Pest Control is a co-operative minigame where players must fight together to push back the monsters known as “Pests”, and stop their advance by closing the portals from which they’re coming from.
Pest Control is one of Old School RuneScape’s most iconic pieces of content.
And we’re covering this minigame step-by-step with tips on how to play well.
Note: Pest Control is a safe minigame. Dying during a round has no penalty, and you will keep all of your items.
Table of Contents
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- Getting to the Outpost
- Pest Control Requirements
- How To Play Pest Control
- 1. The Basics
- 2. How The Portals Work
- 3. The Void Knight
- 4. All Pests
- 5. Earning Participation
- 6. Pest Control Rewards
Getting to the Outpost
The Void Knights’ Outpost is the home of the Void Knights, and serves as the hub area for the Pest Control minigame.
This little island houses a few shops, a bank, a house with an anvil and a smith that can repair armour, and of course the three different boats that start the minigame.
Reaching the Outpost can be done achieved by 3 different ways:
- Taking the boat from Port Sarim by talking to the Squire (the boat is located east of the food shop).
- Using the Pest Control minigame teleport found in the “Grouping” tab (requires a combat level of 40).
- Using a Pest Control teleport scroll. These can be acquired as a reward from clue scrolls, or purchased from other players.
Pest Control Requirements
To take part in the minigame, players have to board one of three different “landers” (boats) found in the docks.
These landers act as the three difficulty tiers of Pest Control, all with separate rewards and requirements, and they’re as such:
- The Novice Lander, requires 40 Combat or higher and awards 3 commendation points per victory.
- The Intermediate Lander, requires 70 Combat or higher and awards 4 points per victory.
- The Veteran Lander, the highest tier requiring 100 Combat or higher, and awards 5 commendations per victory.
In addition to the commendations, after every successful game players will receive coins equal to their combat level times 10 (so a level 95 player will get 950 gp).
Lastly, the monsters you will face in the Veteran games will of course be stronger and tougher than those in the Novice ones.
How To Play Pest Control
1. The Basics
Games of Pest Control take place on far away islands that are being invaded by the pests.
Four portals have been opened on each island, which the vile pests are using to breach the barrier between our worlds and invade Gielinor. At the center of the island, a single brave Void Knight is channeling their powers to bring down the portals’ shields, so that the players can attack and destroy them.
In the meantime, various pests are pouring through the portals, trying to stop the players’ attempts by killing the Void Knight, and continue their advance towards the rest of Gielinor.
The aim of the game comes down to this:
“Close the portals without letting the Void Knight die”.
Every round of Pest Control is basically identical as the previous one, with only a few tiny variances being possible. So once you’ve seen one game you’ve seen them all.
Tip: The official Pest Control world is 344. It’s much easier to find other people in this world, rather than waiting for random players to show up in other worlds.
2. How The Portals Work
There are a total of four portals on the island. And to secure a victory the players must close every single one of them.
The same portals will always be at the same locations, and these are:
| Portal | Location |
|---|---|
| Purple Portal | West side of the island, weak to ranged attacks |
| Blue Portal | East side of the island (opposite to purple), weak to magic attacks |
| Yellow Portal | South-east side of the island, weak to slash and stab attacks |
| Red Portal | South-west side of the island, weak to crush attacks |
Each portal has a +100 defensive bonus against each attack style, except its weakness.
A portal’s shield will go down every 30 seconds, and it will be announced in the chat-box a few seconds before it happens.
Additionally, there are six “rotations” that the portal shields will go down, but these don’t really matter (unless you’ve made a team of elite Pest Controllers or something).
3. The Void Knight
The Void Knight is located at the center of the island, surrounded by a small wooden fort, and is the most important chess-piece during a game of Pest Control.
By channeling their powers, the knight will destroy the portals’ shields, making them attackable by the players. Should the knight’s health fall down to zero, the game immediately ends and is deemed as a failure.
To prevent that from happening, players can kill the monsters attacking the knight, and erect barriers to prevent them from reaching him/her all together.
Additionally, the Void Knight will have 50 of their health restored after a portal is destroyed.
Tip: It’s highly advised to try and keep the fort’s doors closed. This will block most of the monsters, and significantly reduce the damage dealt to the Void Knight.
4. All Pests
There are seven kinds of pests you’ll come across during a game of Pest Control, all with different attacks and abilities.
Let’s a short look at all of them:
| Pest | Details |
|---|---|
| The Brawler | Elephant-like creature that attacks using melee. It blocks players’ and pests’ movement and ranged attacks from passing over it |
| The Shifter | Spider-like creature. It can teleport around the map, and attacks with melee |
| The Defiler | A nimble monster that utilizes ranged attacks |
| The Torcher | Flying snake-thing that uses magic attacks |
| The Splatter | A blob with an eyeball that explodes and deals area damage |
| The Ravager | Non-aggressive monster. It used its sharp claws to destroy the fort’s defences |
| The Spinner | A jellyfish that heals any nearby portals. Always kill these on sight. |
5. Earning Participation
Once a game of Pest Control starts, a “participation” bar will appear at the top of your screen.
If the game ends and your bar is below the required level, you won’t earn any commendations or coins.
To prevent that from happening you can fill the bar either by attacking monsters and portals, or by repairing the fort’s defences with a hammer and some logs.
6. Pest Control Rewards
You can spend your well-earned points by talking to one of the Void Knights hanging around the outpost.
These are all the items and services you can choose from:
- You can buy experience in any combat skill. The amount of experience earned per point depends on the level of your skill. You will also get bonus experience the more commendations you trade in a time.
- Pieces of the Void Knight equipment. This is the main reason most players play Pest Control.
- A Herb Pack that contains various herbs.
- A Seed Pack that contains various seeds.
- A Mineral Pack that contains a random amount of iron and coal ore.
Lastly, after completion of the “Western Provinces hard diary”, you’re able to further upgrade your Void Knight robes (top and bottom) to elite by spending an additional 200 points for each piece.
