Volcanic Cave/Guide

The Volcanic Cave is the dungeon that unlocks all of the Legendary dungeons. The guide covers gives recommendations on gear needed to idle this 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 missing
  Air God Dungeon and
  Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Infernal Stronghold
- To get the Fire Cape which grants 2% DR
- To get the Elite Chest
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 missing
  Air God Dungeon
Clear 100 times:
- To unlock Ancient Magicks which gives you powerful spells such as
  Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Slicing Winds,
  Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Icicle Volley, and
  Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Ignite.
Clear 100+ times:
- To farm for the full ancient armour set and
  Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Ancient 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.

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

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Level 70

so that you can equip the Ancient Armor and you should be able to complete

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Dragons Den

relatively easily before attempting this dungeon. Ideally, you will want sufficient

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Auto Eat

to survive the dungeon without resorting to manual eating, but if you take this route then see the last section for further recommendations on how to survive the dungeon the hard way.

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 missing
Winds 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 missing
Ignite is a more powerful spell and has a good chance of killing monsters in one-shot.
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Icicle 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

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Volcanic Cave

uses the

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Melee

style and so it is not recommended that you attempt to idle this dungeon with

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Ranged

due to the Combat Triangle penalties. This guide assumes that you have

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Auto Eat - Tier III

equipped which greatly reduces the DR requirements. The calculations in this guide assume

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

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

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Volcanic Cave

is often idled with

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Melee

because the dragon armor set can be obtained with

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Level 99

, further, the armour can be upgraded to provide 30% DR. This

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Melee

build requires

820

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Hitpoints

to idle the dungeon. However, this should be seen as a minimum DR/HP, and any less will push you below the max hit of Malcs. The Sandstorm Ring can be omitted, but at the expense of clear time.

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%

Lower tiers of armor may be used if HP or DR is increased through other sources such as

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Agility

,

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Summoning

, or more

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Hitpoints

levels, etc.

Pre-Volcanic Magic

Idling with

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Magic

is recommended once you have stronger gear as it will ultimately speed up your clear times. To idle the dungeon with the build below, you need

780

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Hitpoints

and

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Weakening III

active.

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 weapon	0%
	(G) Dragon Shield	6%
Total		37%

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. However, you should use the highest level spell and robe combination available to you. For example, if available, use the Ring of Spirit Power instead of the Aorpheat's Signet Ring for more damage/second.

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Air Expert Wizard Hat	Fire Expert Wizard Hat
	Air Expert Wizard Robes	Fire Expert Wizard Robes
	Air Expert Wizard Bottoms	Fire Expert Wizard Bottoms
	Ring of Spirit Power	Aorpheat's Signet Ring

100+ Volcanoes Magic

After clearing the

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Volcanic Cave

100 times you will unlock Ancient Magicks which require a minimum of

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Level 72

. It is recommended that you have 20,000+ accuracy when using the

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Slicing Winds

as this means that the spell will never miss. This is important because you will want to keep a high DPS to make idling worthwhile. You can improve your Accuracy with:

Magic Assistance Potions
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Astrology
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Prayer
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Agility
Increase
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Magic, for example at
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Level 93

For a magic build Prat, the Protector of Secrets will be the biggest hitter, and with this build it will be very close to your Auto-Eat threshold, so if you need to deviate, then check your setup with the Combat Simulator.

Using this build you may need extra DR:

At 910
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
HP and with 33% DR, you can farm the dungeon without without extra DR.
At 880
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
HP you can equip the
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Stone Skin prayer to provide extra DR.
Below 880
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
HP it is not recommended that you attempt to idle this dungeon.

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%

In addition equip:

Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Slicing Winds and
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Surge II
Optionally, equip
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Yak and
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Dragon to not take any damage from burning (if you have enough marks)

Once you have sufficient accuracy rating, the Miolite Shield cam be swapped out for a ranged or melee shield with more DR such as (G) Dragon Shield to lower other HP/DR requirements.

For this build, food usage is

200,000

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

HP

to

250,000

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

HP

per hour.

Weapon Choice

Weapon choice makes a big difference to the number of chests that can realistically be obtained per hour when idling. This table shows how the weapons compare when adjusted to include time required to produce consumables, with reasonable assumptions:

Weapon	Adjusted Chests/Hour	Potential Chests/Hour
Pre-Volcanic	3.8	20+
Dragon Sword	7.6	24+
Dragon Claw	8	26.3+
Ancient Sword	8.16	26.2+
Sunset Rapier	9.6	31.4+
Ancient Claw	10	34.7+
Error creating thumbnail: File missing Icicle Volley	18.1	28.3+
Error creating thumbnail: File missing Slicing Winds	23.5	25.8

Magic builds using Ancient Magicks generally produce more drops per hour than the Melee equivalents. However, due to the number of runes needed, and the non-scaling nature of Ancient Magicks, as you progress

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Melee

builds will eventually give faster clear times.

This table uses data obtained from the Combat Simulator, and was adjusted by the time it takes to produce the required consumables with some assumptions made about the exact bonuses available for each skill. Use a copy of this spreadsheet to compare with your builds (link).

Gear Options

This section gives some alternative gear suggestions, in descending order of preference, based on the equipment available while idling the

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Volcanic Cave

.

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

Note:

Get the (U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces from the
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Dragons Den and these provide a good mid-game DR.
Craft the (U) Red D-hide Vambraces and (U) Black D-hide Vambraces with
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Level 73 or higher, or as a reward from the
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Spider Forest
Get the Gloves from the Paladin

Cape

Item	Provides	Notes
Skull Cape	3% DR	Reduces Error creating thumbnail: File missing Melee accuracy, so best for Error creating thumbnail: File missing Magic builds
Golden Fire Cape	3% DR	Upgrade of the Fire Cape
Fire Cape	2% DR	After clearing Error creating thumbnail: File missing Volcanic Cave once
Knight's Cape	1% DR	Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 66
Firemaking Skillcape	XP boost	Error creating thumbnail: File missing Level 99 and no DR increase
Obsidian Cape	Reduce food/hour	No DR increase

Ring

Item	Benefit
Sandstorm Ring	Solid DPS increase for Melee, but can increase clear time for stronger builds.
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.

Manual eating

The gear needed for a manual run through the dungeon is significantly lower than needed for idling. However, it also depends on how well you time your eating as this will interrupt your attack and lengthen the combat time.

In general, if you are considering a manual run it is recommended that:

You have
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Level 70 so that you can equip the Ancient armor as soon as it becomes available.
You have the highest
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Auto Eat tier possible to avoid accidental deaths
You use a
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Melee build with a fast weapon, such as Sunset Rapier, so that you can recover quickly after eating.
You start with the highest DR and HP so that you have an easier time.

For example, in theory, this build could work with a hard cap of 40 for all skills (i.e.

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Level 40

):

Slot	Item	DR%
	(G) Adamant Helmet	4%
	(G) Adamant Platebody	4%
	(G) Adamant Platelegs	4%
	(G) Adamant Boots	4%
	Adamant Gloves	0%
	Knight's Cape	1%
	Silver Topaz Necklace	0%
	Silver Diamond Ring	1%
	Adamant Sword	0%
	(G) Adamant Shield	4%
Total		22%

In addition:

Optionally, equip
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Ultimate Strength and
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Safeguard
Optionally, equip
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Wolf and
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Yak

However, any improvements on this equipment set would be highly recommended as clearing the dungeon with this build would take around 13 minutes.

TL/DR

In summary, the suggested order for idling is:

Obtain the Sunset Rapier and the Sandstorm Ring
Perform 100
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Volcanic Cave clears as Melee to unclock
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Slicing Winds
Do the remainder of
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Volcanic Cave clears with
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Slicing Winds with the Surge aurora.

Manual eating has a significantly lower requirement, but requires skill to not die.