OSRS Barrows Guide (2026): Kill Order, Gear, Tunnels and Loot
OSRS Barrows guide: requirements, mound map, prayer per brother, fastest kill order, tunnels, 880 reward potential, gear by budget, chest odds and GP/hr.
In this guide 17 sections
Quick summary
- Requirement: only Priest in Peril. Talking to the Strange Old Man starts His Faithful Servants, the miniquest that lets you dig. For a comfortable first run, bring 43 Prayer and about 50 in each combat stat (OSRS Wiki).
- Each run: dig into all six mounds, kill each brother with the right protection prayer, leave the tunnel crypt for last, solve the door puzzle, open the chest and teleport out.
- Fastest rotation (wiki average): Dharok → Ahrim → Verac → Torag → Karil → Guthan. Simplest rotation: a clockwise circle starting at Dharok.
- Loot: killing all six brothers gives about a 1 in 15 chance of at least one Barrows item per chest. Stop at 880 reward potential to get the most runes and keep bolt racks off the table (wiki).
- Ghommal's hilt 2 (medium Combat Achievements reward) removes the prayer drain completely.
This OSRS Barrows guide takes you through a full run, from the trip to Morytania to the chest, and covers kill order, gear, reward potential, loot and profit. Mechanics and drop rates are from the OSRS Wiki's Barrows strategy page and chest page, checked on October 28, 2026; no Jagex update since January 2025 has changed how Barrows plays. Barrows is members-only and this is Old School RuneScape, not RuneScape 3.
Meet the requirements
| Requirement | Detail | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Priest in Peril | Required (the only quest you need; Nature Spirit isn't) | Gets you into Morytania |
| His Faithful Servants | Started (talk to the Strange Old Man) | Unlocks digging; finishing it gives Prayer XP and the tunnel minimap |
| Prayer | 43+ | All three protection prayers |
| Attack, Strength, Defence | 50+ (wiki strategy page); 70+ Attack for melee (wiki money-making page) | Tunnel monsters and Ahrim with melee |
| Magic | 50+ (75+ for powered staves) | Iban Blast or wind spells against five brothers |
| Ranged | 50+ (75+ for the Toxic blowpipe) | Best style against Ahrim |
| Agility 72 (optional) | Dry stone wall shortcut | Saves running if you don't arrive by Barrows teleport |
Quick unlocks that help: Fairytale II (part) for fairy rings, Shades of Mort'ton for the minigame teleport, In Aid of the Myreque for the Burgh de Rott bank, and the Morytania Hard Diary for 50% more runes from every chest. A house with an ornate rejuvenation pool (90 Construction) refills prayer and run energy between runs; our Construction guide covers the route there, and 50+ Agility cuts run-energy drain on the walk (our Agility guide).
Get there fastest with what you have
| You have | Route (OSRS Wiki, fastest first) |
|---|---|
| 83 Magic, Arceuus spellbook, tablets or a house portal | Barrows Teleport lands next to the entrance |
| Mort'ton teleport scrolls | Teleport, then run east |
| Shades of Mort'ton | Free minigame teleport (20-minute cooldown) |
| Morytania legs 3 or 4 | Teleport to Burgh de Rott, then run north through Mort'ton |
| Fairy rings | BKR, then the swamp boaty to Mort'ton; or BIP with 50 Agility for the stepping stones |
| Desert Treasure I | Kharyrll Teleport to Canifis, Myreque hideout shortcut, then the swamp boaty |
Learn the six mounds and brothers
| Brother | Mound | Attacks with | Weak to | Pray | Attack speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrim the Blighted | Centre | Magic | Ranged, melee | Protect from Magic | 6 ticks |
| Dharok the Wretched | North-east | Melee (hits harder at low HP) | Magic | Protect from Melee | 7 ticks |
| Guthan the Infested | South-east | Melee (heals himself) | Magic | Protect from Melee | 5 ticks |
| Karil the Tainted | South | Ranged | Magic, melee | Protect from Missiles | 4 ticks |
| Torag the Corrupted | South-west | Melee | Magic | Protect from Melee | 5 ticks |
| Verac the Defiled | North-west | Melee (25% chance to hit through prayer) | Magic | Protect from Melee (partial) | 5 ticks |
All six brothers have a 50% weakness to air spells (wiki), so wind spells, a Trident of the Swamp or a Twinflame staff kill five of them quickly. Ahrim is the exception: he has high magic defence, so switch to ranged or melee for him.
Manage the prayer drain
While you're underground, the brothers' faces drain your Prayer every 18 seconds. The drain starts at 8 points and goes up by 1 for each brother you've killed, reaching 14 after all six (wiki). To keep it under control:
- Drink potions and eat above ground between crypts.
- Use offensive prayers instead of "saving" prayer. Rigour or Eagle Eye against Ahrim, and Piety against Karil, end fights faster and save prayer overall.
- Kill Dharok first while your prayer is full, because he's the most dangerous brother to fight unprotected.
- Once you unlock Ghommal's hilt 2 from the medium Combat Achievements, equip it to stop the drain completely.
Pick a rotation
| Rotation (wiki) | Why use it |
|---|---|
| Dharok → Ahrim → Verac → Torag → Karil → Guthan | Fastest on average: about 32 ticks (19.2 s) of travel when running |
| Dharok → Guthan → Karil → Torag → Verac → Ahrim (clockwise) | Tied for fastest when running and the easiest to remember |
| Dharok → Ahrim → Karil → Verac → Guthan → Torag | Safest: dangerous brothers first while supplies are full |
When you search a sarcophagus and get the "you've found a hidden tunnel" prompt, say no. Remember which mound it is, finish the other five, then come back and enter the tunnel last.
Example: you dig into Karil's mound and find the tunnel. Skip it, kill the other five brothers, then return to Karil's mound and go down. Karil appears once you open the chest, or earlier if he spawns at a tunnel door.
Run the tunnels step by step
- Open doors toward the centre. Each door spawns a monster: 12/128 a remaining brother, 52/128 a skeleton, 32/128 a bloodworm and 32/128 a crypt rat (wiki).
- Build reward potential on the way. Each kill adds the monster's combat level. Each brother also adds 2, capped at 1,012 in total.
- Solve the puzzle door. The centre room is locked with one of four pattern puzzles. If you answer wrong, the tunnel layout reshuffles.
- Open the chest. If the tunnel brother hasn't appeared yet, he spawns now. Kill him to make his items possible, then loot.
- Leave. The tunnels collapse and hit you for small amounts, and every door now spawns a brother you didn't kill. Teleport out instead of walking.
Hit 880 reward potential, not 1,012
Reward potential decides which runes you get and how many. From 881 points upward, bolt racks, key halves and the dragon med helm can roll and take slots that would otherwise be runes. That's why the wiki recommends stopping at 880 (shown as 86.95% in game).
| Kills on top of all 6 brothers | Total points (wiki) |
|---|---|
| 1 giant crypt spider + 1 skeleton + 1 crypt spider | 880 |
| 3 bloodworms + 1 crypt spider | 880 |
| 2 skeletons + 1 crypt spider | 878 |
| 1 giant crypt spider + 1 skeleton + 1 bloodworm | 876 |
| 4 bloodworms | 876 |
| 2 skeletons + 1 bloodworm | 874 (the easy option, because both spawn at doors) |
The strange old lockpick opens any door, so you can go straight to the centre. Use it only if speed matters more to you than potential.
Know the real chest odds
With all six brothers killed and full potential, there's a pre-roll of about 1/15 per chest for at least one Barrows item. Each of the 24 pieces is 1/2,448 per roll, with 7 rolls (wiki). Two rules matter:
- You can't get items from a brother you didn't kill, and fewer kills mean worse odds overall.
- One specific piece works out to about 7 in 2,448, or roughly 1 in 350 per chest. Targeting one set item takes a long time, so plan for runes as your main reward.
| Main table item (wiki, full potential) | Amount (no diary) | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Coins | 2–774 | 379/1,012 |
| Mind runes | 253–336 | 125/1,012 |
| Chaos runes | 112–139 | 125/1,012 |
| Death runes | 70–83 | 125/1,012 |
| Blood runes | 37–43 | 125/1,012 |
| Bolt racks (881+ potential) | 35–40 | 125/1,012 |
| Loop / tooth half of key (1,006+ potential) | 1 | 3/1,012 each |
| Dragon med helm (1,012 potential only) | 1 | 1/1,012 |
Bring a rune pouch: runes from the chest go straight into it if they match, and bolt racks go into your ammo slot (OSRS Wiki).
Is Barrows worth it? Profit per hour
The OSRS Wiki's Barrows money-making guide assumes 12 chests an hour with the Morytania Hard Diary and puts profit at about 610,000 gp an hour at October 28, 2026 Grand Exchange prices, after supplies and tax. Most of that is runes: blood, death and chaos runes make up about 550,000 of the value, while the 24 Barrows pieces together add only about 300,000 an hour on average (about 0.034 of each piece per hour). Prices move daily, so treat the figure as a guide.
That makes Barrows a good mid-level money maker and an early source of runes, not a fast route to a specific item. Our money making guide compares it with other options at the same stats.
Example: a player with 70s in combat and the hard diary runs 10 chests an hour. At the wiki's rate that's a little over 500,000 gp an hour before any Barrows piece drops; a single Dharok's greataxe or Ahrim's robetop adds more on top.
Gear up by budget
| Style | Budget | Mid | High (OSRS Wiki tabs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magic weapon | Iban's staff (Iban Blast) or Smoke battlestaff with Wind Wave | Trident of the Swamp (90+ Magic or boosted) / Twinflame staff | Eye of Ayak, Tumeken's shadow, Harmonised Nightmare staff |
| Magic armour | Barrows/Neitiznot helm, Mystic top or Dragon chainbody, God cape | Occult necklace, Imbued god cape | Ancestral or Virtus, Magus ring |
| Ranged (Ahrim) | Magic shortbow (i), black d'hide | Toxic blowpipe, blessed d'hide, Void | Ascension crossbows, Masori (f), Dizana's quiver |
| Melee switch | Abyssal whip + Dragon defender | Same | Not needed with a strong ranged setup |
| Shield slot | Dragon defender | Ghommal's hilt 2 | Ghommal's hilt 2 / Elidinis' ward (f) |
| Special attack | Dragon dagger (Karil) | Magic shortbow (i) | Dragon claws |
Air amulets and the Elemental amulet add to wind-spell damage. Low-level players can mix magic robes with a Dragon chainbody, because the melee brothers hit hard on low Defence.
Know how Barrows equipment works
Every brother's set has four pieces, and wearing all four gives a set effect, such as Dharok's extra damage at low health or Guthan's healing (OSRS Wiki). The pieces degrade with use: each lasts 15 hours of in-combat time, losing a quarter at a time (100, 75, 50, 25, 0), and at 0 it can't be equipped until repaired by Bob in Lumbridge or on a house armour stand. Barrows items can only be traded fully repaired or fully broken.
Barrows gloves don't come from Barrows. Despite the name, they're bought after completing Recipe for Disaster.
Pack your inventory
| Item | Amount | Notes (wiki inventory) |
|---|---|---|
| Spade | 1 | A dog doesn't count; there are two spade spawns by the entrance |
| Barrows teleport tablet | 1 per run | Or Morytania legs |
| Prayer potions or super restores | 3–4 | Restores also fix Ahrim's Strength drain |
| Food (sharks or monkfish) | 6–10 | Mainly for Verac and tunnel monsters |
| Combat and ranging potions | Optional | Faster kills mean less drain |
| Rune pouch | Air or wind spell runes | Or Iban Blast runes |
| Ranged or melee switch | 2–3 slots | For Ahrim and tunnel monsters |
| Emergency teleport | Ectophial or house tablet | Banking: Ring of dueling to the Ferox Enclave pool |
Clear the Barrows Combat Achievements
| Order | Task (wiki) | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Defence? What Defence? (kill any brother using only magic) | Easy |
| 2 | Barrows Novice (open the chest 10 times) | Easy |
| 3 | Barrows Champion (open the chest 25 times) | Medium |
| 4 | Pray for Success (all six and loot, no damage from brothers) | Medium |
| 5 | Can't Touch Me (kill Dharok, Verac, Torag and Guthan without them attacking you with melee; use safespots) | Medium |
| 6 | Just Like That (kill Karil with special attacks only) | Hard |
| 7 | Faithless Crypt Run (all six and loot with 0 prayer points) | Hard |
The seven tasks add up to 14 points. The two medium kill-count tasks go a long way toward the medium tier that gives you Ghommal's hilt 2.
Plan for returning, boosted and alt accounts
- Returning players: the tunnel minimap reward and the toggle for chest camera effects are newer additions. If your account has the medium Combat Achievements, check whether you've claimed Ghommal's hilt 2.
- Boosted accounts: if your combat levels were trained for you, run a few chests with the safe rotation and plenty of food before you speed up. Dharok can hit very hard when he's low on health.
- Alts and Slayer: with the Boss Slayer unlock, Barrows can be assigned as a boss task, and since January 2025 the number you can choose is always a multiple of six (OSRS Wiki). See our Slayer guide. Repairs on a house armour stand get cheaper with higher Smithing; our Smithing guide covers training it.
- Next steps: read our Prayer guide for the 43 and 70 Prayer milestones, the Herblore guide for making your own prayer potions and super restores, and the Vorkath and Zulrah guides for the next money-making bosses. For every OSRS guide and service, see the OSRS hub.
Want a hand with this?
If you would rather not grind this part yourself, OSRS boss services are listed on FullBoosts. Read Jagex's Rules of Old School RuneScape before you buy any service from anyone, FullBoosts included — a marketplace listing isn't publisher permission.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Barrows kill order? The wiki's fastest average route is Dharok → Ahrim → Verac → Torag → Karil → Guthan. The clockwise route starting at Dharok is just as fast when running and easier to remember.
What Prayer level do I need for Barrows? 43 for all three protection prayers. Rigour (74) or Piety (70) help further by shortening fights.
How do I stop Barrows prayer drain? Equip Ghommal's hilt 2 from the medium Combat Achievement rewards. Without it, drink above ground and kill quickly.
Is Barrows worth it in OSRS? For mid-level players, yes: the OSRS Wiki's guide puts it at about 610,000 gp an hour at 12 chests an hour (late-October 2026 prices), mostly from runes. It's slow if you want one specific Barrows piece.
What are the odds of a Barrows item? About 1/15 per chest for any piece with all six brothers killed. A specific piece is about 1/350.
Do Barrows gloves come from Barrows? No. Barrows gloves are a Recipe for Disaster reward. The Barrows chest gives the six brothers' armour and weapons, runes, bolt racks and coins (OSRS Wiki).
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