Telos, the Warden/Strategies

Telos, the Warden is initially a level 2,000 combat monster who is fought in phases.

Gear
Any combat style can be used. Magic and melee are recommended, since magic has access to Dragon Breath, which helps clear out minions. Magic also has high defence versus melee attacks, which Telos mainly uses throughout the fight. Melee has access to the Scrimshaws of Vampyrism, which can heal a considerable amount of health throughout the fight. If using melee, a Noxious Scythe is useful for its AoE abilities to clear out minions.

It is recommended to bring a shield switch as some of Telos's attacks can be blocked/healed off by using Resonance and Barricade. An arcane, elysian or divine spirit shield can be brought to further reduce damage from his attacks for beginners.

Other recommended items to bring along for the fight would be items that will reduce Telos' defense and increase his affinities, as accuracy is extremely vital on higher enrages. Such items include the Illuminated Book of War, Guthix staff (magic) and Statius's warhammer (melee).

Enrage
The fight starts at 0% enrage, where Telos has 400,000 health (4 phases of 100,000 health each). Enrage is gained differently at Telos; upon checking your rewards, you have the option to either grab it (which will reset his rage if it is accumulated) or leave it. If you leave the rewards, a second interface will open and the player will spin for enrage, which varies from 5-25%.

When starting a new kill (not killstreak), players can customize Telos's enrage, anywhere from 0 to whatever enrage they have reached.

Every 1% of enrage will add 10 combat levels (to both Telos and his golems), increase his health by 1000 and damage slightly. Higher enrage levels will result in greater thresholds from his bind and font siphoning.

After 50% enrage, the player will receive colored debuffs (signified by a green, red or black skull on your buff bar), which deal constant ticks of damage over time. In order to remove the debuffs, the player has to stand in the corresponding colored anima beam (see below).

After 100% enrage, a fifth phase will appear.

The Fight
Telos primarily attacks with melee, although he will use magic only at specific phases, or if his target is too far from him. He is bindable/stunnable and susceptible to poison, and so dreadnips are recommended for both of these purposes. However, at higher enrage he has the ability to break free from stuns. Damage can also be reflected, and so it is strongly recommended to use Deflect Melee/Deflect Magic, depending on what Telos attacks you with.

When fighting Telos, try to maximize your screen view, as Telos is very tall and his abilities are not shown in the game box. This will help players, especially beginners, know what attack he is using and prepare for it.

Telos has access to the following special attacks. Note that he can only use "Return to the ground" on phase 1 and 2; he can use the other two abilities on any phase (except phase 5). Telos always uses one full set of abilities before recycling it again.


 * Hold still, Invader - Before this, Telos pauses, leaning forward and turning to the right with tentacles flailing. Telos will say this and stun the player, while dealing a high hitting melee-hit. After doing this, he will leap in the air and land, dealing 4,000+ typeless damage reducing with distance. If you get caught under him, he will disable your protection prayers for several seconds.
 * Freedom immediately as Telos stuns you, and run away. Players can use Anticipate instead, provided that they use it before he smashes them with his arm. If using Anticipate beforehand, equip a shield and quickly use Deflect, Devotion or Resonance to reduce as much damage on higher enrages and/or heal from it.
 * On high enrage, players should Resonance to heal a large amount of health rather then tanking it.
 * Return to the ground - Telos will snare you in vines that do over 200 typeless damage every tick (in addition to rapidly draining adrenaline)  while healing Telos for up to 1,500 health each tick. To escape the vines, you must deal 3,000+ damage (depending on enrage) to Telos. If you take too long to deal enough damage, Telos will eventually let go after a while.
 * If you are using magic/ranged, Telos will bind you at the spot. If you are using melee and are at a distance from him, he will drag you to him instead.
 * Damage does not need to be done when the game prompts you to attack him; damage registers immediately once he starts the ability, meaning a well-timed threshold can prevent Telos from healing himself and damaging the player.
 * Gielinor, give me strength! - Telos faces the player and prepares to charge. After a large delay, Telos will surge towards the player and uppercut the air, dealing a melee attack (which does typeless damage)
 * This attack can be blocked by Resonance (but not healed from), or by using surge when Telos is about to hit.
 * For best results when using Surge, try to Surge in a direction Telos is not facing.

In phases 1 and 4, Telos will create an anima bomb (different from the instakill/weak version at phase 4). The yellow stream during phase 1 and draining from the fonts in phase 4 will fill up Telos's bar. When this bar is filled, Telos will exclaim "SO... MUCH... POWER!" and send an anima bomb flying at the player. This will deal 5,555+ damage (increasing with enrage), but can be reduced/blocked. Like his uppercut attack, Resonance can block but will not heal from it.

In the first three phases, anima beams of a certain colour will appear. They each have different abilities that can benefit and harm you. Standing in a beam will block it from continuing in its direction. If Telos stands in the beam, Telos's special bar increases faster. After a while, the beam will disappear and will eventually return, flowing in a different area.

Phase 1

 * Green anima beam - Standing in this beam will give you a rapid adrenaline increase (in intervals of 10%), but you will also lose prayer points at the same time.

For the first phase, Telos will only cycle through his three attacks. Take advantage of the beams by standing in them and attacking Telos.

Telos uses the attacks in the following rotation:
 * Several auto-attacks
 * Tendrils
 * Several auto-attacks
 * Uppercut
 * Several auto-attacks
 * Stun attack
 * Repeats

After Telos loses 25% of his lifepoints, the next cycle will begin. Telos will slam the ground, breaking the platform (similar to Vorago); however, this does not deal any damage and the player automatically moves to the next platform.

Phase 2

 * Black anima beam - Standing in this beam will cause you to take less damage, but deal less damage.

Like in phase 1, Telos will focus on using melee attacks and cycle through his three abilities. Lure Telos out from the black beams if he is in them; on higher enrages, you should stay on the black beam whenever he does his "Hold still, invader." attack. Telos will discharge this anima through more powerful magic attacks. This can be easily predicted; when Telos starts his magic barrage, he pauses for several seconds.

Telos will continue his magical barrage as long as his bar is filled. Telos will initially start with his standard magic attacks; however, as time passes, this will eventually change into red-yellowish projectiles, and finally red projectiles if his bar is still filled. These magic attacks become increasingly powerful, being able to hit very high even through prayer if they go on for long enough. Telos will stop using magic attacks when the bar is depleted and resume with melee attacks. Dealing damage to Telos reduces the bar. If the bar is near or completely filled, it is a must to stand on the black stream. Use Devotion/Debilitate only when red-yellow/red projectiles appear while standing on the black stream to reduce as much damage as possible.

Phase 3

 * Red anima beam - Standing in this beam will cause you to take more damage while dealing more damage, in addition to lowering Telos's bar. If Telos stands in the beam, the bar increases and his attacks deal 30% more damage.
 * Unlike the previous two beams, the red beam spawns anywhere on the arena (will never aim for Telos when it spawns, compared to the other two beams unless he is in its path).

This is the phase where you must do as much damage as possible quickly, since this phase can deplete a lot of food. Switch to Protect/Deflect Magic, as Telos will only use magic attacks during this phase. However, he is still able to use the "Hold still, invader" special, which deals melee damage. Move out of the stream (if you are in it) and switch to Protect/Deflect Melee immediately to reduce his damage.

Throughout this phase, there is a new bar on the top of the interface that displays Telos's charge to a shockwave. This bar fills with the anima stream hitting him, and from three anima-golems which will appear one at a time. The anima-golems, upon reaching 0 hitpoints, will simply collapse on the ground; after a while, they will rise up again. When this bar is filled, Telos will unleash shockwaves dealing up to 2,000 damage (increasing with enrage, and can be reduced). Players should note that he may continually use it, but will stop when he is out of the red section at the right.

The red area of the bar expands at higher enrages.

Players should get rid of the golems whenever they appear to prevent them from overcharging Telos. The golems do not have a lot of hitpoints, and can be easily taken down in one hit. However, the bar should be kept in consideration, as if it reaches far left, Telos will start draining the player's adrenaline and prayer to charge himself.

Phase 4
In this area there are three fonts that are necessary to stand under. Telos will occasionally send a weaker anima bomb at the player, dealing up to 2500 damage. It will then cause a small bleed, which can be removed by standing next to any font. The bleed also rapidly drains overload timers by 15 seconds. Try to always stand under a font to cleanse this effect as soon as possible.

Like in phases 1 and 2, Telos will only use melee attacks. He will only use his magic attack if the player is too far from him.

Telos will start to charge an anima font and summon minions when he reaches certain health thresholds; at 75k, 50k and 25k (at 0 enrage, increasing with higher enrage). Telos will spawn three minions: A pure anima, volcanic anima and corrupted anima golem. When these minions spawn, Telos will stop attacking you and cannot be attacked (similar to a Glacor and its Glacytes). Stand near the anima font Telos is siphoning. This will unlock the font and will prevent you from being killed by Telos's insta-kill attack.

The pure anima golem does not have any known effects when attacking. The volcanic anima golem's attacks can occasionally stun the player for 2 seconds, so they should be killed first. Anticipate should be used just before Telos spawns the golems so the volcanic golem does not stun the player immediately (which could lead to the font killing them if their health is low). The corrupted anima golem's attacks can occasionally send a "Shattering Armor" debuff which can stack. All of the golems have 8,000 hitpoints, which will increase with higher enrage.

Each font has 5,000+ hitpoints (increases with enrage). While standing next to it when Telos charges up the attack, you will take 20% of its lifepoints as damage, which is then transferred over to you as damage (this damage can be reduced). When the font is destroyed, it will automatically create a shield which will protect the player from the instant-kill anima bomb provided that they are in the shield area.

Move to the next font after the message "You survived the anima bomb!" appears, unless Telos said "Let the anima consume you!"; in that case, stay near the font you were at until the font cleanses you.

During this phase, when Telos's special bar fills up, he will shout "SO... MUCH... POWER!" and release the high-damage anima bomb. Do not confuse it for his "Hold still, invader" attack and react to it quickly.

Once Telos reaches 0 hitpoints, if his rage is 99% or lower, he will stumble and fall into the pool, ending the kill. If his rage is 100% or higher, he will start phase 5 (see below) instead.

Phase 5
Telos will only use magic attacks during this phase. This phase will only occur on kills with 100% or more enrage. Telos will remain stationary in the middle of the arena.

The three beams that appeared in the first three phases appear and have their same effects. The beams will occasionally change positions.

In this phase, Telos will summon a large amount (about 6-8) of pure, volcanic or corrupted anima golems to attack the player; lure these golems to the respective anima font and kill them in its vicinity. For every golem killed near the respective font, it will charge up by 25%. Even though you only need four golems to recharge the font, you should kill all of the golems (especially if they are volcanic or corrupted) anyways. By killing four golems near the respective font, the font will charge up again and will protect you from Telos's instant-kill anima bomb.

Once the font is fully recharged, run to the red beam, attacking Telos on the way. When Telos charges up the instant-kill anima bomb (a message will appear), run back to the recharged font and use it on him; Surge can be used to get to the font faster. This will send a blast of anima at Telos, stopping him from finishing the bomb and stunning him for several seconds.

As the kill will be over 50% enrage, the player may become inflicted with the damage over time debuffs. Stand in the correct anima beam to cleanse them; Surge can be used to move to the right beam faster.

The player should also be wary of falling rocks from above which will deal very high damage if they hit the player. Small rocks that deal no damage will fall in advance, signifying where the larger, damaging rocks will fall. Use this to move out of the way.

Once Telos reaches 0 hitpoints, he will fall back into the pool, ending the kill.