Yama/Strategies

After the completion of A Kingdom Divided, players can fight Yama once they speak to him in person. In order to challenge Yama, players must first speak to the Voice of Yama at the bottom of the Chasm of Fire to reach Yama's Domain, then agree to sign a contract to face him in an inhibited form.

Yama can be fought solo or with another player. His stats are not affected by group size, but some mechanics can be made easier and the fight will progress much faster with another player.

Unlike other bosses, players who die fighting Yama are sent back to the Voice of Yama instead of their respawn point, where their graves are also located. Players will have their reclamation fee reduced by 75% until they have ten kills, after which the standard death cost will apply.

• Completion of A Kingdom Divided

• 82+ for Dark Demonbane
• 80+
• 80+
• 75+
• 70+ for Piety (if using melee), 77+ for Augury (if using magic)
• Completion of While Guthix Sleeps for access to the Emberlight and purging staff
• At least one player with a purging staff to quickly destroy void flares
• 73+, 83+ for shortcuts in the Chasm of Fire

There are several ways to access the Chasm of Fire:

• The chasm teleport scroll brings players in front of the Voice of Yama.
• The fairy ring code DJR is south-east of the Chasm.
• Casting Battlefront Teleport will take players north-west of the Chasm.

Players with level 73 Agility can run north to the platform edge (marked by a icon) and hang-down to instantly reach the middle level, jumping over the two gaps directly east, and finally using the north-eastern gibbet to reach the bottom level. Alternatively, with level 83 Agility, players can slide down the chain next to them after entering the Chasm to instantly reach the bottom level near the Voice of Yama. Protect from Melee is highly advised regardless of the route taken, as players will pass by several aggressive demons. Though this is less of a case with the level 83 shortcut, it is still recommended to avoid unnecessary damage from a black demon if it is idling by the shortcut.

The Voice of Yama will take you to Yama's Domain via the right-click "Travel" option; for players joining their duo partner, they must use the "Join" option and enter their partner's username.

The fight with Yama begins when a player uses the "Challenge" option. Yama will then disappear from his throne and reappear in the arena in a much larger form. He will randomly target a player and begin attacking; in duo encounters, he can also periodically change targets. He will usually accompany the aggression change with a quote. Unlike other demons, he has 120% demonbane vulnerability instead of the normal 100%, meaning that Emberlight has 84% increased damage and accuracy against him rather than 70%.

Yama has a unique combat behaviour in which he will adjust his combat stance depending on what he was recently attacked with. If his primary target last attacked him with melee, Yama will act like most normal NPCs would, chasing after them until he gets in melee distance. If he cannot attack with melee due to his target being away from him, he will attack with ranged and magic until he closes the distance. If his primary target last attacked him with magic, Yama will stay still and attack with ranged or magic (depending on the special attack in line) and will only use melee if the target is next to him. If his primary target attacks him with magic, his magic defence will significantly increase from -30 to +60.

Yama's basic attacks cover all three combat styles, all of which can hit up to 46 without prayer:

• Melee - Yama swings his axe at his target. This is only used if the target is adjacent to him, and will hit everyone within three tiles of his main target. Activating Protect from Melee before the attack is used will block a majority of the damage, reducing its max hit to 6.
• Magic - Flames begin to envelop the player, after which Yama will snap his fingers to deal damage. Activating Protect from Magic before his fingers snap will fully protect the player.
• Ranged - Shadowy swirls begin to engulf the player, after which Yama will snap his fingers to deal damage. Activating Protect from Missiles before his fingers snap will fully protect the player.

Yama can also poison the player starting at 20 poison damage, and this will deal significant damage if not cured. Curing poison at Yama is primarily done through sanfew serums, as these also restore prayer. If resupplying with alt accounts, araxyte venom sacs are preferred as these are stackable at the cost of taking 4 damage per sac when used.

Additionally, Yama's Defence level can only be reduced by 80 (from 225 down to 145). The closest option to reach this cap is one elder maul special, which reduces his Defence to 147. Alternatively, three emberlight specials will hit the cap. Yama's Attack and Strength levels can be lowered by 120 and 150 (from 320 and 350 respectively) by emberlight, after which further drains must be performed with other weapons. A Bandos godsword may be used (if both attacks hit an average of 40 or more) over an emberlight, but this will take away one inventory space and an emberlight additionally drains his offensive stats.

If using magic, an accursed sceptre's special attack will drain Yama's Defence level by 34 (from 225 to 191) and Magic level by 38 (from 250 to 212). This will slightly improve accuracy with magic, and is the only way to consistently drain his Magic level, since any damage from a special attack will drain the maximum amount, something which a seercull is unable to match. An eye of Ayak can also be used to drain Yama's magic defence and should be used in conjunction with the sceptre to make him easier to hit, since Yama has +60 magic defence if maging, or +81 in phase 3.

Yama restores stats normally like most other NPCs, and these drained levels will maintain fairly well for the entire fight.

Yama's first attack is determined by the colour of the Glyphs nearest the throne (being the opposite of his regular attack colours), with red Glyphs of Fire indicating Yama will use one ranged attack first, and purple Glyphs of Shadow indicating Yama will use one magic attack first. After the first magic/ranged attack, Yama will use his first special attack, swap combat styles, and continue attacking. After three regular attacks (either magic, ranged, or melee), Yama uses another special attack, and repeats this pattern for the rest of the phase.

Yama's special attacks in the first two phases require the player to stand on the centre of the matching glyph to negate the attack's damage and effects. The player will take 2, 6, 9 or 12 damage upon stepping on a Glyph of Fire depending on how close Yama was to it when stepped on; 2 damage if Yama was four or more tiles away, 6 if three tiles, 9 if two tiles and 12 if one or adjacent to it. The Glyph of Shadow will drain 2-12 prayer points, and like the Glyph of Fire, drains more if Yama is closer to it.

In duo encounters, only one player needs to stand on the glyphs for both to be protected. These glyphs can also be used to block damage from the corresponding attack, but this is not recommended unless a special attack is incoming.

It is important not to step on the glyphs before the special attacks are performed, as the glyphs are extinguished temporarily after being used. Otherwise, players can take up to 60 damage; if hit by the fire-based attack, the player will also be temporarily inflicted with a burn. Glyphs can be consumed to boost certain special attacks. The shadow glyph can be consumed to boost the prayer restoration capabilities of the Saradomin godsword, ancient mace or eldritch nightmare staff special attacks. The fire glyph can be used the same way to boost the damage/accuracy of the volatile nightmare staff special attack. However, consuming a glyph in this way ends the protective capabilities of the glyph.

After a special attack, Yama will switch combat styles and special attacks, unless void flares are used, in which case he will remain with the same combat style. The flares can only be used on the second or third shadow attack (if the phase started with a shadow special attack first) or the first or second shadow attack (if a fire special attack is first). Their appearance is consistent across both phase 1 and 2, so players should take note of this to make sure their Mark of Darkness is active when they spawn.

Lastly, Yama uses several arena hazards to keep players on their toes and will spawn these right before doing a special attack:

• Shadow Waves - Waves of shadowy flames will spawn from the south-east or south-west and move across the entire arena, which the player must "skip" over to avoid taking up to 20 damage and having their protection prayers disabled briefly, leaving them open to Yama's attacks.
• Fire Streaks - Fires are ignited at the east and west edges of the arena before moving across the entire arena at running speed. If not avoided, the player will take damage and be seared to the ground, temporarily binding them in place and potentially unable to move towards a Glyph to negate Yama's special attacks. So long as the player does not pause or stop moving, they may path directly through the flames without taking damage.
• Void Flares - Yama will summon a fire and shadow void flare in the arena. These orbs must be destroyed before the yellow bar fills up (in roughly ~15 seconds) or they will explode. The amount of damage dealt, along with health restored to Yama, scales on their remaining health at the time of explosion. At full health, they will hit between 42-44 damage.
  • They have 200% demonbane vulnerability and using magic attacks or the scorching bow will always deal their max hit. The purging staff is most useful for this, as its special attack coupled with the Dark Demonbane and Mark of Darkness spells can reduce the player's attack cooldown upon dealing the finishing blow. Death Charge works against the flares.
  • Players can choose to destroy only one void flare and stand on the matching Glyph before it fully charges to block the explosion damage and healing to Yama.

• A pair of players destroy the void flares with the purging staff, taking advantage of its special attack to resume attacking Yama earlier than usual.
• A pair of players skip over the shadow waves.

Upon reaching 66.6% and 33.3% of his health (not a hard cap), the first and second phases of the fight ends and an intermission phase will occur where Yama becomes bored and slams his axe's pommel to the ground, teleporting the player(s) away from the main arena. The player is fully immune to any incoming attacks during the teleport, and any void flares that were present when this occurs are immediately destroyed without penalty, which additionally triggers Death Charge, provided the player damaged them at least once before this occurs. The first player (instance creator) will always be placed west, while the second player will always be placed east.

As players hop across the stones to reach the Judge, it will launch fire spells in one or two of five potential spots en route every five ticks. Getting hit by these will deal up to 30 damage, meaning the player must dodge them or attack it with water spells, which deal the player's max hit.

Upon reaching the last stone, the Judge will start launching fireballs on the last tile the player stood on. This deals around 20 damage if hit by it; if the projectile lands under the demon, it will deal 13-18 damage to it. Periodically, the cavern will shake, dealing 5-7 damage; the first instance of damage occurs on the demon's fifth attack, and the second occurs around the demon's thirteenth attack.

The Judge has 400 health, and uses two protection prayers at once. Initially, it will always pray against melee and ranged attacks, then switching based on the player's last attack style, so magic is essentially mandatory to defeat it. It does not react to attacks made by thralls, but the short duration of the fight makes summoning one infeasible. The player will always land a maximum hit on the Judge, though multi-hitting weapons will only hit once. Additionally, the Judge's health pool is shared between both players in a duo encounter.

When using melee, prioritise strength bonuses and prayer, as these give more damage compared to magic bonuses and prayer. When using magic (with melee being primary), only prioritise swaps that give +5% magic damage bonus, as anything else gives minimal return. For example, a player using an inquisitor's mace without any melee boosts would have a max hit of 26, whereas adding piety increases the max hit from 26 to 32. On the other hand, players using Dark Demonbane with best-in-slot magic and augury would inflict 63 damage; disabling augury would reduce the damage to 61. With minimal swaps while taking advantage of damage and the step-under method, the player should easily subdue the judge before the cavern shakes a second time.

At the start of the phase, if the player spam-clicks the first stone and has no tick loss while jumping across the lava, the player will always be able to reach the platform before the judge makes its third attack. If the player is one tick late at any point during the crossing, they must wait after the third attack if it is launched at the middle.

When the Judge is killed, players are teleported back to Yama to begin the next phase of the fight. They will always be teleported back in front of Yama's throne. Yama himself will reposition in the centre of the arena and will not move until the players are teleported.

For duo teams, if one player is using magic while the other attacks with melee, it is recommended for the mage to repeatedly hop between the stones once the judge is defeated. This will ensure that Yama always targets the melee attacking player and will have a lower magic defence of -30 rather than +60.

The second phase of the fight is similar to the first, except that two Shadow Waves spawn instead of one, and more Fire Streaks spawn when they appear. Yama will reset to his melee combat behaviour at the start of this phase, so maging players should attack him immediately to set him in place.

Additionally, Yama's attacks are enhanced:

• Meteor Strike - Yama's fire-based special attack now drops a large meteor on his target, which has a 5x5 area-of-effect. The target's actions are cancelled for one tick, and their run is disabled (including Ctrl-clicking). Failing to move at least two tiles away from the centre of the meteor will instantly kill the player.
  • Being at the edge of the blast radius (two tiles away from centre) will deal 80 damage. If the player is one tile away (three tiles from centre) they will take 40 damage. Getting hit by this attack without protection will additionally inflict a burn value of 8.
    • If the player somehow manages to get two tiles away from the looming shadow (four tiles from centre), they will take no damage. This can be achieved by using melee and being at least six spaces away from Yama, rapidly clicking him when the fireball is launched. It is possible to do it in five or four tiles, but this requires more precise clicking.
• Shadow Stomp - Yama stomps the ground and sends a shadow-based attack towards players, dealing up to 60 damage, rooting the player in place for 2 ticks and draining prayer.

As with phase 1, Yama will make use of void flares, which follow the same spawning mechanics.

Upon reaching 33.3% of his health, the second phase of the fight ends and players will once again be teleported away to defeat the Judge of Yama.

Upon returning, Yama will position himself in the centre of the arena and increase his defence bonuses, though drained stats still remain. His attack speed will also increase from 8 ticks (4.8 seconds) to 7 (4.2 seconds). Unlike the previous phases in which he chases melee players, he will remain in place in the centre of the arena. All glyphs in the arena are now disabled.

Yama will alternate between ranged and magic each standard attack, and he will start with the style of the more abundant glyph in the previous phase; e.g if the glyphs closest to the throne were shadow, he will open with a ranged (shadow) attack. Note that this is the opposite of what he started with in phases 1 and 2. In this phase, Yama's prayer piercing effects are stronger; the melee attack can now hit up to 22 through prayer, whereas magic and ranged attacks, which are normally blocked with prayer, now hit up to 3.

Players may continue to use melee or mage, depending on their primary style. If players are meleeing, they may either flinch Yama or use the Donofly method (see below). Due to the slightly increased magic defence, maging players may opt to bring a Tumeken's shadow switch, as it is slightly more accurate compared to a purging staff while sacrificing negligible damage.

Yama's only special attack is Shadow Crash, which he only uses when the player is outside melee distance. Shadow Crash is a set of three fireballs in a line which fall upon the player. The side fireballs will spawn shadows after impact that converge toward where the centre fireball landed (forming a bowtie shape). Yama will perform this attack three times, each one centred on the player at a cardinal, diagonal, and cardinal angle respectively. Getting caught in this attack will deal up to 20 damage per explosion. Players can dodge this by moving at least one tile from the centre fireball perpendicular to the line (ex. one tile horizontal from the centre fireball if they fall vertically).

The Shadow Crash fireballs will always require the player to step north/south or east/west, diagonally across and then east/west or north/south (depending on which one was used first, if the player is required to step north/south for the first, the third one will require the player to step east/west instead). Additionally, if the player only moves one tile away from the crash and has Mark of Darkness active, their next attack will be used one tick faster than usual. Each crash is individual to the player themselves and they will not take damage from another player's crash.

Note that Yama will still use his standard attack while the fireballs drop, so pray accordingly.

As with the previous phases, Yama will summon void flares into the arena. Two are summoned intermittently during the fight, but one will always spawn if Yama attacks with melee. Up to four flares may be present at any given time. Unlike the previous phases, the flares spawn with half (71) health and deal reduced damage (23-25) if allowed to charge. In order to one-shot void flares during this phase, the player must use the purging staff to cast Dark Demonbane while under the effects of the Mark of Darkness, with a 20% magic damage bonus (including the staff's 10%). If more than eight are allowed to spawn, Yama will summon three flares at a time, though this should be highly unlikely in any scenario with decent gear.

A set of two shadow waves will first appear shortly after the final set of fireballs drop. Another set of two will appear shortly after void flares, and a final set of four will appear right after this set of two waves, which is combined with Shadow Crash and an auto-attack. This will continually repeat until the encounter ends.

In duo encounters, using the donofly method is highly recommended. If this is not feasible, one player should stand east of Yama and the other west to handle shadow flares that appear, if they do.

Melee with the Arclight or Emberlight is the highest DPS against Yama, but can be challenging to use during phase 3. The player must dodge Yama's shadow waves and shadow crashes, and if they are in melee range when Yama attacks, Yama will attack with melee and spawn a void flare, slowing down the kill. Several methods have been developed that allow the player to maintain high DPS with melee, while dodging all special attacks and preventing Yama from using melee attacks.

Yama is weak to slash and can also be fought effectively with magic if using the Purging staff or Tumeken's shadow due to their higher accuracy compared to other magic weapons and Yama's lower magic defence bonuses. Yama has a Defence level of 225 and Magic level of 250, with +80 slash defence and -30 magic defence, making magic hit well on him despite his higher Magic level. If the player currently targeted by Yama is using magic during phase 1 and 2, his magic defence raises to 60. It is not recommended to use any other combat style, as he has +100 stab, +333 crush/light/heavy ranged defence, and +220 standard ranged defence.

During the final phase, his defence bonuses increase to +135 stab, +108 slash, +449 crush/light/heavy ranged, +297 standard ranged, and +81 magic defence.

Meleeing Yama provides the highest damage output while being cheaper than magic. In solo encounters, melee-only setups can be a bit more difficult to damage Yama while avoiding waves and preventing flares from spawning as rapidly. Defence reduction is especially helpful against Yama, and using one elder maul special attack, ideally with Soulflame horn, or 2-3 Emberlight special attacks at the beginning of the fight will reduce Yama’s defence nearly to its cap. If soloing Yama with melee, Purging Staff + 10% additional magic damage is needed to 2-shot the Void Flares.

Recommended equipment for Melee

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Torva full helm > Oathplate helm[a]	Neitiznot faceguard / Serpentine helm	Blood moon helm	Helm of neitiznot / Blue moon helm[b][c]	N/A
	Amulet of rancour	Amulet of torture > Amulet of blood fury	Amulet of strength	Amulet of fury	N/A
	Infernal cape	Fire cape	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Torva platebody / Oathplate chest	Bandos chestplate	Blood moon chestplate / Fighter torso	Blue moon chestplate[b][c]	N/A
	Torva platelegs / Oathplate legs	Bandos tassets	Blood moon tassets	Blue moon tassets[b][c]	N/A
	Emberlight	Arclight	Scythe of vitur[d]	N/A	N/A
	Avernic defender	Dragon defender	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Rada's blessing 4	God blessing / Rada's blessing 3/2	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Ferocious gloves	Barrows gloves	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Avernic treads (max)[b]	Primordial boots	Dragon boots / Echo boots / Aranea boots[c]	N/A	N/A
	Ultor ring	Bellator ring / Berserker ring (i)	Lightbearer[e]	N/A	N/A
	Elder maul with Soulflame horn > Dragon warhammer with Soulflame horn	Emberlight / Bandos godsword	Dragon claws / Burning claws	Voidwaker	Saradomin godsword[f]

1. ^ When combining Oathplate and Torva pieces, the helmet should be prioritised for Torva first.
2. ^ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} A total of 3% mage damage between these pieces allows the user to take care of Void Flares with a Purging/Confliction 2-way
3. ^ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Recommended if learning melee and having to switch to mage at any point during phase 3.
4. ^ Significantly worse than Arclight and Emberlight. Due to the accessibility of Arclight and the additional skills needed to melee phase 3, options below Arclight should not be considered for most players.
5. ^ This can stay worn as the mage ring as well.
6. ^ To be used against the Judge of Yama, guaranteeing a max hit.

Magic gives players more leeway in fighting Yama, as his ranged and magic attacks are fully blocked with prayer until the last phase and it is easier to manage positioning compared to melee. It is not recommended to mage without Tumeken's shadow or a purging staff, as the player's damage output will be significantly lower otherwise. If duo'ing with another player who is using melee and holding Yama's aggression, lower tier setups become viable as Yama's magic defence lowers drastically, although if planning on fighting Yama for more than just the 100 victories for the Rite of vile transference, it is highly recommended to invest in at least a purging staff.

Recommended equipment for Mage

Slot	Item (most effective → least effective)
	Ancestral hat	Virtus mask	Blue moon helm[a] > (>>)	Void mage helm[b]
	Occult necklace	Amulet of the damned[c]	N/A	N/A
	Imbued god cape	God cape	N/A	N/A
	Ancestral robe top	Virtus robe top	Blue moon chestplate[a] > (>>)	Elite void top[b]
	Ancestral robe bottom	Virtus robe bottom	Blue moon tassets[a] > (>>)	Elite void robe[b]
	Tumeken's shadow	Purging staff[d]	Kodai wand[d] > Toxic staff of the dead[d] > Staff of the dead[d]	Ahrim's staff[d] > Blue moon spear[d]
	Elidinis' ward (f)	Arcane spirit shield > Elidinis' ward	Ancient wyvern shield / Malediction ward / Mage's book	Book of the dead / Tome of fire / Book of darkness
	Rada's blessing 4	God blessing / Rada's blessing 3/2	N/A	N/A
	Confliction gauntlets	Tormented bracelet	Barrows gloves	Void knight gloves[b]
	Avernic treads (max)[a]	Eternal boots	Aranea boots[a] > Infinity boots	Bloodbark boots
	Magus ring	Lightbearer[e]	Ring of suffering (ri)[f] > Seers ring (i)[g]	N/A
	Eye of ayak[h] > Accursed sceptre[i]	Purging staff[j]	Saradomin godsword[k]	N/A

1. ^ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Melee strength bonus gives an advantage in Judge transition phases.
2. ^ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} With full void set. Will be better than 1% Magic damage armours if lacking a Tormented bracelet.
3. ^ Only with the full Ahrim's set effect, full set will only be viable while in a duo.
4. ^ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Casting Dark Demonbane while Mark of Darkness is active.
5. ^ This can stay worn as the melee ring as well.
6. ^ To recoil Yama's prayer piercing damage at phase 3.
7. ^ If the player has 33% mage strength from equipment and Prayers, a Seers ring (i) will provide 3 max hits, beating Suffering (i).
8. ^ Only use if the tank is using Magic.
9. ^ To reduce Yama's magic level. Better than an Eye in duos with a melee partner.
10. ^ Special attack to be used on the last hit of the void flares.
11. ^ Used on the Judge of Yama during extended trips as a source of healing.

This setup is ideal for duo encounters as Yama's defence can be reduced for higher damage output.

Inventory

• Purging staff and equipment with high magic damage for Void flares
• Soulflame horn and Elder maul for consistent defence reduction (Optional in duo. Each player brings only 1).
• Saradomin godsword for consistent heals when used against the Judge of Yama
• Divine rune pouch with cosmic, soul, death, and blood runes, with fire runes in inventory, for Thralls, Death charge, Mark of Darkness, and Dark Demonbane
  • Nature runes for Ward of Arceuus (optional)
  • Aether runes instead of cosmic and soul runes to save an inventory slot (optional)
• One click teleport to bank and restore stats such as a Construct. cape and Crafting cape, or Teleport to house (tablet)
• Dramen or lunar staff if the Elite Lumbridge & Draynor Diary has not been completed
• Surge potion for additional special attacks (optional)
• 2-5 Super restores or Sanfew serums for prayer and protection from Yama's poison
• The rest Cooked karambwan or better

Mages have the advantage of avoiding most chip damage in phase 1 & 2, while also being able to carry more food in the event of a mistake. A cast of Dark Demonbane costs 795 coins.

Inventory

• Purging staff for Void flares
• Accursed sceptre to lower Yama's magic level (optional)
• Fast (4-tick or below) melee weapon for the Judge of Yama, such as Inquisitor's mace, Emberlight, or Ham joint
  • Saradomin godsword for health and prayer restore with its special attack (optional)
• Divine rune pouch with cosmic, soul, death, and blood runes, with fire runes in inventory, for Thralls, Death charge, Mark of Darkness, and Dark Demonbane
  • Nature runes for Ward of Arceuus (optional)
  • Aether runes instead of cosmic and soul runes to save an inventory slot (optional)
• One click teleport to bank and restore stats such as a Construct. cape and Crafting cape, or Teleport to house (tablet)
• Dramen or lunar staff if the Elite Lumbridge & Draynor Diary has not been completed
• 2-5 Super restores or Sanfew serums for prayer and protection from Yama's poison
• The rest Cooked karambwan or better

This setup allows players to benefit from both combat styles; melee in phases 1/2 and magic in phase 3. This is only viable for players who want to save costs from runes during the first two phases. If not, it is recommended to use a melee or magic setup instead.

Inventory

• Purging staff and equipment with high magic damage for Void flares
• Soulflame horn and Elder maul for consistent defence reduction (optional, only if duo)
• Saradomin godsword for consistent heals when used against the Judge of Yama (ideal for Duo, but not solo)
• Divine rune pouch with cosmic, soul, death, and blood runes, with fire runes in inventory, for Thralls, Death charge, Mark of Darkness, and Dark Demonbane
  • Nature runes for Ward of Arceuus (optional)
  • Aether runes instead of cosmic and soul runes to save an inventory slot (optional)
• One click teleport to bank and restore stats such as a Construct. cape and Crafting cape, or Teleport to house (tablet)
• Dramen or lunar staff if the Elite Lumbridge & Draynor Diary has not been completed
• Surge potion for additional special attacks (optional)
• 1-3 Super restores or Sanfew serums for prayer and protection from Yama's poison
• The rest Cooked karambwan or better

Inventory

• Accursed sceptre to lower Yama's magic level, boosting accuracy (optional)
• Zombie axe or Leaf-bladed battleaxe for a melee swap for the Judge. Solo learners should be attacking on a 5-tick cycle to ensure fireballs hit the Judge, and Arclight provides a negligible max hit increase over staff bashing
• Upgrading boots and off-hand to Eternal boots and Elidinis' ward provides 3 additional max hits. Switching the Seer's ring out for a Lightbearer or Suffering would then require a Virtus mask as well in order to attain this
• Divine rune pouch with cosmic, soul, death, and blood runes, with fire runes in inventory, for Thralls, Death charge, Mark of Darkness, and Dark Demonbane
  • Nature runes for Ward of Arceuus (optional)
  • Aether runes instead of cosmic and soul runes to save an inventory slot (optional, but nearly doubles casting costs for Dark Demonbane)
  • Make sure you bring a Book of the dead as well to cast the Arceuus spells listed above
• One click teleport to bank and restore stats such as a Construct. cape and Crafting cape, Farming Cape, or Teleport to house (tablet)
• Dramen or lunar staff if the Elite Lumbridge & Draynor Diary has not been completed
• 1-3 Super restores or Sanfew serums for prayer and protection from Yama's poison
• Sanfew serum or other protection from poison
• 1-2 Saradomin brews for additional healing
• The rest Cooked karambwan or better

By using a specific contract on Yama, players can tackle a more challenging fight with him in exchange for guaranteed rewards. The contract is burned up once the fight starts, but will be returned to the player as a drop should they complete the challenge; acquisition contracts are not returned to the player, however (except for familiar acquisition).

All contract fights have a base set of changes compared to the regular fight:

• Yama has increased stats, and all specials do more damage.
• Phase transition thresholds during contracted fights trigger at 75% and 50% health, rather than 66% and 33%.
• Yama's attack cycle in phase 1 and 2 is 1 tick faster, matching phase 3 (8->7 ticks).
• Yama does two standard attacks before a special attack; glyphs respawn faster.
• Shadow Waves and Fire Streaks appear more frequently.
• Special attacks in phase 1 land 1 tick faster (6->5 ticks).
• The Judge of Yama throws fire bombs 2 ticks faster (5->3 ticks), and throws two per attack.
• Shadow Waves and Shadow Crashes are more frequent in phase 3, and have some variation in their positioning.

Strategy

• Hitpoints and prayer restoration is halved and then rounded down.
• A partner is allowed and may be required due to the number of Void flare spawns.
• The hourglass fireball attack drops in 3 fireballs in 5 total waves (up from 3 waves).

Items

• Combo eating Anglerfish and Cooked karambwan is a reliable way to burst heal through the health restoration debuff.

Strategy

• Recommend players use the the 'gridlock' method; a solve that eliminates the mechanical complexity of shadow tiles by restraining all movement and positioning into the 3x3 square area of a shadow or fire glyph.
  • The shadow tiles cannot spawn in this area and will instead be randomly spawned outside of the 3x3 area.
  • This effectively 'solves' the tile ragging mechanic, allowing for more consistent clears.

Items

• Snowy knight (item) or Snowy knight mix (2) can both be valuable instant healing in this encounter.
  • Take note that because of the halving and rounding mechanic, a Snowy knight mix (2) restores 8 total Hp across two uses, and a Snowy knight (item) restores 7 in one.
• Phoenix necklaces can restore up to 14 Hp each and are the highest potential healing item for this fight.
• Cooked moonlight antelope can effectively replace Phoenix necklaces if players would rather use a less complex healing method.

Healing

• 6x Phoenix necklace → 84 hp
  • No attack or eating delay, can save player from some types of mistakes.
• 3x Anglerfish → 33 hp
• 8x Snowy knight mix (2) → 64 hp
  • Uses potion delay, no attack delay.
• Total: 181 hp

Prayer restoration

• 5x Sanfew serum → 320 pp

Item setup #2

• Optionally uses Snowy knight (item) instead of Snowy knight mix (2).
• Optionally uses Cooked moonlight antelope instead of Phoenix necklace.
• Brings 1 less Sanfew serum

Healing

• 5x Cooked moonlight antelope → 65 hp
  • 7 hitpoints are restored immediately, 6 more after a delay of 7 ticks (4.2s)
• 3x Anglerfish → 33 hp
• 9x Snowy knight → 63 hp
  • restores 7 hitpoints each, uses potion delay, no attack delay.
• Total: 161 hp

Prayer restoration

• 4x Sanfew serum → 256 pp

Strategy

• Forfeit Breath's conditions make it the easiest among the five sigil contracts to get to grips with the fundamental changes present throughout all sigil contracts.
• Because of the run energy penalties, players must keep an eye on their run energy so that errant damage does not instantly kill them.

Items

• With a charged ring of endurance, each dose of stamina potion will restore 40% run energy, allowing for multiple mistakes. The player may opt to bring less as they become more consistent at the fight.
• An Explorer's ring 4 can be extremely helpful, as it can be used to restore 100% run energy up to 3 times per day. If using the Runelite client, the ring can be shift-right-clicked with the Menu Entry Swapper plugin enabled to change the left-click option from Wear to Energy, making it a single click to fully restore run energy.

Strategy

• Players should always be in position to move toward the next glyph, but far enough away to minimise the tripled penalty from stepping on them.
• Knowing how to melee during phase 3 with methods such as "No Fly" will help immensely.

Items

• The listed setup will always allow players to two-shot void flares at full health.

Strategy

• Use a stepback method to prevent Yama from using melee; a good indicator to step back is when the player's hitsplat disappears after Yama's magic or ranged attack.

Items

• The forgotten brew and Saradomin brews are used to recover health and boost Magic during phases 1 and 2.
• The scorching bow is used during phase 3 to bind Yama via its special attack. With an upgraded Death Charge and lightbearer, the player should never run out of special attack energy to bind Yama with when destroying void flares.
• A dose of surge potion is used in case the player forgets to cast Death Charge during a phase 3 cycle.

Strategy

• Players do not need to flick their protection prayers, only activate them, as Yama will turn it off for them.
• Always pay attention to spawning void flares as an unprotected explosion will kill the player.
• During phases 1 and 2, when Yama would spawn two void flares, players should kill the void flares with the opposing element of the glyph they are next stepping on to focus on Yama instead.
• Step on the glyph shortly after he performs his special attack rather than immediately or before, which will protect the player from Yama's first standard attack and save the player from needing to activate their prayer for one attack.

Strategy

• The player and Yama both gain Wretched Strength. Unlike the Dharok's set effect of the same name, this increases the minimum hit of the player and not the maximum hit. As such, the player must camp low health in order to achieve a massive damage output.
• The contract effectively requires players to perform a perfect kill, as any damage will kill the player at low health. With current best-in-slot Magic damage gear (+46% with Augury, shown on the left) the player must stay at or below 16 hitpoints in order to two-shot void flares; any gear downgrades will require the player to stay slightly lower (down to 11 if downgrading to Virtus robes, eternal boots, tormented bracelet, unfortified Elidinis' ward, and no magus ring).

Items

• The locator orb is used to reduce the player's health to 1 for the first two phases.
• Use the Eye of Ayak special attack twice at the beginning to considerably reduce Yama's magic defence.
• The two cooked moonlight antelope are used to restore the player's health during the Judge of Yama intermissions.
• The Saradomin godsword is used to melee the Judge and heal off them using its special attack in case the player is hit by a fire bomb.
• The dwarven rock cake, snowy knight mixes, and Guthix rests are used to fine-tune the player's health during phase 3.