Phantom Muspah/Strategies

After completion of Secrets of the North, a stronger version of the Strange Creature can be fought again in the form of a Phantom Muspah (aka, "Muspah").

• Completion of Secrets of the North to access the Ghorrock Dungeon

• 85+
• 85+ (if using magic)
• 75+
• 74+ for Rigour (77+ for Augury)
• 82+ for Ornate rejuvenation pool (with boost) or completion of the elite Desert diary for Desert Amulet 4
• 81+ for Surge potions (optional)

The quickest methods of reaching Weiss, where the Phantom Muspah resides, are:

• Using the ring of shadows to teleport to Ghorrock Dungeon. Requires completion of Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire and the frozen tablet, obtained from Duke Sucellus.
• Using an icy basalt. Go through the gap in the fence.
• Using the Weiss teleport in the portal chamber or portal nexus of a player-owned house.
• Using Larry's boat north-east of Rellekka and sailing to Weiss from there. Fairy ring code DKS is the closest teleport to Larry's boat.

Once in Weiss, enter the salt mine (accessible from the staircase in Snowflake and My Arm's hut) and go deeper into the cave to enter the Ghorrock Dungeon. Then, run south.

Throughout the fight, the Phantom Muspah will switch forms after taking 100 damage in the Ranged form (barring the teleport attack) or 80 damage in the Melee form. After switching forms for the first time, it must also take damage at least four times before it can switch again. Thrall damage does not count towards these damage thresholds or hits, with the exception of the final stand transformation when the boss reaches ≤127 hitpoints.

During transformations, Muspah will slam the ground and spawn spikes around the arena, with a spike always appearing on the player's current position. Standing on a spike will knock the player back to a clear tile and heal the boss for ~75% of the damage dealt.

Muspah's defence can be reduced down to 125. The defence reduction will preserve between phases until the shielded phase, where Muspah's defence resets to 200.

Muspah's Ranged form will attack with ranged, occasionally magic, and has a significantly lower ranged defence bonus compared to its magic defence bonus.

Ranged attacks are more common and calculated on attack start, therefore Protect from Missiles should remain active by default. This can deal up to 61 damage.

Occasionally, Muspah will charge up for a Magic attack, appearing to stand up and charge a purple orb before launching it at the player. It is imperative to swap to Protect from Magic immediately upon seeing this animation, as failing to do so can result in taking up to 72 damage. This will also apply corruption onto the player.

Unlike the other attacks, using Protect from Magic while the projectile is in transit will reduce a significant amount of damage, but the player will still be inflicted corruption.

Corruption

Taking damage from the Magic attack will also apply corruption onto the player that drains 3, 6, and 9 prayer points every 6 seconds, for a total of 18 prayer points over the course of 18 seconds. Players can cast Ward of Arceuus to become temporarily immune to being corrupted, or to nullify its effect after the fact. Ward of Arceuus is cheaper than a dose of Super restore, but 1 additional inventory spot for runes will take up more inventory per use unless a player is hit by 8 or more corruption effects per trip.

Muspah's Melee form will deal significantly increased melee damage the longer it stays still. It is imperative to maintain distance at all times and do not allow Muspah to chain melee hits. Muspah's melee hit can deal up to 34 damage.

Players can avoid its melee attack entirely if praying melee and Muspah was chasing one tick before the intended attack tick. This led to what is known as the step-back method, which involves moving away from the boss one tick before the intended attack, as seen in the demonstration to the right. Below is a breakdown of events on each tick of a step-back method being executed during Muspah's 5-tick melee cycle.

1. Muspah hitsplats player
2. (hitsplat fades)
3. (nothing)
4. Click to step 1 tile away
5. Player movement executed
6. Muspah will chase and attack player same tick, for 0 damage if protect from melee is active

Muspah has a significantly lower magic defence bonus in the form compared to its ranged defence bonus.

For lower-level players who are struggling to freeze it, Muspah can be kited and attacked with ranged to avoid damage from its melee form, similar to kiting Commander Zilyana. However, due to the Muspah’s larger size, an “octagon” run pattern works better than running in a square.

Muspah's Shielded form is a reinforced Ranged form that is immune to all regular sources of damage. This reinforced form reverts back to the normal Ranged form when the prayer shield is removed. Prayer-draining attacks such as Smite, Corruption spells, and enchanted sapphire bolts will drain the shield faster. Entering this form also ends an active homing spikes special attack, which otherwise lasts 34 ticks (20.4s).

The Phantom Muspah can spawn in ranged or melee form, and will trigger special attacks at 75% and 50% health. Ranged spawns will trigger Lightning clouds at 75%, melee spawns will trigger homing spikes at 75%. The unused special will always occur at 50% health.

• Players may deal large hits at the end of a ranged form, which will count towards ending the melee form.
• Hitting Muspah below 637 HP before hitting under 650 HP prevents Muspah from entering ranged form before his lightning cloud special attack. This allows you a full 100 damage against range form instead of switching to melee immediately after.
• Large amounts of damage dealt during the lightning cloud special attack can potentially skip the entirety of the final melee phase.
• Lightning Clouds - Muspah will rapidly teleport around the arena and spawn lightning clouds that travel across the area.
  • Getting hit by a cloud will deal up to 20 damage, though they can be avoided by standing on a specific tile, provided with the button above. Players should avoid standing on this tile until the attack occurs, so that spikes aren't protruding on it.
  • Muspah will always appear to the north-east when the move is finished.
  • Muspah has combat stats equal to Range form, and can be attacked during this phase.
  • Damage dealt during this phase does not count towards the damage threshold for a form swap.
• Homing Spikes - The Phantom Muspah will slam the ground, causing 2-4 spikes to home in on the player.
  • Players can stand behind hardened spikes to avoid the homing spikes from reaching them if there's more than one spike grouped together.
  • The spikes move 1 tile per 2 ticks, do not move diagonally, and cannot pass through idle spikes.
  • After 34 ticks (20.4s), the spikes harden and stop moving.
  • Spikes that are directly adjacent to the player and under the Phantom Muspah will never be chosen to home in on the player.

• A player blocks the homing spikes by standing behind some icicles.
• A player completely avoids the lightning clouds by standing on the "optimal" tile labelled o; a weapon with an attack range of 10 ensures the player is never dragged out of the tile whilst attacking. Two alternative safespots are marked with d1-d2, where player should run to d1, and when dragged by an attack to d2, run back to d1 to prevent being hit by clouds.

Upon reaching less than 127 health, Muspah will teleport to the centre of the arena and unleash a massive shockwave that engulfs the entire arena. Players must stand behind a spike to avoid the attack, or it will deal up to 80 damage and the subsequent corruption will drain more prayer points compared to its magic attack. Players can place spikes on 8 specific tiles (also provided with the above button) to block the shockwave most efficiently. Spikes being on all 8 tiles is unlikely, but would completely negate a shockwave. Once Muspah finishes the attack, it will change into its shielded form, activating a prayer shield and Soul Split, as well as increasing the max hit and accuracy of its attacks.

The prayer shield has 75 health, and is drained by 2 after each attack. The Phantom Muspah will also heal itself for 50% of the damage inflicted, rounded down to the nearest whole number; e.g., a hit of 23 will cause it to heal 11 health. The player can further speed up the drain by using various prayer-draining methods, such as the Smite prayer or having a corruption spell active.

Using a crossbow with enchanted sapphire bolts or enchanted sapphire dragon bolts is highly recommended, as they have a 25% chance (27.5% with completion of the Hard Kandarin Diary)^[1] to activate their special effect against the prayer shield, draining around 33 prayer from it.

To successfully use Smite, players should avoid lining up their attacks with Muspah's ranged or magic attacks. Players can utilize the following five-tick cycle to determine when they can use Smite:

• Tick 1: Muspah's ranged attack damage is calculated (Protect from Ranged must be active on this tick to reduce damage)
• Tick 2: Empty (can use Smite)
• Tick 3: Empty (can use Smite)
• Tick 4: Muspah's magic attack damage is calculated (Protect from Magic must be active on this tick to avoid damage)
• Tick 5: Empty (can use Smite)

If the player is using a weapon with a five-tick attack speed, such as a crossbow on rapid, attacking Muspah on the first possible tick of the shielded phase will ensure that the player always attacks on Tick 2 of the above cycle, allowing them to flick Smite consistently. If players find themselves attacking on Tick 1 or Tick 4 of the cycle, it is advisable to delay their next attack by one tick to offset their attacks.

Note that because this attack cycle is one tick faster than in previous phases, there is one less tick between a magic attack landing and the next ranged attack being calculated. As a result, players should be prepared to switch prayers quickly after a magic projectile hits them.

Once the shield is depleted, Muspah will return to its ranged form—though still with a five-tick attack speed—and create a large number of spikes (including one on the player's position) before resuming combat as normal. The spikes will emerge every four attacks and cover more tiles, growing from existing clusters of spikes.

For players attempting Phantom Muspah Speed-Runner, it is possible to bypass the shielded phase entirely. If Muspah's health reaches zero before the shield is applied, the shield phase is cancelled and Muspah instead restores 1 health. [Youtube]

To succeed in a shield skip:

• There is a 5-tick vulnerability between Muspah's teleport and shield application. 3-tick and 4-tick weapons can deliver two attacks in this timeframe.
• When Muspah teleports to the middle, you must be standing within 1-2 tiles of Muspah's 5x5 to prevent delays on ranged weapon damage [Youtube].
• Spam click to attack (Clicking before vulnerability will be lost, and will not cause a delayed attack at first vulnerability)
• Your first attack will land before the shockwave
• Your second and final attack will come after the shockwave
• If Muspah is at 0 Health pending a successful shield skip, any further damage will fail the shield skip (ex: Thralls).
• If successful, Muspah will not enter the shield phase, but exit with 1 health to be killed easily.

This skip requires 2 or 3 lucky hits, and is therefore very luck dependent.

1. The hit which brings Muspah below 127 health is the most critical. If a player is unlucky and hits Muspah from 135 to 126, players must deal a full 126 damage in the hits to follow. Oppositely, if a player is lucky and hits 80 damage from 130 health down to 50, the player has two hits to deal only 50 damage.
2. The first hit after Muspah teleports.
3. If hit 2 did not bring Muspah to 0 health, the hit following the shockwave must do so.

Ideally, use both Ranged and Magic, to exploit the weaknesses of both forms. Camping a single form will result in greatly increased kill times, with range camp generally being slightly more optimal. To a lesser extent, Magic-only setups with best-in-slot mage gear and a Tumeken's shadow are doable; a ranged swap may still be helpful for Muspah's smite phase.

Ranged setups employing ZCB specs benefit greatly from using Surge potions.

The Arceuus spellbook is particularly useful against Muspah, and is strongly recommended. In addition to the use of thralls, Greater Corruption can be used for additional damage against Muspah's prayer shield. Ward of Arceuus can be used to protect the player from corruption. Vile Vigour can be used for additional run energy. Death Charge can be procced off Muspah to restore additional special attack energy, if not resetting between kills.

However, some players opt to use Ancient Magicks or Standard spellbook to simply freeze with Ice spells or Entangle Muspah to avoid its melee attack. Freezing the Muspah also makes the faster attack speed of the Eye of ayak easier to take advantage of. Standard spellbook gives access to Wind spells, which Muspah is weak to.

Recommended equipment for Magic

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i)[a] or Ancestral hat	Virtus mask	Ahrim's hood (or: )	N/A	N/A
	Occult necklace	Amulet of fury / Amulet of glory	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Imbued god cape	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ancestral robe top	Virtus robe top	Ahrim's robetop (or: )	N/A	N/A
	Ancestral robe bottom	Virtus robe bottom	Ahrim's robeskirt (or: )	N/A	N/A
	Tumeken's shadow	Harmonised nightmare staff[b] / Eye of ayak / Sanguinesti staff	Mystic smoke staff[b] / Twinflame staff[c]	Trident of the swamp / Trident of the seas	N/A
	Elidinis' ward (f)	Arcane spirit shield	Ancient wyvern shield / Elidinis' ward	Mage's book / Malediction ward	Book of the dead
	Confliction gauntlets	Tormented bracelet	Barrows gloves	N/A	N/A
	Avernic treads (max)	Eternal boots	Aranea boots / Infinity boots	N/A	N/A
	Lightbearer	Magus ring	Ring of suffering (ri)	Ring of shadows[d]	N/A
	Accursed sceptre / Eye of ayak	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

1. ^ Only while on a Slayer task
2. ^ ^{2.0 2.1} When casting Wind Surge.
3. ^ When casting Wind Wave. May be better than other staves before 95 Magic or without access to wrath runes.
4. ^ Especially useful with Frozen tablet for quick returns to the boss after resupplying.

Recommended equipment for Ranged

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i)[a] / Masori mask (f)	Crystal helm	Blessed coif	N/A	N/A
	Necklace of rupture	Necklace of anguish	Amulet of fury / Amulet of glory	N/A	N/A
	Dizana's quiver	Ava's assembler	Ava's accumulator	Ranging cape	N/A
	Masori body (f)	Crystal body	Blessed d'hide body (or: )	Karil's leathertop	N/A
	Masori chaps (f)	Crystal legs	Blessed chaps (or: )	Karil's leatherskirt	N/A
	Twisted bow	Bow of faerdhinen[b] / Toxic blowpipe[c][d]	Zaryte crossbow	Armadyl crossbow > Dragon crossbow / Dragon hunter crossbow	Rune crossbow
	Twisted buckler	Dragonfire ward	Odium ward	Book of law	N/A
	Seeking dragon arrow & Sapphire dragon bolts (e)[e] / Ruby dragon bolts (e)[f]	Amethyst arrow / Diamond dragon bolts (e) & Sapphire bolts (e)[e]	Rune arrow / Ruby bolts (e)	Rada's blessing 4	God blessing / Rada's blessing 3/2
	Zaryte vambraces	Barrows gloves	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Avernic treads (max)	Pegasian boots	Ranger boots / Aranea boots	Blessed boots	N/A
	Lightbearer	Venator ring	Archers ring (i)	Ring of suffering (ri)	N/A
	Zaryte crossbow	Elder maul > Dragon warhammer	Tonalztics of ralos	Toxic blowpipe	Armadyl crossbow / Bone dagger[g]

1. ^ Only use with a Slayer task.
2. ^ Only use with crystal armour
3. ^ Against ranged phase
4. ^ Blowpipe outperforms full crystal + bow of faerdhinen setup only with full masori and amethyst or dragon darts.
5. ^ ^{5.0 5.1} For prayer shield phase. Dragon bolts are better if flicking Smite due to their increased max hit.
6. ^ At 400 HP the special effect will hit for 80.
7. ^ Only use as first hit.

Without reducing Muspah's defence, Melee setups perform poorly. A ranged swap should also be brought for use when Muspah is teleporting or shielded, and additionally may be helpful at the end of the fight if Muspah is surrounded by spikes. Using Melee also requires familarity with the stepback method and can be harder to execute.

Recommended equipment for Melee

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Slayer helmet (i)[a] / Oathplate helm[b]	Torva full helm	Neitiznot faceguard	Serpentine helm /Inquisitor's great helm[c]
	Amulet of rancour	Amulet of torture	N/A	N/A
	Infernal cape	Fire cape	N/A	N/A
	Oathplate chest[b]	Torva platebody	Bandos chestplate/Inquisitor's hauberk[c]	N/A
	Oathplate legs[b]	Torva platelegs	Bandos tassets/Inquisitor's plateskirt[c]	N/A
	Scythe of vitur[d]	Inquisitor's mace[e]	Soulreaper axe[d]	N/A
	Avernic defender	Dragon defender	N/A	N/A
	Rada's blessing 4	God blessing / Rada's blessing 3/2	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious gloves	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Avernic treads (max)	Primordial boots	Echo boots	Dragon boots
	Bellator ring[b]	Ultor ring	Berserker ring (i)	Lightbearer
	Elder maul	Dragon warhammer	N/A	N/A

1. ^ Only use with a Slayer task.
2. ^ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} If using a slash weapon
3. ^ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Only use with the Inquisitor's mace
4. ^ ^{4.0 4.1} On slash.
5. ^ With full Inquisitor armour.

Muspah is most effectively fought with Magic and Ranged. Magic should be used on Muspah's Melee form, and Ranged should be used otherwise. Using sapphire bolts (e) with a crossbow is strongly recommended on Muspah's prayer shield, ideally in combination with Smite and Greater Corruption.

Ranged only setups are sometimes preferred for simplicity, especially if players aren't as comfortable with a large amount of equipment swaps. Upon entering the boss arena, if Muspah spawns in Melee form, it may save time to leave and re-enter to spend more time overall hitting Muspah's ranged form, which has lower ranged defence. Alternatively, with a Zaryte crossbow, using a special attack with Ruby bolts (e) special on the first Melee phase can be beneficial. Alternatively, some players prefer to use a Elder maul, Dragon warhammer, or Tonalztics of ralos special attack to reduce Muspah's defence and speed up kill times.

Assuming a successful defence-reducing special attack has landed, a Scythe of vitur can provide comparable damage to best-in-slot Ranged and Magic options. However, the reliance on this can make it a less effective option, and a ranged swap is still strongly recommended for Muspah's prayer shield and during the teleportation phase. Mastering the step-back method in Muspah's melee phase is functionally required for this method.