How Does Osrs Dwarf Cannon Affect Slayer Training Speed?

I'm still tickled by how much a cannon can carry the boring grind sometimes. In 'OSRS' the Dwarf multicannon shines on high-HP, low-defense, and mostly-stationary monsters — think of creatures you can park by and let the cannon chew through while you focus on collecting drops or doing other light tasks. Classic examples are Rock crabs and Sand crabs: they sit there, take cannon shots like champs, and their huge HP pools mean the cannon DPS actually matters. Ammonite crabs and other training crabs are similar; they're practically cannon bait. Beyond crabs, hill giants and fire giants are really satisfying targets because you get big bone drops while the cannon eats through them. Slayer-friendly spots like Kurasks or certain cave-dwelling trolls can also benefit if the area allows a cannon and the monsters bunch up. The key is multi-combat areas where the cannon can hit multiple targets each cycle — more targets equals much better DPS value. I usually avoid using it on bosses or single-target high-defense mobs since the cannon's strength is mass damage, not precision, and you’ll often waste cannonballs on splashes. It’s such a delight to set one down and watch the pile of bones grow; makes grinding feel efficient and oddly cinematic.

I got way into tinkering with the dwarf cannon back when I was skilling and PvM-ing a lot, so here's the straightforward breakdown I use when planning a session. To build a cannon you need the four cannon parts: the base, the stand, the barrels, and the furnace. You can buy those parts directly from the dwarf vendor in the Dwarf area for a fixed in-shop price (so you don’t have to mess with the Grand Exchange if you don’t want to). Expect to pay roughly a few thousand GP per part depending on the economy—so a rough ballpark for a fresh build from the dwarf is around 8k–12k GP total. If you buy an assembled cannon on the Grand Exchange instead, prices are volatile but usually higher because people sell as a single item. Repairing a cannon is effectively replacing damaged parts or simply rebuilding it; the dwarf sells replacement parts at the same fixed prices. The recurring cost that really adds up is ammo: cannonballs are the big ongoing expense. A typical firing rate burns through roughly 30 cannonballs per minute (so about 1,800 per hour); at ~2 GP per cannonball that’s on the order of 3.5k–4k GP per hour. You can reduce ammo cost by crafting your own cannonballs from steel bars (1 steel bar → 4 cannonballs) if you’re into smelting and want to cut costs. Personally I plan for the initial ~10k build and then expect an hourly ammo burn of a few thousand GP depending on how long I let it fire — that’s been my rule-of-thumb for budgeting cannon runs.

Whenever I set up the dwarf multicannon in 'Old School RuneScape', the ones that eat the most cannonballs are the ones that spawn in huge, slow clumps and barely move. Sand Crabs, Rock Crabs and Ammonite Crabs are the poster children for cannon abuse — they spawn densely, stand on the same tiles near the cannon and rarely wander, so every shot has a good chance to smack one. I usually park the cannon so the muzzle faces the densest spawn tiles and let it chew through waves; you’ll see consistent hits because the cannon loves targets that don’t dodge out of the way. Beyond crabs, experiment mobs (like Experiments in Waterbirth) and some slayer spots where monsters bunch up — Ogres at the Combat Training Camp, for example — will get hit a ton. The general rule I use: the more stationary and clustered the mobs are around the cannon, the more often the cannon will hit them. That’s why areas with fast-moving or single high-health monsters (bosses, lone dragons) feel like a waste of cannonballs to me — they just don’t give you the repeat hits that crabs do. I’ve gotten a weird kind of joy watching that steady stream of hits against a crab-filled beach; it’s oddly therapeutic.