The Stronghold Slayer Cave is a massive dungeon located beneath the Gnome Stronghold. It contains many of the Slayer monsters that are commonly assigned to players. The cave is located near Nieve (Steve after the events of Monkey Madness II). Anyone can enter the dungeon, but players can only attack the Slayer monster they were assigned, and only while the task has not been completed. The Slayer ring can teleport you to the entrance of the cave. A dwarf multicannon can be used here, but the black demons, blue dragons, gargoyles, nechryaels, abyssal demons, and waterfiends cannot be cannoned.
All aggressive monsters in the dungeon, however, can attack the players. Even when attacked by a monster, a player cannot retaliate unless the monster is part of the player's assignment. Only bloodvelds, nechryaels, abyssal demons, the level 28 kalphites and the smoke devils (and their boss variant) are not aggressive in the dungeon.
Within the centre of the kalphite cavern, players can search a dead entomologist for his diary, which explains the presence of the kalphites.
Around the dungeon, you may find roots which you have to jump over to continue. A woodcutting axe is also strongly advised to navigate through a section of the dungeon, especially if you do not have a nose peg or slayer helmet equipped (55 Slayer required), or risk being hit by an aberrant spectre, reducing all stats to 0 in a matter of seconds in addition to dealing high damage.
Players who enter the smoke devil rooms must be wearing a face mask or a slayer helmet, or they will start coughing for 20 damage every 15 seconds. If they have less than 20 hitpoints, they will wheeze instead and will be reduced to 1 hitpoint.
- Tip: Steel axes can be obtained as a drop from bloodvelds, so players who forgot to bring an axe can get one by world hopping to busy servers and looting one from players killing them.
The dungeon has two Agility shortcuts:
- The stepping stones at the cave kraken area, requiring 57 Agility to use.
- The mud pile south of the entrance, requiring 72 Agility to climb over.
The level 72 shortcut allows for players to skip through several hazardous monsters and reach their destination faster. There is no requirement to use the mud pile if players are using it from the Nechryael side. The level 57 shortcut will take players to another area in the same cavern that has more cave krakens.
Location
| Location on World Map | ||||
| Eagles' Peak | ← | Stronghold Slayer Cave | → | Gnome Stronghold Agility Course |
The entrance to the Stronghold Slayer Cave is located in the Gnome Stronghold near Nieve, who is located just south-west of the Spirit Tree.
There are various ways to get there:
- Use a Slayer ring to teleport directly to the entrance by Nieve.
- Use the Gnome Glider to Ta Quir Priw, which will take you to the Grand Tree. Exit the Grand Tree and run south-west to the entrance.
- Use the Spirit Tree to the Tree Gnome Stronghold and run south-west.
Map
Monsters
Monsters that can be found in the Stronghold Slayer Cave include:
| Monster | Image | Combat level | Slayer level | Slayer XP | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberrant spectre |  |
96 | 60 | 90 | 12 |
| Abyssal demon |  |
124 | 85 | 150 | 11 |
| Ankou |  |
75, 82, 86 | 1 | 60, 70 | 6 |
| Baby black dragon |  |
83 | 1 | 80 | 3 |
| Black demon |  |
172 | 1 | 157 | 12 |
| Black dragon |  |
227 | 1 | 199.5 | 11 |
| Bloodveld |  |
76 | 50 | 120 | 9 |
| Blue dragon |  |
111 | 1 | 107.5 | 9 |
| Bronze dragon |  |
131 | 1 | 125 | 3 |
| Cave kraken |  |
127 | 87 | 125 | 23 |
| Fire giant |  |
86 | 1 | 111 | 11 |
| Gargoyle |  |
111 | 75 | 105 | 7 |
| Greater demon |  |
92 | 1 | 87 | 9 |
| Hellhound |  |
122 | 1 | 116 | 8 |
| Iron dragon |  |
189 | 1 | 173.2 | 6 |
| Kalphite |  |
28 | 1 | 40 | 12 |
 |
85 | 1 | 90 | 13 | |
 |
141 | 1 | 170 | 3 | |
| Nechryael |  |
115 | 80 | 105 | 12 |
| Smoke devil |  |
160 | 93 | 185 | 36 |
| Steel dragon |  |
246 | 1 | 220.5 | 6 |
| Waterfiend |  |
115 | 1 | 128 | 12 |
Bosses
Within the Stronghold Slayer Cave holds two boss variants of Cave krakens and Smoke devils.
| Monster | Image | Combat level | Slayer level | Slayer XP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraken | |
291 | 87 | 255 |
| Thermonuclear smoke devil |  |
301 | 93 | 240 |
Trivia
- Attempting to place a Dwarf multicannon around the area where nechryaels, abyssal demons, black demons, gargoyles, blue dragons and waterfiends are will leave a message in the chatbox saying, "The ground isn't very firm around the lake. You can't place a cannon here."
- The dungeon has several similarites to RuneScape 3's Kuradal's Dungeon, as both dungeons' inhabitants can only be attacked on a slayer task, and two agility shortcuts. However, the Stronghold Slayer Cave Dungeon holds boss variants and many more monsters than Kuradal's Dungeon.
- Even though there are kalphites in the dungeon, there is no Kalphite Queen, even though dialogue with a mounted KQ head says that if there is no queen, a larva will quickly take their place. This is most likely for game-related reasons.
- A poll was sent out by Jagex to see if players would like to see an extended area of the dungeon containing blue dragons, black demons and black dragons. This passed and was added into the dungeon.
- Part of the Underground Pass can be seen at the Gargoyles area, as well as Steel Dragons/Fire Giants.
Slayer locations | |
|---|---|
|
Lumbridge Swamp Caves • Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon • Fremennik Slayer Dungeon • Slayer Tower • Stronghold Slayer Cave • Catacombs of Kourend • Chasm of Fire • Kalphite Cave • Lizardman Caves • Kraken Cove • Smoke Devil Dungeon • Wyvern Cave |