Guard

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The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:GuardThe RuneScape Classic Wiki also has an article on: classicrsw:Guard

This article is about the commonly found human NPC. For other types, see Guard (disambiguation).

Guards can be found in many areas in Gielinor, usually in major cities, such as Falador, Varrock, and Ardougne. Guards also patrol the area of just south of the Wilderness wall at Edgeville.

Although they are meant to uphold the law, their city/town budget prevents them from using better gear. This makes them prime targets for adventurers, who either pickpocket or kill them on a whim. The unnamed captain at Varrock Palace states that the average life expectancy for a guard is around 30 seconds.

Pickpocketing

Guards can be pickpocketed with level 40 Thieving, giving 46.8 experience and 30–34 coins. You can get up to 60 coins per pickpocket after finishing the Lost Her Marbles caper. If unsuccessful, the player will be hit for twenty life points and stunned for five seconds. If someone kills the guard just as you are pickpocketing you will get the message "Too late; they are dead" and you will receive neither experience nor loot.

The following guards fall into this category:

• Guard (Ardougne)
• Guard (Edgeville)
• Guard (Falador)
• Guard (Varrock)
• Port Sarim guard

Thieving level	40	Thieving XP	46.8 XP	Stun time / damage	4.8s / 20 life points
Double loot	50 40	Triple loot	60 50	Quadruple loot	70 60

Loot

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE price	High Alch
	Coins	30–34; 60	Always	30–60	30–60

Respawn

Most guards respawn approximately 50–55 seconds after their bodies disappear on the ground. This is a relatively long time for people who are power training their combat skills; it is advised that players seeking to raise those skills quickly by killing guards find an area with at least four guards, so as to always be able to fight at least one. Some areas good for this are the lobby of Varrock Palace which spawns 6 guards, and the northern entrance to Falador which spawns 5 guards, although they are often populated by other players.

Drops

100% drop

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE price	High Alch
	Bones	1	Always	104	1
	Key (Treasure Trails)	1	Always	Not sold	Not alchemisable

Charms

Nothing	1	1	1	1
91–92%	7%	0.7–0.9%	0.4–0.5%	0.1–0.2%
Represents a 90% confidence range based on a sample of 17,156 kills. 1 item is dropped at a time. Add data to the log (requires JavaScript).

Main drops

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE price	High Alch
	Coins	1; 4; 12; 17; 25; 30	Common	1–30	1–30
	Air rune	6	Uncommon	156	18
	Earth rune	3	Uncommon	51	9
	Fire rune	2	Uncommon	120	6
	Chaos rune	1	Rare	121	28
	Nature rune	1	Rare	872	74
	Blood rune	1	Rare	922	110
	Bronze arrow	1; 2	Uncommon	43–86	4–8
	Steel arrow	1; 5	Uncommon	13–65	27–135
	Iron bolts	2–12	Common	120–720	2–12
	Tiny spiky iron salvage	1	Common	247	65
	Grapes	3	Common	20,904	3
	Body talisman	1	Uncommon	785	2
	Law talisman	1	Rare	1,336	2
	Iron stone spirit	1	Rare	8	Not alchemisable
	Wheat	1	Rare	447	1
	Potato seed	4	Common	820	16
	Onion seed	4	Common	1,044	24
	Cabbage seed	4	Uncommon	1,156	60
	Tomato seed	3	Uncommon	660	6
	Sweetcorn seed	3	Rare	759	12
	Strawberry seed	2	Rare	954	20
	Watermelon seed	2	Rare	2,914	66

Tertiary drops

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE price	High Alch
	Sealed clue scroll (medium)	1	1/128	1	1
	Spirit sapphire (m)	1	5/2000	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Spirit emerald (m)	1	3/2000	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Spirit ruby (m)	1	2/2000	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Starved ancient effigy	1	Very rare	Not sold	Not alchemisable

Universal drops

Universal drops are dropped by nearly every monster and skilling action outside of Daemonheim.

These items are dropped alongside main drops.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	GE price	High Alch
	Key token	1	Rare	Not sold	Not alchemisable
	Mimic kill token (m)	1	1/10000	83,882	Not alchemisable

Unattackable guards

• Anachronia base camp (More info)
• Burthorpe Castle (More info)
• Combat Training Camp (More info)
• Etceteria
• Goblin Temple (More info)
• Guild Registry (More info)
• Jatizso
• Jatizso (1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US] of the guard tower)
• Miscellania castle
• Miscellania castle (1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US]) (More info)
• Mountain Camp (More info)
• Neitiznot (1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US] of the guard tower)
• Paterdomus Temple (More info)
• Ranging Guild (More info)
• Ratcatcher Mansion (More info)
• Rekella
• Seers' Village Courthouse (More info)
• Sinclair Mansion (More info)
• South-east area of Varrock (More info)
• Stronghold of Safety (More info)
• Taverley gate North of Falador (More info)
• Troll Stronghold (More info)

Dialogue

Transcripts Guard speaks in:

• Defender of Varrock
• Doric and Boric tasks
• River of Blood
• Royal Trouble

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!

• update 30 January 2001 (Update):
  • The guards in Varrock city now attempt to stop people fighting. There are large number of guards at the bank, so assuming they haven't all been killed you can now withdraw your money more safely.

• update 29 January 2001 (Update):
  • The number of guards was further increased.

• update 4 January 2001 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

• When worldwide Player killing was allowed in RuneScape Classic, guards used to stay in key cities and break up PKers by attacking the aggressor.
• The average life expectancy of a guard is 30 seconds, as stated by the Varrock guard captain and Bob, a Faladian guard. During the quest Garden of Tranquillity, Bob and his partner Billy are swiftly killed by PKMaster0036 to emphasise their short lifespan.