While this content is located in Edgeville, a free-to-play location, access to the basement, pet cats, and spices are all restricted to members. As a result, colored Spices are restricted to P2P players only.
Getting To Evil Dave’s Basement
The player’s location marks Evil Dave’s house in the map above. We recommend 4 main ways of getting there: Amulet of Glory is by far the quickest since it leaves you directly inside Edgeville. Skull Scepter teleport is also pretty quick, since Barbarian Village is a short walk away. Fairy rings are a bit slower due to having to run to a fairy ring in the first place. Then if no other options are available, Varrock will leave you close enough to run for around a minute. Let’s talk about the two main requirements for Spicy Stews, shall we?
Requirement 1: A Pet Cat
A cat is required since the player is not nimble enough to catch rats. Completion of Gertrude’s Cat is required to own one, and you’ll be gifted one after the quest. Baby cats are weak and slow, and will require attention and food every once in a while. Failing to do so will make the cat abandon the player; While you may go get another one, they will start growing from scratch again. After three hours of following the player, the cat will become an adult and will no longer need to be fed (but will still need attention). This is the second best stage for cats to hunt rats, with a success rate of 50%. After 5-6 hours of following the player, the cats become Overgrown cats, becoming slower and less efficient. Players that have completed the Rat Catchers quest may turn them into wily cats, the quickest and most efficient of hunters! Tip: Wily cats will eventually turn into lazy cats, but they can be re-trained into Wily ones as many times as needed. If the player is no longer selling cats for Death Runes, it’s recommended to keep a Wily one for future spice hunts.
Requirement 2: Evil Dave’s Recipe for Disaster
Requiring at least 25 Cooking and a series of quests, Evil Dave’s RFD subquest will teach you about hunting rats for spices. You’ll need to use these spices on a stew to create a Spicy Stew, and find the correct proportions to feed Dave and release him from Lumbridge’s halls. Finishing this segment will permanently unlock this method, allowing for players to hunt rats at any time and create their own spicy stews. Additionally, this unlocks Hell-Rat Behemoths (explained below). Much like all other segments, this will also grant Cooking XP and improve the items at the Culinaromancer’s Chest.
Hunting Small Rats in the Basement
This process is similar to what was done during the Quest. Command your cat to chase vermin, and they will attack a random nearby rat. If they fail, the rat will move away and you may try again. If they succeed, your character will compliment the cat and the rat will die. These rats always drop ashes and a jar of spices from a random color, with any amount of doses (1-4). There is no cooldown for this, and you may farm as many rats as you need, until you get whichever spices you were looking for. Tip: it’s recommended to combine spices into 4-doses. This will reduce the amount of inventory space used and help make the process go faster. After catching seven Hellrats, your cat will become corrupted by their demonic ways and turn into a Hellcat. They’ll turn red with yellow eyes! This is purely cosmetic, and can be reversed at any time by feeding them a bucket of milk. As for efficiency, these are identical to their non-demonic counterparts, so feel free to keep it if you dig the look.
Hunting Hell-Rat Behemoths
If you (and your cat) are up for the challenge, you could instead fight Hell-Rat Behemoths. These are the “boss” versions of the rats, and lay in the four corners of the basement. They do not have any additional requirements. To fight one, use your cat with the curtain next to them. This will send your cat in, to face off against the Behemoth. You can use any kind of fish or milk through the curtain to heal your cat and help them fight. But be careful: if your cat dies, it’s gone forever and you’ll have to raise another one! Much like regular rats, adult and wily cats are way stronger than baby and lazy ones. This will result in quicker Behemoth kills and less food and attention needed per fight. Once your cat is victorious, they’ll bring you back a jar with 4 doses of Spice. Each rat will yield a different color of Spice, and so you’ll have to pick the one you need. Behemoth Rats can be fought as many times as you’d like with no cooldown. Also, cats fully heal when the fight is over, but make sure you have enough food for the next encounter.
Using Colored Spices
Similar to the quest, Spicy Stews can be created by putting up to 3 doses of each colored spice in a normal Stew. This Stew can then be consumed, healing the usual amount and adding a special effect. This effect will alter your stats randomly, making them go up or down, based on the amount of color of spices added. This works as follows:
1 dose will give -1 to +1 levels 2 doses will give -3 to +3 levels 3 doses will give -5 to +5 levels
Additionally, each color of spice will affect a certain type of skill. This means that, if you’re planning on boosting, you will only need a single color, as follows:
Red (Combat): Attack, Strength, Magic, and Ranged Orange (Production): Smithing, Crafting, Fletching, Runecrafting, Cooking, Construction and Firemaking Yellow (Development): Agility, Hunter, Slayer, Thieving, and Prayer Brown (Resources): Mining, Woodcutting, Fishing, Herblore, and Farming
For example, a player looking for a +4 Runecrafting boost will need to use 3 Orange Spice doses, and then drink the stew. Alternatively, a player in search of 3 Agility levels would need 2 Yellow doses, since adding a third will not increase the chance of the desired boost and will only waste resources. Note: each skill will change separately. For example, you might see a +4 mining boost, a -2 Fishing boost, a +1 Farming boost, and so on. Focus on the one you need! If your level goes down, a Restore Potion will bring your levels back. Lastly, a boost in Prayer level will only increase your available Prayer points. You cannot use a Prayer you don’t meet the requirements for in any way. And that’s it! Spicy Stews are highly popular for players that wish to complete quests or Achievement Diaries as soon as they can, and choose to avoid a couple hours of grinding with this method. If you’re one of them, come pay Dave a visit.
