Infernal Stronghold/Guide

This article is about the guide for Infernal Stronghold. For the dungeon itself, see Infernal Stronghold.

Why Clear Infernal Stronghold?

There three main reasons for completing the Infernal Stronghold:

Clear it once after 100 Volcanic Caves to get the Infernal Cape that has 4% DR.
Clear it 10 times to get 10 Infernal Cores to complete a township task, and to merge Dragon Claw and Ancient Claw into Infernal Claw.
Clear it 100+ times to complete more township tasks, or earn a lot of .

Manual-Eating Build

The guide assumes that you have completed Volcanic Cave at least once, and have obtained the Ancient Claw. If not, then check out this Ancient Claw Guide for how to obtain this key item.

Before attempting Infernal Stronghold, it is strongly recommended that your Auto Eat threshold is higher than all of Malcs moves when you are not stunned. This build can achieve that with 900 HP, although it is advised to check it with the Combat Simulator to be sure.

The boss in this dungeon is Malcs, the Leader of Dragons (Malcs), and the strongest attack is the combination of Sealing (Stun) + Penetrating Claws.

Slot	Item	DR%
	(G) Ancient Helmet	7%
	(G) Ancient Platebody	7%
	(G) Ancient Platelegs	7%
	(G) Dragon Boots	6%
	(U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces	6%
	Fire Cape	2%
	Elite Amulet of Defence	2%
	Sandstorm Ring	0%
	Ancient Claw	0%
	(G) Ancient Shield	7%
Total		44%

The Ancient Claw can be substituted for the Sunset Rapier at a push, but due to the boss stun attack being very powerful, the faster you can attack after stun, the better your overall chances.

Use prayers to increase your accuracy, as without your hit chance against Malcs will be very low e.g. ~25% without prayers, compared to ~40% with. Using Diamond Luck Potion (any level) will give you a significant advantage.

Equipping the Infernal Cape after the first clear as this will increase DR, and will make it easier to get the 10 Infernal Claw needed for upgrading.

The Dragonfire Shield (DFS) which can be obtained from the Volcanic Cave is another good option, and can be paired with Icicle Volley and Witch. This combination is very effective against the Green Dragon. Similarly, with at least 20,000 Accuracy Slicing Winds is another good option.

The DFS is one of the best defences against Malcs. However, for an extra increase in DR, consider equipping Silver Diamond Ring. Doing so will reduce your Dungeon clear time, but may increase your chances of survival. With DFS equipped as well as 990 HP it should be sufficient to clear this dungeon with ease.

Malcs Special Moves

Pay attention to the following special moves from Malcs:

Sealing + Penetrating Claws: do not underestimate this combo. The Spam Eating kicks in with a delay after you push a keyboard button, so it is important that you start before the Penetrating Claws hit you. This special move has two instances of damage separated by a short gap, so a good idea to use Spam Eating. The damage from Penetrating Claws is calculated as [math]\displaystyle{ 640 \times (1-\text{DR}) \times 1.3 \times 2 }[/math].

Sealing + Tail Whip: Heal to full HP before this hits, and if you have time, look what the max damage of the Tail Whip is when you are stunned. You may find that you can delay manual eating depending on whether your HP allows. The damage from this move can be calculated as [math]\displaystyle{ 690 \times (1-\text{DR}) \times 1.3 }[/math].

Sealing + Usual Attack: Occurs when Malcs uses two Sealing attacks in row. The approach given in Tail Whip works well here.

Sealing + Inferno: Not as strong as the other attacks, and one that you can normally rely on Auto Eat to survive.

Idling Options

This build relies on high DR and a high HP and the top tier of Auto Eat and uses melee as this gives a high amount of damage reduction (DR). If your consumables run out, then you will not survive, so be sure that you have enough in the bank before you begin idling.

Requirements

Level 90
Level 80
Level 90 with Level 50 Damage Reduction Potion
Level 65 with Witch level 4 and Yak level 3.
Auto Eat - Tier III

Slot	Item	DR%
	(G) Ancient Helmet	7%
	(G) Ancient Platebody	7%
	(G) Ancient Platelegs	7%
	(G) Dragon Boots	6%
	(U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces	6%
	Fire Cape	2%
	Elite Amulet of Defence	2%
	Silver Diamond Ring	1%
	Ancient Claw	0%
	Dragonfire Shield	8%
	Yak	0%
	Witch	0%
Total		46%

Boost	Type	DR%
Armour/weapons (as above)	Melee	46%
Safeguard	Prayer	1%
Stone Skin	Prayer	3%
Damage Reduction Potion III	Potions	6%
Yak + Witch	Familiar Synergy	2% against Melee
Total		59% (58%)

The Prayer Scroll or Alchemist's Bag can be used to reduce prayer costs and the number of potions needed to idle the Infernal Stronghold.

Alternative options are available if the Air God Dungeon has been completed. The Aeris God Gloves and Aeris God Boots each give an additional 2% DR. Similarly, once the Infernal Stronghold has been completed the Infernal Cape can give another 2% DR. In Agility the Lake Swim can be used to give an extra +1% DR.

Once you have sufficient DR to idle comfortable, you can also consider wearing the Chapeau Noir for a 10% chance of doubling the items received, which can reduce the number of dungeons needed.

Bonuses that improve HP

Bonuses from Agility Obstacles and certain items can reduce the amount of DR required considerably by increasing your maximum HP.

Level 20
Level 70
Level 20
Level 20
Level 60
Level 60
Level 80
Level 80

Item	Position	+HP
Cliff Balance¹	Slot 5 Obstacle	+20
Rocky Waters	Slot 6 Obstacle	+50
Raft Building	Slot 8 Obstacle	+20
Ice Jump	Slot 9 Obstacle	+20
Dragonfire Shield	Off-hand	+30
Finn, the Cat²	N/A	+10
Total		+140

Notes:

The Cliff Balance will use +2 extra prayers each hit
Without Finn you will lose out on roughly 1% DR

For example, a Level 90 with all of the extra HP listed above, would drop the overall DR requirement from 59% down to 53%. Lower DR means that you reduce the use of potions, Prayers and the Witch summon. When combined with all of the equipment improvements mentioned earlier results in a lower minimum HP of around Level 76.

After Water God Dungeon

With access to Ancient Magicks and late-game armour and boosts, the dungeon can be idled with magic more quickly due to the Combat Triangle advantage. With this build, there is no need for any consumable except food and runes, and no need for boosts from agility. The spare slots in this build are filled with item doubling boosts, but you can change these depending on your goal.

Slot	Item	DR%
	Chapeau Noir	0%
	Glacia God Platebody	8%
	Glacia God Platelegs	8%
	Glacia God Boots	8%
	Glacia God Gloves	8%
	Skull Cape	3%
	Elite Amulet of Defence	2%
	Ring of Wealth	0%
	Fire Imbued Wand	0%
	Scaled Shield	8%
Total		45%

There is flexibility on this build. For example, Aorpheat's Signet Ring can be used instead of Ring of Wealth to get an additional 100,000 + per clear, but this reduces chance of doubling Infernal Cores e.g. from 10% down to 5% chance.