Phoenix Lair

Phoenix Lair is part of Distractions and Diversions and was released on 6 January 2009 along with the quest In Pyre Need. Players must have completed the quest to do Phoenix Lair. Players are able to complete this once per day, similar to killing Bork in the Chaos Tunnels: The Hunt for Surok.

Players must navigate through a series of caverns and fight against massive, magma-filled 'reborn' monstrosities. There are three types of guardians, each covering one side of the combat triangle and have levels ranging up to 128. The cavern is multicombat and will most likely kill players who are not properly prepared.

In each of the first five caverns, players must use Secateurs to cut twigs from the trees in the caverns, so that they can build the phoenix's pyre in the last cavern. Sacred clay armour is handy here as players can use the "operate" feature while it is equiped to switch between melee and ranged armour.

In the final cavern, the player uses a Knife to fletch each twig into a ribbon. Using the ribbons on the large pyre area will then call the phoenix to battle.

The phoenix is level 235 and its main attack is magic based. It also has a dust attack, which lowers Attack, Range, and Magic level by approximately 50 percent for a short time, nullifying Attack potions. Dust attacks are not affected by Protect from Magic, perhaps because they do no damage to health.

When the Phoenix has been defeated, it crawls onto the pyre. The player can use a Tinderbox to set the pyre alight. The phoenix is consumed by the flames and then reborn. Once it reappears, talk to it to receive the reward.

Cavern effects
The caverns have some strange effects that seem to hinder some abilities:
 * Summoning familiars may not move from cavern to cavern with you. Familiars seem to have a tendency to get stuck in the caverns and cannot be 'called' from the Summoning interface. So, players should not plan to have access to any ability of a familiar (such as supplies stored on a beast of burden). This problem can be fixed in normal circumstances in other areas of the game by logging out and logging back in again. However, if you log out in the cave you will lose your twigs and log in outside the entrance of the cavern.
 * Some players have reported not being able to teleport out of the caverns. If this happens, a player can right-click a cavern doorways and choose 'Escape cavern'. That action exits the player to the surface. If a player has 72 Summoning, exiting the cave is recommended over teleporting because of the chance, however small, of getting lost in the caves and finding a Phoenix (pet)

Location
Phoenix Lair is near the Piscatoris Fishing Colony. Players can get to the area by walking or by one of these faster methods:
 * Take the rowboat west of the Tree Gnome Stronghold (may cost 50 coins).
 * Use Fairy ring AKQ (requires partial completion of Fairytale II - Cure a Queen).
 * Use the Eagle transport system (requires completion of Eagles' Peak).
 * Teleport to the Piscatoris Woodland using a Spirit kyatt's ability (requires level 57 Summoning and a Spirit kyatt pouch).

Maps of the lair
The order of the dungeons are different for each player, however the order of the trees are the same. An example of possible maps is shown below.

Preparations
It is highly recommended that you use Prayer in this area. Since multiple foes using different Attack styles will attack you at the same time, it is also highly recommended that you use armour with high defence stats. If you are using melee armour, you should use Protect from Magic if there is a magic foe attacking you. If you are using ranged armour you should use protect from Melee if there is a melee foe attacking you.

The recommended minimum stats for going there are:
 * 70 Attack and 70 strength or 70 Ranged
 * 70 Defence
 * 43 Prayer

The recommended inventory is:
 * A tinderbox, a knife and secateurs (all required)
 * 2 Prayer potions (3 to be safe)
 * 1 Super attack potion, Super defence potion, and Super strength potion (replace Super attack and strength by Ranging potions if ranging)
 * 1 One-click teleport out (like teletabs) (Some players have reported not being able to teleport out. If this happens you can right click the cavern doorways and choose "Escape cavern" to go to the surface.)
 * About 15 pieces of high healing food (Monkfish, Tuna potato, or Sharks)
 * 5 empty inventory slots (for the branches you will gather). Food can be eaten to deal with this, but plan on eating food in these inventory slots even if you don't need to heal.

The outfit for going to the Phoenix Lair is pretty much your choice, but keep what mentioned earlier in mind: If you're using armour which lowers magic defence, its recommended that you use magic prayer whenever you're being attacked by a magic foe, and if you use range armour, protect from melee would be preferred when you're using range armour like dragonhide armour. Again, Sacred clay armour is useful as you can switch between armour styles while wearing it.

Suggested tactics

 * Bring Spirit Wolves along with Howl Scrolls so as to scare away the guardians if you get cornered or blocked and can't get past them.
 * If you have completed the As a First Resort... quest, visit the spa at Oo'glog to boost your prayer, hit points, and run energy. If you can use Fairy rings, you can use AKS to go to the Feldip Hills, run south to Oo'glog, use the spa pools, run north to the fairy ring, and then use AKQ to go to the lair.
 * Make your combat preparations before you enter the first cavern: drink any potions, turn on prayer, turn on run, etc.
 * Each of the first five caverns has several choke points where the reborn monsters block you. The monster will not leave the choke point, so you must kill it before you can pass through. At a minimum, you will encounter one choke point in each of these caverns.
 * Don't bother fletching the twigs until you arrive in the Phoenix's cavern. It is a waste of time before hand, and can be dangerous.
 * The other monsters can block you, but they can move. If one is blocking you, try running away to see if it moves. If it does, run around it and move on. If you can get a monster into a wider cavern and use a binding spell you can block the monster and run on.
 * A very effective tactic is to wear high-defence melee armour like Barrows equipment, Bandos boots, etc. The armour will be very effective against the reborn monsters that use melee and ranged. Therefore, just use Protect from Magic to guard against the reborn mages.
 * If you are only interested in fighting the phoenix, do not wait around for the drops from the reborn to appear. This wastes time when you could be running on. One exception is if you are running out of food: sometimes the reborn monsters drop lobsters or curry.
 * Do not log out during a run of the lair or you will have to start over.
 * When you reach the phoenix's cavern, you can turn off prayer while you get ready for the final battle. The phoenix will not appear until you prepare the pyre. Drink your potions to top up your combat abilities. It may not be worth drinking super attack potions here, though, as the phoenix's dust attack will lower your attack for a few seconds, which then resets to its normal level.
 * The shrine in this cavern is not an Altar and so you cannot recharge prayer points here. If you will use prayer against the phoenix, make sure you top up with a prayer potion if you are low on points.
 * If you've gotten to this point in fairly good shape, the phoenix should not be too difficult to beat. Just use Protect from Magic constantly and attack it until its hit bar is depleted and it crawls onto the pyre. Watch your pray points very carefully, and be prepared to run if you have run out of prayer potions & prayer points.
 * Once you beat the phoenix, make sure you talk to it after it is reborn or you will not get your reward!

Monsters
The reborn can travel via pools of lava that spontaneously appear in your path.
 * Greater reborn mage
 * Greater reborn warrior
 * Greater reborn ranger
 * Lesser reborn mage
 * Lesser reborn warrior
 * Lesser reborn ranger
 * Phoenix

Drops
Note that the phoenix itself does not drop anything, but will give 5 Phoenix quills when talked to after the battle.

Other Food Ranging Herbs Talismans Charms Potions Herblore ingredients Seeds Weapons and Armour
 * Coins
 * Silver ore (4 noted)
 * Uncut sapphire (common)
 * Gold ore (3)
 * Battlestaff
 * Ashes
 * Adamantite ore (2)
 * Adamantite limbs
 * Mithril bolts
 * Curry
 * Lobster
 * Crossbow string (1-3 noted)
 * Bow string (3 noted)
 * Rune arrows
 * Adamant arrows (10)
 * Grimy ranarr
 * Chaos talisman
 * Fire talisman
 * Gold charm
 * Green charm
 * Crimson charm
 * Blue charm
 * Ranging potion (2 doses)
 * Super attack potion (1 dose)
 * Super defence potion (1, 2 dose)
 * Super strength potion (2 doses)
 * Red spiders' eggs (5, 7 noted)
 * White berries (1)
 * Dwarf weed seed
 * Toadflax seed
 * Watermelon seed
 * Mithril mace
 * Adamant mace
 * Mithril kiteshield

Rewards
Reward for completing the phoenix's 'challenge' each time:
 * 7,500 Firemaking experience
 * 3,000 Fletching experience
 * 1,000 Crafting experience
 * 500 Slayer experience (NOTE: 5,000 Slayer experience the first time you defeat the phoenix)
 * 5 Phoenix quills
 * A chance to receive a phoenix egg. A Cute phoenix eggling can be hatched by clapping. A Mean Phoenix Eggling can be hatched by kicking. You can have one of each. Level 72 Summoning is required.

External link

 * Runescape article on the Phoenix Lair