Cerberus (2024)

This article has a strategy guide. All information on mechanics and strategy will be on this page.

This article has a Slayer task guide here. Information comparing locations for Slayer tasks will be on this page

Cerberus
Released								27 August 2015 (Update)
Members								Yes
Combat level								318
Size								5x5
Examine								A three-headed gigantic hound. Guardian of the River of Souls.
Combat info
Attribute								Demon
XP bonus								+15%
Max hit								23
Aggressive								Yes
Poisonous								No
Attack style								Stab, Ranged, Magic
Attack speed								6 ticks (3.6 seconds)
Respawn time								15 ticks (9 seconds)
Slayer info
Slayer level								91
Slayer XP								690 xp
Category								Hellhounds, Bosses
Assigned by
Combat stats
600				220				220				100				220				220
Aggressive stats
+50				+0				+50				+0				+50				+0
Melee defence
+50								+100								+25
Magic defence
+100												40% weakness
Ranged defence
+100								+100								+100
Immunities
Poison								Immune
Venom								Immune
Cannons								Not immune
Thralls								Not immune
Open in DPS calculator
Advanced data
Monster ID								5862,5863,5866

Cerberus is a level 318 hellhound boss who resides in her lair, deep beneath the Taverley Dungeon in the cave entrance in the north-east part of the hellhound area, which is found beyond the poisonous spiders. Defeating Cerberus requires a Slayer level of 91, along with a task of hellhounds or Cerberus herself. In the event of a hellhound or elite clue scroll task, wild pies may be used to boost the player's Slayer level. While boosting, the player's Slayer level must remain at or above 91.

As the Guardian of the River of Souls, Cerberus protects the souls of the departed from whatever troubles they may face on their journey by the Citizens of Arceuus. Despite her important task, Cerberus longs to escape her post, and has successfully done so on multiple occasions, although with each attempt she was quickly captured and returned. Cerberus has killed many adventurers who have stumbled into her lair, with one of her more recent kills dropping a damaged soul bearer which the Arceuus Elders inspected and eventually discarded when they could not repair it.

Cerberus drops three different crystals: the eternal, pegasian, and primordial crystals which are used to upgrade the infinity, ranger, and dragon boots to the eternal, pegasian, and primordial boots respectively, which boast best-in-slot bonuses for the feet slot. She can also drop the smouldering stone at a much better rate compared to her lesser brethren, along with the jar of souls and the hellpuppy pet.

A dwarf multicannon cannot be set up inside Cerberus' Lair; if attempted, players will receive the message: You cannot place the cannon here, it would melt.

Location[edit | edit source]

Location	Levels	Members	Spawns	Map
Cerberus' Lair	318		3	Maplink

• There are 3 different rooms inside Cerberus' Lair in which Cerberus can be found.

Fight overview[edit | edit source]

When approaching her, Cerberus will become aggressive. She may attack with magic, ranged and melee attacks, each with a max hit of 23. The magic attack appears as a grey ball, the ranged attack appears as a ball of spikes, and the melee attack is her biting.

Cerberus has three special attacks that she may use under certain circ*mstances:

• She attacks in quick succession with magic followed by ranged and melee. The melee attack will hit the player even at a distance.
• She summons three souls – indicated by her howling – that come from the river behind her and attack the player with each combat style. Each attack will drain 30 prayer (15 with spectral spirit shield equipped) if blocked or 30 hitpoints if not blocked.
• She spits three balls of fire – indicated by her growling – on the ground, one at the player and two in random spots around the room. Standing on or near one will deal continuous damage, which can be reduced with appropriate dragonfire protection.^[1]

If a player has recently fought the boss, a line of fire will spawn between the entrance and the boss; stepping over this will deal 5 damage each way. The line of fire may be bugged, as it will not despawn unless the challenger dies to Cerberus or goes back through the line of fire after it respawns and if the player comes back after teleporting away mid-fight. Cerberus will restore all of her health if there are no players in her lair (she is not attackable and only has an examine option when this happens).

Once defeated, Cerberus will respawn in five seconds.

Money making[edit | edit source]

The following money making guide is available for Cerberus:

Drops[edit | edit source]

Drop rates estimated based on 93,825 samples from the Drop Rate Project, unless otherwise cited.

The average Cerberus kill is worth 89,304.51.

The average Cerberus kill while on a Konar task is worth 91,432.41.

Excluding Primordial crystal drops, the average kill is worth 36,662.00. Excluding all unique drops, the average kill is worth 24,413.00.

100%[edit | edit source]

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Infernal ashes	1	Always	4,354	1

Uniques[edit | edit source]

There is a 1 in 128 chance of hitting the unique drop table. Below lists the effective drop rates.^[2]

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Primordial crystal	1	1/512	26,952,735	27,000
	Pegasian crystal	1	1/512	166,460	27,000
	Eternal crystal	1	1/512	3,760,604	27,000
	Smouldering stone	1	1/512	2,314,492	27,000

Weapons and armour[edit | edit source]

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Rune platebody	1	5/128	38,610	39,000
	Rune chainbody	1	4/128	29,487	30,000
	Rune 2h sword	1	4/128	38,005	38,400
	Black d'hide body	1	3/128	7,504	8,088
	Rune axe	1	3/128	7,239	7,680
	Rune pickaxe	1	3/128	18,749	19,200
	Battlestaff	6(noted)	3/128	50,886	25,200
	Rune full helm	1	3/128	20,695	21,120
	Lava battlestaff	1	2/128	9,355	10,200
	Rune halberd	1	2/128	37,772	38,400

Runes and ammunition[edit | edit source]

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Fire rune	300	6/128	1,200	600
	Soul rune	100	6/128	19,000	18,000
	Pure essence	300(noted)	5/128	300	600
	Blood rune	60	4/128	18,660	14,400
	Cannonball	50	4/128	10,700	150
	Runite bolts (unf)	40	4/128	5,480	0
	Death rune	100	3/128	19,900	10,800

Other[edit | edit source]

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Coal	120(noted)	6/128	17,280	3,240
	Super restore(4)	2	6/128	22,736	360
	Summer pie	3	6/128	2,820	252
	Coins	10,000–20,000	5/128	10,000–20,000	10,000–20,000
	Dragon bones	20(noted)	5/128	87,980	1,920
	Unholy symbol	1	5/128	173	120
	Wine of zamorak	15(noted)	5/128	11,115	0
	Ashes	50(noted)	4/128	4,600	50
	Fire orb	20(noted)	4/128	20,980	3,600
	Grimy torstol	6(noted)	4/128	25,020	90
	Runite ore	5(noted)	3/128	54,955	9,600
	Uncut diamond	5(noted)	3/128	12,710	600
	Key master teleport	3	2/128	Not sold	18
	Torstol seed	3	2/128	34,455	126

Rare drop table[edit | edit source]

There is a 3/128 chance of rolling the rare drop table.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Nothing	N/A	1/235.16; Never[d 1]	N/A	N/A
	Coins	3,000	1/260.06	3,000	3,000
	Loop half of key	1	1/270.95; 1/268.93[d 2]	11,190	60
	Tooth half of key	1	1/270.95; 1/268.93[d 2]	11,057	60
	Uncut sapphire	1	1/1,092.27; 1/554.67[d 2]	234	15
	Runite bar	1	1/1,092.27	12,473	3,000
	Nature rune	67	1/1,820.44	7,437	7,236
	Rune 2h sword	1	1/1,820.44	38,005	38,400
	Rune battleaxe	1	1/1,820.44	24,469	24,960
	Uncut emerald	1	1/2,184.53; 1/1,109.33[d 2]	476	30
	Law rune	45	1/2,730.67	6,840	6,480
	Death rune	45	1/2,730.67	8,955	4,860
	Steel arrow	150	1/2,730.67	3,600	1,050
	Rune arrow	42	1/2,730.67	2,982	10,080
	Adamant javelin	20	1/2,730.67	860	1,920
	Rune sq shield	1	1/2,730.67	22,576	23,040
	Dragonstone	1	1/2,730.67	11,733	6,000
	Silver ore	100(noted)	1/2,730.67	7,800	4,500
	Uncut ruby	1	1/4,369.07; 1/2,218.67[d 2]	1,040	60
	Rune kiteshield	1	1/5,461.33	32,160	32,640
	Dragon med helm	1	1/5,461.33	58,875	60,000
	Rune spear	1	1/5,765.37; 1/668.94[d 2]	12,100	12,480
	Shield left half	1	1/11,530.73; 1/1,337.89[d 2]	65,627	66,000
	Nature talisman	1	1/11,650.84; 1/5,916.44[d 2]	265	2
	Dragon spear	1	1/15,374.31; 1/1,783.85[d 2]	40,492	37,440
	Uncut diamond	1	1/17,476.27; 1/8,874.67[d 2]	2,542	120
	Rune javelin	5	1/34,952.53; 1/17,749.33[d 2]	905	1,200

Tertiary[edit | edit source]

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Ensouled hellhound head	1	1/15	5,347	1
	Brimstone key	1	1/45[d 1]	Not sold	N/A
	Clue scroll (elite)	1	1/100[d 2][2]	Not sold	12
	Jar of souls	1	1/2,000[2]	117,134	0
	Hellpuppy	1	1/3,000[2]	Not sold	N/A

Combat Achievements[edit | edit source]

There are 6 Combat Achievement tasks (totalling 26 points) available for Cerberus.

Name	Description	Type	Tier	Comp%
Anti-Bite Mechanics	Kill Cerberus without taking any melee damage.	Perfection	Elite(4pts)	20.7%
Cerberus Veteran	Kill Cerberus 75 times.	Kill Count	Elite(4pts)	20.4%
Ghost Buster	Kill Cerberus after successfully negating 6 or more attacks from Summoned Souls.	Mechanical	Elite(4pts)	18.3%
Unrequired Antifire	Kill Cerberus without taking damage from any lava pools.	Perfection	Elite(4pts)	21%
Arooo No More	Kill Cerberus without any of the Summoned Souls being spawned.	Mechanical	Master(5pts)	20.3%
Cerberus Master	Kill Cerberus 150 times.	Kill Count	Master(5pts)	18.6%

Changes[edit | edit source]

Gallery[edit | edit source]

• 

  Pre-release work-in-progress model of Cerberus

• 

  A piece of artwork depicting a player facing Cerberus.

• 

  Cerberus art from Jagex's turn-based card game, Chronicle: RuneScape Legends

• 

  The Cerberus Steam Trading Card.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

• In Greek and Roman mythology, Cerberus is a multi-headed hellhound with a serpent's tail, a mane of snakes, and a lion's claws, guarding the entrance of the Greek underworld to prevent the dead from escaping and the living from entering. This reflects the area around Cerberus as it guards the rivers that take souls to the Underworld and explains the jar of souls drop.
  • Although in its associated mythology Cerberus is male, the boss lair display refers to the boss in-game as female.
• Cerberus stands on a trapdoor as a reference to the book/film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), in which a three-headed dog guarded a trapdoor. This also helps explain its four stone/crystal drops.
• When bones are used on Cerberus, a message appears saying "Those aren't Cerby snacks". This is a reference to "Scooby Snacks" from Scooby-Doo.
• Cerberus had a festive override wearing a green partyhat, black santa hat, and blue partyhat during the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Christmas events.

References[edit | edit source]

v•e Bosses
World bosses	Scurrius Giant Mole Deranged archaeologist Sarachnis Kalphite Queen Corporeal Beast The Barrows Brothers Ahrim the Blighted Karil the Tainted Dharok the Wretched Guthan the Infested Torag the Corrupted Verac the Defiled The Dagannoth Kings Dagannoth Prime Dagannoth Rex Dagannoth Supreme God Wars Dungeon Kree'arra Commander Zilyana General Graardor K'ril Tsutsaroth Nex Moons of Peril Eclipse Moon Blue Moon Blood Moon The Wilderness bosses Revenant maledictus Chaos Fanatic Crazy archaeologist Scorpia King Black Dragon Chaos Elemental Vet'ion (Calvar'ion) Venenatis (Spindel) Callisto (Artio)
Instanced bosses	Zulrah Vorkath Phantom Muspah The Nightmare (Phosani's Nightmare) Sporadic bosses Obor Bryophyta The Mimic Hespori Skotizo The Forgotten Four The Leviathan The Whisperer Vardorvis Duke Sucellus
Slayer bosses	Grotesque Guardians (Dusk) (Dawn) Abyssal Sire Kraken Cerberus Araxxor Thermonuclear smoke devil Alchemical Hydra
Minigame bosses	Crystalline Hunllef Corrupted Hunllef TzTok-Jad TzKal-Zuk Sol Heredit
Skilling bosses	Tempoross Wintertodt Zalcano
Raids	Chambers of Xeric Tekton Vanguard Vespula Vasa Nistirio Muttadile Great Olm Theatre of Blood The Maiden of Sugadinti Pestilent Bloat Nylocas Vasilias Sotetseg Xarpus Verzik Vitur Tombs of Amascut Akkha Ba-Ba Kephri Zebak Tumeken's Warden Elidinis' Warden