Barrows



Barrows is an area task, released on 9 May 2005, that involves defeating the spirits of the six Barrows Brothers and plundering their tombs. The brothers are fought one at a time and are very strong, with very high Defence, so only powerful players should attempt the Barrows game. Among the possible rewards from the game are pieces of the powerful Barrows equipment.

Background
The Barrows brothers were powerful, ancient warriors of Saradomin who fought in the God Wars of the 3rd Age. Their powers were granted to them by a Zarosian Mahjarrat suspected, but not confirmed, to be Sliske. As the brothers and their accompanying army progressed further into enemy territory in Morytania, the stranger continued to follow them until the brothers became weaker after establishing a strong reputation as nearly invincible warriors for the course of the war.

Finally, the brothers were grievously wounded in battle and died of their infectious wounds simultaneously in the army's camp. The army spent several days and nights holding off the enemy army to construct burial mounds, the Barrows, to honour the fallen brothers.

As the army began its retreat, the stranger who had given the brothers their powers cast a magical spell on the tombs, corrupting the bodies of the brothers and binding them to guard the Barrows icon. In The Temple at Senntisten, the player is tasked with retrieving the artefact by Azzanadra.

The Crumbling Tome, obtained by searching the hut near the tombs or by talking to the Strange Old Man, provides a detailed account of how the brothers came to be buried.

Minimum
NOTE: If you forgot or didn't bring any coins, you can kill afflicted townfolk near the boatman because they drop 3-5 Coins frequently.
 * Priest in Peril completed.
 * Spade in your inventory. (you can buy one off the digger for 4 Coins)

Recommended

 * It is useful to complete In Search of the Myreque to access a shortcut from Canifis to The Hollows, and from there a boat to Mort'ton. (Beware of Ghasts!)
 * Completing Nature Spirit gives players access to an altar in the swamp, along with access to druid pouches, which prevent ghasts from rotting food.
 * In Aid of the Myreque quest gives access to a bank in Burgh de Rott, which is close to the Barrows. (this also sounds a lot more useful than it actually is because using this method you would have to waste prayer pots as there are no altars in Burgh de Rott, and the nearest one is the nature spirit altar.) However, it can be an effective way if using food instead of prayer pots.
 * Darkness of Hallowvale allows players to do the Burgh de Rott Ramble minigame, which can be used for fast access from the Paterdomus area to Burgh de Rott and then Mort'ton.
 * Nature Spirit started. (for faster travel)

Items and Skills Needed and Suggested

 * 70+ Strength or 61+ Ranged
 * 60+ Attack and 60 Defence are VERY helpful


 * 43+ Prayer (Players are encouraged to use Protect from Melee and other prayers to avoid damage by the Barrows brothers)


 * A Dwarf Multicannon is very useful as it is range and you can stand on the other side of the crypt while the cannon fires (especially Dharok the Wretched for his high damage). The cannon works very well on Ahrim the Blighted as his weakness is range attacks.

Players should bring around 3-4 Prayer potions for the Prayer skill Protect from Melee which is helpful, however not always needed if only completing the mini-game once through then teleporting. It is also advised to bring a holy wrench, food (Monkfish or above is good as Lobster do not heal much), ranging equipment (if a player wishes to range), magic equipment (if a player wishes to use magic), and a source of Teleportation (Varrock Teleport suggested because players could sell their loot from the chest and restock on things they need in the Grand Exchange) Note that higher levelled players (110+), with 60 or higher prayer, can easily complete the Barrows minigame without prayer potions, unless of course if Dharok is the brother in the tunnel.

Magic Dart
One widely used method which is cost-effective is using the Magic Dart spell. This is very accurate on the brothers who use melee, but you will need to bring a melee weapon and range weapon to deal with the other two brothers, as both Karil and Ahrim have high mage defence, thus making the Staff of Light a good weapon choice for Barrows. This method requires 55 slayer and 50 magic to use. The accuracy of this spell is determined by your magical attack bonus, but since the Barrows brothers' magic defence is so low it is highly advised to use the spell using melee gear. The maximum hit of the spell only is determined by the Magic level and is equal to 100 plus the Magic level, rounded down, hitting a maximum of 190-199 at level 90+ Magic. The lowest max hit that this spell can have is 150. This method usually makes back the runes that you lost and more, only very rarely do you need to buy more runes. Another good spell to use on all of the barrows brothers is the Wind Wave spell. At level 62 magic you will hit 170 on all the brothers. This spell is not recommended for Ahrim. Magic is very useful at Barrows because of the ability to cast spells while you have the Barrows brother trapped behind an object when in the tunnels. This saves you money and supplies. However, it is only possible to safespot the brothers after you go down inside the big tunnel. In the northwest section of the tunnel there are rocks that you can farcast them from. Another location is in a few of the long tunnels, near the door, there are rocks that the brothers will not walk around if you mage them from behind them. Each 'corner' room (NW, NE, SW, SE) has a ladder at the middle, where it is possible to lure any enemy - including a Barrows Brother - behind it, running to other side, and thus using magic attacks on them. Note that you may also bring a Saradomin Godsword to heal yourself a bit on Ahrim or in the tunnels, saving food and prayer.

Black Salamander
If you have 70 attack, range and magic you can use a Black salamander. This is claimed to be one of the best ways to do Barrows because the Black salamander has an Attack style for Attack, Range and Magic, meaning it can be effective against each of the Barrows brothers. However, using it on Ahrim and Karil is not recommended, as it won't hit often at all, especially on Ahrim. It's better to bring a melee weapon (which you can also use for the tunnels). The ammunition for the Black salamander is also cheap: Harralander tar. The downside is that the rewards chest does not give tar as a reward, meaning you have to buy more from the Grand Exchange. The Black salamander can hit up to 2.5 of the level of the fighting style you are using (If you have 70 Magic you could hit up to 175 while using the 'Blaze' combat style).

Black Salamander/Freezing

It is recommended not to use this method until you have done Barrows a few times, as this can be quite dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. The advantage of using this method is that you will use very few Prayer potion (0-2 doses) and only a few pieces of food are required.

You will need: Black salamander, Harralander tar, and runes to cast any Ice spell (preferably Ice Burst and up) from the Ancient Magicks Spellbook. Even if you have Ice Barrage, it is recommended to use Ice Blitz, as it takes less time to hit the brother, and is also the most cost-effective Ice spell.

With full prayer, start out by killing Karil with your black salamander on the 'Blaze' combat style (or melee weapon) with Protect from Range activated the whole time. Then move on to Ahrim, and kill him with your ranged weapon/Black salamander on the range mode. Use Protect from Magic the whole time and drink a dose or two of Prayer potion if necessary. This is where it gets tricky. Next move on to Dharok. Go in and search the tomb without prayer. Run around the tomb until Dharok is across from you. Now, cast a Ice spell on Dharok and avoid getting hit. Then use your Black salamander to attack him diagonally so you can hit him but he can't hit you. Do this until he is unfrozen (3 hits with salamander with ice burst, about 4 hits with ice blitz, and about 6 hits with Ice barrage). Run around the tomb again until he is across from you. Wait at least 5 seconds, then freeze him again and use your salamander again. Repeat this until he is dead and then move on to the other melee brothers. Do the same process on them. They do not hit as hard as Dharok so you will not have to be as careful.

Using this method, you can minimise the amount of Prayer potion and food you use while freezing the brothers with the runes you receive as chest rewards. With Ice Barrage, this method can be used with around 80 Harralander tar, 1 dose of Prayer potion, 5 monkfish, 10 blood runes, and 20 death runes.

Ancient Magicks
Ancient Magicks is one of the more expensive methods. You must have had completed Desert Treasure to have use of Ancient Magicks. This is a great method for the melee Barrows Brothers because they have low magic defence. It is recommended to use ice spells because you can freeze them so they cannot attack you. If you use Ice Rush; you'll probably have enough time to attack the first time to freeze then attack again. After that you must move to avoid being attacked more than once. If you use Ice Burst; you'll probably have enough time to attack the first time to freeze then attack twice. After that you'll have to move to avoid being attacked more than once. If you're using Ice Blitz; you will probably have enough time to attack the first time and freeze then attack 4 times before you have to move to avoid being attacked more than once. If you use Ice Barrage; You'll probably have enough time to attack the first time and freeze then attack 5 times. Then you must move to avoid being attacked. In your inventory you may have about 2 or 3 prayer potions, a melee weapon, and a bow with some good arrows. When a melee Barrows brother is still alive and not frozen keep Protect from Melee on. It is highly recommended to not use magic on Ahrim or Karil (you may use magic on Karil but only if you are using Ice Burst or better) because they have high magic defence bonus. This is one of the best methods but its expensive but you might get some runes you need from the final reward chest. Using the Ancient Magicks method allows for a more prolonged stay at the Barrows.

Helpful Quests/Items/Tips

 * Started A Fairy Tale Part II for access to the fairy ring transport system.
 * Ghosts Ahoy for an ectophial which provides a one click teleport to the Ectofuntus, which is near the barrows and useful for banking and escaping in emergency
 * 50 Construction and the completion of Desert Treasure for Kharyrll Teleport portal which can be made in your Player-owned house for easy access to Canifis for restocking of supplies and the use of Ancient Magiks. Or complete Barrows in a house party world and use someone else's Kharyrll Teleport.
 * Familiars can not be used in the maze.
 * Void Knight armour is good for barrows because it has good melee defence, range, and mage stats and hits 30% more.
 * Another effective item(s) are prayer items like proselyte armour

Reaching the Barrows
The Barrows are located to the east of Mort'ton, in Morytania. Walking directly to Mort'ton requires passage though the Mort Myre Swamp followed by a long, winding path to Mort'ton. This is quite time consuming, so using the Canifis shortcut to The Hollows or the Burgh de Rott Ramble minigame is faster.

To reach Canifis players can walk (either from Varrock or from Port Phasmatys with an ectophial), use Kharyrll Teleport (either from the Ancient Magicks spellbook or from the portal room of a player-owned house), or use the fairy ring system (code CKS to near Canifis, or DLS to directly to the tunnels; but only if you have completed In Search of Myreque), or you can use the Slayer Ring to teleport the Slayer tower. The entrance to the shortcut to the Barrows tombs from Canifis is located south of the Hair of the Dog tavern in Canifis. There is a secret door on the southern wall in the underground room; behind it is a tunnel that leads out into the swamp. Across a bridge and to the south is a small boat that takes players to Mort'ton, very close to the Barrows tombs. One can also use the code BKR to get to Mort Myre, south of Canifis.

The Burgh de Rott Ramble can be used as a quick way to the Mort'ton area, but it can be a bit dangerous for lower-level players. Prepare for the ramble and go to western Morytania to the bridge leading to the Paterdomus area. Choose one of the strongest people to escort (the Mage or the Adventurer) and choose the safest route (Route One). Turn off auto-retaliate. If you get a combat encounter, run to the nearest evade point. This allows the player to get to Burgh de Rott quickly, usually without taking any damage. Once at Burgh de Rott, go north to Mort'ton and east to the Barrows.

Overview
The aboveground portion of Barrows consists of six grave mounds inside a fence. To enter a grave, just walk on top of it and use a spade. Five times out of six, inside the grave will the Barrows brother who is buried there (shown in the map to the right). One of the six graves, however, will lead to a sort of maze instead. The centre room of the maze contains a chest, in addition to the sixth brother. After defeating the brother in the maze, you can open the chest to claim your reward. It's possible to skip every brother but the one in the maze, but the more brothers you kill, the better your chance of getting Barrows equipment from the chest. See below for more details on the brothers and the maze.

The Brothers

 * For strategies for defeating the Barrows brothers, consult Barrows Strategies page.

The six Barrows brothers are buried in six different tombs. Players have to enter each brother's tomb by digging atop the mound with a spade.

Each tomb contains a specific brother, as shown in the right thumb:
 * Dharok the Wretched (uses Melee:Use Magic against Dharok and it is recommended to use Protect from Melee)
 * Karil the Tainted (uses Ranged:Use Melee or possibly magic depending on which spells you are using. Both are effective against Karil and recommended to use Protect from Missiles)
 * Ahrim the Blighted (uses Magic:Use Range against Ahrim and recommended to use Protect from Magic)
 * Verac the Defiled (uses Melee:Use Magic against Verac and it is recommended to use Piety or some other prayer with a high defence bonus)
 * Guthan the Infested (uses Melee:Use Magic against Guthan)
 * Torag the Corrupted (uses Melee:Use Magic against Torag)

Five of the tombs contain their assigned brothers as normal. The sixth tomb, chosen at random, instead contains an entrance to an underground series of tunnels. The sixth brother can be found in those tunnels. See below for more information about the tunnels.

Attack Plan

 * When you start a Barrows run always start with Dharok ; as he must always be killed with prayer due to the potential to KO should you run out of prayer. Never let your prayer run out, especially if he is low on life points. If you are comfortable using Ancient Magicks use your prayer on Karil then Ahrim.
 * Next brother should be Karil, if you have leftover prayer points from your fight with Dharok. If you don't have any leftover prayer points, it's advised that you drink a sip of your prayer potion. Some magic attacks will work perfectly fine with him, although lower levels may miss a fair few. Karil is highly accurate, and can hit in the mid 200s consistently. He should not be fought without prayer, even with 99 defence and barrows armour.
 * Next should be Ahrim. He can be killed quite easily, but is also very accurate and can hit 200s. It is recommended to use prayer unless you have dragonhide, karils, or armadyl as well as high magic and defence levels.
 * Next should be Verac, this brother would cause the most problems to people who have a low defence level, since he can damage through prayer. Melee prayer would reduce the max hit to approx. 150, but watch your health.
 * Then the next should be Guthan. Again, if your Defence is low, you may have a hard time against Guthan, because he will heal quite often with his special attack, prolonging the fight. 70+ defence players can fight toe to toe with him without use of prayer, provided you are wearing melee armour, but be wary if you choose to not pray.
 * Then next should be Torag. He does nothing special, but do not underestimate him. Players can really get a big smack from him sometimes and you should be careful while fighting him. He also has higher defence than the other brothers.

Keep in mind that one of these brothers will be your "tunnel", so for example if Karil is your tunnel, take a logical choice and move on to, perhaps, Guthan,as he is considered tougher then Torag.

Prayer Drain
The vengeful spirits of the Barrows brothers will drain Prayer at a set rate as long as a player is in a tomb or the underground tunnels. The drain rate is  points every 10 seconds, where   is the "brothers slain" visible in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Thusly, as players progress through the minigame and kill more brothers, the drain rate of Prayer increases. If a player is fighting Dharok the Wretched, they should watch their prayer at all times since he hits higher when his life points are low. If a player runs out of prayer while Dharok the Wretched is at low life points it could result in very high hits and possible 1 hit deaths. It is advised to kill Dharok the Wretched first so that your prayer doesn't drain too quickly when fighting him. Some players have reported that the brothers do not drain prayer any more after they completed the Barrows section of The Temple at Senntisten quest. This is not true; prayer drain persists despite the removal of the supposed cause.

Entering the Tunnels
The underground tunnel is a small series of interconnected rooms separated by doors and hallways. Monsters roam the tunnels and one will generally spawn whenever a player opens a door. The monsters that appear are:

Each defeated monster adds 1 to the "kill count." The room in the centre of the maze always contains a chest, inside of which are the rewards. Not all of the doors, however, are always unlocked; some doors are randomly locked shut. Of the four doors leading to the centre room, only one is open. Players must navigate the passageways while fending off the monsters and locate the door that gives access to the chest. The remaining brother/brothers that you haven't fought in the tombs will appear at some point, while waiting for this you will have your prayer drained in the tunnels, to save on prayer potions do not drink them while wandering the tunnels unless the remaining brother appears and attacks, when this happens drink one dose and put the protect prayer on straight away before drinking any more, when the appropriate protection prayer is activated drink another dose of potion as prayer will get drained quite quickly. When the fight is over let your prayer run down again. Remember the brothers can appear at any time while you are in the tunnels.
 * Cryptic Rats (level 43)
 * Bloodworms (level 52)
 * Crypt Spiders (level 56)Giant crypt spider.gif
 * Giant Crypt Rats (level 76)
 * Skeletons (level 77)
 * Giant Crypt Spiders (level 79)

Entering The Chest Room
Once the player locates the operational door that leads to the chest, they will have to solve a simple puzzle in order to open the door. Choosing the correct answer opens the door; choosing a wrong answer resets the tunnels and changes which doors are locked and which are open. However this puzzle may seem very simple but monsters attacking you will take you out of the menu meaning you have to do the puzzle as fast as possible resulting in misclicks and the maze resetting. One way to counter this is to lure the monster to the other end of the room. Since monsters move at a walking speed you should be able to run to the door with 5–8 seconds to press the correct answer. The possible outcomes are shown below:

Please note that the position of the correct answer is not the same each time that particular puzzle is presented; however, the shape itself will always be correct.

4. (shapes - square is correct choice)

Rs_barrows_safe_spotting.jpg sixth brother
The sixth brother can spawn either when the player opens the chest in the centre of the maze or he can randomly appear when a player opens a door to another room. This can give an advantage to rangers or mages as there are rocks in the hallways which can be used as safespots as shown in the map above.

Note that if a player enters the tunnels before killing five brothers, any other unkilled brothers may spawn when a door is opened.

Once the sixth brother is dead and the chest room found, players will be able to search the chest, take the loot, and leave the tunnels as soon as possible, either through running out or teleporting. Players who stay in the tunnels are hit repeatedly by falling rocks. It is very common for players to teleport to their house in order to recharge Prayer and for quick access back to Canifis for another run through the minigame. Some players also use a duelling ring to teleport to the Duel Arena and recharge Prayer and Hitpoints. It is not the best idea to leave as soon as possible, you should check the ground before you leave. If your inventory is full, it will leave stuff on the ground and you can NOT get it back!

Rewards
Before you can claim your rewards you must kill one of the Barrows Brothers that appears when you click the chest. Extract from RuneScape site: "If you have killed the 6 brothers you stand the best chance of receiving a Barrows item from the chest.". This means that killing all six brothers will give you the maximum chance of receiving a Barrows piece. Many people believe that the higher your kill count from rats and spiders etc the more runes and other miscellaneous drops you will receive. This however is unconfirmed.


 * Mind Runes - 0-1430 per chest.
 * Chaos Runes - 0-687 per chest.
 * Death Runes - 0-391 per chest.
 * Blood Runes - 0-159 per chest.
 * Bolt Racks - 0-188 per chest.
 * Coins - 0-4162 per chest.
 * Dragon Medium Helmet
 * Half Keys
 * Various Barrows equipment
 * Barrows Icon (only during The Temple at Senntisten quest, with a 100% chance)

A barrows reward won't always constitute the chest loot, though receiving one is fairly common, thus making Barrows a profitable mini-game. The average ratio is of 1 Barrows item to 30-60 of 'junk' (Mix of runes and coins). Although very rare, it is also possible to receive 2 or 3 Barrows items from one chest.

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Music
The following music tracks are unlocked here:
 * Dance of the Undead - In the mound area
 * Dangerous Way - In the tombs and tunnels

Trivia



 * Barrows is another word for a tumulus, which is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, which is probably where the name of the minigame comes from (tumulus is Latin for mound, small hill).
 * The maximum possible kill count in the tunnels is 9,999. If any monsters are killed after that the counter will simply list "Too Many!" instead of a number.


 * While playing Barrows the minimap screen is blacked out, but the minimap is briefly visible when a player teleports.
 * The Six Hills in Stevenage, England could have been the model/idea for the Barrows.
 * Guthan, Torag and Dharok seem to be wearing capes similar to the cape of legends, implying that they may have been members of the Legends' Guild. However, it is possible this is just the cape worn by the skeletons in the tunnels.
 * To the west of Barrows, there seems to be a small abandoned village. The village has 3-4 buildings, but all the doors are locked. A water pump is located in the centre of the village. It is unknown why this village is here, but it was most likely a town where all the people were forced to flee because of Lord Lowerniel Vergidiyad Drakan. It is also likely that this is where the soldiers camped while making the burial mounds for the brothers.
 * Pet cats will not attack the rats in the tunnels. Trying to order a cat to catch a rat results in a message similar to "Your cat is too afraid to attack it." This is understandable as the rats in the tunnels are much stronger than the level 1 rats that cats commonly catch.
 * If you do not kill five of the brothers before you go into your tunnel you will have to fight the ones you missed as well as your boss brother guarding the chest room.
 * When fighting Guthan, if in his last attack just before he dies he hits more than one using his healing effect, he will still die but you will get a message saying "we'll finish this later" as if you teleported or ran away during the battle. This happens because there is a delay between Guthan's healing hits and him being healed.
 * If your prayer is drained to 0 with the crypt prayer drain while you aren't praying, it will not make a noise.
 * RuneScape World 31 is the unofficial Barrows world.
 * When in the tunnels, you can look beyond them to see metal doors. These doors are part of the dungeon from the Shades of Mort'ton minigame.
 * You don't have to kill all the brothers at the same time, if you run out of food or potions go and get more then come back. You can also get a friend to come along with you and you can get them to hold some food and pots for you for a later time
 * After the RuneTek5 update, safespotting any of the Barrows brothers has become impossible, because they just move and continue to attack after a few hits (About 2-3). However, they can still be frozen by the Ancient Magicks Ice spells or the Zamorak godsword special attack, and then attacked diagonally with Magic or Range (this includes Black Salamanders and Halberds).
 * When looking north, the mounds form a smiley face.
 * There is also a bug in the tunnel whereby if you walk in and out a door in the tunnel, it is possible to have two or more Barrows brother's spawned. This bug still is not fixed.
 * A game of Barrows is part of The Temple at Senntisten quest. You need to kill all six brothers and loot the chest for a Barrows icon.
 * Due to the quest The Temple at Senntisten, there were changes to the graphics of the Barrows Brothers's heads that pop up when a player's Prayer is drained.
 * All Barrows weapons are 2 handed, so a shield can not be worn while wielding the weapons.
 * The Barrows minigame is strikingly similar to Frodo's encounter with the barrow-wights in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo and his hobbit companions were trapped in a burial mound of a barrow-wight, but were saved by summoning Tom Bombadil. Tom banished the wight and uncovered the wealth of gold, silver and various weapons and armour that had been owned by the wight before its death.
 * While in the tombs of the non-tunnel brothers, the faces that haunt you are purple. While in the tunnels, however, the faces of the brothers seem to drain of colour, with parts of their faces turning pale.
 * It is possible to bring a Dwarf Multicannon in the Barrows.
 * The song "Dance of the Undead" that is unlocked in this Minigame is a direct reference to the song "Dance of Death" by Iron Maiden.
 * If you go from oldest to youngest barrows brother, their names go in alphabetical order.