Want to farm Bandos gear or defeat General Graardor for your first God Wars Dungeon kill in OSRS? This complete guide walks you through everything from how to get there and what gear to bring, to solo and team fight strategies, loot value, and advanced tactics for maximizing kills per hour.
General Graardor Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Combat level | 624 |
| Max hit | 60 (melee), 35 (ranged) |
| Attack style | Crush, Ranged |
| Attack speed | 6 ticks (3.6 seconds) |
| Respawn time | 150 ticks (90 seconds) |
| XP bonus | +32.5% |
| Poison/Venom immunity | 100% resistant to both |
Location: General Graardor’s Lair
General Graardor is located in the northwest corner of the God Wars Dungeon (GWD). He resides in Bandos’ Stronghold, and reaching him requires clearing the Trollheim region and meeting certain entry requirements.
Access Methods and Entry Requirements
To enter his lair, you need to kill 40 Bandos-aligned creatures in the dungeon or use an Ecumenical Key for instant access. Goblins are the easiest Bandos-aligned creatures to farm for this requirement.
- Trollheim Teleport (requires Eadgar’s Ruse plus 61 Magic)
- Ghommal’s Hilt teleport (Trollheim access without completing Eadgar’s Ruse)
- Games Necklace to Burthorpe, then the dungeon path (needs climbing boots and stamina potions)
- One rope is required the first time you access the dungeon
- Bring a hammer, or an Elder Maul/Dragon Warhammer, which also work to bang the door open
- Equip a Bandos and Zamorak item to avoid aggression from other God Wars factions
General Graardor Stats and Requirements
Fighting General Graardor isn’t something to attempt unprepared. While technically accessible with lower stats, higher combat levels dramatically increase your success rate and efficiency.
Required and Recommended Stats
- 70 Strength (unboosted) to enter Bandos’ area
- 43+ Prayer for protection prayers (74+ Rigour is ideal)
- 80+ in Attack, Strength, Hitpoints for effective melee
- 80+ Ranged or 75-92 Magic for advanced builds
- Completion of Death Plateau and partial completion of Troll Stronghold (up to defeating Dad)
Boss Mechanics: What to Expect from Graardor
Understanding how General Graardor and his minions attack is key to survival and efficient kills. He uses a combination of melee and ranged attacks that hit hard and often.
General Graardor’s Attacks
- Melee: A powerful punch with a max hit of 60, used 2/3 of the time
- Ranged: A ground slam AoE (15-35 damage) used 1/3 of the time, only while a target is in melee range
His Bodyguards
- Sgt. Strongstack: Melee, flail attack (15 damage max)
- Sgt. Steelwill: Magic, yellow projectile (15 damage max)
- Sgt. Grimspike: Ranged, throws axe (21 damage max)
How the Bodyguards Choose Targets
The sergeants target whichever player last damaged Graardor on their own 5th attack tick, so the player who lands Graardor’s killing blow is usually the one they focus. This means faster weapons draw bodyguard aggro more often, since their hits are more likely to land on that 5th tick window. Slower weapons reduce how often you get targeted, which matters for players with weaker defensive gear in a team.
Solo Strategy Guide: Melee and Magic
Whether you’re an Ironman or just prefer soloing, General Graardor can be tackled alone using melee or magic. Solo fights require precision and efficient resource management.
Melee Solo Strategy
The most common solo method is the “2:1 Walk Under” technique: attack twice, then step under the boss to avoid his counterattack. This works because Graardor has a slow 6-tick attack speed, giving 4-tick weapons two hits before he can retaliate.
- Use Protect from Melee at all times
- Eat under Graardor to avoid combo damage
- Use Blood Barrage or Bones to Peaches for healing
Recommended Gear Setup
- Torva Helm and Platelegs
- Osmumten’s Fang or Inquisitor’s Mace
- Amulet of Blood Fury
- Elysian Spirit Shield or Avernic Defender
- Infernal Cape, Primordial Boots, Barrows Gloves
- Lightbearer Ring
Magic Solo Strategy
If you’re high level and prefer using spells, Ancient Magicks offer strong control and healing. Freezing the boss with Ice Barrage lets you keep distance and heal using Blood Barrage.
- Freeze with Ice Barrage, follow up with Blood Barrage
- Use Protect from Melee if Graardor gets too close
Recommended Magic Gear Setup
- Tumeken’s Shadow or Kodai Wand
- Ancestral Robes
- Occult Necklace, Magus Ring
- Eternal Boots, Imbued God Cape
- War Blessing or equivalent
Altar-Door Kiting Method (Advanced Solo Ranged)
This is an advanced solo Ranged technique that lets a player avoid all damage from Graardor if executed correctly. It requires a weapon with a 4-tick attack speed, most commonly the Bow of Faerdhinen on rapid.
- The method works by repeatedly walking between the Bandos altar and the entrance door while shooting Graardor, which prevents him from ever landing an attack
- Pray Protect from Missiles throughout
- On the first kill, use the west row tile marked “Shoot-Door.” On every kill after that, the middle row is faster
- Turn on “Highlight current tile” in the official client, or the “Current tile” setting on the Tile Indicators plugin in RuneLite, to track your true tile accurately
- Mistakes are recoverable: switch to Protect from Melee, run straight to the shoot-tile, and resume the rotation once Graardor’s attack lands
- Once Graardor is dead, stack the minions together and clear them with Blood Barrage
This method has a real learning curve and is best attempted after you’re comfortable with basic kiting, but it produces some of the fastest, safest solo kill times in the game.
Team Strategy Guide
Bringing friends makes General Graardor considerably easier. Coordination between tank and DPS roles maximizes kills and reduces supply usage.
Tank Role Explained
The tank draws Graardor’s initial aggro and eats most of the melee damage. They must stand near the spawn point and be the first to enter the room.
- Use high Ranged Defence gear like Justiciar with an Elysian Spirit Shield
- Maintain Protect from Melee at all times
- Use the Walk Under strategy to reduce hits taken
DPS Role Explained
DPS players stay behind the tank and focus on dealing damage safely. Wait for the tank to secure aggro before attacking.
- Use Protect from Magic or Missiles depending on which minions are active
- Kill order after Graardor dies: Steelwill, then Grimspike, then Strongstack. Steelwill dies first because most player setups have weaker Magic Defence than Ranged Defence, so leaving him alive longest deals the most unnecessary damage. Strongstack is left for last since he’s the weakest threat of the three
- Consider using Guthan’s to heal on minions if needed
Advanced Tactics: Dolo and Trick Methods
Veteran players often use “Dolo” (two-account) methods or unique game mechanics to push efficiency well past 27 kills per hour, with skilled players reaching 50+.
Dolo Method
Dolo’ing means fighting Graardor on two accounts at once and hopping between worlds to skip the respawn timer entirely. The most efficient setup tanks with Blood Barrage on one account while the other runs full DPS mage.
- Main account: Tumeken’s Shadow with the strongest magic damage gear available, praying Ranged
- Alt account: a staff or wand that autocasts Ancient Magicks (a Kodai Wand works well), tank gear with minimal negative magic bonuses, praying Melee
- On spawn, attack with the alt first, then position it beside a ranged or mage minion to drag Graardor and the melee minion into a single stack that can all be hit with one Blood Barrage
- Once the stack is set and the tank alt is attacking it, move the main account under the tank and begin attacking Graardor there too, which keeps the stack from breaking apart if minions switch targets
- A third account can be used purely for resupplying the other two, saving time otherwise spent restocking
Item Drop Freeze Trick
Drop an item under Graardor’s spawn point. When he targets a player, that player spam-clicks the item to “trap” him in place, letting the rest of the team melee him safely. This trick is restricted to melee only.
Loot and GP Per Hour
Killing Graardor is highly profitable, especially with his unique drop table.
Estimated Profits
- Around 179K per kill (with minions)
- 27 kills per hour with an optimal standard strategy, 50+ per hour with dolo methods
- Around 4.1M GP/hour after supplies
Rare Drops
- Bandos Chestplate: 1/384 (~25.7M)
- Bandos Tassets: 1/384 (~17.5M)
- Bandos Hilt: 1/508 (~11.7M)
- Godsword Shards: 1/768 each
- Pet General Graardor: 1/5000
Other Drops and Food Sources
Besides rare drops, Graardor and his minions drop several helpful items that support extended trips.
- Always drops Big Bones
- Minions drop Shark, Chilli Potatoes, Kebabs
- Bones to Peaches extends trips, worth 32 HP per kill cycle
- Noted items: Magic logs, Coal, Adamantite, Nature Runes
Combat Achievement Tasks
There are 8 tasks tied to General Graardor in the Combat Achievements system, ranging from basic to grandmaster level.
Notable Tasks
- Ourg Freezer: Kill him while frozen
- Keep Away: Take zero damage in a private instance
- General Showdown: Kill him after minions are dead
- Graardor Veteran: 100 total kills
Private Instances
You can create a private instance for this fight. On death inside an instance, unprotected items are moved to a grave outside the instance rather than dropping on the floor, and dropped food doesn’t despawn for 3 hours, which removes the need to juggle food during long trips. Play Now!
Bandos Graardor Pro Tips and Tricks
- Always bring Bandos and Zamorak items for dungeon safety
- Use Vengeance Other to help tanks during team fights
- Drop excess food and juggle it to avoid despawn outside of instances
- Slower weapons make you less likely to draw minion aggro
- Bring a teleport-to-house tab or max cape for emergency escapes
