• 1.0 - Introduction
• 2.0 - Interface
• 3.0 - Gameplay
  • 3.1 - The Monsters
• 4.0 - Strategy
• 4.1 - Armour
• 4.2 - Prayer
• 4.3 - Ranged and Magic
• 4.4 - Basic Strategy and Weapons
• 5.0 - Rewards
  • 5.1 - Consumables and Equipment
• 5.2 - Commendation Calculator
• 6.0 - Frequently Asked Questions

Pest Control is a cooperative game for all players above level 40. The objective is to defend the Void Knight, who is in the center of the area, for 20 minutes against various monsters of all levels and types. Another possibility is to destroy all the portals, which means you have to concentrate on attacking as well. After successfully defending the Void Knight and/or destroying all the portals, you will receive 2-4 Void Knight Commendation points, which can be traded for experience in one of the combat skills. Pest control is a safe mini game.

To get there, head to Port Sarim. On the southern parts of the docks, you will see a void knight that will offer to take you to the island.

There are three boats to get to the Pest Control island. The first boat (Picture) requires a combat level of 40 or higher, the second (Picture) a combat level of 70 or higher, and the third (Picture) a combat level of 100 or higher. The game will start once 25 people are on the boat, or after 5 minutes when at least 5 people are waiting. While you are on the boat waiting, if you are on a world with many players waiting to play, you can see how many players are waiting in the upper left of the screen.

In the chatbox you will also see text saying your priority level to get into the next game. Priority 1 means you likely will have to wait for a game, priority 4 means you should be getting into the game soon. Depending on the number of players you may be priority 1 and get in, or be priority 4 for several lines of text. Be patient, you will be allowed to play after several lines of priority 4.

Depending on which boat you took, the strength of the monsters will be different. If you took the first boat, the monsters will be easier to kill, but if you take the third boat, the monsters will be harder to defeat. However, the harder games award more points, because it takes more work to win. See the rewards section for more information.

Once you get in game, you may be confused by the game interface. The interface includes information on how many life points the knight has left, how much damage you have inflicted, and how many hits the portals have.

The sideways S icon is the Void Knight's life points. The number next to the sword is how much damage you have dealt. The final number is the amount of time left in the game, with each game lasting at most 20 minutes. On the top right, each portal colour represents the specific portal it relates to. The number on top is how many life points the portal has left. The semicircles represent that the portal is still shielded. When a shield drops, the semicircle goes away.

To compete in this mini-game, you must have a combat level of 40 or higher. Also keep in mind that you may only use the experience rewards on skills that are level 25 or higher. Other than that there are no other requirements. Previously, the game was difficult for low levels (40 - 70), but after an update, there are three different levels to suit your combat level accordingly! The novice boat is for everyone 40 combat or higher. The intermediate boat is for everyone 70 combat or higher. The advanced boat is for everyone 100 combat or higher.

In order to get to the Void Knight Outpost, travel to Port Sarim, and take the boat on the second most Southern docks. You do not have to pay a fee for the boat. Talk to the squire, and upon arrival you will be on the Void Knight Outpost. There are a few shops there including a Ranged, Magic and general store. There is also a bank and an armoury where you can get your tools (pickaxes, axes) and armour (Barrows) fixed.

There are quite a few different monsters here that can't be seen elsewhere. They all have their own advantages so it's important you know what they can do.

The monsters come in all different levels; some are level 21 while others are level 157. There is a higher chance of coming against higher level monsters depending on which boat you took, this is so that lower level players on the first boat don't come against many high level creatures.

Image	Name	Notes
	Ravager	Very few of these appear in the battlefield and are able to destroy the wooden barriers easily. While they are not very strong at all, they can allow all other monsters to freely reach the Void Knight and can be considered a threat.
	Spinner	Spinners should be killed first as they are able to heal the portals. They are not very strong but should be killed first if the portal is to be destroyed effectively. Be careful if you kill the portal while a Spinner is nearby. If you do, it will explode, causing damage to and poisoning all players close to it. Spinners are vulnerable to all combat styles and so are generally quite weak.
	Splatter	Avoid these at all costs. Upon their death or hitting a barricade, they will explode causing up to 250 damage to all surrounding monsters, players and barricades. Mages and Rangers should kill these, and if players using Dharok's armour wish to lose health quickly, they can attack these as well.
	Brawler	They will always block your way and usually don't wander off very far. It often happens that they stick around the portal all the time, forcing you to kill them before getting to the portal. Brawlers take harder damage from Magic and Ranged attacks, though more from Magic.
	Shifter	They randomly teleport short distances away and have no problems getting right next to the Void Knight. They will be a big threat to him. They defend portals too, and can be a real nuisance when trying to kill the portal. Shifters are very vulnerable to Stab attacks.
	Defiler	They use Ranged attacks and can hit quite hard. The biggest problem, though, is defilers attacking the Void Knight, as they can attack from great distances.
	Torcher	Very similar to defilers, but these use Magic attacks. Again, take them out as soon as they attack the Void Knight. Torchers are more vulnerable to Slash and Ranged attacks.

First and foremost, you have to decide between two options, attacking the portal or attacking the pests. You should attack the portal, as that will get your team to win faster, but if you are a low level and seeking faster experience, or even to avoid lacking zeal, it may be ideal to attack the pests.

What you wear is up to you, as you don't need to worry about your defence bonuses that much, considering the fact that you don't lose anything if you die. Therefore, it's best to wear items that give Strength and Attack bonuses such as your best Recipe for Disaster Culinaromancer's gloves 10, Dragon/Rune/Climbing boots, Dragon defender/Toktz-ket-xil (Obsidian shield), Amulets of fury/glory/power/strength, and Helm of Neitiznot or Warrior/Berserker helm. Of course, if you are using magic, you'd want to wear Mystic and Magic enhancing-items, and for Ranged, you'd wear your best Dragonhide and Ranged-enhancing items. The image to the right is an example of what you could wear for melee.

Prayer comes in handy during Pest Control, as you can use it to boost your stats. It's advised that you use the best enhancing prayers you can for your attack style, and if you are low leveled, to use protection prayers. If you wish, you may use Redemption when you are low on health to gain it back. It is not worth it to use Defence-boosting prayers because you don't lose anything when you die. If you wish for longer-lasting prayer, wear Monk's robes or Initiate armour. The image below highlights which prayers would be useful.

If you wish to use Ranged or Magic, you can safe-spot from the tower near the eastern gate. If you are ranging, it is advised you only use bronze arrows because the time you waste picking them up will cause for slower experience, and not to mention that you may not get a chance to gather all your arrows because of the unexpected ending of the game. If you are using magic, it's worth it to use at least Bolt or Blast spells at the very least, but Wave spells or Ancient Magicks would work even better.

You may be asking yourself, "How do I know whether or not I should attack the portals or the pests?" The way to decide is to try attacking the portal for a game or two. If you lack zeal, you know you should stick with the pests, but if you can zeal on a regular basis whilst attacking the portals, do so.

Now to learn what your weapon of choice should be. If you are using hand-to-hand combat and are 40-49 combat, use a Rune scimitar. For 50-59, use a Granite maul. For 60-69, use a Dragon scimitar (or a Dragon longsword if you have not completed Monkey Madness) with a Dragon battleaxe or Dragon dagger(p++). For 70+ use an Abyssal whip, Dragon scimitar or Dharok's greataxe. If you are 80+ Attack and have the required Dungeoneering level, Chaotic rapier, Chaotic longsword or Chaotic maul can be very effective. If you are a mage, simply use an Ancient staff or an elemental staff to save you cash on runes. For rangers, just use a Magic shortbow with Bronze arrows.

Destroying the portals is much faster, but also much harder. However, you also need some people to defend the Void Knight. At the beginning of the game, the portals will have shields up, and you won't be able to attack them. Fifteen seconds after the game starts, the first portal will unshield. Another portal will lose its shield in thirty seconds, until they are all unshielded. You must keep the Void Knight alive while waiting for the portals to become vulnerable. Below is an example of what a shielded portal looks like.

Using this method, you will have to face many more monsters, and destroying the portals can take quite some time if you don't have enough people with you. Furthermore, there are Spinners, a type of monster that can heal the portals, which makes it even harder. Destroying a portal stops the monsters coming from that portal, so, theoretically speaking, you'll make the job for the defenders much easier because, not only do you hold off the monsters, you will also give the Knight some life points. You can also try to lure some Brawlers around the Knight to block a portion of the monsters from attacking him.

If you brought a hatchet and hammer, you can get logs and repair the barricades, gates and walls. This is, however, not that important because it is overall better to spend time killing monsters and destroying portals.

You will only receive reward points if you inflict 500 damage or more and the game is won. You can also earn 50 damage points for repairing broken barriers. You will receive a certain number of "Pest Points" if these conditions are met, depending on which boat you took. If you took boat one, you get two points, you get three points if you took boat two, and if you took boat three, you get four points. The maximum number of points that can be held at a time is 500.

The points can be exchanged for experience in any combat skill, including Prayer. For Attack, Defence, Strength, Constitution, the amount of XP you will receive is your level squared, divided by 600. Then round down, and multiply by 35. For prayer, multiply by 18, and for Ranged and Magic, multiply by 32 instead. You can also get rewards of herb, seed, or mineral packs. To redeem your points, 'exchange' them with any Void Knight on the island. You will also get bonus experience in whatever skill you choose if you turn in enough points at once. For turning in ten points at once, you get an extra 1%. If you save up 100 points, you will get a 10% bonus.

The herb, seed and mineral packs will give you 15+ of the said pack of various types. The herb pack will give you 15 herbs of harralander and above, seeds is basically any type of seed, and the mineral pack will give you coal or iron ores.

For each successful round, you will also receive some cash. You will get the number of GP equal to your combat level multiplied by 10, to a maximum of 1380gp. Other rewards can be a Void knight mace and pieces of the Void Knight armour. As an example, at level 99 Attack and 100 combat you would receive 560 experience and 1000gp. Below is a table of the rewards.

Icon	Name	Description	Commendations required
Experience
	Attack XP	Gives a certain amount of XP in the skill of Attack.	1
	Strength XP	Gives a certain amount of XP in the skill of Strength.	1
	Defence XP	Gives a certain amount of XP in the skill of Defence.	1
	Constitution XP	Gives a certain amount of XP in the skill of Constitution.	1
	Ranged XP	Gives a certain amount of XP in the skill of Ranged.	1
	Magic XP	Gives a certain amount of XP in the skill of Magic.	1
	Prayer XP	Gives a certain amount of XP in the skill of Prayer.	1
Consumables
	Herb pack	A pack containing a random amount of grimy herbs. Level 25 Herblore is required.	30
	Mineral pack	A pack containing a random amount of Coal and Iron ore	15
	Seed pack	A pack containing a random amount of seeds. Level 25 Farming is required	15
	Spinner charm	A charm used to make a Void spinner pouch	2
	Torcher charm	A charm used to make a Void torcher pouch	2
	Ravager charm	A charm used to make a Void ravager pouch	2
	Shifter charm	A charm used to make a Void shifter pouch	2

The Void Knight equipment, which can only be obtained using commendation points, give a special effect when the full set is worn. The set consists of the helmet, top, robe, and gloves, although the Void knight deflector can be switched out for any one of those apart from the helmet. The special effect depends on what helmet is worn, with a different one for the melee, Ranged, and Magic helmets.

• Void melee helm increases melee attack and damage by 10%
• Void ranger helm increases Ranged attack and damage by 10%
• Void mage helm increases accuracy of Magic attacks by 30%

After completing the Void Stares Back, The quest, both the top and robe can be exchanged for elite versions (Elite void knight top and Elite void knight robe) at the cost of 100 commendation points per piece. These grant an additional +4 Prayer bonus, but in comparison to their original versions, give no other bonuses.

The Void seal is worn in the amulet slot and has 8 charges when bought. One charge is used up when you choose to activate it, which damages all pests around you during a game of Pest Control. It disappears when it runs out of charges.

Picture	Name	Cost
	Void melee helm	200
	Void mage helm	200
	Void ranger helm	200
	Void knight deflector	150 (also requires 1250 Conquest rating)
	Void knight top	250
	Void knight robe	250
	Void knight gloves	150
	Void knight mace	250
	Void seal	10

Pest Control Experience Calculator