Barrows Guide for All Levels

[JonathanLUNG]

JonathanLUNG’s Cracking the Barrows - 4 Runs a Trip for 60+ prayer, and 1 more per ten levels.

 

Table of Contents

 

1.0. Introduction

2.0. Prerequisites

3.0. Inventory and Equipment

4.0. Strategy

5.0. Tunnel Bros

6.0. Tunneling

7.0. Theory

8.0. Rewards, Credits, Et Ceterae

 

 

Introduction

 

Money -

“Money is fantastically important if you've haven't got enough of it, but when you've got as much as I have, you realize money doesn't matter.” - Wise Old Man

 

My point is, nowadays, the Runescape economy is really shaky, but some things have remained the same. Barrows sets are still worth 7 million coins, give or take a million. Unless you’re a loser like Torag. Funny thing, he’s the only brother who’s ever killed me. Each piece is worth between 400k and 9! mil. The chances of receiving a Barrows drop from the chest is 1 in 18, according to Jagex. Therefore, it is almost impossible not to make money - and a lot of it. And it doesn’t take much to do a large amount of Barrows runs - mediocre stats (like mine) can easily do 4 runs per trip. That’s 4 chances of getting a Barrows item - giving roughly one item per 5 trips!

 

Prerequisites

 

Magic Level: 75

Range Level : 70

Prayer Level: 43

Defense Level: 70

Construction Level: 50

Completed In Search of the Myreque

Completed Desert Treasure - For the Kharyll Portal in your house

Personal Prayer Altar (in your POH)

 

Inventory and Equipment

 

Spade - You can't get into the Barrows without one!

Rune Slot 1 - For your Runes

Rune Slot 2 - For your Runes

Rune Slot 3 - For more Runes

Rune Slot 4 - If you’re really ohdee with those Smoke and Shadow Spells

Runite Crossbow - To kill Ahrim (who is largely unaffected by Magic)

I have found that a crystal bow with 8, 9, or 10 works better than a rune cbow for whatever reason, but the cost and HASSLE is astronomical. If you're an idiot like me who charged 8 crystals, by all means, use them here!

House Teleport Tablet OR Law Rune - To go home after a successful run OR to go home when you run out of prayer and Dharok has hit a 489 on you.

7 Prayer Potions - You will be praying quite frequently while fighting the brothers.

12 Shark or 16 Monkfish, depending on Rune Slot Count - Verac can hit you through your Protect from Melee once in a while, and you won't be praying in the crypts - You will incur a large amount of damage.

 

 

Choice of Equipment:

Head Slot - Ahrim's Hood > Infinity Hat > Mystic Hat > Helm of Neitiznot > Wizard Hat

Cape Slot - Soul Wars Cape > God Cape > God Cloak > Fire Cape > Legend's Cape

Neck Slot - Arcane Stream > Stole > Amulet of Fury > Amulet of Glory

Bolt Slot - Broad Bolts if you’re cheap like I am, Diamond (e)’s if you’re not. :D

Staff Slot - Staff of Light > Ancient's Staff > Slayer Staff

Body Slot - Ahrim's Robetop > Infinity Robes > Dagon' Hai Robes > Mystic Robes > Proselyte Hauberk

Shield Slot - Arcane Spirit Shield (ASS) > Mage Book > Fally 3 > Blessed Spirit Shield > Any Other Shield Because Shields are Expensive and You (as well as I) are cheap.

Leg Slot - Ahrim's Robeskirt > Infinity Robes > Dagon' Hai Robes > Mystic Robes > Proselyte Cuisse

Glove Compart- errr... Slot - "Barrows" Gloves > Infinity Gloves > Mystic Gloves

Foot Slot - Infinity Boots > Mystic Boots

Ring Slot - Onyx (i) > Seer's Ring (i) > Seer's Ring > Explorer Ring > Beacon Ring

 

 

Strategy

 

I’m going to go right ahead and assume you know where the Barrows are.

 

The way I do it is the with Kharyll Portal in my house (hence the Construction Requirement) and I use the Myreque shortcut.

 

However, as usual, there is a better way. If you’re on Ancient Prayers and Curses, and you have Digsite Pendants, you may find that the +15% Prayer bonus from the Senntisten temple is nice.

 

When you get to the Barrows (Don’t you forget that spade!), breathe. After all, only one person can actually hurt you. His name is Verac. He’s a scary mother[cabbage]. So who do you call? Not Ghostbusters - instead, you should call Saradomin. Or Zaros, depending on how you roll. :D

 

The first mound you’re going into is the North West mound - with Verac. When you’re above his mound, set your quick prayers to Pro-Melee or Def-Melee. If you have 80+ prayer, and for some really strange reason you’re not on Curses, you may want to turn on Mystic Might or Augury, but only the second if you’re a hardcore Dungeoneer. However, if you are, you’ll probably own an Arcane Stream and you wouldn’t need the boost that will come from your necklace anyway. There are some important things we have to clear about Verac. You’ll probably get a large amount of people saying “NOOB PRAYER DOESN’T WORK”. That’s largely untrue. Verac’s set effect isn’t constant - when it activates, he *may* hit through your prayer OR your defence, but not both. If you’re wearing full Ahrim’s, you’re effectively tanking Verac entirely when you have Prayer on. I haven’t been hit once in Ahrim’s with Deflect Melee. Conversely, with Mystic Robes, you may have a little problem :D As in, if you run out of prayer, he’ll smash you harder than a sledgehammer on tofu.

 

 

Recap: PRAY

 

Verac should take between 8 - 12 casts of Fire Wave if you’re 75 Magic.

He should take 7 - 9 casts of Ice Burst, or 5 - 8 casts of Shadow Blitz.

 

You should be using no more than 25 prayer points on him - 15 with Shadow Blitz.

 

Quick Tip: If you’re using the Senntisten Teleport, rather than the pendant, Shadow Blitz is perfect - not only do you kill nearly twice as fast as Fire Wave, you’re lowering Verac’s attack, and you have a soul rune spot.

 

The Second Mound you’re going into is the North East mound - Dharok.

 

Dharok is a little bit of a pushover when you pray. He seems to be easier to kill than Verac (by a lot). Remember to ALWAYS pray. I seriously recommend Shadow Blitz for Dharok - if you mess up, he has a lot less attack than he normally does (which is a lot of attack).

 

Dharok should take between 7 - 10 casts of Fire wave, 6 - 8 casts of Ice Burst, or 5 - 7 casts of Shadow Blitz.

 

You should be using no more than 25 prayer points on Dharok, but you can frequently get away with just 15 - don’t bet your life on it though! If you have low prayer after some seriously bad luck with Verac (lots of eating because he keeps hitting you, and you’re a safer-noob like me).

 

 

The Third Mound you’re going into is the Southern mound - Karil.

 

Karil is a little bit of a joke when prayer is on. He can take a feel more hits than Verac, but you should still be using only around 25 points on him. If you don’t pray, however, you will feel yourself getting hit hard. And fast. That repeating crossbow is only a joke when players use it.

 

10 - 15 casts of Fire Wave, 10 - 12 casts of Ice Burst, or 8 - 10 casts of Shadow Blitz.

 

 

The Fourth and Fifth Mounds you’re going into are Guthan’s and Torag’s mounds.

 

You’re probably wondering why I grouped them together. Or you’re not. It doesn’t matter - it’s because they’re the weakest of the group. I recommend praying for both if you’re not wearing Ahrim’s, but only for Torag if you are. Guthans is the most inaccurate character in the Barrows (less accurate by far than the various skeletons and bloodworms and rats). Torag, however, I cannot say the same of. Of the four times I have died in the Barrows, three were his fault. Yes, he is deservedly the weakest brother, but when he hits, he hits consecutively, and he hits hard. (Twice. I was testing if I could combo-break him out with Ice Burst - Shadow Blitz - Diamond (e)’s to save immense amounts of prayer. Sadly, I took him down to only 1/4 health, when I got my prayer drained and he suddenly hit me for 200ish three times or so. The last time I died was while I was writing this guide. Oh the things I do for you. :D)

 

You should get both of them as fast as Dharok, and use no more than 35 prayer combined.

 

The Last Mound you’re going into is the Center mound - Ahrim.

 

Ahrim is the brother I have the most trouble with. Don’t laugh - this is the only flaw in my technique, in my opinion, but if you have high range (as many people who read this guide would), this would not be a weakness but rather a strength. You’re going to pray eagle eye (remember you have NO range bonus except from your c-bow), and plunk Ahrim A.S.A.P. If you have no more prayer points left, just don’t pray, but I recommend a decent range level.

 

 

I use around 15ish bolts or 10 shots with the Crystal Bow to kill him, no prayer points (around 2 monkfish if he’s lucky).

 

Basic Formula for those who found that^ boring

 

Teleport of Senntisten if on Ancients and charge prayer. Skip to two if not.

Teleport to house. Charge Prayer if skipped step 1.

Kharyll Portal

Take out enough runes for around 400 casts of whatever spell you’re using (you’re not using it all), broad bolts that you should immediately wield, a rune crossbow, a SPADE, 7 prayer potions, and fill your invo with monkfish, or sharks if it’s your first (several) attempts.

Myreque shortcut.

Set quick-pray to Pro-Melee or Def-Melee, kill Verac with Mage.

Kill Dharok. DON’T LET YOUR PRAYER RUN.

Set quick-pray to Pro-Range or Def-Range, kill Karil.

Set quick-pray back to Melee and kill Guthan and Torag, flip a coin to decide who to kill first.

Pray Pro-Mage if you’re killing Ahrim for the first time, bring out your C-Bow and kill him.

 

Who be yo’ Tunnel Bro

 

It’s the Barrows after all, and they can’t let you have the loot with just six quick and easy kills. So you have to tunnel. First, some Tunnel Brother theory.

 

There are three tunnel brothers you really want. Guthan, Torag, and Ahrim.

There are two tunnel brothers you should really hate. Verac and Karil.

And there is Dharok, who should not only hate, but you should fear and loathe.

 

See the problem is that the Tunnel Brothers can spawn in the tunnels (surprise!).

Most people say “Oh, you’ll get to the chest, pot up, and slay them”. NOT TRUE. Any person who’s actually been to the Barrows more than several times knows that

At least 60% of the time the Bros spawn IN the tunnels and not the Treasure Room.

You won’t be prepared when they spawn, and their first hit seems to always hurt.

There’s a spawn glitch with Karil in which if you decide to go back into the room before to prepare before you face him, he’ll spawn AGAIN and there will be TWO Karils. Yikes.

 

Technique for Guthan, Torag and Ahrim:

 

The big advantage is that you always know who your tunnel broski is. He’s the one you didn’t kill. If you don’t remember who you didn’t kill (happens when I log out for real life issues), pop into a room and it’ll tell you down at the bottom. (Process of elimination is key here, ladies and gents)

 

If you have Torag/Guthan, set quick-prayer to Melee, and chug (see next section for the actual technique of tunneling.)

 

If you have Ahrim, quick-mage, and chug.

 

Technique for Karil and Verac:

 

These two are really mean, because they hit hard, fast. You should have your quick prayer set as before, but when you see either of them, run into the room you just came out of. Therefore you can pot up before you realize they have hit you out. It’s a little trickier with Karil, since there’s a large chance of spawning him again in the other room if you backtrack, so you should run over to the NEXT room and go in there. Pot, pray, and slay.

 

Pictured Here: Double Spawn (though it's not Karil)

 

Technique for Dharok:

 

Protect Melee. The whole way through the tunnels. I’ve VERY nearly been killed maybe 5-6 times because Dharok was my Tunnel Bro. Please don’t subject yourself to the mercy of an uncaring and un-gravestone-blessing world. If you REALLY don’t want to use those prayer potions (You deserve to die :o) and you have a Staff of Light, use the special, and you’ll be safe for exactly a minute. Not much, but better than nothing. This method (SOL) is applicable for Verac, Torag and Guthan as well, but it doesn’t protect at all against range or mage.

 

Actual Tunneling

 

Let’s do some logical analysis. You will spawn in one of four rooms. The Barrows has four doors in each outter room and 3 in each inner. To accomplish this, there is a tunnel leading from one outter room to the next. See the generic Barrows guide (from Tip.it) to get a map of the tunnels.

 

The point is, you’ll always spawn in one of the outter rooms - and there’s a gaurantee. There will always be exactly one door open. If it’s a tunnelling door (outter to outter), count your blessings, because even though the minimap’s darkened out, it’s really easy to figure out where you are. If you’re tunnelling to the north and west, you’re in the northeast room, south and west, you’re in the northwest room, et cetera. While you’re running through the tunnel, point the camera into the room you’re bypassing with the tunnel, and float your cursor over the door in the middle. If it’s the chest room door, it’ll say Open Door as an action, otherwise, it’ll be an Examine option. That way, you won’t hafta check the rooms.

 

Pictured Here: I can see the Door from my Tunnel!

 

When you get out of the tunnel, go straight through the door in across the room (if the door you checked why bypassing wasn’t your door), and check the next door. That’s two doors in around 25 seconds. If it is not, go straight to the next outter room and turn in the direction that will bring you into the next inner room. If you’ve opened the door to a tunnel, get out. That won’t help you. After a while, you’re gauranteed to find the right door. Try to open the door, and you’ll notice a creature attacking you. Kill it, and the monsters will be unaggresive if you stay in the door right in front of the chest room. PLEASE don’t answer the puzzle wrong. There is nothing I can do for you if you do. You might as well teleport out after the chest immediately.

 

At some point during this, you have a chance of fighting your tunnel bro - check above section depending on who you have. After you open and loot the chest. BACKTRACK back to the rope. This is really important. The reason this guide is different from all the other Barrows Guides out there is because I’m trying to get you to maximize chests per runs. Remember, the faster you run, the less you get hit by monsters and falling rocks. Some players I know like to use their Staff of Light special at this point instead.

 

If you have an outter room that leads directly to an inner room, it may be difficult to get your bearings, but it’s not all lost. The first several runs, I recommend you make a diagram on paper, but after a while, you’ll never get lost.

 

Theory

 

At the time I wrote this guide, I had been using Full Mystic, Barrows Gloves, a Staff of Light, a Stole, Explorer’s Ring and a Blessed Spirit Shield, and like the generic Barrowser, I had been using Slayer Dart.

 

Magic Theory, is about the different Spells you should/could/would/definitely should not be using.

 

Black Salamander

 

Pros: Saves several slots, as with this, you can replace the rune crossbow with food or pots.

Cons: Weak. Very weak. So very weak. Sure, that Lv. 138 next to you is getting a bunch of 200s. Assuming you have to use this guide, you’re going to hit a bunch of 50s and 100s. Sure, you’ll get the kill, but it’s not going to be fun. At all. Added to the fact you’ll take lots of points to kill each brother.

 

Slayer Dart

 

Pros: You get a ton of Deaths and Minds from the Barrows and will pay for it. The Staff of Light can cast this, and it does very decent damage.

Cons: The thing about the Barrows is that if you’re unlucky and take 1 second longer, you’ll get a large number of prayer points drained off. While Slayer Dart is definitely usable, it’s not as good as...

 

Fire Wave

 

Pros: Beautiful Damage, so you don’t even need a SOL, you can use an Air Staff. Fire Runes are cheap, and Blood Runes are cheaper than Deaths and you get a whole bunch from the Barrows

Cons: Sometimes Fire Wave weirds out on you. I’ve killed a Brother with 6 hits, but sometimes it takes very long for this to work out.

 

Personally, I love Fire Wave.

 

Claws of Guthix + Charge

 

Pros: The other two aren't worth it (Claws lowers defense, Flames lowers Magic, Strike lowers Prayer). You MUST have charge to use claws - other wise, that's a huge waste of two blood runes and a bunch of fire/airs. Claws, according to some can kill very quickly. I haven't tested it much myself - but the several times I've used it, it's been 6 - 10 casts.

Cons: 2 Bloods. Please keep that in mind. Also, you can't use the SOL. Unless you have a void mace (which I don't), I don't recommend it.

 

Ice Burst

 

Pros: Better Damage than Fire Wave! If you have a Tome of Frost, this is THE way to go. If you don’t, it’s still better than Fire Wave, since it has higher accuracy, and soaks up a lot of the danger you have from Conventional Magics. In addition, Verac becomes a LOT easier to kill.

Cons: Death Runes cost a lot of money, and it’s 2 a cast. Also, you need Chaos and Water runes, so that’s more invo space than some spells.

 

Shadow Blitz

 

Pros: Huge Damage. HUGE damage. You can KO a brother in less than 8 casts across the board, and it can reduce Verac’s attack by 10% You can save nearly 2 doses of prayer potion during a run with this.

Cons: This. Costs. MONEY. Nearly 2k per cast. It costs twice as much as Fire Wave, but LESS than Ice Burst, since you’ll be using around 1/2 as many casts per target. Needless to say you will NOT be using this to kill things in the tunnels.

 

I was able to squeeze in one more chest run with this spell, so if your aim is to spam the chest (which will surely enlarge your chances of getting that Dharok’s Helm), this is the way to go, though you make end up using MORE money than the Dharok’s Helm while obtaining it. Brightline: I was getting around 80k exp and 12 chests an hour with this, while using close to 800k.

 

Surging

 

Pros: Nearly (or more) damage than Blitzing/Barraging, A LOT more accurate than Blitzing. According to some trustworthy sources, Fire Surge is currently the most accurate spell in the game. Personally, i'm using Air Surge, and I haven't splashed once, and I'm doing immense damage with immense mage exp. (1.5k a brother)

 

Cons: 1 Stack of Ele runes, 1 Stack of Air Runes, 1 Blood and 1 Death. Per Cast. Hey, it's still less expensive than Ancients :D

 

HOW MANY KILLS TO GET WHILE AT THE BARROWS

 

I shouldn't be the one telling you. You should instead, get it from the genius, a man by the name of Qeltar, who runs the fansite Runescoop.

 

The Fascinating Truth about Killcount at the Barrows

 

The above link will tell you how to Optimize your Killcount within the Barrows for various items. For example, if you're using Fire Wave, a kill count of 6 is better, while if you're using Ice Burst, it would be better how 5 kills.

 

 

Rewards, Credits, Stuff

 

After a sample size of 50 chests...

 

 

 

Thanks Jagex, for everything.

Thanks Tip.it, for being awesome.

And thanks Qeltar in advance, because I didn't ask him for the right to link to his website :(

[sammyboy894]

Great guide definitely 9/10

 

The only thing is that you should put pics fro gear set up only because the slab of writing in the middle is a put off.

 

add more pics and a 10/10 for sure

 

 

edit: WOOT first post =D

[JonathanLUNG]

Great guide definitely 9/10

 

The only thing is that you should put pics fro gear set up only because the slab of writing in the middle is a put off.

 

add more pics and a 10/10 for sure

 

 

edit: WOOT first post =D

 

Thanks :D I'll work on the pics ASAP.

[bi11ab1itz]

i am wondering why you havent put claws of guthix in :unsure:

i can usually kill the brothers in 4 casts using the charge spell aswell. :^_^:

[JonathanLUNG]

Ahh, yes, I forgot claws. I wrote this guide around a week ago - the other day I was testing it.

 

I notice your mage level = mine. What equips were you using to get 4 hit kills? That's a little ridiculous ;O

[friedtomato7]

seems like a really good guide. It motivates me to try barrows when I have the stats for it.

[JonathanLUNG]

seems like a really good guide. It motivates me to try barrows when I have the stats for it.

 

Thanks so much. :D AOW me? Just kidding :D I don't think you're allowed to advertise, coerce, or offer 50k gp to whoever AOWs you :D

[bedman]

Nice guide for the lower lvled people.

 

Your subtitle about 14 chests an hour is completely false though. I'm pretty sure you can't even do 10 with the setup you explained.

 

You also mention getting 80k xp an hour, donig 12 chests an hour and loosing 800k on casts an hour. That seems very very unlikely too. (both the xp rate, chest rate, and loss of money seem exaggerated).

 

Now, onto spells, on normal magics you should defnitely use the highest spell you can. The extra speed and accuracy makes up for the loss IMO. Ancient magicks is another thing, since they are quite a bit more expensive.

[JonathanLUNG]

14 chests an hour assumes 99 prayer, mage and defense. :o So does the 80k hr exp (with Fire Surge or Ice barrage)

 

I can definitely do ten - 6 minutes a run isn't that fast actually :o

 

800k is for Shadow spells - they cost around 2k per cast :o

[bedman]

Still, 6 min chests with slayer dart or fire wave seems unlikely IMO. (that is: including running to the barrows etc, so I mean 24 min for a 4 chest trip, where you start timing once you leave the bank, and stop timing once you are back in the bank with restocked gear).

 

About shadow spells: Let's assume you use 25 spells per chest. That's roughly 250 casts an hour = 500k. Substantial, but no where near 800k. Also, using the same 250 casts an hour for fire surge: this would imply that you get over 300 xp per cast, again far from the actual value.

 

edit: found some other false numbers: You mention getting 1.5k magic experience per brother with air surge. Air surge hits 220 max, so let' assume 110 on average. That's 75 + 22 xp, roughly 100 xp per cast. Now, one brother has 1000 LP, so that's 9-10 casts each. That amount to a total of 900-1000 xp per brother, not 1.5k like you suggested.

 

Also, a suggestion: Always use SOL, also for fire wave. First and most importantly, it has 15% damage boost, which is ALWAYS an advanatge. Besides it's extra damage effect, the rune saving effect will save you more money than an air staff will save you airs, or very close to it.

[JonathanLUNG]

Oh my god.

 

Did I write this?

 

What the hell?

 

I just logged onto Runescape several days ago (after nearly 2 years of not playing).

 

Why is everything different? Why don't I have any money?

 

Is any of this still viable?

[AHappySeeker]

Nope.

[JonathanLUNG]

Well shit.

 

Are the Barrows still profitable at all?

[AHappySeeker]

Barely Nope.

[Zaaps1]

Anyone who does Barrows nowadays generally just melees all of them with Chaotic rapier + overloads + turmoil.

[jayc3399]

You can do sub five minute chests with polypore overloads hometeles and branches of dark myre Tele thing.