Barbarian Assault

Barbarian Assault is a cooperative, team-based safe combat activity located at the Barbarian Outpost. It was released on 4 January 2007, to members only. A team of five players must work together in order to defeat 10 waves of Penance monsters and, finally, their leader, the Penance Queen. Teamwork and coordination are vital in order to achieve success at this activity.

Introduction


The barbarians at the Barbarian Outpost need your help to fight back the seemingly endless waves of Penance monsters. Captain Cain will brief you and your fellow adventurers on your tasks when you arrive. Without completing his tutorial, you will not be able to play. After gathering a party of five teammates, you will be allowed to head straight into the battle. After fighting back enough waves of Penance, you'll have enough Honour points to buy a variety of combat-based and cosmetic rewards.

While the Barbarian Assault arena is isolated within the RuneScape world, there are several methods by which it can be reached:


 * Games necklace teleport - The quickest way to reach the Barbarian Outpost. A games necklace can be made by casting Enchant Level 1 Jewellery on a Sapphire necklace.
 * Barbarian Teleport - This spell from the Lunar spellbook teleports the player to the Barbarian Outpost. Level 75 Magic, three fire runes, two astral runes, and two law runes are needed to cast it.
 * Agility shortcut - At level 37 Agility, players are able to scale the cliff to the north east of the Tree Gnome Stronghold (The Grand Tree quest required).
 * Enchanted lyre - Teleport to Rellekka, then approach the Outpost via the Lighthouse.
 * If your P.O.H. (Player Owned House) is located at Rellekka, then house teleport and run from Rellekka following the same route as the Enchanted Lyre teleport method.
 * On foot - Players may journey to the Barbarian Outpost from the south, via the Baxtorian Falls.

Gameplay
Barbarian Assault is a safe activity and, as such, players will not lose any items upon death. As combat is the activity's main component, high Defence and Constitution levels provide an advantage. Additionally, a high Agility level is beneficial as it allows players to run for longer periods of time, providing the opportunity to evade threats. A safespot used to be behind the horn of glory, which rendered all enemies unable to attack. However, this was removed with the update to the minigame. Note: If a teammate is killed, the entire group must restart the wave.

Basics
Details information regarding creating a team, brief role descriptions, and Penance monsters that will be faced.

Gameplay
Overview of basic gameplay technique. Includes information on the gameplay interface, battlefield layout and how to complete player roles.

Strategies
Contains information pertaining to more advanced, specific, and efficient gameplay techniques.

Rewards
Note: You must choose Honour points or Experience before each wave starts, or you will continue to receive the same reward type as the previous wave.

Honour Points
You can trade in Honour Points in return for role level upgrades, equipment and for gambling. You may also spend Honour points on changing the colour of an abyssal whip or dark bow to blue, green, white, or yellow for 50 points in any role.

Experience Reward
You can get experience from completing waves, which is stored using your Penance horn or Penance master horn. Wielding it, you will receive double experience in Agility, Firemaking, and Mining, much like the Sacred Clay tools. Note that you don't have to be wielding the horn, or even have it in your invenory to have the points stored in it, only have the switch set to XP.

Tips

 * The most important thing you need to do is call! Every 30 seconds the call will change and appear white. Make sure you call as soon as it changes every time. Even if your teammate does not call, call for them to at least speed things up a bit.
 * Teams do NOT lose honour points by using the egg launcher. Many players believed that in contrast to experiments and Jagex's statements. Players gain points based on TOTAL number of penance killed; as long as a penance is killed, the player will gain points, and whoever is assigned to that particular penance (Defender=Penance Runner; Healer=Penance Healer; etc. etc.) will still get the double points, even if it is not the usual way of killing them (Runners killed with traps; Healers killed with poison food). Jagex has even added the statement, "The cannon does not make you lose points." in Quick Chat! However, using green eggs on penance healers will replace the healer's poison with a weaker poison.
 * Every team member will lose points when a runner makes it to the end, so a good technique is to use the egg launcher to help the defender kill runners south of the north egg launcher rock; everyone on the team will get full points for all runners killed regardless of how they are killed.
 * It is suggested as the attacker role to keep auto-retaliate off to prevent any penalties like injuries and loss of honour points due to having on the wrong attack style.
 * Players are allowed to use normal potions; however, potions mixed using Barbarian training may not be brought into the arena.
 * Barricaded entrances will only slow down, not stop, Penance from entering the battlefield. It is recommended for the Defender to barricade only the caves of a role whose penance are all killed or spawned already (in other words, only barricade the cave the healers come out of when your Healer has killed them all)
 * It is also helpful if the attacker wears a full set of Guthan's (CAN ONLY BE USED IN DEFENSIVE/CONTROLLED STYLES), so that they do not need to be healed as often. Enhanced Excalibur's special attack also helps the healers out.
 * On wave 10 once all Penance creatures are dead, team members should gather near the Healing Pool. This is better for the Healers as they do not have to run far. An alternative for Waves 1 through 9 is for players to hide in one of the corners of the Egg Launcher "hills", where they can't be poisoned, ranged or meleed. This strategy does not work at Wave 10 due to the Penance Queen's ranged attack.
 * It is helpful to other players if a person takes a role that is already being used, most preferably collector, and use the Horn of Glory at the south-east section of the cave, as this can be used to tell everyone what they need to do. This way players can focus on their jobs. The horn cannot be used on wave 10 when the Queen arrives.
 * Using the Dragon mace when being an attacker is an advantage as it has controlled, accurate, aggressive and defensive attacks, as with most weapons. Other good weapons to use include the Dragon longsword, the Dragon scimitar, and others. The Abyssal whip alone is not recommended for its lack of an aggressive attack style, unless it is used in conjunction with earth spells (preferably wave or surge spells) OR in conjunction with a weapon with an aggressive style. With the addition of the quest The Void Stares Back, Korasi's sword is also a good choice. However, do not use Korasi's sword's special attack on anything besides the Queen Spawn, as it is not considered the proper attack type and you will receive a penalty! You mainly want to consider Damage per second (DPS) over high hits. The ideal setup, if you want to switch weapons, would be a Chaotic Rapier plus an Abyssal whip for fast, strong attacks over all four styles. If you don't want to switch styles, the best weapon would be a Chaotic Longsword. For range, a magic shortbow is ideal, since nothing but bows can be used as ranged weapons. For mage, of course, elemental Surge spells. Nothing besides elemental spells work.
 * You can stand in front of the lure cave to block runners from passing by. (Note that a runner can get through if you are walked on by another player).
 * If you are playing as healer, it can be very useful (especially on the later waves) to un-split or turn off private chat. This is because it will appear in front of the bar showing how many Life Points your team-mates have.
 * With a recent update, players can now see each others chat from anywhere in the room.
 * It is recommended to "Quickstart" over waiting for the game to automatically set you into the wave: 1.) Select a teammate to leave the team and make them only to do this each and every wave. 2.) That teammate exits the starting room. 3.) The teammate re-enters. 4.) Your leader will make him rejoin. 5.) Your leader will start the wave. This is done in about 10-20 seconds, and it is shorter compared to the normal starting wait time (30 seconds).



Personalities

 * Commander Connad
 * Sergeant Sambur
 * Private Pierreb
 * Private Paldon
 * Private Pendron
 * Private Paldo

Trivia

 * It is possible to be on more than one team's scroll at once. If the player walks out of the room while their leader tries to climb down the ladder, the player will still be on the team, yet their screen will show the team list as empty, they can then join another team as well. If their old team's leader updates their scroll, such as recruiting someone or clearing it, or goes into a wave, this then affects the player and their screen, which can cause the old team's list to appear instead of the calls during a wave; this problem can be temporarily fixed by using the Horn of Glory and can only be permanently fixed by the previous leader removing the player from their scroll (or clearing it). It is also possible for the player to be taken out of a wave and thereby taking their new team with them because of this.
 * The max hit of your attack while attacking does not include the bonus damage of the attacker role, therefore it will show up orange even if you are able to hit up to 50 LP higher (depending on attacker level). This also means that, for example, for low levelled accounts (who cant hit more than a 50 normally) every hit will be a 'max hit' if they are a level 5 attacker, even if they can hit more.

Servers
There are three game worlds dedicated to Barbarian Assault. While it is recommended that players attempt to find their teammates here, Barbarian Assault may be played upon any world.

The three dedicated worlds are:
 * US serv.svg 6 - United States
 * UK serv.svg 71 - United Kingdom
 * World 91

World 6 is generally the most heavily populated and players may be found during any time of the day. World 71 and 91 are known for being relatively empty at all times, so if a person does not already have a Barbarian Assault team, they are recommended to look for one on World 6.

Music

 * Legion - Outside
 * Assault and Battery - Wave 1-10
 * Pirates of Penance - Wave 10 queen part

Trivia

 * Lots of locations can be seen from the basement using the orb of oculus. From the south-east, the Killerwatt Plane can be seen. From the south-west, one can see the H.A.M. meeting room from Death to the Dorgeshuun as well as the TzHaar obsidian mine. To the north-west, is the Easter Bunny's burrow, including the Easter bird.
 * There is currently a glitch if you use the 10th anniversary cake inside the the waiting area. In the chat box, it will say that you cannot do the emote, but the music from doing the emote will still play.