Camping at Barrows on Ancients (includes video)

Table of Contents:

1. Creating this strategy and why to use it

2. Requirements

3. Equipment

4. Attacking Strategy

4.a Should I melee Karil?

4.b When to pray

5. Emergencies and what to do

6. Little things that can make a difference

7. Video

8. How to use the corners

9. FAQ

10. Credits

Note: I'm assuming you've done several barrows runs before; too many guides cover the basics such as how to get there, where the brothers are, and so on. If you want the basics, look at another guide, I don't see the need to cover that here.

1. Creating this strategy and why to use it

Most probably wouldn't consider me a barrows expert; I've only had around 12 item drops, though it's the source of the majority of my money. A while ago in my RS career, in a week of crazy skilling, I managed 85 mining and full Guthans, along with other goals that I had. I mined some rune until I was sick of it, sold it all, and then wondered, "Okay, now what do I do with this?" I thought I'd go back to Barrows, where I'd had some fun and made some money before (first time I ever had more than 1 million), and decided I'd like to go back. I thought I'd try something new, so I switched to Ancients, brought Guthans, one prayer potion, a bunch of monkfish, and hoped I knew what I was doing. But enough of me.

Why would you want to use this strategy? At first, it looks like quite a waste of money. Assuming chaos to be 150 each and deaths to be 300 each (the price I buy for if I buy in bulk), ice burst costs 1200 per cast. You won't make a consistent profit with this method, I can tell you that for sure. I started using it at first because I wanted to sink all my money into something. Counting just runes, coins, and racks, you're unlikely to break even with this method, but when you start getting the items, the profits start to add up.

Sure, that's all fine and good, but with slayer dart, you get the runes back, and everything else is pure profit, right? You're correct, but slayer dart isn't the fastest thing I've ever used for barrows. It's a great balance between money and time, and if you tank half the brothers, you'll barely even have to eat during runs. Ancients, however, is all out for speed. You attack the brother, keep him away, hide like a coward for 3-5 seconds, then attack again. And the spells hit hard. Ice burst has a max hit of 22, so on average, you'll kill the brother with between 9 and 11 casts. Also, there's no reason to force spawn any of the melee brothers, since you can take them all on easily in their crypts and the chest room.

In addition, Ancients allows you to stay for quite a while in the barrows grounds. The setup I have allows me 24 runs without leaving (if you don't pray on ahrim, you could manage 48), which increases the hourly profit since you're not walking back between runs.

Also, I find it's just a more fun way to do barrows. It feels much more like a game, trying to dodge the brother rather than just click and wait.

The negatives? Expensive, but you knew that. Also, if you mess up freezing Dharok, it could cost you millions. I know at least twice I almost lost 10 million to a mistimed spell. I don't recommend you play hide and seek with Dharok until you're confident with freezing the other brothers.

2. Requirements

Desert Treasure for Ancient Magicks

Priest in Peril, Nature Spirit, In Search of the Myreque, and In Aid of the Myreque to get to Barrows and use the Burgh de Rott bank (In Aid of the Myreque doesn't need to be finished)

70+ magic

70+ attack

70+ defence

70+ ranged

Full Guthans

Recipe for Disaster for Barrows gloves

3. Equipment:

Guthans Helmet

Ahrims Robe Top>Mystic Robe Top

Guthans Chainskirt

Water Staff>Ancient Staff (with water runes in inventory)

Unholy Book>Granite Shield>Rune Kiteshield

God Cape>Fire Cape>Trimmed Achievement Cape

Amulet of Fury>Amulet of Glory>Amulet of Magic>Power Amulet

Barrows Gloves>Other RfD Gloves>Mystic Gloves

Infinity Boots>Wizard Boots>Mystic Boots

Ring of Life>Seers Ring>Lunar Ring

Bolt Racks>Mithril or greater bolts>mithril or greater arrows (300-500 of each)

Inventory:

4k Chaos Runes

2k Death Runes

1 House Teletab>Camelot/Lumbridge Teletab

Spade

Karils Top>Black Dragonhide Body

Karils Skirt>Black Dragonhide Vambraces

Guthans Platebody

Guthans Warspear

Karils Crossbow>Rune Crossbow>Magic Shortbow

Abyssal Whip>Dragon Scimitar

12 Prayer Potions

4 Monkfish>4 Sharks

2 Empty slots

Reasons I use what I use:

Equipment:

Guthans: The driving force behind this setup; with Guthans, you don't need food unless in case of emergency (letting Dharok get too close, for example), allowing you to go many runs using minimum food.

Ahrims Robe Top: You need a decent magic bonus, seeing as if one of your spells doesn't hit, it could mean disaster. Other magic armour pieces aren't used since they don't give as large of a bonus.

Unholy Book: The prayer bonus is minimal but helpful, and the magic bonus helps since you don't really need defence. For 1/10 the price, you can use a granite shield, which can help greatly when fighting Karil if you run out of prayer; I personally used one until I decided to finish my Unholy book. Rune Kiteshield is a possibility, but not recommended.

Water Staff: Unlimited supply of water runes, saves an inventory spot, and gives a small magic bonus. Ancient staff gives +5 more, but has a negative prayer bonus (not major, but worth noting) and means you need to take water runes, using up valuable inventory space.

God Cape: Free, +10 magic attack bonus; skill cape or fire cape are possible alternatives, but not recommended since magic bonus is more important.

Mystic Boots: Only slightly less magic bonus than wizard and infinity boots, but cheaper and easier to get.

Barrows Gloves: Hands down the best gloves in the game. No further discussion needed.

Amulet of Glory: Same attack bonuses as a fury, and since you will be immune to the brothers almost the entire time, the defence bonuses are not worth the difference in price.

Bolt Racks: Ammo for Karils bow. Reasons for Karils Bow will be given later on.

Ring of Life: This is your choice. Some use ring of wealth (I don't think it affects drops, to be honest), on rare occasions, the DK rings are used (not much of a bonus and quite expensive), and the Ring of Life has saved me millions before. Possible Alternative: Lunar Ring, small magic attack bonus, cheap and easy to replace.

Inventory:

Chaos and Death Runes: Required for Ice Burst, the spell you will be using for the brothers. Even if I had 82 magic, I wouldn't use Ice Blitz because it cuts too much into your profits (blood runes are a very consistent source of profit).

House Teletab: Since you're on Ancients, you can't use the normal teleports, and your house is the best place to regroup after a run. If you don't have a properly equipped house, use Camelot or Lumbridge teletab (recharge prayer) and grab Kharyrll teleport runes (1 blood, 2 laws) at the bank to get back.

Spade: You can't get into the crypts without one, so good luck if you choose not to bring one.

Karils Top and Bottom: Can be replaced by black dragonhide if you don't have Karils, but it has a significantly higher magic defence (in case you run out or want to take on Ahrim without prayer). Also, with the cost of this equipment, the extra couple hundred thousand for Karils isn't too much.

Guthans Body and Spear: Needed for healing in tunnels.

Karils Crossbow: Same speed as a magic shortbow, +84 ranged bonus as opposed to +69, and hits harder. Crystal bow hits harder, but is slower and protects over just about everything. The newly improved rune crossbows can be used and are quite useful since you can keep the unholy book equipped, but losing the ability to equip bolt racks so you can keep more drops turned me away from them. Also, bolt racks are a common drop from the chest, so you don't need to keep buying more ammo.

Abyssal Whip: Used for kill count when at full health, and, if you have good enough melee stats, can be used to melee Karil. You can use a dragon scimitar, but it's not recommended.

Prayer Potions: Since you won't be leaving the barrows grounds between runs, you need to recharge your prayer for Karil and possibly Ahrim (I have the worst luck with Ahrim, so I always pray on him).

Monkfish: Should only be used in case of emergencies, such as falling under 10 hp in the tunnels or getting hit for 30+ by Dharok.

Empty Spaces: You get 6 items from the chest on a consistent basis: minds, chaos, deaths, bloods, bolt racks, and coins. Bolt racks can be equipped, deaths and chaos are already in your inventory, and coins can be dropped, so you should have enough inventory space to keep all the runes and bolt racks from the chest. The coin drops are usually negligible, though after a few runs, after you've dropped some vials, you should have enough room to keep the coin drops, which may add up after a while.

4. Attacking Strategy

(This is assuming you just left Burgh de Rott bank, like shown in the video, with full prayer)

1st: Karil, southernmost crypt

Dig, put on protect from missiles, and search the crypt. If Karil is not there and you find a tunnel, shout every obscenity you know. No one likes this tunnel, but you'll just have to deal with it. If he is there, just Ice Burst him until he falls.

2nd: Ahrim, middle crypt

Put on your ranging gear (Karils top and bottom and bow), dig, put on protect from magic, set the bow to rapid, and search the crypt. If he's there, range him to death. If not, go to Dharoks crypt.

3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th: To be honest, it doesn't matter what order you kill the melee brothers in. If you have prayer left over, go to Dharoks crypt, turn on protect from melee, then use hit and run to kill him. This strategy is simple: use ice burst, run a few spaces away, cast ice burst twice more, then run around the crypt so you're safe. You can run on the opposite side, or if you know how, get him stuck on the corner. Wait 3-4 seconds (not sure exactly how long they're immune to being frozen again, and I'm not in a hurry to find out), run away from the brother, cast ice burst another three times, and keep repeating. It's the same for all the melee brothers and doesn't matter the order you kill them in.

Tunnel: Go back to the tunnel mound since all the brothers are dead, and go in. If Ahrim is your tunnel mound, equip your ranging gear and turn off auto retaliate. If not, equip full guthans and enter the tunnels. If you're more than 7 or 8 under full health, go to the nearest room full of monsters and equip Guthans if you haven't already, and kill until full health. Once that step is done or skipped, head for the chest room. Get past the puzzle door (it can be hard with monsters attacking you), get ready to kill the tunnel brother (same strategy as in the crypt (look in section 6 to get tips that might help)), open the chest, kill said brother, and search the chest. Make your way back out, and get ready to start again.

After the first trip:

Order doesn't really matter here. I personally recommend you kill a melee brother first, then take out everyone else in whatever order you wish, drinking a prayer potion dose before taking on Karil, and, if you have bad luck like me, Ahrim. The reason for killing a melee brother first will be given in section 6.

4a. Should I melee Karil?

This can be a tough decision. If you have good melee stats, Karil can be easily killed with melee, which is faster than magic, uses less resources, and gives you more prayer to use elsewhere. Sounds great, right? Problem is, he has at least 70 defence and decent armour, so it might not be too effective. If you have 90+ attack, swap a prayer potion or monkfish for a DDS, unload the specials on Karil (set it on slash attack first), then switch to the whip. If you get lucky, he won't survive the DDS specs, and if he does, the whip will take care of him quickly. If your attack is lower, you can take out half the prayer potions and replace them with super attack potions and use those before you melee Karil, but I don't recommend it.

4b. When to pray

Praying on Karil and Ahrim, you can manage 24 trips with one inventory. Praying only on Karil, you can manage 48. Sounds like you should just pray on Karil, right? The main thing is the damage you take. If you have high magic and defence, Ahrim won't hit much, especially with high magic defence, such as Karils. Ahrim will still hit, though, and you want to conserve food. Sure, he may only do 30 damage to you, but one of the melee brothers often gets an attack in on you right before you freeze him for the first time. That's 50 damage right there, and the nerves start acting up. You don't want to use food, and there's always the chance you'll mess up freezing. Praying on Ahrim cuts out that 30 damage, but if you're confident you can take him on without prayer, feel free to while you make half the trips back to the bank that I do. It's all personal preference.

5. Emergencies and what to do

Wasting prayer potion doses: This is nothing big, unless you end up in a situation like me: Karil tunnel, you drank the last dose before checking if he was in his crypt. Great, now that means that he's going to murder me in the tunnel. You have two choices: teleport out, regroup, and go back to finish the run (there is no shame in that), or go all out on ranged defence and take him out in the tunnel. Ice bursting in full Guthans isn't the most accurate attack in the world, but it works. Also, take him on right by a door so you can use a strategy in the next section for Karil.

Dharok is on the loose: If you have 59+ hp left and Dharok is coming for you (most likely because you mistimed ice burst), you can take the hit, cast again, hide, then heal up. If you have less, eat immediately or if you have no food left, click the teletab. If you have blood runes from previous runs that trip, you can cast blood rush or blood burst on Dharok to heal some of the health you lost, but that starts to cut into the money made off of blood runes. Still, it is a possibility.

(Will list more when I think of more/more are brought to my attention)

6. Little things that can make a difference

The face: You probably know the face that shows up in the crypts and tunnels means that you've just lost about 10 prayer points. You can use it to your advantage: before facing Karil or Ahrim, wait for the face, then drink your prayer potion. That gives you the longest time before the face appears again, and makes sure you're not in prayerless combat for too long.

Don't waste potions: Go into Karil and Ahrim's crypts before you pot up and check to see if they're there. If they are, run out, go back in, wait for the face, then pot up. If you don't check first, they might be the tunnel mound and you wasted a dose which will be drained taking on the melee brothers. To minimize the damage, check Karils crypt wearing Guthans plate instead of Ahrims robe top, and check Ahrims crypt wearing Karils.

Karil, no prayer or food: This is potentially risky, and you should never need to use this, but just in case you do, here goes. Spawn Karil right next to a door with a lot of monsters behind it. Fight him, and when he lowers you to half health, slip through the door, heal off the monsters there, then go back to face Karil. Repeat this as often as needed.

Conserving energy: This method uses a lot of running, so you might need to walk from crypt to crypt occasionally. The more you walk, basically, the better. Also, the corner trick helps conserve energy.

Increasing magic bonus: I don't do this, though there's no reason not to. When freezing the melee brothers, you can unequip any items that give a negative magic bonus. As long as the brother doesn't get close enough to you to hit you, it doesn't matter that you're lacking armour. I don't do it because it adds a lot more clicking, but it can actually help quite a bit.

Accept-Aid OFF: I must stress this point (thank you brunokiller for pointing this out to me). Turn ACCEPT AID OFF. If it's on, someone could teleother you in the middle of a fight, leaving you vulnerable while you close the window that pops up, and next thing that you know, you've taken heavy damage. So unless you want trouble, turn Accept-Aid off.

(Will list more in the future)

7. Video

This shows my personal setup and method of killing the brothers. Once I can finish it, I'll add another video of how the second, third, and so on runs are done, although there isn't much different from this one.

Video

8. How to use the corners

I felt I wanted to add this section because it's something simple that most people might not understand. In my video, I use it and give a small explanation, but I just show what works, not why it works.

When any monster is after you, they walk diagonally first, then due north/south/east/west. When a monster is one square away from you diagonally, they will move on the east/west axis before moving north/south. An oddity in the pathfinding allows the corner trick: a monster, when one square diagonally from you, will not move north/south to attack you if the east/west axis is blocked. Don't ask me why that is, that's just how it works.

Why does this matter? You want to save energy when facing the brothers, and this can seriously cut down on the running time (no need to run the entire length of the coffin) if you stand on the east/west side of the corner while the brother is on the north/south side, as shown in the video.

Yes, that entire section was for the purpose of showing how one trick can save you about 10 steps half the time. Still, I think it's interesting.

9. FAQ

Q. Shouldn't I use my most powerful ice spell first hit (Blitz or Barrage) instead of ice burst?

A. Since I don't yet have 82 magic, I can't test this out. I personally don't think you should, since it uses blood runes (a major source of profit), but you can if you wish. It makes maging the brothers faster, since you have to hide less, and you might even be able to kill them without having to hide at all. In the end, it's up to you, even though I don't like the idea.

10. Credits

Jagex, of course, for making RuneScape.

Tip.it and Tip.it forums, for inspiring me to write this guide.

Swordwiz, whose Ancients guide gave me the basic idea on how to do barrows this way.

Keruly, for the monster blocking guide which taught me the corner trick.

Brunokiller, for reminding me of the importance of having accept aid off.

I could keep going, but then I'd just be babbling. Have fun, and even if you don't use this, I hope you learned something.

very, very nice guide. 10/10

great guide man, bit long tho =/. Try to make the headins stand out to make it easier to read :D .

I've been ancienting at the barrows recently, but don't have guthans so i can't stay there for that many runs, I was going to make a guide on how to do it but this guide is so good I don't think i'll bother. :thumbsup:

For the equipment I prefer to wear an Ahrim hood and skirt and i use a defender for defense bonuses and to help kill karil.

great guide man, bit long tho =/. Try to make the headins stand out to make it easier to read :D .

I made them stand out a bit more. I knew it was missing something, but I wasn't sure what it was.

And about the length, it's still not totally complete; on its own right now, sure, it's a complete guide with strategies, but there's more to add in here and there, so it'll probably only get longer. There's no way around that as far as I can tell; I want to put almost everything relevant I know about barrows in here, so it can only get longer.

They still don't stand out enough, at the very least underline them. Consider changing the color of them too.

They still don't stand out enough, at the very least underline them. Consider changing the color of them too.

Made them bigger and underlined them; don't think changing the color is necessary, so I didn't. I'm not the best at laying things out to make them look good, so help is good.

Add on how to kill the melee brothers in the tunnels, either using safespots or using the chest for cover like in the crypts.

Good guide, but I'd like to suggest a few things. Maybe instead of Guthan Chainskirt put on Ahrims, cause higher magic bonus witch can put a nice help from miscasting on DH.

Also if you have 82 or 94 magic, have some bloods so you can first blitz/barrage on of them run away then burst. Holds them for longer so you can kill quicker.

Add on how to kill the melee brothers in the tunnels, either using safespots or using the chest for cover like in the crypts.

It's shown in the video and, really, isn't much different from in the crypts, but I might add a bit to that into the guide.

Good guide, but I'd like to suggest a few things. Maybe instead of Guthan Chainskirt put on Ahrims, cause higher magic bonus witch can put a nice help from miscasting on DH.

 

 

 

Also if you have 82 or 94 magic, have some bloods so you can first blitz/barrage on of them run away then burst. Holds them for longer so you can kill quicker.

As for taking Ahrims skirt, I've thought of it, and once when I got it as a drop while using this method, I used it and didn't really notice a difference. With any magic bonus over 30, you'll hit almost all the time anyway; I only splash a spell about once every 500 casts (seriously), so once every 10 runs. Since only 1/4 of the casts are against Dharok, and 1/3 are the first, you'll only splash the first spell against Dharok once every 120 runs or so. I won't get into the probability of it being a really hard hit, but my point is that it happens so rarely that it's not really worth using the extra inventory space for the skirt.

As for blitz and barrage, use them if you wish. I don't recommend it because it makes Ancients even more expensive. You do freeze them in place longer, but it's cheaper to just use ice burst, and should you use them, you don't speed it up by much; ice blitz saves one cast on average, and ice barrage saves two. I personally don't think it's worth it because of the cost, but that's just me. Also, I like bloods because they usually add a good amount to my profit, so I'll stick with ice burst. Feel free to blitz/barrage, it just doesn't seem like it'll save enough time to be worth the money spent.

Great guide man, but you might want to make the headings stand out a bit more.

Great guide man, but you might want to make the headings stand out a bit more.

Now they pretty much stick out like a sore thumb, but it does draw attention to them.

I'm working on adding another section or two to the guide, so it might be updated soon.

It's a really nice guide however to increase profits i'd recomend taking a dragon dagger and whip for karil.

Almost anyone with 85+ attack and strength can kill him with 4 dds specials easy.

My first comment was going to be: "Meh, there are already 100's of guides about this; nothing now." But it's not like that! It's one of the first barrows guides in a while which sounded like I wanted to try it. It sounds brilliant!

this is how real man barrow :) good guide and nice strategy.. Sadly I got hacked and lost guthans and stuff. This is THE way on how to barrow :) gj

How about you ditch ancients, get slayer dart and a whole load of entangles? Seems much much cheaper to me.

Second: Why not use our most powerful ice spell for the first hit? Blitz will freeze them for 4 casts, Barrage for 6!

I'd still do that, especially on dharok.

And also include the AID-OFF in your guide, some noobs like to teleother there.

Good guide though

Awsome guide man, none of the others really focus on this.

Suggestion, put in the holy wrench. It gives a good prayer bonus, and since you have a couple spaces open, why not?

great guide, just tried this method over the weekend and it worked well.

It's a really nice guide however to increase profits i'd recomend taking a dragon dagger and whip for karil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost anyone with 85+ attack and strength can kill him with 4 dds specials easy.

That is a possibility, and I mention it, however briefly, in the guide. I've been trying to kill Karil unpotted with whip and DDS, and I've come to the conclusion that with 83 attack and 87 strength, it's slightly faster to ice burst Karil. However, in the name of profit, it could be done, and it doesn't really take much longer. My only problem with it is that the specs don't seem to hit that much.

My first comment was going to be: "Meh, there are already 100's of guides about this; nothing now." But it's not like that! It's one of the first barrows guides in a while which sounded like I wanted to try it. It sounds brilliant!

Thanks! I've actually been cooking up this guide for a while, but I hadn't had the time or supplies to until recently. And it's quite the good method, I'm just not liable if you die while attempting this.

this is how real man barrow :) good guide and nice strategy.. Sadly I got hacked and lost guthans and stuff. This is THE way on how to barrow :) gj

Thanks. I haven't yet perfected this method as I don't have the magic level to use Ice Blitz and Barrage and test if I'm right about them costing too much to be overly helpful. As of right now, I'm sticking to that stance, but when I get the levels, I will test it out.

Also, this isn't how real men barrow; real men can stay on the grounds for 15 hours without using a single prayer pot or piece of food, though I do bring sara brews and super restores just in case.(I'll make a guide for that method soon).

How about you ditch ancients, get slayer dart and a whole load of entangles? Seems much much cheaper to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second: Why not use our most powerful ice spell for the first hit? Blitz will freeze them for 4 casts, Barrage for 6!

 

 

 

I'd still do that, especially on dharok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And also include the AID-OFF in your guide, some noobs like to teleother there.

I'm not sure how well that method would work and at the moment, don't intend to try it. Using a mud staff and casting Earth Blast or Wave might be a good alternative, but I haven't tried either, but it sounds like they have potential.

As for using the most powerful one on the first hit, for one, I don't yet have the levels to do that. Also, they use blood runes and I try to avoid that if at all possible because they're a good source of profit. When I get 82 and 94 magic, however, I will try that, and I might change my stance.

I'll add the aid-off tip in the guide, since it's even more imperative when using Ancients. I didn't think it was worth mentioning, but now that I think about it, it is.

Awsome guide man, none of the others really focus on this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suggestion, put in the holy wrench. It gives a good prayer bonus, and since you have a couple spaces open, why not?

Thanks, I never noticed any guides that included this method. In fact, most seemed to write Ancients off as a method that only eats cash and doesn't have much practical use.

As for the wrench, I might replace a monkfish the holy wrench, but I'm not totally sure about it. I won't put it in one of the empty spaces as those are for the chaos and bloods you get from the chest, but you could replace a monkfish with one.

great guide, just tried this method over the weekend and it worked well.

Thanks, glad to see that my guide helped someone. Just curious, did you use Ice Burst for all hits, or did you use a more powerful ice spell on the first hit?

I agree with turning accept aid off, great idea, a guy did that to me and karil pwned me :x

Nice guide, 9/10

Today, I got 82 magic and tried using Ice Blitz first hit. It was only one run since I didn't have enough chaos for several runs, so I'll have to try it more. I did notice that I only used 20 bloods, which isn't a huge loss, so it might be worth it; I'll do more testing later.