Hellhound Best in Slot Gear & Strategy Guide

Hellhounds are demonic creatures (tagged with the demon attribute), so demonbane weapons work against them. They are aggressive, attack only with melee, and hit reasonably hard for a Slayer monster — but their defensive stats are low, which makes them quick kills once you out-gear them.

The main draw is loot efficiency rather than a flashy unique. Hellhounds are primarily killed for their hard clue scroll drops, which they roll at a much higher rate than most other non-boss or superior monsters. If you enjoy Treasure Trails, a Hellhound task is one of the better passive sources of hard clues in the game.

If you would rather skip the slog, players with 91 Slayer can kill Cerberus as an alternative to a Hellhound task, and other substitutes include the skeleton hellhounds from Calvar'ion and Vet'ion, or reanimated hellhounds spawned with Expert Reanimation on an ensouled hellhound head.

To be assigned Hellhounds as a Slayer task you need 75 combat (unless the task is not counted). There is no quest or Slayer-level requirement to fight them — the combat-level gate is purely on assignment. They are members-only monsters.

Common kill spots for the level 122 version include Taverley Dungeon, Witchaven Dungeon, the Stronghold Slayer Cave (on a Hellhound task only), the Karuulm Slayer Dungeon, and the Catacombs of Kourend. The Catacombs are particularly popular: the area is a multi-combat zone, so you can pull aggression from several hounds at once and let auto-retaliate do the work, and the spawns sit close to the entrance.

Because Hellhounds occupy a large 2-by-2 space, they are easy to safespot. You can range them from rocks and columns in Taverley Dungeon and in Witchaven Dungeon, against the north wall at the Karuulm entrance, from the south of the Kourend dungeon room, and at the gap in the stalagmites on the eastern wall in level 21 Wilderness for the Wilderness Slayer Cave hounds.

Hellhounds barely defend, so almost any reasonable combat setup clears them — the goal is simply to maximise kills per hour. Two approaches stand out.

• Magic / water spells. Their magic defence is virtually non-existent, and they have a 50% weakness to water spells (on the level 122 and 136 versions). This is so strong that even a player with a negative magic attack bonus — for example wearing Proselyte armour — will rarely miss when casting water spells. See our Magic guide for spell choices.
• Melee with a demonbane weapon. Because Hellhounds carry the demon attribute, demonbane weapons gain their accuracy and damage bonus here. A strong melee setup leaning on Attack and Strength chews through their low Defence quickly.

For exact best-in-slot picks for your levels and budget, use our Boss Gear Finder rather than copying a fixed list — it tailors the loadout to what you actually own.

Hellhounds are a low-supply task. Because they only attack with melee, Protect from Melee fully nullifies their attacks, so a prayer-heavy trip can need very little food. Bring enough Prayer restoration to keep the overhead prayer running, plus a modest amount of food as a buffer.

For efficient resets, some players restore prayer at an altar and teleport straight back — the Xeric's talisman Xeric's Heart option or the Kourend Castle Teleport spell (48 Magic and completion of Client of Kourend) both drop you near the Catacombs. If you are killing them for ensouled heads, a charged Soul bearer can bank the ensouled hellhound heads automatically, or you can resummon them on the spot for extra Prayer experience.

The Hellhound fight has a single attack type, which is what makes it so beginner-friendly.

• Melee (Stab). Hellhounds attack only with melee, using the Stab attack style on a 4-tick attack speed. The level 122 version has a max hit of 11; the level 127 (God Wars Dungeon) and level 136 (Wilderness Slayer Cave) versions both hit up to 13. Handle it with Protect from Melee, which negates the damage entirely.
• Aggression. They are aggressive and will pull onto you on sight, which is useful in multi-combat spots like the Catacombs where you can tank several at once. In the God Wars Dungeon they will not aggro if you are wearing a Zamorak-affiliated item.

There are no phases, specials, or movement mechanics to learn — just keep Protect from Melee up and out-damage them.

Pick your kill spot first. For raw kills-per-hour on a task, head to the Catacombs of Kourend, stack a few hounds with their aggression, flick on Protect from Melee, and let auto-retaliate cycle through them while you cast water spells or swing a demonbane weapon. Reset prayer via Xeric's talisman or the Kourend Castle Teleport when you run low.

If you are specifically hunting hard clue scrolls, fight the hounds east of the Deserted Keep or in the Wilderness Slayer Cave while wearing a ring of wealth (i). In the Wilderness this doubles the hard clue drop rate from 1/64 to 1/32 — a large boost if clues are your goal, at the cost of Wilderness risk.

When you are not chasing clues and just want a fast task done, the safest play is to safespot with Ranged or splash water spells from a corner, taking zero damage and spending nothing on supplies.

Hellhounds have a deliberately thin drop table — the value is in the clue scrolls, not big-ticket uniques. The render engine draws the full table above; the highlights worth knowing are:

• Clue scroll (hard) — the main reason to kill them, dropped far more often than from most monsters. The rate is 1/64, improving to 1/32 with a ring of wealth (i) in the Wilderness.
• Smouldering stone — a very rare drop, at 1/32768 on the regular table and a better 1/16384 in the Wilderness Slayer Cave.
• Ensouled hellhound head — a Reanimation/Arceuus item, dropped at 1/40.
• Brimstone key — dropped only when the hound is killed on a Konar quo Maten Slayer task.

Hellhounds in the Catacombs of Kourend roll a dedicated Catacombs tertiary drop table on top of the standard drops. Every kill also gives vile ashes.

• Fighting them like a normal melee monster. Their headline combat level (122) scares people into over-preparing. They have low Defence and only melee — Protect from Melee plus any decent setup is enough.
• Ignoring the water weakness. Skipping water spells throws away a 50% weakness; even cheap, low-bonus magic gear lands hits here.
• Clue-hunting without a ring of wealth (i) in the Wilderness. If hard clues are the goal, fighting outside the Wilderness or without the imbued ring means missing the 1/64 to 1/32 rate boost.
• Assuming every version is identical. The God Wars and Wilderness Slayer Cave hounds hit harder (13 vs 11) and the level 136 variant has more Hitpoints (150 vs 116).