Smoke Devils are Slayer creatures that require a high Slayer level of 93 to be killed in the first place. While there are multiple strategies you can approach to kill them, each of them has its plusses and minuses. Still, ultimately, you will get a good amount of Slayer XP, valuable and unique drops, and if you choose to kill the boss variant of the Smoke Devils, you might even get a pet.
Dust Devils vs. Smoke Devils
Even though they are mutated versions of Dust Devils, Smoke Devils don’t use the same attack style as Dust Devils. While dust devils will attack you with melee, Smoke devils will always use range, and so will the superior variant, who will also always attack you using range. Therefore, it is crucial always to pray protect from missiles when fighting them. This is not the case for the boss version, the thermonuclear Smoke devil, who attacks with a typeless magical range attack that cannot be protected against through prayer.
Slayer Masters
Smoke devils are only assigned by three of the strongest Slayer masters:
- Nieve 120-185
- Konar 120-170
- Duradel 130-200
They are likelier to assign a Smoke Devil task, with Konar being slightly more likely to do it. However, you have a similarly high chance to get a task from the other two Slayer masters. The only noticeable difference is that if you get a Slayer task from Duradel or Nieve, you will likely be assigned to kill more Smoke Devils than from Nieve or Konar.
Smoke Devils Task Overview
Smoke devils are an excellent task primarily because of their superior monster variant, which, like all other superior monsters, has a chance of 1 in 200 to spawn. Due to its high level, the superior Smoke Devil has the second highest chance of dropping a Slayer unique. They are also a good task if you’re looking for Slayer XP. However, if you’re trying to grind for Slayer points, they are not a suitable task because they take a rather long time to kill, and more often than not, you might even use a lot of consumables depending on the strategy you use, which will bring down your profits. Nonetheless, if you’re an ironman, you will want to kill them since they have a unique drop, the Occult necklace.
Their boss variant can take a similar amount of time to kill, just slightly longer than their regular version, depending on your gear and method used. There are semi-AFK methods to kill them, but the AFK period is not long, so it is not the best approach, even though it is the most profitable.
Pros:
- Superior Slayer monster
- Occult necklace
- Multi-combat zone
- Boss/task only area
- Close teleport
- Can use a cannon
- Can burst/ barrage
- Close to teleport
Cons:
- Non-aggressive monsters
- Not aggressive
- Not profitable
- Short AFK times
- Deadly if prayer drops
OSRS Smoke Devils Best Location
Unlike most other Slayer monsters, Smoke Devils can only be found in one place in Old School RuneScape, and this is the Smoke Devil dungeon located just south of Castle Wars. There are a few ways to get here, but the most efficient way is to use the fairy ring BKP. You can also use a dueling ring to teleport to Castle Wars, but this is a bit further. An alternative method is using the hot air balloon, but this one is not recommended since it’s both far and you also have a certain weight limit to use.
OSRS Smoke Devils: Best Method to Slay
There are multiple strategies you can approach when being assigned a Smoke Devil task. Depending on your other game objectives and your personal preference, you could semi-AFK the task with melee, train your range with Chinchompas, train your magic by bursting the task, simply cannoning the task with either range or melee for accuracy, or kill the thermonuclear Smoke Devil instead.
Burst/Barrage
If you’re one of the players who doesn’t like burst/ barraging tasks because you have to click on each monster to aggro and group them up with darts or a blowpipe, then you might enjoy the smoke devil task. This is because this is one of the few exceptions of multi-combat zone areas where you can place a cannon.
While this method is extremely costly because of the price of runes and the price of the cannonballs, it will bring you loads of Magic and Slayer XP, and you might also make a bit of profit depending on luck.
OSRS Smoke Devils: Optimal Setup for Burst/Barrage
Best Gear for OSRS Smoke Devils
Head: Imbued Slayer Helm / Slayer Helm / Face Mask
Neck: Occult Amulet / Amulet of Fury / Amulet of Glory
Body: Virtus Robe Top / Ancestral Robetop / Ahrim Robetop
Legs: Virtus Robe Bottom / Ancestral Robe Bottom / Ahrim Robeskirt
Feet: Eternal Boots / Infinity Boots / Bloodbark Boots
Hands: Tormented Bracelet / Barrows Gloves / Dragon Gloves
Ring: Magus Ring / Imbued Seers Ring / Brimstone Ring
Cape: Imbued God Cape / God Cape / Ardougne Cape 4
Ammunition: Rada’s Blessing 4 / any other blessing
Weapon: Kodai Wand / Eldritch Nightmare Staff, Volatile Nightmare Staff, Nightmare Staff / (upgraded) Ancient Sceptre / Ancient Staff
Shield: Elidinis ward / Arcane Spirit Shield / Mage’s Book / Book of Darkness
Inventory
For your inventory, you should bring the following if you want to burst/barrage Smoke Devils efficiently:
- Dwarf Multicannon
- Cannonballs
- Saturated Heart / Imbued Heart / Divine Magic Potion
- Rune pouch with death runes, blood runes, water/soul/air/fire/ chaos runes, depending on the burst or barrage spell you plan on using
- Explorer’s ring 3 or 4 for high alchemy
- Falador shield 3 or 4 and prayer pots
- A herb pouch
- A gem bag
- Holy wrench
- Teleport to house tablet
- Dramen Staff, unless you completed the elite Lumbridge diary
- Expeditious Bracelet or Bracelet of Slaughter
Make sure to be on the ancient magicks spellbook. Teleport to BKP or Castle Wars and run towards the Smoke Devil cave. It helps to have a fairy ring or jewelry box in your player-owned house. Otherwise, you must fill another inventory spot with a dueling ring.
The AFK Cannon Method
A relatively uncommon method to kill Smoke Devils is using the cannon to agro them and then using your melee to kill them with some prayer bonus gear. Simply take your best melee weapon with your best melee strength and prayer bonus gear, place the cannon in the middle of the room, and pray range. Leave auto-retaliate and enjoy a few minutes of AFK while you pray protect yourself from missiles.
Loot disappears quickly from the ground, so if you want to pick it up, it will be less AFK since you risk losing valuable loot. Depending on whether you want to pick up your loot or not, find the right combination of strength bonus and prayer bonus for you since the amount of prayer you drain varies according to your Prayer bonus.
If you’re AFK for too long, you could also miss out on superior Slayer monsters, which is one of the big reasons you might want to kill the regular Smoke Devils instead of the boss. This is the only relaxed method to kill Smoke Devils and the only one in which you could profit.
Attacking and Using the Cannon on Smoke Devils
A faster but more costly method than the afk method is to kill the Smoke Devils using both your attack and the cannon. This time, you will want your best melee or range gear to ensure your cannon's accuracy is as high as possible. Simply place the cannon in the middle of the room, turn on auto-retaliate and protect from missiles, and start killing them. You will only be able to afk between clicking to reload your cannon, and the time can vary based on how many cannonballs your cannon can hold. This can only be modified by completing various tiers of your combat achievements, and the more cannonballs your cannon can hold, the more you’ll be able to relax and afk.
If you want, you can do an additional step and hide behind the bones to the east pillar to drag the Smoke Devils on top of the cannon so that you’re closer when you need to reload it. While this method is not as expensive as the burst/barraging and not as afk as the AFK method, it sits somewhere in the middle and will give you a decent amount of experience, a bit of profit, and a rather relaxed time.
Pick the Best Method for You
Picking a method to kill Smoke devils is up to you, but you should constantly adapt it based on your current goals and whether you’re up for an intensive method. Remember that each task can be approached differently, and trying all the methods before deciding which is your favorite is ideal.
