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This article is a strategy guide for Telos, the Warden. Information on mechanics, setups, and tactics is on this page.
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Telos, the Warden is initially a level 2,000 combat monster who is fought in phases.
Gear
Any combat style can be used. Melee is faster for experienced players at lower enrages, but on higher enrage levels melee and ranged are not recommended because of the risk/lack of stuns they have.
Magic offers high resistance against Telos's melee attacks, and has a good amount of AoE abilities to clear out minions.
Melee offers moderate resistance against Telos's melee attacks, can utilise the Scrimshaw of vampyrism to recover large amounts of health and has powerful AoE abilities to clear out minions.
Invention Perks
- Planted Feet switch
- Aftershock weapon
- Precise weapon
- Biting armour
- Crackling armour
- Impatient armour
- Lucky armour
- Devoted armour
- Absorbative armour
- Mobile switch - although it's better to retain the adrenaline boost without Mobile, in an emergency the shorter cooldown can be beneficial to gain access to Surge again before the next Undercut attack.
Inventory
- Dreadnips - can stun/bind Telos occasionally and also poison him.
- Debuff runes (optional); preferably Vulnerability and Enfeeble as Telos can hit often through tier 90 armour.
- Debuff weapons:
- Guthix staff (magic) - only to use its special attack, as it is the only way for magic users to decrease a target's defence and affinity.
- Statius's warhammer (melee) - only for its special attack. Quake can be used by 2h users as a far cheaper alternative, albeit at a greatly reduced defence reduction rate (30% from Statius's warhammer compared to the 5% of Quake)
- If using melee/ranged, runes for Disruption Shield if on the Lunar spellbook
- Runes for Shield Dome if on the Ancient spellbook
Enrage
When Telos is fought for the first time, he will have 0% enrage and 400,000 life points (4 phases of 100,000 life points each). Unlike the fight with Araxxor and Araxxi, Telos's rage does not increase after each kill. Upon defeating Telos and spinning the reward wheel, the player has the option to either claim their reward immediately (which will reset his enrage if it is accumulated) or leave it.
When starting a new kill (not killstreak), players can customise Telos's enrage, anywhere from 0 to whatever enrage they have reached. There are also interval sets where the fight changes in some way at 25, 50, 100, 150, 250, and 1000% enrage.
Every 1% of enrage will add 10 combat levels (to both Telos and his golems), increase his health by 1000 (to a cap of 600,000 at 200% and above) and increase damage slightly. Enrage also increases his damage (by an unknown amount), his golems' health and the thresholds for breaking free of binds/draining fonts.
After 50% enrage, Telos adds black and red viruses into his attack rotations in phases 2 and 3, and a green virus on phase 5 (after 100% enrage); a debuff icon lasting for 30 seconds will appear. The viruses do rapid damage of 200-300 (increasing with enrage) and can only be removed by standing in the corresponding stream. If the virus is still not removed after 30 seconds have passed, the player will start to take heavy damage until it is cleansed. The virus is always preceded by 3 auto-attacks. On phases 2 and 3 it appears after the stun attack. If the phase 2's last special attack was black virus, the first special attack on phase 3 will be the uppercut attack. If the phase 3's last special attack was red virus, the first special attack on phase 4 will be the stun attack.
After 100% enrage, the "true" fight is unlocked; rather than the typical four phases, a fifth phase is unlocked. During this phase, every 1% of enrage increases Telos's health by 500 rather than the typical 1,000, capping at 200,000 hitpoints at 300% enrage.
After 150% enrage, Telos will be able to break free from binds and stuns, shown with a game message saying "Telos breaks free from its bindings."
After 250% enrage, Telos will be able to break free from binds and stuns on phase 5. If he does break free from them on that phase, he will be under the effects of Freedom, giving him immunity to stuns and binds for the next 6 seconds after breaking free.
After 1,000% enrage, the rockfall that appears on phase 5 will start appearing in phase 4. In phase 5, five piles of rocks fall at a time, and Telos's instant kill anima bomb will ignore the effects of Immortality.
The Fight
| After phasing, Telos will follow with the special attack of the same colour. Note that Phase 2 magic barrage, stun, and virus will all lead to Phase 3 virus first. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Grip/tendril | Uppercut/surge | Stun | ||
| Phase 2 | Grip/tendril | Magic barrage | Stun | Virus | Uppercut/surge |
| Phase 3 | Uppercut/surge | Stun | Virus | ||
| Phase 4 | Uppercut/surge | Weak anima bomb | Stun | ||
| Phase 5 (consistent) |
Minions | Random virus | Anima bomb | ||
Regular means of teleporting are disabled during the fight.
Telos will primarily attack with melee during phases 1, 2 and 4. He can attack with magic on all phases; however, on phases 1, 2 and 4, he only uses it if the player is too far from him. In phase 2, he will also attack with magic when he starts his magical barrage. In phase 4, he can use both styles, although he will usually attempt to use melee when possible. He is bindable, stunnable and susceptible to poison, so dreadnips are recommended for all of these purposes. However, at 150%+ enrage kills he has the ability to break free from binds and stuns. Damage can also be reflected, so it is strongly recommended to use Deflect Melee or Deflect Magic, depending on what Telos is attacking you with.
At the start of the fight, Telos has access to the following special attacks. Note that he can only use "Your anima will return to the source!" attack on phase 1 and 2; he can use the other two abilities on any phase (except for phase 5). Telos always uses one full set of abilities before recycling it again.
- Your anima will return to the source! (grip) - Telos ensnares the player with tendrils from his arm, dealing 200 typeless damage and draining 5% adrenaline every tick, while healing Telos for up to 1,500+ health each tick. To escape the tendrils, you must deal 3,000+ damage to Telos. If the player takes too long to deal the required damage, Telos will let go after roughly 15 seconds.
- If you are using magic or ranged, Telos will bind you at the spot. If you are using melee and not within melee distance, he will drag you next to him.
- Damage does not need to be done when the game prompts you to attack him; damage registers immediately once he starts the ability, meaning a well-timed threshold can prevent Telos from healing himself and damaging the player.
- The amount Telos heals (typically 1,500 + 5 * enrage), the damage from the tendrils and the amount of damage (typically 3,000 + 10 * enrage) needed to break his grip increase with his rage.
- Gielinor, give me strength! (uppercut) - Telos faces the player and prepares to charge. After a large delay, Telos will surge towards the player and uppercut the air, dealing a melee attack (which does typeless damage)
- This attack can be blocked by Resonance (but not healed from), or by using Surge or Escape when Telos is about to uppercut the air or one tick after the text message above Telos disappears. If you Surge too early, Telos will catch up to you and if you Surge while he uppercuts the air, you will take damage. Even if you Surge at the correct time, if you move 2 squares or less from your Surge (such as surging into a wall), you will take damage.
- This special attack will reduce Telos' special bar slightly. On phase 3, it will move to the left.
- Hold still, invader. (stun) - Before this, Telos pauses, leaning forward and turning to the right with tentacles flailing. Telos will then smash his tendrils on the ground, stunning the player and dealing heavy melee damage. He will then follow up by jumping onto the area the player was at. If the player does not get out of the way when he lands, they will take heavy typeless damage and will have their protection prayers/curses disabled for a short duration.
- To avoid the follow-up attack, use Freedom as Telos stuns you, then run away. Players can use Anticipate instead, provided that they use it before he smashes them with his arm. If using Anticipate beforehand, equip a shield and quickly use Resonance for a significant heal or Reflect, Devotion, to reduce as much damage on higher enrages.
In phases 1 and 4, Telos will perform the following special attack if his special bar fills completely:
- SO. MUCH. POWER! (anima bomb) - Telos sends an anima bomb flying at the player. This will deal 5,555+ damage (increasing with enrage, exact damage is 5,555 + 111.1 * floor(enrage / 10)), but can be reduced or blocked. Like his uppercut attack, Resonance can block but will not heal from it. This is preceded by 3 auto-attacks. After the attack the regular attack rotation resumes.
- Like his "Hold still, invader." attack, Telos will send another attack at the player just before the bomb hits. Be careful if using Resonance as if done too early, the attack may snipe its effects and leave the player open to the bomb attack
In phases 2, 3, and 5, Telos will perform the following special attack in fights at least 50% enrage:
- Virus - Telos inflicts a bleed on you with a smoke effect the colour of an anima stream. The bleed will continue until you cure yourself by standing in the anima stream of that colour. At this point, the total damage from the virus will again be dealt.
In the first three phases, anima streams of a certain colour will appear. They each have different abilities that can benefit and harm you. Standing in a stream will block it from continuing in its direction. If Telos stands in the stream, his special bar increases faster. After a while, the stream will disappear and will eventually return, flowing in a different area. The streams in the first two phases will always aim for Telos, while the streams in the third phase spawn erratically near the anima-golems that appear on that phase. Telos's special bar resets during phase transition, so if he filled his bar on one phase, it will be completely empty on the next phase.
Phase 1
- Green stream - Standing in this stream will give you a rapid adrenaline increase (in intervals of 10% adrenaline per tick, this is doubled by Natural Instinct), but you will also lose prayer points at the same time. If Telos stands in the stream, his special bar fills quicker. This stream will always spawn aiming at Telos.
Telos starts the fight with four auto-attacks. After that he uses the attacks in the following rotation unless interrupted by the anima bomb special attack:
- 3 auto-attacks
- Grip
- 3 auto-attacks
- Uppercut
- 3 auto-attacks
- Stun
- Repeats
Just keep avoiding Telos's special attacks with Deflect Melee on while taking advantage of the streams by standing in them and attacking Telos. Because of the rapid adrenaline gain from the beam, it might be a good idea to use Sunshine or Berserk, as the beam will easily allow you to get off several thresholds within their duration. Keep an eye on your prayer points as the streams drain them.
After Telos loses 25% of his lifepoints, the next cycle will begin. Telos will slam the ground, breaking the platform (similar to Vorago); however, this does not deal any damage and the player automatically moves to the next platform.
Phase 2
- Black stream - Standing in this stream will cause you to take less damage, but deal less damage. If Telos stands in the stream, his special bar fills quicker. This stream will always spawn aiming at Telos.
- Magic barrage - Telos will discharge his special bar through a series of magic attacks that get progressively more powerful. This can be easily predicted; when Telos starts his magic barrage, he pauses for several seconds (and stays still). Telos will continue his magical barrage as long as his bar has energy left. He will start with his standard magic attacks, but, as time passes, this will eventually change into orange projectiles, and finally red projectiles if his bar is still filled. These magic attacks become increasingly powerful, being able to hit very high even through prayer if they go on long enough. Telos will stop using magic attacks when the bar is depleted and resume with melee attacks; each magic attack will reduce the bar slightly. If the bar is near or completely filled, it is a must to stand on the black stream. Use Devotion, Debilitate, or Reflect only when orange or red projectiles appear while standing on the black stream to reduce as much damage as possible and prevent Telos from prolonging his barrage. Resonance can also be used on the orange or red projectile to get a large heal.
Telos's first attacks in this phase are determined how the phase 1 ended:
- If the last special attack in phase 1 was grip, the next special will be magic barrage after there have been a total of 3 auto-attacks between the two specials.
- If the last special attack in phase 1 was uppercut, the next special will be the stun attack after there have been a total of 3 auto-attacks between the two specials, except for if phase 1 ended after 1 auto-attack when there will be a total of 4 auto-attacks.
- If the last special attack in phase 1 was stun, the next special will be tendrils after there have been a total of 3 auto-attacks between the two specials. The auto-attack before the stun counts as an auto-attack.
After the first special attack, Telos resumes the following rotation starting from the line after the first special attack:
- 3 auto-attacks
- Magic barrage
- 3 auto-attacks
- Stun
- 3 auto-attacks
- Black Virus (if over 50% enrage)
- 3 auto-attacks
- Uppercut
- 3 auto-attacks
- Grip
- Repeats
Like in phase 1, Telos will focus on using melee attacks and cycle through his three abilities. Lure Telos out from the black streams if he is in them; on higher enrages, you should stay on the black stream whenever he does his "Hold still, invader" attack if you are not planning to resonance the stun hit.
Ensure that Telos is near the middle of the platform so that when he does his magical barrage, the player can block the black stream. If Telos is in a corner when he uses it, it is possible for the black stream to hit him from the same angle, which can be problematic for inexperienced players.
Phase 3
- Red stream - Standing in this stream will cause you to take more damage while dealing more damage, in addition to moving Telos's bar to the left. If Telos stands in the stream, his special bar moves to the right and his attacks deal 30% more damage.
- Unlike the previous two streams, the red stream appears around the locations of the anima-golem's spawn spot.
- Shockwave - If Telos's special bar reaches the red area on the right, Telos will unleash shockwaves dealing up to 2,000 damage. The damage increases with enrage and can be reduced. He can continue using shockwaves until he exits the red area of the bar on the right. The player should keep their health up, as it is very easy to get combo'ed out by the shockwaves and his normal attacks, especially at high enrages. On low enrage it might be the easiest to just keep focusing on Telos and ignore the prevention of the shockwave.
- Anima-golems - Three anima-golems will appear one at a time, moving Telos's bar to the right. They will simply collapse on the ground upon reaching 0 life points; a bar will appear over their heads while they are disabled. When this bar fills, they will rise back up and resume their duties again. The health of the golems begins at 1,000 and scales with enrage (1,000 + enrage * 2.5).
- Charge - If Telos's special bar reaches the red area on the left, he will start draining the player's adrenaline and prayer. Even though the chat message says that Telos charges himself, there seems to be no further effects.
The third phase starts 7 auto-attacks followed by the following special attack:
- If the last special attack was magic barrage, stun attack, or the black virus, the first one will be the virus attack.
- If the last special attack was uppercut, the first one will be another uppercut attack.
- If the last special attack was the grip attack, the first one will be the stun attack.
After the first special attack Telos uses the following attack rotation, starting from the line after the special attack he used first:
- 3 magic auto-attacks
- Uppercut
- 3 magic auto-attacks
- Stun
- 3 magic auto-attacks
- Red Virus (if over 50% enrage)
- Repeats
This is the phase where you must do as much damage as possible quickly, since this phase can deplete a lot of food if it is done improperly. Stand in the red beam and use Onslaught, Sunshine or Berserk to deal large amounts of damage quickly. However, be wary of your health if using Onslaught or Berserk, especially on higher enrages and if Telos' next special is the stun attack. Switch to Protect from Magic or Deflect Magic as Telos will only use magic attacks during this phase. However, he is still able to use the "Hold still, invader" special attack, which deals melee damage. Move out of the stream if you are in it and switch to Protect from Melee or Deflect Melee immediately to reduce his damage, or, even better, use Resonance to heal from it.
The correct area of the red bar diminishes with enrage level.
The anima-golems can be ignored if one is active; just make sure to disable any more that appear, especially if you stun Telos. Chain and Ricochet are recommended when dealing with the anima-golems; however, they can also be used with Sacrifice because of their relatively low amount of hitpoints. Activate Devotion when possible, then attack the golems to easily extend its duration.
Continue to avoid Telos's attacks; if Telos manages to reach shockwaves, immediately use some form of damage reduction such as Reflect, Debilitate or Barricade, especially on higher enrages and if the meter is completely shifted to the right, as you can take a lot of damage in a short time. If allowed, Telos will release most of his shockwaves when he does his virus attack, so try to save some form of damage reduction then to mitigate as much damage as possible. Lure Telos out of the red beams, and disable all of the anima-golems until the meter is reaching the red area on the left side.
Phase 4
In this phase, there are three anima fonts scattered around the edges of the arena: Pure, Volcanic and Corrupt Anima Font. The phase starts with the player jumping next to the Pure Anima Font found at the north-western side of the arena, with Telos dropping down shortly afterwards. Telos uses a new special attack in his attack rotation during this phase:
- Let the anima consume you! (weak anima bomb) - Telos sends a weak anima bomb at the player, dealing up to 2,500 damage (increasing with enrage, max damage is 2,500 + 10 * enrage). This will also inflict a damage over time effect that deals up to 275 damage (which also increases with enrage) and will drain overload timers by 15 seconds every time it deals damage. Standing near a font cleanses this effect.
The fourth phase starts with 3 auto-attacks followed by the following special attack:
- If the last special attack was the uppercut attack, the first one will be another uppercut attack.
- If the last special attack was the stun attack, the first one will be the weak anima bomb attack.
- If the last special attack was red virus, the first special attack on phase 4 will be the stun attack.
After the first special attack Telos uses the following attack rotation during this phase, starting from the line after the first special attack. This rotation can be interrupted by the anima bomb seen in phase 1, after which the rotation resumes. He uses melee unless you are far from him.
- 3 auto-attacks
- Uppercut
- 3 auto-attacks
- Weak anima bomb
- 3 auto-attacks
- Stun
- Repeats
In addition to this, Telos will use the following new special attack when he reaches 75%, 50% and 25% of phase 4's total life points:
- You dare to defy me!
- Telos starts this special attack by spawning three minions: A pure, volcanic, and corrupt anima-golem. When this happens, Telos will stop attacking you and cannot be attacked until the instant kill anima bomb has exploded. All the golems attack with melee and have an attack range of a halberd. The pure anima-golem's damage dealt increases with time. The volcanic anima-golem's attacks can occasionally stun the player for 2 seconds, so they should be killed first upon spawning. Anticipate should be used just before Telos spawns the golems so the volcanic anima-golem does not stun the player immediately (which could lead to the font killing them if their health is low). The corrupt anima-golem's attacks can occasionally apply an "Armour Break" debuff, which reduces your armor value by 5% per stack, and can stack up to 100% armor reduction. At higher enrage, having too many debuff stacks can be deadly in conjunction with the pure anima-golems increasingly damaging attacks. All of the golems have 8,000 life points which will increase with higher enrage (8,000 + 20 * enrage).
- Each font has 5,000+ life points (increasing with enrage, 5,000 + 100 * floor(enrage / 10), up to a cap at 10,000 life points at 500% enrage) but they cannot be attacked directly. While standing next to a font when Telos drains it, the player will periodically get damaged by 20% of the font's life points (this can be reduced/blocked by regular means) while the font loses the same amount. When the font is destroyed, the player will automatically create a shield around it which will protect them from the instant kill anima bomb that Telos launches shortly after saying "You dare to defy me!", provided that they are in the shield area. Telos's font-draining special attack ends when the message "You survived the anima bomb!" appears. The font will be permanently changed into a variant that can only be used for cleansing the weak anima bomb attack's effects. Telos's regular attack rotation resumes from the point it was left in.
- At 75% health Telos drains the Pure Anima Font at the north-western edge of the arena, at 50% the Volcanic Anima Font at the north-eastern edge and at 25% the Corrupt Anima Font at the southern edge. If you go to a wrong font, Telos charges a different one and the font you're at won't protect you from the instant kill anima bomb.
During this phase, Telos increases his special bar whenever he drains anima from the fonts. If the player moves quickly to each font, they should expect a high damage anima bomb to hit them after his second instant kill bomb. But if they are slow to move to the fonts, Telos can charge his special attack bar faster and they may have to deal with two or three anima bombs. Therefore, players should stay near the correct fonts before Telos reaches his health thresholds. If players are quick to move to each font, after the second bomb, players should stun him quickly to prevent him from casting the high damage bomb immediately, as each instant kill bomb resets the player's defensive abilities. On low enrages, this can be easily tanked as it will not deal as much damage, but on high enrages, Barricade is a must as it will either severely weaken or kill the player. It can also be cancelled through Resonance or Disruption Shield, but is not recommended if any golems are lingering around. Also note that it may be beneficial to bring a spirit shield along for emergency use, sometimes he will cast the high damage anima bomb immediately and ensuring your pray points are high and swapping to spirit shield can absorb a chunk of the damage and save you from potentially fatal damage.
Once Telos reaches 0 life points and his enrage is 99% or lower, a cutscene will occur where he stumbles and falls into the pool. In encounters of 99% enrage or lower, it will end the kill. If his enrage is 100% or higher, he will fall into the pool but rise back up again, starting phase 5 of the fight (see below).
Note: If performing the kill at 1000% enrage or higher, the rockfall that occurs on phase 5 starts appearing on this phase instead, so continue to from time to time to avoid being crushed for heavy damage, while taking note of Telos's attack rotation to ensure you are not caught at the worst time possible.
Phase 5
Telos will only use magic attacks during this phase. This phase will only occur on kills with 100% or more enrage. Telos will remain stationary in the middle of the arena. Telos starts off with 100,000 hitpoints, and higher enrages will increase this health, up to a cap of 200,000.
The three streams that appeared in the first three phases appear and have their same effects. The streams will occasionally change positions.
In this phase, Telos will discard all of his previous specials (stun/uppercut/weak anima bomb) for the following:
- You dare to use my power against me? - Telos summons 6 pure, volcanic or corrupted anima-golems to attack the player; lure these golems to the respective anima font and kill them in its vicinity. Before 2,300% enrage, these golems have slightly less health than they did on phase 4 (4,500 + 22.5 * (enrage - 100) life points). For every anima-golem killed near the respective font, it will recharge the said font by 25%, so four of them should be killed to fill up the font. They should all be killed anyways.
- On higher enrages, tanking the golems normally may not be feasible as the golems will have a lot of health and players will sustain a lot of damage; in this case, try to make it so that one or two golems are attacking you at a time by going in melee distance of Telos and lining them up against Telos by standing at a corner of Telos. Alternatively, since the golems are not immune to binds or stuns, players may cast Ice Barrage on a group of golems and safespot them by running out of their halberd attack range to avoid their attacks.
- Rockfall - Deals very high damage if it hits the player. Small rocks that deal no damage will fall in advance, signifying where the larger, damaging rocks will fall. Use this to move out of the way. This can be problematic on higher enrages where the volcanic anima-golems can stun the player and leave them open to heavy damage.
- On encounters of 1000%+ enrage, up to five piles of rocks will fall at a time.
Once the font is fully recharged by the golems' deaths, run to the red stream, attacking Telos on the way. If you want, however, you stand on the green stream to use Metamorphosis and wait a few seconds on it to rapidly gain adrenaline, before running to the red beam to deal as much damage as possible onto him. Alternatively, you can stand on the green beam and cast Onslaught; the beam will restore the adrenaline it consumes, essentially giving the player an infinite Onslaught until it changes position. You can tank the rockfalls on lower enrages; you should move away on higher enrages, however.
As soon as the golems appear, immediately use Anticipate and take out the golems; if the first set of golems summoned were volcanic, you will not be immediately stunned as soon as they attack you, which can be problematic on higher enrages. The golems also have less health (although this increases with enrage); for low enrages, Devotion will help negate Telos's attacks. Players should stand on the green beam and use AoE abilities to damage the golems to low lifepoints before luring them to the fonts; on low enrages, simple AoE abilities like Dragon Breath and Corruption Blast should be enough to kill them; on higher enrages, Tsunami and Detonate will need to be used to kill them quickly. Blood Barrage can also be used to recover some health while killing the golems. At higher enrages, players should also use Reflect and Revenge as the golems will have a lot of lifepoints and hit hard. Every odd set of golems can be ignored and killed without being near the font; however, every even set will need to be killed at the font if using Immortality, as it will still be on cooldown when Telos uses the bomb attack again.
While killing the golems, pay attention to the screen for falling rocks and your status bar. When Telos's special attack bar is half way full, Telos will inflict a random virus (green, red or black) on you, which you will need to clear. Run to the respective beam after all the golems are killed; Surge can be used to reach the right beam faster. At higher enrages, it is worthwhile to use Barricade right before the virus is applied as it is very damaging at higher enrages and players cannot prematurely stand on the correct beam as the virus type is unpredictable.
Telos will eventually prepare a bomb, shown with the game message "Telos is preparing a pure/volcanic/corrupted anima bomb, run to the font to intercept it!". If Telos is not interrupted from completing the bomb, he will slam it onto the player, instantly killing them. Either run to the charged font and use it on him; if this font is not fully charged, the only alternative is to use Immortality, which will protect you from the effects of the bomb.
Once Telos reaches 0 life points he will fall back into the pool, ending the kill. Any remaining golems on the field will die after the beam appears.
Make sure you have sufficient health when Telos dies, as a cutscene will not play. Golems can still attack and potentially kill you, making you lose the kill and your killstreak if this happens.