Pest Control

Pest Control is a co-operative members-only combat-based activity. Players must defend the Void Knight from an onslaught of monsters, while at the same time destroying the portals from which the monsters spawn.

The activity is played in the name of Guthix to retain balance in the world, which may be disrupted by an influx of monsters invading islands in the south of the world. It is run by an order of Guthix known as the Void Knights. Players board landers, which transport them to islands under invasion. The activity is divided into three landers; access to each lander is determined by combat level.

This is a 'safe' activity. Players who die keep their items, respawn on the lander, and can rejoin combat immediately. In addition, Hitpoints, Prayer points, special attack, and run energy are fully restored at the end of each game. All stats are restored to their normal levels at the end of each game, meaning stat boosts of various potions like Super sets do not carry over from game to game. This makes using these potions for Pest Control somewhat expensive, as each game will require a new dose from each potion.

Skills
The only requirement to participate in a game of Pest Control is to have a combat level of 40 or above.


 * A minimum combat level of 40 is required to use the novice lander.
 * To use the intermediate lander, a player must have a combat level of 70 or higher
 * To use the veteran lander, a player must have a combat level of 100 or higher.

Other players try to get high level players to switch to a world where a clan of high level players plays Pest Control, again in the hopes that high level players will help to win a higher percentage of games in a short amount of time. These players announce their intentions by saying things like, 'Trade for a 100 plus world'. By opening the trading interface (no items need be exchanged), the advertising player can verify the trading player's combat level and, if it is high enough, will then disclose the world that the clan is playing Pest Control on. The world is disclosed by the number of items (usually coins) the advertising player places in the trading interface. For example, if the advertising player places 365 coins in the interface, then the clan is on World 365. This procedure keeps the world number private and thus prevents its disclosure to anyone below the clan's desired combat levels.

Participation
In order to receive commendation points, a player must consistently maintain their activity bar throughout the duration of a game. Should the activity bar drop below the required amount, it will turn red and no points will be awarded for that game. Performing attacks on standard enemies will award a moderate increase in activity, while performing attacks on Portals and Spinners will award a higher increase in activity. Repairing barricades or gates on the island will also give this higher increase in activity. Players who struggle to maintain their activity via attacking enemies may find it easier to repair the barricades and gates. This also allows for players who do not want to train combat-related skills to also receive points. For repairing barricades it is advised that you finish the Easy Kandarin Diary for Kandarin headgear for double log output from normal trees, as the trees in the minigame do not respawn and you might be competing with other people who also require logs to repair the barricades. You need a hammer to repair barricades. You gain 5 Crafting experience per repair.

As of 18 December 2014, Pest Control now grants full experience when dealing damage in the minigame. Prior to this, players would earn 1/2 the experience they would normally receive for damage dealt (e.g. 4 damage grants 8xp in attack rather than 16xp). This experience penalty did not apply when doing damage to portals.

Players
A game of Pest Control can be played by 5 to 25 players. Anyone who wishes to play must board a lander. If the lander fills with 25 players, the game will begin automatically. Otherwise, players must wait 5 minutes after at least 5 players have boarded the lander for the game to begin.

In busy Pest Control worlds, the landers, particularly the level 40 novice one, can fill up quickly. Sometimes, far more than 25 players may attempt to get on a lander. A player not taken in the first load of 25 players is assigned a priority number for the lander, starting at 1 and rising by 1 with each load that leaves without the player. The higher the priority number, the more likely the player will be taken in the next load. With large amounts of players all attempting to join a game at once, priority levels can exceed 5+. However, with that many players attempting to join a game at once, there is minimal wait time between games.

Some players bring items to cast High Level Alchemy or Humidify while they wait for the landers to fill up.

Restrictions
Pets are allowed on the island, but not on the landers or in the minigame itself. In addition, Dwarf multicannons and Alchemy spells may not be used during the activity.

Location
Pest Control is located on the Void Knights' Outpost, which is on one of the southernmost islands in the game. It can be accessed from the docks of Port Sarim south of the Lady Lumbridge (ship). Speak with the Squire and she will ask if you want to go to the Void Knights' Outpost. Alternatively, you can right-click the squire and select "Travel".

The fastest way to get to the outpost is through the use of the Minigame Group Finder, by selecting Pest Control and teleporting directly there (this has a 20 minute cooldown and cannot be cast from a PvP area such as the Wilderness or the Duel Arena).

Players can also use Pest control teleports to teleport directly to the outpost. These can be found as rewards from Treasure Trails or bought from other players.

To get to Port Sarim, players can use use fairy ring code to Mudskipper Point, use the Amulet of glory's teleport to Draynor Village, or walk from Falador or Lumbridge. Another quick way to get to Port Sarim is to teleport to Ardougne, take the boat to Brimhaven and then take the charter ship to Port Sarim. The Squire's ship is located right next to the charter ship.

The Outpost
The Outpost contains various utilities, including:
 * Bank
 * General store - Sells unique items
 * Anvil - Nearby is a smith who can repair Barrows armour
 * Void Knight Archery Store
 * Void Knight Magic Store - Stocks body, air, water, earth, fire, mind, chaos, and death runes
 * Three -style ships, called "landers" - Players board these to begin games of Pest Control

Winning
The rules for Pest Control are simple. There are two ways to win the game:
 * 1) Keep the Void Knight alive for 20 minutes.
 * 2) Destroy all 4 portals before the Void Knight is killed. This is much more commonly done, as games can be won in as little as 2 minutes with this strategy. However, the Void Knight can easily be killed even in two minutes if left undefended, so a small number of players should defend him. Since players rarely organise themselves, it can be worth checking the Void Knight's status after each portal kill and switch to defence for a while if the knight is being swarmed or has less than half health. Each portal that is killed will give the void knight 50 hitpoints.

Pests
Pests are the monsters that spawn out of portals to kill players and the Void Knight.

Brawler
Brawlers are the largest and most resilient creatures in the Pest Control activity, and they defend the portals. They resemble a gorilla or a small elephant with spikes sprouting from their backs and a pointed, very slightly transparent, snout. When you see one of these creatures, ignore them, for they are the lowest priority to kill unless they are in your way.

Normally they will not attack the fort, though they are still a match for anyone attempting to destroy the portal. Their combat levels can be 51, 76, 101, 111 or 129, and their colouring is based on their level. Brawlers are one of only five creatures that you cannot run through (the others being Monkey Guards on Ape Atoll, and the monsters fought in the quest Dream Mentor) - they block your path in a similar manner to the barricades in the Castle Wars activity.

Brawlers block other monsters too. This can be used to the team's advantage by 'luring' a brawler to the steps where the Void Knight is. Defilers and Torchers cannot shoot over brawlers, and Shifters are unable to teleport through them. Brawlers will never attack the Void Knight. Thus, 'luring' can be an effective tactic to protect the Void Knight from potential damage by monsters behind the lured brawler. Again, however, players rarely organise themselves and many players will attack the brawler anyway. If there are hordes of monsters behind the brawler when it is killed, the result can be catastrophic and the Void Knight can take substantial amounts of damage as a result. Thus, it is wise to never kill brawlers when they can be used to keep the void knight from sustaining additional damage.

Defiler
Defilers are fast, agile creatures in the Pest Control activity. They have the appearance of the lower half of a snake, a humanoid top half and a face resembling that of a cat. They can throw flying spikes over long distances, which can inflict a large amount of damage to the Void Knight. They can even launch their barbs over walls, though if they are in the spaces right in front of one of the three gates, they cannot shoot over it, so keeping them closed will block those directly in front of it. Their combat levels vary from 33, 50, 66, 80, or 97, and their colouring is based on these levels.

Ravager
Ravagers are short, humanoid creatures with large claws in the Pest Control activity. Their appearance is closely related to that of a mole with over sized claws and red eyes. They are capable of tearing down the gates and so they must be killed to protect the void knight from the torchers and defilers. They are non-aggressive and have low attack and defence, but very high strength, so Protect from Melee is recommended. Their combat levels can be 36, 53, 71, 89, or 106 and their colouring is based on these levels. When attacked, a ravager will often continue destroying its target (if any) before engaging in combat with the attacking player, and may also destroy anything nearby that gets repaired, though after the barricades have been destroyed, they are not a threat.

Shifter
Shifters are creatures that excel in melee combat and can teleport across the island and even past walls. For this reason, they are very dangerous for those on defence since they can teleport right next to the Void Knight and attack him. They have the bottom half of a spider with the scythes of a praying mantis (similar to the Abyssal demon). Their combat levels can be 36, 57, 76, 90, or 104 and their colouring is based on these levels. Although it has the ability to teleport other monsters, such as ravagers and torchers (and up on to towers), they can only teleport others a very short distance.

For some reason shifters are some of the few monsters that can attack at a diagonal, other than ranged monsters, most single squared beasts will align with the player to attack. They also seem to hit the Void Knight from a distance while teleporting around him/her.

Spinner
Spinners are creatures that appear as spinning tops or jellyfish, and float above the ground. They repair portals on the island and it is unlikely the damage players do will be greater than the amount the spinners heal, especially if there is more than one. However, if the players manage to destroy the portal before any spinners healing it are killed, the spinners will spin around violently and then explode, hitting all players within a few squares with poison that deals 5 hit points of damage instantaneously and then poisons for 1 hit point afterwards. Their combat levels can be 37, 55, 74, 88, or 92. Since they often prevent players from destroying the portals quickly (and thus extend the length of the mini-game) they are the first priority to kill, even if the portal they surround is still protected.

Splatter
Splatters are creatures that appear like a giant ball with a single eye in the middle and liquid inside them. They will go towards the nearest standing barricades or fort doors and detonate, causing substantial damage to all players, monsters, and objects that are in the immediate vicinity. This will also happen if they are killed, which is easy since they are often low level and weak defensively. When a splatter "detonates" near another splatter, if the secondary splatters' life points are low enough, the damage may cause a chain reaction, increasing the overall damage. Some players find amusement in exploiting the splatter's detonation. By making several or many splatters follow a player with auto-retaliate turned off, leading them into a group of enemies or players, and then killing one, they can start this chain reaction of detonations, likely killing everything/everyone surrounding them. Their combat levels can be 22, 33, 44, 54, or 65 and their colouring is based on these levels. If the opportunity arises, you can use the splatters sort of like a Void seal by detonating them near large groups of monsters. This does not work on portals. Currently no prayer protection can defend against their "detonation". Players wearing Dharok's equipment may wish to kill Splatters to lower their health and activate the set effect to do extra damage. Killing them is a higher priority the closer they get to the gates, as their explosions can damage the gates. Splatters will never attack the Void Knight, but if killed near it, it can cause damage.

Torcher
Torchers are creatures that look like winged snakes with bat wings and will actively attack the Void Knight. They have a long distance magical attack which can harm both players and the Void Knight. They can even launch this attack over walls, though if they are in the spaces right in front of one of the three gates, they cannot shoot over it, so keeping them closed will block those directly in front of it. They have a relatively low hit points and defence, so they are dispatched easily. Their combat levels can be 33, 49, 67, 79, 91 or 92 and their colouring is based on these levels.

Portals
Portals are the key mechanic in Pest Control. A portal will continually spawn pests until it is destroyed.

At the start of a game, all four portals are given a shield, which makes the portal invulnerable to all damage. Players will have to wait for the Void knight to disable the shield before attacking. The first shield will go down 15 seconds into the game, and then the following shields will go down in 30 second intervals thereafter. Portals will be announced as the shields drop. All shields drop at 1 minute, 45 seconds.

Once the shield is down, players are free to attack and destroy the portals. Each portal begins with 200 hitpoints in the novice lander, or 250 in the intermediate and veteran landers. Apart from their specific weaknesses, the portals have relatively strong defence. Players attacking a portal should either be exploiting its weakness, or have a high accuracy bonus. The specific weakness of each portal is indicated by the following table:

The following table shows the order in which portals shields will drop. In general, Portal 1 and Portal 2 will predict which portal shields will drop as Portal 3 and Portal 4. The red portal shield will never drop first. The best strategy is for the players to follow the portals as they open, killing or luring all spinners first (1-2 spinners are ok with a very strong team- i.e. Dharokers or equivalent), then killing the portal. Players should ALWAYS close the gates as they run through or past them, this will also help keep the Void Knight's HP up longer.

A player should remain alert in the event that the portal spawns spinners. A Spinner will repair damage done to the portal, and the effect of multiple spinners will stack, making the portal nearly invincible. Unless your team is specifically trying to gain more experience by allowing the spinner to heal the portal, it is better to either kill or lure the spinners to prevent the portal from healing. A common misconception is that using special attack or prayer on the portals will cause Spinners to appear, but this is nothing more than a myth.

Once a portal is destroyed, it will stop spawning pests, and the Void Knight will regain 50 health. The game will end as soon as the four portals are successfully destroyed.

Strategies
The best strategy is to make sure the gates stay closed as the players run through or past them. This helps keep the Void Knight safe. It is ok for 2-3 players to be at the Void Knight to help keep pests from attacking him, but the majority of the players should be following the portals as they open to destroy them as quickly as possible. Rangers, halberdiers, and magers can easily lure Spinners away from the portals while the meleers are attacking and killing the portals.

Never stand in the middle of the front of the portal because this is where the pests spawn and you will trap Spinners from being lured from the portal and also trap yourself. A great place for Dharokers to stand is at the back of the portal in the middle. When the portal dies, if any Spinners are still alive, they will poison all those nearby, unless they are standing at the back of the portal nowhere near the Spinner(s).

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.

Rewards
Winning players are rewarded with coins and commendation points.

Depending on the player's chosen difficulty level, they will gain a different number of commendation points upon winning a game:
 * Novice Lander: 3 points per game won.
 * Intermediate Lander: 4 points per game won.
 * Veteran Lander: 5 points per game won.

If the player's team destroys all of the portals, they will receive coins equal to 10 times their combat level in addition to the commendation points.

Note: The most commendation points a player can have at any time is 4000 (as of April 16, 2015). If you board a boat while holding 4000 points, a warning will be given to the player to trade the points in. If a player continues to play with 4000 points, subsequent games will not award any commendation points. You will also get a warning if winning the next game would result in wasting points, for example if you had 3998 points and you were playing in the Veteran boat (5 points per game). In this event, winning the game would only take you to the maximum 4000 points, wasting the other three.

Commendation points can be traded in for:

Experience
Experience in any combat skill that is equal to or greater than level 25.
 * The formula is the following: $$N \times Floor(\frac{l^2}{600})$$, where $$l$$ equals level; $$N$$ equals 18 for prayer, 32 for magic/range, and 35 for all others. Floor means round down to the nearest integer (whole number). The experience this generates is summarised below. The amounts below are awarded per commendation point traded in.
 * Bonus experience is awarded for trading in large amounts of points at once. If a player trades in 10 points at once, they get an extra 1% experience; for 100 points at once, they get an extra 10% experience.

Void Knight equipment

 * There is a requirement of 42 Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Ranged, and Magic, as well as 22 Prayer to buy or equip any Void item.


 * A set of Void robes and one special helm will cost 850 points.


 * A complete set of Void items (including a mace) will cost 1500 points.

Herb pack
(Costs 30 points, requires 25 Herblore to purchase)

A herb pack contains a random assortment of grimy herbs. Unlike Nightmare Zone these herb packs can be bought by ironmen.

Mineral pack
(Costs 15 points, requires 25 Mining to purchase)

A mineral pack contains a random amount of coal and iron ore.

Seed pack
(Costs 15 points, requires 25 Farming to purchase)

A seed pack contains a random amount of seeds, typically giving lower-tiered seeds.

World
The official world to play Pest Control on is World 344.

As with any mini-game, it is not required to use the official world, though landers in most other worlds are usually empty if a Pest Control clan is not present. However, if a player does not have a specific team to join, simply using the Novice lander on a crowded world is plenty sufficient. Occasionally, a game will be lost on that lander, but games are won fairly consistently, so there's not much of a loss of points overall.

Trivia

 * Originally, players had to deal at least 50 points of damage or repair 10 barricades in the game in order to receive commendations. This is no longer the case as of an update, due to player complaints about participants simply meeting the minimum requirement and not participating afterwards. To counter this, the activity bar was added, requiring players to continually participate or risk not getting commendations. The commendations awarded by each lander were increased by 1 to compensate for this.