OSRS Toxic Blowpipe Guide

Jonas Author

Created - 30.06.2025 Updated - 30.06.2025

24024 0

There are lots of superb weapons in OSRS, but a fan favorite has to be the Toxic Blowpipe. If you're not sure why this simple weapon is such a hit with players, we'll open your eyes to the truth behind it.

The Toxic Blowpipe is one of the most iconic and powerful ranged weapons in Old School RuneScape (OSRS), renowned for its blistering attack speed, high damage output, and versatility in PvM scenarios. 

Obtained as a rare drop from the snake boss Zulrah, this two-handed weapon has become a staple for players seeking to dominate ranged combat. 

With its ability to fire darts at an incredible speed of 2 ticks (1.2 seconds) and its chance to inflict venom on enemies, the Toxic Blowpipe is a game-changer for tackling high-level bosses, training Ranged, or killing Slayer creatures. 

However, its power comes at a cost, as it requires a steady supply of Zulrah's scales and darts to maintain its effectiveness. In this guide, we'll dive into everything you need to know about the Toxic Blowpipe and answer the question: Is OSRS Toxic Blowpipe still worth it?

What is the Toxic Blowpipe?

Toxic blowpipe is a 2-handed ranged weapon that uses dart as ammunition. This weapon requires level 75 Ranged to equip and is extremely powerful compared to everything else in its bracket. Here are the base weapon stats:

• +30 Ranged attack bonus
• +20 Ranged strength bonus
• 2 tick attack speed on rapid with a 5 tile range

As mentioned above this weapon uses darts and as such it has an incredibly fast attack speed, being 2 ticks on rapid. In OSRS combat, faster attack speeds often lead to higher DPS because of how the game’s accuracy and damage calculations work. For example, while a slower but stronger weapon like a crossbow might hit hard, it also has a higher chance of missing (hitting a 0) and wasting time between attacks. The Toxic Blowpipe, on the other hand, attacks so frequently that even if some hits are low or miss entirely, the sheer number of attacks ensures consistent and high overall damage output. This alongside its passive venom effect and its special healing effect makes it a top-tier choice for PvM scenarios and depending on what you are fighting you can pick and choose your ammunition to increase or decrease the damage output and the cost of your supplies. Here is a chart to show each different dart and the cost you will need to cover to use those darts for an hour.

Easy to Access

Compared to other powerful Ranged weapons the blowpipe is extremely easy to access for any player. If you are playing on a regular account this powerful ranged weapon only costs around 8M which is pretty easy to obtain. If you are an Ironman Zulrah is one of the easiest bosses to farm out. You can even kill it with a budget setup that uses no more than 500K worth of gear. These facts alongside the weapon equip requirement being only 75 make it a must-have weapon for anyone's ranged weapon progression.

Toxic Blowpipe vs Ranged Weapons

Toxic blowpipe is designed to be a weapon that dominates mid-tier gameplay. The attack speed you can get with this weapon can't be found in any other weapon except using darts or knives as they are which are pretty weak. The only other mid-tier competition is the Craw's bow which uses ether and is better in Wilderness and the magic shortbow (i) which you can use if you don't have access to the blowpipe. Both of these weapons are 3-tick weapons so they are slower than the blowpipe but faster than other ranged weapons.

If you fight any monster with relatively low defensive stats, this weapon will outperform any other. However, if you are fighting high-end monsters and bosses with high-ranged defense this weapon falls off pretty quickly. Against low-defense monsters, this weapon can outperform even the Twisted bow. We will now categorize the use cases for this weapon into two categories:

Slayer Monsters

Toxic blowpipe outshines any other weapon in such cases. With monsters with low defense hitting more frequently makes a huge difference rather than hitting slowly but hard. For these monsters and cases, you don't need to use high-tier darts and are advised to use amethyst or adamant darts to save money. The monsters that fit this category are:

• Crawling hand
• Cave bug
• Cave crawler
• Chaos druids
• Banshee
• Pyrefiend
• Mogre
• Brine rat
• Bloodveld
• Jelly
• Kalphites
• Magic axes
• Moss giants
• Pirates
• Revenants
• Suqahs
• Greater demons
• Aberrant spectres
• Wyrms
• Dust devils
• Araxytes

Boss Monsters

Against high-level bosses and raids, it is advised that you use dragon darts instead to increase your efficiency at killing these creatures but some of these encounters are fine even with adamant or amethyst darts.

OSRS Gold (1M)

from $0.32

BUY NOW

Twisted Bow

from $490.07

BUY NOW

OSRS Power Leveling

from $0.00

BUY NOW

OSRS Bond

from $5.21

BUY NOW

• Zulrah (Can be done with amethyst)
• Vorkath (Can be done with amethyst)
• God Wars dungeon minions (Can be done with amethyst)
• Kalphite queen (Can be done with amethyst)
• Fight caves (Can be done with amethyst)
• Inferno (Some parts)
• Colosseum (Some parts)
• Skotizo
• Hespori
• Tombs of Amascut (Some rooms)
• Chambers of Xeric (Some rooms)
• Theatre of Blood (Some rooms)
• Most quest bosses (Can be done with amethyst)

Is The Toxic Blowpipe Worth Getting?

Toxic blowpipe, despite the cost of using the weapon, is still one of the best Ranged weapons in Old School Runescape. Its fast-paced attack speed makes it a preferable choice in a lot of different scenarios. 

It is a great weapon for any account's ranged item progression and it still is a good weapon in some boss scenarios in the late game. Despite being so strong its price always remains cheap as the way to get it is pretty easy. So should you invest time and money to get your hands on this weapon? The answer is an easy yes.

Now, if you want to master the Toxic Blowpipe and other ranged weapons in OSRS, we've got an OSRS Ranged gear guide for you to check out as well.

FAQs

What is the Toxic Blowpipe in OSRS?

The Toxic Blowpipe is a high-speed, high-DPS Ranged weapon created by using a Zulrah's Fang on a Chisel (requires 53 Fletching).

• Requires 75 Ranged and 70 Agility to wield.
• Uses darts as ammunition.
• Requires Zulrah's Scales to charge.
• Built-in venom effect with a 25% chance to apply venom.

Once dominant across nearly all PvM, it was nerfed in 2021, but remains incredibly strong for low- to mid-defense enemies.

How do you charge and use the Toxic Blowpipe?

To charge the blowpipe:

1. Use Zulrah's Scales to power it (up to 16,383 charges max).
2. Load Darts (bronze → dragon) as ammunition.
3. Each attack consumes 1 scale and 1 dart.
4. Add Anti-venom or Serpentine Helm to pair venom effect efficiently.

Charging example:

• 10,000 Zulrah's Scales + 2,000 Adamant Darts = 2,000 shots.
• When scales run out, the blowpipe becomes unusable until recharged.

What is the Toxic Blowpipe best used for in OSRS?

Though not as dominant post-nerf, the Blowpipe is still top-tier for low-defence monsters and high attack speed situations, such as:

• Slayer Tasks: Especially for low HP or clustered mobs.
• Zulrah (quick phase burns).
• Vorkath (for speed kills when using elite gear).
• Nightmare Zone: Fast XP with absorption method.
• Chambers of Xeric (CoX): Specific tasks like bats, muttadiles, and runner waves.
• Blood/Death Spawns: In multi-task hybrid zones (e.g., multi-tasking Vyres).

Its venom effect also makes it valuable for Venom-vulnerable bosses and PvP edge fights.

What are the best darts to use with Toxic Blowpipe?

DPS scales with dart tier. Best options:

Ironmen often farm darts via Smithing, Barrows, or Fletching while mains buy them from GE or PvM drops.

Is the Toxic Blowpipe still worth using after the nerf?

Yes — but with context. After the 2021 nerf:

• Accuracy and damage were reduced against high-defense NPCs.
• However, it remains one of the fastest-attacking weapons in OSRS.
• Venom utility, high attack speed, and cheap ammo (steel/addy) make it optimal for:
• Fast Slayer tasks.
• Crowd control.
• Boss phases that favor attack speed over raw DPS.

Pair with:

• Rigour Prayer for extra accuracy.
• Ava's Assembler for ammo return.
• Blessed D'hide, Void, or Elite Void for cost-efficient synergy.

Verdict: Not BiS vs. high-def bosses, but still elite in specific PvM niches.