Pest Control

Essential Info

Required

• Skills: 50 Combat
• Quests: None.
• Items: None.

Recommended

• Skills: None.
• Quests: None.
• Items: None.

Getting Started

This game is within close proximity to the Port Sarim lodestone, Draynor Village, and Falador. It may be a slight walk if you haven't unlocked the lodestone network but using Charter Ships can be a nice alternative if you can afford it. You should make your way to the Void Knights Outpost with minimal weight then get your equipment once you have arrived since there is a bank on the island.

You won't lose anything if you die so it is worth taking your best equipment to be able to help your team more. Dwarf multi-cannons and Summoning familiars or pets are not allowed on the island.

All of these lists are just ideas and you may alter them as you wish, but the better the equipment you take the more you will get out of the game.

Melee Equipment

• Dragon Weaponry, Chaotic Weaponry, Barrows Weaponry, Godsword, Korsai's Sword or Abyssal Whip
• Dragon, Barrows or Rune Armour
• Amulet of Glory, Dragon Rider Amulet, or Amulet of Fury
• Legends, Obsidian or Fire Cape
• Klank's Gauntlets, Fist of Guthix Gauntlets or Gloves that you can buy during/after the Recipe for Disaster Quest
• Climbing Boots, Rune/Dragon Boots

If you are using Melee then it is suggested by some people to use special Prayers to increase your Attack and Strength levels when trying to kill the portals. This is so you hit more often with more damage and can get more experience. Some examples are Piety, Turmoil, Chivalry, or Augury.

Magic Equipment

• Ganodermic Armour; Ahrims, Batwing, or Enchanted Robes
• Amulet of Magic, Dragon Rider, Glory, or Fury
• Elemental or Anti-Dragon Shield or God Book
• Mage Arena, Legends, Obsidian, or Fire Cape
• Polypore Staff, Chaotic Staff, Staff of Light, Wand of Treachery

If you are Maging then it is suggested that you use a high level spell. The sort of spells that are commonly used are Ancient Magick, God Spells and the high level Surge or Wave Spells. The reason it is suggested that high level spells are used is that none of the monsters in the game are particularly low levelled and since the game is rather fast you want to be able to cast damage quickly rather than slowly. Using EoC abilities will significantly reduce rune use, making magic a lot cheaper than pre-EoC.

Ranged Equipment

• Archer Helm, Dragon Helm, Helm of Neitiznot
• The best Dragonhide Armour you can wear
• The best economical Ranged weapon you can wield
• Mithril, Adamant or Rune arrows. Bolt Racks if you are using Karil's Crossbow and nothing if you are using a Crystal Bow. Royal bolts are effective as well for the Royal and Chaotic Crossbows
• Amulet of Accuracy, Glory, or Fury
• Legends, Obsidian or Fire Cape; Ava's Attractors/Accumulator for picking up arrows

It is once again suggested that you use the best equipment that you can afford to use. Crystal Bows are very effective here so if you have just completed Roving Elves and can't decide where to use your 500 shots this game is a very good place to use them.

Hybrid Armour (like Warpriest armour from the World Events of God Wars Dungeon) can also be useful and work for all combat styles.

A hammer and hatchet are available in your tool belt for repairing your defences.

Location

You can get to this island in the southern realms of Runescape by catching a ship from the docks of Port Sarim as shown on this map below.

Once at the boat you must speak to the Squire and chose the option that says "I'd like to go to your outpost." You will then appear on an island with a Bank, Archery Shop, Magic Store, Smithing Workshop and General Store along with the Activity.

Head to the south end of the island where you will find a pier. Walk along it until you get to a Gangplank.

Cross it and you will get a message in your chatbox, "You board the lander", and your next stop will be the island!

There are three different landers: Novice if you are at least level 50, intermediate if you are at least level 100, and veteran if your combat level is at least 150. If you are a higher level it is recommended to use the highest boat you can as the reward is greater and the games are usually much faster. An average amount of time for veteran games would be 2-3 minutes.

It is suggested that you play on a world with as many people on it as you can find so you aren't waiting around a long time between games. The official Pest Control worlds are 53, 115, and 69. Once there are 25 people in the boat (or at least 5 people and you have been waiting 5 minutes), you will be off to another island to play the game. Sometimes many people will enter at the same time and you will miss a game. Don't worry, you have priority and should get to go to the next game. The higher your priority level, the higher the chance of getting into the next game.

Pest Control Map

The Basics

Once the lander arrives on the north side of the island you will get a message from the Squire signalling the attack.

There are two ways to win the game:

• Keep the Void Knight alive for 20 minutes
• Destroy all 4 of the portals

This may sound easy, but the difficulty comes from the fact that there are monsters ranging from levels 33 to 129 trying to kill the Void Knight and making sure the portals are always healed. The more people there are playing the game, the more monsters there will be. This means that it is possible to win whether there are 5 players or 25 players.

If you die you will just appear back in the lander where you appeared when you arrived on the island.

Game Interface

When on the boat to get to the island, or playing the game itself, there will be extra displays of data.

Boat

When you are on the boat there will be information in the top-left corner of the screen. The top line tells you how long it will be until the next game starts if 25 people don't turn up.
The second line tells you how many players there are in the lander (this can be more than 25 if people board the boat quick enough because games won't start less than 2 seconds apart).
The third line tells you that you need between 5 and 25 players for the game to start.
The bottom line tells you how many Pest Points you have. Pest Points can be exchanged for rewards, and the more you have, the more rewards you can get.

Note: If you enter the boat while you have 500 Pest Points, you will be warned that you won't gain any more (since 500 is the maximum amount of points you can have at one time).

In-Game

The interface when you enter the game gets slightly more complicated. On the left side of the screen the top symbol says how many Life Points the Void Knight has left (he starts with 20,000). The middle symbol tells you how much damage you have hit, and the bottom piece of text says how much time is remaining if the Void Knight doesn't die.

On the top right side of the screen it tells you how many Life Points each of the portals has left. The one on the left is the west portal, the next one is the east portal, the next is the south-east portal, and the one on the right is the south-west portal.

More Detailed Techniques

If you want to be able to make the most out of this game you will need to know what to do. There are two main jobs: Attacking and Defending. This isn't quite as easy as it seems and you will need to have developed tactics to be able to win every time make those trying to make you lose obsolete.

Attacking

The role of the Attackers is to destroy the 4 Portals situated around the island. These are located through the gates that exist to stop monsters getting through and able to cast damage on the Void Knight. Once the lander arrives you will most likely head towards either the east or the west gate. The first person to get to the gate should open it and wait until everybody else who is running towards that gate has gone through then shut it to stop and monsters getting through.

When running through the gate you will notice that ahead of you are the portals you are assigned to destroy. On the novice lander, portals start with 20,000 life points and 25,000 on the intermediate, and 50,000 on the veteran landers.

Each portal is weak against a certain type of attack:

• East (Blue) - Crossbow fire
• Southeast (Yellow) - Crush
• Southwest (Pink) - Arrows
• West (Purple) - Fire spells

With around 5 or 6 people attempting to kill the portal together it should go down fairly quickly, but if there are any Spinners around then they need to be killed before trying to take down the portal. This is because they heal the portals and do it with reasonable speed. Once the portal has been destroyed no more monsters will be able to enter the game through it and you can walk across it. The Void Knight will also heal 2.000 Life Points when a portal gets destroyed.

Now that you have destroyed your first portal you will have to move on and kill another. These can be found on the south side of the island. Since it will now be further into the game, there will be more monsters around it. Since you can't walk through some of them, like the brawlers, you may have to kill something before being able to get to the portal.

If killing your first portal took a lot of time, the people who went to the other side first may have already killed the portals on their side, and come to help destroy the next portal. This makes the portal easier to kill, but there will also be more monsters around making it even harder to stay alive.

If you manage to destroy all 4 portals before the Void Knight has died then you have won the game and should be pleased with yourself and your team.

Defending

While part of the team is attacking the portals, the others will be defending the Void Knight. He can be found just south of the landing craft on a raised platform that looks a bit like a pyramid with the top cut off. If you keep him alive until all the portals have been destroyed or the 20 minutes are up you will win the game so it is important you know how to defend well.

There are 3 main places you will be defending from.

• In the towers
• Around the Void Knight
• Beside the gates on the side away from the Void Knight

The Towers

The towers can be found either side of the three gates. This is useful for rangers and mages. If you are Meleeing then it isn't very effective to use the towers except for a Shifter that may teleport there.

Rangers and Mages can get great views from the towers which means that you can hit monsters that are attacking Meleers down on the ground below. The only problem is that the Defilers and Torchers can also Range and Mage you from the ground.

Around the Void Knight

Many people will defend from the center platform, attacking the Shifters and other enemies up close directly attacking the knight. There are several jobs that you may have to complete if you chose the station yourself here.

• Kill the Shifters attacking the Void Knight
• Shut any gates that are left open
• Repair the gates
• Kill anything that has made its way past the gates

The main threat here should be the Shifters that attack the Void Knight. They won't cause too much damage each, but over time it all adds up so it's best to kill all but the one that appears in a certain position.

Tip: Sometimes a player may be able to run around and lure a Shifter into the area south of the Void Knight. This is a good way to block attacks since the Shifter will prevent your opponents from getting through.

As long as the gates are closed, it is best to leave the Torchers and Defilers standing directly in front of the gates alone until you have killed the ones further out. This is because the only chance the closer ones have of attacking the Void Knight is if another player opens the gate.

Sometimes a gate may be left open by a forgetful or deliberately annoying member of your team. If you see this then you should shut the gate as quickly as possible and check if any monsters escaped through it. If something did get through then you should try to kill it/them as quickly as possible. If 1 person tries to kill the front monster in the line and another distracts any behind it in the queue, then starts killing them from the front backwards (making sure that as one dies, somebody is attacking the one behind) they should die without dealing too much damage to the Void Knight.

If the Void Knight gets low on health then people may give up to just end the game with no chance of winning. If you carry on right until the end you will get the most experience possible and maybe give enough time for the final portal to be destroyed.

If a Ravager happens to destroy a gate then you're in a small bit of trouble because the gate will be open for other enemies to climb through.

To repair it you pick up log piles located near the landing boat, right-click on the damaged gate and select "Repair". To do this you will need a Hammer which is conveniently located in your tool belt. You will only be able to repair one gate at a time, but once a gate is fixed you can just stand in the way of the monsters trying to get through and kill them one by one.

Defending Beyond the Walls

Defending beyond the walls can be a source of great combat experience, but there is also a higher chance of death. You can also get trapped in by having monsters that you cannot walk through on all sides of you. The best place to go to defend beyond the wall is through the south gate. At the start of the game from the boat there are six log piles just to the south of you. If you manage to run past the east of the middle tree you will get the the gate easily, but if you run past the the west you will get stuck to the north of the Void Knight and have to maneuver around it.

Once through the south gate there will be a lot to kill. If you have completed the Desert Treasure Quest and have Ancient Magicks then this is a great place to use the multi-target spells due to the high density of monsters. Multi-target abilities also work effectively.

Meleeing is just as useful here because you always have something to kill. If you are low on health then using the Protection Prayer that the most monsters are hitting you with will increase the amount of time you will survive and make the time you spent there worthwhile. The protection prayers will only reduce the damage by 50%, but using Soul Split, a healing ancient curse, or Turmoil or Piety will increase your melee stats.

Attacking the Portals

It is recommended that you attack the portals while using strength and attack boosting prayers or curses. In addition, try to stay behind or on the sides of the portals to prevent the monsters from attacking you easily. DO NOT try to kill the spinners. There are many monsters surrounding the spinners that can easily one-hit you, causing you to die because of your low Life Points. If it happens that some of the monsters get to you, take off your boost prayers and switch to a protection prayer and the kill the monster that is attacking you. Then, take your protection prayer off, turn on the boost prayers, and attack the portal again. The most dangerous part in this method is when you move from portal to portal because then there are multiple monsters that can attack you.

Defending the Knight

This method is better for experience since you're going to be killing many low-leveled Defence monsters. Get to the Void Knight in the center and attack the shifters that are attacking the knight. The shifters will be focusing on the knight, so they will not attack you. Of course, you can kill the lower level shifters without praying. This might be more fun that attacking the portals, since you will hit high often, but other players might need your help at the portals.

Scenery

There are many things that give you the advantage over the monsters if you know how to use them properly. If not, they could be a weakness.

• Barricades
• Gates
• Towers
• Log Piles
• The Void Knight is on a hill
• Squire

Barricades

The Barricades are the first defence to stop the void Knight from getting damaged. They will stop any monsters other than Ravagers or Splatters when they explode. Ravagers and Splatters will cut through or explode the barricades.

The Barricades may be only partly destroyed or if you were really unlucky there will be nothing left of it at all. They can be repaired in the same way as was described to repair gates earlier in the guide, but it isn't really worth wasting logs to repair them other than a last resort. If you repair a barricade it counts as 500 Life Points towards the 5,000 Life Point damage you need to hit to be able to get a reward if you win.

Gates

Gates are a great defence. They can stop large numbers of monsters wandering up to the Void Knight and at the same time preventing them from casting damage on it. As long as they are shut they are of use and can only be destroyed by Ravagers. Earlier in the guide it was explained how to repair them.

Log piles

Logs are used to repair the Gates and Barricades. They can be picked up from the log piles just south of the lander. There are an unlimited amount of logs each game.

Void Knight platform

Because the Void Knight is on a hill, when you are standing on the top you get a larger view of the surrounding area than when you are on normal ground. When defending, being on this hill is an advantage because you can see where gates have been left open and monsters have managed to get through.

Squire

Next to the Landing Craft is a Squire that you can talk to. He will tell you how to repair gates or barricades and will provide information on other important things about the game if you happen to have forgotten them. He will also take you back if you wish to leave.

Monsters

There are 7 different types of monsters in the game. Each monster comes in 5 different levels. Each level has a slightly different colour so if you can learn the colours, you can also learn how difficult the monster is and what it's abilities are. Here is a description of each of the monsters.

Brawler

These take up more than one square and you cannot walk through them so they can be a real pain to get around. They use a Melee form of attack and normally won't go far from the Portals. They range from level 50 to 157 combat so some are easy and some will take multiple people to kill easily. Sometimes they get up onto their back legs and beat their chest. They aren't a huge problem in the whole game so they aren't important to kill unless they get in your way.

Defiler

These use a Range attack that can hit high constantly. They are a real threat and can cost you the game if you don't kill them quickly, especially since they can fire over walls. They could be anywhere around the island so if you see one and aren't attacking a portal it's worth killing it. These are third priority to kill.

Ravager

These take up more than one square and you can walk through them. They use a strong Melee attack compared to their level and can destroy Barricades and Gates. They don't hit very high, but due to their abilities, these are the top priority to kill. If you see one, make sure it's dead before it reaches a gate or barricade.

Shifter

These take up one square and you cannot walk through them. They use a Melee attack and can teleport around the island. If one is attacking you, you cannot run away. They can teleport up into the towers and across walls. These can be found mainly in the centre area around the Void Knight, trying to attack it. They are fairly easy to kill and don't hit very often. These are a low priority to kill.

Spinner

Spinners take up one square and you can walk through them. They use a Melee attack and will heal the portals if you don't distract or kill them. They have a very low attack level so they will not hit often. Because they can heal the portals they are second priority to be killed after the Ravagers. Most of the time, more than 1 player will be attacking it.

Splatter

These take up one square and when they die will deal large amounts of damage to surrounding monsters and people. They are only worth killing if they are in the middle of a group of monsters and it will hit damage to all of them. You can walk through them and they cast a shadow on the ground. They can explode and damage Barricades so the best idea is just to leave them and let them do what they want. They don't help you, but aren't a large hindrance either. Those using Dharok's may want to kill them to lower their lifepoints, making their maximum hit higher due to the armour's effect.

Torcher

These take up one square and you cannot walk through them. They use a Magic attack which can cover large distances. They hit fairly often with reasonable power, so they are fourth priority to kill.

Rewards

With all minigames, winning will yield a reward. Failure to protect the knight or maintain your zeal will not provide a reward.

Losing

If you lose, you will appear beside the landing craft and get this message in your chat screen. You will get no points and you'll just need more determination to go in again and win. Expect some losses every now and then.

Winning

Successful defence of the void knight and meeting your damage quota will result in reward. You will be given Void Knight Commendation Points depending on the boat you use. 2 points if on novice, 3 on intermediate, and 4 for veteran. If you won by destroying all the portals you will also get money calculated to the formula "Combat Level*10". This means that for each combat level you are, you get 10gp.

Note: If you didn't hit at least 5000 damage on monsters or portals during the game you will not receive a reward even if your team won.

Pest Control Points

These points can be cashed in for rewards which may be very useful to you. They can provide experience in combat skills, herb or mineral packs, or even Void armour!

Here is the screen showing what you can buy and their cost.

To select a reward, click on the point value below an item. This will make the item name turn white and you will have to confirm your purchase by clicking on the "Confirm" button. Below this bottom can be found the number of points you have. You can only buy items up to, or less than this point value.

When you exchange a point for experience you will be told how many points you have left and what you just trained up. You can see how many points you have on the top right of the screen next to "Commendations".

Things You Can Buy

Combat Experience

One of the main reasons people play Pest Control is for the great combat experience you can gain. There is a simple way that the experience that you get is calculated. It can be shown with a not very complicated formula:

• Any Skill Except Prayer and Summoning: (Skill Level)² / 6
• Prayer and Summoning: (Skill Level)² / 12

However, the Void Knight will only train you in skills that you are level 25 and up. If you trade in 100 or more points at the same time, you will get an extra 10% added.

For example, if you had 84 Defence and wanted to gain experience in it then you would multiply 84 by 84 (7056), and then divide the answer by 6, giving you 1176 exp. If you cash in 100 points at a time then you would get 10% extra exp, making you get 1293 exp per point if you were training from 84 Defence.

If when you divide by 6 or 12 there is a decimal left over, the amount of experience you gain will round down to the nearest integer.

Void Knight Armour

The Void Knights have been kind enough to let you buy some of their armour. It requires 42 Attack, Strength, Defence, Constitution, Magic and Ranged along with 22 Prayer to be able to buy them. The set consists of:

• Mace
• Top
• Robe bottoms
• Gloves
• Deflector
• Seal

These are all great looking pieces of equipment with not so wonderful stats. Even though the stats aren't wonderful, the Mace inflicts an additional 10% Magic damage on opponents.

Here is a table of their stats:

Here are the stats for the Void Knight Mace:

Also available for your set are Void Knight helms, corresponding to Magic, Melee, and Ranged:

Void Knight Helms
Name	Armour Rating	Life Bonus
Melee	800	+480
Mage	800	+480
Range	800	+480

The Void Knight Ranger helm grants a 10% bonus to your Ranged level and max hit when wearing the full set of void armour (Excluding the seal).
The Void Knight Melee helm grants a 10% bonus to your Attack level and max hit when wearing the full set of void armour (Excluding the seal).
The Void Knight Mage helm grants a 10% bonus to your Magic level and max hit when wearing the full set of void armour (Excluding the seal).

Elite Void Knight Armour

Players who have completed The Void Stares Back are eligible to obtain Elite Void Knight Armour by speaking with Commodore Tyr. The regular void robes and 100 Commendation points are required. You will be given a colour based off what you chose during the quest, and any changes will require 100k gp. Available colours include White, Grey, and Black. Level 42 in Strength, Attack, Defence, Constitution, Magic and Ranged, and level 22 in prayer are required to wear these. The Elite Void Knight armour consists of:

• Robe Top
• Robe Bottom

Here are their stats:

Resources

Herb Pack

A random assortment of herbs rewarded based on commendation points.

Mineral Pack

25 coal and 18 iron ore (noted)

Seed Pack

3 Sweetcorn seeds, 6 tomato seeds, 2 Limpwurt seeds. It is rare but you may obtain a Yew or Magic seed.

Charms

You may buy Spinner, Ravager, Shifter or Torcher charms for 2 points each to be used in the Summoning skill.

Reward Limit

If you manage to obtain 500 points, when entering the landing craft you will be asked if you are sure that you want to go on. This is because you can have a maximum of 500 points at a time, so you will have to exchange some points for experience or you will be missing out on the rewards.