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Barrows/Strategies

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[edit] General advice

It is recommended that before attempting the Barrows players should have a combat level of at least 70, level 43+ Prayer (for using the protection prayers), level 60+ Magic, level 55+ Slayer (for using the Magic Dart spell and Ice Ancient Magicks spells) and level 60+ Hitpoints. Players are also advised to turn their "Accept Aid" option off before fighting the brothers, as other players may attempt to use Tele-other spells in order to distract potential grave robbers. To lessen their chances of dying, players should wear a Ring of life when fighting the brothers. The Ring of wealth does not help in receiving good rewards.

[edit] What to take

The Barrows is an excellent example of the delicate balance of the combat triangle between the three combat classes, as it is best to use Magic against the melee brothers, Ranged against the mage (Ahrim), and Melee against the ranger (Karil). However, despite his high magic defence bonus Karil also has a very low Magic level, making him more susceptible to Magic than may be expected. Also, Ahrim is fairly weak to melee as well, and thus players can save a few inventory spaces if they decide not to bring a bow and keep their obtained bolt racks in their ammunition slot.

[edit] Magic

If using magic there's a greater chance of receiving runes from the chest. There are several strategies using Magic spells that work well at the Barrows:

It has been confirmed by Jagex that your magic attack bonus does affect how accurate this spell is, but the difference is so slight, and the magic defence and magic level of most brothers is so low that this spell will still work when wearing melee armour such as rune or even barrows, but wearing Mystic robes as mentioned does help to hit slightly more accurately but adds to costs and sacrifices defence.
  • Ancient Magicks: Players must have completed the Desert Treasure quest to use these spells; having at least level 58 Magic to use Ice Rush is recommended. This method isn't very cost effective, but is fast in killing the brothers; players may want to take one of the few staffs that cause a 10% magic bounus. The best spells to use are ice spells which will freeze and damage the brothers. Blood spells, on the other hand, restore 25% of the damage dealt to the player's Hitpoints. If relying on the freezing effect of the ice spells, remember that like players when the Brothers break out of the ice spells, they will be able to resist the freezing effect for up to 4 seconds.
  • Black salamander (weapon): Harralander Tar is used as ammunition for the salamander. This weapon is about as fast as a whip. Some people may not know this, but it is a better weapon substitute for the Barrows minigame. The ammunition is cheaper than a cast of Slayer dart, and more accurate. The magic bonus does not affect its use, and casting in full Rune armour is the exact same as casting in full mystic robes. In the long run it will save you money, and time.

[edit] Ranged

Ranged is vital when killing Ahrim if a player is not meleeing; it is best to use rune arrows or adamant arrows, wear your best ranger armour (black dragonhide armour works well and can also be used as melee armour), and wield a magic shortbow, crystal bow or even a dark bow. Seercull is also useful as its special attack depletes your enemy's magic. The magic shortbow special attack is very useful against Ahrim. A Rune crossbow with mithril bolts may also be used.

Another excellent ranged weapon for barrows are Toktz-xil-ul, but it's not very popular.

[edit] Melee

The best strategy for players who have low to average melee stats is to use melee only when killing Karil, as he is relatively weak to melee attacks, especially slash attacks. Wear your best melee armour, and use an effective weapon, anything Dragon and above is fine. Players with 80 or above attack and defence stats can bring full Veracs, a combat potion, and a (super) defence potion to melee every single brother without prayer. Verac's set effect, Defiler, will activate often, allowing a player to hit the brothers more frequently. You will save a lot of runes in the long run, but if the player dies, he/she would lose Verac's helm, the most expensive piece of the set. Players can interchange their weapons for this method; a whip and rune defender or even a godsword would be an efficient enough way to melee the brothers.

[edit] General inventory

Players should wear their highest magic attack bonus to the barrows (for example Mystic robes), a ring of life and wield at least 300 arrows (more are required for several trips). This does not apply if using a Salamander, as its efficiency is not affected by wearing melee armour.

  • Spade (essential)
  • Bow and best Ranged armour
  • Melee weapons (dragon or above)
  • 1-5 Prayer potions (depends what level the player is, level 100s should only take 1)
  • Runes (differs depending on the type of spell to be used)
  • Guthan's set or Food - Lobsters, swordfish, monkfish or sharks, are recommended.
  • Ectophial (filled), or another fast teleportation method. If you have a Player Owned house with an altar and Canifis portal, house tele tabs are ideal.
  • Stat boosting potions (not essential)

Melee armour isn't really required as Protect from Melee will be on for much of the time.

For players who plan to attempt to go through the Barrows without prayer potions, this is the suggested inventory.

[edit] No Prayer Potions inventory

  • Spade (essential)
  • Bow and best Ranged armour
  • Dragon Dagger (p), (p+), or (p++), (p++ recommended) and/or whip. The Saradomin Godsword is very effective, with its healing and prayer boosting special attack.
  • Runes - 100 deaths and 400 minds per trip
  • At least 14 pieces of food - Swordfish or above (Sharks highly recommended, but monkfish work fine too) or Guthan's set
  • Fast teleport - Ectophial or teletab (teletab to house with a Kharyll portal and a chapel are recommended)

This method differs greatly depending on which combat style the player is using, if the player is using magic, then armour with a high positive magic attack bonus is required, if the player is using melee; armour with a very high melee defence bonus will be needed, the most common no prayer potions method is to use existing prayer points and to hope that Dharok is not the tunnel brother, the second most popular method is ancient magicks, after this, a very small percentage of the 110+ combat community use melee on all brothers, hoping to break them down by sheer force before they get killed. (see the Lesser techniques section)

Ancient Magicks - No prayer pots guide (HIGH RISK) Inventory: spade

  • Around 1,000 deaths and bloods
  • Around 4,000 Water runes
  • Around 4,000 Chaos runes
  • A one click teleport
  • Bones to peaches tablets (these help a lot)
  • Around 2 - 4 sharks in case of an emergency (though this is optional)
  • Dragon dagger(p++) and a Dragon scimitar or above
  • Magic armour
  • Armour with decent ranged defence for Karil
  • D'hide (black d'hide/Karil's strongly recommended)
  • Optional - A bow/crossbow for killing Ahrim.
  • 82+ magic is strongly recommended for the use of Ice Blitz.

Please note, this method is very dangerous for inexperienced players who are new to the Barrows.

[edit] Suggested equipment

High Mage Bonus High Melee Defence Alternative
Mystic robe top Rune platebody or Proselyte platebody for prayer bonus. Any Better Melee Armour
Mystic robe bottom Rune platelegs or Proselyte platelegs for prayer bonus. Any Better Melee Armour
Mystic boots Dragon boots Bandos Boots (Prayer Bonus and a tad more defence.)
Any God cape Cape of Achievements Cape of Legends, Fire Cape, Obsidian Cape
Any God book Rune Kiteshield Dragonfire Shield, or a Spirit shield,or a crystal shield
Barrows gloves (bought from Culinaromancer's Chest upon full completion of the quest Recipe for Disaster.) These give +12 to all stats except for magic (+6 to both attack and defence) and prayer (no bonus.)
Ring of life
Farseer helm or mystic hat Helm of Neitiznot Berserker helm or Archer helm
Amulet of Glory Amulet of Fury (The Salve amulet does not work.)
At least 300 Rune arrows (or the best you have) (not required, but highly recommended)
Combat Bracelet (for easy teleport to the Monastery so you can recharge your prayer points. Note that you must have completed the Legends Quest if you wish to recharge the Bracelet)

The first set-up will provide a higher magic bonus. The second set-up will give you a higher melee defence bonus, which may be useful if you plan to tank-mage Torag and/or Guthan. Don't worry about splatting too much; the brothers' magic defence is extremely low. You'll probably hit almost as well as you would if you wore mystic robes.

For those who are attempting to complete Barrows without using prayer potions, this is the general set-up.

[edit] No Prayer Potions equipment

[edit] Killing the Brothers

The Brothers have special abilities. The best way to fight the brothers is to use Magic; four of the brothers wear armour that is weak to magic-based attacks. Any high-hitting spells (blast spells, wave spells, or god spells) will work well; using Bind, Snare or Entangle or the Ancient Magicks ice spells work well as the brother will be rendered immobile (this is especially useful when fighting Verac). Magic Dart is a very popular spell to use as all runes required to cast the spell are possible chest rewards.

[edit] Recommended order

Locations, recommended order and protect prayers for brothers.

This is the recommended order of killing the brothers, regardless if you plan to use prayer potions. The names next to the brothers indicate their passive abilities.

  1. Dharok the Wretched (Level 115) - Wretched Strength: Uses melee. Strength rises as his health becomes depleted; he can hit up to 62 damage, hence it is advised to have high Hitpoints to attempt the Barrows. Magic is the most effective combat style to use. Protect from Melee is a necessity, as he can kill any player with 2 hits when at low health. Oftentimes, Dharok can hit high enough and fast enough so that you are unable to heal quickly enough to avoid dying.
  2. Karil the Tainted (Level 98) - Tainted Shot: Uses ranged. Lowers the player's Agility level by 20%. His hits are very fast and accurate; kill him quickly using melee or high Ancient Magiks and Protect from Ranged. If you brought along a Dragon dagger then use your special attack on him, as he has a low stab/slash defence. Note that only players with a high combat level (95+) should do this. However this brother can be killed effectively with ranged as well.
  3. Verac the Defiled (Level 115) - Defiler: Uses melee. Hits through armour and prayer. You should use Protect from Melee if possible, as he will hit far less often than if you do not use it at all. Magic advised. It is also helpful to use binding or ancient magicks ice spells against him, as this stops him from attacking and using his special.
  4. Ahrim the Blighted (Level 98) - Blighted Aura: Uses Magic. Attacks with Fire wave and lowers the player's combat stats using curse spells. Use Ranged to kill Ahrim; even at low Ranged levels he is significantly weaker to Ranged than he is to Melee. Although range is the best method for killing Ahrim, if you have very low range (40 or lower) you can use melee on Ahrim, since it is more effective than magic.
  5. Torag the Corrupted (Level 115) - Corruption: Uses melee. Depletes run energy. This brother is the least dangerous of all the brothers; he doesn't hit as accurately as the other brothers, and his special effect does not affect combat. He can still hit up to 22 and often if you are wearing robes. In addition, the effect could be dangerous if the player is in the maze, especially if the player doesn't have a method of restoring his/her run energy. Player can use Protect from Melee.
  6. Guthan the Infested (Level 115) - Infestation: Uses melee. Health recovers proportionate to the damage done to the player; for example, if he hits 20 damage, he will heal 20 Hitpoints. This will heal him, even if you are praying to block his attacks. For example, if you were praying, but if you weren't praying, you would be hit a 15, Guthan would still heal 15. Magic attacks are still effective due to Guthan's extremely low magic defence. Guthan is one of the less dangerous of the brothers.

[edit] Strategy

Higher level players with 60 prayer and above can complete the Barrows without using prayer potions, this can be done by quickly killing Dharok, Verac, and Karil and using melee armour on Guthan whilst using Magic; using Ranged against Ahrim and Magic against Torag. To do this it is advised to have 85 Attack, 80 Strength, 80 Defence, 60 Prayer, 75 ranged, 80 Hitpoints and 80 Magic. If using this method players should apply other tactics, such as sidestepping, in the tunnels.

The Ranged armour will suffice for the time it is not in effect. The exception is versus Guthan and Torag because if you have 75 defence, you should use rune and mage them. You will still hit very often and they will almost never hit you.

It has been known that uncommonly a twin of a brother will appear if a player runs through a door to escape from their assigned brother in the maze rather than fighting him; killing twin brothers, or even killing only one of the two, has the same effect as killing one brother. These can be very deadly, especially in the case of a strong brother, as they have been known to come up 3+ times in a row, inflicting much damage on an unprepared player. It is not yet known if killing the "twin" brother increases your chances of getting Barrows equipment.


A player using Guthan's equipment obtained at Barrows. The special is shown, which heals the player.

[edit] Lesser Techniques

An artwork about Barrows.

There are many techniques that a player can use to hide on the other side of the sarcophagus and still kill the brother; the most popular method is to set up a cannon then open the crypt and run to the other side. A player can also use poisoned daggers and arrows to poison the brother and wait on the opposite side of the sarcophagus for him to die; be warned though that the barrows brothers have fast healing rates, and will need to be re-poisoned when the poison damage drops to 2.

Another very time-consuming way is to mainly use prayer potions, and good prayer boosting items. If you use monk's robes, then you can still cast magic easily, but with only a somewhat high prayer bonus, the downside to this is you will use a lot of prayer potions and more food; costing even more to do the barrows. As a result, this method is not recommended.

Another way that is very dangerous for lower levels, is to take either full Verac's or proselyte armour, with a very good melee weapon, and use melee on all of the brothers. The main problem for this, however, is Verac, as he can hit through prayer and armour, so it is wise to bring food for him, or have a friend supply you. This is only feasible for the highest levels, but is very money-efficient because hardly any prayer potions are needed, although a lot of food is necessary.

The black salamander technique is fairly easy, very safe, and can be done with minimal prayer pots. Most of the armour is the same: House tele tabs, spade, ectophial, black d'hide armour, ddp++, whip/scimitar/gs, a shield or rune defender, and full max armour of your choice [either barrows armour or rune/dragon], and prayer pots depending on your level (high levels should only bring one). You should kill the brothers in this order: Dharok, Karil, Ahrim, Verac, Torag, Guthan. You will only need your prayer pot if Dharok is in the tunnel, and in that case continue to kill the brothers in the suggested order. Fight with the salamander on magic against Dharok, Torag, Verac, and Guthan. Use it on range against Ahrim, and use your ddp++ and whip/scimmy/gs on Karil.

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