Guthan the Infested's equipment

Guthan the Infested's equipment is obtainable from the Barrows minigame. Completing the minigame does not guarantee players will get a Barrows item. Like all Barrows armour, Guthan's armour requires level 70 Defence to wear. Guthan's warspear requires level 70 Attack to wield. Note that over a period of time like all Barrows items, the armour will degrade, making it untradeable when (100) and below. It is only tradeable when fully repaired or fully degraded.

Due to the Evolution of Combat update, the previous disadvantage of being unable to choose the experience type earned while using the spear was removed, as you can now choose exactly what experience you wish to earn while fighting.

Despite Guthan's having more than average combat stats, it is mostly used by players to heal (and saves space that would have been used bringing food) and then they revert back to their regular melee armour. This method saves money and ultimately puts off having to repair the armour as regularly, this has proven to be a very good method of healing when out of food.

''As with all Barrows equipment, this armour cannot be made with the Smithing skill. However, a higher smithing level reduces the cost of repair at an armour stand.''

Set effect
Infestation: Successful attacks have a chance of healing the wielder an amount of life points equal to the damage dealt. A hit for 200 damage may heal 200 life points. Also, a player on the Ancient Curses may heal with Deflected damage. Therefore, if a player hits a 200, and their deflect hits a 50, and if both of them get the set effect, the player will be healed for 250 life points. However, this is slightly uncommon. It is also possible for the set effect to activate on an attack dealing 0 damage, however no life points will be healed.

After the Evolution of Combat many of the barrows sets received unintentional boosts due to the increased damage. Guthan's set is now significantly more powerful after the update as players are hitting much harder, monsters are hitting a lot less and you can still receive the healing effect on any abilities you use. A Meteor Strike or Overpower can easily heal 3,000-4,000 life points in a single strike however the chances of the set effect activating on that hit are relatively uncommon. When the set effect is coupled with the Berserk ability players are able to heal significantly faster than most food (about 2,500+ on an auto attack) and when using multi target attacks each target hit has an equal chance of healing you.

There is a myth that while wearing a regen bracelet you will heal at a 2:1 ratio, which has been proven to be false. Another common myth is that having a higher Constitution level could affect the rate at which you heal, but it is only affected by how high you hit. Heals are completely random; as such it is possible to get several heals sequentially, and also possible to not get a single heal for a long time.

Combat strategies
Guthan's set is popular among mid- to high-level players for combat training, as the armour has very strong defensive bonuses and the set effect nearly eliminates the need for food. Situations where inventory space is scarce and a lot of healing may be needed, such as in the TzHaar Fight Cave, are ideal. It can even compensate for poison damage, negating the need for antipoison against some creatures, such as Kalphite Soldiers.

The Guthans set is used by many high-levelled players at aggressive monsters (such as Bandits or Dagganoths) to AFK (away from keyboard) as the guthans set heals them they do not have to be at the computer healing. Note that this is a risky strategy, and even with the full Guthans set on, you can definitely die.

One important caveat: If you have low life points and no food remaining, it is not a good idea to wear Guthan's for healing. The set's healing is unpredictable, and subject to luck. If you're taking damage in the middle of a stretch of poor luck, you can easily die if you don't have a built-in cushion of life points. One exception: If what you're fighting only uses one style of attack, it is possible to pray against that attack style until the healing effect has healed you sufficiently.

The recommended approach when healing with Guthan's is to equip the set when you have a medium or low-medium amount of life points left. That way there's little risk in dying, and eventually, after some time, the set will heal you back to full life points. At full life points, you can switch to a different weapon/armour if desired. When your life points are somewhat low, then equip Guthan's again.

When Guthan's is a bad idea
Despite its advantages, there are some situations in which using Guthan's set is not recommended. The short take is, if the monster you're facing makes it very advisable to wear a shield or helm, equipping a full Guthan's set is likely to kill you.

Fighting dragons, for example, requires the use of an anti-dragon shield or dragonfire shield, and Guthan's warspear is two-handed, so a shield cannot be used while using Guthan's set to heal. With Evolution of Combat, melee is often a bad approach against dragons anyway, even if your Herblore level is high enough to make super antifire potions and gain immunity to their breath.

Likewise, facing Basilisks in Guthan's earns a very quick death without a protective Mirror shield.

Other monsters require special headgear. Banshees require earmuffs, for example, and even low-level Banshees will quickly kill you in full Guthan's. So will higher-level Aberrant Spectres, unless you wear the requisite nosepeg. Fighting dust devils - or any monster in the Smoke Dungeon - is unwise in Guthan's, as a facemask or equivalent item must be worn to prevent heavy damage and/or stat drain. Some players get around this by wearing a black mask or slayer helmet and switching to Guthan's only when healing is needed, but after the switch, they'll be taking smoke damage top life points and stats while they wait for a healing strike. Not a good idea.

This is the set's catch-22: while Guthan's is useful for Slayer tasks as it allows for extended trips, it does not allow for use of specialty slayer headgear, such as a black mask or slayer helmet.

The other situation that should give players pause is if they're facing a creature with magical attacks that are either rapid, or hit hard. With Evolution of Combat, even high-level melee gear can leave a player vulnerable, and Guthan's interval between heals is often too long to offset the accumulating damage done by such magical opponents.

Components and bonuses











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Trivia

 * When using Guthan's set and a Deflect Magic/Ranged/Melee curse, the deflected hits sometimes produce the purple swirl and healing effect. This is often seen when fighting Dagannoth Supreme with Guthan's set, as the Spinolyps use ranged and magic, one of which is usually protected against in this circumstance.
 * On 4 January 2012 the graphics of the Guthan's set was updated.