Barrows


 * Worlds Icon.png The official world for this minigame is world 15. 



The Barrows minigame is an area-based combat minigame, released on 9 May 2005. It is popular due to the large sums of money players can make by selling Barrows equipment, a possible reward, and runes from the minigame, as the runes obtained are the most common drops, all combat-based runes. It involves defeating six powerful spirits, or seven after completing Ritual of the Mahjarrat, each with their own special strengths and weaknesses. The official world for Barrows is World 15, which is often moderately populated with players battling the barrows brothers.

The objective of the Barrows minigame is to defeat the seven Barrows brothers: Ahrim the Blighted, Dharok the Wretched, Guthan the Infested, Karil the Tainted, Torag the Corrupted, Verac the Defiled and Akrisae the Doomed (the latter being available only after Ritual of the Mahjarrat). Each brother has his own burial mound, except for Akrisae the Doomed, who shares a mound with Verac the Defiled.

The Barrows brothers are very strong, each with very high defence. Each brother also has a different special ability, which is the same as the set effect of the corresponding armour set. Because of this, special consideration should be given to the methods with and order in which the brothers are killed.

Background


The Barrows brothers were ancient warriors of Saradomin who established a reputation of near invincibility while fighting in the God Wars. They launched a massive attack to liberate Morytania from the clutches of Lord Lowerniel Vergidiyad Drakan and his vampyres, after he had established complete control over the continent as of the Fall of Hallowvale. As the brothers departed, a mysterious stranger, the Zarosian Mahjarrat Sliske, granted them superhuman power to battle Drakan's forces. It succeeded, for the brothers, who were in the front line, seemed invincible. They had not anticipated, however, that Sliske had ulterior motives for helping them.

As the brothers and their accompanying army progressed further into enemy territory in Morytania, Sliske followed them until the brothers became weakened. The brothers were grievously wounded in battle near the Great Vyrewall and thus the army set up camp just west of Meiyerditch. Soon, the brothers died of their infectious wounds simultaneously in the army's camp. The army spent several days and nights holding off the attacking vampyres to construct burial mounds, the Barrows, to honour the fallen brothers. The army quickly retreated from Morytania, realising they could never succeed without their former leaders' prowess.

As the army began its return, Sliske cast a magical spell on the crypts, corrupting the bodies of the brothers, turning them into his newest wights, and binding them to guard a very powerful artefact. Sliske's ally Azzanadra had requested for this icon to be guarded before the latter's imprisonment in Jaldraocht Pyramid, so that it could later be used to re-establish contact with the banished Zaros. Sliske, instead of directly taking the Barrows Brothers, decided it would be fun to have them almost succeed in their goal before claiming them, a typical characteristic of the Mahjarrat.

In 169 of the Fifth Age, Azzanadra was released, and, with the help of an adventurer who managed to steal the Barrows Icon from the brothers, re-established communication with Zaros in time for the Mahjarrat Ritual of Rejuvenation. Shortly after said ritual, which the adventurer attended with several Temple Knight allies, Sliske attempted to claim them in a similar way. However, the Saradominist priest Akrisae Kolluym intercepted the spell, sacrificing himself and turning him into Akrisae the Doomed - the seventh wight. Akrisae joined the Barrows Brothers in their crypt, although, of course, he isn't a Barrows Brother himself.

A crumbling tome, obtained by searching the hut near the mounds or by talking to the Strange Old Man found digging the crypts, provides a detailed account of how the brothers came to be buried.

Strategy

 * For explanations of the different strategies used to kill the barrows brothers, see Barrows/Strategies.

Multiple Barrows trips
In order to profit from the barrows, players often must complete the minigame multiple times. Several trips are often required to get a piece of Barrows equipment, even when killing all six brothers (seven after Ritual of the Mahjarrat) every time. Doing multiple trips can be very profitable. One important aspect of making multiple trips is to minimise the amount of time it takes to return to the Barrows, or minimise the amount of food/potions used to allow for multiple trips on the same inventory. Drakan's medallion is a great way of getting back to the Barrows after looting the chest, allowing for continued trips with the same inventory. Without this item, the second fastest way to do multiple trips is by retracing your steps to the rope.

Rewards


If you have not killed all the Barrows brothers by the time you reach the chest, when you click the chest the one that led you to the catacombs will come out and attack you. So if you went to the catacombs under Verac's tomb without killing any of the brothers, you will encounter him when you open the chest. Opening the chest restarts your killcount, which will not appear until you leave the catacombs and the crypt. Leave the area immediately, as kills in the catacombs will not count towards your next barrows run when this happens, including Barrows Brothers. They do not appear if the chest is looted on the way back.After the chest is looted, the area begins to collapse. Every few seconds you will get hit by falling rocks (the damage is still pre-EoC).

To maximize the chance for a Barrows item, you need to kill all 6 brothers.

An item of Barrows equipment is not a guaranteed reward, even if all of the above conditions are met. Although rare, it is also possible to receive multiple barrows items in one chest, and they can be the same item (although this is even rarer due to the large amount of unique Barrows item). Any item that cannot be placed in your inventory will be dropped on the ground, including Barrows items. However, if a Barrow item is dropped on the ground due to no inventory space, it will be in perfect condition, and you can pick it up.

Graphical overhaul
After the release of the new website and interfaces on 22 November 2011, a screenshot was shown on the media page of a graphical update for the Barrows minigame. The January 2012 Behind the Scenes article confirmed that an update was coming to the minigame, which was introduced on the 4 January update.

The graphical update changed the looks of the area, added mist to the crypt, changed the Barrows brothers from purple ghosts to corporal foes, and, for a week following the release, gave a 1 in 10 chance of doubling rewards. This extra reward chance ended on 11 January.

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

Trivia

 * Barrows is another word for a tumulus, which is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave (called a crypt in the minigame) or graves, which is probably where the name of the minigame comes from (tumulus is Latin for mound, small hill).
 * From 00:00 UTC 12 November 2011 to 23:59 UTC 14 November 2011, there was an event where players could gain double loot from several dungeons, including the barrows minigame. This was part of Jagex's bot-busting celebration.
 * The minigame is one of a few being updated completely, both graphically and minigame obstacles. The first update was the introduction of Akrisae the Doomed, and then the second update was a complete graphical rework that changed the looks on the catacombs, the crypts and the Barrows Brothers.
 * On the 11 June 2013 Jagex released the Crystal triskelion which resembles many of the symbols found on the walls inside the Barrows tombs and on top of the Barrows Chest. These symbols have only been present since the graphical rework of barrows.
 * Although the Evolution of Combat has been released for a long time, the damage taken from fallen rocks after looting the chest has not increased to their regular value, instead they deal 30-40 damage (pre-EoC damage). Safespots were also affected by the update, and there are very few safespots to deal with the Barrows Brothers, all being in the catacombs only.
 * Before the Evolution of Combat, the catacombs could be classified as a multi-combat area as when opening a door, you would be instantly attacked by a monster that appeared, ignoring the fact that it was a single-combat area instead, even if you had just been attacked by another monster.
 * With the release of RuneScape 3 the Barrows minigame suffered from some glitches/bugs:
 * Depending on computer and it's performance, when inflitrating the crypts the screen may show the following:
 * You can see the catacombs, and areas around them. This glitch (it is harmless to gameplay) shows the catacombs location, and the crypt above it.
 * This suggests that there are many tunnels connecting to the catacombs, probably small passage shafts considering the difference on both the crypt and the catacombs. The dungeon also seems to change, probably because of Silske's influence on the tombs, and is very similar to the dungeons of Daemonhiem, although on a lower scale.
 * The camera flips showing from an angle that players cannot access manually.
 * When killing brothers, because of the enlarged screen from RuneScape 3, the Barrow Brother's head was slightly squished. This has been fixed with a hidden update.