Zulrah Guide - Rune Fanatics (2024)

Zulrah is a massive snake boss that players can fight in a solo instance. It is one of the most challenging boss fights in all of Old School Runescape, but it also comes with one of the most profitable boss drop tables in all of Gielinor. So, if you’re looking to take down one of the most challenging encounters in the MMO, here’s everything you could need to know.

Key Info Up Front

• Members Only:Yes
• Combat Level:725
• Hit Points:500
• Slayer Task:Yes

Zulrah Overview

Zulrah’s Background

Zulrah is a gigantic serpent boss that towers over the player throughout the entire combat encounter. The monster came to be during the Dragonkin Conflicts via an experiment by an unknown Dragonkin trying to give his kind the upper hand in the wars. Initially, Zulrah has deemed a failure and discarded into a swamp near its creator’s laboratory, where it was expected to die. But it didn’t die and grew to incredible power levels, ultimately eating its creator.

Currently, Zulrah is worshipped as a god by the residents of the local Zul-Andra village. This happened many years ago when Zulrah ate a group of men attempting to escape through Zulrah’s swamp. To save the group, one member offered her child as a sacrifice to strike a bargain with Zulrah. The deal allowed the village to live in the swamp as long as they frequently made sacrifices to Zulrah and devoutly worshipped it.

How to Reach Zulrah

Before you can fight Zulrah, you must complete the quest, Regicide. Once that is done, there are a few ways to reach the boss fight. The first way to get the boss is using a Zul-Andra teleportation scroll to jump to the village. Otherwise, you can take a ship from Port Tyras and run directly south or use a Fairy Ring with BJS code. If you take the Fairy Ring, however, you must make it across a series of stepping stones requiring Agility Level 76.

Once you’re in Zul-andra, you must board the Sacrificial Boat that will take you to Zulrah’s shrine. You will see a towering beast statue, and a dialogue box is started in the shrine. Once you progress the dialogue at all, the fight will start, and you won’t be able to leave until one of the two of you are dead. When you’re experienced at fighting Zulrah, you can also get Slayer tasks to hunt it from Duradel, Nieve, or Konar quo Maten.

Zulrah Stats

Before getting into how to kill Zulrah, you should understand its stats. Zulrah is a Combat Level 725 boss that players must fight all by themselves. It deals venom damage and attacks every 1.8 seconds. It has 500 hit points and an exciting spread of combat skills. Its Attack and Strength are level one, while its Defense, Magic, and Ranged are all 300.

These translate to a +50 to Magic Accuracy, +20 to Magic Strength, +50 to Ranged Accuracy, and +20 to Ranged Strength. Zulrah also has no modifiers when being hit with Melee attacks because it is entirely immune to them. It also has a +50 to Ranged Defense but a -45 to Magic Defense. You should also note that Zulrah is resistant to both Poison and Venom but is not to Cannons or Thralls.

Once you’re ready to face Zulrah, you’ll enter an arena in the swamp where Zulrah can dive back under the water after performing a series of attacks. When it emerges from the swamp, it will cycle to the next of its three unique forms.

Zulrah’s Forms

The first form is its base green form, called its Serpentine form. During this form, Zulrah uses its standard Ranged attacks that afflict players with poison. During this phase, it is also weakest to Magic damage, but Ranged can still be used effectively.

The second phase is its Magma form, which is telegraphed by Zulrah, turning bright red. During this phase, it makes Melee attacks. Before making these attacks, it will stare at the player briefly before swiping it with its tail, which you can avoid by moving shortly after it emerges from the water.

If you are hit with the attack, it can deal up to 30 damage and stuns the player. Zulrah is still weakest to Magic during the Magma form but has much higher Ranged Defense than in the Serpentine form.

Its final phase is Zulrah’s blue Tanzanite form. During the Tanzanite form, it goes back and forth between Magic and Ranged attacks but will use Magic more frequently. During this phase, its defenses are also reversed, making it much more vulnerable to Ranged attacks than Magic.

Zulrah’s Special Attacks

Zulrah also has two special attacks that can be used during any of its three forms. The first sees Zulrah summoning multiple Snakelings that resemble smaller versions of Zulrah’s Serpentine form. Each Snakeling called only has one hit point and will attack with either Melee or Magic.

While these attacks can deal a solid amount of damage, it is better just to take them and worry more about minimizing the attacks of Zulrah since they will sell a lot more damage if left unchecked.

The second special attack that Zulrah uses is called Venom Clouds. You can tell it is using this attack when it lobs green orbs across the arena. Each ball will turn into a damaging cloud that takes up four tiles. These clouds will not move, but Zulrah’s attacks will sometimes require you to run through them.

If this happens, make sure to get through the Venom Cloud as quickly as possible to minimize the damage you take from it. While the clouds do Venom damage, they do not actively give the player the envenom status effect.

Zulrah Strategies

Before we look at how a fight with Zulrah plays out, it is essential to note that attacks against Zulrah are capped out at 50 damage. If you hit it with an episode that deals more damage than that, it will instead be set to a randomized value between 45 and 50.

The fight with Zulrah can be segregated into four different rotations, each following a set order of attacks and movements to be adapted. You can find the parts of all four wheels down below. Since the arena is in the shape of a horseshoe, the below attacks will describe Zulrah’s position on the Horseshoe with its curve facing up.

Rotation 1

• Zulrah will spawn in the middle of the Horseshoe in its Serpentine form. It will create four Venom Clouds. Stand on the bottom left of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah appears in the middle in its Magma form before making two Melee attacks. Stay on the bottom left of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah appears again in the middle but in its Tanzanite form and makes four attacks with either Magic or Ranged. Stay in the bottom left of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah emerges from the swamp above the Horseshoe. It will be in its Serpentine form. It attacks with five Ranged attacks, summons two Snakelings, creates two Venom Clouds, and demands two more Snakelings. During this attack, you should stay on the right side of the Horseshoe.
• Magma Zulrah appears in the middle of the Horseshoe and uses two Melee attacks. You should stay on the right side of the arena.
• Zulrah will emerge to the right of the Horseshoe. It will be in its Tanzanite form and make five attacks with Magic or Ranged. You should move to the top of the Horseshoe for this stage.
• Zulrah comes out above the Horseshoe in its Serpentine form and makes three Venom Clouds followed by four Snakelings. When this happens, you should move to the left side of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah returns above the Horseshoe in his Tanzanite form and makes five attacks with Magic and Ranged fo, alternating when summoning Snakelings and Venom Clouds. During this attack, you should stay on the right side of the Horseshoe the entire time.
• Zulrah appears to the right of the Horseshoe and makes ten Ranged and Magic attacks. He starts with a Ranged attack and then alternates between the two. Afterward, it creates four Venom Clouds. For this attack sequence, you should stay inside the bottom right corner of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah appears again in the center in his Magma form and attacks twice with melee, so you can stay in the bottom right corner but move to avoid the attacks.
• Serpentine Zulrah emerges in the center of the arena again and attacks with five Ranged attacks before creating four Venom Clouds.

Rotation 2

• Zulrah appears in the center of the arena and makes four Venom Cloud attacks. You should start in the bottom left corner of the Horseshoe.
• Magma Zulrah emerges in the center again and makes two melee attacks. You can stay in the corner but move to avoid the attacks.
• Zulrah appears in the center a third time, now in his Tanzanite form. It will attack with Magic or Ranged four times, which you should stay in the bottom left during.
• Zulrah heads to the right of the Horseshoe in his Serpentine form before creating three Venom Clouds followed by four Snakelings. During this section, you can stay on the right side of the Horseshoe.
• There is a slight chance that Zulrah will emerge to the left of the Horseshoe. It will be in its Serpentine form and attack with Ranged and Magic, during which you can stay on the right side of the Horseshoe.
• Regardless of whether or not the above phase occurs, Zulrah will emerge above the Horseshoe in its Tanzanite form. There it will attack with Magic or Ranged five times, summoning two Snakelings, two Venom Clouds, and then two more Snakelings. During this section, you can stay on the right side of the arena.
• Zulrah returns to the center of the Horseshoe in its Magma form before making two Melee attacks. You can stay on the right of the arena; just make sure to move a bit to avoid the attacks.
• Zulrah will emerge to the right in the arena in its Serpentine form and attack with ten Ranged and Magic attacks. He will start with Ranged and alternate between the two before summoning four Venom Clouds.
• Serpentine Zulrah will appear at the center of the arena and make five Ranged attacks before summoning four Venom Clouds.

Rotation 3

• Zulrah starts in the center of the arena in its Serpentine form and makes four Venom Clouds. You will begin at the bottom left corner and should just stay there.
• Zulrah will stay in its Serpentine form but instead emerge to the left of the Horseshoe before making five Ranged attacks and summoning three Snakelings.
• It will then return to the middle in its Magma form, alternating between creating a Venom Cloud and a Snakeling six times. It will then make two Melee attacks, so you should position yourself halfway up the left side of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah will then appear on the right side of the arena in its Tanzanite form before making five attacks of either Magic or Ranged. For this attack, you should move to the right side of the Horseshoe to keep it in range.
• Zulrah appears above the Horseshoe and makes five Ranged attacks. You should head to the top of the Horseshoe.
• Tanzanite Zulrah will emerge to the left of the Horseshoe to make five Magic or Ranged attacks. During this section, you can stay at the top of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah returns to the middle of the arena in his Serpentine form before creating three Venom Clouds and then three Snakelings. You should move to the right side of the hall for this part.
• Zulrah will then go to the right of the Horseshoe while staying in his Serpentine form. There, it will make five Ranged attacks.
• Zulrah will return to the middle in its Tanzanite form before making five Magic or Ranged attacks, creating two Venom Clouds, and summoning three Snakelings. During this section, head to the left of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah will appear to the left of the Horseshoe in its Serpentine form before making ten attacks. The first attack will be Magic before alternating between it and Ranged.
• Zulrah emerges in the middle of the arena in its Tanzanite form and summons four Snakelings.
• Zulrah will re-appear in the center of the arena in its Serpentine form to make five Ranged attacks and four Venom Clouds.

Rotation 4

• Zulrah will start at the center of the Horseshoe in its Serpentine form before making four Venom Clouds. You will start the fight in the bottom left corner and should stay there.
• Zulrah will move to the left of the Horseshoe in Tanzanite form to make four Snakelings and attack with Magic or Ranged six times.
• Serpentine Zulrah will appear above the Horseshoe and make four Ranged attacks, followed by creating two Venom Clouds. For this section, you should move to the right side of the top of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah will return to the middle of the arena, this time in its Magma form. From there, it will make two Melee attacks and create two Venom Clouds. During these attacks, stay toward the arena’s top but move to the left side.
• Zulrah moves to the left side of the arena in its Serpentine form before making four Ranged attacks. During this section, you can be anywhere on the left side of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah will appear above the Horseshoe still in the Serpentine form to summon six Snakelings and create three Venom Clouds. During this, you should move to the right side of the arena.
• Zulrah emerges to the right of the Horseshoe and makes five Magic or Ranged attacks before summoning four Snakelings.
• Zulrah will take on its Serpentine form again in the middle of the arena before attacking four times with Ranged. As it does so, you move to the left side of the Horseshoe.
• Zulrah then stays in the arena, but in Tanzanite form, to make four Magic or Ranged attacks and create three Venom Clouds.
• Serpentine Zulrah will appear to the left of the Horseshoe to make eight attacks. The first will be Magic before alternating between it and Ranged for the remainder.
• Zulrah returns to the middle in Tanzanite form to summon four Snakelings.
• Zulrah stays in the middle but in the Serpentine form before making five Ranged attacks and creating four Venom Clouds.

Zulrah Loadouts

The most efficient way to kill Zulrah is by switching between Magic and Ranged, depending on which form appears. To do so, I recommend having your Magic and Ranged at least 80. If you plan on taking this approach, this is the best loadout you can use.

• Head Slot:Slayer Helm
• Necklace Slot:Necklace of Anguish
• Cape Slot:Ava’s Assembler
• Chest Slot:Ancestral Robe Top
• Leg Slot:Ancestral Robe Bottom
• Weapon Slot:Twisted Bow, Tumekan’s Shadow
• Shield Slot:Tome of Fire
• Arrow Slot:Tome of Fire
• Hands Slot:Tormented Bracelet
• Feet Slot:Eternal Boots
• Ring Slot:Ring of Suffering

However, it is possible to kill Zulrah by using only Magic or Ranged, but I recommend having whichever you plan to use at level 85 or higher. While these methods will work, they will take a lot longer than using both, but they can still be a decent way to learn the boss without worrying about constantly switching your gear. If you want to do one of these, I recommend doing Magic with the following loadout:

• Head Slot:Ancestral hat
• Necklace Slot:Occult Necklace
• Cape Slot:Imbued God Cape
• Body Slot:Ancestral Robe Top
• Leg Slot:Ancestral Robe Bottom
• Weapon Slot:Tumekan’s Shadow
• Shield Slot:Eldinis’ Ward
• Arrow Slot:Rada’s Blessing 4
• Hands Slot:Tormented Bracelet
• Feet Slot:Eternal Boots
• Ring Slot:Ring of Suffering

If, instead, you want to use only Ranged, consider this loadout:

• Head Slot:Maori Mask
• Necklace Slot:Necklace of Anguish
• Cape Slot:Ava’s Assembler
• Body Slot:Masori Body
• Leg Slot:Masori Chaps
• Weapon Slot:Twisted Bow
• Arrow Slot:Dragon Arrows
• Hands Slot: Zaryte Vambraces
• Feet Slot:Pegasian Boots
• Ring Slot:Ring of Suffering

Zulrah Drops

Once a player kills Zulrah, they are guaranteed to get a randomized amount of its scales. In addition, players will get one chance to roll on Zulrah’s Tertiary table and two on its Main Drops table. The items and drop chances of these tables are below.

100% Drops

Main Drops

Tertiary Drops

Zulrah Achievements

Zulrah Adept

• Achievement Type:Kill Count
• Achievement Difficulty:Hard

This achievement is unlocked once you kill Zulrah a total of 25 times.

Snake Rebound

• Achievement Type:Mechanical
• Achievement Difficulty:Elite

Snake Rebound is for killing Zulrah with the Vengeance spell delivering the final blow.

Snake. Snake!? Snaaaaaake!

• Achievement Type:Mechanical
• Achievement Difficulty:Elite

To get this achievement, you have to kill three Snakelings simultaneously.

Zulrah Speed-Trialist

• Achievement Type:Speed
• Achievement Difficulty:Elite

To unlock Zulrah Speed-Trialist, you’ll have to kill Zulrah in less than 80 seconds while fighting him without an active Slayer task.

Zulrah Veteran

• Achievement Type:Kill Count
• Achievement Difficulty:Elite

Zulrah Veteran is for killing him at least 75 times.

Perfect Zulrah

• Achievement Type:Perfection
• Achievement Difficulty:Master

To get Perfect Zulrah, you have to kill him without taking a single point of damage from his Crimson phase, Snakelings, Venom Clouds, or Zulrah’s Green special attacks.

Zulrah Speed-Runner

• Achievement Type:Speed
• Achievement Difficulty:Grandmaster

Zulrah Speed-Runner requires players to kill Zulrah in no more than 54 seconds while not having a Slayer task active.

FAQs

Conclusion

Zulrah is a demanding boss that will take most players a few attempts to kill the first time. However, the incredible challenge makes fighting him a lot more fun. The profitability of its drop tables also makes it an excellent target for farming Coins once you are proficient at killing them. If that’s too easy, however, you can try getting its various achievements that are even more difficult.

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