Commander Zilyana/Strategies

This is a guide to defeating Commander Zilyana, the Saradominist general in the God Wars Dungeon.

While Commander Zilyana has an equal amount of resistance to all attacks, Magic (apart from the Tumeken's shadow) is generally impractical here due to the lack of defence provided by magic armour and unnecessary rune costs.

• Completion of Death Plateau and the start of Troll Stronghold to the point where you defeat Dad
• Alternatively, Ghommal's hilt can be used to teleport to Trollheim without requiring either quest
• One rope is required to access the God Wars Dungeon for the first time.
• Two (additional) ropes are required to navigate Saradomin's Encampment for the first time.
• Level 70 Agility is required to access Saradomin's Encampment (cannot be boosted).
• Level 37 Prayer to activate Protect from Magic.

Similarly to Kree'arra, many players prefer using an ecumenical key to skip kill count. Although Saradominist kill count is considered to be somewhat quick, this is only partially true if the player has 83 Slayer, as Saradominist spiritual warriors and mages are aggressive towards Zamorakian followers. The remaining Saradominist followers are passive and will only attack in self-defence.

Zilyana attacks with both melee and magic. Pray Protect from Magic while killing Zilyana if using ranged or Protect from Missiles if using mage. If done correctly the only damage you should take is from the range or mage minion, respectively. Although her max hit is relatively low, with her melee attacks dealing up to 27 damage and her magic dealing 10-20 damage, she makes up for this with an attack speed of 2 (1.2 seconds). Combined with her tremendous accuracy, this makes fighting her in melee range extremely dangerous, as the precise attacks and rapid attack speed will cause a swift death for her target. Like Graardor and K'ril however, Zilyana can only attack when in melee distance of a player.

Zilyana has three bodyguards; Bree, Growler and Starlight, who use ranged, magic and melee with maximum hits of 16, 16 and 15 damage respectively. Her bodyguards are significantly weaker compared to the other generals', but they still should not be underestimated.

The kiting method should be used when fighting Zilyana, as her chamber is quite large. This means that damage will only be incurred from the bodyguard that the player is not protecting against, as Starlight and Zilyana will not be able to reach the player unless they stop moving. The most common method involves running around the chamber, though there are advanced methods that reduce or even negate the need for stamina potions, even with low Agility levels.

For players ranging Zilyana, the most common methods are to either use a crossbow with enchanted diamond bolts, full crystal armour with a Bow of faerdhinen, or a twisted bow. A toxic blowpipe and a serpentine helm switch, while optional, are helpful in envenoming the bodyguards, as it will guarantee that they will be envenomed upon hit. This will help whittle down their health while Zilyana is being killed, especially if not using a twisted bow.

This advanced ranged setup allows players to kill Commander Zilyana without using stamina potions. This method requires following a specific pattern in order to attack Zilyana up to 12 times without getting attacked in the process, while also conserving energy. The player should always pray protect from magic while killing Zilyana.

For every kill except the first kill:

1. Start on blue tile labelled 1 and attack twice.
2. Run to tile 2 and attack once
3. Click on yellow tile (your character will automatically walk this tile) before running to tile 3 and attacking once
4. Click on the next yellow, then run to tile 4 and attack again. On the last tile (12), attack and run to tile 2 and restart the process
5. Turn off run once Zilyana is dead

Attack on every red tile, while walking all the yellow tiles. This allows your character to conserve and restore energy while also allowing you to stay out of range of Commander Zilyana.

Assuming the player has about 80 Agility, around 10-12 run energy is used per lap.

The bodyguards Bree, Starlight and Growler all have a chance to drop summer pies which can be used to restore 10% run energy per bite (total 20%).

For the first kill

1. Start on green tile 1, attack once and run to the green tile 2
2. Run to red tile 4 and carry on like you would for all normal kills.

• For every kill except the first kill (Bowfa method)
• First kill (Bowfa method)

Tumeken's shadow, with its passive effect enhancing adequately powerful magic gear, is the strongest weapon for conventional methods of killing Commander Zilyana. Additionally, the combination of Blood barrage to heal off the bodyguards and the special attack of an Eldritch nightmare staff, especially with the reduced cooldown granted by the Lightbearer, can allow players to remain in Zilyana's lair indefinitely, limited only by runes, weapon charges and run energy.

If players wish to save some costs on runes, bringing a powered staff can help in clearing minions.

However, it should be noted that this strategy requires almost completely maxed mage gear. Even a single downgrade from an Ancestral robe top to an Ahrim's robetop for example will dramatically impact kill times and trip length, due to the multiplicative effect Tumeken's shadow has on the magic stat bonuses of other pieces of equipment. The barrier to entry is therefore extremely high, and for players who do not have the best-in-slot options for two or more gear slots, ranging is likely to be more effective.

In a team setting, if Zilyana cannot attack her current target, she will change her aggression to a nearby attacker. This is commonly used by ranging teams to minimise the amount of stamina potions needed, allowing for other supplies to be taken. Team settings also allow for melee, although players will need to be wary of Zilyana shifting aggression when she cannot attack her target.

Instead of attacking Zilyana directly, players (or alternate accounts) can attack Bree and Starlight. If multiple players are in the room, the bodyguards will only attack those who have attacked Zilyana, so this means the only danger for these players is Zilyana's magic attack. If the bodyguards are killed before Zilyana herself is killed, then they are likely to respawn, and so it may be beneficial to limit the damage done to them.

• 100+
• 70+ (Required)
• 80+
• 80+ (90+ Recommended)
• 70+
• 44+ (74+ Rigour)

Recommended equipment for Magic

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ancestral hat / Slayer helmet (i)	Virtus mask	N/A
	Occult necklace	N/A	N/A
	Imbued saradomin cape	Max cape	N/A
	Ancestral robe top	Virtus robe top	N/A
	Ancestral robe bottom	Virtus robe bottom	N/A
	Tumeken's shadow	Eye of ayak	N/A
	Elidinis' ward (f)	Arcane spirit shield / Elidinis' ward	Ancient wyvern shield / Mage's book / Malediction ward
	Unholy blessing	N/A	N/A
	Confliction gauntlets	Tormented bracelet	N/A
	Avernic treads (max)	Eternal boots	Infinity boots / Aranea boots
	Magus ring	Lightbearer	N/A
	Eldritch nightmare staff	Eye of ayak	Accursed sceptre

Inventory

16000

16000

16000

16000

• Eldritch nightmare staff or eye of ayak/accursed sceptre for special attack
• Sanguinesti staff switch for healing (optional with Blood Barrage)
• Saturated heart
• Ecumenical key (optional)
• Saradomin brew and anglerfish for emergency healing
• 16 super restores
• Bones to peaches tablets (optional)
• Stamina potion to restore run energy (optional)
• Explorer's ring 4 for High level alchemy and run energy restoration
• Divine rune pouch with runes for Blood Barrage and Ice Barrage

Recommended equipment for Ranged

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Masori mask (f) / Slayer helmet (i)	Crystal helm	Justiciar faceguard	Verac's helm / Saradomin coif	Helm of neitiznot
	Necklace of rupture	Necklace of anguish	Amulet of fury	N/A	N/A
	Dizana's quiver	Ava's assembler	Max cape / Ranging cape(t)	N/A	N/A
	Masori body (f)	Crystal body	Saradomin d'hide body / Zamorak d'hide body	Karil's leathertop	Black d'hide body
	Masori chaps (f)	Crystal legs	Saradomin chaps / Zamorak chaps	Karil's leatherskirt	Black d'hide chaps
	Twisted bow	Bow of faerdhinen[a]	Zaryte crossbow	Hunters' sunlight crossbow[b]	Armadyl crossbow > Dragon hunter crossbow > Dragon crossbow > Rune crossbow
	Twisted buckler	Dragonfire ward	Odium ward	Crystal shield	N/A
	Seeking dragon arrow Diamond dragon bolts (e) Moonlight antler bolts God blessing	Seeking amethyst arrow Diamond bolts (e) Sunlight antler bolts	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Zaryte vambraces	Barrows gloves	Saradomin bracers / Zamorak bracers	N/A	N/A
	Avernic treads (max)	Pegasian boots or Saradomin d'hide boots / Zamorak d'hide boots	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ring of suffering (ri)	Venator ring [c]	Ring of the gods (i)	Explorer's ring 4	N/A
	Toxic blowpipe	Zaryte crossbow	Armadyl crossbow / Tonalztics of ralos	N/A	N/A

1. ^ Only use with crystal armour
2. ^ While theoretically better than nearly all other crossbows, its faster attack speed might make this an impractical choice for those unconfident with kiting
3. ^ Can be a good option only if it allows for a higher max hit

Inventory

16000

16000

16000

• Toxic blowpipe (to kill minions)
• Serpentine helm (to envenom minions at start of kill) (optional)
• Venator bow (to kill minions while stacked and/or as a Zarosian item, optional)
• Ecumenical key (optional)
• Any required god items, with one Saradomin and one Zamorak item being strongly recommended, and optionally a Zarosian item if banking at the Ancient Prison
• 1-4 stamina potions (optional for higher levelled and geared players, or those using run energy neutral kiting methods)
• 8-16 Saradomin brews or sharks (brews & super restores should be brought in a 3:1 ratio)
• 6-12 super restores or prayer potions
• 1-4 divine bastion potions or Divine ranging potions
• Explorer's ring 4 for access to High level alchemy regardless of spellbook and run energy restoration
• A divine rune pouch containing law runes, nature runes, dust runes and steam runes will allow the player to cast Trollheim teleport, Teleport to house, High level alchemy and Bones to peaches
• Ghommal's hilt or two Trollheim teleport tablets. Revert one to a Teleport to house (tablet) once you arrive.
• Alternatively, a book of the dead with a rune pouch containing fire runes, blood runes, and cosmic runes for resurrection spells.
• Armadyl brews can be used in place of Saradomin brews with a more advanced method involving Menaphite remedies to restore lowered defence levels; defence levels lost are restored by the remedy every 15 seconds.
  • This has the benefit of keeping your Divine ranging boost and also requiring one fewer sipping action when healing via Armadyl brews when done correctly.
    • e.g. Menaphite remedy -> Divine ranging -> 2x Armadyl brew sips per 15 seconds to maintain a decent defence level while also not cancelling the divine status.
  • This comes with a caveat that you must have sufficient equipment with high ranged defence as Bree has a low max hit, but will be very consistent on your lower, unboosted defence.
    • Due to this, Consider bringing Super restores instead of Prayer potions with this method as consecutively drinking Armadyl brews may lower defence too much for the Menaphite remedy to restore defence in a timely manner, negating any health gained.