Poison

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The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:PoisonThe RuneScape Classic Wiki also has an article on: classicrsw:Poison (effect)

This article is about the condition that affects players and monsters. For other uses, see Poison (disambiguation).

A player taking damage from poison.

Poison is a detrimental status that players and monsters may suffer when they are attacked by a poisoned weapon or poisonous non-player characters. The damage from poison can range from 1 to theoretically over 10,000 (Har'Lakk the Riftsplitter's accumulating poison), and it strikes every 10 seconds or whenever an attack re-applies it. Poison can be cured by antipoison, which is handy to have when fighting poisonous monsters.

When a player or monster is poisoned, a number appears with a green hitsplat (), indicating the amount of damage the poison has dealt to their life points.

Being afflicted by poison does not disrupt skill training, Home Teleport, or put the player into combat stance, but players cannot rest if they are poisoned. Players will not take damage from poison during cutscenes, but their health still regenerates normally.

Inflicting poison

Weapon poison

A player applying weapon poison to their attacks.

Players under the effect of weapon poison have a ¹⁄₈ chance to poison targets for 3 minutes, damaging them every 9.6 seconds, hitting 18 times if not reapplied. Tier 1 poison deals a base damage of 20% of ability damage. Each tier of poison deals a quarter more damage, stacking additively (20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%). Poison damage is then multiplied by a randomly chosen factor between 65% and 130%.

If poison damage is not refreshed, the damage range of subsequent hits is reduced. The minimum damage is reduced by 1.5 percentage points and the maximum is reduced by 3 percentage points, stacking additively (65–130%, 63.5–127%, 62–124% etc.).

Tier	Minimum ability damage	Median ability damage	Maximum ability damage	Source		Notes
1	13.00%	20.00%	26.00%	Weapon poison		Grants poisonous for 2.5 minutes
				Spirit Scorpion scroll (Venom Shot)		Grants poisonous for 30 seconds
				Upgraded bone blowpipe		Applies tier 1 poison Poison damage is halved The interval between poison damage is halved, from 9.6 seconds to 4.8 seconds
2	16.25%	25.00%	32.5%	Weapon poison+		Grants poisonous for 5 minutes
				Cinderbane gloves		See notes on cinderbane gloves
3	19.50%	30.00%	39.00%	Weapon poison++		Grants poisonous for 10 minutes
4	22.75%	35.00%	45.50%	Weapon poison+++		Grants poisonous for 12 minutes
				Poison bomb		Throws a poison bomb at the current target, creating a 3x3 area lasting 6 seconds that poisons targets
5	26.00%	40.00%	52.00%	Tier 4 poison with cinderbane gloves		See notes on cinderbane gloves

Cinderbane gloves

Cinderbane gloves are tier 85 hybrid power armour gloves. The gloves also provide passive effects when worn:

• ¹⁄₈ chance to apply tier 2 poison on hit.
• If used with another source of poison, they increases the tier of poison by 1.
• If the target is already poisoned, reapplying poison will deal an additional poison hit and refresh the poison effect.
  • This additional hit can itself can reapply poison, causing an additional poison hit.

Swamp Plague

The swamp titan's special move Swamp Plague poisons the target for 3 minutes, dealing 80-250 damage every 9.6 seconds. This damage is independent of ability damage.

Poison-boosting effects

Several effects improve aspects of poison.

Each ability that hits when using Bik arrows applies 1 stack of Evolving Toxin to the target, with a maximum of 200 stacks. Each stack increases poison dealt by +2%.

Kwuarm incense sticks grant the Kwuarm Incense buff for 10 minutes when lit. The effect begins at potency level 1 and increases by 1 every 10 minutes to a maximum of level 4. Overloading with the incense sticks immediately increases the potency to level 4 but consumes 6 incense sticks. The buff increases poison damage dealt by +2.5% per potency level, to a maximum of +10%.

Laniakea's spear has a passive effect when equipped. Toxic Fang increases the chance to poison targets by +5% and increases poison damage dealt by +5%.

Bosses

Bosses susceptible to poison

The following bosses can be poisoned.

• All bosses within the TzHaar Fight Cave/Fight Kiln:
  • TzTok-Jad/TokHaar-Jad
  • Har-Aken
• Some Elder God Wars Dungeon Bosses (GWD3):
  • Arch-Glacor
  • Kerapac, the bound
• Some Heart of Gielinor Bosses (GWD2):
  • Gregorovic
  • Helwyr
  • Telos
• All three Rex Matriarchs:
  • Orikalka
  • Rathis
  • Pthentraken
• All bosses within the Shadow Reef (ED3):
  • Crassian Leviathan
  • Taraket the Necromancer
  • The Ambassador
• All bosses within the Dragonkin Laboratory (ED2):
  • Astellarn
  • Verak Lith
  • Black Stone Dragon
• Some bosses within the Temple of Aminishi (ED1):
  • Masuta the Ascended
  • The Sanctum Guardian
• All Barrows Brothers (regular Barrows only):
  • Ahrim the Blighted
  • Akrisae the Doomed
  • Dharok the Wretched
  • Guthan the Infested
  • Karil the Tainted
  • Linza the Disgraced
  • Torag the Corrupted
  • Verac the Defiled
• All three Dagannoth Kings:
  • Dagannoth Supreme
  • Dagannoth Rex
  • Dagannoth Prime
• Misc bosses:
  • Giant Mole
  • Kalphite King
  • Kalphite Queen
  • King Black Dragon
  • The Magister
  • Solak & Erethdor
  • Chaos Elemental
  • Corporeal Beast

Bosses immune to poison

The following bosses cannot be poisoned.

• Araxxor and Araxxi
• All brothers in Barrows: Rise of the Six
• Beastmaster Durzag
• All bosses within the God Wars Dungeon:
  • Commander Zilyana
  • K'ril Tsutsaroth
  • Kree'arra
  • General Graardor
  • Nex
  • Nex: Angel of Death
• Legiones
• Queen Black Dragon
• Raksha, the Shadow Colossus
• Seiryu the Azure Serpent
• Twin Furies
• TzKal-Zuk
• Vindicta and Gorvek
• Vorago
• Yakamaru

Poison sources

Several of Gielinor's monsters are naturally venomous, inflicting the poison effect on players periodically during combat, while others have special attacks that inflict poison.

Additionally, there are other sources of poison, especially from triggering traps, that are commonly associated with the Agility and Thieving skills.

Poisonous monsters

Ancient mage Baby platypus Big Snake Bush snake Cave crawler Cave crawler (Dungeoneering) Cave slime Cave slime (Dungeoneering) Corrupted kalphite guardian Corrupted kalphite marauder Crassian warrior (post-quest) Demon boss Dungeon spider Exiled kalphite guardian Exiled kalphite marauder Exiled kalphite paragon Exiled Kalphite Queen Exiled kalphite soldier Frog General malpractitioner Giant scarab Giant Sea Snake Gregorovic Guthix wizard Har'Lakk the Riftsplitter Jogre Champion Jungle strykewyrm K'ril Tsutsaroth

Kalphite Guardian Kalphite Soldier King Black Dragon Lava spider Monkey Archer (level 84) Monstrous cave crawler Nex Nex: Angel of Death Night spider Penance Healer Pest Queen Platypus Poison Scorpion Poison spider Revenant dragon Saradomin priest Saradomin wizard Scarab swarm Scarabs Snake (Ape Atoll) Snake (poisonous) Spinolyp Tolna Unnatural kalphite guardian Unnatural kalphite paragon Wandering warrior Wild jade vine

Gregorovic

Gregorovic's poison is unique as it only lasts 18 seconds. His poison cannot be blocked by an inoculation brace. Poison purge auras can convert the poison damage to healing, but will reduce the remaining duration of the aura by one minute.

Obstacles

Snakes in urns in Pyramid Plunder Snakes in trees in the Jade vine maze Tripwires in Tirannwn

Gilded cross chest during Desert Treasure Closed chest

Cure and prevention

Poison can be cured using various types of remedies, some of which provide an immunity. Antipoison potions are the most popular antidote and they come in various levels which provide progressively longer immunity to poisoning. All regular poisons can be cured by regular antipoison, but each poison hit that would have been received will lower the effectiveness of the antipoison used.

Poison can be cured by left-clicking on the heart icon next to the health bar when it is green with poison. This requires the player to have an antipoison in their inventory.

Anti-poison

The Anti-poison Active buff can be acquired from a variety of sources. Gaining this buff will cure the player of poison and grant immunity to it for a duration. The remaining duration of the buff is reduced whenever it prevents poison damage.

Source		Duration
Guthix rest		30 seconds
Super Guthix rest		30 seconds
Antipoison		3 minutes
Sanfew serum		3 minutes
Super antipoison		6 minutes
Overload salve		6 minutes
Supreme overload salve		6 minutes
Elder overload salve		6 minutes
Antipoison+		9 minutes
Antipoison++		12 minutes
Ooglog spa/Anachronia base camp spa		13.5 minutes
Ogre flask (thermal)		13.5 minutes
Daemonheim
Antipoison (Dungeoneering)		1.5 minutes
Weak cure potion		5 minutes
Cure potion		10 minutes
Strong cure potion		20 minutes

Other

The anti-poison totem can be purchased from the rewards trader for 44,000 dungeoneering tokens. When in the player's backpack, it can be freely toggled between its offhand slot and pocket slot version. The offhand version prevents the player from being poisoned when equipped, but cannot cure poison. The pocket version halves poison damage taken and prevents the player from being poisoned by snake filled urns in Pyramid Plunder.

Two types of incense reduce poison damage taken. Marrentill incense sticks grant the Marrentill Incense buff which decreases poison damage taken by 12.5% per potency level to a maximum of 50% at potency level 4. Irit incense sticks grant the Irit Incense buff which decreases poison damage taken by 25% per potency level. to a maximum of 100% at potency level 4. Incense effects begins at potency level 1 and increases by 1 every 10 minutes to a maximum of level 4. Overloading with incense sticks immediately increases the potency to level 4 but consumes 6 incense sticks.

Inoculation brace is a ruby bracelet enchanted with Lvl-3 Enchant. It requires completion of the Zogre Flesh Eaters quest to equip. When equipped it protects the player from any poison damage, but is destroyed after it blocks 5,000 damage in total.

Poison purge aura and its superior variants convert any poison damage taken into healing.

Venomblood is an Invention perk. If the player has a piece of equipment with the Venomblood perk equipped, they cannot be poisoned. It does not remove existing poison effects when equipped.

Cure only

The bloated leech familiar's special move Blood Drain deals 100 damage to the player but cures them of poison and restores reduced stats by 5%.

The Lunar spells Cure Me, Cure Other and Cure Group are unlocked after completing the Lunar Diplomacy quest. Cure Me cures the caster of poison. Cure Other cures the targeted player of poison. Cure Group cures the caster and any players within one tile of them. Players must have the Lunar spells enabled in the Accept Aid settings menu to be cured by Cure Other or Cure Group.

Dying cures the player of poison.

The prayer book is a reward from the Great Brain Robbery quest. If the player is wearing a holy symbol, they can choose the Recite-prayer option to cure themselves of poison. This costs a number of prayer points equal to poison damage per hit minus 20. If the player does not have sufficient prayer points to completely cure themselves, the prayer points are drained and the strength of the poison is reduced accordingly.

The ring of life is a diamond ring enchanted with Lvl-4 Enchant. When worn, if the player takes damage that reduces their life points below 10% of their maximum but does not kill them, they will be teleported to their respawn point and will be cured of poison.

Strange fruit can picked from strange plants near Brimhaven. When eaten, they restore 60% run energy and cure the player of poison.

The unicorn stallion familiar can be interacted with to cure the player of poison.

A safe alternative for players is to teleport to their Player-owned house; dying there will result in no items being lost. Additionally, leaving the house by using the teleportation methods available (e.g. mounted amulet of glory, the portal chamber, Exit Portal) will also cure poison completely.

Special poisons

Some monsters and mechanics can inflict green hitsplats identical to those of poison but do not inflict the poisoned debuff.

Player based

Emerald bolts (e)

Emerald bolts (e) and emerald bakriminel bolts (e) have a 55% chance on hit to trigger the Magical Poison effect. Upon activation the target is damaged an additional 2-4% weapon damage in the form of a single poison hitsplat. This effect scales with poison modifiers such as Bik arrows, cinderbane gloves and kwuarm incense sticks. The effect cannot trigger against poison-immune monsters or players with Anti-poison Active but will reduce the remaining duration of the buff when it would have triggered.

Wyvern crossbow

Each auto-attack and ability hit has a 50% chance to inflict a wyvern poison on the target. This deals poison damage every 1.2 seconds for 7.2 seconds (6 hits maximum if not refreshed). If the poison is reapplied, the duration is reset and the tier of poison increases by 1, to a maximum tier of 10.

Poison Tier	Damage Range
0	0
1	10-24
2	25-49
3	35-74
4	50-99
5	60-124
6	75-149
7	85-174
8	100-199
9	110-224
10	125-249

Monster and scenery based

Source		Notes
Araxxi and Araxxor		Araxxi and Araxxor's ranged attacks can poison the player. The damage the poison deals scales with enrage. Araxxor uses ranged attacks when spawned in his ranged form which he spawns as if the player starts an instanced fight wielding a melee weapon in their main hand slot. The same applies to uninstanced fights if the player is carrying an araxyte pheromone. If the player begins an uninstanced fight without carrying a pheromone, Araxxor's form will be selected at random. Araxxor also uses ranged attacks during Path Three: Darkness.
Cave nightshade (Farming), Cave nightshade (Skavid caves), Nettles		Attempting to pick from the cave nightshade plant grown in the Draynor Manor nightshade patch or the cave nightshade plants in the skavid caves or nettle plants without suitable hand protection, will result in failure and cause the player to receive 10 to 19 poison damage.
Bulbous crawler		After 6 every auto-attacks, the crawler gathers energy from the surrounding area which draws itself towards the creature. When it reaches the creature it will release a poison cloud dealing 1,800 to 3,600 poison damage in the nearby area and healing itself by 2,000 life points in the process. This attack can be avoided by running 5 squares away or forcing the crawler to move by standing under it.
Crassian Leviathan		If a player is within range of the Crassian Leviathan's other heads, that player will be stunned and bound for 6 seconds and be dealt a single poison hitsplat of around 80 to 1250 damage every 1.8 seconds.
Gravecreeper		Gravecreeper can create purple puddles with its Burrrn attack as well as its Buuuuury.../Diiiiig.../Braaaaains... attack. When stood in, these puddles deal poison hitsplats and drain 1 Defence level and 20 Prayer points every 0.6 seconds.
Liverworts		After 10 auto-attacks (24 seconds), liverworts will drag the player towards itself, stunning and binding them for 3.6 seconds and plant three spores nearby that explode after 4.8 seconds. If the player is nearby when the spores explode, they are dealt 1,368 poison damage per spore and the liverwort is healed for the same amount. If the player moves away in time, the spores will instead damage the liverwort for the same amount. If the player is stun-immune (Freedom, Anticipation or Transfigure stun immunity) when the liverwort attempts to drag them, they will not be dragged and the spores will not be planted near them. When the liverworts drag or attempt to drag the player, the liverwort is stunned for 3.6 seconds.
Luminous snaggler		After performing 5 auto-attacks (12 seconds), luminous snaggler will release three green spores in the air, one on the player's current tile and two generally around the plant. These spores each have a 5x5 AoE, and if the player does not move far enough away from them after 3.6 seconds, will be dealt 1,200 to 2,300 poison damage depending on the player's distance from the spore. The snaggler also heals 1,296 life points for each spore that damages the player. Killing the snaggler before the spores hit the player will also cancel the special attack and no damage will be dealt.
Polypore Dungeon		Standing next to monsters from the Polypore Dungeon will deal 100 to 200 poison damage every 0.6 seconds. This can be prevented by sprinkling neem oil on them.
Rathis		Rathis's Acid Bombardment launches 2 poison orbs into the air, one targeted at the player's location and another around her. These orbs deal up to 3,500 ranged damage to any players in a 5x5 area. Upon landing, they also create pools of acidic venom. While standing on these poison patches, the player will take rapid soft poison damage of around 300-500 every few ticks. If the player is under the effects of antipoison or their equipment has the Venomblood perk, the damage is significantly reduced, dealing around 50-100 damage. Additionally a corrosion debuff is applied to the player. The debuff causes the player to take 20% additional damage, which can be stacked up to 5 times to a maximum of 100% additional damage. The debuff lasts for 10 seconds from the last time that the player was in contact with a poison patch; taking more poison damage restarts the timer.
Secure chest		During Desert Treasure, the player must break into the secure chest to retrieve the gilded cross for Rasolo. If the player fails the unlock one of the locks, their lockpick is destroyed and they are dealt a single hitsplat of poison damage which may also poison the player.
Venomous dinosaur		After every 6 auto-attacks, the dinosaur will inflict the player with the toxic debuff, with the message: The creature infects you with a deadly venom.. This deals 175 to 225 poison damage every 1.2 seconds and can only be removed by using Freedom or killing the dinosaur.
Vinecrawler		After every 6 auto-attacks, the vinecrawler will perform its special attack, signified by purple rings surrounding them. After around 2 seconds, the player will be hit for 1,800 to 3,600 poison damage. This attack be avoided by moving from spot the player was on when the attack began.
Wyvern		Wyverns can inflict their own special poison upon the player, giving the message: A strong wyvern poison begins eroding your bones.. This deals around 900 poison damage every 3 seconds. This damage decreases as their Cavern Chill increases over time. At ~70% Cavern Chill, the poison damage is completely negated. The poison damage is halved if the player has Anti-poison Active but its duration is decreased with every poison hit taken.
Yakamaru		When Yakamaru is in an outer pool and his life points are lowered from 1,000,000 to 100,000, he will release a ball of poison, with the message: Yakamaru releases the dangerous poison!. The poison lands 5 seconds later in a 1x1 tile area indicated with green arrows. Any players that catch the poison when it lands will absorb the poison, with the message: You absorb the insane poison. There is no cure - stand next to Yakamaru as it dies to pass it over.. To progress the fight, a poisoned player must stand within melee distance of Yakamaru as he dies. Yakamaru will grab the player and drag them into the pool, with the message: Yakamaru is lured by the scent of your poison.... Only one player will be dragged by Yakamaru even if multiple poisoned players are within range. The player will end up washed up on the beach, cured of the poison but will need to be swiftly resuscitated by another player or they are instantly killed. Whilst poisoned, the player receives 500-1,000 poison damage every 3 seconds.

Prevention and cure interactions with special poisons

Key

Symbol	Meaning
	Prevention, reduction or cure functions normally
	Prevention, reduction or cure does not function

Poison source		Prevention or reduction							Cure
Emerald bolts (e)		, reduces duration							N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wyvern crossbow		, reduces duration
Araxxi and Araxxor		, reduces duration					, reduces duration by 1 min
Cave nightshade (Farming), Cave nightshade (Skavid caves), Nettles		, reduces duration					Unknown (edit)		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bulbous crawler									N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Crassian Leviathan							Unknown (edit)		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gravecreeper			N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Liverworts							Unknown (edit)		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Luminous snaggler									N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Polypore Dungeon							Unknown (edit)		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Rathis		Reduces damage	Reduces damage					Reduces damage	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secure chest			Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Venomous dinosaur
Vinecrawler									N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wyvern		Halves damage, reduces duration
Yakamaru			Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)	Unknown (edit)

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included - see here for how to help out!

• hotfix 9 August 2021 (Update):
  • Poison no longer bypasses damage caps when Kerapac, the Bound transitions through phases.

• patch 11 January 2016 (Update):
  • Several home teleport animations are no longer interrupted by poison.

• patch 9 November 2015 (Update):
  • The poison timer icon will no longer remain visible when using a prayer book to cure the poison.

• patch 29 September 2014 (Update):
  • Players can now cure poison with the unicorn via the ‘Heal’ option on the life points icon and the ‘Interact’ option on the Summoning icon.

• patch 14 April 2014 (Update):
  • Taking damage from poison no longer cancels teleport animations.

• patch 13 August 2013 (Update):
  • The inoculation brace now protects players from 500 poison damage before crumbling to dust.

• patch 4 March 2013 (Update):
  • The "poisonous" indicator on the combat interface now works correctly after logging out and in again.

• patch 11 December 2012 (Update):
  • Poisoning creatures in Barbarian Assault now has a greater effect.

• patch 4 December 2012 (Update):
  • Poison is no longer carried through Dungeoneering floors.

• patch 13 November 2012 (Update):
  • The "Cure Poison" option on the lifepoints icon near the minimap now works with the Prayer book reward from Great Brain Robbery.

• patch 22 November 2011 (Update):
  • Using unpoisoned javelins, knives or darts, whilst having a single item in the players quiver after summoning any familiar, will no longer cause players to poison NPCs.

• update 4 January 2011 (Update):
  • You may now click the life points globe to cure poison with the Cure Me spell.

• patch 15 June 2010 (Update):
  • Made the poison code consistent, so that various familiars and creatures around RuneScape behave in the same way.

• patch 17 November 2009 (Update):
  • Fixed a problem with sea snakes and poison attacks.

• patch 16 June 2009 (Update):
  • Fixed an issue involving poison and certain NPCs behaving oddly.

Trivia

• With the introduction of the Evolution of Combat, many significant changes to poison's mechanics were made.
  • Poison used to always slowly reduce in damage over time in a regular order.
  • Weapon poisons can only be used on certain types of weapons (arrows, daggers, etc.) to make them poisonous until removed with a cleaning cloth.
  • Karambwan paste caused spears and hastae to become poisonous when the paste was applied to them. The paste no longer has any poison effect on the weapons, and weapons with karambwan paste applied to them may not be used in combat.
  • Smoke Spells from the Ancient Magicks spellbook previously could potentially poison targets and was the only way to do so using magic.
  • Steel bolts (p+) is a remnant of the pre-EoC system, which remained as it is dropped by monsters.
• In the early days of Evolution of Combat, the poison was "drunk" by the player, before it received a unique "apply" option and animation.
• Most poisonous monsters are technically venomous, not poisonous - poisons are absorbed, consumed, or inhaled by the victim, whereas venoms are injected into the victim by bites or stings.
  • In addition to poison, Old School RuneScape also has a venom mechanic. While poison decreases damage over time, venom damage increases over time. An antipoison potion turns venom into normal poison, and new anti-venom potions can completely cure it.

See also

• Karambwan paste