Revenants are the ghostly versions of creatures slain in the God Wars, and are amongst the most dangerous type of monsters in RuneScape. The word revenant comes from a French and Latin word meaning "returned." They were introduced in an update on 10 December2007, and were designed to replace player killers in the Wilderness; as such, revenants are generally much stronger than their combat levels suggest. Revenants can be found patrolling freely around various parts of the Wilderness attacking any player to encounter one, though they do not appear on PvP worlds.
Revenants can attack using all three sides of the combat triangle: a decent Melee attack, a Ranged attack that can freeze the target on the spot, and a Magic attack that can prevent teleportation. The latter two attacks have very long ranges, allowing revenants to strike before they can be seen on the screen, though you can still hear the sound effects. All of their attacks are strong enough that it's common for revenants, aside from perhaps the lowest-levelled ones, to hit over 200 life points of damage at once. Some revenants can also poison with their attacks. Note that all revenants can poison ANYWHERE in the wilderness with a hidden update.
When attacking, revenants attempt to target any weaknesses in their foe's defences. For example, if a revenant is fighting a player who is wearing rune armour, which gives good bonuses to Melee and Ranged but very poor Magic defence, it will primarily use Magic attacks. Revenants can also adapt to any protection prayers that the target may be using, and will change their attacks accordingly. It's also worth noting that the freeze and teleblock effects of their Ranged and Magic attacks, respectively, do hit through Prayer.
Defensively, revenants have the ability to heal themselves a limited number of times when their life points become low. They can also cure themselves of poison, although they cannot cure poison from weapons poisoned with karambwan paste(m). When damaged, revenants may attempt to retreat and use Ranged and Magic attacks, the former being useful for freezing the target in place so that the revenant can escape.
The range of combat levels of players that a given revenant can attack are dependent on the level of the Wilderness. In Wilderness level 1, a player must have a combat level of one level greater than, one level less than, or equal to the combat level of the revenant in order to attack it. As the Wilderness level increases, up to level 56 Wilderness, the deepest level, lower-levelled players can be attacked by increasingly strong revenants, and vice-versa. For example, a revenant ork, with a combat level of 105, cannot attack players with a combat level of 70 or lower until level 35 Wilderness.
History
During the Second Age, the Wilderness was the heart of the kingdom of the almighty Empty Lord, Zaros. At the time, the land was prosperous and wooded, protected from his enemies by enormous military strength. However, when he was overthrown by Zamorak, the God Wars began.
The God Wars that raged across Gielinor for 4,000 years were the world's darkest hours. The races of countless civilizations were forced to extinction, and entire regions were left uninhabitable by battle. No area suffered so greatly as the Wilderness.
With Zaros removed from power, the world's other races and religious factions launched massive assaults not only on each other, but on the leaderless legions of Zaros. By the end of the God Wars, the Wilderness had suffered from so much conflict that it was permanently scarred, its former beauty forgotten.
Many of those that died in the Wars are trapped eternally in the Wilderness, their souls twisted by the evil magic and corruption that surrounds it. Today, over 2,000 years later, these creatures, known now as the revenants, continue to hunt for those that enter their kingdom, doing whatever they can in their power to stop them.
Revenants can be a significant threat to any player who has business in the Wilderness. They patrol nearly everywhere in the Wilderness, even sometimes entering the Wilderness section of the Edgeville Dungeon. They can hit very hard even at a distance, and will pursue players across the Wilderness for long periods of time. Revenants can even move through closed doors and gates.It is rumored that they can also float over rivers of lava,although this is unconfirmed. There are, however, a few tips that anyone looking to avoid revenants may find handy:
Unlike players, revenants cannot run. They can only move at normal walking speed, meaning they can be outrun. (Revenants are persistent, however, so it's best to keep running for a while to make sure it's gone.)
There are a few areas in the Wilderness that are not actually a part of the Wilderness, and can be used as sanctuaries against revenants. These include the Wilderness Volcano's banking area, the Clan Wars lobby, Stealing Creation(m), Fist of Guthix, Edgeville resource dungeon (m), anywhere under the Lava Maze (m), Spirit Realm (m), the Mage Arena(m) bank (which teleblocked players cannot enter), Ghorrock (m),Daemonheim and the Stealing Creations lobby. Entering any of these areas will also lift any teleblocks that may be in effect. Revenants may enter these areas rarely, but are unable to attacked or be attacked.
There are also a few areas in the Wilderness that are considered a "safe spot", where Revenants rarely frequent and are easier to evade. Locations proven to work:
Some revenants have been seen going up ladders and stairs on their pre-set wandering, and are still aggressive, such as in the Rogues Castle and Air obelisk.
Although revenants can reach just about every location in the Wilderness, they often follow common routes in their patrols. Learning these routes may help to avoid revenants.
Revenants make a distinctive sound when they attack with Magic, which can be easily heard if the sound effects are on.
A forinthry brace(m) could very well mean the difference between life and death, as it negates the revenants' teleblock ability.
Revenants can be scared off by Howl, the special attack of a spirit wolf.
Revenants do not appear in PvP worlds, although player killers may roam the Wilderness instead.
Do not use the Edgeville or Ardougne levers without a slashing weapon, otherwise you will be trapped behind a spider web which Revenants can fly through and attack.
Hunting revenants
For further information consult the revenant hunting guides for free players and for members.
Owing to their unique capabilities and the drops that can be received from them, revenants are often hunted by single players or, more commonly, groups of players. Multiple players can gang up on revenants in any of the Wilderness's multicombat areas, quickly overwhelming them. The unofficial revenant hunting worlds are World 141 (for free players) and World 98 (for members). Oftentimes groups of revenant hunters will gather near the chaos altar in level 38 Wilderness, or by the Demonic Ruins.
As noted above, revenants cannot cure poison from weapons poisoned with karambwan paste, and they are vulnerable to effects that work on undead monsters, such as Crumble Undead and salve amulets (as well as their enchanted versions). Furthermore, they count as ghosts for the purposes of Slayer tasks, so black masks, hexcrests(m) and focus sights(m) will work on them, so long as ghosts are the player's current Slayer task.
A good way to defend against a revenant's attacks is to wear armour that gives high bonuses to two categories of defence and use the appropriate protection prayer to cover the third defence. A good example of this is high-level melee armour and the Protect from Magic prayer. If prayers are for some reason unavailable, armour with bonuses to every category of defence, such as dragonhide armour or Void Knight robes(m), will help.
There is a place where some kind of revenants respawn in the ruins which is under The Forgotten cemetery.
Revenants and player killers
Revenants were introduced along with a large update on 10 December 2007, in which player killing in the Wilderness was removed (to be replaced by Bounty Hunter, Clan Wars, and eventually PvP worlds). Player killers had long been a significant danger in the Wilderness, so revenants were created to provide a similar threat. Many aspects of revenants were introduced to mimic player killers more effectively, such as the ability to "eat" and heal damage, as well as identifying a target's weakness based on their armour and switching attacks accordingly. However, there are a number of differences between revenants and player killers, some of which have been sources of controversy on the RuneScape forums.
For example, revenants have the ability to deal damage with all three forms of combat, while a skilled player killer would only use two styles, or hybrid, and they do this exceptionally well. Revenants on the other hand, are easy to predict and counter. Their drops are also inconsistent with their power; although revenants can drop powerful items, such as rune and dragon equipment, they do so rarely, often giving a small number of coins or nothing at all. Revenants do not fight each other, as player killers could, nor do they fight with other creatures in the Wilderness. Furthermore, whereas a player killer possesses human intelligence and can be reasoned with or otherwise placated, revenants are relentlessly aggressive and will not stop attacking until they are killed or fled from.
To balance this out, revenants are limited in a number of ways. Contrary to popular belief, prayer WILL defend against the attacks done by a revenant. The effects of the attacks, such as teleblock or freeze will NOT be defended against, but the damage itself will be fully negated by the prayer of choice. Keep in mind that the range attack resembles icy darts and the magic attack is a giant skull. Revenants also do not have access to special attacks, cannot summon familiars, and cannot drain stats. As revenants are controlled by AI, it is possible to "trick" them by trapping them behind a wall or another obstruction. Additionally, revenants cannot run as players can, so it is arguably easier to escape from a revenant, despite the longer range of their attacks.
High Level Revenants are often found near the Zamorak mage. This might have been intended to counter bots using the Abyss Runecrafting system.
The revenants' Magic attack resembles the shape of a human skull, and seems to be a ghostly version of Iban Blast. Their Ranged attack somewhat resembles Ice Rush due to its similar appearance and its ability to freeze players for five seconds.
According to the head mystic of Stealing Creation, the revenants are the Holy Ones of whom the mystics spoke. It is said they sent the head mystic a message in his dreams and told him to build the camp for Stealing Creation.
The dwarven mystic mentions he is building bodies for the revenants, which may indicate an upcoming update or quest involving the revenants.
As the revenants were combatants in the God Wars, it seems likely that the battles that took place in the Wilderness were partly fought by monsters such as white dragons and dark beasts.
Attempting to attack a revenant while not in the Wilderness, with Ranged or Magic, results in the message "You can't attack a revenant from outside the Wilderness."
High level Revenants can be found in low level Wilderness, as high level players have to be in a danger zone too.
It has been confirmed that Revenants can actually go inside Daemonheim. Yet as soon they get inside they disappear after a few seconds.
Revenant vampires are the only revenants to have coloured eyes (there is a picture of a revenant vampire in this page that vividly shows this). All other revenants have opaque white eyes.
