Barrows

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:Barrows

This article is about the minigame. For the set of armour and weapons, see Barrows equipment.

For its sequel, see Barrows: Rise of the Six.

The official world for Barrows is world 15 (P2P).

This article has a strategy guide. All information on mechanics, setups, and tactics is on the subpage.

This article has a money making guide here. Description: High level Barrows Please add tips to the subpage, rather than the article below.

This is a dangerous minigame. If you die, you will lose your items and will need to reclaim them from Death or your grave.

Barrows
Release date	9 May 2005 (Update)
Members	Yes
Location	East of Burgh de Rott
Participants	1
Skills involved	Combat
Reward currency	None
In spotlight rotation	No
Hiscores	No
Tutorial	No
Custodians	Strange Old Man
Music unlocked	Dangerous Way
Developers	• Original: Graham B • Update: Tim C
Infobox • Talk page

The Barrows is an area-based combat minigame. It involves defeating the six Barrows brothers, each with their own special strengths and weaknesses. A seventh, Akrisae the Doomed, is unlocked after completing Ritual of the Mahjarrat, and a sister, Linza the Disgraced, is unlocked after completing Kindred Spirits.

Obtaining all unique drops will unlock the Graverobber [Name] title.

Getting there

Barrows

• After completing the Nature Spirit quest, the swamp boat can be taken (for free) to the bridge between Mort'ton and the Barrows.
  • There is a fairy ring in Mort Myre Swamp that can be used to reach the swamp boat. It can be accessed by code BKR.
  • After completion of In Search of the Myreque you can use the trapdoor south of the Hair of the Dog in Canifis to access a faster shortcut to the boat.
• Drakan's medallion, obtained from the The Branches of Darkmeyer quest, has a teleport directly to Barrows and it can be used to teleport directly south of the Burgh De Rott bank.
• Once you have completed the barrows at least once you can use the boss portal or reaper portal at War's Retreat. Maxed players could also use the boss portal in the Max Guild, which does not require you to have previously killed the boss.

History

Main article: Morytania Campaign

The entrance to the Barrows

The Barrows brothers were ancient warriors of Saradomin who established a reputation of near invincibility while fighting in the God Wars. Originally, Torag wanted to sign up for the crusades, but Guthan persuaded all of his brothers to join after an incident where he killed Commander Jaycliff in a drunken fit of rage after Ahrim had killed Isolde, his lover.

They launched a massive attack to liberate Morytania from the clutches of Lord Lowerniel Vergidiyad Drakan and his vampyres, after he had established complete control over the continent as of the Fall of Hallowvale. As the brothers departed, a mysterious stranger, the Zarosian Mahjarrat Sliske, granted them superhuman power to battle Drakan's forces. It succeeded, for the brothers, who were in the front line, seemed invincible. They had not anticipated, however, that Sliske had ulterior motives for helping them.

As the brothers and their accompanying army progressed further into enemy territory in Morytania, Sliske followed them until the brothers became weakened. The brothers were grievously wounded in battle near the Great Vyrewall, and thus the army set up camp just west of Meiyerditch. Soon, the brothers died of their infected wounds simultaneously in the army's camp. The army spent several days and nights holding off the attacking vampyres to construct burial mounds, the Barrows, to honour the fallen brothers. The army quickly retreated from Morytania, realising they could never succeed without their former leaders' prowess.

Dare you traverse the maze?

As the army began its return, Sliske cast a magical spell on the crypts, corrupting the bodies of the brothers, turning them into his newest wights, and binding them to guard a very powerful artefact. Sliske's ally Azzanadra had requested for this icon to be guarded before the latter's imprisonment in Jaldraocht Pyramid, so that it could later be used to re-establish contact with the banished Zaros. Sliske, instead of directly taking the Barrows Brothers, decided it would be fun to have them almost succeed in their goal before claiming them, a typical characteristic of the Mahjarrat.

In 169 of the Fifth Age, Azzanadra was released, and, with the help of an adventurer who manages to steal the Barrows Icon from the brothers, re-established communication with Zaros in time for the Mahjarrat Ritual of Rejuvenation. Shortly after said ritual, which the adventurer attends with several Temple Knight allies, Sliske attempted to claim them in a similar way. However, the Saradominist priest Akrisae Kolluym intercepted the spell, sacrificing himself and turning him into Akrisae the Doomed - the seventh wight. Sliske was disappointed that he did not claim what he wanted, but was content enough with a new wight.

In approximately Year 4 of the Sixth Age, Sliske lured the World Guardian into one of his twisted games, using Meg, Linza, Major Mary Rancour, and Brother Samwell as bait. He instructed the World Guardian to guide the Barrows Brothers through a series of torturous tests, designed to force them to admit to and atone for various misdeeds in their lives. In a fit of temper over the World Guardian snooping around in his private journals, Sliske reveals that the whole game was a setup, and that Linza had come to him for protection from the Dragonkin, from whom she'd stolen the secrets of smithing dragon metal, along with some dragon ore. He then breaks his bargain with her, and turns her into his eighth wight, Linza the Disgraced.

Sliske, in his arrogance, failed to anticipate that the World Guardian's meddling greatly interrupted his control over the Barrows wights. He deployed all seven against them, but because of their actions, the brothers turned against Sliske. Sliske sent out Nomad, Gregorovic and Linza to kill the player, but they were all defeated by the player after a long fight. When Sliske "died", the brothers (and Linza) were freed of Sliske's control. Linza informed the World Guardian that they would be waiting in the crypts, eager to battle the player again to improve their skills.

A crumbling tome, obtained by searching the hut near the mounds or by talking to the Strange Old Man found digging the crypts, provides a detailed account of how the brothers came to be buried.

Graphical overhaul

After the release of the new website and interfaces on 22 November 2011, a screenshot was shown on the media page of a graphical update for the Barrows minigame. The January 2012 Behind the Scenes article confirmed that an update was coming to the minigame, which was introduced on the 4 January update.

The graphical update changed the looks of the area, added mist to the crypt, changed the Barrows brothers from purple ghosts to corporeal foes, and, for a week following the release, gave a 1 in 10 chance of doubling rewards. This extra reward chance ended on 11 January 2012.

Objective

The objective of the Barrows minigame is to defeat the eight Barrows brothers: Ahrim the Blighted, Dharok the Wretched, Guthan the Infested, Karil the Tainted, Torag the Corrupted, Verac the Defiled. Akrisae the Doomed is only available after Ritual of the Mahjarrat, and Linza the Disgraced is only available after Kindred Spirits.

Killing all six of the original brothers is required to increase the beast tab kill count and thus also required to reap a soul when on a Soul Reaper assignment.

The Barrows brothers and sister are very strong, each with very high defence, although all of them possess weaknesses which can be exploited. Each brother and sister also has a different special ability, which is the same as the set effect of the corresponding armour set. Because of this, special consideration should be given to the methods with and order in which the brothers are eliminated.

Strategy

The very basic strategy of the minigame is as follows:

• Dig at each 'mound' in turn to enter the crypt, and then check the sarcophagus inside. If a brother spawns, kill them and move onto the next mound.
• If you are presented with a prompt asking if you wish to go into a hole, decline and exit the crypt, noting which mound the hole is located. Proceed through killing all the brothers in the other mounds.
• Once all mounds have been searched and each brother killed, return back to the mound with the hole, and enter it.
• You will be placed inside a maze. Your goal is to get to the centre of the maze to claim your final prize. Only some doors will open, so simply follow the openable doors until you find one leading to the centre.
• You may encounter up to two more brothers while navigating the maze, depending on your quest progress. You can kill them to add extra possible loot rolls. You can also kill other mobs to increase the chance of receiving rare, non-barrows items. (See Barrows rewards for more information)
• When you reach the centre chamber, you can attempt to open the final sarcophagus, prompting the last brother to spawn. Kill them, then you may loot it.
• The crypt will begin to collapse around you. At this point, it's advisable to teleport out - though you can run through the maze backwards to escape if you wish.

For more advanced strategy and details on the weaknesses of each brother, see:

Main article: Barrows/Strategies

Monsters

• 

  Ahrim the Blighted, level 150

• 

  Dharok the Wretched, level 150

• 

  Guthan the Infested, level 150

• 

  Karil the Tainted, level 150

• 

  Torag the Corrupted, level 150

• 

  Verac the Defiled, level 150

• 

  Akrisae the Doomed, level 115 (only available after Ritual of the Mahjarrat)

• 

  Linza the Disgraced, level 150 (only available after Kindred Spirits)

• 

  Bloodworm, level 63

• 

  Crypt rat, level 70

• 

  Giant crypt rat, level 77

• 

  Crypt spider, level 63

• 

  Giant crypt spider, level 84

• 

  Skeleton, level 86 and 88

Rewards

Opening the chest

The chest that has your rewards in it

If the brother whose tomb was used to enter the tunnel is not killed yet, he will appear when the chest is looted.

The standard monsters in the tunnels may be killed to increase the chances of receiving rare, non-Barrows items; e.g. dragon helms. The total number of combat levels of the standard monsters killed affect the reward up to 1,000 combat levels.

Letting $N$ be the number of brothers killed (excluding Linza the Disgraced), the number of reward rolls for the chest can be expressed with $min(N+1,7)$. If Barrows items are rolled successfully, they are chosen only out of the killed wights' items. The following process is followed $N$ times, meaning it is possible to obtain multiple pieces of Barrows equipment from a single chest.

Drop order

• First, if Linza the Disgraced was killed, there is a 1 in 192 chance to obtain one of her items.
• If this fails due to failing the roll or not killing her, another piece of Barrows equipment is rolled with the chance $1/max(450-58N,73)$.
• If the Barrows equipment roll is landed on, another roll is done to determine which brother's armour will drop a piece (all killed brothers have equal chance).
• For whichever brother is chosen, a roll is done to determine which specific piece of that brother's equipment is obtained. For any given brother, all drops are equally likely.

For example, if one kills all 7 brothers, it is more likely to obtain an Akrisae's hood than an Ahrim's wand even though one has an equal chance of landing on the Akrisae or Ahrim drop table. This is because there are fewer equipment drops from Akrisae than Ahrim.

• If the Barrows equipment roll is also failed, Barrows totems are rewarded with $1/(20-N)$ chance.
• If this fails, the corruption sigil is rolled with $1/(50(7-N))$ chance if one is eligible for one.
• Finally, if all of the above fails, a piece of loot from the standard reward table is rolled. In addition, wearing a ring of wealth or higher luck modification has a chance to add one extra reward to the chest from an entirely separate table.

Furthermore, the amulet of the forsaken is rolled at some point during this process; it is unknown where the roll takes place or what the chance of success is.

Due to the math involved, it is always better to kill all 7 brothers (again, excluding Linza) even if they are only interested in certain sets or items in particular. The increased number of reward rolls and the increased chance to hit the rare equipment table far outweigh the chance of getting items from an undesired brother.

Linza the Disgraced's equipment

This loot table is rolled first if Linza the Disgraced was killed. The chance of getting a roll on Linza's unique table is 1 in 192. If the roll is successful, there is an equal chance of getting any item, making it 1 in 960 for a specific item. It is possible to obtain other Barrows equipment alongside Linza's.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Price	High Alch
	Linza's helm	1	1/960	10,900,487	240,000
	Linza's cuirass	1	1/960	11,936,030	300,000
	Linza's greaves	1	1/960	11,509,105	240,000
	Linza's hammer	1	1/960	2,891,114	480,000
	Linza's shield	1	1/960	2,125,478	240,000

Other Barrows equipment

This table is only rolled if the above table fails due to either failing the roll or not having killed Linza the Disgraced. Only the items of the brothers that were killed are available to be rewarded.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Price	High Alch
	Ahrim's hood	1	Rare	1,310,236	7,800
	Ahrim's robe top	1	Rare	2,384,760	30,000
	Ahrim's robe skirt	1	Rare	1,430,788	28,200
	Ahrim's staff	1	Rare	16,533,560	51,000
	Ahrim's wand	1	Rare	1,985,423	45,000
	Ahrim's book of magic	1	Rare	2,925,237	45,000
	Dharok's helm	1	Rare	782,540	61,800
	Dharok's platebody	1	Rare	1,479,096	168,000
	Dharok's platelegs	1	Rare	1,064,917	165,000
	Dharok's greataxe	1	Rare	1,326,323	124,800
	Torag's helm	1	Rare	655,516	61,800
	Torag's platebody	1	Rare	1,361,447	168,000
	Torag's platelegs	1	Rare	814,494	165,000
	Torag's hammer	1	Rare	792,767	96,000
	Verac's helm	1	Rare	634,334	61,800
	Verac's brassard	1	Rare	1,411,745	168,000
	Verac's plateskirt	1	Rare	773,674	165,000
	Verac's flail	1	Rare	847,508	96,000
	Guthan's helm	1	Rare	748,748	61,800
	Guthan's platebody	1	Rare	1,683,105	168,000
	Guthan's chainskirt	1	Rare	1,090,332	165,000
	Guthan's warspear	1	Rare	2,042,282	60,000
	Karil's coif	1	Rare	804,945	7,800
	Karil's top	1	Rare	2,422,060	30,000
	Karil's skirt	1	Rare	1,390,387	28,200
	Karil's crossbow	1	Rare	9,903,024	96,000
	Karil's pistol crossbow	1	Rare	987,975	9,720
	Karil's off-hand pistol crossbow	1	Rare	1,107,190	9,720
	Akrisae's hood	1	Rare	552,985	7,800
	Akrisae's robe top	1	Rare	925,311	30,000
	Akrisae's robe skirt	1	Rare	633,705	28,200
	Akrisae's war mace	1	Rare	549,861	51,000

Miscellaneous rare items

These items are rolled for separately upon failing the barrows equipment roll.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Price	High Alch
	Corruption sigil	1	Uncommon	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Barrows totem	1–14	Uncommon	2,717-38,038	600-8,400
	Amulet of the forsaken	1	Rare	20,708,482	48,000

Standard items

This table is only rolled if the above rolls failed. If the Barrows totem, corruption sigil, and amulet of the forsaken rolls fail, the drop is affected by the killed standard monsters in the crypt: A random number between 0 and $min(L,1000)+2N$ is rolled where $L$ is the total level of monsters killed, with a maximum value of 1014.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Price	High Alch
	Coins	1–4,000	Common	1-4,000	1-4,000
	Mind rune	250–4,900	Common	4,000-78,400	750-14,700
	Chaos rune	115–1,890	Common	16,560-272,160	3,220-52,920
	Death rune	70–1,190	Common	21,280-361,760	4,340-73,780
	Blood rune	35–630	Common	36,050-648,900	3,850-69,300
	Bolt rack	35–280	Common	4,655-37,240	8,820-70,560
	Loop half of a key	1	Rare	11,149	1
	Tooth half of a key	1	Rare	11,288	1
	Dragon helm	1	Rare	58,257	60,000

Lucky drops

This drop table is accessed by having a luck modification from ring of wealth or above, and is rolled as an extra reward in respect to the above. There is a 1/10 chance to not obtain a reward even if the table is rolled.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Price	High Alch
	Nothing	1	4/40	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Mind rune	60	4/40	960	180
	Death rune	15	4/40	4,560	930
	Shark	4	4/40	3,920	720
	Prayer potion (2)	1	12/40	4,520	68
	Restore potion (2)	1	12/40	110	39
	Super defence (2)	1	12/40	4,540	118

Other items

This drop table is seemingly not affected by the above drop tables.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE Price	High Alch
	Barrows icon	1	Always	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Sealed clue scroll (elite)	1	Rare	1	1
	Crystal triskelion fragment 1 (m)	1	Rare	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Crystal triskelion fragment 2 (m)	1	Rare	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Crystal triskelion fragment 3 (m)	1	Rare	Not sold	Not alchemisable

Achievements

• Brothers in Arms ( 20) – Defeat each of the Barrows Brothers, dealing the killing blow with their own weapon.
• Bros Before Barrows ( 25) – Defeat the first seven Barrows Brothers, including Akrisae.
• Barrowed Time ( 0) – Obtained a collection of unique drops from the Barrows Brothers.
• Something Barrowed:
  • Something Barrowed I ( 5) – Defeat the six Barrows Brothers and loot their chest. (X/5)
  • Something Barrowed II ( 5) – Defeat the six Barrows Brothers and loot their chest. (X/10)
  • Something Barrowed III ( 5) – Defeat the six Barrows Brothers and loot their chest. (X/25)
  • Something Barrowed IV ( 5) – Defeat the six Barrows Brothers and loot their chest. (X/50)
  • Something Barrowed V ( 5) – Defeat the six Barrows Brothers and loot their chest. (X/75)
  • Something Barrowed VI ( 5) – Defeat the six Barrows Brothers and loot their chest. (X/100)

Rise of the Six

Main article: Barrows: Rise of the Six

Barrows: Rise of the Six is a hard mode variant of Barrows, with players fighting the newly empowered Barrows Brothers. In return for a harder fight (up to four players may battle them), players will find themselves greatly rewarded upon defeating them.

Music unlocked

The following music tracks are unlocked here:

• Dance of the Undead - In the mound area
• Dangerous Way - In the crypts and tunnels

Graphical updates

• 

  Barrows crypts after 9 May 2005 (update)

• 

  Barrows crypts after 4 January 2012 (update)

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included - see here for how to help out!

• patch 21 February 2022 (Update):
  • A reworked interface for slain Barrows Brothers has been implemented.

• patch 3 August 2020 (Update):
  • It is no longer possible to spawn a duplicate Barrows Brother by clicking on their sarcophagus as they die.

• patch 10 February 2020 (Update):
  • Players can no longer deploy dreadnips when fighting brothers at The Barrows.

• patch 28 January 2019 (Update):
  • Some brown oddities have been removed from behind the walls of the barrows dungeon.

• patch 14 October 2019 (Update):
  • Dangerous way music track now automatically play once you enter the barrows.

• patch 26 November 2018 (Update):
  • Players can now access the Barrows through Verac's sarcophagus they had their Barrows entrance set to Akrisae's sarcophagus but have since lost access.

• patch 10 September 2018 (Update):
  • Exiting the secret tunnel in Ahrim's crypt via the rope will now return you to the correct variant of Ahrim's crypt if you have completed the Kindred Spirits quest.

• patch 20 August 2018 (Update):
  • Killcount and other interfaces in Barrows have received a slight graphical improvement.

• patch 9 April 2018 (Update):
  • Removed the ability to use a legendary familiar with an infused BoB pouch inside the barrows area.

• patch 4 December 2017 (Update):
  • The Linza armour drop rate from Barrows has been increased from 1/512 to 1/192.

• ninja 13 November 2017 (Update):
  • A 'bank all' button has been added to the barrows loot interface if you have completed the Hard Morytania task set.

• patch 23 October 2017 (Update):
  • The right-click options on Barrows brothers spawned by other players have been removed.

• patch 11 September 2017 (Update):
  • An incorrectly coloured tile in Linza's tomb in the Barrows has been fixed.

• ninja 16 January 2017 (Update):
  • The Barrows kill counter overlay now shows when above ground in the Barrows area.

• patch 22 August 2016 (Update):
  • Summoning familiars can no longer be summoned at the Barrows sister's tomb in the Barrows.

• patch 31 May 2016 (Update):
  • Corrected an issue with spawning multiple NPCs in the barrows minigame.

• ninja 25 April 2016 (Update):
  • Fixed an issue where the 'discard' option would not work for objects when looting the Barrows chest.
  • Fixed an issue where the Barrows tombs would sometimes start to collapse early if the player used the quick loot feature on the Barrows chest.

• patch 18 April 2016 (Update):
• As falling rocks can be a hassle when looting chests, the Barrows chest now has a right-click, quick-loot option once opened.

• ninja 29 February 2016 (Update):
  • The camera no longer resets when entering a Barrows crypt.

• patch 8 February 2016 (Update):
  • Creatures slain within the barrows tunnel now correctly contribute towards the kill count after using barrows amulets.

• ninja 28 September 2015 (Update):
  • The click areas for spades and the rope at the Barrows have been increased.

• patch 7 September 2015 (Update):
  • Failing a Barrows puzzle room will no longer prevent the final Barrows brother from spawning.

• patch 3 August 2015 (Update):
  • An issue where it was possible to chop a dead swamp tree near the Barrows minigame from the wrong side of a wall has been fixed.

• ninja 18 May 2015 (Update):
  • Elite clue scrolls have been added to the Barrows Brothers' reward chest.

• patch 2 March 2015 (Update):
  • Some graphically outdated rocks has been removed from the Barrows tunnels.

• patch 12 January 2015 (Update):
  • The camera angle will no longer force zoom in when entering the Barrows mounds.

• patch 5 January 2015 (Update):
  • Verac the Defiled is now affected by the Ghost Hunter armour's benefits.

• patch 20 October 2014 (Update):
  • A swamp tree no longer clips through the Barrows entrance arch.

• patch 3 December 2013 (Update):
  • Fixed the animation on the torch near the Barrows well.

• patch 26 November 2013 (Update):
  • It's no longer possible to use the Surge ability to bypass the collapsing Barrows tunnels during Rise of the Six.

• patch 19 November 2013 (Update):
  • Barrows should no longer crash for some people.

• patch 10 September 2013 (Update):
  • The camera shake previously displayed when looting the Barrows chest has been returned.
  • The chance for a crystal triskelion key fragment to drop has been added to the following: the Skeletal horror; Barrows reward chest; catching any butterfly bare-handed.

• patch 13 August 2013 (Update):
  • The Barrows Brothers’ heads no longer appear squished when prayer is drained from the Barrows area effect.

• patch 11 December 2012 (Update):
  • A black texture no longer obscures the camera in the large Barrows crypt.
  • Some safe spots in the Barrows tombs have been removed.

• patch 30 April 2012 (Update):
  • The ghostly face of Akrisae has been added to the Barrows Prayer-drain interface.

• patch 7 February 2012 (Update):
  • The Barrows heads interface has been tweaked to show the heads correctly.

• patch 31 January 2012 (Update):
  • Hint arrows no longer appear on the incorrect Barrows brother.

• update 4 January 2012 (Update):
  • Barrows underwent a graphical rework.

• patch 22 November 2011 (Update):
  • A second copy of a Barrows brother will no longer appear in the tunnels if there is one already spawned nearby.

• patch 23 August 2011 (Update):
  • Items dropped from the Barrows chest are now printed in a player's Adventurer's Log.

• patch 13 May 2010 (Update):
  • Adjusted the lighting on the path to the Barrows.

• patch 23 March 2010 (Update):
  • Optimised some of the code dealing with repairing Barrows items.

• patch 17 November 2009 (Update):
  • Expanded the Barrows digging area to the north.

• patch 26 October 2009 (Update):
  • Dropped items should no longer render under grave mounds.

• patch 17 September 2009 (Update):
  • Changed the ladders in the Barrows to ropes, so they can no longer be used as safe spots.

• update 9 May 2005 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

• During the graphical update in January 2012, it was possible to get a draconic visage from the barrows chest, which only lasted a week.
• Barrows is another word for a tumulus, which is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave, called a crypt in the minigame, or graves, which is probably where the name of the minigame comes from. Tumulus is Latin for "mound" or "small hill".
• From 00:00 UTC 12 November 2011 to 23:59 UTC 14 November 2011, there was an event where players could gain double loot from several dungeons, including the Barrows minigame. This was part of Jagex's bot-busting celebration.
• It is possible for a brother to spawn again when you kill the first one, then rush quickly to a door nearby. Killing the brother that popped up again however, will cause it to count as a creature instead.
• If you attempt to enter with a familiar, you will be forced out with a message saying "You cannot enter this area with a familiar. You must leave this area and dismiss your familiar if you wish to enter."
  • If you use Surge or Escape to get into the mounds with a familiar, a message will say "You cannot enter this area with a familiar. You must leave this area and dismiss your familiar if you wish to enter. Your familiar is forced to leave as it cannot remain here." The familiar will be automatically dismissed, dropping everything it is carrying.
• Follower pets (e.g boss pets) cannot be summoned inside the Barrows area. However, they can be brought inside if summoned outside first.
• As of 1 February 2018, the highest kill count for this boss was 12,595 kills.
  • This had increased to 13,985 kills by 13 December 2018.
• It is possible to receive two of the same pieces of armour from one chest. It is currently unknown if this is a glitch.