Balance Elemental

The Balance Elemental is an enemy fought during While Guthix Sleeps and one of the Guardians of Guthix on duty to protect the Stone of Jas. It is currently the 11th strongest monster in RuneScape and the fourth strongest quest monster available to fight with conventional methods, after the Decaying Avatar, the Pest Queen and Nomad. It could be linked to the Chaos Elemental, according to Reldo in an edition of Postbag from the Hedge. It speaks about the player as if they have already met, and the player has already died.

The Balance Elemental is fight-able as a class C boss monster in the Dominion Tower minigame if the player has completed While Guthix Sleeps.

Habitat
The Balance Elemental lives in the temple where the Stone of Jas is found. Lucien appears immediately after defeating it and finally, at the end of the quest, Tormented Demons are fought. According to its duel card, the Balance elemental exists in multiple dimensions at once, a state known as straddling.

The Balance Elemental uses all attack styles, and changes appearance for each: A stone club signifies that it is attacking with melee, a flaming bow ranged, and blue spike protruding from its head mean magic attacks. It also uses a stat draining attack which is a rock-like missile. God spells do not work against this monster.

The Fight


The Balance Elemental will appear from the Stone of Jas once a player touches it. It begins the fight using Ranged, but will readily switch to other attack types. Like players, there is a small delay when it switches combat styles, and it usually uses that same attack for 3-4 hits in a row. It is advisable to fight it using Ranged or Magic (be careful however, the stat drain will affect your spell casting) and get it stuck on some of the rubble around the room so that it cannot use its melee attack. The Stone of Jas itself can be used as a Safespot, and a familiar can be used to block as well. If the Elemental's melee attack is disabled in this way, switching prayer is a lot easier, with the bow and the blue spikes being clear indications of which prayer to use. Food must then only be eaten to replenish the health lost through the stat draining attacks.

One tactic is to immediately run to the other side of the Stone of Jas as soon as the Elemental appears and then completely out of its target range. This will allow time to plan a strategy as the player will no longer be targeted and the elemental will simply stand in place allowing for positioning before the first strike.

A good tactic for lower levelled players against the elemental, is to quickly poison the elemental, possibly with Dragon Dagger (P++) special attacks, and use prayer to protect from its attacks. Every time it loses approximately 1/3 of its health, the elemental will engage in conversation. It will still take poison damage while talking, allowing for it to be beaten with minimal risk. If the conversation is interrupted, however, it will resume attacking, so players should take great care so that their prayer does not run out. Armour with high prayer bonuses can be very useful in prolonging prayer.



Strategy
Wear black dragonhide for armour, with at least 200 rune bolts or better and a Dragon sq shield. For equipment carry one Prayer potion, one Super restore, one Super attack, Super defence and Super strength. Use a one click-teleport for quick escape. Have a Rune crossbow ready to go and fill the rest of the spaces with sharks.

For the melee weapon use a Dragon Battleaxe or dragon scimitar.

Before touching the stone, use the axe's special and drink a dose of each super potion. Summon the Elemental and turn on protect from magic (keep it on).

Jump to crossbow when he switches to melee, but beware as he still has his rockthrowing ability. He shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to bring down. Follow this strategy for an easy way to defeat it.

Note: If you die during the battle, your gravestone will appear next to Movario and Darve in the Tears of Guthix cave.

See While Guthix Sleeps for more extensive details on how the elemental fights and how to fight it.


 * 1) The Balance Elemental talks to the player as if it knows the player. Additionally, it talks in the past tense, using phrases like "used to" and "what you always told me," and also the fact that the player died "a glorious death." Provided that the elemental states that it had attended the player's funeral, it is likely that it was originally human, also that it has travelled through time, and was blessed by Guthix to gain a greater form, such as Fiara and Juna. Juna knew the Balance Elemental was in the temple, and calls you an enemy of Guthix if you tell her you defeated it. It may also mean, however, that it has met the player their past life.
 * 2) It may also be possible that the Balance Elemental knew the player in a previous life, in which he/she probably had the same looks and personality. Judging by what the elemental says about the player's teachings, he/she most likely would have been Guthixian at the time of his/her death, which would have been at a young age.
 * 3) The phrase the elemental says at its death is, most likely, part of Guthix's speech at the moment when it became the Balance Elemental and one of the Guardians of Guthix, at a moment when Guthix would be listing its duties as the Guardian of the Stone of Jas, one of which would be to protect it until its death, when it would be blessed with a blissful afterlife back in its "home plane". This may hint that it possibly came from another dimension, like the Mahjarrat or the Goraks.

Fast ranged method
If a player has a ranged level of at least 70( players with lower stats may find it a bit longer, but all the more easy) players should bring around 150 ruby bolts(e)(more if the player has lower stats) and 100 diamond bolts(e), along with a ranging potion and super restore potions. Saradoming brews may be quite effective but do not use them during the battle against the tormented demons(they reduce your boosted stats from the Stone of Jas). Sharks will do enough, however. Don't get too absorbed with these bolts and brews and potions that you forget to bring the bow!

Immediately after the cutscene of the elemental appearing, do not click "Click here to continue" ,simply run to the other side of the stone. The elemental will not target you, and wander aimlessly. Drink your saradomin brew, restore potion and ranging potion(in that order to maximize boost), equip ruby bolts(e) and attack the balance elemental. You should do around 300-500 damage when the special effect occurs(you do the most damage if its at full health). After the elemental is down to half-health(or 3/8 health if your ranged level is lower), switch to diamond bolts(e) to kill the elemental. With 75 ranged, it will take under 40 seconds to kill the balance elemental this way.

Quotes
During the fight, the Balance Elemental will speak at 5 intervals; on appearance, at 2/3, 1/2, and 1/3 health, and on death.
 * By order of the Governance of Guthix, what rights do you have here? What? Perhaps some violence will make you understand? (When it appears.)
 * Do you know what (player name)? I've really missed you. Your funeral was just such a lovely event. What do you...? Oh, well, back on with the fight... I'm enjoying it, are you? (At 2/3 health).
 * And what was it you used to say to me? Oh, I remember it well, since it was yesterday. Ah, well, I guess you know better than anyone that the good die young! What are you trying...? The bloom of youth only lasts so long. What can any of us really aspire to but a glorious death, and yours was glorious. (At 1/2 health.)
 * Oh, and the other days someone else was talking about how much they missed you. How you used to light up the place with your laughter, but its all gone now. But you know that better than any of us! You don't make any sense at all! But of course, its always nice to talk, though, and 'manners maketh the man' is what you always told me. (At 1/3 health.)
 * "And to protect the stone until such time as, near to death, whereby you are relieved of all duties and shall henceforth be returned to your home plane with the blessings and gratitude of Guthix." (On death.)

Updates

 * 16 December 2008 update: The Balance Elemental has become wise to your tricks, and will now fight as originally intended, varying his attack styles with your prayers. Make sure you're fully prepared before you attempt to engage this foe.

Trivia

 * The Balance Elemental's body parts are composed of the four basic elements, as of head and body of splashing water, two arms of fire, two arms and two feet of earth and legs of air, thus, the monster's examine text.
 * Reldo mentioned in a postbag from the hedge, the Balance Elemental is connected to the Chaos Elemental.
 * The Runescape duel cards mention it can exist in more that one dimension at a time.
 * It is possible that the Balance Elemental's dialogue while fighting it is a reference to GLaDOS from the game Portal.

Balance Elemental Balance Elemental