This article is about the strongest class of monsters. For other uses, see Boss (disambiguation)

A boss is a powerful, usually unique monster that is fought to accomplish an objective, be it the advancement or completion of a quest or minigame, or as part of a team player-versus-monster event. Many quests feature boss fights at their climaxes; such bosses are often the main antagonists of the quests or quest series, or are somehow related to the main antagonist(s). Some monsters that are commonly referred to as bosses are very powerful monsters that reside in multi-combat areas; these monsters are commonly fought by teams of players in search of highly valuable drops. Many bosses have extremely high combat levels, and most of the strongest monsters in the game are bosses.

Dwarf multicannons often cannot be set up in the areas of many bosses. Others may have different restrictions; for example, Prayer cannot be used during the fights with the final bosses of Recipe for Disaster.

Most bosses (e.g. bosses like the Corporeal Beast) also reside in a multi-way area; very few reside in single-way areas or instances. Bosses that are killed in multi-way areas will also generate a message telling the player what drop(s) they have obtained, regardless if there are other players around or not. For example, if players are at General Graardor and kill him (and drops Bandos tassets), a message will appear in the game box saying "Player name received item: Bandos tassets". If a boss is killed in a single-way area, this message will not appear, even if the boss resides in a multi-way area and is killed in a single-way zone.

Common PvM bosses

The monsters included in this section wouldn't better fit in any other categories, and are located in some spot in the game-world that are accessible/reachable to anyone, without any restrictions. However, despite their accessibility, many players prefer to have certain diaries done before killing these with dedication, since the rewards from those Diaries can be game-changing in the long-run: those rewards could range from making it significantly easier to access the Boss to making the manner in which you earn the drops, from these bosses, significantly more convenient.

God Wars Dungeon generals

For each warring deity in the God Wars Dungeon, there is a very powerful leader commonly referred to as a 'general'. Each general also has three bodyguards, one of which uses each style of combat: Melee, Magic and Ranged. In addition to the 60 Strength or 60 Agility required to enter the God Wars Dungeon, each general's encampment has further requirements to enter.

Raids' bosses

Wilderness bosses & demi-bosses

Bosses

All of the Wilderness bosses (not demi-bosses) can drop the Dragon pickaxe.

Demi-bosses

Sporadic bosses

Sporadic bosses are those that can't be fought whenever the player wishes to, instead, they require a special item of some sort to gain access to them, which is obtained by killing other more common monsters.

Skilling bosses

The Wintertodt is the only skilling boss in Old School RuneScape. Players must light the braziers and burn logs or make them into kindling, using the roots found near the braziers. This is the only place where the tome of fire can be awarded and has a very rare chance of receiving a dragon axe, an alternate for Ironmen who can't successfully kill the Dagannoth Kings.

Other bosses

Slayer bosses

The Grotesque Guardians are a boss version of Gargoyles found on the Slayer Tower's rooftop, whose entrance is found on the 2nd3rd floor[?]. In order to access the roof, players must obtain a brittle key from gargoyles while assigned them for a Slayer task. The Grotesque Guardians require 75 Slayer and can only be killed while the player is assigned gargoyles or the Guardians themselves. The pair consists of Dusk and Dawn.

The Abyssal Sire is the boss version of the Abyssal demon. It requires level 85 Slayer to kill. Located within the Abyssal Nexus (accessible via fairy ring DIP or the Abyss), it can only be attacked if you have them as a Slayer assignment. This monster drops the unsired, which can be used at the Font of Consumption giving players a chance of receiving the Abyssal dagger and the three pieces of the Abyssal bludgeon (bludgeon axon, claw and spine) as well as its boss pet, the Abyssal orphan. It shares the Abyssal whip drop with its non-boss variant.

The Kraken is a stronger and larger version of the Cave kraken. It requires level 87 Slayer to kill. Located at the Kraken Cove, it can only be attacked if you have it (or Cave Kraken) as a Slayer assignment. Along with these monsters and their non-boss variant, they are the only monsters that drop the Kraken tentacle. Other notable drops include the Trident of the seas and a pet kraken.

Cerberus is the boss version of the Hellhound. It requires a minimum of 91 Slayer to kill. Located at Cerberus' Lair, it can only be attacked if you have them as a Slayer assignment. Notable drops include the primordial, pegasian, eternal crystals and a hellpuppy. It shares the Smouldering stone drop with its weaker cousins, although at a far better rate.

The Thermonuclear smoke devil is the boss version of the Smoke devil. These require a minimum of 93 Slayer to kill. Located at the Smoke Devil Dungeon, they can only be attacked if you have them as a Slayer assignment. This monster is the only monster to drop the Smoke battlestaff. Their non-boss variants, however, also drop the Occult necklace.

Boss-slayer

Not to be confused with the actual Slayer bosses themselves. Players who have unlocked the Like a boss ability via spending 200 Slayer reward points can have Nieve/Steve, Duradel, or Krystilia assign them boss monsters in addition to the tasks they already assign. The Slayer master will randomly assign a boss if they can meet those requirements; for example, they can assign the Dagannoth Kings to the player (since there are no special requirements), but will not assign them Commander Zilyana if they do not have 70 Agility.

Once a boss has been assigned, they will ask the player to select the amount that they want to kill for their assignment. The player can select anywhere from 3-35 times to kill that boss or those bosses. Make sure that you want to kill that much of the boss, as once you hit enter, this decision cannot be reversed.

Note that the Slayer helmet (i) does work during boss Slayer tasks. To progress towards a boss task, the player must either land the final blow or deal the most damage to the boss, just as in regular Slayer. Bosses will also give Slayer experience upon death, and upon finishing a boss task, the player will get an additional 5,000 Slayer experience.

The following bosses can be assigned:

Boss category for odds of getting a specific boss from a specific slayer master.

Minigame bosses

These bosses are fought as parts of minigames.

Quest bosses

A large number of quests involve and/or conclude with a battle against a powerful monster, which often is or is related to the quest's main antagonist. Except where otherwise noted, these bosses can only be fought in the Nightmare Zone once their respective quest has been completed.

A sub-boss is a powerful or semi-powerful monster fought as a prelude to the actual boss fight.

Quests with multiple bosses

Some quests have several boss monsters that must be defeated, usually one after the other.

Nightmare Zone

Main article: Nightmare Zone

The Nightmare Zone is a minigame that allows players to fight bosses from quests they have completed. Players can fight up to 42 unique boss monsters from previous quests.