Barrows is one of the most rewarding and nostalgic pieces of PvM content in Old School RuneScape. It combines PvM, puzzle-solving, low risk, and a bit of luck — offering unique rewards such as all barrows armour sets and valuable runes. For Ironman players, Barrows is a very fun minigame, as it provides access to gear upgrades that can’t easily be obtained elsewhere.
This is a Barrows guide focused a bit more on Ironman builds; for the Barrows Guide focused on main builds, you can go to our web article.
The only strict requirement to access Barrows is completing Priest in Peril, which unlocks the region of Morytania.
However, these optional requirements make your runs far smoother:
Underground Pass (for Iban’s Staff upgrade)
51 Magic for Iban Blast or 75 Magic for Trident of the Seas/Swamp
43 Prayer for protection prayers
65+ Combat overall for consistent kills
If you want to earn money, you can finish the Morytania hard diary, which will offer you 50% more runes for each Barrows chest you open and give you unlimited teleports to Burgh de Rott, which would save you money on teleporting to Barrows. 
If you have Medium Combat Achievements completed, wearing Ghommal’s Hilt 2 completely negates prayer drain inside the crypts, making it a huge upgrade.
The fastest way is to use a Barrows teleport tablet, which places you right at the Barrows graveyard.
If you don’t have tablets, here are alternatives:
Mort’ton teleport scroll or Minigame teleport to Shades of Mort'ton, then run east.
Fairy code B I P can be used, then run southeast to the Barrows brothers, but keep in mind that this approach needs 50 agility.
Use the fairy ring B K R, then run to Swamp Boaty and use the ship to get to Mor'ton, then run to Barrows.
Morytania legs 3 or 4 teleport (to Burgh de Rott), then run north.Barrows consists of six powerful brothers divided into two groups:
Prayer Brothers: Dharok, Ahrim, Karil — Always use Protection Prayers against them.
Food Brothers: Guthan, Torag, Verac — Can be tanked with food.
When entering each crypt, your Prayer will drain by 10 points every 18 seconds. Bring plenty of Prayer potions or use Ghommal’s Hilt 2 to negate this effect entirely.
Before starting your Barrows grind, make sure you’ve enabled the Barrows Brothers plugin on RuneLite.
This plugin makes Barrows significantly easier and more efficient — especially for ironman looking to farm consistent gear.
With this plugin active, you can complete each run faster, take fewer hits, and avoid unnecessary prayer or food use — making it almost mandatory for ironman efficiency.
Inventory
A balanced setup for someone past the “beginner” low-gear stage, but not yet stacking top-tier items.
Inventory
Always start with the Prayer Brothers first — they deal the most damage:
Dharok – Pray Melee, kill quickly with Magic. Be full HP before fighting him; he can hit up to 57.
Ahrim – Pray Magic, kill with Ranged or Melee.
Karil – Pray Ranged, kill with Magic or Melee (if using a whip or better)
Then move on to the Food Brothers:
Guthan – No prayer needed; just eat when needed.
Torag – Very inaccurate, low threat.
Verac – Can hit through prayer but is still very weak; bring food.
One of the crypts leads to the Barrows tunnels, where you’ll find the final brother and the reward chest.
Each tunnel has a fixed layout — only the door configuration changes.
Use the RuneLite Door Highlighter plugin to simplify navigation.
Optional: The Strange Old Lockpick lets you open any door instantly (costs ~2,000 GP per door). This can speed up your runs significantly.
At the final door, you’ll face a simple sequence puzzle (Runelite solves it automatically). Once inside, you may find your final brother guarding the chest or encounter him as you explore.
The door leading to the reward chest requires you to solve a straightforward pattern puzzle, as shown below, which comes in four different varieties. If you fail the puzzle, the door leading to the central room will change, and you will have to run through the crypts and figure out the correct path again.
|
Activity |
GP/Hour |
XP/Hour (Magic + Defence) |
|
Standard Barrows Runs |
600k–900k |
15k–25k |
|
W/ Strange Old Lockpick |
900k–1.2M |
15k–25k |
You can typically complete 8–10 runs per hour, depending on your efficiency.
Ironman Tips
To maximize your rewards, you must first kill all six of the Barrow brothers' brothers to increase your chances of obtaining any of their equipment. Secondly, as previously mentioned, completing the Morytania hard diary will boost the runes awarded when the reward chest is opened.
Last but not least, you should reach 880 points, or 86.8%, as indicated by the game. This would eliminate the chance of obtaining bolt racks, half keys, and dragon med helms, as well as raise the number of runes granted and therefore raise the average value of the reward chests.
With the RuneLite plugin, it will turn green when you have the optimal percentage to claim the chest.
You can get around 880 points or 86.8% by killing:
,
The potential will be marked in the upper left part of your screen, when it is green it means that you can loot the chest, this is increased by killing monsters.
If you have the Strange Old Pick equipped, you can use the lockpick to quickly pass through the doors leading to the central room, eliminating the possibility of any of those monsters spawning. However, most players discourage this since it decreases the likelihood of finding better loot because you will be killing fewer monsters.
Ahrim’s
Ahrim’s hood (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Ahrim’s robetop (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Ahrim’s robeskirt (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Ahrim’s staff (1, 7 × 1/2,448)
Dharok’s
Dharok’s helm (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Dharok’s platebody (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Dharok’s platelegs (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Dharok’s greataxe (1, 7 × 1/2,448)
Guthan’s
Guthan’s helm (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Guthan’s platebody (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Guthan’s chainskirt (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Guthan’s warspear (1, 7 × 1/2,448)
Karil’s
Karil’s coif (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Karil’s leathertop (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Karil’s leatherskirt (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Karil’s crossbow (1, 7 × 1/2,448)
Torag’s
Torag’s helm (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Torag’s platebody (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Torag’s platelegs (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Torag’s hammers (1, 7 × 1/2,448)
Verac’s
Verac’s helm (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Verac’s brassard (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Verac’s plateskirt (1, 7 × 1/2,448), Verac’s flail (1, 7 × 1/2,448)
Main Table
Coins (2–774, 7 × 1/2.67), Mind rune (253–336, 7 × 1/8.096), Chaos rune (112–139, 7 × 1/8.096), Death rune (70–83, 7 × 1/8.096), Blood rune (37–43, 7 × 1/8.096), Bolt rack (35–40, 7 × 1/8.096), Loop half of key (1, 7 × 1/337.3), Tooth half of key (1, 7 × 1/337.3), Dragon med helm (1, 7 × 1/1,012)
Tertiary
Clue scroll (elite) (1, 1/200–1/29)
Conclusion
Barrows remains one of the most iconic and rewarding minigames in OSRS — and it’s especially valuable for ironman.. Whether you’re hunting your first Ahrim’s staff, piecing together Dharok’s armour, or farming runes for spellcasting, this activity offers a perfect balance between profit and fun.
With the right gear, the RuneLite Barrows plugin, and an efficient strategy, you’ll turn Barrows from a grind into a consistent money-maker and gear source for your Ironman journey which are quite important in the life of your account and the different activities you will do, this minigame is an exponent in other areas indirectly.
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