Barrows equipment

Barrows equipment refers to a number of sets of combat equipment earned from the Barrows activity. There are seven sets of Barrows equipment, each corresponding to one of the Barrows brothers. Each set has four pieces: a two-handed weapon, a helm, a torso piece and legwear. When all four pieces for a particular brother are equipped, a special set effect is granted which is different for each set. The set effects are detailed below and mirror the special attacks of each of the Barrows brothers.

Barrows equipment ranks among the most powerful combat gear in RuneScape. Many pieces of Barrows equipment have exceptional statistics- for example,Ahrim's robes give the fourth-greatest bonus to Magic attack out of all Magic armour besides Zuriel's robes, virtus armour, and Ganodermic armour; Torag's armour gives greater defensive bonuses than armour sets such as dragon armour and Bandos armour. Some of the set effects can also be very formidable; such as allowing players to hit much harder as they take damage (Dharok's), pierce targets' defenses (Verac's), sap Strength (Ahrim's), Agility (Karil's) or run energy (Torag's) with each hit, and renew lifepoints (Guthan's) or prayer points (Akrisae's) when they deal damage.

To those interested in lore, in the Fall of the Six it is said that Sliske gathered the Barrows armour from "distant lands". Coupled with the fact that the person who sells Bolt Racks is from the Eastern Lands, it is quite possible the origins of Barrows equipment come from there.

The sets
Note: Each of the Barrows melee sets has a weaker piece than the others (Dharok's helm, Guthan's skirt, Verac's brassard.)

Ahrim the Blighted (Magic)
Blighted Aura: Successful magic attacks have a chance of lowering the enemy's Strength by five levels repeatedly. Contrary to popular belief, it does NOT lower your Strength by 10%. Ahrim the Blighted's set requires 70 Defence and 70 Magic to wear the armour and 70 Attack and 70 Magic to wield the weapon. Ahrim's robes provide the third greatest Magic attack bonus out of all Magic robes in the game (after Zuriels and Virtus). As such it is popular among high-levelled mages. In addition, it gives Melee defence bonuses that Magic robes normally don't have, which makes it somewhat popular for PvP situations. The staff, on the other hand, is not commonly used as it is two-handed and the set effect is generally not seen as particularly useful; however, the staff does give a 10% bonus to Magic damage.


 * Ahrim's hood||0||0||0||+6||-2||+15||+13||+16||+6||0||+15||0||0||0||0%||5%||2%||0%
 * Ahrim's robe top||0||0||0||+30||-10||+52||+37||+63||+30||0||+60||0||0||0||0%||10%||5%||0%
 * Ahrim's robe skirt||0||0||0||+22||-7||+33||+30||+36||+22||0||+30||0||0||0||0%||7%||3%||0%
 * Ahrim's staff (weapon) ||+12||-1||+65||+15||0||+3||+5||+2||+15||0||0||+68||0||0||10%||0%||0%||0%
 * Ahrim's robe skirt||0||0||0||+22||-7||+33||+30||+36||+22||0||+30||0||0||0||0%||7%||3%||0%
 * Ahrim's staff (weapon) ||+12||-1||+65||+15||0||+3||+5||+2||+15||0||0||+68||0||0||10%||0%||0%||0%
 * Ahrim's staff (weapon) ||+12||-1||+65||+15||0||+3||+5||+2||+15||0||0||+68||0||0||10%||0%||0%||0%


 * +12||-1||+65||+73||-19||+103||+85||+117||+73||0||+105||+68||0||0||10%||22%||10%||0%
 * }

Dharok the Wretched (Melee)
Wretched Strength: Maximum melee hit increases according to the amount of damage the wielder has taken. The damage increase maxes out at 10% lifepoints, at which point maximum hit is doubled.

Dharok the Wretched's set requires 70 Defence to wear the armour and 70 Attack and Strength to wield the weapon. Like all the sets of Barrows melee armour, Dharok's armour provides very high defensive bonuses (although the helmet is weaker than other Barrows helmets), and the greataxe is also very strong although it is considered slow. Dharok's set is used for its special effect, which allows for much higher hits than otherwise possible.

Many players using Dharok's intentionally lower their life points to take advantage of the set effect, colloquially referred to as "Dharoking". Common methods of lowering life points are:


 * Dropping nitroglycerin, which will deal 250 damage, or 350 if it has been identified by the archaeological expert at the Exam Centre.
 * Using the Lunar spells Heal Other or Heal Group, both of which hit for 75% of the player's life points.
 * Drinking Zamorak brews, which remove 10% +20 of remaining life points.
 * Attacking Splatters at Pest Control, which explode upon death, damaging all nearby players. Dharok's set is commonly used in Pest Control, as it is a safe activity and the dangerous nature of Dharok's set makes death more likely.
 * Picking nettles without gloves on, which deals 60 points of damage per attempt.
 * Drinking Poison chalices, which can lower up to 600 lifepoints (or heal up to 490).
 * Drinking overload potions which deals up to 500 damage life points
 * Attempting to eat a Dwarven Rock Cake, which deals 10 damage per bite.


 * Dharok's helm||0||0||0||-3||-1||+45||+48||+44||-1||+51||+15||0||0||0||0%||2%||0%||5%
 * Dharok's platebody||0||0||0||-30||-10||+122||+120||+107||-6||+132||+60||0||0||0||0%||5%||0%||10%
 * Dharok's platelegs||0||0||0||-21||-7||+85||+82||+83||-4||+92||+30||0||0||0||0%||3%||0%||7%
 * Dharok's greataxe (weapon) ||-4||+103||+95||-4||0||0||0||0||-1||0||0||+105||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Dharok's platelegs||0||0||0||-21||-7||+85||+82||+83||-4||+92||+30||0||0||0||0%||3%||0%||7%
 * Dharok's greataxe (weapon) ||-4||+103||+95||-4||0||0||0||0||-1||0||0||+105||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Dharok's greataxe (weapon) ||-4||+103||+95||-4||0||0||0||0||-1||0||0||+105||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%


 * -4||+103||+95||-58||-18||+252||+250||+234||-12||+275||+105||+105||0||0||0%||10%||0%||22%
 * }

Guthan the Infested (Melee)
Infestation: Successful attacks have a chance of healing the wielder an amount of life points equal to the damage dealt. A hit for 200 damage may heal 200 life points. Also, a player on the Ancient Curses may heal with Deflected damage. Therefore, if a player hits a 200, and their deflect hits a 50, and if both of them get the set effect, the player will be healed for 250 life points. However, this is slightly uncommon.

If you have low life points and no food remaining, it is not a good idea to wear Guthan's for healing. This is because if your hits fail to heal, you might die. If healing with Guthan's, equip the set when you have a medium or low-medium amount of life points left. That way there is little risk in dying, and eventually, after some time, the guthan's will heal you back to full life points. At full life points, you can switch to a different weapon/armour if desired. When your life points are somewhat low, then equip Guthan's again, which will eventually heal you. If what you're fighting only uses one style of attack, it is possible to pray against that attack style until the healing effect has healed you sufficiently.

Guthan the Infested's set requires 70 Defence to wear the armour set and 70 Attack to wield the weapon. Guthan's set is popular among mid- to high-level players for combat training, as the armour has very strong defensive bonuses (although the chainskirt is weaker than other Barrows legs) and the set effect nearly eliminates the need for food. It can even compensate for poison damage, negating the need for antipoison against some creatures, such as Kalphite Soldiers. Guthan's set may also be used in situations where inventory space is scarce and a lot of healing may be needed, such as in the TzHaar Fight Cave. The Guthans set is used by many high-levelled players at aggressive monsters (such as Bandits or Dagganoths) to AFK (away from keyboard) as the guthans set heals them they do not have to be at the computer healing. Although this is not recommended to AFK even with the full guthans set as there is a high chance of death, as well as being against the rules set forth by Jagex.

Despite its advantages, there are some situations in which using Guthan's set is not recommended. Fighting dragons, for example, requires the use of an anti-dragon shield (or a super antifire potion), and Guthan's warspear is two-handed, so a shield cannot be used while using Guthan's set to heal. Fighting dust devils or any monster in the Smoke Dungeon while wearing Guthan's is unwise, as a facemask or equivalent item must be worn to prevent heavy damage and/or stat drain. While Guthan's is useful for Slayer tasks as it allows for extended trips, it does not allow for use of a black mask or slayer helmet. Some players get around this by wearing a black mask or slayer helmet and switching to Guthan's only when healing is needed. Furthermore, it is important to note that the set effect does not activate on every hit, so there is always risk involved with relying on it for healing, especially against monsters that can do a lot of damage in a short time, such as black demons.

Guthan's spear only gives shared XP or defence XP so its not recommended if you want to train Strength or Attack.


 * Guthan's helmet||0||0||0||-6||-2||+55||+58||+54||-1||+62||+15||0||0||0||0%||2%||0%||5%
 * Guthan's platebody||0||0||0||-30||-10||+122||+120||+107||-6||+132||+60||0||0||0||0%||5%||0%||10%
 * Guthan's chainskirt||0||0||0||-14||-7||+75||+72||+73||-4||+82||+30||0||0||0||0%||3%||0%||7%
 * Guthan's warspear (weapon) ||+75||+75||+75||0||0||+7||+7||+7||0||0||0||+75||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Guthan's chainskirt||0||0||0||-14||-7||+75||+72||+73||-4||+82||+30||0||0||0||0%||3%||0%||7%
 * Guthan's warspear (weapon) ||+75||+75||+75||0||0||+7||+7||+7||0||0||0||+75||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Guthan's warspear (weapon) ||+75||+75||+75||0||0||+7||+7||+7||0||0||0||+75||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%


 * +75||+75||+75||-50||-19||+259||+257||+241||-11||+276||+105||+75||0||0||0%||10%||0%||22%
 * }

Karil the Tainted (Ranged)
Tainted Shot: Successful ranged attacks have a chance of lowering the target's Agility level.

Karil the Tainted's set requires 70 Defence and 70 Ranged to wear the armour and 70 Ranged to wield the weapon. As Karil uses Ranged, his armour gives a high Magic defence bonus, making it popular for fighting enemies with powerful Magic attacks, such as the Corporeal Beast. Karil's crossbow is two-handed, unlike normal crossbows, and fires faster than other crossbows. It also uses a special type of ammunition, bolt racks, which are a possible prize from the Barrows activity and can be bought from Ak-Haranu in Port Phasmatys or on the Grand Exchange.

The set effect of Karil's set is a source of criticism, as it is seen as not very useful, especially as it has no effect on NPCs. In addition, when combined with a blessed dragonhide coif, black dragonhide armour gives better melee defensive bonuses than Karil's set (though Karil's set has better stats in Magic, Ranged and Summoning defence), is much cheaper, and does not degrade. Also Karil's crossbow is less accurate than a rune crossbow, and the ammunition is weaker than steel bolts.


 * Karil's coif||0||0||0||-1||+3||+6||+9||+12||+6||+10||+15||0||0||0||0%||0%||5%||2%
 * Karil's top||0||0||0||-15||+30||+47||+42||+50||+65||+57||+60||0||0||0||0%||0%||10%||5%
 * Karil's skirt||0||0||0||-10||+17||+26||+20||+28||+35||+33||+30||0||0||0||0%||0%||7%||3%
 * Karil's crossbow (weapon) ||0||0||0||0||+84||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Bolt rack (required ammunition) ||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+55||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Karil's crossbow (weapon) ||0||0||0||0||+84||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Bolt rack (required ammunition) ||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+55||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Bolt rack (required ammunition) ||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+55||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Bolt rack (required ammunition) ||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+55||0||0%||0%||0%||0%


 * 0||0||0||-26||+134||+79||+71||+90||+106||+100||+105||0||+55||0||0%||0%||22%||10%
 * }

Torag the Corrupted (Melee)
Corruption: Successful melee attacks have a chance of lowering the victim's run energy by 20% similar to the abyssal whip special attack.

Torag the Corrupted's set requires 70 Defence to wear the armour and 70 Attack and 70 Strength to wield the weapon. While Torag's armour may be strong, the full set is not commonly used by players due to the lackluster set effect. Like Karil's set, it has no effect on NPCs. The hammers do carry a fairly high Crush bonus, potentially making them useful for enemies such as waterfiends or players equipped with platebodies.

Torag's helmet and platelegs are often used by players using Ranged who wish to tank (maximise defence in order to take as little damage as possible), as the armour gives good defensive bonuses with only small penalties to Ranged accuracy.


 * Torag's helmet||0||0||0||-6||-2||+55||+58||+54||-1||+62||+15||0||0||0||0%||2%||0%||5%
 * Torag's platebody||0||0||0||-30||-10||+122||+120||+107||-6||+132||+60||0||0||0||0%||5%||0%||10%
 * Torag's platelegs||0||0||0||-21||-7||+85||+82||+83||-4||+92||+30||0||0||0||0%||3%||0%||7%
 * Torag's hammers (weapon) ||-4||-4||+85||-4||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+72||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Torag's platelegs||0||0||0||-21||-7||+85||+82||+83||-4||+92||+30||0||0||0||0%||3%||0%||7%
 * Torag's hammers (weapon) ||-4||-4||+85||-4||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+72||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Torag's hammers (weapon) ||-4||-4||+85||-4||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+72||0||0||0%||0%||0%||0%


 * -4||-4||+85||-61||-19||+262||+260||+244||-11||+286||+105||+72||0||0||0%||10%||0%||22%
 * }

Verac the Defiled (Melee/Prayer)
Defiler: Attacks have a chance of ignoring the target's armour and any active protection prayers, potentially causing heavy damage.

Verac the Defiled's set requires 70 Defence to wear the armour and 70 Attack to wield the weapon. Verac's set used to be the only set of Barrows equipment to give a prayer bonus with each piece till the release of the Akrisae's set, which also gives more prayer bonus than the Verac's set itself. Verac 's set is still useful for players who wish to combine Melee and Prayer. The brassard does, however, give lower defensive bonuses than other Barrows platebodies; its bonuses are roughly on par with a rune platebody.

The set effect is useful for PvP activities as it can hit straight through the target's defenses. However, the effect also works on some NPCs that use protection prayers, such as the Kalphite Queen and tormented demons. For this reason, Verac's set is popular when fighting these monsters. Combined with super antifire potions, Verac's set works surprisingly well at mithril dragons, since the set effect makes short work of their high defence (when using the stab attack style).


 * Verac's helmet||0||0||0||-6||-2||+55||+58||+54||0||+56||+15||0||0||+3||0%||2%||0%||5%
 * Verac's brassard (body) ||0||0||0||-6||-2||+81||+95||+85||0||+81||+60||0||0||+5||0%||5%||0%||10%
 * Verac's plateskirt||0||0||0||-21||-7||+85||+82||+83||0||+85||+30||0||0||+4||0%||3%||0%||7%
 * Verac's flail (weapon) ||+68||-2||+82||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+72||0||+6||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Verac's plateskirt||0||0||0||-21||-7||+85||+82||+83||0||+85||+30||0||0||+4||0%||3%||0%||7%
 * Verac's flail (weapon) ||+68||-2||+82||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+72||0||+6||0%||0%||0%||0%
 * Verac's flail (weapon) ||+68||-2||+82||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+72||0||+6||0%||0%||0%||0%


 * +68||-2||+82||-33||-11||+221||+232||+222||0||+222||+105||+72||0||+18||0%||10%||0%||22%
 * }

Akrisae the Doomed (Melee/Magic/Prayer)
Doom: "Melee and Magic attacks have a chance to restore some of your prayer points." (Confirmed from RuneScape's Barrows Reward Page). This effect is similar to the Guthans replenishing set effect, but in terms of prayer.

In terms of Magic (compared to Ahrim the Blighted's set) Akrisae the Doomed's robes have lower magical accuracy, and about the same defensive bonuses. Akrisae's robes do NOT offer Magic damage bonuses; this confusion was likely caused by people reading the magic absorption percentage as magic damage percentage. The mace, however, does have a 10% magic damage bonus, and the full set also has large Prayer bonuses. In terms of Melee, the crush attack & strength bonuses are similar to Verac/Torag/Guthan attack values, but the armour is significantly less in defence (aside from its magic defence). As a result, this armour is best suited to swapping between magic and melee to hit around protection prayers, or for any activity that would require extensive amounts of prayer, because of its set effect. It can best be described as a magic prayer set with exceptionally good melee stats.


 * Akrisae's hood||0||0||0||+5||-2||+17||+12||+18||+5||+1||+15||0||0||+4||0%||5%||2%||0%
 * Akrisae's robe top||0||0||0||+20||-10||+55||+34||+66||+25||0||+60||0||0||+8||0%||10%||5%||0%
 * Akrisae's robe skirt ||0||0||0||+16||-7||+35||+29||+38||+18||0||+30||0||0||+5||0%||7%||3%||0%
 * Akrisae's war mace||+68||-2||+82||+10||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+70||0||+7||10%||0%||0%||0%
 * +68||-2||+82||+51||-19||+107||+75||+122||+48||1||+105||+70||+0||+24||10%||22%||10%||0%
 * }
 * Akrisae's war mace||+68||-2||+82||+10||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||+70||0||+7||10%||0%||0%||0%
 * +68||-2||+82||+51||-19||+107||+75||+122||+48||1||+105||+70||+0||+24||10%||22%||10%||0%
 * }
 * }

Ahrim's set

 * }

Dharok's set

 * }

Guthan's set

 * }

Karil's set

 * }

Torag's set

 * }

Verac's set

 * }

Akrisae's set

 * }

Graphical update
A new look was released at RuneFest showing an upgrade to the original 6 sets of armour. On 04 January 2012 the Barrows minigame was updated and the graves as well as the brothers and the equipment received a graphical update.

Barrow equipment Barrows esineet