Dark Waters/Guide

This page was last updated for (v1.0.3).

T90 Farming

Following completion of

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Into the Mist

, you now have access to

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Dark Waters

, the penultimate slayer area. These 3 mobs drop fragments for the T90 weapons, the highest level, and often most powerful, weapons in the game that are extremely helpful in completing the following slayer area, as well as the Impending Darkness Event. These are extremely long grinds, and require quite a bit of preparation. Each weapon requires 100 fragments, and the fragments have a 2% drop rate. That's 5,000 kills on average.

We recommend acquiring them while fighting each monster as a slayer task, this will require you to turn OFF auto-slayer, and will encourage semi-frequent check-ins. Doing these on task will increase your damage dealt to them from various buffs, namely   Slayer Skillcape. This will make the order you obtain the final weapons in effectively random, but if you want to do them in a specific order, we recommend the following:

Additionally, you should also acquire the pet

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Otto

whilst doing this grind, if you do not, continue farming whichever mob you kill the fastest on or off task until you get it.

Item fragments are very rare drops, and you should attempt to sneak in as much item doubling into your gear as possible. Using Combat Sim to measure your Drops/hr with no deaths is highly recommended. It can make the difference in literal days of grinding.

Order

The order you obtain these items in is not particularly important.

While it may seem that using these weapons to farm the other weapons would be beneficial, this is not the case due to the relatively weak power level of   Tidal Edge and   Ocean Song compared to other available weapons. The only suggestion here is to obtain

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Shockwave

and use it to obtain   Ocean Song

The common orders are:

-

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Shockwave

then   Ocean Song then   Tidal Edge -   Tidal Edge then

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Shockwave

then   Ocean Song

Between those two, the required time is roughly equal.

Many people combine the grinding of these weapons with the grind for the master slayer gear. An added benefit is the increased damage given by the   Slayer Skillcape and buffs from

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Astrology

while fighting slayer tasks. Another benefit is the ability to buy prayer points,   Light Runes, and Food at a profit with the use of   Generous Resupply.

Requirements

There are very few hard requirements beyond the ability to survive and the entry requirement of

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
 Slayer Level 90

, but there are several skills and items that will make this grind significantly easier, and we would be remiss to not mention them

Suggestion Benefit
  Slayer Skillcape 25% Flat Slayer Area Effect Negation
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Level 99
Less need for DR
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Level 99
Pillar of Combat
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Level 90
Dragon Synergies
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Level 95
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Battleheart
  Slayer Helmet (Elite) 15% Flat Slayer Area Effect Negation
  Slayer Cowl (Elite) 15% Flat Slayer Area Effect Negation
  Infernal Claw Outpaces Rokken's stun
  Cloudburst Staff Highest damage weapon in the game
  Slayer's Crossbow Highest damage non-T90 ranged weapon for slayer

Below are some gear suggestions. Depending on what

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Prayer

,

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Potions

, and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Agility

buffs you use or have access to, your optimal gear can change.

Buffs

Agility
# Obstacle Reason
1 X
2 X
3
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Pipe Climb
No particular reason beyond being the only obstacle that grants any combat benefits.
4
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Coal Stones
No negative modifiers, technically saves some food.
5
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Cliff Balance
+20 hp. This does make your prayers cost more, but as you're buying your prayer points anyways, the cost increase isn't quite as painful.
6
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Lake Swim
+3% damage, +1% DR.
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Rocky Waters
may help as a first line of defense for surviving if you're mildly undergeared, but will not be considered the default.
7
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Boulder Trap
No negative combat modifiers.
8
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Spike Jump
+5% Chance to Double Items.
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Pipe Crawl
will be slightly faster, but the negative to slayer coins hurts, especially for Magic sets using the
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Cyclops
synergy.
9
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Ice Jump
This obstacle does everything you want it to.
10
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Lava Waterfall Dodge
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Ocean Rafting
is technically the best dps option. Lava Waterfall Dodge is recommended slightly above it, as you preserve some of your ammo and runes, earn more coins, and have an easier time swapping to skilling to restock.
P
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Pillar of Combat
Lots of beneficial combat bonuses
Prayer

For Melee, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Battleheart

and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Piety

or the highest level combat style prayers you have available. For Ranged, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Battleheart

and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Rigour

or the highest level combat style prayers you have available. For Magic, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Battleheart

and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Augury

or the highest level combat style prayers you have available.

Potions

For all combat styles, use   Diamond Luck Potions

For Ranged, with

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Shockwave

, it is sometimes possible that   Ranged Strength Potion IV is stronger than Diamond Luck Potions. This should never be done without checking Combat Sim for yourself, and should never be done unless the potion is specifically   Ranged Strength Potion IV, and not any lower mastery.

Summoning

For Melee, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Dragon

and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Minotaur

For Ranged, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Dragon

and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Centaur

For Magic, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Dragon

and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Witch

Notably for Magic, using

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Cyclops

and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Witch

Tablets will earn you significantly more coins at a fairly minimal loss of kills per hour. This is most obvious with   Cloudburst Staff.

Tidal Edge

To be able to idle   Umbora with

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Magic

, you'll need 47 DR assuming you have 1000 HP.   Umbora can be killed with Normal Magic if you have a   Cloudburst Staff or an   Ocean Song, or with Ancient Magicks at a much slower rate. Note that Cloudburst is by far the fastest method, even if you have to squeeze in extra DR from   Guardian Ring or

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Prayer

With   Cloudburst Staff, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Water Surge

or

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Water Wave

(reduced rune cost),

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Anguish III

, and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Fury II

. With   Ocean Song, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Fire Surge

,

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Anguish III

, and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Surge II

. With an   Air Imbued Wand or a   Fire Imbued Wand, use

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Gust

or

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Incinerate

.

Use of Combination Runes is highly recommended for all methods.

Slot Better to Worse
Head   Glacia God Helmet   Slayer Wizard Hat (Master)
Body   Glacia God Platebody   Slayer Wizard Robes (Master)
Leggings   Glacia God Platelegs
Boots   Glacia God Boots
Hands   Glacia God Gloves
Cape   Maximum Skillcape   Slayer Skillcape
Neck   Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs   Elite Amulet of Magic   Warlock Amulet
Passive   Chapeau Noir   Ring of Wealth   Aorpheat's Signet Ring
Ring   Ring of Wealth   Warlock Ring   Guardian Ring
Weapon   Cloudburst Staff   Air Imbued Wand   Magic Wand (Elite)
Offhand   Scaled Shield   Earth Layered Shield

  Slayer Wizard Hat (Master) and   Slayer Wizard Robes (Master) will kill you if used with   Cloudburst Staff and the normal build above. If all you care about is fragments, it is possible to equip a build with Master Slayer armor that is approximately 4% faster than the above recommended build. This is accomplished by equipping   Slayer Wizard Hat (Master),   Slayer Wizard Robes (Master),   Skull Cape AND

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Rocky Waters

- all 3 pieces of equipment must be worn to outpace Glacia armor, and the agility course keeps you from dying. You need 1090 HP and 44 DR.

Ocean Song

To be able to idle   Ku-tul with

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Ranged

, you'll need 48 DR assuming you have 1,000 HP. You'll be killing   Ku-tul with either a

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Shockwave

,   Slayer's Crossbow or an

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Ancient Crossbow

. Use of   Jadestone Bolts is recommended,   Emerald Bolts are not recommended as jadestone bolts should be plentiful enough at this point in progression.

Slot Better to Worse
Head   Slayer Cowl (Master)   Slayer Cowl (Elite)
Body   Slayer Leather Body (Master)   Aeris God Platebody
Leggings   Aeris God Platelegs   (U) Ancient D-hide Chaps
Boots   Aeris God Boots   Sand Treaders
Hands   Aeris God Gloves   (U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces
Cape   Maximum Skillcape   Slayer Skillcape
Passive   Chapeau Noir   Ring of Wealth
Neck   Deadeye Amulet   Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs   Elite Amulet of Ranged
Ring   Ring of Wealth   Aorpheat's Signet Ring   Guardian Ring
Weapon   Slayer's Crossbow
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Ancient Crossbow
Offhand   Scaled Shield   Dragonfire Shield   Earth Layered Shield
Ammo   Jadestone Bolts   Emerald Bolts   Ruby Bolts

40% slayer area reduction increases your dps against   Ku-tul, and therefore, unless it will lead to your untimely demise, at least a   Slayer Cowl (Elite) should be used.

  Slayer Cowl (Master) and   Slayer Leather Body (Master) positively impact the amount of fragments you receive, and if available, should be used.

Shockwave

While the other two weapons are pretty straightforward in terms of gear, the

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Shockwave

is not.

  Rokken is by far the most dangerous and is both willing, and able to kill you if you are not extremely careful in your setup. This monster is able to buff itself to an attack speed of 2.2s, and is able to stun you, which massively increases its damage against you. Your goal here is either to be able to survive the increased stun damage, or to never actually take the stun damage by having an equivalent or faster attack speed than the monster.

You need to use Melee for this grind, and as said before, it is highly recommended that you use an   Infernal Claw to complete this.   Tidal Edge is too slow to reliably survive Rokken's stun without significant extra work, requiring you to put on more DR that will massively affect your kill time. Assuming you were able to use the exact same setup with no

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Astrology

buffs,   Infernal Claw is only 1-2% slower than   Tidal Edge. Adding buffs from

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Astrology

, adding the additional DR or attack interval reduction required for Tidal Edge, and using summoning combat familiars invert this difference and make Tidal Edge up to 20% slower with no tangible benefit.

Slot Better to Worse
Head   Slayer Helmet (Master)   Slayer Helmet (Elite)
Body   Slayer Platebody (Master)   Ragnar God Platebody   Terran God Platebody
Leggings   Ragnar God Platelegs   Terran God Platelegs
Boots   Ragnar God Boots   Terran God Boots
Hands   Ragnar God Gloves   Terran God Gloves
Cape   Maximum Skillcape   Slayer Skillcape
Passive   Fighter Amulet   Chapeau Noir
Neck   Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs   Fighter Amulet
Ring   Ring of Wealth   Aorpheat's Signet Ring   Ring of Blade Echoes   Guardian Ring
Weapon   Infernal Claw
Offhand   Dragonfire Shield   Earth Layered Shield

The   Fighter/  FEZ is the best passive/neck setup, even beating out the item doubling from   Chapeau Noir. Note that wearing   FEZ is required to wear Master Slayer armor.

One major note is that the   Ring of Blade Echoes is marginally faster for fragments/h than all other rings, however, due to its interaction of significantly increasing your use of consumables like Prayer Points and Potions, it is lower on the rankings.

  Slayer Helmet (Master) and   Slayer Platebody (Master) positively impact the amount of fragments you receive, and if available, should be used.

For this set-up to work safely without risk of death, the player's attack interval while in combat with this enemy must be less than or equal to 2.2 seconds, as this means the player is quick enough to avoid taking extra damage when   Rokken attacks with the Shockwave special attack. To achieve this, we use a weapon that has a base 2.2s interval, and gather 40% total slayer area negation through   Slayer Skillcape and   Slayer Helmet (Elite).

Check your setup with the Combat Simulator before engaging Rokken.

At 1,000 HP, which can be achieved with

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Level 97

and +30 HP from   Dragonfire Shield, this method requires 48% Damage Reduction.