Guardians of the Rift

Guardians of the Rift
Released								23 March 2022 (Update)
Type								Minigame
Members								Yes
Location								Temple of the Eye
League region								Desert✓
Participants								1+
Skills								Runecraft, Mining, Crafting
Reward currency								Abyssal pearls
Music								Guardians of the Rift, The Guardians Prepare
Map

Guardians of the Rift is a non-combat minigame that takes place within the Temple of the Eye. The main goal of the game is to assist The Great Guardian in closing an abyssal rift to the Scar, the most dangerous part of Abyssal Space, by supplying it with guardian stones while protecting it from the abyssal creatures that come through the rift.

	Rift Closed
The jingle that plays upon closing the rift.

	Guardian Falls
The jingle that plays upon the guardian falling.

• Completion of Temple of the Eye quest
• Level 10 Runecraft is required for Temple of the Eye, although only an additional 154 experience is needed to reach this level after completing its prerequisite quests. Level 27 Runecraft is required to play the minigame after quest completion. Due to experience gained from Temple of the Eye, players will have reached at least level 27 Runecraft before they start the minigame. However in seasonal game modes such as Leagues it is possible to not meet this requirement if the quest is auto completed.
• Any pickaxe
• A chisel (only if crafting guardians)

The portal to the Guardians of the Rift minigame resides in the basement of the Wizards' Tower. Players can get there faster than walking by using the following:

• The amulet of the eye teleport.
• A Minigame Teleport through any spellbook or the Grouping tab to Guardians of the Rift.
• A necklace of passage teleport to the Wizards' Tower.
• Fairy ring code DIS to the Wizards' Tower.
• An amulet of glory teleport to Draynor Village and walking south.
• Lumbridge Home Teleport and walking south-west.
• Teleporting to the Scar via ring of shadows, requiring Desert Treasure II.

Players looking to change their gear or inventory loadout may use the bank chest found just north of the portal. For players who are using the Scar essence mine, as well as players who have the amulet of the eye, the bank is fairly close to a teleport, making it an efficient stop for players looking to bank and return.

The following official worlds are assigned to Guardians of the Rift:

World	Location	Members	Activity
409	United States (west)	1	Guardians of the Rift
445	United States (west)	1	Guardians of the Rift
464	Germany	1	Guardians of the Rift
478	United States (east)	1	Guardians of the Rift
522	United Kingdom	1	Guardians of the Rift
534	Australia	1	Guardians of the Rift

The objective of the minigame is to allow the Great Guardian to charge up enough power to close the rift where Abyssal creatures are coming through.

Players will need to do the following throughout the battle:

• Imbue essence acquired during the minigame at runic altars to power up the Great Guardian
• Create elemental and catalytic guardians to fight against the incoming Abyssal creatures
• Create/repair barriers to protect the Great Guardian from Abyssal creatures

To imbue essence, players must obtain guardian fragments from guardian remains of varying sizes in the Temple. There are three nodes that can be mined off of: guardian parts, guardian remains, and large guardian remains. Parts and normal remains can be found in the edges of the temple area, while the larger remains are past some rubble in the mid-east of the Temple area, requiring level 56 Agility ^{[not boostable]} to access.

The huge guardian remains, which give guardian essence when mined, are found at the mid-western area of the temple. Though normally inaccessible, portals will occasionally appear that take players there, spawning approximately every 2 minutes. Portals remain active for around 25 seconds.

The doubling effect of certain mining enhancers—such as Varrock armour (all tiers) and charged celestial rings—will apply when mining for guardian fragments and essence.

• Mining guardian fragments
• Portals that takes players to the huge guardian remains.

Guardian fragments are converted into guardian essence, which are storable in essence pouches. They are brought to runic altars to be imbued via entering Portal Guardians surrounding the centre of the Temple. Only two portals are active at a time: one elemental and one catalytic. Imbuing guardian essence requires the same Runecraft level as crafting them regularly in the corresponding altar. Note that imbuing on runic altars during the minigame will not give players the rift guardian pet.^[1]

In addition, for every guardian essence imbued, there is a 1/250 chance that players will receive a portal talisman,^[2][3] which can be used on the Portal Guardians to take them back to the runic altar they previously used, even if the portal is closed for that altar. These cannot be kept after the game ends, so players should use them whenever possible. Players can right-click "Toggle-talisman" on a Portal Guardian to stop receiving portal talismans of the selected type.

Once players imbue their essence into either an elemental or catalytic guardian stone, they can return to the Temple and power up the Great Guardian. Each guardian stone will give two energy of the respective type; if crafting combination runes, players will instead receive polyelemental guardian stones, which give three elemental energy when used on the Great Guardian.

The number of guardian stones required to fully charge up the Great Guardian scales with player count: the Great Guardian must be powered up with 250 guardian stones for each player inside the temple in order to reach 100%.^[4] If there are over 20 players, every player beyond the 20th grants a 20% scaling penalty on the charge required to power up the Great Guardian, meaning 200 essence is required for each player after the 20th rather than 250.

When powering up the Great Guardian, the player's run energy will be restored by 1% for each guardian stone granted to the Guardian. In addition, a small bonus amount is restored based on the player's current special attack energy, ranging from 1% extra with a totally depleted special energy bar up to 11% additional run energy when the special bar is completely full.^[5]

Be aware that players need to have completed certain quests to be able to enter some Portal Guardians:

• Guardian of Cosmic - Lost City
• Guardian of Law - Troll Stronghold
• Guardian of Death - Mourning's End Part II
• Guardian of Blood - Sins of the Father

Charged cells are used to create rift guardians and erect barriers. Uncharged cells are obtained from a container near the entry barrier, and are charged in the same way guardian essence is. Players can hold up to ten uncharged cells and have only one charged cell at a time.

Rift guardians are created with a chisel via the essence piles near the tables at the south, and can either be elemental (east) or catalytic (west). These will follow the elemental/catalytic guides in the outer ring. Only ten rift guardians can be active at any time.

Barriers are created by using charged cells on the cell tiles at the front-centre. Using increasingly higher tiers of cells in order (ex. medium to strong cells) will also strengthen them. Using lesser charged cells (ex. a strong cell on an overcharged barrier) will instead recharge the barriers by "healing" them. Should a barrier break, the cell tile will need to be repaired, which requires 12 guardian fragments.

The strength of the cell corresponds to the Runecraft level of the runic altar it is charged in:

Level	Type		Tier		Alignment
1		Air		Weak		Elemental
5		Water		Medium		Elemental
9		Earth		Strong		Elemental
14		Fire		Overcharged		Elemental
2		Mind		Weak		Catalytic
20		Body		Weak		Catalytic
27		Cosmic		Medium		Catalytic
35		Chaos		Medium		Catalytic
44		Nature		Strong		Catalytic
54		Law		Strong		Catalytic
65		Death		Overcharged		Catalytic
77		Blood		Overcharged		Catalytic

Since each combination rune can be made on either of two altars, the cell tier is determined by the elemental altar that's used.

Level	Type		Alignment		Component runes
6		Mist		Polyelemental		Air		Water
10		Dust		Polyelemental		Air		Earth
13		Mud		Polyelemental		Water		Earth
15		Smoke		Polyelemental		Air		Fire
19		Steam		Polyelemental		Water		Fire
23		Lava		Polyelemental		Earth		Fire
90		Aether		Polycatalytic		Cosmic		Soul

Players can gain energy by either using cells, by using guardian stones on the Great Guardian, or by repairing a barrier. For each stone used, players will get 5 Runecraft experience and two energy in elemental or catalytic depending on the type of essence used; if crafting combination runes, players will get a polyelemental guardian stone instead, which gives three elemental energy. If players use twelve fragments on repairing a cell tile they will gain 25 energy in both types.

Each cell can be used in one of four ways: to build a barrier, to recharge a barrier, to strengthen a barrier (one tier at a time), or to create a guardian. Higher level cells give more energy, except for when building barriers, which always gives 2 energy in both types. Using cells on barriers gives equal energy in elemental and catalytic, whereas creating a guardian gives energy only in the energy type matching the guardian they created. Creating a guardian awards energy, where is the energy that would be awarded for strengthening a barrier with the same cell.

Tier		Barrier					Guardian
		Placing	Strengthening	Recharging	Health restored	XP	Creating[n 1]	XP
	Weak	17	N/A	2	10	30	6	30 80
	Medium	20	7	5	25	100	15	100 80
	Strong	24	13	9	50	180	27	180 80
	Overcharged	30	22	15	100	250	45	250 80

The battle is split into three phases:

The first phase is short, giving players two minutes to prepare by obtaining guardian essence and uncharged cells to create and power up guardians. Initially, there are some weak cells used in the beginning stages of the battle that should be used to erect barriers.

After the two minutes pass, abyssal creatures will begin spawning from the rift, consisting of mostly abyssal leeches and guardians. There will be a few walkers among them. The monsters will attempt to attack the Great Guardian, with their attacks draining its energy. They will also attack barriers and rift guardians, although they only retaliate back for the latter, not actively targeting them. Should the Great Guardian's energy level reach 0%, the encounter will fail.

When the guardian reaches 60% charge, the temple will rumble as the rift glows more intensely, damaging all active barriers by 50 health (in a mass) and spewing out more guardians and walkers compared to leeches. Players should heal the barriers and create more rift guardians if necessary.

When the guardian reaches 100% charge, it will seal the rift. All abyssal creatures and rift guardians will automatically die once this occurs and there is a brief period of respite for players inside to leave or reposition themselves.

At the beginning of a new game, all guardian fragments, essence, and portal talismans acquired during the game will be removed from the player's possession. This also applies when leaving the minigame area.

The following money making guide is available for Guardians of the Rift:

At the end of a game, players will receive points and Runecraft experience. Experience awarded will be equal to their Runecraft level × 45 as long as they gained at least 300 total energy during the game. An elemental point will be given for every 100 elemental energy and a catalytic point will be given for every 100 catalytic energy, with a chance of rounding up (e.g. 73 elemental energy will give a 73% chance of gaining one elemental point). One of each are used to search the Rewards Guardian, located just outside the rift gate, where players can receive their rewards. A maximum of 1,200 total energy can be earned per game (1,320 when using the abyssal lantern burning yew logs), with a cap of 1,000 per energy type. If a player reaches the maximum point cap, the chatbox will display the message You are fully attuned with runic energy and cannot earn anymore until the rift has been closed.

Rewards from the Guardian include a standard loot table including runes and talismans, as well as various unique rewards.

Item		Info
	Abyssal pearls	Used to purchase items from the Temple Supplies shop.
	Intricate pouch	Can give a tarnished locket or a lost bag. Grants a random amount of runes or one of several dragon items. Also has a chance at granting a hard clue.
	Atlax's diary	An old diary of someone's experiences at the Temple of the Eye.
	Elemental talisman	Grants access to all elemental runic altars.
	Catalytic talisman	Grants access to all catalytic runic altars, provided the player has completed the quests to access those that require it.
	Abyssal needle	Combines all essence pouches into one colossal pouch ( 56 Crafting required). If the colossal pouch is lost, players may simply use a normal needle on the Rewards Guardian to obtain another Abyssal needle.
	Abyssal lantern	Gives various benefits within the minigame depending on the type of logs used to light it. Can also be purchased with 1500 pearls.
	Abyssal dyes	Recolours the raiments of the eye, lost bag, and amulet of the eye. Comes in red, green, and blue.
	Abyssal protector	An abyssal creature pet, similar to an abyssal guardian.

Items from the rewards shop are purchased with Abyssal pearls, which are obtained from the Rewards Guardian.

Item		Info	Pearls required
	Raiments of the Eye	Each piece grants the wearer 10% more runes (as well as an additional 20% bonus when the full set is worn, for a total of 60%), while Runecrafting.	400 (Hat), 350 (Top and bottoms), 250 (Boots)
	Ring of the elements	Teleports players near the elemental runic altars. Charged with one of each elemental rune and one law rune.	400
	Guardian's eye	When used on the rift guardian pet, will allow it to transform to a Greatish guardian.	3,000
	Talismans	Used to create tiaras and enter runic altars. Elemental, catalytic, and wrath talismans are not sold. Blood talismans are exclusively sold here. Death and Blood talismans will only appear in the shop after the prerequisite quests to use them are completed.	10 (Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Body), 30 (Chaos, Cosmic), 50 (Nature, Law), 80 (Death), 100 (Blood)

• Promotional artwork for the minigame.
• Promotional artwork used for the Steam Client.
• Prototype of Guardians of the Rift from the December 2020 Gielinor Gazette, when the project was known as Guardians of Gielinor.
• Early concept birdseye image of the Temple of the Eye, by Mod West.
• Concept art of the Temple of the Eye, by Mod Jerv.
• Concept art of the rift guardians, by Mod Grub.

• Main developer(s): Mod Elena, Mod Husky
• Quality Assurance: Mod Curse
• Art: Mod Skylark and Mod West
• Dev Blog & newspost: Mod Light

• Originally, the minigame was to be called Guardians of Gielinor. This name was changed prior to its release to Guardians of the Rift.^[7]
• Despite not being used during the minigame, icons indicating active portals to the Astral, Soul, and Wrath Altars exist in the game's files.
• On the ocean floor to the east of the Temple, a pineapple, moai, and rock can be seen. This is a reference to the homes of the main characters of the television show SpongeBob SquarePants. This is further evidenced by their examine information.
• Several mechanics of the minigame were changed from the original Developer's Blog midway through development:
  • Players would need to bring their own pure essence alongside guardian fragments in order to create guardian essence. This was changed to no longer be necessary, with pure essence no longer having a use within the minigame.
  • There was originally a bank chest inside the minigame area where players can retrieve pure essence from alongside any other items they may have forgotten to bring. With the aforementioned change making pure essence unnecessary, the bank chest was changed to a Deposit Pool.
  • Cells were originally referred to as batteries.
  • The outer edges containing large and huge guardian remains were both originally going to be accessible with varying Agility levels, with the yellow portals being able to bypass the Agility requirement. This was changed so that only the huge remains are accessible via portal, giving guardian essence when mined rather than fragments.
• Several rewards for the minigame were also changed midway through development:
  • The catalytic talisman would not allow access to the Death Altar until Mourning's End Part II was completed.
  • The Blood Altar was not planned to be accessible via the Abyss.
  • The abyssal lantern was purchased from the Temple Supplies reward shop rather than being a random reward from the Rewards Guardian. In addition, lighting it originally required two logs of a certain type, but would only stay lit for one round; up to ten logs could be used to light it, which would allow it to stay lit for five rounds.
    • The lantern was later made purchasable, though via Apprentice Felix rather than from the Temple Supplies shop.
  • The Raiments of the Eye originally gave a 10% chance per item (60% when all items are equipped) to craft additional runes. What "additional runes" meant was never clarified, and was changed to its current functionality.