Saving the world can be a huge and difficult task. You can never really prepare for it and know what is coming and when.

Fortunately, Pest Control in Old School RuneScape is different. You know where the threat is coming from, what horrors this threat includes, and how to prepare for it all.

If you don’t? Well, then you will find this OSRS Pest Control guide exceptionally useful.

Everything You Need To Know About OSRS Pest Control

Pest Control Basics
OSRS Pest Control Guide For Beginners
Pest Control Rewards
Frequently Asked Questions About OSRS Pest Control

Pest Control Basics

Pest Control is a combat-based minigame in OSRS. In this minigame, you will have to save the world from invading monsters that are deceptively called “pests”. Guthix, Gielinor’s god of balance needs you to help a Void Knight from the Void Knights order.

The Void Knight is attacked by alien monsters that come out of portals. To prevent these monsters from spreading through Gielinor and thus disrupting the balance, you need to protect the Void Knight or, if you are impatient, shut down the portals by destroying them.

Those successful in their mission can approach the Void Knight after the onslaught is over and exchange their Pest Control commendation points for various rewards, such as skill experience, supply packs, and, most importantly, the Void Knight's equipment.

pest control guide for osrs beginners

Pest Control Requirements

OSRS Pest Control minigame is separated into three categories and each of them has its separate boat. The first boat can be accessed from level 40 Combat, the second from level 70 Combat, and the third from level 100 Combat.

The higher the combat level, the more commendation points you receive for winning.

Unlike some minigames in OSRS, Pest Control cannot be done solo. You will need at least 4 other players to go aboard a boat with you. The maximum number of players that can go into a single lobby is 25. The official Pest Control world is 344, so hop there if you're in need of some company.

The wait times in world 344 can sometimes become very long, due to the limited amount of players that can get on the same boat. Some players, especially at high levels, try to collect teams into “private” Pest Control worlds, i.e. they do Pest Control minigame other than the official Pest Control world.

They will advertise this with minimum level requirements included and if you meet the requirement, you can trade with them. The amount of coins they put in trade is the number of the world they’ll be saving.

How To Get To Pest Control

There are multiple ways to get to Pest Control, choose the one most convenient to you.

First, the good old-fashioned public transportation. Head to Port Sarim and find any of the NPC’s named Squire. Talk to whichever one you wish and they will get you aboard a boat headed to Pest Control.

Second, you can use your free minigame teleport. In the quest tab, you will find the minigame section. There select Pest Control and teleport. Teleport’s cooldown is 20 minutes.

Third, you can obtain Pest Control teleport from Treasure Trails. If you do not have one on hand, but desperately need to control some pests, buy one from the Grand Exchange. It will cost you some OSRS GP, but will definitely be worth it.

how to get to pest control

Once at the Void Knight‘s Outpost, get onboard the boat you wish. The easiest level boat is in the east, the medium in the middle, and the hardest in the west.

getting to osrs pest control guide Must Read: Portal Nexus OSRS Guide: Everything You Need To Know

OSRS Pest Control Guide For Beginners

Pest Control can be completed in two ways:

Keep the Void Knight alive for 20 minutes
Destroy all four portals.

Protecting the Void Knight

Choosing the first method would mean focusing on protecting the Void Knight and killing monsters. There’s really not much that we could add, except for the fact that this method is used in very rare instances, mostly when the group is either extremely weak, small, or both.

Pest Control Portals

The second method is usually how it’s done and our recommended method. Focusing on the portals does not, however, mean that you can ignore the Void Knight altogether. You will still need a few players guarding him and a few repairing the defensive structures and keeping an eye on gates.

Destroying portals is not as easy as it may seem at first glance and is actually the highest priority. The only thing that supersedes it is attacking Spinners when they appear.

osrs pest control spinner

They are those floating jellyfish thingies that repair damaged portals. While a single Spinner can be ignored by a strong party, two or even more Spinners will heal the portal to the point of invincibility.

Portals have a few sequences in which they drop. Once the armor of one portal breaks, you can focus on that portal unless it’s on the other side of the map. While portals are being attacked by players, they will continue spawning monsters.

Expert Tip: The strongest players should focus solely on destroying portals as they are of the highest priority.

Meanwhile, others should keep an eye on the monsters so that they do not kill the Void Knight and also defending other players so that they are not overrun.

Destroying a portal will make the Void Knight regenerate 50 Hitpoints, so don’t get too stressed if he got punched once or twice in the beginning, but do not get carried away either.

Repairing Walls and Gates

Players with the lowest combat stats in the party or those not feeling particularly combative during the minigame can opt to do some repair work around the estate.

Bring some logs, a hammer, and an axe if you feel you’ll need more logs. You can put your Woodcutting skill to use if the logs you brought are not enough. To make up for the short supply, you can cut non-respawnable trees in the area.

Pest Control Rewards

Besides fun gameplay in itself, Pest Control also offers various rewards for players with enough commendation points. Commendation points are earned after each victory:

3 points for novice level
4 points for intermediate
5 points for veteran difficulty

Keep in mind how long it takes you to win in your chosen difficulty – it’s often worth trying the lower difficulty to see if you will gain more points during a given time period.

OSRS Pest Control Resource Packs

Resource packs come in three types: Herb pack, Seed pack, and Mineral pack. The first one costs 30 points while the other two cost 15 points each. They require you to have a minimum level of 25 in Herblore, Farming, or Mining.

This reward is the literal worst choice and is worth taking if you are not planning to spend your hard-earned points on anything else in the future or only if you are an Ironman and then only in rare cases.

RuneScape Experience

Commendation points can be exchanged for experience points. Since you can contribute to the minigame without landing a single hit on an enemy and gaining XP because of it, turning your points into XP can be an attractive option for those going for specific account builds.

With bigger amounts being traded in you receive a bigger XP bonus. It starts at 1% at 10 points and 10% at 100 points (maximum bonus). To train a skill this way, you must have reached at least level 25 in that skill.

Void Knight Armor

Most players engage in Pest Control for this reward only. Void Knight Armor is not the best in-game; however, it has some very specific attributes that are perfect for special account builds. It has relatively low stat requirements to equip and provides an extremely high accuracy bonus for its tier.

Furthermore, it can be upgraded after completion of Western Provinces hard tasks. Individual OSRS items are good enough on their own, but the complete set provides an additional bonus. What’s more, there are three helmets for each Melee, Ranged, and Magic making this set universal.

osrs void knight armour

Frequently Asked Questions About OSRS Pest Control

Before you go ahead with your Pest Control mission, check out our answers to the most common questions asked about the Pest Control minigame.

How Many Commendation Points Can You Get per Hour?

First, your commendation points gained depend on the level you chose. Second, it also depends on your performance. Third, there are other factors, such as wait time. Assuming all conditions are ideal you will receive this is the amount of Pest Control points you can earn per hour:

Novice – 90
Intermediate – 120
Veteran – 150

How to AFK Pest Control?

You simply can’t. Your activity bar will go red and you will not receive any points. If your combat level is low, do some construction work around and contribute this way.

How Long Does Pest Control Take?

More experienced players manage to finish the minigame in 2 minutes. The maximum amount of time is 20 minutes since that’s how long you must keep the Void Knight alive to win.

Pest Control is a safe minigame, meaning that upon death, you will not lose items and Hardcore ironmen will remain as Hardcore as it gets.

Different portals are vulnerable to different attack styles. West Portal is vulnerable to Ranged, East to Magic, Southeast to Slash, Southwest to Crush.

Pest Control is a members-only activity. Don’t have a bond? We can help you with that by providing cheap OSRS gold.

osrs pest control portal

This wraps up the Pest Control OSRS Guide for Beginners. Keep in mind that practice makes perfect and if you stay focused on your goal, you will get your Void Knight Armor in no time!

If you need more help playing OSRS, feel free to join our Discord server and try out our other OSRS services like questing, fire capes, and infernal capes.

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Last Updated: 01/12/2021