General Graardor Best in Slot Gear & Strategy Guide

General Graardor is found in Bandos' Stronghold, the Bandos boss room inside the God Wars Dungeon. He was released on 17 October 2013 as part of the God Wars Dungeon update. Like the other God Wars generals, he wanders his room with his bodyguards until a player enters, at which point the whole group becomes aggressive and attacks on sight. He is aggressive, not poisonous, and his examine text simply reads "A huge war chief."

Graardor's combat level is 624 and he has 255 Hitpoints. Crucially, if there are no players in his chamber, his health and stats reset — so you cannot chip him down across separate trips; each kill must be completed in one engagement, and stepping out to safety means starting that kill over. His high Defence of 250 makes a Defence-lowering special attack worthwhile, and his Magic Defence is deliberately high — it was raised to +298 specifically to curb the Twisted bow's effectiveness on him, which is why generic high-magic-DPS weapons are not the obvious pick here. His one soft spot is a 40% weakness to Earth spells, added on 25 June 2025, which reshaped magic as a genuinely competitive style against him. Between that weakness and the heavy Ranged-and-Magic Defence setups used against him, he stays approachable for mid-to-late-game accounts despite the bulky stat line.

To reach the God Wars Dungeon the first time you need a rope, and access typically requires completion of Death Plateau and partial completion of Troll Stronghold (after defeating Dad). Alternatively, Ghommal's hilt can teleport you to Trollheim without either quest.

To enter Bandos' Stronghold itself you need a Strength level of 70, which cannot be boosted, and a hammer to bang on the door (you can skip the hammer if you bring an Elder maul or Dragon warhammer, which double as door-bangers). You should also have at least 43 Prayer to unlock the protection prayers that are mandatory for this fight. If you are short on the Strength requirement, our Strength guide covers the fastest routes to 70.

Boss-room entry (killcount): to open Graardor's quarters you must either hold an ecumenical key in your inventory, or have killed 40 of Bandos' followers throughout the dungeon. Goblins are the easiest followers to kill for this killcount, and they also have a chance to drop a hammer (roughly 1/15, or about 1/2 if you don't already have one). Players who have unlocked the relevant Combat Achievement tiers need fewer kills — 35 for hard, 30 for elite, 25 for master, and 15 for grandmaster.

Graardor can be killed with all three combat styles, and the best choice depends on your account. As a baseline the wiki suggests around 80+ Hitpoints (95+ to tank), 80+ Attack, the required 70 Strength (80+ recommended), 70+ Defence (90+ to tank), 80+ Ranged, 70+ Magic (75+ recommended), and enough Prayer for Eagle Eye, ideally 70+ for Piety or 74+ for Rigour.

Gear philosophy, not a shopping list. The single most important principle is defensive: because Graardor's heaviest damage comes from melee and ranged, the player he is attacking should wear gear with high Ranged Defence and moderate Magic Defence while praying Protect from Melee. The three viable styles are:

• Melee tank/attacker — the simplest approach. Tank-oriented melee armour families (e.g. Justiciar-class or high-Defence sets) let you survive while you out-DPS him; pure offensive melee trades safety for speed. See our melee gear guide for families by tier.
• Ranged — the most straightforward style for solo players because, with proper kiting, it is possible to avoid all of Graardor's damage. Ranged armour has poor Ranged Defence, so it leans on movement rather than tanking. Our ranged gear guide breaks down the relevant sets.
• Magic — leverages his 40% Earth weakness; high-end magic gear with strong damage bonuses can melt him, and Earth Wave or Earth Surge become competitive DPS options. Our magic gear guide covers the robe families.

Rather than listing exact best-in-slot items here, plug your levels into the Boss Gear Finder above to get a tailored loadout for your chosen style.

Graardor trips are sustained by brews, restores, and high-healing food rather than by a tight inventory, because the bodyguards constantly chip your Hitpoints. A typical setup brings:

• A special-attack weapon — a Saradomin godsword (great with a Lightbearer), Voidwaker, or an Elder maul / Dragon warhammer to lower his Defence.
• A weapon that can autocast Ancient Magicks (such as a Kodai wand or blood ancient sceptre) plus a magic switch, so you can Blood Barrage the minions and heal off them after Graardor dies.
• Saradomin brews (roughly 8-10 for melee, more when tanking) paired with Super restores to top stats back up.
• A few Super combat potions for melee, or Ranging / Divine potions for ranged.
• Bones to peaches tablets (or runes) — Graardor and his bodyguards drop bones, so each kill rotation yields about 32 Hitpoints of free healing.
• An emergency one-click teleport (Teleport to house tablet or similar), and the rest of the inventory filled with high-healing food such as anglerfish or manta rays.

Graardor himself drops Super restores, and his bodyguards drop kebabs, chilli potatoes, and sharks, which can extend trips — inside a private instance dropped food lasts up to 3 hours, removing the need to juggle it.

Graardor has an attack speed of 6 (one attack every 3.6 seconds) and chooses between two attacks each turn.

• Melee (2/3 chance) — up to 60 damage. A simple punch. This is his most dangerous attack and the reason Protect from Melee is mandatory for whoever he is targeting. Keep your Hitpoints above 60 so a melee hit plus a bodyguard hit can't combo you out.
• Ranged (1/3 chance) — 15 to 35 damage. Graardor slams the ground to send shockwaves through the whole chamber, hitting every player in the room with an equal chance of any value from 15 to 35. Despite being a Ranged attack, he can only use it when within melee range of his current target. Because it is unavoidable when you're in the room, party members not being directly attacked should pray Protect from Missiles.

The three bodyguards each use a different style and target whoever last damaged Graardor:

• Sergeant Strongstack (Melee) — attacks with a flail for up to 15 damage; the least threatening of the three.
• Sergeant Steelwill (Magic) — launches yellow projectiles for up to 15 damage; the one most likely to hit you because most setups have weak Magic Defence.
• Sergeant Grimspike (Ranged) — throws axes for up to 21 damage; powerful and accurate.

The sergeants tend to lock onto whoever last damaged Graardor (on the minions' fifth tick), which means faster weapons get targeted more often. This is why a dedicated tank using a slow setup — or a Dinh's bulwark on Defence mode, which is never focused — can absorb the minions while the rest of the team attacks.

While Graardor is alive: whoever he is attacking prays Protect from Melee and wears high Ranged Defence so the shockwaves and Grimspike's axes do as little as possible. In a team, everyone not being directly attacked prays Protect from Missiles. Do not attack Graardor in a team until the base tank has his attention, or you risk becoming his target for the whole fight.

A handy timing trick: with Graardor's attack speed of 6, a 4-tick weapon (attacking every 2.4 seconds) lets you hit him twice before he can hit you. After two attacks, walk under him before attacking again to dodge an attack — "walking under" also buys a tank time to eat safely.

When Graardor dies, the bodyguards all focus the player who landed the killing blow — this is the most dangerous moment, and the kill order is the strategic core of the fight:

• Switch to Protect from Magic and kill Steelwill first, since most setups are weakest to Magic.
• Then switch to Protect from Missiles and kill Grimspike, blocking his powerful, accurate axes.
• Leave Strongstack — the weakest — for last.

A common team tactic is to have the base tank fight Strongstack alone with Guthan's equipment to heal, while the DPS handle Grimspike. Solo players often stack the surviving minions and Blood Barrage them, healing off the damage; a Blood ancient sceptre lets you overheal 10% past your maximum Hitpoints. Set quick prayers to Protect from Missiles and your ranged-accuracy prayer for fast switches during ranged trips.

Advanced solo ranged — the altar-door method. Because Graardor can only use his ranged slam when in melee range of his target, skilled solo rangers can avoid all of his damage by kiting: you alternate attacks while "Red-X"-ing between the Bandos altar and the entrance door, which, done correctly, causes Graardor to never attack you. This needs a weapon with an attack speed of 4 — the bow of Faerdhinen on rapid is the standard choice — and is far easier with the "Highlight current tile" setting (or RuneLite's Tile Indicators plugin) turned on. It is the route to fast, near-damageless solo kills, but it is unforgiving of timing mistakes.

Advanced solo magic — freezing. On the Ancient spellbook you can cast Ice Barrage to freeze Graardor in place, ideally with an Ice ancient sceptre, then attack from range until he breaks free. Alternatively, the Earth weakness lets standard-spellbook Earth Wave or Earth Surge compete on raw DPS, at the cost of easy in-fight healing.

A neat team trick: drop an item under Graardor's spawn tile and fight him in melee distance; when he focuses a player, that player rapidly clicks the dropped item, which (through the same mechanic used at Kree'arra) leaves Graardor stuck and unable to attack while everyone else piles on. This only works with melee.

The reason most players grind Graardor is his Bandos unique table. The marquee uniques are the Bandos chestplate, Bandos tassets, and Bandos boots — each at 1/381 for that specific piece — plus the Bandos hilt at 1/508. He also drops godsword shards on the same unique table, so the hilt and shards can come from one grind.

Beyond the uniques, Graardor reliably drops bulk supplies and resources — noted herbs and seeds, Super restores, ores, runes, and coins — that help offset the cost of the grind. Every kill also drops Big bones, which feed straight back into Bones to Peaches healing. The rarest reward is the pet, Pet general graardor, at 1/5000. The full drop table, with quantities and rarities, is shown above this guide.

• Letting the room empty mid-fight. If no players remain in the chamber, Graardor's health and stats reset — you cannot bank and return to a half-dead Graardor.
• Wrong prayer at the wrong moment. Protect from Melee keeps you alive against his 60s while he's up; forgetting to flick to Protect from Magic for Steelwill, then Missiles for Grimspike, after he dies is the most common death.
• Dropping below 60 HP. A melee hit plus a bodyguard hit can combo you out; stay above 60 Hitpoints.
• Skipping high Ranged Defence. His shockwave and Grimspike's axes are your steady damage source — Ranged Defence (with moderate Magic Defence) is what makes trips long.
• Killing the bodyguards in the wrong order. Strongstack is weakest and should be killed last, not first; rushing him wastes the safe window.
• Forgetting the entry requirement. Arriving without an ecumenical key or 40 Bandos kills means farming killcount on the spot — bring a key or clear goblins first, and remember the kill total drops to 35, 30, 25, or 15 if you have unlocked the hard, elite, master, or grandmaster Combat Achievement tiers.
• Bringing the wrong weapon for kiting. The damageless altar-door ranged method only works with an attack-speed-4 weapon such as the bow of Faerdhinen — try it with a slower bow and the timing breaks down.