Barbarian Assault/Strategies


 * ''This is a guide on playing Barbarian Assault. For the main article, see Barbarian Assault.

Equipment strategy
There are some advantages and disadvantages to different types of weapons and armour while playing Barbarian Assault.

Rune, Dragonhide or Granite armour is recommended. Of these, Rune is a better candidate for Waves 1-9, as all damage received will be either Melee or Range. The Queen in Wave 10 attacks by Ranging, and her spawn use Melee, so granite is recommended for this wave.

Example equipment for melee:




 * Berserker helm or Helm of Neitiznot
 * Granite body or Fighter torso
 * Dragon longsword or Dragon scimitar
 * Obsidian shield
 * Rune platelegs or Dragon platelegs
 * Climbing boots or Dragon boots or Boots of lightness
 * (Note that it is not beneficial to weild a Rune Defender, as the Obsidian Shield will give the same strength bonus. In BA, attacking with the correct combat style never misses, so the attack bonus of the Rune Defender is pointless, whereas the high ranging defence of the Obsidian Shield is very helpful.)

Example equipment for maging:
 * Full void knight robes with void magic helm or Ahrim's robes
 * Mystic air staff
 * Dragon boots or Boots of lightness or Runner boots
 * God book or Mage's book

Example equipment for ranging:
 * Full Black dragonhide armour with Archer helm or Armadyl armour
 * Magic bow or Dark bow
 * Ranger boots or Boots of lightness or Runner boots

Gameplay strategy
The game is not as straightforward as it sounds, and there are many ways your team can maximize the points earned. The following strategies outline some tactics for your team to earn high points each round, but remember the basic rule: Always call out the correct action each time it changes. If you don't call, you and your teammates get penalized. Note that every person has a differant way of playing and as such this strategy should not be considered the only way to play.

Attacker
Although using a slower weapon may hinder your ability to kill quickly, it helps prevent penalties due to incorrect attack styles, since you usually cannot stop fast weapons quickly enough when the attack styles change. Auto-retaliate should also be turned off to prevent accidental incorrect attacks. Killing monsters slowly also allows the collector to collect all the eggs before they disappear.

Lower-leveled players should remember to use a shield so you don't die easily. High leveled players can also bring a set of Guthans for emergency healing when the healers are busy healing other near-death players. (When healing, you can only use the controlled or defensive styles. However, if it is a real emergency, you can use the spear when the attack styles are accurate or aggressive. You still get healed even if you don't do damage, but it costs your team honour points.)

After you kill most of the the monsters, gather near the healing pool and allow the healer to replenish your HP as you get hit for more honour points per round. in wave 10, you can switch to a faster weapon because there are no penalties. The attacker level does not matter much, since the damage still depends on your strength level.

Remember to call out when it changes if you want the collector to call back. Attackers should always try and have the horn menu open on right-click, when the attack type changes clicking the egg colour will stop attacks.

Collector
It is recommended that the honour points earned in this role NOT be used to level up your collector level, since most players consider higher collector levels all but useless. However keep in mind that at level 2 you get access to egg converter, and the higher role level, the more eggs you can gather in bag.

By collecting as many eggs as possible, you earn honour points, so collect blue eggs anyway even if they have no practical use. Call out to the attacker when the style changes if you want the egg colour called to you. When you have 5+ poison and explosive eggs, deposit into the egg launcher for the defender and other idle teammates to use against the penance runners. If you have a full inventory but cannot deposit into the egg launcher since it's full, use the egg converter to rid yourself of most of your eggs. This is another reason why you should not level up your collector level; the egg destruction method works best at level 2. You cannot use egg converter when level 1 collector. During gameplay, it is important that the egg launcher be used to kill runners whenever possible, to prevent high penalties of runners gotten away. This is valid only if defender has problems with luring runners to trap(s).

The egg launcher looks virtually useless against other monsters (Except omega eggs by the Penance Queen) due to their high HP, however if they are being hit by a large amount of poison or explosive eggs, coupled with attackers and/or healers, it would do considerable damage. If the penance are grouped together as attacking penance often do, hitting one will cause a area effect damage hitting them all. During wave 10, before the queen comes you can stand at the horn of glory to call out, and it would be great if red eggs are deposited into the hopper to kill runners since you cannot attack the queen unless they are all killed.

There are times though that a level 5 collector does come in handy as you can pick up any egg type and convert the eggs into red; getting red eggs into the cannon faster then a normal level 2 collector who has to wait for the cycle to give him red eggs.

Defender
This is perhaps one of the most difficult jobs to master. The defender level of a player greatly affects performance, since the lure range determined if runners are stopped or not. One way to stop runners from reaching the lure cave is by dropping a straight line of random types of bait parallel to the south wall, as it is almost an impenetrable barrier that stops runners from getting past. There is no penalty for using the wrong type of bait, and there is also no penalty for using the egg launcher, so you can put up a line of bait and use explosive/poison eggs instead. Two explosive eggs or 5 poison eggs kill a runner. Remember to call to the healer frequently. You can also block the caves when you are finished dropping the baits, since it makes the game much less chaotic. (Using the cave blocking method will only slow you down and can be avoided if you play defender right and keep the bait line in place, and keep an eye out for the occasional single runner that gets past on the far left side.) In wave 10 you can lure the runners to the lure cave instead, since no penalties are given for runners that got past. It is also a lot faster and easier to do so. Because the collector may not get the eggs loaded fast enough, here is a good strategy for actually getting them to the trap...

As soon as the wave starts, get the food and run straight for the trap. Drop 2 of the correct food on the trap or on a square next to it. Place a line of food from the trap to the hammer. This will distract and lure runners coming out of the cave. Grab a hammer and logs and head right back for the trap to fix it and lay 2 more food. After this, look for any runners which may have gotten past and lure them back to the trap with a trail of food. Note - you need to drop the correct food on the trap to kill the runners but do not need the correct food to lure them in a certain direction. The trap is good for killing 2 runners before it needs to be repaired. It's also a good idea to stick to one trap so that you don't have to run back and forth. The amount of runners you will have is one more than the wave you are on. For instance... in wave one, you will have 2 runners, in wave two, 3 runners, and so on.

Healer
The healer level is only second in importance compared to the defender level. The amount of HP restored per dose can greatly affect a team's survival chances. If the team does not have two healers, it is important for you to heal first and kill healers later.

You can drop a poison pack into healers once in a while when you are near one, but by concentrating on healing you ensure the team's survival. On a team with two healers, the higher leveled healer will concentrate on healing while the lower leveled healer kill the penance healers. On every wave except wave 10, the more hitpoints healed, the more honour points earned from healing. (It's capped at 511.) On wave 10, two healers is an absolute necessity since the penance queen damages very frequently. The higher leveled healer will heal the players as they gather around the healing pool, while the lower leveled healer will make the omega eggs. Killing healers will be easier since you can just try the poison packs instead of waiting for calls.

Because of the complexity of the Defender's job, Healers are often the ones who need to keep up on their calling the most. Although healing is top priority to avoid losing a teammate, failing to update the Defender on proper bait can result in the loss of a lot of points and a long time waiting for all Runners to be killed.

Collector
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Defender #1
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Defender #2
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