Pest Control/Strategies (2024)

While there are numerous different ways to play Pest Control, there are a few common strategies used in order to help gain pest points most efficiently.

General strategy[]

The most common strategy is for some players to defend the Void Knight, while others go out to destroy the portals. Since a game can only be won by either defending the knight for 20 minutes, or destroying the portals, the most efficient way to gain pest points is by destroying all of the portals. However, if the Void Knight is left undefended, he will usually be killed before players get a chance to destroy all of the portals, resulting in a loss. Since Pest Control games tend to be short and provide full stat restoration upon completion, offensive prayers can and should be used liberally. In particular, this minigame may be the only scenario in which the Retribution prayer can be at least somewhat useful.

Defending the Knight[]

• Since there is no formal organisation of who attacks and who defends, it is usually best to periodically check the walls and center platform to see if the knight is being defended, and helping out if necessary.
• Try to distract Torchers and Defilers that are attempting to attack the Void Knight. If you can attack them before they get a chance to fire at the Void Knight, they will begin attacking you instead of the knight.
• Closing the gates to the south, and especially to the east and west, can help prevent many pests from attacking the Void Knight. As this will only prevent pest directly behind the gate from attacking, many pests will still be able to attack from behind the southern wall.
• Splatters and Ravagers are able to destroy the barricades and gates on the outside of the island. If the gates are destroyed, then pests will be able to freely walk through and attack the knight. Players can kill Splatters and Ravangers before they reach the gate, or they can alternatively repair the gates after the have been destroyed. Usually, though, defending the barricades is a lost cause due to the speed at which these pests destroy them. In that case, it is best to lure the unaggressive Splatters into groups of Defilers and Torchers that are attacking the Void Knight from just beyond the gates and detonate them, should you find yourself severely outnumbered.

Attacking the portals[]

Destroying portals is an important objective of the game. Not only does it heal the Void Knight, but it stops the monsters from spawning at that location and eventually reaching and attacking the knight. Thus, some players may wish to specialise in attacking the portals.

• Players will be notified of a portal losing its shield in the chat. This will happen sooner than the icon at the top is updated.
• Each portal has a different weakness. While damage is unaffected, attacks will be much more accurate. Even if a player does not have that great of gear or stats, they will often find they can do considerable damage on a portal using its weakness.
• The order in which the shields drop is always one of 6 patterns:
  • Purple - Yellow - Blue - Red
  • Purple - Blue - Yellow - Red
  • Blue - Red - Yellow - Purple
  • Blue - Purple - Red - Yellow
  • Yellow - Purple - Red - Blue
  • Yellow - Red - Purple - Blue
• The yellow portal is often the easiest to kill. It has a weakness to both slash and stab, which are usually the most common attack styles used. Using a special attack such as that of the Dragon dagger will often be extremely effective, even without the best of stats.
• If a team cannot match a portal's weakness, the portal can still be easily destroyed using a large number of players, especially if a number of them are high levelled.
• When a portal is destroyed, the Void Knight will be healed 50 hitpoints. Given that the destruction of the final portal will end the game, the knight can be healed up a maximum of 150 hitpoints per game.
• If a portal is destroyed when the knight has more than 150 hitpoints remaining, the excess healing will be lost, as the knight can only have up to 200 health. As such, it may be most efficient to leave the knight undefended until the first portal is destroyed, allowing for players to move onto the remaining three portals quicker.

Spinners[]

When at the portals, Spinners will spawn and begin repairing the portal.

• A Spinner makes a distinct sound when it starts healing the portal, notifying players of its presence.
• Generally, if there are a number of people attacking the portal, a single Spinner can be ignored, and the portal can still be easily destroyed. Once multiple Spinners spawn, however, the portal will be repaired quicker than players can damage it. Players will need to either kill or lure the Spinners away in order to be able to destroy the portal.
• Spinners can be lured away from the portal using range or magic. When attacking it from a distance, the spinner will begin moving towards the player momentarily. Using a fast weapon, such as knives or a shortbow, the spinner can be kept away from the portal and prevented from healing.
• Spinners will obey NPC blocking behaviours. If another player or pest has moved to a location without being moved through, then the Spinner will be unable to move through them. In certain circ*mstances, especially at the east portal, this can be used to prevent the Spinner from repairing the portal.

Dharoks[]

Using a set of Dharok's is one of the quickest ways to destroy portals. Its ability to deal more damage as the player's health gets lower allows it to hit insane amounts of damage.

• Items can be brought in to help lower health. While nitroglycerin is more effective at lowering health, the rock cake is used much more often, as it can still damage quickly using the guzzle option, and it does not need to be replaced.
• Dharokers should hide behind the portal, or pray Protect from Magic when they are exposed. Since they will normally have very low health, they are susceptible to being killed easily.
• Since Dharok's greataxe offers great accuracy for both slash and crush, Dharokers should be sure to use slash against the yellow portal, and crush against the red portal.