Barrows/Strategies

This is a page for possible strategies to kill the Barrows brothers. It outlines the equipment and tactics necessary for each method to be successful.

Suggested skill levels

 * 70+ Strength
 * 70+ Attack or
 * 70+ Ranged or
 * 80+ Magic and
 * 65+ Defence
 * 43+ Prayer (Recommended to block some damage)

Suggested quests

 * Completion of Desert Treasure for access to Ancient Magicks.
 * Started A Fairy Tale Part II for access to Fairy ring transportation, using either ring BKR in the Mort Myre Swamp or ring DLS in the Myreque Hideout tunnels.
 * Started Nature Spirit for faster travel to the Barrows area.
 * Completion of In Search of the Myreque to access a shortcut from Canifis to The Hollows and then the Swamp Boaty from there to Mort'ton.
 * Completion of In Aid of the Myreque for access to a bank in Burgh de Rott, which is close to the Barrows.
 * Completion of the 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.
 * Having 500 total NPC level on Temple Trekking to teleport to Burgh de Rott using a games necklace.
 * Started The Branches of Darkmeyer up to the point where Vanescula identifies drakan's medallion. This item offers a teleport to the entrance of Barrows. It can also provide a teleport to Burgh de Rott for banking. It is also a great item, because teleports within Morytania will not count as a charge, giving you unlimited teleports to barrows and the bank.
 * Completion of Ritual of the Mahjarrat will add a new seventh Barrows brother, whose grave is connected directly to Verac's tomb. Only those who have completed the quest can hope to find Akrisae's set when looting the Barrows' chest.

How to get here



 * From Canifis or Paterdomus without the completion of In Search of the Myreque, enter the ghast-infested Mort Myre Swamp through the gate near the Canifis farming patch. Go south and cross the bridge to the winding path that leads to Mort'ton. Follow this path, cross the bridge into the town and continue east to the other side of town where the bridge to the Barrows is located. This route is long and time consuming to travel. Bring energy potions to replenish your running, and explorer rings are somewhat useful (ring 3 recommended). Ghasts may also rot food you are carrying.
 * If you keep to the East side of the swamp, about halfway through you will find a swamp boat. (Transportation icon on world map) The boat will take you to the bridge just south of Barrows, shaving a few minutes off of a long run.


 * Using Fairy rings, ring DLS transports players to a cave in the Myreque hideout complex. Exit the cave through the south opening and then exit the next cave to the north. The player appears in the main cave near the secret door; just follow the directions above from this cave.


 * Using Fairy rings, ring BKR transports players directly to the Mort Myre Swamp. Follow the direction above through the swamp. This ring, however, does not significantly reduce the amount of distance to be traveled.


 * Using Drakan's medallion, available after starting The Branches of Darkmeyer, will teleport players directly to Barrows, but uses one of ten charges when teleporting from anywhere outside of Morytania. This is useful when you've looted the chest and need to leave fast, and also saves run energy and food.
 * If possible, use the medallion in conjunction with the Kharyrll Portal to teleport to Canfis. This way, your medallion does not use up a charge, you have access to a bank (which also quickly restores your life points). If your house also has an chapel, this can also provide a place to restore your Prayer Points


 * If the player has done In Search of the Myreque, go south of the Hair of the Dog pub in Canifis and go through the trapdoor there, entering a small basement. There is a secret door in the south wall of the basement (it is not visible in the main window but can be seen on the mini-map). Click on the door to pass through into a cave, which is part of the Myreque Hideout area. Go south through the cave to enter. At least two charged druid pouches would be recommended as on testing, only two ghasts will attack you from the tree climb to the boat.
 * If players have gotten enough points from the Burgh de Rott minigame, they can unlock a path which lets them go all the way to Mort'ton without any Ghast interference. However, this requires the quest Darkness of Hallowvale to unlock the adventurers that will provide the extra points.
 * A longer but more easier one requires just In Aid of the Myreque. The shortcut takes you from the entrance to Mort Myre to the Nature spirit's grotto.



Recommended inventory

 * Melee, ranged and magic armor (you can equip one of them, leaving a few spaces intact).
 * Runes for magic spells (the spell should be the highest you can use, and preferably standard for damage).
 * Emergency teleport
 * Food (at least Sharks or better)

Recommended abilities

 * All: Regenerate/Rejuvenate
 * Melee: Slaughter, Slice, Dismember, Sever, Assault, Debilitate, Kick, Cleave, Havoc, Destroy
 * Magic: Impact, Combust, Wrack, Anticipation, Chain, Dragon Breath, Wild Magic, Asphyxiate
 * Ranged: Piercing Shot, Binding Shot, Fragmentation Shot, Rapid Fire, Snipe, Deadshot

Barrows Brothers
The monsters you must fight. See the table below for weaknesses, and click on the name to see the main article about them. To reach them, click on the spades on the mound to get in. Then, open the tomb. The brother will then appear and you will fight them. For the melee-based brothers, consider a stragegy that involves freezing/binding/stunning the opponent in place. This avoids direct contact for a considerable amount of time, sparing you damage and helps mitigate protection prayer usage. However, the consistency of such methods is not guaranteed; be vigilant and do not let your guard down.

Inside the Barrows
Once you enter a Barrow Brother's tomb, your prayer will drain at intervals at a time. Open the tomb and there will be two messages, completely random. One is "You don't find anything." in the game box, resulting in the respective Barrows Brother attacking you. Kill the Brother quickly and leave his tomb. You can leave anytime you want, however, if you leave and the brother is still alive, you will have to restart. Wait for them to do their death animation, then leave; this will still count as a kill. Prayer drains at 80; it increases by 10 for every Barrows brother slain, or 40 at first, increasing at 5 if the Hard Mortanyia tasks have been completed.

Another message will result in "You've found a tunnel, do you want to enter?". The tomb that leads to the tunnels is completely random, though it is possible for the same tunnel multiple times in a row. The player has two choices to make; option 1 leads them inside, while option 2 makes them stay outside until the player wishes to go in again. Go in the tunnel and now you are in the Barrows catacombs.

Navigating the tunnels
The player ends up in a 3x3 catacomb area, ending at one of the large rooms at the corners. Three doors are always shut; one is always open. For example, if the player is in the north-western corner room, it is possible for one of the long passageway and the two short ones to be closed, thus the other long passageways will be open.

The "middle" room of the corners leads to the chest room; however it is completely random which room it is. It can be very close yet a fair distance, or very close and at a close distance. The top middle room contains Skeletons, the middle right contains Crypt spiders and giant variants. The bottom middle contains Bloodworms and the middle left contains Giant crypt rats and Crypt rats.

While opening the doors, a random monster will appear and immediately attack you. Monsters that will attack you after you open a door can be anything, ranging from a Skeleton, a Crypt rat or spider, a Bloodworm and possibly a Barrows brother.

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. Due to the monster that spawns when you go into the room it will and can interrupt you, so players prefer to shake it off, kill it or bind it so it cannot harass players solving the puzzle. It is also a feasable option to solve the puzzle in the interval between the attacks of the monster. When you attempt to open the chest, the Barrows brother remaining will say "You dare steal from us!" and attack you. You can loot if you want, however, it is best to kill the Brother and then loot the chest for the maximum chance of getting a Barrows item.

If you get the puzzle wrong, the catacombs will move around, meaning that the rope will be in a different room, and so will be the door to the chest room.

Equipment overview
This suggests some types of equipment that can be used. Note that these general suggestions can be overridden with items for a particular strategy. It is entirely possible to use the minimum suggested equipment, but personal combat efficiency will dictate your effectiveness.



Other helpful items and tips

 * A one-click teleport to escape if things go wrong. An Ectophial (requires the Ghosts Ahoy quest) is useful for escaping and for banking at Port Phasmatys.
 * An Ardougne cloak is useful for its teleport to the Kandarin Monastery, which has altars for recharging prayer, and is moderately close to a fairy ring by the Tower of Life and to the bank in East Ardougne. The cloak also has a prayer bonus, which also helps conserve prayer points,
 * If not using fairy rings, the Kharyrll Teleport portal in a Player-owned house is useful for getting to Canifis. 50 Construction is needed to build the portal room, or use of someone else's portal room on a house party world. If using this method then building an altar in a room close to the portal room is recommended.
 * Door stacking is the method of collecting monsters between two sides of a door. As a monster spawns each time a door opens, repediately traversing through the same door stacks monsters on both sides. From there, multiple monsters can be attacked through use of Area of Effect attacks. This is a very quick and efficient way to get kill count. NOTE: If you have not killed all of the Brothers yet, this activity might make you succeptable to a surprise attack. If you do not feel confident in facing the remaining Brother while being attacked by other monsters, trigger his arrival through opening the chest. You can get more kill count and search it later for the maximum reward.
 * Do not bring Summoning familiars as they cannot be used in the Barrows. Pets may be brought, however.
 * World 31 is the unofficial Barrows world, as it is the house party world which allows players to use each other's houses to restore prayer and teleport to Canifis. World 31 is also widely used because of Barrows clans; a clan will bless your grave if you die and sometimes give away supplies.
 * A Falador shield is useful for its prayer bonus and its ability to restore prayer points.
 * The Ring of wealth does not improve chances of geting barrows but improve chances of getting potions as confirmed here.
 * The Salve amulet and Salve amulet (e) will not work on the barrows brothers, since they are not "dead" yet.
 * Completion of the Hard tasks in the Morytania task set allows for your prayer drain to be halved in the barrows, and double the loot for runes from the chest.
 * The best chances of getting a barrows item is to kill 6 brothers (7 brothers will not increase the drop rate, it will just make you get a chance for all barrows gear) and 8 monsters in the dungeon. Confirmed here.
 * Using Drakan's medallion can be very useful for teleporting to the bank in Burgh de Rott. Players can restore supplies when needed there, and being in the bank also rapidly restores health, reducing the need for food.