Uses and Tactics for F2P Fist of Guthix

Fist of Guthix ia a very handy mini-game, both for xp, ranking and new clothes. All these purposes can be met by each individual player and the speed with which they achieve it depending on their equipment and skill levels.

Before reading the following, its important that you have talked to the NPC Fiara in the Fist of Guthix cavern or visited any runescape websites about Fist of Guthix. Fiara is the instructor who tells you how to play the game.

Players there simply for xp:

Mage XP: Mostly low-level players and sometimes high-level players with low level magic will want to trian magic on fist of guthix (FOG). The easiest way to earn quick magic XP is to sacrifice you rating. If you are the hunted on the first round, you should be willing to leave the game straight after it has started and then try again. Another strategy would be to get yourself killed quickly, especially if you are a low level. Generally its dignified to get killed quickly rather than abandon the game and make yourself unpopular.

When fighting the other player, another smart thing to do is wear armour and cast spells or even cast spells that wont damage a players hp bar. Weakening and cursing spells are such examples which will guarantee you continuous XP. the only disadvantage in such spells is that they dont give good XP.

Of course, training magic in FOG is slower than the outside world of runescape, but the significant advantage is that runes arent needed leading to a large savings in money.

Ranged XP:

You can also train ranged in Fist of Guthix. Howver it is slower than the outside world. The advantage though is that you get all the undamaged arrows back after the game. However it is recommended especially for lower levels to train in other areas apart from Fist of Guthix in order to attain ranged XP efficiently.

Hitpoints, Strength, Attack and Defense (Melee):

FOG is probably the worst place to train melee in the free world as attainment of XP is extremely slow.

Playing for rating or clothes:

It’s important to be a decent level (at least level 20) in all the skills involving combat before fist of guthix is to be played for rating. You are rewarded with tokens for winnign and even your efforts. Dont worry about differences in combat as you will be awarded tokens and rating after consideration of the difference in levels between you and your opponent.

Hunted:

Th best way to beat your hunter is to run and there is no doubt about it. But you have to run smartly. Never stay near the edge in the entire around. Your aim is to sneak into the middle as of the cavern as much as possible ensuring that your hunter is looking for you around the edges. One of the safest things to do is to stay near a house, just in case the hunter pops up from nowhere and then teleport to an other house. Make sure you are clicking fast checking that you have enough run energy, enough hp and also the right armour (which depends on your attacker).

WHen running away from the middle never fail to try what I call the cross-cut move. It completely confuses the hunter and buys you valuable time to escape, but this brilliant move only works well in populated worlds.
Cross-cut move: This is when you run away from the middle of the arena and when the hunter is out of sight make a sharp right angle turn. After a bit more running do another one and then run away. This is much better than running straight and being caught at the edge. Of course, this gives you the advantage of coming back into the middle while your hunter is lost near the edges. When he comes back (possibly out of run energy), do the move again. It works a lot of the time. Dont do thise move if you opponent is extremely weak compared to you.

Of course, for those who wish not to be called a noob, they have the following alternatives:
Armour to wear against ranged attackers: full metal armour (preferably runite or admantite)

Armour to wear against magic attackers: full dragon hide armour or armour suitable for ranged (metal armour should never be worn as it attracts damage from mage attacks)
Armour to wear against melee attackers: full metal armour (preferably runite or admantite)

Note: Having a high prayer can help protect you significantly against particular type of attacks (lvl 37 prayer for magic, lvl 40 for rnaged, lvl 43 for melee)

Hunter:

The hunter is the conqueror of the middle of the arena, but is weak near the edges when it comes to finding the hunted. The hunter should never leave the centre for more than 15 seconds unless they are sure the hunted is near the edges or if they are in plain sight. The best form of attack is mage in FOG except for very high lvls with strength, attack or ranged lvls over 80. (This only applied for F2P FOG)
When the hunted disappear from your sight run back to the middle thne circle the houses. Ensure that you have sufficient energy (at least 30%) just in case the hunted comes in sight again.

The best tactic is to have at least two strengths. For example being good at magic and melee. This allows you to switch attack styles on the hunters who are using protect prayers. But it is important that you dont start off with melle as baluable time is wasted in catching the hunted when running after them. Do not try the bind curse unless your opponent is extremely sneaky. THe BInd curse does more harm than good. THis is because the player is getting charges while he/she is held and by the time you attack they are running again. However the curse can be used to catch up with the hunted when they are far from you.

The tkens that you receive from the game are very useful and the most commonly bought items in F2p worlds are:

• earth runecrafing gloves: (doubles the XP for each rune essence)
• berserker shields: (fractionally better than kiteshields and look better)
• green dragonhide hide coif: (fractinally contributes to ranged bonuses)
• combat and mage robes: (these give you a better chance of winning each game of FOG when being worn)
• swordfish gloves: (significantly increases speed of attaining fishing XP)

That is all I have to say for now, but I might update the information on this article later on with more of the tactics I know.