(Updated 27/11/2014)
The snake
The snake can be found in an area near Isafdar that has been left mostly unexplored for centuries. The powerful serpent has been festering in one of the most tainted, deadly environments in Gielinor for its entire existence. Most of the life found there is brief and dies in a matter of hours, corrupted by the toxic miasma. The snake, however, thrives. It doesn't take a brave warrior to take on the boss, it takes a fool.
With this boss we hope to bring a true challenge to the Old School community. Only the highest leveled and most skilled players will stand a chance at succeeding.
We would like to keep the specifics of both the boss fight and the lore mostly under-wraps until the release of the boss. We want the community to have an opportunity to uncover the story of the area and the secrets of the snake boss themselves, having to explore and engage with the environment and boss to truly experience the content. This will also allow us to truly surprise you and will make the boss something that you will have to rely on you and your fellow community members to figure out and master.
The boss will use all three forms of combat as well as its uniquely potent venom to try and kill you. It will also use a number of new mechanics to throw you off during the fight. You will need to use at least two of the three forms of combat in order to take on the boss. It is going to be challenging regardless of your stats or boss killing experience.
To maintain the mystery and the surprise of this boss, this developer blog will focus on the rewards rather than the boss itself.
All you need to know is this boss is going to be a challenge to fight.
Please note : we are open to renaming any of the content at this point in time. The names used in this developer blog are not final. If you have any ideas, let us know!
Rewards
Venomous poison
Venomous poison is a form of poison that gets stronger as time goes on. The damage of venomous poison starts at 6 and for every minute that passes it increases by 6.
This poison can be cured with either two doses of any high level antipoison, the first dose reverting the venom to standard poison and the second to cure it. Alternatively, anti-venom can be used to cure venomous poison.
All monsters that are immune to poison, such as bosses and some quest monsters, will also be immune to venomous poison.
Venomous poison is applied by all of the signature drops of the snake boss.
Scales
Scales are a 100% drop of the snake boss. They will be dropped in varying quantities and can be used to recharged other signature drops of the snake and to create anti-venom.
Anti-venom & super anti-venom
Adding scales to an antidote++ will create an anti-venom potion. This potion cures venom poisoning in a single dose.
Adding torstol to anti-venom will create super anti-venom. This potion cures venom poisoning and offers 5 minutes of immunity.
We have not yet decided upon a specific requirement but creating the above potions will require a high herblore level.
Toxic blowpipe
The toxic blowpipe is a level 75, 2-handed weapon that uses darts for ammo. It coats all darts that it fires with venomous poison giving a 1 in 4 chance of it affecting your opponent.
The blowpipe carries +40 ranged strength and +60 ranged attack which stack with the stats of the darts you use. The attack speed of the blowpipe is 3, equal to a shortbow on rapid.
The special attack of the blowpipe consumes 50% special attack energy, firing a dart with a 50% damage increase and healing you for half of the damage that you deal. The base stats of the blowpipe make it an excellent weapon for PvP and by offering a heal on the special attack it will create PvM applications for the weapon.
The blowpipe will degrade over the course of 15 hours into a broken state. It can be recharged using scales.
Snake fang
The snake fang can be attached to the Staff of the Dead to create a Toxic Staff of the Dead. This increases the magic attack of the toxic staff to +25 and has a 1 in 4 chance of inflicting your opponent with venomous poison when using an offensive spell.
The Toxic Staff of the Dead needs to be charged with scales in order to be used and can be removed at any time. When you remove the snake fang you will get Staff of the Dead, snake fang and remaining scales back.
Alternatively, it can be attached to an uncharged trident of the sea to create a Toxic Trident (uncharged). This increases the magic attack of the staff to +25, increases the base spell damage by 3 and has a 1 in 4 chance of inflicting your opponent with venomous poison.
When charging the Toxic Trident (uncharged) you use scales in addition to the runes used to charge the trident with spells.
Serpentine helm
This helmet requires 75 Defence and provides the following stats and effects:
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Stab Attack: 0
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Slash Attack: 0
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Crush Attack: 0
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Magic attack: -5
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Range Attack: -5
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Stab Defence: +52
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Slash Defence: +55
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Crush Defence: +58
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Magic Defence: 0
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Ranged Defence: +50
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Strength: 5
- Prayer: 0
When wearing the serpentine helm you are immune to all poisons and venom. You also have a 1 in 6 chance of inflicting your opponent with venom poison when you are attacked.
The serpentine helm will degrade over the course of 15 hours into a broken state. It can be recharged using scales.
Release & Feedback
We are aiming to release the snake boss in early January providing it passes the poll that will be coming next week.
As always, we will be scouring the forums and social media for feedback from the community on how to make this boss the best it can be. If you have suggestions, questions or concerns with any of the above make sure to send it our way.
Expect to see further developer blogs on the boss as well as a competition to determine the name of the beast. Your feedback is vital to make sure we hit the nail on the head, don't hesitate to tell us exactly how you feel!
Polls
If the snake boss meets with your approval we hope to poll it late next week. As well as polling the snake boss we will also be polling the 2005 Christmas event, Diango's Workshop to be made available during Christmas as well as the following questions:
Should we improve the Kalphite Queen's drop table to make it more appealing to fight?
Should your POH butler remember the last request you made so you don't need to go through as much dialogue to make the same request again?
Should there be a right click option on Advisor Grimm in Miscellania to collect resources from your kingdom?
Should doing damage in the Pest Control minigame give you full XP for the damage you deal?
Mods Archie, Ash, Ghost, Ian, John C, Mat K, Reach, Ronan, Weath
The Old School Team
@JagexRonan
20-Nov-2014 11:11:54 - Last edited on 27-Nov-2014 10:18:27 by Mod Ronan
