Phoenix

The Phoenix is a near-immortal bird of fire, and currently the only one of her race, although she once had a brother named Si'morgh, who died protecting her from a Dragon. She is involved in the In Pyre Need quest, in which players help her complete a ritual that occurs every 500 years in order to renew her lifespan.

After the quest, she can be fought as a level 120 monster in the Phoenix Lair. She was voted for by players in the Guaranteed Content Poll on 28 April 2008. She was mentioned in November 2008's Behind the Scenes as a future update (as well as January 2009's Behind the Scenes) and was released later in the month.

Fighting


Note: A Slayer stat boost will work to get inside the Phoenix Lair.

Once players have completed In Pyre Need and have 51 Slayer, they may attempt to fight their way through the Phoenix Lair and defeat the Phoenix herself. This can be done once per day.

Players no longer require a minimum of a tinderbox, secateurs, and a knife to enter the lair as they can be stored on a toolbelt. Note: Also take into account that 5 twigs must be picked up, so 5 free inventory spaces are necessary.

Since the Guardians on the way to the Phoenix will block or corner the player, it is recommended to bring a Spirit wolf pouch and some Howl scrolls to scare them off. Otherwise, players might find that they have to kill the guardians to proceed further.

Note: Familiars may fail to follow players through from one cave to the next. If this happens, players should press the Call Familiar button to make their familiars appear next to them.


 * The Phoenix herself has a combat level of 120 and high Defence. She attacks purely with magic and has been said to hit up to 290. It is advisable for players to use the Protect from Magic prayer and range her. Players may also bring familiars to aid them. Those who have a high Prayer level and access to Ancient Curses should use Deflect Magic and Leech Defence, which have proven very effective.

She also uses a "Dust Attack" which will drain some of a player's stats, even if they have Protect from Magic on. Affected stats are Attack, Magic and Ranged. Boosted stats are affected as if unboosted, so stat boosting potions are a waste. Drained stats will return to their normal (unboosted) levels after a few seconds. This makes using magic against the Phoenix somewhat difficult. Her primary weakness is arrows, so players are advised to bring the best bow they can use.

When the Phoenix is mortally wounded, players must use a tinderbox on the pyre base to light it, burning the Phoenix and turning her to ash. She will quickly be reborn. The player may then speak with the new Phoenix and be rewarded with 5 Phoenix quills and 5,000 Slayer experience. For every kill thereafter, the player will only receive 500 Slayer experience (similar to Bork in the Chaos Tunnels). In addition, for each visit the player will also receive 7,500 Firemaking experience, 3,000 Fletching experience, and 1,000 Crafting experience as a reward for defeating her, as well as the chance to get a Phoenix eggling.

Trivia

 * The examine text is an allusion to the song Great Balls of Fire.
 * After killing the phoenix, the adventurers log will say, "I killed a phoenix, a bird of fire.' Or after killing it again after reset "I killed 2 phoenices, Birds of fire."
 * With the use of Daily D&D tokens, it's possible to have more than 2 kills registered in the Adventure's Log.
 * If you use the tinderbox on the Wounded Phoenix instead of the pyre she will say, "Light the pyre, not me!"
 * The conversation with the Phoenix]after retrieving the 5 Phoenix quills seems like a reference to the song 'Hello' by Martin Solveig & Dragonette. The character says: "No, I just came to say hello", where the phoenix answers "(Hello!)" and the character then again reacts with "Hello!".

Phoenix