Barrows: Rise of the Six/Strategies

Fighting against the empowered Barrow Brothers may prove profitable. They are killed for their unique rewards, their Malevolent energy, which can be used to form a pet or the Malevolent equipment, and the level 90 kiteshields, which are the strongest kiteshields outside Dungeoneering.

The brothers change positions in a daily basis, '''varying from day to day; not weekly or monthly. '''When they switch, they will be completely different also; in one day you may expect a pure melee side, while in the next week of that same day it may be a mixed side. Teamwork is essential to defeat them.

A Barrows totem is a must; it is required to begin the fight.

Special moves
Each of the brothers have at least one move unique to them, in addition to some which are shared between Brothers.

All

 * Shadow Drag: At the beginning of the fight, one of the brothers will say "You dare disturb the darkness!" and is shown with an animation similar to Rejuvinate. That brother will have a specific health/time requirement before the team is thrown into the Shadow Realm. For example, if Dharok says it, and the health requirement was 25,000 and time 10 seconds, after 10 seconds when Dharok reached 25,000 lifepoints all players will be dragged into the Shadow Realm. In the Shadow Realm, all brothers deal double damage (excluding Karil's Shadow Dash) and have a 100% hit rate.
 * Note: If the Brother who said the quote dies before he can drag the team, if all remaining Brothers are killed, the kill will be successful. Otherwise, if that brother recovers, all players will be dragged into the Shadow Realm.
 * Empowerment: If the players on one side of the room die, a game box message will say, "As there is no one on the other side of the portal, it empowers the Barrows Brothers to destroy everyone!". The three Barrows Brothers on the side without players left will go to the other part of the arena to help out.
 * Healing: For each Barrows Brother defeated, all other brothers heal for 5% of their maximum lifepoints and a bar will appear over the defeated brothers. If this bar fills up, all defeated brothers will heal for 50% of their maximum lifepoints and return into the fight. However, if another brother is defeated before the bar is filled, the bars on any defeated brothers will reset back to 0%.

Shared
It should be noted that these abilities never occur back to back with each other; should Dharok use his spin attack, he will then use his "Give me everything!" attack, rather then another spin.


 * Dharok, Torag, Verac and Guthan can perform Spin, where a brother will spin his weapon around, dealing 300-2500 (although the damage is usually 2000+) damage per tick for ten ticks and can hurt other players. This can be avoided by moving away quickly or using Surge. While this attack is being performed, the brother's movement is reduced to walking speed until it ends. To easily tell when this attack begins, the Brother should stop attacking you for one-two ticks after he has already attacked you.
 * Dharok, Torag and Verac can perform Meteor Smash. One of the brothers will run up against the side of a wall and do area damage for up to 3000 lifepoints and hurt other players. To avoid damage, players must simply move away from the location he is about to hit.
 * Both Karil and Ahrim can perform Energy Blast, where one of the brothers will spin around with flaming energy releasing from his hands. While this attack is being performed, they will stay still. It can deal up to 1500 damage and deals constant damage if within 3 squares from them. When Ahrim and Karil use this attack, they stay on the opposite side of the barrier while using it. They are immobile while using this. Karil will do this attack a few autoattacks after he bombs.
 * Note: If Ahrim and Karil are on the same side, they will use the same spot on both sides. If one uses this attack and the other begins, the other Brother will be on the same area but on the other side of that field.
 * Both Karil and Ahrim can perform Teleport, where they will teleport to the sides of the field. They are immune to melee attacks while they are on the sides, and can only be attacked depending on which side they were originally from. If Ahrim was on the west side, when he teleports only the players on the east side can attack him, and vice versa. After a while, they will teleport back to their original side.
 * Ahrim and Karil can perform Teamwork, where one of the melee brothers will Surge to them and toss them in the air where they arc over. Players in their way will get dealt up to 2200 damage if one of them goes over a player.

Torag the Corrupted

 * Hammerhead: Torag smashes his target into the ground, and the player will be unable to move away or use abilities while being pummeled for 250 damage quickly. To rescue the trapped player, the other player must deal a set amount of damage onto Torag before he will let go of his target. Torag will take damage but will not affect his health while he is using this ability.

Dharok the Wretched

 * Hit Absorber: Dharok yells "Give me everything!" and is put in a state where any damage dealt to him will be added to his next attack. When Dharok stops, he will head to his target and deal the damage onto the player, regardless of the correct protection prayer active. While Dharok is doing the animation, damage dealt to him will not affect his health when he finishes the ability. Players using Devotion can reduce the damage, regardless of how much has been stored, to 1.

Verac the Defiled

 * Soul Bind: Verac binds a player's soul to a specific place, which is marked by four green arrows. This will drain their prayer extremely quickly. To prevent this, they must move to the centre of the bound spot. When done, the player restores some prayer points and prayer drain stops.
 * Tracking from the Sky: Verac will use his flail to fly, and it will do large, repeated damage at any nearby players.
 * Brotherly assistance: Torag or Guthan will throw Verac into the air and he will fly using his flail. He'll track down one player and slam down on them when he reaches them.

Guthan the Infested

 * Spear Throw: Guthan throws his warspear at a player who he is not attacking on his side. The targeted player will suffer up to 500 damage per tick until the warspear is given back to him. While the warspear is in the player, Guthan will attack his primary target by punching until he gets his spear back. To stop the bleed, the impaled player must go to Guthan, who will rip his spear out of the player, dealing 1000 unblockable damage but ending the bleed. If the targeted player dies, Guthan reclaims his warspear.
 * Note: This bleed will still happen if the impaled player gets sent to the Shadow Realm, resulting in a quick death.

Karil the Tainted

 * Shadow Dash: Karil dashes into the shadows, and leaves a shadow cloud on both sides, starting on the side he is on and then placing one on the other side. If a player goes to the portal, the cloud disappears, the player who runs in takes 500 damage, and is sent to the other side. If no one enters, the shadow portal explodes and deals damage depending on the player's distance when it exploded. If far enough, no damage will be dealt, but up close it can deal up to 8000 damage, the least amount of damage being 4800. The cloud has a radius of 8x8 and can also hit players on the other side if it is close enough to the portal.
 * Note: If one side collapses, Karil will still use this move. Players who use his portals when this happens get sent to a random location on the current side and Karil will set off his next cloud on the same side.
 * Lightning: Karil will jump onto the wall and send a line of lightning across the other side, the lightning will either go along the wall, middle (of the fight area) or along the portal in the middle. Players should surge against the way the lightning is going or run against it. You can manage to avoid all the lightning damage if it goes along the portal middle or the wall by going to the opposite side it is on. If it goes along the middle of the fight area damage can NOT be avoided, just minimized. Do not run with the lightning. It is REALLY hard to avoid damage from this attack so you must eat up to survive. (will hit 1.7k's twice or maybe 3 times as it passes over you if you do not move, 3.5k each hit if in shadow realm. if you stand where it starts it seems to hit A LOT harder on the first hit, will hit a 6k for the first hit if in shadow realm followed by 4.5k resulting in an instant death. This attack can quickly be 4.5k damage if you do not move or 10k while in shadow realm so it is vital you spam food)

Ahrim the Blighted

 * Note: Ahrim attacks with Blood spells in place of his normal Fire spells, which means he will heal himself for a portion of the damage he deals.
 * Sky Jump: Ahrim levitates into the air for a set duration. Ahrim is immune to melee attacks and takes reduced damage from magic attacks. Ranged attacks will still do 100% of the damage to him. While in the air, Ahrim will not use his energy blast attack.
 * Gas clouds: Ahrim will sometimes spawn gas clouds. There are two of them; purple and red ones. Purple ones deal up to 500 damage on players who stand on them. Red ones heal wounded Barrow Brothers by 500. Ahrim will use this once in a while, and they can easily be spotted both in the screen and minimap.

Equipment
Magic and ranged are usually preferred due to the safe distance when fighting against a Brother if they should spin around. Melee is not suggested unless the player knows what they are doing and has drygore weapons; otherwise you will miss often against the others. Magic = Range= Melee=
 * Head: Tectonic mask > (Superior) sea singer's hood > Virtus mask > Ganodermic visor
 * Amulet: Arcane stream necklace > Saradomin's hiss
 * Ring: Onyx ring (i) / Sixth-Age circuit > Seer's ring (i) > Seer's ring
 * Cape: Completionist cape > Max cape > God cape > Skill cape
 * Body: Tectonic robe top > (Superior) sea singer's robe top > Virtus robe top > Ganodermic poncho
 * Legs: Tectonic robe bottom > (Superior) sea singer's robe bottom > Virtus robe bottom > Ganodermic leggings
 * Gloves: Static gloves > Virtus gloves / Spellcaster gloves > Ganodermic gloves
 * Boots: Ragefire boots > Virtus boots > Ganodermic boots
 * Main-hand: Seismic wand > Virtus wand / Chaotic staff > Armadyl battlestaff
 * Spell: Blood Barrage / Your best spell
 * Off-hand: Seismic singularity > Virtus book
 * Shield (optional): Arcane spirit shield / Farseer kiteshield > Ward of subjugation
 * Scrimshaw: (Superior) scrimshaw of the elements
 * Aura: Penance > Vampyrism > Reverence
 * Head: Sirenic mask > (Superior) death lotus hood > Pernix cowl > Armadyl helmet
 * Amulet: Saradomin's murmur > Amulet of fury
 * Ring: Ring of Vigour>Onyx ring (i) / Sixth-Age circuit > Archers' ring (i) > Archers' ring
 * Cape: Completionist cape > Max cape > Ava's alerter > Skillcape
 * Body: Sirenic hauberk > (Superior) death lotus chestplate > Pernix body > Armadyl chestplate
 * Legs: Sirenic chaps > (Superior) death lotus chaps > Pernix chaps > Armadyl chainskirt
 * Gloves: Tracker gloves / Static gloves > Swift gloves
 * Boots: Glaiven boots / Ragefire boots> Armadyl boots
 * Main-hand: Ascension crossbow > Chaotic crossbow > Royal crossbow / Zaryte bow
 * Off-hand: Off-hand ascension crossbow > Off-hand chaotic crossbow
 * Shield (optional): Elysian spirit shield / Eagle-eye kiteshield
 * Scrimshaw: (Superior) scrimshaw of ranging
 * Aura: Penance > Vampyrism > Reverence
 * Head: Malevolent helm > (Superior) death lotus hood > Torva full helm > Bandos helmet
 * Amulet: Saradomin's whisper > Amulet of fury
 * Ring: Ring of Vigour>Onyx ring (i) / Sixth-Age circuit > Warriors ring (i) > Warriors ring
 * Cape: Completionist cape > Max cape > Tokhaar-kal > Fire cape > Skillcape
 * Body: Malevolent cuirass > (Superior) Tetsu body > Torva platebody > Bandos chestplate
 * Legs: Malevolent greaves > (Superior) Tetsu legplates > Torva platelegs > Bandos tassets
 * Gloves: Razorback gauntlets > Pneumatic gloves / Static gloves > Goliath gloves
 * Boots: Steadfast boots> Bandos boots
 * Main-hand: Drygore Mace / Drygore longsword / Drygore Rapier > Chaotic Longsword / Chaotic Rapier
 * Off-hand: Off-hand Drygore mace / Off-hand Drygore longsword / Off-hand Drygore rapier > Off-hand chaotic longsword / Off-hand chaotic rapier
 * Shield (optional): Divine Spirit Shield / Chaotic Kiteshield
 * Scrimshaw: (Superior) scrimshaw of strength
 * Aura: Penance > Vampyrism > Reverence

Abilities
You must use several abilities to help you deal with your enemy. Without these abilities, you may spend more food trying to defeat them.
 * Surge: A must for escaping melee spins, energy blasts, Karil's shadow clouds and escaping from the dungeon.
 * Escape: Same as Surge, to avoid being killed easily.
 * Metamorphosis: Helpful for dealing extra damage onto the brothers.
 * Sunshine can be used as a replacement, but it is not recommended due to the amount of moving you will have to do. Best used when you have one Barrows Brother left.
 * Provoke: To get the Barrow Brother off a player and onto you, and to make Torag attack you to release his target.
 * Devotion: With the correct prayer, it reduces damage by 100%, including Dharok's "Give me everything!" attack. It is helpful against Dharok or when trapped in the Shadow Realm.

Inventory
The perfect inventory must be used if you want to survive the powered Barrow Brothers.
 * Rocktail soup - costly but you will pay back the cost from the energies.
 * Phoenix necklace - helpful for health restoring in case you get hit by a spin or exploding cloud. Note that this will only trigger if hit by typed damage, the typeless damage dealt by most of the special attacks will not trigger the necklace. The necklace will trigger if you are lowered into range by typeless damage and then survive a hit from typed damage.
 * Sign of life/Sign of death - second wind.
 * Sign of item protection - in case you die, you will keep another item.
 * A shield - not recommended for killing, but most teams use the shield when escaping the dungeon in case of failing to get out in time.
 * Super prayer flask/Prayer flask
 * Overloads (substitute with what you can use if you cannot use them)

Familiars
A beast of burden familiar is highly recommended, since attacking familiars might kill a brother too quickly and mess up the kill speed. Pak Yaks should be loaded with the best food you prefer. War tortoises can be used also, but carry less food. Healing familiars should not be used unless you are certain you will not take damage from special attacks.

Killing the Brothers
In order to win the fight, all six Barrow Brothers must be defeated simultaneously. When fighting them, do not kill them; instead, reduce their health to at least 5% for the best results. Protection prayers must be used to reduce damage since the melee brothers can easily hit over 1200 with a basic melee attack. Each brother will retain his original set effect.

When you defeat a Brother, a game box appears saying "As you defeat Barrow Brother, shadow engulfs the remaining wights!". When this happens, the other brothers gain 5% of their maximum life points back. The defeated brother also heals in the Shadow Realm and it is signified as a bar over them. If this bar is filled, a message says "The shadow bond is restored between the brothers, bringing back lost combatants." Brothers that are healing restore half of their maximum life points and join back in the fight.

Make sure your "Game" box is set on All rather then Filtered, so the brother who says "You dare disturb the darkness!" can be properly identified. Avoid attacking the brother who says this quote first; the kill will be significantly harder if he drags the whole team to the Shadow Realm, unless that brother is Karil. Target the other brothers, not attacking the Brother who said this, unless it is Karil, following the killing order as follows: Make sure that you call out important facts for the other sides, such as "Bombs", which indicates that Karil is using his Shadow Dash attack. Other terms that can be helpful is "Kd", which means that Karil is inactive at the moment. Karil should always be targeted first, because bombs, along with powerful autoattacks and spins can easily kill a player.
 * Suggested killing order: Karil > Torag > Guthan > Dharok > Ahrim > Verac
 * If Karil and Torag are on both sides, target Karil first, then Torag. Regardless of who said the quote, if Dharok is on that side do not attack him until all other Brothers on that side are dead.

Both sides should have an equal amount of DPS, to ensure that the kill will go smoothly. It is important to use Sunshine or Death's Swiftness whenever possible to increase your damage, as the final moments can be very intense, espically if dragged into the Shadow Realm. Once all the Brothers are defeated, the cutscene will occur. The players on the east side can now jump the chasm where the portal was, the barriers will be gone and the chest appears on the west side. Loot the chest, and eat up to full or higher health.

Once all players are ready to go, start moving back to the entrance. The players have 30 seconds to escape the tunnels before it begins to explode, causing massive damage on them. Like the fight, purple gas clouds appear and deal damage to players. Debris also falls and deals damage to players that get hit by them. With a bridge, the first three players should take the ledge, while the last player should take the vine/rock pillar. Rebank at Burgh de Rott if needed.

Drops
Players initially get unstable energy when looting the chest, which can be used to create Malevolent armour, level 90 power melee armour, or to make a Bobblehead pet. Other notable rewards include the Malevolent kiteshield, Merciless kiteshield and Vengeful kiteshield, level 90 melee, magic and ranged shields respectively. These kiteshields appear as a bonus drop. See here for the full list.


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