The Journal (Press J): Dragonwilds' Hidden Bestiary and Every Enemy Weakness
Dragonwilds records every enemy you kill, every resource you gather and every scrap of lore you find in a Journal, and you open it by pressing J. Most players never do — which means they never see the part that actually matters: each enemy's weaknesses and resistances, tracked across three separate axes at once. Goblins resist Ranged. Vault guardians all fold to Crush. And one boss has no weakness at all. Here is what the Journal holds and how to use it.
On sourcing. The Journal is in the game but Jagex have never published its contents. The tables below come from the community RuneScape: Dragonwilds wiki, and can change with any patch.
What the Journal Tracks
Press J. The Journal is "a collection of knowledge acquired by the player", split into three parts:
| Section | Contains |
|---|---|
| World | Factions, Fauna, Flora, Resources — everything you have killed or gathered |
| Recipes | Ammo, Armour, Drinks, Food, Potions, Resources, Tools, Weapons |
| Knowledge | Artefacts, Lore Scraps, People, Places |
It fills in as you play, which is the point — it is a record of what you have encountered, not a static wiki.
The World section is the combat-relevant half. For every creature it lists drops, weakness and resistance.
The Three Axes of Weakness
This is the structural insight, and it is not obvious in play. Enemies are weak and resistant across three independent axes:
| Axis | Values |
|---|---|
| Combat style | Melee, Ranged, Magic |
| Damage type | Stab, Slash, Crush |
| Element | Fire, Water, Air, Earth |
A single enemy can carry entries on all three. The Garou Hunter is weak to Melee, Air and Stab, and resists Magic, Earth and Slash — so the right answer is not just "use melee", it is a stabbing melee weapon with an air enchantment.
That explains why weapon class matters as much as tier. A mace and a sword are both melee, but one deals Crush and the other Slash — and against a Garou Hunter that is the difference between hitting a weakness and hitting a resistance.
The Faction Table
| Enemy | Weak to | Resists |
|---|---|---|
| Garou Berserker | Magic, Fire | Ranged, Earth |
| Garou Druid | Ranged, Fire, Slash | Melee, Water, Earth |
| Garou Hunter | Melee, Air, Stab | Magic, Earth, Slash |
| Garou Pack | Ranged, Stab, Slash | — |
| Goblin Runt | Magic, Air | Ranged |
| Goblin Warrior | Magic, Air | Ranged |
| Goblin Archer | Melee, Air | Magic |
| Vault Archon | Ranged, Crush | Melee, Earth |
| Vault Guardian Sentinel | Ranged, Crush | Melee, Earth |
| Vault Guardian Hulk | Magic, Crush | Ranged, Stab |
| Vault Overlord | Magic, Crush | Ranged, Stab |
| General Velgar | None | None |
Three conclusions worth acting on:
1. Crush beats every vault guardian listed. All four share a Crush weakness regardless of what else they resist. Take a mace, hammer or sledge into a vault — and note that half of them resist Melee and half resist Ranged, so Crush is the only constant.
2. Goblins resist Ranged and fold to Air magic. Both the Runt and the Warrior are weak to Magic and Air while resisting Ranged — which is awkward, because goblins are the enemy people farm early with a bow. Air magic is the counter, and it matches Jagex's own description of Air as the type that "can floor most lower-level enemies and keep them controlled at a distance."
The Goblin Archer is the exception — weak to Melee and resistant to Magic. Close on the archers, out-range the rest.
3. The Garou are the reason to bring a mixed group. Berserkers fold to Magic, Druids to Ranged, Hunters to Melee — three units of the same faction each countered by a different style. A six-player server that spreads its combat styles handles a Garou camp far better than six of anything.
And General Velgar has no weakness and no resistance. There is no trick — it is a straight test of your build. That fits Jagex's own use of Velgar as the benchmark fight: when they explained the Ranged rebalance, the tell was that "by late Ghornfell, players were crushing bosses like Velgar in record time."
Fauna, and the Rest of the Journal
The animal table has a strong pattern:
| Animal | Weak to | Resists |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken, Giant Rat, Putrid Rat, Rat King | Magic, Crush | Ranged |
| Cow, Sheep, Ram | Magic, Stab | Ranged (+ Crush for sheep and ram) |
| Deer | Ranged, Stab | Magic |
| Wolf | Magic, Crush, Fire | Ranged, Slash |
| Dire Wolf | Fire | — |
| Terrorbird | Magic, Crush | Ranged, Air |
| Chinchompa | Melee, Fire | Magic |
| Kebbit | Magic, Water | Ranged |
| Abyssal Demon | Magic, Stab | Ranged, Air, Slash |
Most livestock and vermin resist Ranged and fold to Magic — so if food gathering feels slow with a bow, that is why. The Deer is the notable exception, weak to Ranged and Stab and resistant to Magic.
The Dire Wolf has exactly one weakness — Fire — and no resistances at all. That is the cleanest counter in the table.
Beyond combat, the Journal is also where two collection systems live:
- Lore Scraps — 103 of them, grouped into 25 named series including Ravanna's Journals, Lacrussa's Writings, Queen of Ashes, First People, Withered, KotHaar and Rising Dead. They cluster heavily: 16 in Bramblemead Valley, 8 in the Fractured Plains, 7 in Emberwood, 6 each at the Lake of Lost Souls and The Burning Spire.
- Artefacts, People and Places, filled in as you encounter them.
And if you are chasing completion, know the ceiling: there are 50 Steam achievements on the log, but only 48 are currently achievable. Do not lose an evening hunting the other two.
Practical tips
- Press
J. The Journal records drops, weaknesses and resistances for everything you kill.- Weakness runs on three axes: style (melee/ranged/magic), damage type (stab/slash/crush) and element.
- Crush beats every vault guardian — take a mace, hammer or sledge into a vault.
- Goblins resist Ranged. Use Air magic; close on Goblin Archers with melee instead.
- Garou Berserkers fold to Magic, Druids to Ranged, Hunters to Melee — spread your group's styles.
- Dire Wolves are weak to Fire and resist nothing.
- Most livestock resists Ranged — magic is faster for food.
- General Velgar has no weakness or resistance. It is a pure build check.
Running your own RuneScape: Dragonwilds server
Weakness tables reward a group that specialises — a mace-carrier for vaults, an air caster for goblins, an archer for druids — and specialising only pays off when the same people return to the same world. A gamever Dragonwilds server keeps Ashenfall available around the clock for up to six players, updates automatically so client and server versions never drift apart, and takes one-click backups before disruptive changes.
Conclusion
The Journal, opened with J, is Dragonwilds' record of everything you have killed, gathered and read — and its World section lists each creature's drops, weaknesses and resistances. Weakness runs on three axes at once: combat style, damage type (stab, slash, crush) and element, which is why weapon class matters as much as weapon tier. The patterns worth memorising: every vault guardian is weak to Crush while half resist Melee and half resist Ranged; goblins resist Ranged and fold to Air magic, except the Goblin Archer, which resists Magic and is weak to Melee; and the Garou split three ways — Berserkers to Magic, Druids to Ranged, Hunters to Melee — which is the strongest argument in the game for a group that spreads its combat styles. Most livestock and vermin resist Ranged, the Dire Wolf is weak to Fire and resists nothing, and General Velgar has neither weakness nor resistance — a straight test of your build. The Journal also tracks the 103 lore scraps across 25 series, and the achievement log holds 50 entries of which only 48 are achievable.
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