Dragons Den/Guide

This page was last updated for (v1.0).

Why clear Dragons Den?

Dragons Den is usually cleared for the Ancient Crossbow, (U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces, and optionally (U) Ancient D-hide Shield because they are wanted for the Air and Water God Dungeons.

Other parts of the Ancient set are of little importance because you will use the Aeris God Armour for the Water God Dungeon.

Gear to idle

Because all enemies in Dragons Den are Melee, it is advised to use a Magic or Melee build due to the Combat Triangle.

This guide assumes that you have Auto Eat - Tier III. Crabs were used as a food of choice to reflect the approximate cooking level at the time of clearing the dungeon.

The simulations are run on a character with lvl 80 in all combat skills except Hitpoints.

Due to the wide range of cases, it is recommended to use the Combat Simulator to compare the options tailored for your situation.

The ring slot in the given builds is free. It is suggested to use Ring of Wealth if you have it or Aorpheat's Signet Ring otherwise.

Basic Magic

Below is a basic build that needs Level 90 to create, Level 78 to wear, and 830 HP to idle.

The spell of choice is Fire Surge.

Item	Slot	DR%
Fire Expert Wizard Hat	Head	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Robes	Body	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Bottoms	Leggings	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Boots	Boots	5%
Paladin Gloves	Hands	4%
Magic Wand (Powerful)	Weapon	0%
Total		24%

This build's clear speed is 16 dungeons per hour with 1060 Crabs and 9650 runes.

The adjusted clear time is 1094 seconds per dungeon.

Melee

The following build needs Level 99 to create, Level 70 to wear, and 780 HP to idle.

Item	Slot	DR%
(G) Dragon Helmet	Head	6%
(G) Dragon Platebody	Body	6%
(G) Dragon Platelegs	Leggings	6%
(G) Dragon Boots	Boots	6%
(G) Dragon Shield	Off-hand	6%
Paladin Gloves	Hands	4%
Promotion or Glory	Neck	0%
Sunset Rapier	Weapon	0%
Total		34%

The clear speed of this build is 9.8 dungeons per hour with 655 Crabs.

The adjusted clear time is 1091 seconds per dungeon.

With the Ancient Claw, it is 10.7 dungeons per hour with 626 Crabs and the adjusted clear time being 970 seconds per dungeon.

Advanced Magic

For comparison, here's the magic build that takes less time to acquire than the Ancient Claw and needs 860 HP to idle.

Item	Slot	DR%
Fire Expert Wizard Hat	Head	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Robes	Body	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Bottoms	Leggings	5%
Fire Expert Wizard Boots	Boots	5%
Magic Wand (Powerful)	Weapon	0%
Enchanted Cape	Cape	0%
Elite Amulet of Defence	Neck	2%
Book of Eli	Off-hand	0%
Elementalist Gloves	Hands	0%
Total		22%

The clear speed of this build is 20 dungeons per hour with 1000 Crabs and 1170 Ancient runes.

Adjusted clear time

Adjusted clear time is the time it takes to prepare all needed food and runes plus the time of the clear itself.

Build	Seconds per clear
Basic Magic	1094
Sunset Rapier	1091
Ancient Claw	970
Advanced Magic	839

Details

Adjusted clear time [math]\displaystyle{ A }[/math] is calculated by dividing the overall time [math]\displaystyle{ T_{all} }[/math] by the number of dungeons [math]\displaystyle{ D_h }[/math] cleared per one hour. The overall time [math]\displaystyle{ T_{all} }[/math] is calculated by the sum of one hour plus the time required to produce the Crabs [math]\displaystyle{ T_c }[/math], mine essence [math]\displaystyle{ T_m }[/math], and create runes [math]\displaystyle{ T_r }[/math]. All measured in seconds. The number of spent Ancient runes is noted as [math]\displaystyle{ N }[/math]. The Crabs fishing time is 3.825 seconds and cooking time is 7 seconds. The Fire Surge with the combination runes is used. The approximate Adventure situation is taken for Runecrafting. In particular, Mining Gloves and Elemental Potion are not used. The Runecrafting 95% milestone of the mastery pool is active, and the runes have 99 mastery, meaning that 16 runes are produced per two seconds. No rune preservation or doubling. The mining time is the one with the Dragon Pickaxe upgrade - 1.3 seconds. The number of needed essence considers all runes used in crafting: Essence, Air, Fire, Smoke and Ancient runes. [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = N * (7 * (1 + 2/16 + 2/16) / 16 + 1 / 16) * 1.3 = N / 16 * (8.75 + 1) * 1.3 = N * 12.675 / 16 }[/math] For [math]\displaystyle{ T_r }[/math] compared to [math]\displaystyle{ T_m }[/math], the only difference is that the number of mined essence is multiplied by 2 instead of 1.3. [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = N * 9.75 * 2 / 16 = N * 9.75 / 8 }[/math] The magic build, [math]\displaystyle{ A_{magic} }[/math]: [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 1060 * (7 + 3.825) = 11475 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = 1205 * 12.675 / 16 = 955 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = 1205 * 9.75 / 8 = 1469 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_{all} = 3600 + T_c + T_m + T_r = 3600 + 11475 + 955 + 1469 = 17499 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ D_h = 16 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ A_{magic} = T_{all} / D_h = 17499 / 16 = 1094 }[/math] The rapier build, [math]\displaystyle{ A_{rapier} }[/math]: [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 655 * 10.825 = 7091 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_{all} = 3600 + T_c + T_m + T_r = 3600 + 7091 + 0 + 0 = 10691 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ D_h = 9.8 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ A_{rapier} = T_{all} / D_h = 10691 / 9.8 = 1091 }[/math] The claw build, [math]\displaystyle{ A_{claw} }[/math]: [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 626 * 10.825 = 6777 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_{all} = 3600 + T_c + T_m + T_r = 3600 + 6777 + 0 + 0 = 10377 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ D_h = 10.7 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ A_{claw} = T_{all} / D_h = 10377 / 10.7 = 970 }[/math] The Advanced Magic build, [math]\displaystyle{ A_{AdvMagic} }[/math]: [math]\displaystyle{ T_c = 1000 * 10.825 = 10825 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_m = 1170 * 12.675 / 16 = 927 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_r = 1170 * 9.75 / 8 = 1426 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ T_{all} = 3600 + T_c + T_m + T_r = 3600 + 10825 + 927 + 1426 = 16778 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ D_h = 20 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ A_{AdvMagic} = T_{all} / D_h = 16778 / 20 = 839 }[/math]

As you see, the Advanced Magic build clears faster than the Claw build by 13% and has many options to be improved further.

Therefore, the Advanced Magic build is suggested.

Food expenditure

The bulk of time is spent on preparing food, so it's heavily recommended to level your food-producing methods when possible. As an example,

Food	Fishing time (s)	Cooking time (s)	HP	HP per second
Whale (Perfect)	7.875	11	580	30.73
Crab	3.825	7	150	13.86

In other words, if you prepare Whales instead of Crabs, you would double your food-prep speed, which is a huge boost to the clear time.

Melvor Idle version v1.2.2 (Released: 15th November 2023)
Combat: Attack Strength Defence Hitpoints Ranged Magic Prayer Slayer
Skills: Woodcutting Fishing Firemaking Cooking Mining Smithing Thieving Farming Fletching Crafting Runecrafting Herblore Agility Summoning Astrology Township Cartography Archaeology Alternative Magic
Other: Beginners Guide Guides Bank Combat Mastery Money Making Shop Easter Eggs Pets Golbin Raid Full Version Throne of the Herald Atlas of Discovery
Reference Tables: Items, Equipment, Experience Table, Upgrading Items, Combat Areas, Slayer Areas, Dungeons, Chest Loot Tables, Monsters, Monster Loot Tables