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RuneScoop.com  >  The RuneScoop Ultimate Skill Guide for RuneScape       >  The RuneScoop Ultimate Skill Guide - Dungeoneering            >  The RuneScoop Ultimate Skill Guide - Dungeoneering - Bosses

Hobgoblin Geomancer (Floors 12-17 and 30-35) Unholy Cursebearer (Floors 12-17 and 30-35)

The bulwark beast is a large creature that is similar in some ways to the gluttonous behemoth, except it has a twist: it is protected by tough armored plating that must be removed before it can be damaged by either melee or ranging. The beast can be found as the boss on floors in either of the “Abandoned” theme sections (levels 12-17 or 30-35). It is a cute concept, but not actually a very big challenge.

The bulwark beast looks quite similar to the gluttonous behemoth, differing mainly in color, and the presence of protective armor on its body and shield plating on its mandibles (mouth parts) up front. The behemoth notes that are sometimes dropped by the gluttonous behemoth and the bulwark beast reveal that both are varieties of behemoths, a race of monsters in Daemonheim that also includes the monster named Stomp.

The bulwark beast attacks with all three combat styles. It is immune to all melee and ranged attacks until its armor plating is removed, which is accomplished by using a pickaxe as a weapon and wearing it away. Magic attacks will hit through the armor, and also simultaneously reduce it, but this is usually not the best approach, as we’ll discuss shortly.

During the initial period when the armor is active, a bar will appear at the top of the screen indicating how much of it remains. Attacks with pickaxes that reduce the armor appear with blue “splats” instead of the normal red ones.

Familiars can hit through the armor plating, and deflected damage from protective curses also will damage the bulwark beast even before its armor is worn down.

One interesting little tidbit I’ve observed is that very often when I find a decent-leveled pickaxe as part of the gear in the starting room, the bulwark beast turns out to be the boss. Could be coincidence, as I don’t have a very large sample size for this, but maybe it’s Jagex being a bit cutesy there. If it is true, it’s a useful little bonus! :)

• Name: Bulwark beast.
  
  
• Examine Text: “Its armour is made of a hard stone.”
  
  
• Daemonheim Theme (Zone): Abandoned 1 / 2.
  
  
• Dungeon Floors: Levels 12 to 17 and 30 to 35.
  
  
• Primary Attack Styles: Melee, Ranged and Magic.
  
  
• Secondary Attack Styles: None.
  
  
• Special Attacks: Stomp; prayer drain in team environment.
  
  
• Special Defences: Protective stone armor that must be removed before it can be ranged or meleed.
  
  
• Special Immunities: Poison.
  
  
• Weak Against: Melee/Any (after armor is removed).
  
  
• Neutral: Magic, Ranged (after armor is removed).
  
  
• Strong Against: None (after armor is removed).
  
  
• Recommended Attack Method: Melee/Stab or Melee/Crush using pickaxe, then Melee/Any.
  
  
• Recommended Defence Method: Melee armor with Deflect Magic.
  
  
• Drop Category: Pickaxes.

Table 96 lists all of the “versions” of the bulwark beasts that I have encountered personally, or that have been documented by sources I consider reliable, showing the combat level, life points total and maximum damage of each.

The bulwark beast is a very straightforward monster from an offensive standpoint. It attacks using all three combat styles, and will close to melee if you hang back from it. All of its attacks are fairly potent, but the magic attack appears to be the most accurate (as is so often the case, it seems).

This boss has a rather nasty special attack that only comes into play in a team setting. It will periodically massively drain the prayer points from players, but only the one it is not currently focusing on. When soloing it always targets the single player in the room, so obviously that doesn’t come into play.

The beast also has a “stomp” attack that it uses on players who try to hide underneath it to avoid damage, similar to the behavior of the Corporeal Beast. The simple and obvious solution to this is: “don’t stand underneath the bulwark beast”. :) It is only possible to do this on team floors anyway—if a solo player tries it, the beast just moves (yes, I tried).

The bulwark beast begins with protective armor that negates all attacks except for magic spells, deflected damage from curses, and damage done by familiars. The armor is removed by attacking the beast with pickaxes, or by using magic attacks. A separate damage counter is provided to show the “health” of the beast’s armor plates.

With its armor removed, the bulwark beast becomes a big ol’ softie. It is weak to all melee attack styles, and will take moderate damage from magic and ranged attacks as well.

I suggest gearing up in melee armor with a good melee weapon, and also smithing yourself the highest-level pickaxe you’re able to make. Higher-level pickaxes will do much more damage to the monster’s armor, allowing you to switch to your real weapon more quickly. Be sure you have a good amount of food, though you usually don’t need as much as with some other bosses.

Before entering the room, put on Protection from Magic or Deflect Magic, and equip your pickaxe. Note that this is one place where the curse is definitely worth more than the prayer, because the beast uses its magic attack frequently, and the damage reflected back will hit even through its armor. If you are using ranged armor, use Protection from Melee or Deflect Melee instead.

Attack the monster with your pickaxe, waiting until the bar along the top disappears completely; you can then switch to your regular weapon. Using Piety or Turmoil helps during the pickaxe phase, since picks are not exactly the strongest of weapons.

The fact that magic both hits through the monster’s armor plating and simultaneously reduces it may make maging seem the natural choice, but I don’t recommend it, especially for solo players. The beast takes damage from magic but is not weak to it; you’ll get a lot of splashes unless you wear magic robes. And even if you do, the number of zero hits is still considerable. Meanwhile, if you try to mage in magic robes, the beast will positively destroy you with its melee and ranged attacks. I attempted this once and died despite a full load of fish with the beast down only 20% of its health.

Combat familiars hit through the beast’s armor (but don’t reduce it), so they are of definite value here. I have tested all three familiars, and all are effective, but only the magic one will do damage before the armor is removed. You don’t really need a beast of burden here.

Note: If you are “rushing” floors on complexity 1 using the “snake eyes” method, you won’t have a pickaxe.There’s a tier 1 pick conveniently supplied for you in the corner of the boss room.

The fight is the same with teams as solo players, and may arguably be easier. All members should be equipped with high level pickaxes, which hopefully can be made by a party member with high Mining and Smithing. Players should then proceed as above, chipping away the beast’s armor and then switching weapons.

In a team, it’s important not to try to stand under the beast, as you may get hit by its stomp attack. Also, as mentioned above, the beast will drain prayer from all players except the one it is currently “paying attention to”.

Teams are one place where it may well make sense to employ a mage, to “soften up” the monster and also wear down its armor. I have not tried this yet, but theoretically at least, in a large team one player could fire spells at the beast while others tank the damage that would otherwise finish off a mage.

The bulwark beast’s class of drops is pickaxes, appropriately enough; it also drops hatchets. These can range from the tier 1 novite pickaxe/hatchet up to a tier 11 primal one. I don’t know anyone who would spend a bind slot on a pickaxe or hatchet, so these are pretty much never kept for more than a few minutes.

The bulwark beast may drop part of the Chronicles of Bilrach, or a portion of the behemoth notes (as mentioned above).

Hobgoblin Geomancer (Floors 12-17 and 30-35) Unholy Cursebearer (Floors 12-17 and 30-35)