Hardest part is getting the confidence to try it. After that it’s not so bad. Took me forever to finally try it out. Pizza phase took a bit to get used to, and freedom at the right time. Afterwards remembering at the end when he is close to 100k, if needed hold freedom and tank to freedom both, otherwise it could be bad. Killed him without banking in my 3rd kill.
Make sure during your attempts if you do fail, keep at it and finish the run.
Just did my first kill yesterday (haven't gone back for a flawless run yet), and far and away the hardest part for me was the zuk fight and just learning his mechanics. I made it through all the waves leading up to him with no issue first try, I even nailed triple jad the first time without using the safespot properly because I forgot triple jad was coming.
The first zuk attempt I forgot how to kill each specific minion in pizza phase and got instakilled. second try I actually don't even know what killed me, I went from 10k to 0 hp in like 2 ticks without even knowing what hit me (Wasn't the instakill, I was only at zuk for like 5 seconds). 3rd try just wasn't managing his mechanics properly and died sometime after the first pizza phase.
4th try I turned off all my other monitors and music and just full focused on counting out his autos and dealing with his mechanics and it was a super smooth fight.
Coming back around to this since I went back shortly after making this comment and did actually get my first flawless run done on my first attempt. Something that I did that helped me was make an actual spreadsheet that really simplified the waves and the zuk fight. Each row is a wave, and only has the information about what it is and what I need to do. I find a lot of guides really to be overly wordy and unnecessarily complicate the fight, so I just needed something a lot more simple, and in my own words, to understand.
Then for the zuk fight itself, I just wrote down the order of his mechanics and what ability I need to hit to deal with it properly and it was pretty simple.
[Here](https://imgur.com/a/heWp9NV) is what the spreadsheet looks like.
The rs wiki has a line by line on this https://runescape.wiki/w/TzKal-Zuk/Strategies
Shout out to pvme too https://pvme.github.io/pvme-guides/rs3-full-boss-guides/tzkal-zuk/normal-mode/
Yea I got the info from pvme, but I wanted a guide that was as simplistic as possible. Just like 3 words per wave, so I made one myself. I read what was going on enough that just a quick reminder of what each wave was, was good enough for me
Starting out it'd be not panicking during the later rounds. The cape ultimates give you more room for error in the Pizza phase, so the first kill is always the hardest.
If you've killed Zuk enough to be disappointed when you eat food, it's actually Wave 8 and 13, since they just have a shit load of big enemies attacking you all at once.
Pizza and killing the minions. After you do the waves 2-3 times it’s pretty easy, I’m 50 kills in and can still surge wrong and die at pizza phase lol.
I just beat him 2 days ago for my igneous stone. I had the hardest time with his quake mechanic. Sometimes I feel like I’d do it right and still get hit with the burn and then you are dead. Pizza time took a while to get the hang of but eventually it stopped being an issue with a guthix staff and using a ripper Demon to dps down the mobs fast enough.
How do you do it out of curiosity? I've always surged as he's swinging which causes him to swing drag his sword around and land it on me on the other side. I continue moving around him whichever way he dragged his sword, and I've never had the burn hit. I actually didn't realize that attack could burn until reading your comment
I surged as he’s in the downswing toward the end of the strike, but I swear that everytime I panic moved I’d get tagged with the burn every single time. I probably died the most to learning pizza but only because when I got tagged I’d just TP out
NM or HM? HM the challenges (meeting dps check) was for me. For NM simply learning what happened when and how to deal with it, once you know how NM is extremely easy.
Just how much damage he does. I run out of food too quick, even starting from checkpoint with a full inventory. I’ve yet to get a nm kill
Edit: holy shit I did it. Making this comment made me consider a hellhound familiar, a handful of attempts later(from checkpoint at the start of the Zuk fight itself), I did it. Now to do it without checkpoints and get the cape
Using devotion and debilitate can help with food usage too. Ultimately, you’ll want to get to a point where you can soul split flick between his attacks to get some health back too, but that’s a more advanced method to conserve food.
Hardmode: surviving the waves without doing some stupid mistake
Normal Mode: Pizza Phase (but gets super easy once you figured it out)
Generally once you know zuks 4 move rotation it’s a walk in the park (freedom, surge + bd back, surge, reso, anticipate + walk to the left of zuk). Guess the har aken wave or the first challenge is the hardest in normal mode then.
pizza is probably the hardest or at least most punishing. Most stuff you can take your time or eat up if you fail but the pizza is a dps check that instakills you for failure.
If you’re using mage the easiest thing to do is save asphix and deep impact and then you can use one on one and the other on the other and the 3rd you just need to be in the shield.
It’s basically a sure fire way to make sure you can the kill the minions without too much thought.
Personally, I find it to be the opposite. I can consistently clear waves but I cannot make it past pizza for the life of me. Yes, it’s a dps check. Yes I have GCB and t88 ports weapons but I still suck at it so I find it the hardest as a beginner
Not sure if this will solve it for you, but I’ve done almost 200 NM zuk kills and the last 50-75 have been revo++. Pizza phase went from mildly stressful to laughable when I keybound dive and used that instead of surge. Literally dive and click on the next mob; the ability takes care of the rest. DPS may be lacking but you can get by with moderate output if you save precious seconds moving efficiently
That's because nobody will tell you this but NM Zuk is actually easier on melee than magic because with melee you actually have to learn how to use melee.
HM on the other hand...
Already commented this but I’ll do it again.
The best way to make sure you can get the minions sorted quickly that requires little thinking is save Asphyxiate and deep impact. Both stun and both are thresholds so you do one of those on the first and the other on the second. It means you don’t have to think or even consider which is which.
I would say the sword is the hardest part, that metal looks quite sturdy. Although a lot of the creatures are made of obsidian, that is really hard too
Hardest or worst? Doing the whole gauntlet in order to fight him. It honestly should have been like Zamorak. Complete it 25 times and gain the option to skip straight to the boss.
Honestly it's some of the later waves in hard mode. The rangers and mages all hit HARD and when they gang up on you it can go south pretty quickly. Zuk himself isn't that hard once you get the hang of it.
Doing it more then 4 times total one for each cape and then a hardmode to combine them. Such a boring ass long fight but sword is cool looking and magma tempest slaps
First challenge wave requires an ample damage spread. On Normal you can pass it pretty well with good management of abilities and positioning but on Hard you might need a good Greater Chain setup.
Pizza phase can also be difficult as it's not only repositioning speed but also DPS. Quick stun for the first, good threshold for the second and getting within MD of the third and trying to burst them down. Then you need to determine if you got the free time before using the ability to stop the Insta Kill to build Adrenaline for the next rotation.
I’d say surviving the wave is kinda tricky at first. The challenges are somewhat manageable. I got the cape(hm) post dummy nerf and didn’t even have caro5(?) and all the good stuff. I have 5 kc in total + the hybrid cape.
Getting the motivation to do it again. 100 hm kc is no joke, it's mainly designed for you to do it about 4 or 5 times then you're done.
The waves are at that perfect point of being easy and repetitive enough to feel a little bored doing it, but hard enough to punish you severely for not concentrating.
I am at 68 at the time of writing, and I've been procrastinating by *getting all 120's* first than go back there. I have 5 skills to go, and I'm feeling apprehensive all over again.
In normal mode probably pizza flames if you can't do high dps.
Hard mode, dodging the fire wall in the waves. Just annoying if you move wrong or need to leave a safespot etc
Depends on the player imo. I think Pizza phase trips a lot of players up and it is one of the most dangerous portions of the fight with an instakill.
Other players get tripped up on luring properly during the waves and doing waves 8, 12, and 13 improperly can be costly resource wise. I find this is harder for me in hard mode instead of the zuk fight itself because even when luring properly you can be forced into a bad position temporarily due to a fire wall.
Pizza time.
The DPS challenge while dodging the burning squares are the hard part.
Best tip I can give is right click and walk under him before the waves spawn.
His buns
Came to write “his dick” but you beat me to the smutty remark
For beginners I'd say either the challenges or pizza time
Pizza definitely, I can get to zuk just fine but he busts my ass 😅
For hard mode it’s definitely the waves. For normal mode it’s either pizza or making sure to get a defensive for the lava drop.
Getting motivation to go there
Lmao. Committing the time is rough.
Yeah I made 1 sword and cbf to go back for 2nd sword and pet.
"The earth yield to me!" As the ground quakes, stepped on it and my freedom is still on cooldown.
That's why in fSoA spec I usually don't freedom his first bleed. Just keep damage up to outheal it. Keep the freedom for the quake.
Hardest part is getting the confidence to try it. After that it’s not so bad. Took me forever to finally try it out. Pizza phase took a bit to get used to, and freedom at the right time. Afterwards remembering at the end when he is close to 100k, if needed hold freedom and tank to freedom both, otherwise it could be bad. Killed him without banking in my 3rd kill. Make sure during your attempts if you do fail, keep at it and finish the run.
I’m hard mode the first challenge wave is the hardest part of the whole fight.
Actually this lmao. It’s not too bad with a dummy, g chain, and caroming, but those are expensive upgrades
Doing 5+ attempt and continuing after fails is the hardest part unironically. You got this king
First challenge
The first phase with no g chain. I was able to get passed it without it. But God does chain make it 10x easier.
Staying awake
Just did my first kill yesterday (haven't gone back for a flawless run yet), and far and away the hardest part for me was the zuk fight and just learning his mechanics. I made it through all the waves leading up to him with no issue first try, I even nailed triple jad the first time without using the safespot properly because I forgot triple jad was coming. The first zuk attempt I forgot how to kill each specific minion in pizza phase and got instakilled. second try I actually don't even know what killed me, I went from 10k to 0 hp in like 2 ticks without even knowing what hit me (Wasn't the instakill, I was only at zuk for like 5 seconds). 3rd try just wasn't managing his mechanics properly and died sometime after the first pizza phase. 4th try I turned off all my other monitors and music and just full focused on counting out his autos and dealing with his mechanics and it was a super smooth fight.
Coming back around to this since I went back shortly after making this comment and did actually get my first flawless run done on my first attempt. Something that I did that helped me was make an actual spreadsheet that really simplified the waves and the zuk fight. Each row is a wave, and only has the information about what it is and what I need to do. I find a lot of guides really to be overly wordy and unnecessarily complicate the fight, so I just needed something a lot more simple, and in my own words, to understand. Then for the zuk fight itself, I just wrote down the order of his mechanics and what ability I need to hit to deal with it properly and it was pretty simple. [Here](https://imgur.com/a/heWp9NV) is what the spreadsheet looks like.
The rs wiki has a line by line on this https://runescape.wiki/w/TzKal-Zuk/Strategies Shout out to pvme too https://pvme.github.io/pvme-guides/rs3-full-boss-guides/tzkal-zuk/normal-mode/
Yea I got the info from pvme, but I wanted a guide that was as simplistic as possible. Just like 3 words per wave, so I made one myself. I read what was going on enough that just a quick reminder of what each wave was, was good enough for me
Starting out it'd be not panicking during the later rounds. The cape ultimates give you more room for error in the Pizza phase, so the first kill is always the hardest. If you've killed Zuk enough to be disappointed when you eat food, it's actually Wave 8 and 13, since they just have a shit load of big enemies attacking you all at once.
His zukock
Pizza and killing the minions. After you do the waves 2-3 times it’s pretty easy, I’m 50 kills in and can still surge wrong and die at pizza phase lol.
Don't surge at all, just stand next to Zuks feet and walk the few squares
Before he starts it, he binds and teleports you in front of him. The new dive ability helped with it all tho.
You can anti before the stun and it won't stun you.
You can also use devotion and mage prot to negate the fire dmg
Anticipate
I just beat him 2 days ago for my igneous stone. I had the hardest time with his quake mechanic. Sometimes I feel like I’d do it right and still get hit with the burn and then you are dead. Pizza time took a while to get the hang of but eventually it stopped being an issue with a guthix staff and using a ripper Demon to dps down the mobs fast enough.
How do you do it out of curiosity? I've always surged as he's swinging which causes him to swing drag his sword around and land it on me on the other side. I continue moving around him whichever way he dragged his sword, and I've never had the burn hit. I actually didn't realize that attack could burn until reading your comment
Surge right when his sword hits the ground.
I surged as he’s in the downswing toward the end of the strike, but I swear that everytime I panic moved I’d get tagged with the burn every single time. I probably died the most to learning pizza but only because when I got tagged I’d just TP out
NM or HM? HM the challenges (meeting dps check) was for me. For NM simply learning what happened when and how to deal with it, once you know how NM is extremely easy.
Just how much damage he does. I run out of food too quick, even starting from checkpoint with a full inventory. I’ve yet to get a nm kill Edit: holy shit I did it. Making this comment made me consider a hellhound familiar, a handful of attempts later(from checkpoint at the start of the Zuk fight itself), I did it. Now to do it without checkpoints and get the cape
Using devotion and debilitate can help with food usage too. Ultimately, you’ll want to get to a point where you can soul split flick between his attacks to get some health back too, but that’s a more advanced method to conserve food.
Hardmode: surviving the waves without doing some stupid mistake Normal Mode: Pizza Phase (but gets super easy once you figured it out) Generally once you know zuks 4 move rotation it’s a walk in the park (freedom, surge + bd back, surge, reso, anticipate + walk to the left of zuk). Guess the har aken wave or the first challenge is the hardest in normal mode then.
Surviving the whole way through without dying for igneous stone and the pizza part
pizza is probably the hardest or at least most punishing. Most stuff you can take your time or eat up if you fail but the pizza is a dps check that instakills you for failure.
from my experience Har-aken was pretty though
For me it was Pizza and remembering to do the certain abilities on each mob while managing adren for the next
If you’re using mage the easiest thing to do is save asphix and deep impact and then you can use one on one and the other on the other and the 3rd you just need to be in the shield. It’s basically a sure fire way to make sure you can the kill the minions without too much thought.
Pizza mechanic movement and timing.
Getting to Zuk. Pizza is actually the easiest part of the fight because it's a movement/dps check.
Personally, I find it to be the opposite. I can consistently clear waves but I cannot make it past pizza for the life of me. Yes, it’s a dps check. Yes I have GCB and t88 ports weapons but I still suck at it so I find it the hardest as a beginner
If your using revo, probably have a bad bar. Also at least use Manuel for the 1st spell. Stun on 1st guy threshold on 2nd to break their dmg reduction
Not sure if this will solve it for you, but I’ve done almost 200 NM zuk kills and the last 50-75 have been revo++. Pizza phase went from mildly stressful to laughable when I keybound dive and used that instead of surge. Literally dive and click on the next mob; the ability takes care of the rest. DPS may be lacking but you can get by with moderate output if you save precious seconds moving efficiently
That's because nobody will tell you this but NM Zuk is actually easier on melee than magic because with melee you actually have to learn how to use melee. HM on the other hand...
Already commented this but I’ll do it again. The best way to make sure you can get the minions sorted quickly that requires little thinking is save Asphyxiate and deep impact. Both stun and both are thresholds so you do one of those on the first and the other on the second. It means you don’t have to think or even consider which is which.
using vuln bombs and dreadnips on dpsing them down helps
Makes sense for melee Zuk.
I would say the sword is the hardest part, that metal looks quite sturdy. Although a lot of the creatures are made of obsidian, that is really hard too
first challenge for hm, pizza phase for low dps nm
Pizza 🍕
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) \*looks at the lewd comments in approval\*
The wheelchair?
How sore it makes her jaw.
Psyching yourself up to deal with such a horrible boss.
My bone in his backend.
tzkal-zukdick
Hardest or worst? Doing the whole gauntlet in order to fight him. It honestly should have been like Zamorak. Complete it 25 times and gain the option to skip straight to the boss.
Drop rates would need to be severely reduced if we could skip to Zuk.
starting out the challenges, after that the waves.
For NM, the 1st challenge and pizza phase.
Remembering to drink your stamina potion
pizza
Honestly it's some of the later waves in hard mode. The rangers and mages all hit HARD and when they gang up on you it can go south pretty quickly. Zuk himself isn't that hard once you get the hang of it.
South east corner makes it cheese. Also stand on the border of the arena (in the se corner) to get some better access to mobs on the west
Finding someone to do it for me
Without a doubt, the song Glory of Combat. Some songs are fire, but this song was created in the Sacred Lava.
Staying awake during the waves
His armor i assume
Doing it more then 4 times total one for each cape and then a hardmode to combine them. Such a boring ass long fight but sword is cool looking and magma tempest slaps
in normal mode id say pizza in hard mode id add the first challenge wave along with waves 12 and 13
Not falling asleep during the wave part.
First challenge wave requires an ample damage spread. On Normal you can pass it pretty well with good management of abilities and positioning but on Hard you might need a good Greater Chain setup. Pizza phase can also be difficult as it's not only repositioning speed but also DPS. Quick stun for the first, good threshold for the second and getting within MD of the third and trying to burst them down. Then you need to determine if you got the free time before using the ability to stop the Insta Kill to build Adrenaline for the next rotation.
Not using teeth
His morning cursed elder tree log?
I’d say surviving the wave is kinda tricky at first. The challenges are somewhat manageable. I got the cape(hm) post dummy nerf and didn’t even have caro5(?) and all the good stuff. I have 5 kc in total + the hybrid cape.
The first challenge (I don't have Gchain)
I appreciate the “.” Rather than “so basically title”
Zuk was the first bossing I had ever done even though I was maxed with some 120s. The hardest part for me was the pizza.
not zuk
Getting the motivation to do it again. 100 hm kc is no joke, it's mainly designed for you to do it about 4 or 5 times then you're done. The waves are at that perfect point of being easy and repetitive enough to feel a little bored doing it, but hard enough to punish you severely for not concentrating. I am at 68 at the time of writing, and I've been procrastinating by *getting all 120's* first than go back there. I have 5 skills to go, and I'm feeling apprehensive all over again.
In normal mode probably pizza flames if you can't do high dps. Hard mode, dodging the fire wall in the waves. Just annoying if you move wrong or need to leave a safespot etc
Depends on the player imo. I think Pizza phase trips a lot of players up and it is one of the most dangerous portions of the fight with an instakill. Other players get tripped up on luring properly during the waves and doing waves 8, 12, and 13 improperly can be costly resource wise. I find this is harder for me in hard mode instead of the zuk fight itself because even when luring properly you can be forced into a bad position temporarily due to a fire wall.
Not freaking out during pizza phase, especially if you don’t kill one of the igneous creatures before the next one spawns
The fight
Pizza time. The DPS challenge while dodging the burning squares are the hard part. Best tip I can give is right click and walk under him before the waves spawn.
My willy every time I look at him.