TruthScape.com - Ultimate Power Barrows Guide - Quest, Skill and Equipment Prerequisites

The Barrows is a challenge designed mainly for experienced players who know their way around RuneScape. Even trying it requires the completion of certain quests, and doing it safely, successfully and efficiently requires more quest completions along with minimums in several other areas. Of course, we’re interested in Ultimate Power Barrows here, so that raises the bar even further.

Read on for my recommendations in terms of quests, skill levels, equipment and more.

The bare minimum quest requirements are to have completed Priest in Peril and at least started Nature Spirit. This will just allow you access to the area. I strongly recommend finishing Nature Spirit, though, and also completing the following quests:

None of these are strictly necessary to do The Barrows, but In Search of the Myreque and Desert Treasure are necessary to use the efficient Ultimate Power Barrows techniques described in this guide.

Since The Barrows has been around for a while, there has been plenty of time for clever RuneScape players to devise techniques that can allow even low level players to succeed at The Barrows. I’ve heard of players as low as combat level 50 scraping through the minigame. Most of these methods, however, are expensive, slow and/or dangerous. As mentioned earlier, our goal here is Ultimate Power Barrows, and that requires reasonably high skill levels.

**Table 91: Recommended Combat Skill Levels for Ultimate Power Barrows**
Skill	Minimum Level	Recommended Level	Notes
Attack	80	90	You need at least 70 to be able to wield an abyssal whip or Verac’s flail. The higher the better; if your attack is below about level 80 it may take a long time to kill Ahrim and Karil.
Defence	75	85	Again, level 70 is necessary to wear Barrows armor, and again, the higher the better.
Strength	70	80	Strength is not as important as Attack level, but still important.
Hitpoints	75	90	More hitpoints gives you greater flexibility and more of a cushion if the brothers get some lucky hits.
Prayer	70	80	Prayer level 70 is required for the very useful Piety prayer. Beyond that, higher Prayer levels generally let you get more points from prayer restore potions and stay in combat longer. You can do Barrows with 60 Prayer or even less, but the fewer points you have, the more expensive and dangerous it becomes.
Magic	66	75	In most methods you will be maging the melee brothers. They have low magic defence, but you still need a reasonably high magic level. You also need level 66 Magic to make a house portal to Canifis.
Slayer	55	55	Required to use the Magic Dart (Slayer Dart) spell.

Note that my Ultimate Power Barrows techniques do not use Ranged, which is why it is not listed. I discuss why I made this choice in the page on strategy issues.

The non-combat skills I feel are important for effective Barrowing are discussed in Table 92.

**Table 92: Suggested Non-Combat Skill Levels for Ultimate Power Barrows**
Skill	Recommended Level	Notes
Agility	50	Higher values prevent you from running out of run speed as you move around the tunnels. This becomes more important with faster Barrows methods.
Construction	50	Allows you to build an altar and a portal to Canifis so you can restore prayer, bank and quickly get back to the Barrows after completing a trip.
Farming	31	At this relatively low farming level you can grow your own strawberries, which are a useful secondary healing item.
Herblore	66	This level will allow you to make your own prayer potions, super restore potions, super energy potions and super sets, which may prove useful. Level 81 for Saradomin Brew is even better.

Be sure to pay attention to the Construction entry. You should have in your player owned house a Chapel with an altar (any) for recharging prayer. A portal room with a portal to Kharyrll (a.k.a. Canifis) is also essential, as shown in Figure 403. Ideally, these should be located as close as possible to each other and to your entry room. You can do The Barrows without these rooms, but it will increase the cost and/or time to complete it.

You need high level skills for Power Barrowing, and you also require high level equipment. Naturally, the exact armor, weapons and other items needed depend somewhat on the specific method chosen. We’ll get into much more detail on this in my combat equipment analysis, as well as in the explanations of how to do one, five or nine run Barrows trips. By way of an overview, though, let’s take a look at some of the major items that are generally required; this will tell you straight away if you have what it takes to use my techniques. (Simply put, if reading this makes you think that you could “never afford all that equipment”, this guide is not for you.)

First of all, you need armor and weapons. Ironically enough, doing The Barrows properly requires a set of armor from the same place: in most cases you will want a full Guthans set, but in others Veracs will be better. You will also need a primary weapon, which for most people will be an abyssal whip (unless using Veracs). A poisoned dragon dagger (p++)—more commonly known as a “DDS”—is also extremely valuable, and should be considered an essential item. If you have a godsword, it may be a better choice than a whip, though it’s not mandatory. The same goes for a dragonfire shield (DFS): not essential but can be very useful.

Now, secondary and support items. For your hands, you will want the best Recipe for Disaster gloves you can get, preferably the “Barrows gloves” that are available when you complete the quest. Your feet should be equipped with the best possible metal boots, ideally the new dragon boots from the God Wars Dungeon. An amulet of fury is the best choice for a neck item, giving bonuses to prayer as well as all attack and defence modes.

You’ll need some mundane items too: a ring of life, a Slayer staff, spade and holy wrench. You will also need to either make or buy several types of potions: prayer, super restore, regular restore, Saradomin brew, super energy, super attack and possibly super strength. Finally, you’ll need some decent food, such as monkfish, sharks, and possibly alternatives like pineapple pizzas or tuna potatoes. We’ll cover all of this as we get into the specific methods.

In Figure 404 I have illustrated some of the equipment and supplies commonly used at The Barrows. You won’t need all of these but you will need many of them...

**Figure 404: Sample Barrows Gear and Supplies**
Here’s a selection of some of the most common equipment used at The Barrows. From top to bottom, left to right: full Guthans, full Veracs, a DDS, whip, Saradomin godsword, dragonfire shield, “Barrows” gloves, dragon boots, amulet of fury, skillcape, slayer staff, ring of life, spade, holy wrench, super attack potion, super strength potion, super restore potion, Saradomin brew, prayer potion, death and mind runes, and a super energy mix pot.

Ultimate Power Barrows Guide - Introduction and Overview, Including Benefits, Risks and Costs

Ultimate Power Barrows Guide - General Description of How The Barrows Works

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