Barrows


 * For a list of strategies for the Barrows minigame, see this page.


 * Note: This is a dangerous minigame. If you die here, you will lose your items!
 * Familiars are not allowed inside the Barrows.

Barrows is a minigame 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 mysterious stranger whose identity is currently unknown. However, it is rumoured (or possibly verified) that the Mahjarrat Sliske gave them their powers. 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 for whatever purpose he decides to use them in the future.

The crumbling tome found in a hut near the tombs provides a detailed account of how the brothers came to be buried.

Needed

 * Priest in Peril completed
 * Nature Spirit started
 * Spade in your inventory

Recommended

 * It is advisable 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 gives access to a bank in Burgh de Rott, which is close to the Barrows.
 * 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.

Items and Skills Needed and Suggested

 * 70+ hitpoints suggested
 * 74+ combat suggested
 * 55+ ranged (Bring a Magic shortbow and about 50 Rune arrows)
 * 60+ magic (Bring runes for the spell you will use)
 * 43+ prayer (Players must use Protect from Melee to avoid damage by the Barrows brothers)

Players should bring around 3-4 Prayer potions for the prayer skill Protect from Melee which is helpful, however not always needed if only doing completing the mini game once through then teleporting. It is also advised to bring a holy wrench. food (Lobsters or above is good), 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, 115+), 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.

Slayer dart
One widely used option which is cost-effective is using the Slayer dart spell, this is very accurate on the melee brothers and you only need to bring a melee weapon and range weapon to deal with the other 2 brothers. 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 brother 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 10 plus 1/10 of Magic level, rounded down, hitting a maximum of 19-20 at level 90+ Magic The lowest max hit that this spell can have is 15. This method usually makes back the runes that you lost and more, only very rarely do you need to buy more runes.

Black Salamander
If you have 70 attack, range and magic you can use a Black salamander. These are claimed to be one of the best way to do barrows because the weapon does an attack mode for attack, range and magic, meaning it can be strong against every brother. The ammunition for the salamander is also cheap: 250-260gp the downside is that the rewards chest does not give tar as a reward meaning you have to buy more from the Grand Exchange. However, the black salamander will only hit 1/4 of the level of the fighting style you are using (If you have an attack skillcape and you had 99 attack you could hit 25).

Useful

 * 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 Kharyll Teleport portal which can be made in your Player-owned house for easy access to Canifis for restocking of supplies. Or complete Barrows in a house party world and use someone else's Kharyll Teleport.

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 Kharyll 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). 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.

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 left). 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 this 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 recommended to use Protect from Melee, Reason: very high hitting at low Hp.)
 * Guthan the Infested (uses Melee : Use magic against Guthan)
 * Karil the Tainted (uses Ranged : Use melee against Karil and recommended to use Protect from Missiles, Reason: Hits into the 20's and is extremely accurate.)
 * Torag the Corrupted (uses Melee : Use magic against Torag)
 * Verac the Defiled (uses Melee : Use magic against Verac)
 * Ahrim the Blighted (uses Magic : Use range against Ahrim and recommended to useProtect from Magic, Reason: Accurate against Melee armour and hits high.)

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.

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 "kill count" 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. It should be noted that only kill counts obtained from the Barrows brothers count towards prayer drain, you could kill 1000 spiders and no brothers and still only lose 8 prayer points every 10 seconds. If a player is fighting Dharok the Wretched, players should watch their prayer at all costs since he hits higher the lower his hitpoints, so if a player's prayer runs out, and attacks while he is at low hitpoints, it could mean a 1 hit death, so it is advised to kill Dharok the Wretched first so that your prayer doesn't drain too quickly when fighting him.

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."
 * Crypt rats (level 43)
 * Bloodworms (level 52)
 * Crypt Spiders (level 56)
 * Giant Crypt Rats (level 76)
 * Skeletons (level 77)
 * Giant Crypt Spiders (level 79)

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

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 reseting.

The three 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.

The 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."


 * Mind runes - 0-1430 per drop.
 * Chaos runes - 0-687 per drop.
 * Death runes - 0-391 per drop.
 * Blood runes - 0-159 per drop.
 * Bolt racks - 0-160 per drop.
 * Coins - 0-4162 per drop.
 * Dragon medium helmet
 * Half keys
 * Barrows equipment

It can take MANY trips before you obtain a barrows item. Typically, one will receive an average of 1 item per 15 runs. However, large dry streaks are also possible.

A very lucky player may get two or more Barrows items in one chest, but this is rare.

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 (plural tumuli), 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. When you use any teleport spell the map instantly appears for one second.
 * The Six Hills in England seems to be 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.
 * 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 all of the brothers before you go into your tunnel you will have to fight the ones you missed as well as your boss 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 Iron doors.
 * You don't have to kill all the brothers at the same time, if you run out of food or pots 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
 * If safe spotting a melee brother it is possible to kill the brother while being attacked by a one of the crypt monsters even though it is a single-way combat area

Barrows