Mastyx

A Tyrannomastyx.

Mastices (or Mastyxes) are a race of unaggressive, slow, lizard like creatures similar in appearance to stegosaurus dinosaurs that dwell in all tunnels under Daemonheim. Their skin is sought after for making excellent Ranged armour. They can be killed, but are often caught with special Hunter traps, that cut off the mastyx's head when it takes an interest in the trap. For members with adequate Hunting levels, trapping them is generally advised, as it provides the player with about 2-4 hides, while killing it only yields 0-1 hide.

Species

There are ten known species:

• Protomastyx
• Submastyx
• Paramastyx
• Archaemastyx
• Dromomastyx
• Spinomastyx
• Gallimastyx
• Stegomastyx
• Megamastyx
• Tyrannomastyx

The Gluttonous behemoth eats from the corpse of a bovimastyx, which is a portmonteau of "bovine" and "mastyx", during the fight. It does not look like any of the other known mastices and as such appears to be a new species, which cannot be caught by players. Examining this carcass reveals a text of "You'd have to be really hungry to consider it."

However, it is believed by some players that "bovimastyx" is simply the collective name of the creatures.

Hunting mastices

With the proper Fletching and Hunter levels, a member can make a hunting trap and catch a mastyx. Traps are made out of different types of wood. Contrary to popular belief, higher tiers of wood are not required to catch higher tiered mastyx, it simply gives better odds at successfully catching them. Mastyx hides will be given as a result of catching a mastyx, which can be crafted into Ranged gear. It is possible that the mastyx destroys the trap, and so a new one must be made.

Trivia

• The Tyrannomastyx is the highest level mastyx, and its name might be a reference to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Some other names are references to prehistoric animals and dinosaurs as well. E.g.: Protomastyx → Protoceratops, Paramastyx → Parasaurolophus, Archaemastyx → Archaeopteryx, Dromomastyx → Dromaeosauridae, Spinomastyx → Spinosaurus, Gallimastyx → Gallimimus, Stegomastyx → Stegosaur, and Megamastyx → Megalosaurus.
• The plates on their back resemble that of the Wuerhosaurus, a type of Stegosaurid dinosaur. Mastices are also loosely based on this group of dinosaurs.
• There are up to two mastyx carcasses in the boss room of a Gluttonous behemoth.
• Despite the many dinosaur references, Bovimastyx loosely translates to 'ox master' (Bovine is Italian for 'cow', and comes from the Greek bos meaning 'ox').
• It was possible for free players to obtain Tier 6-10 hide by killing these monsters, and can even craft them. By crafting these, they will have created a members' object. They could only sell the object after that. Now free worlds only spawn bovimastyx up to Dromo (Tier 5).
• Along with slayer monsters, they are the only monsters in Daemonheim with fixed combat levels.
• Killing them is not required to pass through Guardian doors, and killing them has no effect on the Dungeoneering XP reward at the end.
• Originally, the bones dropped by bovimastyx were called "big bones" and could not be used on prayer altars like other big bones to gain extra Prayer experience. This was patched during the elite treasure trails update.
• Like there is no Primal Rock (for Tier 11 Melee equipments), or Sagittarian Tree (for Tier 11 Bows), there is no Sagittarimastyx for Tier 11 Armour, nor is there a Celestial fern to make Tier 11 Magic Robes.
• There is a widely-believed myth that states that killing mastices will negatively effect Dungeoneering XP gained after finishing the dungeon. This is NOT true, since they are considered hunter resources to members. There has been a long debate of this in forum but a Jagex mod confirmed they are a hunter resource. Generally speaking using up a resource would not have effect on any Dungeoneering experience.<ref>Mod French. "JMod Confirmation Please?". 28 April 2010. Dungeoneering Help Forums. *</ref>

References

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