Barrows Brothers Guide

There are moments in everyone’s Runescape career that you never forget. Defeating TzTok-Jad and getting your first Fire Cape or achieving your first level 99 skill. Obtaining your first pet, skilling or otherwise, or reaching your first 100 mil GP. 

And, of course, taking on the Barrows brothers for the first time. 

The Barrows Brothers are some of the most iconic characters in Runescape history. Known for their combat prowess and powerful weapons and armor, taking on the Barrows is one of the first combat hurdles for a mid-level player.

Defeating them and claiming their gear for yourself will go a long way toward helping you climb that progression ladder. 

Grab a shovel and an empty loot bag. We’re going digging through Gielinor’s Barrows. 

OSRS Requirements

The Barrows reside in Morytania. To access Morytania, you need to complete the Priest in Peril quest. You’ll also need a spade to burrow into the Barrows, but there are some spades on-site. 

As for Combat requirements, you’ll need decent stats to defeat the Barrows brothers. I suggest at least level 60 Attack and Strength, 61 Ranged, 43 Prayer, and 35 Magic. At 35 Magic, you can cast Fire Bolt, which has a max hip of 12.

From testing experience, I can assure you Fire Bolt is more than enough to defeat the Barrows brothers. But for Accuracy and damage purposes, at least 50 Magic is preferred. 

Four of the six Barrows brothers are Melee opponents, one is a Ranged opponent, and one is a Magic opponent. It’s entirely possible to defeat all six brothers with only Magic.

I don’t recommend that, however, as the crypt is all Melee monsters (Unless Ahrim or Karil is your last brother), so Melee equipment comes in handy. If you rely entirely on protection prayers, you’ll run out of Prayer much faster on trips. 

Once you reach the endgame of Combat, it’s almost more efficient to kill the brothers via the Combat style they’re weak against instead of using Magic on everyone. 

OSRS Recommendations

Iban’s Staff and Iban’s Blast

While Fire Bolt can get the job done, it won’t be the fastest. If you plan on using Magic and want to be efficient (Especially important for those who can do multiple runs per trip), the best mid-level spell is Iban’s Blast. 

To use Iban’s Blast, you’ll need Iban’s Staff. Getting it requires the completion of the Underground Pass quest. You’ll also need at least level 50 Attack to wield the staff.

60+ Prayer & Lots of Prayer Potions

Level 43 Prayer is all you need for complete access to the protection prayers. However, your Prayer points will drain quickly with only the bare minimum Prayer requirement. Level 60 Prayer gives you a lot more wiggle room.

60+ Agility

Depending on your RNG, you may have to run around a lot while down in the crypt. With a low Agility level, your run energy will deplete quickly, which means monsters will attack you more. If your Agility level is low, consider bringing one stamina potion.

Curry + Karambwans

Curry is relatively cheap and heals 19 HP per portion. Karambwans heal 18 HP each and allow for combo eating. You shouldn’t need much food as you’ll primarily rely on protection prayers, but bring some just in case. 

Melee Spec Weapon

There’s no reason to have your special attack energy go to waste. Bring along a melee spec weapon like a dragon dagger p++ (Requires completion of The Lost City) and use your special attacks when able (Especially on Ahrim and Karil). Dragon claws are better, but they also cost about 91 million GP more than a dds.

Helm of Neitizot

The Helm of Neitizot has similar stats to the berserker helm, except it comes with a Prayer bonus and doesn’t have negative Ranged or Magic attack bonuses. It’s the perfect mid-level helm. 

The Helm of Neitizor requires completion of The Fremennik Isles quest and level 55 Defense.

Teleport Option

After claiming your rewards, the crypt will start to shake, and you’ll periodically take low amounts of damage. The fastest way out of the crypt is to teleport out. If doing multiple runs per trip, use Barrows teleport tablets. If not, any teleport option works. 

God Book

As mentioned earlier, Prayer is most important for Barrows runs, so bump up your Prayer bonus as much as possible. If you’ve completed the Horror from the Deep quest, you can use god books that give +5 Prayer bonuses.

Completion of Morytania Hard Diary

While everyone wants Barrows equipment, the reality is that runes will make for much of your profit during Barrows runs. 

Completion of the Morytania Hard Diary increases rune drops by 50% from Barrows reward chests. If you plan on farming Barrows for profit, you ideally want the Morytania Hard Diary done first.

Strange Old Lockpicks

Down in the crypt, you’ll need to find the reward chamber to claim your loot. There’s just one problem: Not every door in the crypt is useable. You have to run around to find which door actually allows you to reach the reward chamber.  

Unless you have a strange old lockpick, that is. 

With a strange old lockpick, you can use it to open any door in the Barrows. It has 50 uses, after which it becomes useless (Use High Level Alchemy on it when it has one charge left to recoup some of the cost). 

Strange old lockpicks currently cost around 86K GP each. That might seem somewhat steep, but there’s no way you don’t make your money back. Sometimes the reward chamber is one room over right after you enter the crypt. These babies are very much worth it. 

RuneLite

RuneLite automatically highlights the correct solution for puzzles in the underground and makes your OSRS life easier all around. 

How to Get There

Barrows Teleport/Teleport Tablets

With level 83 Magic, at least 60% Arceuus favour, and the Arceuus spellbook, you can teleport straight to Barrows. Otherwise, grab some Barrows teleport tablets from the Grand Exchange and use them. The profit from runs will offset the costs of the tablets. 

If you have a portal chamber or portal nexus in your house, you can use one of those to teleport to the Barrows too. Combined with an ornate pool to restore your stats, that’s the best option. 

Shades of Mort’ton Minigame Teleport

If you’ve completed the Shades of Mort’ton quest, you can use the Shades of Mort’ton minigame teleport every 20 minutes. This teleport will take you to the Shades of Mort’ton minigame. From there, run southeast to the Barrows.

Morytania legs 3 or 4 Teleport

With the Morytania legs 3 or 4, you’ll have unlimited teleports to Burgh de Rott. From Burgh de Rott, run north through Mort’ton, then east to the Barrows.

Fairy Rings

There are two relatively fast transportation options via fairy rings. The first one is the fairy ring code B K R. With level 50 Agility, use the Agility shortcut, then run east and southeast to reach the Barrows. 

The second option is fairy ring code B K R which teleports you to Mort Myre Swamp. Run southeast to the Swamp Boat, then take it to Mort’ton. From there, run east to the Barrows.

Fairy ring access requires you to complete A Fairy Tale II – Cure a Queen. 

Myreque Hideout Shotcut

With the completion of In Aid of the Myreque, you can use the trapdoor behind the Hair of a Dog tavern as a shortcut into Mort Myre Swamp. From there, it’s the usual Swamp Boat to Mort’ton, then east to the Barrows. 

Run from Canifis

The age-old walking ticket isn’t the fastest, but it gets the job done. Travel to Canifis, then run southeast through Mort Myre Swamp to the Swap Boat. Make your way to Mort’ton and then to the Barrows.

I suggest leaving your food in the bank if traveling through Mort Myre Swamp. There’s a strong possibility some of it will become rotten. You can use the bank in Burgh de Rott to safely get your food. 

The Barrows Brothers

Each Barrows Brother possesses a unique set of equipment with special abilities. 

Ahrim the Blighted

• Combat Level: 98
• HP: 100
• Max Hit: 20

Ahrim is the sole Magic user of the Barrows brothers. He is extremely accurate and can hit up to 20s. Using Protect from Magic completely neuters him. Any mid-level Ranged weapon like a magic shortbow, rune crossbow, or toxic blowpipe destroys him. 

Ahrim’s set effect, Blighted Aura, has a 20% chance of lowering your Strength by 5 for each successful hit. For this reason, it’s a good idea to fight Ahrim after Karil if you don’t have any super restore potions.

Dharok the Wretched

• Combat Level: 115
• HP: 100
• Max Hit: 29 (At full HP), 57 (At 1 HP)

Dharok is the most dangerous of the six Barrows brothers. His set effect, Wretched Strength, increases his max hit by 1% for every Hitpoint he has lost. 

At 1 HP, Dharok can hit a whopping 57, but even at full HP, he can smack you with a 29. Using Protect from Melee at all times when facing Dharok is essentially mandatory. 

As a Melee combatant, Dharok is extremely susceptible to Magic, and that’s the only Combat style you should use against him. Despite his offensive prowess, he goes down easy enough.

Guthan the Infested

• Combat Level: 115
• HP: 100
• Max Hit: 24

Guthan is the second of the four Melee Barrows brothers. He has a max hit of 24, but that isn’t as scary as it sounds since Guthan is the most inaccurate Barrows brother. If you have very high Defense levels and some top-of-the-line gear, you can get away with killing Guthan without Protect from Melee. 

Guthan’s set effect, Infestation, gives him a 25% chance of healing him, equal to the damage dealt on successful hits. Yet another reason why he isn’t very intimidating. Magic takes care of him efficiently. 

Karil the Tainted

• Combat Level: 98
• HP: 100
• Max Hit: 20

Karil is the Ranged fighter of the Barrows brothers. He has a max hit of 20 and is very accurate, so Protect from Ranged is advised here. 

Karil’s set effect, Tainted Shot, gives him a 25% chance of draining your Agility by 20% for each successful hit. While a complete non-issue in a fight, his set effect will cause your run energy to deplete quickly while in the crypt. Keep that Protect from Ranged up if you’re farming Barrows, or this will slow you down.

Despite being a Ranged opponent, Karil is quite susceptible to Magic. Slash or stab Melee weapons still work best, but strong Magic users can get away with spells on Karil. 

Torag the Corrupted

• Combat Level: 115
• HP: 100
• Max Hit: 23

Torag is the third Melee fighter of the Barrows brothers. His hammers have a max hit of 23, but he’s even more inaccurate than Guthan. Most consider him the easiest Barrows brother to defeat. Like with Guthan, players with high Defense levels could opt out of using Protect from Melee against Torag.

Torag’s set effect, Corruption, gives him a 25% chance per successful hit of draining your energy by 20% of its current maximum. Like with Karil, that can get annoying if farming the Barrows. Nuke him down with the best spell you have. 

Verac the Defiled

• Combat Level: 115
• HP: 100
• Max Hit: 23 (Without Protect from Melee) 15 (With Protect from Melee)

Verac is the fourth and final Melee fighter of the Barrows brothers and arguably the most dangerous. Dharok may hit the hardest, but Verac has the most annoying set effect. 

Verac’s set effect, Defiler, gives him a 25% chance per attack to ignore your armor, bonuses, Defense, and protection prayers. Protect from Melee is still recommended, but Verac can still hit 15s through your protection prayers. If you use any food on a Barrows run, it’s likely on Verac. Like all other Melee Barrows brothers, Verac is no match against Magic.

Defeating the Barrows Brothers

Players are free to defeat the Barrows brothers in any order they wish. I prefer the order of Dharok, Ahrim, Karil, Guthan, Torag, then Verac. 

While fighting the Barrows brothers, the face of one of the brothers will appear periodically on your screen. When that happens, that brother will drain your Prayer points. The Prayer drain starts at 8 points and increases by one for every brother you’ve defeated. 

Instead of spawning one of the Barrows brothers, one of the sarcophagi will give you a prompt. The prompt will ask if you wish to enter a secret tunnel. Save that brother for last, as you want to defeat all the brothers before heading into the crypt.

Barrows Underground

After defeating five brothers, head back to the sarcophagi that gave you the prompt and enter the crypt. You’ll notice that many of the doors are inaccessible (Unless you have a strange old lockpick).

The doors you can open are grey, while the inaccessible ones are brown. Navigate the tunnels until you find the door that gives access to the reward chamber. 

While down in the tunnels, make sure you kill the sixth brother. You have to kill them all to have the highest number of loot rolls and the best chances of getting Barrows items from the reward chest.

You have 0% of getting Barrows equipment of a brother you didn’t kill. If you’re an Iron Man and hunting for a specific set or sets, you can use that to your advantage and intentionally skip over some of the brothers. 

On the left side of your screen, you’ll notice a potential stat beneath the Barrows brothers’ names. That is your reward potential percentage. It increases for every Barrows brother you slay and tunnel creatures like skeletons or crypt rats. 

The sweet spot for reward potential is 86.8%. Achieving 86.8% ensures the reward chest will dish out the maximum possible stacks of runes. However, do NOT go above 86.8% potential. 

The drop tables for the reward chest depend on reward potential. If your potential isn’t high enough, some items have 0% spawn rates. You want that to happen. Why? Because some of the rewards, like bolt racks, are worthless. 

If you max out reward potential, the chest will potentially drop bolt racks, crystal key halves, and dragon med helms. The dragon med helms are fine, but not when getting them means chances of getting bolt racks and crystal key halves too. 

An easy way of hitting the reward potential sweet spot is to kill all six brothers, one skeleton, and one crypt spider. Turn off auto-retaliate after that if you have to. Just don’t kill anything else. 

After reaching the reward potential sweet spot, make your way to the final door before the reward chamber. Once at the final door, a simple puzzle will pop up. Don’t get this wrong. If you do, the doors will reset, and you’ll have to traverse the crypt again to find the right door. 

Monsters will still attack you while doing puzzles, and when that happens, you’ll exit out of the puzzle. If this happens, the puzzle switches. This can get annoying, so be quick. 

Possible Loot

One of the pros about farming the Barrows for profit is the loot table is small, which means consistent drops. 

Killing all six Barrows brothers gets you seven rolls for the Barrows chest. Assuming you reached the sweet spot of reward potential, here’s what you can get:

• 2-758 coins
• 254-336 Mind runes 
• 112-139 Chaos runes
• 70-83 Death runes
• 37-41 Blood runes
• Ahrim’s hood
• Ahrim’s robetop
• Ahrim’s robeskirt
• Ahrim’s staff
• Dharok’s helm
• Dharok’s platebody
• Dharok’s platelegs
• Dharok’s greataxe
• Guthan’s helm
• Guthan’s platebody
• Guthan’s chainskirt
• Guthan’s warspear
• Karil’s coif
• Karil’s leathertop
• Karil’s leatherskirt
• Karil’s crossbow
• Torag’s helm
• Torag’s platebody
• Torag’s platelegs
• Torag’s hammers
• Verac’s helm
• Verac’s brassard
• Verac’s plateskirt
• Verac’s flail

If you reach maximum (And sub-optimal) reward potential, you can receive the following:

• 35-40 bolt racks
• loop half of key
• tooth half of key
• Dragon med helm

Ahrim’s top, bottom, staff, Dharok’s set minus the helm, and Karil’s top are the big moneymakers here. But they don’t have the highest drop chances in the world, and a ring of wealth doesn’t help. Runes will be the most consistent profit here, hence why Morytania Hard Diary completion is vital for farming Barrows. 

RS3 Requirements

The requirements for Barrows in RS3 are virtually the same as in OSRS. You will need to start The Nature Spirit to access the Swamp Boat. 

Level 60 Melee and Defense stats, 61 Ranged, 50 Magic, and 43 Prayer are the skill minimums you want to meet. 

RS3 Recommendations

Drakan’s Medallion

Drakan’s medallion is a completion reward from The Branches of Darkmeyer quest. It can teleport you to various locations around Morytania, including the Barrows. 

Drakan’s medallion has 10 charges but uses no charges if using it while inside Morytania. An effective way to use Drakan’s medallion for Barrows runs is to use the Canifis lodestone to get to Canifis, teleport to Barrows, then teleport south of Burgh de Rott bank when your run is complete. 

Ghost Hunter Set

RS3 has the benefit of Hybrid armor, allowing you to use one set of armor instead of three. The Ghost Hunter set is the best Hybrid armor for Barrows, as it gives +10% damage against ghosts and related creatures.

If you’re an OG player, you got this from the 2014 Halloween event. If not, you can obtain Ghost Hunter equipment as drops from various undead foes like ankou, revenants, and banshees.

Undead Slayer

Undead Slayer is an Invention perk that increases damage dealt to undead monsters by 7%. 

Considering Invention’s high-skill gates, most mid-level players won’t have access to Undead Slayer. But if you do, absolutely use it. 

Barrows Amulet

Players can use the Barrows amulet to skip up to three Barrows brothers per run by using the amulet on their sarcophagi. You can obtain a Barrows amulet as a drop from Rise of the Six of from the Grand Exchange. 

The Barrows amulet does NOT work on Linza or in Rise of the Six. 

Ring of Wealth

RS3 has luck modifier items, and these luck modifiers increase the chances of getting loot, like Barrows items. A ring of fortune or Luck of the Dwarves are better, but a ring of wealth gets the job done. 

Hard Morytania Achievements Completed

Having the Hard Morytania Achievements completed doubles rune rewards. But that’s not all. You’ll also benefit from halved Prayer point drain while fighting the Barrows brothers, and you can instantly bank your rewards from the rewards chest.

Overloads/Extreme Potions

If you have level 96 Herblore, make some Overloads. They’re extremely OP. Otherwise, use extreme potions, especially Magic and Ranged. 

How to Get There

Boss Portal

After completing the Barrows once, you can teleport there via the boss portal at War’s Retreat. It’s the most effective option.

Drakan’s Medallion

After completing The Branches of Darkmeyer quest, you can use Drakan’s Medallion to teleport straight to the Barrows. 

The transportation options from OSRS remain the same except for Barrows teleport/teleport tablets.

The Barrows Brothers

Ahrim the Blighted

• Combat Level: 150
• Lifepoints: 12,000
• Max Hit: 1,260

Ahrim casts his usual offensive spells and curses that can lower your Attack, Strength, and Defense. His set effect is the same as OSRS. 

RS3 gives the Barrows brothers more specific weaknesses. Ahrim is now weak to arrows (Not just any Ranged weapons, specifically arrows).

Dharok the Wretched

• Combat Level: 150
• Lifepoints: 12,000
• Max Hit: 1,260 (Normally) 3,000-4,000 (Depending on HP)

Dharok is still as dangerous as his OSRS counterpart. His set effect is the same, though slightly weaker. You still want Protect from Melee up at all times. 

Dharok is susceptible to fire spells. 

Guthan the Infested

• Combat Level: 150
• Lifepoints: 12,000
• Max Hit: 1,260

RS3 Guthan is the same as OSRS Guthan. He’s slow, inaccurate, and one of the easier Barrows brothers. He can heal via his set effect, but he won’t give you too much trouble. 

Guthan is weak against air spells.

Karil the Tainted

• Combat Level: 150
• Lifepoints: 12,000
• Max Hit: 1,260

Karil is still a very accurate foe, so keep Protect from Ranged up at all times. His set effect, Karil’s taint, can reduce your Magic level. Considering how much you use Magic in the Barrows, this is very annoying. You may want to bring a super restore potion.

Karil is weak against stab attacks.

Torag the Corrupted

• Combat Level: 150
• Lifepoints: 12,000
• Max Hit: 1,260

RS3 Torag is even weaker than his OSRS counterpart. His set effect has changed to giving him a chance to drain your adrenaline by 10%. Completely unintimidating. 

Torag is weak against water spells. 

Verac the Defiled

• Combat Level: 150
• Lifepoints: 12,000
• Max Hit: 1,260

Verac is still annoying, being able to ignore your Defense, armor bonuses, and Prayers with his set effect. Exploit his weakness to earth spells to kill him as quickly as possible.

Akrisae the Doomed

• Combat Level: 115
• Lifepoints: 12,000
• Max Hit: 2,167

The six Barrows brothers have become eight in RS3. Akrisae is the first of the new brothers. 

Akrisae is a Magic user and shares his crypt with Verac. His set effect is annoying and can drain your Prayer points. 

Akrisae’s gimmick is he can use Protection prayers. After you deal 1,500 damage to Akrisae, he will use the corresponding Protection prayer. Because of this, you need to have a Combat switch when fighting Akrisae. Akrisae is weak against bolts. 

You can only fight Akrisae if you have completed the Ritual of the Mahjarrat. If doing the Barrows for profit, it is recommended you DON’T unlock Akrisae.

Linza the Disgraced

• Combat Level: 150
• Lifepoints: 150,000
• Max Hit: 1,200

Linza is a Melee user and the eighth and final Barrows brother (Technically sister). She has the weakest max hit but has ten times the Lifepoints of her siblings. She shares her crypt with Ahrim.

Linza’s set effect gives her a chance to reflect damage (500-800) back to you when you damage her. With her massive LP pool, this can stack up quickly and force you to bring more food than you would prefer. Linza is susceptible to fire spells, so those are your best options. 

Like Akrisae, I recommend intentionally keeping her locked as she slows your Barrows trips down. Linza becomes accessible after completing the Kindred Spirits quest. 

Defeating the Barrows Brothers

I prefer the same order of defeating the Barrows brothers in RS3 as I do in OSRS. Keep Akrisae and Linza trapped in their crypts and kill the six original brothers. Save the crypt with the passage for last. 

Barrows Underground

The Barrows underground is virtually the same, except you have no strange old lockpicks to rely on for opening doors. You will randomly spawn in one of four corners of the underground and must progress to the center to reach the reward chamber. 

Unlike in OSRS, there’s no need to kill any creatures down here to up your reward potential. If you’ve killed at least six brothers, you’ve done enough. 

The final door puzzles are the same as their OSRS counterparts. Enter the reward chamber, claim your rewards, and repeat the process.

Possible Loot

Drop tables in RS3 are almost identical to the ones in OSRS, with some slight changes. Due to the introduction of more wands, mage books, and off-hand weapons, Ahrim and Karil get some additional weapon drops:

• Ahrim’s wand
• Ahrim’s book of magic
• Karil’s pistol crossbow
• Karil’s off-hand pistol crossbow
• Linza’s helm
• Linza’s cuirass
• Linza’s greaves
• Linza’s hammer
• Linza’s shield
• Akrisae’s hood
• Akrisae’s robe top
• Akrisae’s robe skirt
• Akrisae’s war mace
• Amulet of the forsaken
• Barrows totem
• Corruption sigil

Runes are still the main moneymaker here, but Ahrim’s staff and Karil’s crossbow also fetch hefty prices. The amulet of the forsaken is also a very valuable drop. 

Bolt racks are worth more in RS3 than in OSRS, but not enough to make it worth hitting maximum reward potential. Avoid the cap to avoid getting bolt racks, crystal key halves, and dragon med helms.

If you want an additional challenge from the Barrows brothers, you can attempt the Rise of the Six. But that’s a gauntlet for another time…

FAQs

Conclusion

It’s hard to believe that a group of brothers who were once one of Runescape’s greatest challenges are now entry-level bosses for mid-level players.

Previously, getting any piece of Barrows equipment in PVP used to be a cause for celebration. But now, some Barrows equipment is worth less than 100K a piece. How the mighty have fallen. 

While most of what we do in Runescape is for EXP gains and or profit, we also do it for fun. Despite dropping far down the tier list in profitability and equipment viability, I still think Barrows is a blast.

Of all the usual mid-level bosses like Barrows, KBD, Giant Mole, etc. Barrows is easily the most enjoyable. So, it’s a gravedigger’s life for me. 

Looking for more interesting readings? Check out:

• Tithe Farm OSRS Guide
• Shilo Village OSRS: The Ultimate Location Guide [2022]
• Regen Bracelet OSRS Guide: A Powerfull Item You Must Know!
• Ferocious Gloves OSRS Guide [2022]: The Ultimate Guide

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Xavier Geitz

Xavier has been playing Runescape for over 15 years. He's had periods of absence like every seasoned Runescape player, but he always came back. Whether it was Varrock General Store wars, sniping every uncut gem in stock, or juking players in Fist of Guthix, Runescape has provided Xavier with endless fond memories. Runescape is an irreplaceable piece of nostalgic goodness that Xavier will play until the end of time.

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