

1. ^ A black mask weighs 7.733kg more than the slayer helmet, allowing to bring additional DPS in other slots.
2. ^ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Extremely heavy, allows to freely equip any type of item in other slots
3. ^ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} On slash
4. ^ ^{4.0 4.1} Weighs more than defender, but lacks accuracy bonuses.
5. ^ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Can help if needing additional weight, but lacks relevant combat stats.
6. ^ ^{6.0 6.1} Weigh more than other boots, can allow for stronger items to be worn in other slots.
7. ^ If using a stab weapon

Inventory

• Special attack weapon such as a dragon dagger. If using the Arkan blade as a main-hand damaging weapon, its special attack will suffice.
• Divine super combat potions / super combat potions; or super attack potions + super strength potions if those are not available.
• Means to teleport to house, such as Teleport to house (tablet) or Construction cape
• Rune pouch, with runes to cast Resurrection spells and a Book of the Dead.
  • If A Kingdom Divided has not yet been completed, simply bring nature runes and fire runes for High Level Alchemy.
• Explorer's ring 4 if high alching runite item drops and using the Arceuus Spellbook.
• Herb sack if collecting herb drops.
• Bonecrusher or bonecrusher necklace for Prayer experience and to reduce number of items on ground.
• A bracelet of slaughter to switch to as the boss dies, if wishing to prolong Slayer task.
• Some food to heal from occasional off-prayer attacks or mistakes. If no longer getting hit by special attacks in the fight, cheaper food may be brought.

High-level players may forgo food by using the Saradomin godsword's special attack to heal.

Low-level players may use a knife on the watermelon drops to eat watermelon slices, or bring a tinderbox and filled log basket or axe to cook the raw food drops outside of the cave.

This article or section is incomplete and could do with improvement. Reason: Quick preliminary equipment recommendations based on dps calcs, could probably use improvements and additions. Needs DPS calc on venge vs thralls. You can give feedback, discuss this issue on the talk page, or edit this article to improve it.

Due to Shellbane gryphon's cave's proximity to fairy ring CJQ, players who have ornate rejuvenation pool and fairy ring built in their player-owned house can teleport out between kills and restore their hitpoints, special attack, and prayer points. This has three major benefits:

• Less supplies used
• Allows special attacks to be used more often
• Allows player to bring better equipment
  • The weight aspect of gryphon's knockback can be ignored, since it's unlikely that the gryphon will do that more than once per kill and the damage taken is only moderate.

~50-65 kills per hour can be achieved with this method, depending on what gear player has access to, and how attentively they are playing.

Recommended equipment for Melee

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i)	Black mask (i)	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Amulet of rancour	Amulet of torture	Amulet of fury	Amulet of glory	N/A
	Infernal cape[a]	Fire cape[a]	Mythical cape[a]	Tortugan shield	N/A
	Oathplate chest / Torva platebody	Bandos chestplate	Blood Moon chestplate	Fighter torso	N/A
	Torva platelegs / Oathplate legs	Bandos tassets	Blood Moon tassets	Obsidian platelegs / Eclipse Moon tassets	N/A
	Scythe of Vitur	Ghrazi rapier	Osmumten's fang	Noxious halberd / Blade of Saeldor	Abyssal tentacle
	Avernic defender	Dragon defender	Rune defender	Toktz-ket-xil	N/A
	Rada's blessing 4	God blessing / Rada's blessing 3/2	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious gloves / Bracelet of slaughter	Barrows gloves	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Avernic treads (max)	Primordial boots	Dragon boots / Aranea boots	N/A	N/A
	Ultor ring	Berserker ring (i)	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Burning claws[b]	Dragon claws	Voidwaker	Arkan blade	N/A

1. ^ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} You can swap to a Tortugan shield if you get low on hitpoints, as without one, player will constantly take moderate damage even through protect from melee.
2. ^ Burning claws outperform Dragon claws only when using surge potions to get additional special attack every kill.

Inventory

• Special attack weapon
• Tortugan shield
• Divine super combat potions / super combat potions
• Surge potions to get an extra spec every kill, the cooldown gets reset when you use your POH pool
• Means to teleport to house, such as Teleport to house (tablet) or Construction cape
• Rune pouch
• Book of the Dead if using thralls instead of Vengeance
• Explorer's ring 4 if high alching rune drops
• Bonecrusher for passive prayer experience

Shown are example loadouts that reach the 40kg requirement to avoid the disrupting knockback attack. The equipment screen shows your your total weight including items in your inventory, so verify with an empty inventory if your equipment meets the threshold.

Attack bonusStab: +116Slash: +187Crush: +76Magic: -57Range: -38Defence bonusStab: +228Slash: +257Crush: +228Magic: -5Range: +241Other bonusesMelee strength: +127Ranged strength: +3Magic damage: +2.0%Prayer: +5 44.7 kg

Items KEPT if not SKULLED: Items KEPT if using PROTECT ITEM: Items sent to your GRAVESTONE or LOST to the player who killed you: Data in this list is based purely on exchange or item value. See Items Kept on Death for info. The interface and items kept on death may vary in-game; general disclaimers apply.

Attack bonusStab: +156Slash: +110Crush: +54Magic: -58Range: -36Defence bonusStab: +227Slash: +215Crush: +234Magic: -14Range: +241Other bonusesMelee strength: +141Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +6 44.0 kg

Items KEPT if not SKULLED: Items KEPT if using PROTECT ITEM: Items sent to your GRAVESTONE or LOST to the player who killed you: Data in this list is based purely on exchange or item value. See Items Kept on Death for info. The interface and items kept on death may vary in-game; general disclaimers apply.

Attack bonusStab: +45Slash: +103Crush: +33Magic: -78Range: -3Defence bonusStab: +163Slash: +190Crush: +166Magic: -9Range: +165Other bonusesMelee strength: +108Ranged strength: +0Magic damage: +0.0%Prayer: +1 44.9 kg

Items KEPT if not SKULLED: Items KEPT if using PROTECT ITEM: Items sent to your GRAVESTONE or LOST to the player who killed you: Data in this list is based purely on exchange or item value. See Items Kept on Death for info. The interface and items kept on death may vary in-game; general disclaimers apply.