Ancient Claw/Guide

Introduction

TL;DR - Jump to the Conclusion part if you just want the result.

Ancient Claw is largely the best melee weapon that does not require late-game content to obtain.

The Ancient Claw is assembled from the fragments that drop only from the Pegasus. You need to kill 3333 Pegasi on average to get enough fragments.

The question is when to farm it and what combat style is the best for that. The main point of contention is whether to farm it before or after the Volcanic Cave because this dungeon is farmed with a Melee build and is vital for idling the Air God Dungeon.

To answer these questions, we will consider the following builds:

• Starter runecrafting magic,
• Sunset Rapier melee,
• Ancient Magick,
• Ancient Magick in Glacia.

These builds were chosen to show the changes that the various drops bring into farming the Pegasus. The ranged builds were not considered because the Pegasus is Melee and has the highest evasion against Ranged in addition to the Combat Triangle.

In the considered situations, no prayers, potions, or other buffs are enabled unless specified.
The skill levels are given so that you can replicate the simulations in the Combat Simulator.
The Auto Eat - Tier III is used.
The Whale (Perfect) was used as a food of choice because it was considered a middle ground between starting out and being fully leveled out in Firemaking, Fishing, Farming, and Cooking.

The ring slot is always occupied with Magical Ring.

Builds

Starter magic

Item	DR
Fire Expert Wizard Hat	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Robes	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Bottoms	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Boots	5%
Miolite Shield	2%
Enchanted Cape	0%
Amulet of Magic	0%
Paladin Gloves	4%
Magic Wand (Powerful)	0%
Total	26%

Details

Fire Surge is used with Combination Runes. All skills are at level 75. The simulation results are: 1358 Ancient runes spent, 151.9 whales per hour, 23 Pegasi per hour. [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 151.9 * 18.875 = 2867 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = (N * 7 * (1 + 2/16 + 2/16) / 16 + N / 16) * 1.3 = N / 16 * (8.75 + 1) * 1.3 = N * 12.675 / 16 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = N * 9.75 * 2 / 16 = N * 9.75 / 8 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ N = 1358 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = 1358 * 12.675 / 16 = 1076 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = 1358 * 9.75 / 8 = 1655 }[/math] The adjusted time [math]\displaystyle{ A_{start} = T_{all} / D_h = (3600 + 2867 + 1076 + 1655) / 23 = 400 }[/math] In other words, the time that is required to get all resources for killing one Pegasus and to actually kill it is 400 seconds. The overall time to get all resources and kill all Pegasi is [math]\displaystyle{ 400 * 3333 / 3600 = 371 \text{ hours}. }[/math]

The overall time to get all resources and kill all Pegasi is 371 hours.

Sunset Rapier melee

Item	DR
(G) Dragon Helmet	6%
(G) Dragon Platebody	6%
(G) Dragon Platelegs	6%
(G) Dragon Boots	6%
(G) Dragon Shield	6%
Promotion or Glory	0%
Paladin Gloves	4%
Sunset Rapier	0%
Total	34%

Details
All skills are at level 75. The simulation results are: 33.2 whales per hour, 26.57 Pegasi per hour. [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 33.2 * 18.875 = 626.7 }[/math] The adjusted time [math]\displaystyle{ A_{ship} = (3600 + 626.7) / 26.57 = 159.08 }[/math] The overall time is [math]\displaystyle{ 159.08 * 3333 / 3600 = 148 \text{ hours}. }[/math]

The overall grind time with this build is 148 hours.

Ancient Magick

Item	DR
Ancient Wizard Hat	5%
Ancient Wizard Robes	5%
Ancient Wizard Bottoms	5%
Ancient Wizard Boots	5%
Miolite Shield	2%
Enchanted Cape	0%
Elite Amulet of Magic	2%
Elementalist Gloves	0%
Magic Wand (Powerful)	0%
Total	24%

Details

All skills are at level 75 except Level 91. With the following setup, you should have exactly 20k accuracy on Slicing Winds, they cannot miss now. The simulation results with the Miolite Shield are: 4905 Ancient runes spent, 107.9 whales per hour, 196.2 Pegasi per hour. [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 107.9 * 18.875 = 2037 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = (N * 20 + N) / 16 * 1.3 = N * 21 / 16 * 1.3 = N * 27.3 / 16 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = N * 21 * 2 / 16 = N * 21 / 8 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ N = 4905 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = 4905 * 27.3 / 16 = 8370 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = 4905 * 21 / 8 = 12876 }[/math] The adjusted time [math]\displaystyle{ A_{volcano} = T_{all} / D_h = (3600 + 2037 + 8370 + 12876) / 196.2 = 137 }[/math] The overall time is [math]\displaystyle{ 137 * 3333 / 3600 = 127 \text{ hours}. }[/math] If you swap from Miolite Shield to Book of Eli, it will only increase the clear time because your melee defence would plummet, resulting in many more Whales eaten. The simulation results with Eli are: 4905 Ancient runes spent, 172.4 whales per hour, 196.2 Pegasi per hour. [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 172.4 * 18.875 = 3254 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = 8370 }[/math]. [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = 12876 }[/math] The adjusted time [math]\displaystyle{ A_{eli} = T_{all} / D_h = (3600 + 3254 + 8370 + 12876) / 196.2 = 143.2 }[/math] The overall time is [math]\displaystyle{ 143.2 * 3333 / 3600 = 133 \text{ hours}. }[/math]

The overall grind time with this build is 127 hours.

Overall, you want to put as much DR and Melee defence as possible when maintaining the 20k accuracy.

For instance, if you have Level 93 with the build above, you can swap Enchanted Cape with Fire Cape and reduce the food consumption even further.

The rune mining and crafting take the bulk of the time, so you might want to use all preservation and doubling bonuses that you have.

Ancient Magick in Glacia

Item	DR
Glacia God Helmet	8%
Glacia God Platebody	8%
Glacia God Platelegs	8%
Glacia God Boots	8%
Glacia God Gloves	8%
Miolite Shield	2%
Infernal Cape	4%
Elite Amulet of Magic	2%
Magic Wand (Powerful)	0%
Total	48%

Details

The levels are the same as in the Volcanic build. Due to Ancient Magic not benefiting from gear, the build was aimed to cram as much DR and melee evasion as possible. If you have Level 95, you should be able to swap for Elite Amulet of Defence while still having the required 20k accuracy. Slicing Winds are used. The simulation results are: 4905 Ancient runes spent, 47.7 whales per hour, 196.2 Pegasi per hour. As the number of runes is the same, [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = 8370. }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = 12876. }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 47.7 * 18.875 = 900.3 }[/math] The adjusted time [math]\displaystyle{ A_{glacia} = T_{all} / D_h = (3600 + 900.3 + 8370 + 12876) / 196.2 = 131.2 }[/math] The overall time is [math]\displaystyle{ 131.2 * 3333 / 3600 = 121.5 \text{ hours}. }[/math]

The overall grind time with this build is 121.5 hours.

Analysis

Essentially, we want to know which of two sequences is faster:

• Rapier > Claw > Volcano,
• Rapier > Volcano > Claw.

Full-Sunset Volcano vs Full-Claw Volcano

Let's consider the Sunset Rapier and Glacia builds.

The difference between their timings of completing the claw is 27 hours.

The Volcano grind of the full ancient set is longer with the with Sunset Rapier than it is with the Claw.

The question is then if the difference between the rapier and the claw in the Volcanic grind is bigger than 27 hours.

We know the length of "Raper > Claw" and "Volcano > Claw" through the info of post-Ship and post-Glacia builds, but we need the data on "Rapier > Volcano" and "Claw > Volcano".

We take this data from Volcanic Cave/Guide#Weapon choice.

Item	Adjusted clear time (s)
Sunset Rapier	1892
Ancient Claw	1717

The goal of clearing the Volcanic Cave is to get the ancient set.

As specified on in the Volcanic Cave/Guide, you need 1350 clears to almost certainly get a full set of Ancient armor or 832 clears to have a 75% chance. The median (50% or results) is 564 clears.

Item	Adjusted clear time (clears/h)	564 clears (h)	832 clears (h)	1350 clears (h)
Sunset Rapier	1.9027	296.4	437	710
Ancient Claw	2.0967	267	397	644
Difference (h)		29	40	66

As you see from the Difference row, even the 50% chance still gives the 4-hour advantage if you get the Claw before the Volcanic Cave.

Therefore, if you farm the Volcanic Cave completely with the Sunset Rapier and then farm the Claw with Glacia, the sum of the Volcanic and Claw farm will be larger than if you were to farm the Claw with the Rapier and then doing the Volcanic Cave. And we didn't even consider the time loss of doing the Air God Dungeon with the Rapier instead of the Claw.

However, what if we were to use the Ancient Magicks as soon as we unlock it?

Sunset/Ancient Volcano vs Claw/Ancient Volcano

It is possible to clear the Volcano using the Ancient Magicks with the build from Volcanic Cave/Guide#100-Volcanoes Magic. Pay attention that you need 37% DR with 920 HP to idle it. That amount of DR is reached either through the Stone Skin prayer or through the DR potion II.

If we consider that we clear only 100 Volcanoes as a melee build and the rest as the 100-Volcanoes Magic build, then we compare the two sequences:

• Claw farm with Rapier + 100 Claw Volcanoes,
• 100 Rapier Volcanoes + Claw farm with Ancient Magicks.

Item	Adjusted clear time (clears/h)	100 clears (h)
Sunset Rapier	1.9027	52.56
Ancient Claw	2.0967	47.69
Difference (h)		4.87

In other words, the advantage of farming 100 Volcanic Caves with the Claw when compared to the Sunset Rapier is less than 5 hours.

If we consider the rearranged sum of what we compare

• Claw farm with Rapier + 100 Claw Volcanoes,
• Claw farm with Ancient Magicks + 100 Rapier Volcanoes.

and then subtract the second row from the first one, then we would get

[math]\displaystyle{ 27 - 4.87 = 22.13 }[/math]

In other words the sequence where we farm the Claw after the Volcano is faster than the sequence of farming the claw with Rapier by 22 hours.

Conclusion

Check in the Combat Simulator how to get 20k accuracy for Slicing Winds.
Clear the Volcanic Cave 100 times with Sunset Rapier, then farm the Ancient Claw with Ancient Magicks, and do the rest of the Volcanic clears either with the Ancient Magicks build or with the Claw melee.

If you can't get 20k accuracy for Slicing Winds in a reasonable timeframe, then it might be a good idea to farm the Ancient Claw with the Sunset Rapier first and then clear the Volcano with the Claw.