Method Description, Instructions and Tips for Success

General Description

NOTE: I am in the process of revising my Barrows techniques based on recent updates. This takes some time to do; in the meanwhile, the methods here should still work well.

Barrows is one of the most popular minigames in RuneScape, because it is fun, has good rewards (including a chance for Barrows gear, some of the best in the game) and gives you combat and Magic XP as well.

The Barrows is a dangerous place, and even though some players are able to complete the minigame with middling combat levels, they are taking grave risks -- and even if they are successful, they use so many supplies that it doesn't end up being a very good moneymaker anyway. By high levels (level 70 or so) you are able to do enough damage to complete the minigame reasonably quickly, although it isn't until very high levels that you can do the Barrows efficiently.

A complete guide to the Barrows is beyond the scope of this moneymaking guide. However, I have outlined for each of the three variations here my suggestions for how to do the Barrows in a way that maximizes the number of runs per hour (and hence rewards), while minimizing the cost of supplies.

My method relies on the use of melee weapons to fight Ahrim and Karil, and a red salamander on the magic setting for the melee brothers. The salamander does high damage at a fraction of the cost of magic spells, and I use red rather than a black because it is 90% as good for 50% as much cost per attack.

The main trade-off in doing the Barrows is deciding whether to do one chest per trip or more than that. If you do one run per trip then each run is easier, and your cost of supplies is much lower because you can recharge prayer between trips (saving on prayer pots) and you also don't need food of as high caliber. The advantage of doing multiple runs per trip is that you save the travel time getting to the Barrows, so you can get more rewards. In my testing I found that at high levels (level 70 skills or thereabouts) the single trip method is preferable, while at very high levels you can do an extra half a chest per hour by doing five chests per trip. This does require you to use more supplies, especially prayer potions (since you can no longer recharge prayer between each visit). But the value of the extra rewards is greater than the cost of the supplies, and running to the Barrows over and over is boring, so my very high method is based on five runs per trip.

The final, extremely high level variation is one that involves nine runs per trip, relying on the special properties of the Saradomin godsword. While I generally avoid putting techniques in this guide that rely on expensive equipment, the Saradomin godsword is ideal for the Barrows because it allows you to heal on the fly, and also get back small amounts of prayer for fighting Barrows brothers without having to waste prayer potion doses. The technique I describe here shows you how that sword lets you do nine chest runs per trip while using very little in the way of supplies.

You can expect a Barrows item about 1 in every 18 chests, which is what my figures are based upon. This means you get around one armor piece every 3-4 hours on average. Of course, it's all luck, and you can get 2 or even 3 items in one chest, or dry spells that last for dozens of trips.

One final tip: When you are fighting with prayer, you may notice that you have enough prayer points that you won't run out soon, but that some will be wasted when the Barrows drains them. In these cases, when meleeing, you can help your cause by enabling Piety or other combat-enhancing prayers.

Specific Method Details

Start by teleporting to your house, recharging prayer and heading through your Kharyrll portal to Canifis; go to the bank.

Equip the first 9 items listed in the Equipment section; the ring is a "safety net" in case you make a mistake. Put the spade, whip and dagger in your inventory. Add to those a stack of house teleport tablets, one 4-dose potion of each of Saradomin brew, regular restore, super attack, super strength and prayer, and a stack of tarromin tar. Equip the tar, and fill the rest of your inventory with salmon (or other cheap food).

Head southwest from the bank, go through the trap door behind the bar and take the usual path through the swamp, over the bridge and south to the boat. In Mort'ton, go east and then northeast to the Barrows.

Drink one dose of the Saradomin brew, regular restore, super attack and super strength potions in that order. Be sure your salamander is on "Blaze", which is the magic setting. You are now ready to fight.

Always start with Dharok. Turn on protection from melee, go into his crypt and fight him until dead. You should have plenty of prayer left, so go over to Verac, and do the same on him. He will hit through prayer, but it shouldn't be much. Next is Ahrim. Switch to the dagger, enable your special attack, turn on protection from magic and go into his crypt. If you are low on prayer at this point, you may want to take a prayer potion dose as Ahrim can hit hard. Unload at least two DDS specs into Ahrim, ensuring you get a few hits on him so he is poisoned; then switch to your whip. Continue fighting until he is dead. Go south to Karil's crypt, and heal up any damage you've taken so far. I recommend fighting him without prayer and just using food as necessary, but use the prayer potion doses if you need them. Torag and Guthan should be fought using your salamander without prayer. They do hit from time to time, but you have lots of food.

Of course one of the brothers will be in the tunnels. If it is Torag or Guthan, fight them without prayer as mentioned above. Any of the others you should fight with prayer -- if you are fighting them at the chest, I recommend waiting until after a "ghost" appears so you have as much time as possible before your prayer drains. For Ahrim, Verac and Karil, one prayer potion dose is usually enough (you can heal up any extra damage at the end). Do not mess with Dharok, however -- he can really wreck your day if he gets a lucky hit when he's almost dead, so use a second prayer potion dose if you need it.

I recommend getting a kill count of 12 before collecting your reward; focus on the blood worms and small rats as they are the easiest to kill. Open the chest, collect your rewards, then hit your teleport tablet. At your house, recharge prayer, go through your portal to Canifis, and go to the bank. Heal up, get out more supplies, and repeat. At this level you should be able to do approximately five runs per hour.