Old School RuneScape/Guides/Pest Control

Pest Control

Pest Control is a minigame, and was released on 18th April 2006. It is classified as a Safe Minigame which means that if you die in the minigame you will not lose any of your items. It is a co-operative player vs. NPC minigame with rewards for combat experience and gp. It is member's only.

Getting There

To get to the minigame head to the docks at Port Sarim. At the southernmost dock you'll see a Squire. Talk to him to learn a bit about the Void Knights and the outpost. Speak to him to travel to the outpost. The outpost is located south of Ape Atoll.

The Outpost

At the Void Knights outpost there is an archery store, a rune store, a general store, a smithy (the NPC inside will repair Barrows armour). There is also a bank. To start the game get any weapons or equipment you want and head to the south dock. Board the lander there.

The Game

You need to be at least lvl 40 combat to play the game. When you board the lander the game will begin once there are 25 people in the lander or after 5 minutes if there are less people. The lander will land on an island and the game begins. The objective of the game is to keep the Void Knight (located in the middle of the island) alive for 20 minutes by destroying portals or defending him from the different monsters.

The game can be won in two ways:
1. By keeping the void knight alive for 20 minutes.
2. By destroying all four portals.

The four portals are located all around the island. They produce/spawn different monsters of varying combat levels and with different purposes.

The Monsters

Monster	Potential Levels	Information
Brawler	50, 75, 100, 128, 157	These big beasties will try and defend the portals. They attack with melee. You cannot walk through them. No real threat to Void Knight.
Ravager	35, 52, 70, 88, 105	The ravager will roam around smashing at gates and barricades with its claws. It can easily plow through gates and barricades. Beware if you see one of these near a gate. Melee attack.
Defiler	41, 62, 83, 104, 125	Watch out for these guys. They have a very long range, ranged attack, and so can attack the void knight or you from behind barriers and barricades. You cannot walk through them.
Shifter	37, 56, 75, 94, 113	These guys have a dangerous melee attack, and can teleport around, which allows them to get past barricades and walls. They primarily focus on players though. You cannot walk through them.
Spinner	37, 55, 74, 87, 92	If you're attacking the portals these guys should be your primary concern. They can repair portals very quickly, so it's practically useless attacking a portal if one of these is healing it. Attack them until they start attacking you. You don't have to kill them.
Splatter	21, 32, 43, 54, 64	These blobs just bounce around, exploding at random and damaging everything nearby. They can be ignored, but are used by people using Dharok's to get their hp down quickly.
Torcher	41, 62, 83, 104, 125	These use a magic based fire attack. They don't seem to attack the Void Knight from behind barricades but keep an eye on the high level ones as their magic attack is strong. You cannot walk through them.
Portals	N/A	These are what most players should attack as a priority. They don't attack back but have a very high defense. Each one destroyed will heal the Void Knight 20 hitpoints.

Strategies

Attacking

This is what most players should do. Attacking involves heading to each portal, and attacking it until it is destroyed. It is best done in groups to maximize the speed. Most players will head to either the west or east portal and work round from there. Don't bother attacking and other monsters except the Spinners, which should be a priority. The monsters mentioned above that you can't walk though will often block your movements. Walk round them.

Defending

Not many people are needed here but it might be worth having a few. This involves killing any monsters that attack the Void Knight. Watch out for Defilers that will be ranging the Void Knight. It might be wise to bring an axe and hammer to repair the gates. However, if there is a low level shifter attacking the Void Knight but blocking a long line of other monsters from getting to him do not kill the shifter. It won't be doing him much damage and is protecting him from many more monsters.

Once all four portals are dead or the Void Knight has been kept alive for 20 minutes the game will be won. If the Void Knight dies the game ends but you've lost.

Rewards

There are two different award schemes in this minigame. Note: To claim any reward you need to have done at least 50 points of damage on any monster or portal (can be split across multiple monsters). You can also earn points for repairing barriers.

If the Void Knight survives for 20 minutes you are awarded one Void Knight Commendation Point. You can have up to a maximum of 15 points saved. If you speak to any of the void knights at the outpost you can cash in your points. They allow you free experience in any combat skill of your choice (attack, strength, defense, prayer, ranged, hitpoints and magic). The formula for working out how much experience you get for each skill is as follows: your level in that skill squared and then divided by 6. If you chose Prayer, it is divided by 12. For example if you had 70 attack it would be ${\frac {4900}{6}}=817exp$ . You need at least a level of 25 before you can use your points on that skill.

If you destroy all four portals you are awarded one commendation point and coins based on your combat level (combat level x 10).

Summary

Pest control is a fun safe minigame that anyone above lvl 40 can do. It's a good way to have fun with other players and offers a new way to earn experience in combat skills. If you have a good team you can win quickly and earn normally hard earnt experience in skills like hitpoints and prayer fairly quickly.