Preparation:
First time GWDers going on this trip should be ready with a Falador teleport and a rope. After talking to the dying knight and delivering the message to Sir Tiffy, you are free to attach the rope to the edge of the pit, and descend if you wish - having Zamorak and Saradomin items equipped, as well as Bandos if you're planning to visit the stronghold.
The common way to fight the Bandos boss monster consists of splitting the team into a single tank, and a number of attackers, both which have an inventory and equipment of their own.
Equipment:
Attacker - The boss fighting technique eliminates ranged attacks, and both the magic and melee based sergeants attacks are relatively weak. A combination of magic and melee defence, such as Karil's leathertop and Verac's skirt are a good example of suitable equipment. As for a weapon, the Chaotic longsword with a dragon defender combination is the best choice, followed by a Godsword (a BGS being an advantage) and a whip+defender for the economic choice. For rangers, standard equipment with a shield and a melee helm should suffice, along with a (preferably) Chaotic or rune crossbow with 300 diamond bolts, and a melee weapon (some cheap sword or dagger) for the KC build. Ruby bolts are unnecessary.
Tank - A Guthan set, optionally backed up with a Saradomin Godsword for experienced tankers.
Inventory:
This relies on your Summoning level, although anything beyond 40 isn't likely to impact the trip's length.
Base Equipment (both attackers and tanks):
A hammer; two teleportation tablets of any kind; Zamorak and Bandos items.
Custom Equipment:
Attacker - For 68 Summoning and under, your inventory should consist of a few super (or extreme) attack and strength potions, some prayer potions, and the rest dedicated to healing - either Saradomin brews/restores or sharks. Overload potions are unecessary.
For starters, 2 of each melee potion, 4 prayer potions, about 9:3 brews/restores and the rest filled by sharks, is a good measurement point, since the efficiency of the inventory is based on your stats. 4 pouches should last for the whole trip if you choose to bring a BoB*, however this isn't entirely necessary in big teams (6+ at an average combat level of 120), and when you do, having it filled with sharks is usually enough. It's important to note that should your familiar attack Graardor, the boss will immediately mark you as his target. To avoid this, set your Summoning button to Call, and keep hitting it throughout the fight.
For 69 Summoning and above, the same inventory is advised, with the exception of freeing food slots for pouches and scrolls, whether it's a Fruit Bat, an elemental titan, or a Unicorn Stallion. Around 200 scrolls are recommended for any type. These familairs are able to keep you alive without the need to bring extra supplies in a BoB.
Tank - The inventory should solely consist of Saradomin brews and restores (4 extra restores), with pouches to support the BoB familiar and the one that'll help you after it's out of items. In strong 4-man or 5-man teams and above, tankers with 88 Summoning can use the Unicorn Stallion instead of a BoB right from the start. For those cases bring about 200 scrolls.
* BoB - A Beast of Burden familiar: One that carries items.
Track:
Battle:To make the most out of your inventory space, you can fill the two empty spaces created after teleporting to Trollheim by doing the 'teleport drop trick'. To do this, start by having enough runes for two Trollheim and one Camelot teleports. Once arrived to Trollheim, drop two items on the floor, teleport to Camelot, fill in the empty slots, then teleport back to Trollheim and pick what you've dropped. If you're not planning on using a BoB, just load a terrorbird with two items and take them out after teleporting.
The Bandos boss monster, General Graardor, has a moderate defence level compared to the other bosses, and can be taken down in less than 30 seconds even with an unexperienced team. Going through a long trip however, mainly depends on the performance of the tank, and the support of the rest of the team.
Kill Count:
The Bandos lot are among the weakest in the dungeon, so KC building should only take around 10-15 minutes. Prior to descending into the lobby, equip your Zamorak and Bandos items, turn your Protect from Magic prayer on (unnecessary if you've a Saradomin item as well), and run north until you reach the frozen bridge. Just west of it is the best place to build up KC, with 5 goblins conveniently spawning to fight the Gorak. Alternatively, there're some harder to kill hobgoblins just south of that locations, and if both are crowded, you can head norther, although I recommend just hoping to a different world. In all cases, make sure your Zamorak item is equipped (in case the Bandos one is the ancient mace). Once you're done, equip your Bandos item, get inside the Stronghold and head to the door, where the team is to assemble.
Fighting Graardor:
Graardor's two attack styles are melee, and range, with the latter being able to hit all of the targets in the room. It is however, less commonly used than punching people, which makes withstanding these hits moderately possible.
The tank's job then is to attract Graardor's melee attention to himself while using a melee protection prayer/curse, so the rest of the team could use a ranged protection prayer/curse and concentrate their resources on quickly finishing Graardor off. Like anything else in the dungeon, this isn't fail-safe and requires paying attention from everyone in the team: Firstly, the tank can miss attracting Graardor's attention on spawn, caused by either one of the attackers standing too close, or the tank snoozing. Graardor will also turn to a different player if he finished the tank off (dead). When that happens, shaking Graardor off is problematic due to the small size of the room, and tanking him with inappropriate equipment wastes precious resources. If you happen to notice Graardor walks towards you, run to the opposite direction. If Graardor still managed to have locked on to you, turn the melee protection prayer/curse on and pay attention to his ranged attacks. It's good practice to get used to shortcut Fx keys as they are the easiest option to switch to your Prayer tab, then quickly back to your Inventory, where food lies.
Once Graardor is dead, first kill the magic sergeant, then the melee one, and in case the tank is using a Guthan set, leave the ranger for him to heal on. After that, form a nice line aligned to the west wall of the room without standing on each other, to spot where Graardor's heading once spawned.
The Altar:
The altar can replenish your Prayer points (giving a minor boost) about every 10 minutes. You may also notice it has a right-click Teleport option. This teleports you outside the room yet inside of the stronghold. If you choose to do it instead of using a teleportation tablet, make sure you equip your Bandos and Zamorak items prior, or immediately after teleporting. Note that you'll need 40 fresh kills to re-enter the room.
Final Notes:
First, a Bandos item is a must. The cheapest one is obtained after doing the Another Slice of H.A.M. quest. If you don't have patience for it, your second option is buying an item from the Bandos arsenal, or lending it from a clanmate or someone you know.
Secondly, once we've decided to end the trip, some will leave through the altar teleport to make sure no one has lagged out and died.
Lastly, Bandos is literally crowded, with teams constantly 'crashing' each other (stealing kills by inflicting more damage), so emotionally prepare yourself if needed.
Recommended Equipment:
Equipment: White marks the three items you keep on death; yellow the Protect Item one.
Melee:
Ranged:
Inventory:
BoB setup:
Healing familiar setup:
Additional Info:
As mentioned, this is the most popular boss to kill in the dungeon, and as such, spawned many interesting strategies, tactics and tips, ranging from fighting Graardor with a Dharok set for the experienced and the rich, to huge non-Coinshare groups referred to as 'massacres' for the poor, the unexperienced, the unlucky, or the bored. With no particular order:
* After completing the As a First Resort... quest, you are able to access the pools in the city of Oo'Glog, which can temporarily boost your HP and Prayer stats and grant unlimited run energy for a short amount of time. One of the pools can also prevent the Bandos followers in the dungeon from attacking you for an hour, but this isn't a replacement for a Bandos item, since you naturally don't want to get piled all of the sudden while waiting in the stronghold, nor if you leave through the portal.
* Saradomin brews are a bit tricky to use with melee potions, as they lower the offensive stats when used. The trick is to eat regular food for most of the time, and drink the brews before reboosting your stats. The amount of brews in the inventory should match the overall amount of melee potions doses (3 doses of brew per 1 dose of melee potion).
* You can bring High Alchemy runes if you want for small-medium sized teams, as Graardor drops many rune items traded close to their alchemy value and converting them to coins may save inventory space.
* The Imp in a Box is able to teleport two items from your inventory to your bank. It's a useful tool for non-Coinshare teams, where a valuable item drop may compromise another item that should be kept on death.
* Zamorak brews can be used instead of super attack and strength potions if you'll be using titans. One brew contains a dose of super attack and regular strength potions, but also adds 9 Prayer points, and reduces 2-11 HP and Defence points. Since the titans' special ability is basically a mini Saradomin brew, two scrolls will counteract the negative effect of the brew.
