Black Demon Best in Slot Gear & Strategy Guide

Black demons appear as four near-identical versions: combat level 172 (157 HP), 178 (160 HP), 184 (170 HP), and 188 (200 HP). The level-172 and level-178 demons have a max hit of 16; the level-184 and level-188 demons hit up to 17. All of them use a single melee Slash attack at attack speed 4, are aggressive, and are members-only. They examine as "A big, scary, jet-black demon."

You can find them in several dungeons: Brimhaven Dungeon, the Catacombs of Kourend, the Charred Dungeon, the bottom level of the Chasm of Fire, the Edgeville Dungeon (Wilderness side), Taverley Dungeon, and the Wilderness Slayer Cave. The dungeon you pick mostly changes the surrounding drop tables and the danger level rather than the fight itself. The level-188 version lives in the Wilderness Slayer Cave, so killing those carries PKer risk on top of the demon.

There is no quest or skill requirement to attack a Black demon, and they are not a boss in the usual sense, so anyone with members access can fight them. They are categorised under the "Black Demons" Slayer task and are assigned by five Slayer masters: Krystilia, Chaeldar, Konar quo Maten, Nieve, and Duradel.

If you dislike the regular demon, several monsters count as Black demons for the task and can be killed in their place: Demonic gorillas, Balfrug Kreeyath, Skotizo, Porazdir, and Kolodion's final form, while still clearing the assignment.

The two sourced weaknesses define the meta. Black demons are weak to demonbane weapons and to Magic, so the strongest approaches are either a demonbane melee weapon swung at them up close or a Magic setup that exploits their 40% water-spell weakness. Whichever style you pick, build around that family rather than a random loadout.

For melee, lean on the demon weakness with a demonbane weapon and solid melee accuracy and defence; see our melee gear guide for how to assemble that. For a magic kill, the 40% water weakness makes water spells the standout choice and lets you safespot at the same time, which our magic guide covers. Rather than memorise a fixed item list, plug the boss into our Boss Gear Finder above to get a setup matched to your account.

Black demons hit a maximum of 16 or 17 and only attack in melee, so supplies are light. Bring food sized to your defensive gear, prayer potions if you intend to use protection prayers for the whole trip, and stamina or run-restore items for the walk to whichever dungeon you choose. If you are killing the Wilderness Slayer Cave or Edgeville Dungeon versions, treat the trip as a Wilderness trip: take only what you are willing to lose and watch for PKers, since the Wilderness demons are the ones that drop a looting bag.

This is the simplest part of the task because the Black demon has exactly one attack. Every version uses a melee Slash attack at attack speed 4 with a max hit of 16 (levels 172 and 178) or 17 (levels 184 and 188). There are no phases, no special attacks, and no ranged or magic attacks to switch prayers for.

Because the only damage source is melee, Protect from Melee shuts the fight down almost completely when you are standing next to the demon. The demons are also aggressive, so they will attack you on sight in their dungeons. The single most useful mechanic to know is that Black demons can be safespotted with Magic, Ranged, or a halberd in all of their locations, letting you take zero damage for most of the kill.

Pick your lane based on the two weaknesses. The low-effort, near-deathless approach is to safespot: stand behind an obstacle the demon cannot reach and attack it with Magic, Ranged, or a halberd, which works in every dungeon they appear in. Water spells are the best magic option thanks to the 40% water weakness.

If you prefer to melee them down faster, fight them up close with a demonbane weapon and keep Protect from Melee active so their only attack does nothing. Either way the routine is the same: tag the demon, out-damage its single slow attack, loot, and move to the next spawn. There is no rotation to learn beyond choosing safespot-versus-melee and keeping your supplies topped up.

Black demons are a Slayer-XP target, not a money boss, and there are no big-ticket uniques on the table. Every kill drops malicious ashes. The most relevant notable drops are an Ensouled demon head at a rate of 1/35 and a hard clue scroll at 1/128. The Wilderness versions additionally drop a looting bag at 1/3, and demons killed on a Konar task can drop a Brimstone key. Beyond that the table is low-end equipment and runes, so most players are here for the task rather than the loot.

The biggest mistake is overgearing and overstocking for a fight that only ever hits 16 or 17 in melee. You do not need heavy anti-magic or anti-ranged setups here. A second common error is ignoring the demon weakness: bringing a generic weapon instead of a demonbane one, or skipping water spells when going magic, throws away a large accuracy and damage advantage. Finally, players forget which versions are in the Wilderness (Edgeville Dungeon and the Wilderness Slayer Cave) and bring expensive gear into PKer territory; treat those trips with Wilderness caution.