Barbarian Assault

This is a safe activity in an instanced area. If you die here, you will not lose any of your items, including those stored inside an Item Retrieval Service (deathbank). However, any items you drop manually on the ground will be lost. Warning: It is still dangerous for Hardcore group iron players.

This article has a strategy guide. All information on mechanics and strategy will be on this page.

Barbarian Assault
Released								4 January 2007 (Update)
Type								Minigame
Members								Yes
Location								Barbarian Outpost
League region								Kandarin✓
Participants								5
Skills								Combat
Requirements								None
Reward currency								Honour points
Tutorial								Yes
Music								Assault and Battery, Pirates of Penance, Cain's Tutorial
Map

Barbarian Assault is a combat minigame played in the basement of the Barbarian Outpost. A team of five players must work together in different roles to battle ten waves of monsters before finally defeating the Penance Queen. There are no requirements to play, but players with a higher combat level will generally perform better due to the aggressive Penance creatures in the arena.

While the minigame has a reputation for being complicated, players can expect to learn and complete each of the various roles within a couple hours. Players looking to complete the Kandarin hard diary will need to complete one full game, and players looking to complete the elite diary will need to reach level five in all four in-game roles.

The minigame does not provide any combat experience for any action. Additionally, runes and ammunition are not allowed inside the arena as they are instead provided in-game. Most healing consumables can't be taken in, and prayers are disabled. Some restricted item exceptions can be found here. Notably, some arrows are unrestricted and others may be brought in Dizana's quiver, however they cannot be fired at penance creatures.

Warning - Dropping any arrows underneath barbarian outpost or within the waves will cause the arrows to be deleted with no warning, giving no chance to pick them back up.

Ultimate Ironmen should note that looting bags and rune pouch are not allowed into the game, even if they are empty. Hardcore Group Ironman deaths will result in losing a life. Players are unable to trade while in a game.

The Barbarian Assault minigame is played on a battleground underneath the Barbarian Outpost, which was established by the Barbarians to fight against Penance creatures. Players can complete the tutorial by talking to Captain Cain in order to get a basic understanding of how the minigame is played.

Players must form a team of five players in order to enter a game. There are four roles in total: attacker, defender, healer, and collector. One role will have two players; this can be any role, but it is typically the role of healer or attacker. Each role is needed to help the rest of the team complete a wave. If a teammate leaves or is killed at any time, the entire group must restart the wave from the beginning. Players must play the ten waves in order.

Completion of each wave will reward each player with honour points specific to the role they chose. Honour points can be used to purchase a variety of combat-based equipment, such as the fighter torso, known for its Strength bonus. Players can also gamble their points for a chance to receive the dragon chainbody or the Penance Queen pet.

Players can check how many honour points they have earned by talking to Commander Connad near the bank chest, or by checking the blackboard.

The Barbarian Assault arena can be found at the Barbarian Outpost, just north of Baxtorian Falls. There are several methods by which players can get here:

• Games necklace teleport — the quickest way to reach the Barbarian Outpost.
• Minigame Teleport — after choosing to skip or completing the tutorial, players are able to teleport directly there with the spell or through the grouping interface. Has a 20 minute cooldown.
• Barbarian Teleport — the level-75 Lunar spell teleports the player directly to the Barbarian Outpost, requiring 3 fire runes, 2 astral runes, and 2 law runes.
• Tree Gnome Stronghold agility shortcut — at level 37 Agility, players can scale the tree to the north-east of the Tree Gnome Stronghold. Completion of the The Grand Tree quest is required to use this shortcut.
• Enchanted lyre — the lyre allows players to teleport to Rellekka, then approach the Outpost from the Lighthouse.
• Player-owned house — players with houses located at Rellekka can use the house teleport and then follow the same route as the enchanted lyre teleport method.
• Fairy ring teleport ALP — players can use the ring to teleport to the Lighthouse just north of Outpost.

The following official worlds are assigned to Barbarian Assault:

World	Location	Members	Activity
306	United States (west)	1	Barbarian Assault
310	United Kingdom	1	Barbarian Assault

Players must either form or join a team to begin playing. They can either do this by entering a room that corresponds to the wave they're trying to complete and then interacting with other players, or by joining the "arrow room," which automatically matches players together. Players must have completed the tutorial at least once to enter this area, and must have Accept Aid on to join a team. From here, players may choose either the role of attacker, collector, defender, or healer.

A player wishing to be a leader must obtain a recruitment scroll from the table, and use it on any four players (as long as those players are not in a group already). When a leader requests a player to join their group, the player will be able to choose their role and see the other team members. The recruiting leader will see the player's level in their currently selected role, and will be able to accept or decline their offer. The recruiting leader must also select their own role by right-clicking the scroll and selecting "write-role."

Waiting for an open role instead of recruiting is generally recommended for players with a high combat level, as recruiters tend to avoid players who they think might die easily. If trying to be recruited, it is suggested that the players either mention their levels in their chosen role, or wear Penance armour in order to show that they are experienced in the game.

After each wave, the leader can decide whether or not to keep the team they're playing with. If a player does not fit the leader's requirements, or does not help out the team, they may wish to kick the player; leaders looking to kick a player from the team can use the scroll on the player in question, and then click the red X next to their name. The role the player was occupying then becomes free, allowing the leader to pick another person.

If none of the teammates leave or are kicked from the team after completing a wave, the next wave will start automatically after 60 seconds.

There are many ways to notify the people in the room that you are trying to recruit or be recruited. The following terms are often used.

For each role, players will have to communicate to their teammates what strategy to use, in a process known as calling. Calling is done by right-clicking and selecting the correct command from the horn that appears in a player's inventory after starting each wave. Players must act according to their teammates' calls, or will be unable to complete their role's tasks.

Calling is the most important part of any role; players should always prioritise calling so that each role can help defeat the Penance. If one person doesn't call for their team, other teammates will similarly be unable to complete their roles. The Penance change their weaknesses every 30 seconds, so the player should always be quick to call for their teammate and adjust their strategies.

At all times, players will see the following graphic on the top right of their screen:

The interface shows what needs to be called in white text, which changes to yellow once players have called correctly. This makes it easy for players to see if they either haven't called, or if they've called incorrectly. As mentioned before, this will change every 30 seconds.

The following table explains each symbol:

Icon	Meaning	Example or action
	The current assault wave.	Players starting out will see "Wave 1"
	What you have been told to DO.	Defenders seeing "Tofu" should use tofu for bait.
	What to CALL through your horn.	Attackers seeing "Red egg" should right-click the horn, and select "Tell-red".
	Your partner's role, with whom you communicate.	Healers will see "Defender."

Players in need of healing can right-click the horn and select Medic to notify the healer on their interfaces. Note that manually typing out "Medic!" does not notify the healer.

Each role has an active task that players must complete alongside their responsibility to call to another player. The following table briefly describes each role:

Role	Calls to	Description
Attacker	Collector	Attacks monsters through combat, using the style called by the collector.
Collector	Attacker	Collects eggs based on the call of the attacker, then places them in the egg cannon. Can also convert eggs.
Defender	Healer	Lures the runners to traps that kill them, using the bait called by the healer. Can also build barricades and repair traps.
Healer	Defender	Uses poisoned food to kill the Penance Healers, based on the call of the defender. Can also heal other players.

Other than the queen, all monsters will appear in caves on the northern side of the caves. Each of them drop red, green, and blue eggs upon death, which can be picked up by the collector. A greater number of every type of Penance will spawn in subsequent waves, and the enemies that spawn in higher waves will be stronger, thus making the final waves more challenging than the first.

Note: in Barbarian assault, the term "healer" refers both to a player who holds the healer role and the Penance Healer monster. For clarity, this page will use "healer" or "healer role" to describe the role, and "Penance Healer" will describe the monster.

The following table shows all monsters in the game:

Image	Name	Fought by	Aggressive?	Other functions or notes	Spawn	Max hit
	Penance Healer	Healer	Yes (poison)	Can heal runners.	NE	2
	Penance Runner	Defender	No	Runners head to the southern caves, costing the team points if they manage to enter.	NE	N/A
	Penance Ranger	Attacker	Yes	Rangers do more damage than fighters, and should be targeted first.	NW	9
	Penance Fighter	Attacker	Yes	Fighters do less damage than rangers, and should be targeted second.	NW	8
	Queen Spawn	All	Yes	Anyone can attack the queen spawns, without needing to follow the called style.	NE	7
	Penance Queen	All	Yes	The queen can only be damaged by the omega egg.	Centre	13

Note that while different monsters have different amounts of health depending on the wave, runners will always have 5 Hitpoints.

Players earn honour points for their roles; additional information on the specifics of how points are earned can be found in the Barbarian Assault strategy guide. Players will get 10% more points (rounded down) if they have completed the Hard Kandarin Diary. Each team member gets points based on the team's performance plus points based on their own role. A player failing to call does not incur a direct immediate penalty, but may result in penalties for the entire team due to them not knowing the right actions to perform.

Although players may get negative points for their individual performance in your role, team points are capped at a minimum of 0 points. Total points for a wave are also capped at a minimum of 0 points.

The dispensers located at the southern end of the battlefield (near where players appear) provide some necessities for each role.

Machine	Name	Used by	Dispenses
	Attacker item machine	Attacker	The following items have the same effect: Blunt arrows • Earth runes Field arrows • Water runes Barbed arrows • Fire runes Bullet arrows • Air runes In addition, the following catalytic runes are also given: mind, chaos, death, blood and wrath runes.
	Healer item machine	Healer	Healing vial (one per healer) Poisoned worms Poisoned tofu Poisoned meat
	Defender item machine	Defender	Worms Tofu Crackers
	Collector Converter	Collector	Green eggs convert to Red eggs Red eggs convert to Green eggs Blue eggs convert to Green eggs

On Wave 10, the Penance Queen will spawn. The queen can only be harmed with omega eggs, which the team members must work together to make.

The battlefield will have a different layout than Waves 1 through 9; there will be only one egg launcher instead of two, and a large trapdoor will appear in the middle. There are also poison craters (also called poison springs), lava craters, and petrified mushrooms (also called spiked mushrooms) dotted around the edges of the battlefield, which are used to create the omega eggs.

The Penance Queen will appear from the trapdoor when all other penance are defeated or 4 minutes have passed in the wave, and will attack players with a long-distance Ranged attack that simultaneously hits all five team members for up to 13 damage. The queen will also use a melee attack on players who run close enough. She can also spawn level 63 queen spawns, which attack with melee and can be defeated by any team member with any attack style.

The Penance fighters, rangers, healers, and runners must all be defeated by the team before they can start launching omega eggs to defeat the queen. During this final wave, there are no point penalties for mistaken actions, such as attacking with a wrong style or using an incorrect type of poison food, but the creatures that appear during this wave still must be defeated using the correct calls.

The queen spawns a yellow egg every six seconds; these must be collected and used to make the omega eggs. Eight total hits from the omega eggs are needed to kill the queen.

Omega eggs are made according to the following sequence, which can easily be remembered with the acronym CHAD(C):

Role	Action	Give to ("use" option)
Collector	Collect yellow eggs.	Healer
Healer	Dip eggs in poison craters.	Attacker
Attacker	Attach spikes from petrified mushrooms.	Defender
Defender	Dip eggs in lava craters.	Collector
Collector	Put eggs in the egg hopper.	Launch and kill the queen!

Once the omega eggs are loaded and all other Penance monsters are defeated, all team members can use the egg launcher to launch the eggs at the Penance Queen and kill her.

	Honourable Victory!
The jingle that plays upon completing a wave.

Honour points can be used to increase the level of each role, exchanged for combat equipment, or gambled. Players gain honour points at the end of each successful wave based on their performance in their role and the team's overall performance. With each successive wave, players earn more points as the difficulty increases. Upon killing the Penance Queen in the last wave, players will receive 80 honour points in their role and 5 points in the other 3 roles. Players can access their rewards by speaking to Commander Connad and accessing his rewards shop.

Players may upgrade the level in a particular role from level 1 up to level 5. By upgrading their levels, players gain extra abilities such as extra damage or higher healing. Obtaining the maximum level in all roles is one of the requirements needed to complete the Elite Kandarin Diary. A total of 1,400 honour points are needed to obtain a level 5 role. 5,600 points are required to obtain level 5 in all roles. Points cap at 5,000 in each role.

A summary of the level upgrades for each role may be found in the following table:

Level	Honour Points	Collector	Healer	Attacker	Defender[D 1]
1	N/A	Bag holds 2 eggs	Heals 10 hitpoints	+1 bonus damage	+4 luring range spaces
2	200	Bag holds 4 eggs Conversion chance ~20%	Heals 15 hitpoints	+2 bonus damage	+5 luring range spaces
3	300	Bag holds 6 eggs Conversion chance ~40%	Heals 20 hitpoints	+3 bonus damage	+5 luring range spaces
4	400	Bag holds 7 eggs Conversion chance ~60%	Heals 25 hitpoints	+4 bonus damage	+5 luring range spaces
5	500	Bag holds 8 eggs Conversion chance ~85%	Heals 35 hitpoints	+5 bonus damage	+5 luring range spaces

Players can purchase Penance armour using their honour points. Certain items require the player to kill the Penance Queen. Points from all roles are required.

Item		Price sold at	Price bought at	Queen
	Fighter hat	275 each role	220 each role	Yes
	Ranger hat	275 each role	220 each role	Yes
	Healer hat	275 each role	220 each role	Yes
	Runner hat	275 each role	220 each role	Yes
	Fighter torso	375 each role	300 each role	Yes
	Penance skirt	375 each role	300 each role	Yes
	Runner boots	100 each role	80 each role	No
	Penance gloves	150 each role	120 each role	No
	Granite body	95000	N/A	Yes

The total amount in points for a Penance armour set (one hat, gloves, boots, torso, and skirt) is 1,275 points in each of the four different roles. For all items, one would need 2,100 points in every single one of the four different roles, 95,000 coins, and 7 queen kills.

If players have Penance gear they no longer need, they can use it on Commander Connad to receive a point refund equal to 80% of the purchase price; any queen kills spent will not be refunded. Players hoping to complete the collection log for Barbarian Assault only need 590 points in each role, assuming the most expensive item required is purchased and immediately sold.

Players can gamble their points in either a low, medium, or high gamble, in exchange for various resources, armour, and the Penance Queen pet. These gambles are known on mobile as "lucky dips."

• Commander Connad
• Sergeant Sambur
• Private Pierreb
• Private Paldon
• Private Pendron
• Private Paldo

• A wallpaper depicting a group of Penance healers.

• On the release of Old School RuneScape, there was a glitch with Barbarian Assault that was fixed by importing code from RuneScape; as a result, during the tutorial, Commander Connad would refer to the Constitution ability book, referencing RuneScape 3's redesign of the Hitpoints skill.
• Despite being visibly underground, the lobby is technically considered outdoors, as the hallways allow for the laying of box traps.
• While most experience gain is blocked within the minigame, there are a few exceptions. Firemaking experience can be gained by lighting logs found in the cave using a bow. The fire can be used to cook food, granting cooking experience. With a tormented synapse and magic longbow (u), fletching a scorching bow grants fletching experience.

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