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Note: I have been meaning to remake this guide for a VERY long time, but I obviously have made extremely little progress with it. If anyone wants to help me write it, has good spelling and grammar in English, and knows a lot about Barrows, then say so in a post, I will give you the little bit I rewrote and all of my notes, and we can write the guide together.

Welcome to my guide to Barrowing. This thread was originally owned by Ole F(c) (censored), so I credit him for a lot of the information in this guide. The guide details all magical, as well as all melee ways to do Barrows, that are the most efficient, time and money wise. I have tested all of these ways, even with my low stats, and can tell you that these are the most efficient methods out there.

Barrows is a dangerous mini-game, that’s definitely for sure. It was released on May 9th, 2005. The Barrows brothers were six formidable generals who fought and died together in the God Wars over two thousand years ago. Their story can be found in the Lores and History, as well as in a tome in a hut by their burial grounds. Your task is to defeat their ghosts, and, hopefully, be rewarded with a piece of their ancient armour for your own.

*Contents~

1. Introduction
2. Summary
3. Basic Barrowing
4-6. Slayer Dart Method
7-9. Traditional Magic Method
10-11. Black Salamander Method
12-14. Ancient Magicks Method
15-17. Verac's Method
18-20. Godsword/Whip
21-22. The Tunnels
23. Rewards
24. Prayer Drain
25-28. Getting There
29. Slayer Dart + Armour
30-31. General Tips
32. Frequently Asked Questions
33. Endnote

~People who liked the Guide~
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~*~Summary~*~

By far the best way to see if you can Barrow is to try it out, although I am always open to questions. If you have them, post and I'll definitely reply as soon as I can.

Here are what I believe to be the MINIMUM level requirements to use the Barrows strategies I have in this guide. Higher would definitely always be better, and if you do not have these requirements, you ARE NOT ready for Barrows. This should give you an idea of which method is best suited for you.

Magic Dart ~ A very effective method of Barrowing for all levels; Page 1, post 4

40+ Defence
60+ Hitpoints
50+ Ranged
50+ Magic
43+ Prayer
55 Slayer

Traditional Magic ~ Use this if you don't have 55 slayer, it's a bit slower and more expensive; Page 1, post 7

30+ Attack
40+ Defence
60+ Hitpoints
62+ Magic
50+ Ranged
43+ Prayer

Black salamander ~ I believe this to be the best method out there, faster and cheaper than magic dart; Page 1, post 10

70+ Attack
40+ Defence
60+ Hitpoints
70+ Magic
70+ Ranged
43+ Prayer

Ancients ~ The fastest method which requires the least amount of prayer pots & food, yet has the greatest rune cost; Page 2, post 2

50+ Attack
40+ Defence
60+ Hitpoints
70+ Magic
50+ Ranged
43+ Prayer is Recommended


Verac's ~ A fairly popular method of Barrowing with only a little bit more expenditure and time than Magic Dart; Page 2, post 5

80+ Attack
85+ Strength
70+ Defence
80+ Hitpoints
43+ Prayer

Godsword/Whip ~ If you have higher melee stats, this method is for you, it costs about the same as Magic Dart and only takes a little bit longer; Page 2, post 8

85+ Attack
85+ Strength
70+ Defence
80+ Hitpoints
43+ Prayer

~*~Strategies~*~

Here it is, the real meat of the guide. I will go into detail on all of the methods in the above post.


~Basic Barrowing~

This is a generic section on how to tackle barrows. This section is for people who have never been to Barrows before. If you know what you're doing at barrows then it makes sense to skip to a later post where I'll detail ideas for each individual method.

How to get to barrows is explained on page 3, post 5. For all of the methods you'll need to take a spade, and you enter the crypts by standing at their summit and just left clicking on the spade. You'll then find yourself in one of the following brothers' tombs.

Verac: attacks with melee, will hit through prayer and armor.
Dharok: attacks with melee, hits harder as he loses hitpoints, can be avoided with prayer.
Guthan: attacks with melee, has a chance to heal himself, can be avoided with prayer.
Torag: attacks with melee, has a chance to reduce your run energy, can be avoided with prayer.
Karil: attacks with range, has a chance to lower your agility, can be avoided with prayer.
Ahrim: attacks with magic, has a chance of lowering your strength, can be avoided with prayer.

Always compose yourself when you arrive at the Barrows. There's nothing worse than running straight down into a crypt without knowing exactly what you're doing when you get there. Make sure the *correct* weapon for the brother your facing is equipped and the relevant spell set to auto-cast. Check you've got the right armour on; charged prayer; and the right attack style.

For a much better map than I could possibly draw with letters, have a look at

Home > Game Guide > Minigames > Barrows

The map is roughly half way down, and will show you which brother is where in the Barrows graveyard. How to tackle each brother is described in each relevant section. Speaking of which, let's begin with Magic Dart.

~Magic dart~

I'll begin with one of the most efficient strategies, magic dart. This is speedy, cost effective, and rather easy to use, but does require 55 slayer which some people find a bit of a drag. The required stats, in order of minimum/preferable/best are:

Attack: 1/60/70+
Strength: 1/60/70+
Defence: 40/60/70+
Hitpoints: 60/70/75+
Ranged: 50/61/70+
Magic: 50/60/70+
Prayer: 43/50/60+
Slayer: 55/55/55+

The magic and slayer levels are vital to use this method. It's probably inadvisable to attempt to tackle Ahrim without prayer unless you're wearing Karil's top + bottom and/or have high magic. 61 range allows you the choice of the rune crossbow. It is nearly impossible to do Barrows without the minimum stats, so definitely get those before even attempting to use this method.

It's difficult to give you a definitive list of what you should and shouldn't bring. Everyone is different, with different stats and different preferences. I'll list what I personally think is best for use at Barrows, and some alternatives which may have lower requirements, or simply be a bit cheaper.

Head: Torag's helm > Verac's helm > Farseer Helm > Splitbark helm > Mystic hat
Cape: Fire cape > Skillcape > Obsidian cape > Legends cape > God cape
Neck: Fury > Glory > Stole
Body: Ahrim's robe top > Torag's > Splitbark > Mystic
Legs: Ahrim's robe bottom > Torag's > Splitbark > Mystic
Weapon: Slayer staff
Gloves: Any RfD gloves Mith+ > Combat bracelet
Quiver: Mith/Addy/Broad bolts > Mith/Addy arrows
Shield: Dragon square shield > Rune Defender/Unholy book > Other prayer book
Ring: Ring of life > Beacon ring
Boots: Armoured boots Rune+ > Mystic boots

This is a suggested set of armour if you are planning to do one chest per trip. If you have used Slayer Dart at barrows already, you may want to consider doing multiple chests in 1 trip, to do this, bring an extra prayer potion and do the brothers in reverse order, repeating for however many chests you choose to do.

Many people go out in melee armour for magic dart, but I believe that this is inadvisable and explain why on page 3, post 9. It is still advisable to strive for a balance however, which is why I strongly advocate the use of Torag's helm and a Dragon square. There is no alternative to the slayer staff if you're going to use this method: None! Some sort of range ammo is a must, I find that broad bolts or mith bolts are the most economical, but, as Ahrim doesn't actually have any range defence, whatever you choose should be fine.

~Setup~

The equipment to take is also variable from player to player, but I'll list a basic set up in this post.

SPADE! - Don't forget.
Up to four prayer potions (this is highly dependent on your Magic, Defence, Ranged, and Prayer levels, as well as your melee defence bonus, I personally only bring one.)
A Super Defence potion can be useful, although completely optional.
1000 minds and 250 deaths (until you work out a number that's right for you.)
A one click teleport (I'll discuss different methods of getting there and back on page 2, post 5)
A DDS - For Specing Ahrim
A Dragon Scimitar, Whip, or other secondary weapon, for the tunnels.
A crossbow or Magic Shortbow
The best dragonhide you can wear (just the top + bottom), or Karil's (also just top and bottom).
The rest, food (lobsters will do, but for your first few runs take monkfish+ until you feel that you don't need as much food.)

That is what I'd suggest for your first few trips. Things may change when you've done some Barrowing for yourself and find that you don't need as many prayer potions or as much food. Someone with 70 prayer and 70 Defence is going to find it very different from someone with 43 prayer and 60 Defence. If you're unsure what's right for you, just post and I'll do my best to give you a sensible set-up.

~Killing Order~

Dharok:~

When you arrive at the graveyard, head straight to the north-eastern mound where Dharok resides. Prayer is an absolute must for Dharok here: he is perfectly capable of two hitting anyone. So dig down, turn on protect from melee, and click on the sarcophagus. Dharok will spring out and start hitting lots of lovely blue zeros. Don't get too confident, watch your prayer and if it goes below 20, take a swig of prayer potion.

Karil:~

I then like to head down to Karil, after Dharok I find him the most dangerous because without prayer, he is very accurate and tough to kill because you need to keep eating. I like to carry on darting him with protect from range prayer on; that works perfectly well for me. People with high attack and strength might like to try taking a whip or dds to him, but he does have a surprisingly high defence against melee.

Ahrim:~

I would suggest using the rest of your prayer points on Ahrim, while using your dragonhide armor and ranged weapon to kill him. If you have under black dragonhide and under 70 magic, use prayer potions and pray throughout the entire battle. Lastly, keep your Hitpoints fairly high on him, especially once you run out of prayer, and you should do fine on him.

Verac:~

Before fighting Verac I take a sip of super defence potion (optional). Verac can be deadly with poor concentration or connection. He can sometimes hit through your prayer, and even your armour, so he poses quite a threat for anyone who takes him too lightly. Prayer reduces his max hit from 26 to 15, so whether or not to pray depends on you armour bonuses and Defence level.

Torag:~

You shouldn't have too much difficulty Maging Torag. If you have lower end defence and magic then you may want to pray against him. Just test it out for yourself to see if you need to pray.

Guthan:~

Very similar to Torag in terms of the method of kill, although Guthan tends to be a little bit more accurate than Torag. Pray accordingly if you need to.

~Traditional magic~

This was the first way I ever learned how to Barrow, and it's useful for someone who doesn't want to go to the trouble of getting 55 slayer or getting 70 Attack, Magic, and Ranged. The stats are again in the form of minimum/preferable/best:

Attack: 30/60/70+
Strength: 1/60/70+
Defence: 40/60/70+
Hitpoints: 60/70/75+
Magic: 62/70/75+
Ranged: 50/61/70+
Prayer: 43/50/60+

Here you need 62 magic in order to do decent damage to the brothers, and to cast air wave. Decent range is again needed for Ahrim (see post 4 for more information) and the higher you get any of these stats above the minimum, the better off you'll be.

The setup for traditional magic is almost the same as with magic dart. Here it is:

Head: Torag's helm > Verac's helm > Farseer helm > Splitbark helm > Mystic hat
Cape: Fire cape > Skillcape > Obsidian cape > Legends cape > God cape
Neck: Fury > Glory > Stole
Body: Ahrim's robe top > Torag's > Splitbark > Mystic
Legs: Ahrim's robe bottom > Torag's > Splitbark > Mystic
Weapon: Elemental staff
Gloves: RfD gloves Mith+ > Combat bracelet
Quiver: Mith/Addy/Broad bolts > Mith/Addy arrows
Shield: Dragon shield > Rune Defender > Prayer book
Ring: Ring of life > Beacon ring
Boots: Armoured boots Rune+ > Climbing boots

This is a suggested set of armour if you are planning to do one chest per trip. If you have used traditional Magic at Barrows already for awhile, consider getting slayer to 55 and start using Magic Dart.

SPADE! - Don't forget.
Up to five prayer potions (since this method takes longer than Magic dart, you will use more prayer potions)
Super defence potion can be useful, but not mandatory.
250 Casts of your selected spell until you get a definate number for yourself.
A one click teleport (I'll discuss different methods of getting there and back in page 2, post 5)
A DDS - For Specing Ahrim
A Dragon Scimitar, Whip, or other secondary weapon, for the tunnels.
A crossbow or Magic Shortbow
The best dragonhide armour you can wear (just the top + bottom), or Karil's (also just the top and bottom).
The rest, food, Monkfish+

That is what I'd suggest for your first few trips. Things may change when you've done some Barrowing for yourself and find that you don't need as many prayer potions or as much food. If you're unsure what's right for you, just post and I'll do my best to give you a sensible set-up. If you have used traditional Magic a lot, consider training your slayer to 55 as stated in the above post, and then start using Magic Dart.

~Killing Order~

You can see post 6 for an accurate killing order for the brothers using this method. The only difference is that you will want to be praying on EVERYONE because it will take you longer to kill the brothers than it would with Magic Dart. I know this sounds repetitive but I will mention it for a third time. If you have used traditional Magic a lot, consider getting 55 Slayer and switching to Magic Dart. IT HELPS!

~Black Salamander~

Personally, black salamanders are my favorite method to do Barrows. Dubbed by Jagex as one of the most versatile weapons in the game, yet considered to be pretty useless by many, a black salamander is not to be overlooked when weighing up your Barrowing options. These fiery little fiends have a fierce bite, and are probably the most cost and speed efficient options when it comes to Barrowing. The stats, again, in order of minimum/preferable/best, are as follows:

Attack: 70/75/80+
Strength: 1/60/70+
Defence: 40/60/70+
Hitpoints: 60/70/75+
Magic: 70/75/80+
Ranged: 70/75/80+
Prayer: 43/50/60+

At first glance these requirements may seem fairly high, but for a well rounded player, they're not that over the top. The level 70s are required to wield the black salamander. It might possibly be worth waiting until higher magic levels before using the salamander. The only way to find out for you is to test it out though. I am personally only 78 Magic and it works fine for me.

For Barrowing with a black salamander, the setup is strikingly similar to that of Magic dart.

Head: Torag's helm > Verac's helm > Farseer helm > Splitbark helm > Mystic hat
Cape: Fire cape > Skillcape > Obsidian cape > Legends cape > God cape
Neck: Fury > Glory > Stole
Quiver: Harralander Tar
Body: Ahrim's robe top > Torag's > Splitbark > Mystic
Legs: Ahrim's robe bottom > Torag's > Splitbark > Mystic
Weapon: Black salamander
Gloves: RfD gloves Mith+ > Combat bracelet
Shield: Empty
Ring: Ring of life > Beacon ring
Boots: Armoured boots Rune+ > Mystic boots

If you have the levels to use a salamander then you may be able to do more than one trip at once. For this you may be tempted to use armour and sacrifice magic bonus. Don't go overboard however, salamanders are affected by your armour bonus just like any other magic spell. Verac's helm and dragon boots can work well, but trying it out for yourself is of course the best way to discover what works for you.