OSRS Greater Demon Weakness: The Ultimate Guide to Slaying Them Efficiently

OSRS Greater Demon Weakness: The Ultimate Guide to Slaying Them Efficiently


Greater Demons in Old School RuneScape (OSRS) are iconic foes that strike fear into the hearts of adventurers while offering rewarding loot and experience. Whether you’re tackling them as part of a Slayer task or hunting for their coveted drops like the Rune Full Helm, understanding their weaknesses is key to dominating these crimson beasts. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive into the OSRS Greater Demon weakness, optimal combat strategies, gear setups, and the best locations to face them. Let’s equip you with everything you need to slay these demons with confidence!

Greater Demons are mid-to-high-level demonic monsters found across Gielinor, known for their imposing red appearance and muscular builds. With combat levels ranging from 92 to 113 depending on the variant, they’re a staple Slayer task assigned by masters like Krystilia, Chaeldar, Konar, Nieve/Steve, and Duradel. While their drop table isn’t the most lucrative, items like the Rune Full Helm and Hard Clue Scrolls make them worth the fight.

Key Characteristics of Greater Demons

  • Combat Levels: 92, 100, 101, 104, 113
  • Hitpoints: 87–130
  • Max Hit: 8–10 (melee only)
  • Slayer Category: Greater Demons
  • Notable Drops: Rune Full Helm (1/128), Hard Clue Scroll (1/128)

These demons are aggressive, making them a prime target for AFK training or efficient Slayer XP. But to maximize your success, exploiting their weaknesses is crucial.

Understanding Greater Demon Weaknesses

Greater Demons OSRS Guide How To Kill A Greater Demon Rune Fanatics

Greater Demons might look intimidating, but they have exploitable vulnerabilities that make them manageable with the right approach. Recent updates in OSRS have refined their combat mechanics, giving players clear advantages when using specific strategies.

Elemental Weakness: Water Spells

As of the Project Rebalance update, Greater Demons have a 40% weakness to water spells. This elemental vulnerability boosts both the accuracy and damage of water-based magic attacks by 40%, making spells like Water Surge or Water Blast highly effective. This weakness stems from their demonic nature, aligning with the lore of water countering their fiery origins.

Combat Style Weaknesses

Unlike some monsters with pronounced resistances, Greater Demons are weak to all combat styles—melee, ranged, and magic—due to their relatively low defense stats. However, certain weapons amplify your damage output significantly:

  • Demonbane Weapons: Arclight, Silverlight, and Darklight deal bonus damage against demons, with Arclight being the top choice for its high attack speed and strength bonus.
  • Ranged Attacks: While not explicitly weak to bolts like in RuneScape 3, their low ranged defense makes crossbows (especially with demonbane ammo like Jas Demonbane Arrows) a solid option.
  • Melee Powerhouses: High-damage melee weapons like the Dragon Scimitar or Abyssal Whip shine due to the demons’ lack of specific melee resistance.

Why Weaknesses Matter

Exploiting these weaknesses cuts down kill times, conserves resources, and boosts XP rates. Whether you’re a mid-level player or an endgame veteran, tailoring your setup to their vulnerabilities is a game-changer.

Best Gear and Inventory Setups

OSRS Greater Demons Guide Gear Strategy

To capitalize on Greater Demon weaknesses, your gear and inventory need to align with your chosen combat style. Below are optimized setups for melee, magic, and ranged approaches.

Melee Setup

Melee is the go-to for fast kills and high Slayer XP, especially with a cannon. Here’s a recommended setup:

Slot Item
Head Slayer Helmet (on task) / Helm of Neitiznot
Cape Fire Cape / Skill Cape
Body Proselyte Hauberk / Bandos Chestplate
Legs Proselyte Cuisses / Bandos Tassets
Weapon Arclight (if charges available) / Dragon Scimitar
Shield Dragon Defender / Book of War
Amulet Amulet of Glory / Fury

Inventory: Prayer potions, super combat potion, cannon (optional), food (sharks or better), teleport (e.g., Xeric’s Talisman).

Magic Setup

Leveraging their water weakness, magic is ideal for safe-spotting or lower-level players:

  • Weapon: Trident of the Seas or Swamp
  • Spell: Water Surge (or highest water spell available)
  • Armor: Mystic Robes / Ahrim’s Robes
  • Extras: Imbued God Cape, Occult Necklace

Inventory: Runes for water spells, prayer potions, food, teleport.

Ranged Setup

Ranged excels with safe-spots and AFK potential:

  • Weapon: Rune Crossbow / Armadyl Crossbow
  • Ammo: Broad Bolts / Jas Demonbane Arrows
  • Armor: Black D’hide / Armadyl Armor
  • Extras: Ava’s Accumulator, Archer’s Ring

Inventory: Ranging potion, bolts, food, teleport.

Top Locations to Fight Greater Demons

Location choice impacts efficiency, safety, and loot potential. Here are the best spots to tackle Greater Demons, each with unique advantages.

Catacombs of Kourend

Why It’s Great: Multicombat area, AFK-friendly with prayer, drops Ancient Shards and Dark Totem pieces.

  • Access: Teleport to Kourend Castle, inspect the statue.
  • Strategy: Use Protect from Melee with Proselyte armor or safe-spot under the arch with magic/ranged.

Chasm of Fire

Why It’s Great: Cannonable, 17 spawns, Slayer-task-only access keeps it focused.

  • Access: Fairy Ring DJR, cross the bridge, enter the hole.
  • Strategy: Set up a cannon and melee, or safe-spot behind pillars with magic/ranged.

Wilderness Slayer Cave

Why It’s Great: Enhanced drop table, multicombat, cannonable.

  • Access: Edgeville lever or Wilderness teleport.
  • Strategy: High-risk, high-reward—bring minimal risk gear, use cannon, and watch for PKers.

Other Notable Spots

Strategies to Maximize Efficiency

Slaying Greater Demons efficiently requires more than just knowing their weaknesses—it’s about execution. Here’s how to optimize your kills.

Using a Cannon

A Dwarf Multicannon in multicombat areas like the Chasm of Fire or Wilderness Slayer Cave skyrockets XP rates. Pair it with melee for the fastest kills, but watch ammo costs—bring plenty of cannonballs!

Safe-Spotting Tactics

For magic or ranged users, safe-spotting is a low-risk way to exploit their weaknesses:

  • Catacombs: Stand under the arch or northeast corner behind the rope.
  • Chasm of Fire: Use pillars to block melee attacks.
  • Brimhaven: Position behind fungi or the easternmost land edge.

Prayer and AFK Methods

In multicombat zones, wear Proselyte armor, sip prayer potions, and use Protect from Melee. Reset aggression every 10 minutes by running away and back. This method’s perfect for AFK XP while chasing totem pieces in the Catacombs.

Loot and XP Tips

Bring an Ash Sanctifier for passive Prayer XP from their ashes, and high-alch Rune Full Helms on the spot. For Wilderness kills, an imbued Ring of Wealth halves the Hard Clue drop rate to 1/64, boosting loot potential.

With combat levels starting at 92, Greater Demons are accessible to mid-level players (70+ combat recommended), but their weakness to water spells and all styles makes them scalable for veterans too. Whether you’re grinding Slayer, chasing clues, or just flexing your demon-slaying skills, this guide has you covered. Grab your gear, pick a spot, and start slaying—those Rune Full Helms won’t loot themselves!