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 on a daily basis. When they switch, their setup will be completely different. This means that one day you might face a pure melee side and the next day have a mixed setup of brothers. Teamwork is essential to defeat them.

A Barrows totem 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. The message is also shown in the chatbox. That brother will have a random health/time requirement before the team is thrown into the Shadow Realm. In the Shadow Realm, all brothers deal double damage (including almost all special abilities) and have a 100% hit rate.
 * For example, if Dharok says it, and the health requirement was 25,000 and time 10 seconds, after 10 seconds if Dharok reaches 25,000 life points or lower all players will be dragged into the Shadow Realm. If the Brother is defeated before the timer goes through, players will not be dragged into the Shadow Realm unless that brother recovers, with the health requirement at 25,000 or lower life points.
 * Karil's Shadow Dash bombs don't do more damage but his Bombard lightning deals more than triple damage.
 * Empowerment: If one side of the arena is empty, 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 will go to the other part of the arena to help out.
 * If there are any players in the barrier section, they must not be near the second barrier or the brothers will be unable to go over to the other side.
 * If a brother is currently defeated, the brothers will not be able to go over until all brothers are alive.
 * Healing: For each Barrows Brother defeated, all remaining active brothers heal for 5,000 life points and a bar counting to 30 seconds will appear over the defeated brothers. If this bar fills up, all defeated brothers will heal back to 25,000 life points 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%. The fight ends when all brothers are dead at the same time.

Shared
It should be noted that these abilities never occur back to back with each other. See ability rotations below.


 * The melee brothers can perform Hurricane, where a brother will spin his weapon around, dealing 300-2500 (although the damage is usually 1500+) 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. Verac rarely uses this ability.
 * Dharok, Torag and Verac can perform Wall Slam. They will run up against the side of a wall and do area damage for up to 3000 life points and hurt other players. To avoid damage, players must simply move away from the location he is about to hit.
 * Karil and Ahrim can perform Lightning Conductor and Turret of Fire respectively, where they will spin around with flaming energy releasing from their 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.
 * The brothers spin on the northern spot by default on both sides of the arena. If Karil and Ahrim are on the same side, the second brother will spin on the southern spot if the first brother is already spinning north.
 * Most tiles along the sides of the arena are safe from spin damage.
 * Both Karil and Ahrim can perform Teleport, where they will teleport to pillars north or south of the middle portal. They are immune to melee attacks while they are on the pillars, and cannot be attacked by players from the side they came from. When Karil teleports, he also performs the Bombard special. Ahrim spawns Shadow Pits. They also use standard auto attacks on players.
 * Ahrim and Karil can perform Throw, 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 initially (if a player moves under the arc after they are tossed, no damage will be taken).

Torag the Corrupted

 * When Torag hits with an auto attack, there is a 1/8 chance that the target's adrenaline is reduced by 5%.


 * Whack: 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, also rapidly resetting most defensive abilities. 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. While Torag is pummeling the player, damage dealt to him during the animation will not affect his health.
 * Players being whacked can use defensive abilities to build adrenaline and food to heal.
 * If Torag is hit by a damage-over-time attack like a bleed by his target right as he starts this attack, the player can sometimes free themselves.

Dharok the Wretched

 * Dharok's auto attacks deal more damage when his life points go down.


 * Greatest Axe: 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

 * Verac's auto attacks have a 1/8 chance to ignore the target's armour.


 * Soulspot: 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.
 * This can happen multiple times in a row if Verac can't perform any of his other specials.
 * Deathcopter: Verac will use a charging animation when he signals this attack. If any of the Brothers help Verac within 20 seconds, he will track a player with his flail, and acts similar to the melee Brother's Spin attack. This won't occur if he is the only brother standing on his side and most brothers don't help Verac perform the attack.

Guthan the Infested

 * Guthan has a 1/8 chance to heal with his auto attacks. Damage healed is equal to damage done.


 * Impale: Guthan throws his warspear at a player who he is not attacking on his side. The targeted player will suffer 400-500 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. Alternatively, the impaled player can Provoke Guthan to force him to come get the spear back.
 * If the player dies, gets pummeled by Torag, or Guthan dies, the spear is automatically sent back to him. If there is no other target that Guthan can select, he will throw it at his target instead.
 * When Guthan takes the spear back, the animation will prevent the target from moving for a moment. This can lead to deaths from Karil's bombs or lightning.
 * If Guthan is killed right as he is about to retrieve his spear, he sometimes continues attacking while dead.

Karil the Tainted

 * Karil's auto attacks have a 1/8 chance to drain the target's Attack and Magic level.


 * Portal Dash: Karil dashes into the shadows, and leaves a shadow cloud (bomb) 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 bomb 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 it can also hit players on the other side if it is close enough to the middle 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.
 * Three bombs (six total) are placed on both sides, starting from the side Karil is on.
 * If the bombs are used multiple times to teleport across, 500 more damage is added per teleport.
 * When Karil is dashing across the field, he can be attacked for a brief moment before he dashes to the other side.
 * Bombard: Karil will jump onto a pillar near the middle portal and send a line of lightning across the other side which can deal 1500 damage every 2 ticks. The lightning will go along either of the two paths of stones in the room, randomly going north-to-south or south-to-north. Players should Surge against the way the lightning is going or run against it. It can deal very high damage, hitting 3 times intially if the player does not move.
 * This is the most dangerous attack, even more dangerous than bombs as it is capable of killing players easily in the Shadow Realm as there it can hit 5000 to 6000 per 2 ticks.

Ahrim the Blighted

 * Ahrim attacks with Blood spells, which means he will heal himself for a portion of the damage he deals. His auto attacks also have a 1/8 chance to drain the target's Strength level.
 * Flight: Ahrim levitates into the air for a set duration. Ahrim is immune to melee attacks and takes reduced damage (50%) from magic attacks. Ranged attacks will still do full damage to him. He initially does this as soon as he loses 5000 hitpoints, and stays in the air for 2 minutes before coming back down.
 * Note: While Ahrim is in the air, he will only use his Shadow Pits ability until he comes down. Therefore it is advised to damage Ahrim enough to trigger his levitate early on in the fight so that you will not have to worry about him stalling with his other specials when it is time to focus on him.
 * Shadow Pits: When Ahrim teleports to the wall, he will spawn 8 gas clouds on the opposite side of the field. There are two kinds; purple and red. Purple ones deal up to 500 damage on players who stand on them. Red clouds are less common and heal brothers by 500.
 * Note: On Ahrim's side, he will conjure the clouds up one at a time.
 * The clouds don't always despawn after the fight ends, so be careful when looting the chest.

Special Ability Rotations
Note that every brother's attack rotation begins at a random point of the rotation when the fight starts. The first special move is completely random, but the next move will still be the same as in other instances.

For example, in one instance Karil may start with S-L-B (spin, lightning, bombs, spin...), while in another he may do B-S-L (bombs, spin, lightning, bombs...).

The number of standard auto attacks between abilities seems to be random. The Throw ability of Karil/Ahrim stalls the next special and is randomly performed when possible. Verac's Deathcopter requires certain brothers to be on his side and near him or it won't happen (Guthan/Torag?).

Karil
Spin -> Lightning -> Bombs -> Repeat

Ahrim
Flight (after 5000 life points lost), will not use spin attack or Throw while in air

Melee brothers
Hurricane (spin) -> Impale/Whack/Greatest Axe -> Wall Slam (if near wall, can be skipped?) -> Repeat

Verac
He usually only spins once after revival. Most of the time he uses his soul bind and rarely uses his Deathcopter

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, has level 90 equipment and is facing a pure melee side; otherwise it is not worth bringing along. Magic or melee should not be used on Ahrim due to his Flight ability.


 * Spell: Blood Barrage / any Barrage/Surge spell

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 and Berserk: Helpful for dealing extra damage onto the brothers.
 * Sunshine and Death's Swiftness can be used, but make sure that it is timed correctly. If the brothers drag the arena into the Shadow Realm, the effect areas of these abilities will disappear from the field!
 * Provoke: To get the Barrow Brother off a player and onto you, and to make Guthan take his spear off you.
 * 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.
 * Resonance: Alternatively, you can use this ability on Dharok's attack to score a free full heal. Requires a shield.

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. Skilled players can get by with using Rocktails or sharks.
 * Saradomin brew - Can provide supplemental healing and is useful in situations where adrenaline must be conserved.
 * 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 or using Resonance on Dharok's "Give me everything!" attack.
 * Super prayer flask/Prayer flask/Super Restore - Especially useful when fighting Verac's side.
 * Adrenaline potion/Replenishment potion - For reaching thresholds faster after using damage boosting ultimates.
 * Overloads/Overload combination potions (substitute with what you can use if you cannot use them)
 * Elite Enhanced Excalibur

Familiars
A beast of burden familiar is highly recommended, for doing multiple kills per trip. Pack 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 can recover the damage from special attacks.

Nihils can also be used to bring a little offense and add a 5% accuracy bonus (along with other bonuses with an ice nihil), which can make a difference between a successful and failed kill, but will create more banking trips.

Tunnel
The tunnel between the entrance and the fight arena is randomly generated. 0 to 4 bridges can spawn. It is recommended to re-create the instance if 4 bridges spawn, as it's harder to escape without taking major damage.

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 message appears saying "As you defeat (Barrows Brother), the shadow engulfs the remaining wights!". When this happens, the other brothers gain 5000 of their life points back. The defeated brother also heals in the Shadow Realm and it is signified as a bar over them. The bar takes 30 seconds to fill, and If it is filled, a message says "The shadow bond is restored between the brothers, bringing back lost combatants." Brothers that revive restore half of their maximum life points and join back in the fight. Usually when a melee brother is brought back into the fight, they will spin at their target, so players should be ready to move when they get close to them.

Avoid attacking the brother who activates the Shadow Realm; the kill may become significantly harder if he drags the whole team there early in the fight, unless that brother is Karil. Target the other brothers, not attacking the Brother who said this, unless it is Karil (or Torag because of his ability to hinder damage on his side), following the killing order as follows:
 * Suggested killing order: Karil > Torag > Guthan > Dharok > Ahrim > Verac
 * If Karil and Torag are both on the same side, target Karil first, then Torag. If a side such as KDV occurs, it is important to attack Dharok after Karil is dead (unless Dharok is the wight who said it), as Dharok's "Give me everything!" attack can mean restarting the fight if he times it correctly. Verac is always targeted last because he does not have any unique ability which is considered dangerous.
 * This killing order may vary depending on who is on your side. Have priority over who should be attacked first by looking at the order above. If fighting them one one side, this is the suggested order to kill them.
 * If a formation such as KDV (Karil, Dharok, Verac) occurs, Dharok should have priority over Verac as his "Give me everything!" attack is often viewed as a stalling attack, which can be dangerous if his life points are high enough and the only brother left on the field.

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 regardless if he is the Brother who can launch the team into the Shadow Realm, because bombs, spins and lightning are usually the cause of most deaths if he is still alive. If he dashes into the shadows, he will set a bomb off on the side he is in, and appear on the other side; he will do nothing until that bomb goes off. Players should deal as much damage to Karil when he appears on his side to shorten his chances of killing a player later on. If both Karil and Torag are on the same side, Karil should be targeted first, then Torag. If you are being pummeled by Torag and a bomb is near you, eat up to at least 9000 lifepoints (the maximum a bomb can deal is 8,000 when right next to it) as Torag's pummels deal 250 damage rapidly every two ticks.

If the damage dealt by the melee brothers are too great, it is advised to run in a straight line back and forth while using non-channeling abilities (channeling ones like Rapid Fire will make the player vulnerable to their abilities/get hurt more). If done properly, the melee brothers should be chasing after you. This is helpful especially when your partner has died on a side containing Torag, as his pummel means certain death for the player if he uses it. Melee brothers do not use their shared/unique abilities unless they can attack their target.

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. However, when using magic against the Shadow Realm brother, Metamorphosis is recommended because if they drag you to the Shadow Realm, it will cancel out the effects of Sunshine. Try to lure the melee brothers who can perform Wall Slam near the walls to delay their next ability, as it can save lots of time when they are the last brother to kill. Once all the Brothers are defeated simultaneously, the portal collapses and the players on the east can hop over to the west. Loot the chest before leaving.

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 shortcut. When 30 seconds are up, bombs start exploding, rapidly dealing over 1000 damage. Spam clicking obstacles/exit rope slightly stalls the damage.

Rebank at Burgh de Rott if needed. Tell your team when you need to bank so everyone can bank at the same time.

Running the Brothers
Damage from the melee brothers can be completely avoided if the player continuously runs while using abilities. Walking for even a brief moment lets them attack. This also stalls their special attacks as they occur after a certain (random?) number of auto attacks.

Karil and Ahrim can be walked by going under them and then continuing walking towards the direction they moved.