Volcanic Cave/Guide
From Melvor Idle
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The Volcanic Cave is the first of the Master dungeons. The guide covers first run through to idling of the dungeon. Idling has a significantly higher skill and equipment requirements than manual clears.
Why Clear Volcanic Cave?
- Clear 1 time:
- To unlock Error creating thumbnail: File missingAir God Dungeon andError creating thumbnail: File missingInfernal Stronghold
- To get the
Fire Cape which grants 2% DR - To get the
Elite Chest
- To unlock
- Clear 50 times:
- For a Township Task that gives
Dragon Bones, 
and 
- To start obtaining
ancient armour in preparation for the Error creating thumbnail: File missingAir God Dungeon
- For a Township Task that gives
- Clear 100 times:
- To unlock Ancient Magicks which gives you powerful spells such as Error creating thumbnail: File missingSlicing Winds,Error creating thumbnail: File missingIcicle Volley, andError creating thumbnail: File missingIgnite.
- To unlock Ancient Magicks which gives you powerful spells such as
- Clear 100+ times:
- To farm for the full
ancient armour set and Error creating thumbnail: File missingAncient Crossbow - To farm for the 10
Amulets of Fury needed for the 
Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs (FEZ). Check the FEZ/Guide for more details.
- To farm for the full
According to simulations, to get the full ancient armour set it will likely take:
- 640 clears with a 50% chance
- 817 clears with a 75% chance
- 1377 clears with a 95% chance
When to Clear Volcanic Cave?
There are no downsides to attempting Volcanic Cave early as you will obtain powerful gear if you manage to complete it. However, it will be a significant challenge if you attempt this dungeon under-levelled.
In general, you will want at least
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Level 80and you should be able to complete
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Dragons Denrelatively easily before attempting this dungeon. Ideally, you will want sufficient
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Auto Eatto survive the dungeon without resorting to manual eating.
Ancient Magicks
After you clear the Volcanic Cave 100 times you gain access to Ancient Magicks which are a more powerful form of magic. When you have a Ancient Magicks spell equipped, there are no curses available, but you can still use Auroras.
In general, the spells you receive are very powerful:
- Error creating thumbnail: File missingWinds is best used when your chance to hit is relatively low because you are guaranteed not to miss if your accuracy is 20,000+.
- Error creating thumbnail: File missingIgnite is a more powerful spell and has a good chance of killing monsters in one-shot.
- Error creating thumbnail: File missingIcicle Volley is a good all rounder, and can be used in all other cases.
Ancient Magick spells do not scale in the same way as standard magic (i.e. with equipment buffs and debuffs), but they are still impacted by the Combat Triangle in the normal way. Typically, when you first obtain Ancient Magicks it is more powerful than the regular magic and so should used in preference. However, late-game these spells will not scale with gear and so will become less useful.
Gear To Idle
The boss of
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Volcanic Caveuses the
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Meleestyle and so it is not recommended that you attempt this dungeon with
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Rangeddue to the Combat Triangle penalties. It is also recommended that you have
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Auto Eat - Tier III. This calculations in this guide are against the
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Hardcore/
Adventure modes, and so should work for most play styles, however if you have lower HP or DR than the guide recommends then check out Can I Idle or the Combat Simulator to see if you build will survive.
Melee
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Volcanic Caveis usually done with
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Melee because the 
dragon armor set requires only
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Level 99to produce. It then can be trimmed to provide 30% DR. Below is the melee build that requires
820Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Hitpoints to idle the dungeon on any game mode. However, pay attention that even slightly less DR or HP will mean death for this build because it hangs a hair breadth away from the max hit of 
Malcs. Check with Can I Idle or Combat Simulator to see if you can idle with your build. Also, the 
Sandstorm Ring is very important for your clear time.
Lower tiers of armor may be used if HP/DR is increased through other sources such as
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Agility,
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Summoning, or more
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Hitpointslevels.
| Slot | Item | DR% |
|---|---|---|
 |  (G) Dragon Helmet | 6% |
 |  (G) Dragon Platebody | 6% |
 |  (G) Dragon Platelegs | 6% |
 |  (G) Dragon Boots | 6% |
 |  Paladin Gloves | 4% |
 |  Knight's Cape | 1% |
 |  Elite Amulet of Defence | 2% |
 |  Sandstorm Ring | 0% |
 |  Sunset Rapier | 0% |
 |  (G) Dragon Shield | 6% |
| Total | 37% | |
Pre-Volcanic Magic
The other possible option is
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Magic. Clearing the Volcano with Magic from the start is not recommended because its adjusted clear time is slower and more complicated to set up than the available melee builds.
Fire Robes have the exact same stats as 
Air Robes. The secondary effect of robes (+20 minimum hit for matching spells) outweighs the damage increase of higher level spells, therefore, use the highest level spell and robe combination available to you.
If available to you, use the 
Ring of Spirit Power instead of the 
Aorpheat's Signet Ring
To idle the dungeon with the build below, you need
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Hitpointsand
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Weakening IIIactive.
| Slot | Item | DR% |
|---|---|---|
|  Air Expert Wizard Hat | 5% |
|  Air Expert Wizard Robes | 5% |
|  Air Expert Wizard Bottoms | 5% |
|  Air Expert Wizard Boots | 5% |
|  (U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces | 6% |
|  Skull Cape | 3% |
|  Elite Amulet of Magic | 2% |
|  Aorpheat's Signet Ring | 0% |
| Any Error creating thumbnail: File missing Magic | 0% |
| (G) Dragon Shield | 6% |
| Total | 37% | |
100+ Volcanoes Magic
After clearing the
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Volcanic Cave100 times, you will unlock Ancient Magicks. Your first goal with this build is to reach 20k accuracy for
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Slicing Winds, which means the spell won't miss at all. Therefore, while the build only requires
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Level 72at minimum, you will need at most level
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Level 93or multiple Accuracy bonuses from various other skills to achieve 20k Accuracy Rating, including:
Magic Assistance Potions- Error creating thumbnail: File missingAstrology
- Error creating thumbnail: File missingPrayer
- Error creating thumbnail: File missingAgility
It's possible to farm the Volcanic Cave with the 20k-accuracy
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Slicing Windson the following build if you have
880Error creating thumbnail: File missing
HP and a
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Stone Skinprayer active. To farm the dungeon with 33% DR and without the prayer or potions, you need
910Error creating thumbnail: File missing
HP. Your biggest threat is 
Prat, the Protector of Secrets with the monsters Max Hit being inches above your Auto-Eat threshhold
Check if you can fulfil the accuracy quota with the gear available to you either with the Combat Simulator or by checking your out of combat stats. 20k accuracy is important because after that number
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Slicing Windscannot miss, becoming a top-DPS spell against the dungeon at this point of progression.
With sufficient accuracy rating, 
Miolite Shield may be swapped out for a ranged or melee shield with more DR such as 
(G) Dragon Shield to lower other HP/DR requirements.
| Slot | Item | DR% |
|---|---|---|
|  Ancient Wizard Hat | 5% |
|  Ancient Wizard Robes | 5% |
|  Ancient Wizard Bottoms | 5% |
|  Ancient Wizard Boots | 5% |
| (U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces | 6% |
| Skull Cape | 3% |
| Elite Amulet of Magic | 2% |
| Aorpheat's Signet Ring | 0% |
|  Magic Wand (Powerful) | 0% |
|  Miolite Shield | 2% |
| Total | 33% | |
Weapon Choice
This table plots some Combat Simulator results adjusted by the time it takes to produce all of the required consumables with some assumptions made about the exact bonuses available for each skill.
You can view the spreadsheet here. Make a copy to tailor the resource values to match your own, there is also a column on each table that allows you to input your own Sim results. (link)
| Weapon | Adjusted Chests per Hour | Potential Chests per Hour | Buff compared to previous |
|---|---|---|---|
 Pre-Volcanic
|
3.8 | 20+ | 0% |
 Dragon Sword
|
7.6 | 24+ | 20% |
 Dragon Claw
|
8 | 26.3+ | 9% |
 Ancient Sword
|
8.16 | 26.2+ | 0% |
 Sunset Rapier
|
9.6 | 31.4+ | 19% |
 Ancient Claw
|
10 | 34.7+ | 10% |
Error creating thumbnail: File missing Slicing Winds
|
23.5 | 25.8 | 0% |
Error creating thumbnail: File missing Icicle Volley
|
18.1 | 28.3+ | 0% |
Magic builds using Ancient Magicks are generally better than their Melee counterparts when not using all buffs available to the player. Due to the large amount of runes required to cast, and the non-scaling nature of Ancient Magicks, eventually they fall behind Melee builds for adjusted clear times.
The usual food expenditure is approximately
200,000Error creating thumbnail: File missing
HPto
250,000Error creating thumbnail: File missing
HPper hour.
Gear Options
Gloves
| Item | DR | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
 Paladin Gloves
|
4% | none |
 (U) Red D-hide Vambraces
|
4% | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 60
|
 (U) Black D-hide Vambraces
|
5% | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 70
|
 (U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces
|
6% | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 80
|
The Ancient vambraces drop from the
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Dragons Den. You will very likely need them to idle the
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Air God Dungeon, so might as well get them now.
The Red and Black vambraces can be either crafted with
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Craftingor dropped from the
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Spider Forest.
Or you might just farm some 
Paladins for their Gloves.
Cape
| Item | Upside | Downside |
|---|---|---|
 Knight's Cape
|
1% DR | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 66 area unique drop
|
 Skull Cape
|
3% DR | Screws up Error creating thumbnail: File missing Melee accuracy
|
 Firemaking Skillcape
|
XP boost | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 99, no DR increase
|
 Obsidian Cape
|
Spend less food | Rare drop, no DR increase |
| Fire Cape
|
2% DR | You need to clear Error creating thumbnail: File missing Volcanic Cave once
|
Boots
The choice of boots is small because we don't want to drop in DR too much.
| Item | DR% | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
 (G) Dragon Boots
|
6% | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 60
|
 (G) Rune Boots
|
5% | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 40
|
Ring
| Item | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Sandstorm Ring
|
Solid DPS increase for Melee, falls off in power if using enough buffs from other skills. |
 Silver Diamond Ring
|
1% DR |
| Aorpheat's Signet Ring
|
5% chance to double Elite Chest and 100% more money.
|
 Ring of Wealth
|
7% chance to double Elite Chest.
|
 Ring of Blade Echoes
|
Powerful melee dps increase, costs more prayer/potions per hit. |
| Ring of Spirit Power
|
Powerful magic dps increase, does not affect Ancient Magicks. |
TL/DR
In summary, the suggested order of equipment is:
- Obtain the Sunset Rapier and the Sandstorm Ring
- Perform 100 Error creating thumbnail: File missingVolcanic Cave clears as Melee to unclockError creating thumbnail: File missingSlicing Winds
- Do the remainder of Error creating thumbnail: File missingVolcanic Cave clears withError creating thumbnail: File missingSlicing Winds with the Surge aurora.
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