Say hello to our very big friend – Wrathmaw, the Wilderness World Boss!
Now that Deadman: Armageddon has come to a close, the PvPers among you may be wondering what’s coming next for the Wilderness.
One of the real standouts from recent Deadman modes has been Breaches, and we've had no shortage of requests to bring similar ‘hotspot’ content to the main game.
Of course, we can’t move Breaches over as they are – General Graardor simply doesn’t have the time! – but we can create short-term, moving activities that are just as exciting.
Introducing: Old School’s first-ever Wilderness World Boss, Wrathmaw! PoisonedPotion's got the scoop if you're in a hurry, but we'd very much recommend giving the full blog a read!
If you can't see the video above, click here to watch it on YouTube instead.
Our aims are simple: to recreate the magic of Breaches with a regularly-scheduled hotspot which encourages PvP combat long after the boss has fallen.
The boss itself doesn’t need to be mechanically demanding – we plan for it to require overhead Prayers but not much else. It’ll spawn in a variety of Wilderness locations so that players of
different levels and account types can join in the chaotic fun.
Lastly, we want the rewards to feed into PvP and the wider game. This is a different approach to previous Wilderness updates, but we think the economic benefits are worth shaking things up.
We’re talking a big game here – let’s see how we’ll deliver.
Wrathmaw is still in the early design phase, so we’re not going to divulge every possible mechanic right now. As we said before, we’re keeping things simple so that players don’t get overwhelmed. While it might be fun to watch you all scramble to do Akkha’s memory game in the middle of a PvP bloodbath, we’re sure the joke would get old fast.
Instead, we’re looking for mechanics that are simple to outmaneuvre and extremely well-telegraphed. Because they’ll be easy to avoid, we plan to make them reasonably punishing – so watch your step!
You’ll also need a full complement of protection Prayers, although most savvy Wilderness explorers will have them already.
Lastly, it’s likely that the boss will have some sort of ‘teleblock’ move, intended to make it take longer to Bank and come back. This should avoid scenarios where the meta becomes bringing as little risk as possible and constantly resetting.
Some early concepts for the Wrathmaw, the part-tree, part-wyrm of the hour.
If you've experienced 'world bosses' in other titles, you'll know that they share one key characteristic: an absolute shedload of Hitpoints. We're looking to do the same here, potentially into the 5-figure range. Ideally, we want to give as many players as possible the opportunity to get involved and grab some loot, so we want our boss to stick around for a while.
Like the Revenant Maledictus, multiple players will be able to attack the boss even if it spawns in a single-combat area. Speaking of which...
Spawning & Locations
Similar to Breaches all over the world, Wrathmaw will appear and reappear at set locations throughout the Wilderness.
To discourage constant world-hopping, we plan to avoid having a World Boss appear in some world or other at all hours of the day. Instead, we want these spawns to feel like big community events – something for you and your friends to look forward to after work, or at a specific time on the weekend.
With that in mind, we’ll be aiming for an infrequent spawn rate, likely somewhere in the ‘three a day’ ballpark we’ve used for Breaches in the past. Historically, these times have been at 03:00 BST, 11:00 BST, and 20:00 BST, to keep things fair for players across time zones.
This frequency (or lack thereof) also helps control the influx of rewards, which means they’ll retain a higher value and make the boss more profitable overall.
Now, knowing when the boss is spawning is one thing – knowing where it will spawn is another! We have an entire Wilderness to play with, and we plan to spread Wrathmaw spawns all over it. You may find yourself tackling the boss in deep Wilderness, low-level Wilderness, single-combat, or multi-combat zones. Be prepared for anything!
Here are some of the spawn locations we’re considering:
As you can see, there's a huge variety of locales for you to fight in, ranging from barren wasteland, barren wasteland with lava, barren wasteland with trees, and even snow (located immediately next to barren wasteland).
We also have over 150 members’ worlds to choose from. It’s difficult to get that ‘community event’ feeling when the playerbase is spread across so many different worlds, so we’ll be restricting World Boss spawns to a small number of them. As it stands, we’re aiming for three ‘dedicated’ worlds, one of the Bounty Hunter worlds, and one of the general PvP worlds. We’ll also enable spawns in the Permanent Deadman World 345, since it’s separate from the main game.
We want to make finding the boss simple no matter which world you’re in, so we’re considering a number of signposting options. The simplest is a noticeboard in Ferox Enclave, or Edgeville, which will let you check if the World Boss has appeared. We’re also open to using in-game broadcasts on worlds where the boss is about to spawn – which will of course be toggleable.
So now we know how to find a boss spawn and what we're in for, it’s time for you to consider the all-important question...
Poll Question: Should we add the Wilderness World Boss to the game, as described in the blog? Its rewards will be polled a later date.
Oh, right! We can’t sign off without letting you know what’s in it for you. Bring on the rewards!
We want to make these rewards feel really rewarding, so we’ll be polling them after the boss passes the initial greenlight poll. This gives us plenty of time to consider the rewards and take your feedback on board. Be sure to fill out the survey at the end of this section if you’d like to contribute your thoughts!
One more note before we begin. We’re aware that rewards for Wilderness content have been controversial in the past, so we’re taking a totally different approach this time around. While the low spawn rate of the boss ensures it will always be profitable, we want you to know that there will be no alchable items on its loot table. Well – you can still alch the drops if you want, but you’re likely to lose money doing it.
On that topic, we’ll start with the main source of consistent profits, and the base ingredient for the other rewards: Wrathmaw's Teeth, lovely!
Wrathmaw's Teeth
Wrathmaw's Teeth will be awarded based on how much damage a player contributed to the kill. These mechanisms let us distribute loot to multiple players with ease and encourage would-be combatants to get involved even if other players have already started the fight. Teeth are required for all other rewards, but they’re tradeable, so you can always buy more if you don’t feel like diving back into the fray.
As an example, here’s how we’d distribute 220 Teeth:
- MvP (player who contributed the most damage) - 20 Teeth + Supply Drop
- High Contribution (players 2-10 in terms of damage dealt) - 10 Teeth + Supply Drop
- Medium Contribution (players 11-30 in terms of damage dealt) - 4 Teeth + Supply Drop
- Low Contribution (players 31-60 in terms of damage dealt) - 1 Tooth + Supply Drop. Capping rewards like this lets us figure out the maximum possible number of Teeth entering the
- game each day and adjust values accurately.
Amplifying
Amplifiers are a way for you to add thing A to thing B to make a stronger thing, and in this specific case it refers to combining Teeth with other items, creating new ones while sometimes sinking the component parts. Yes, this is where we get into the part of our aims around rewards feeding into the wider game's economy while still having a PvP outlet. Sinking items via amplifying means their value as drops obtained via PvM will likely increase, while also leading to a bigger payday if you secure one from a kill in PvP!
While the component items we’ve selected tend to be more common in PvP, some of the boosts we have in mind could extend their use into other areas of the game. Exciting stuff!
Here’s the amplification process in full:
- Purchase an Amplifier from an NPC using Teeth. 1,000 for a Weapon Amplifier, 20 for a Tome or Shield Amplifier.
- Take the necessary items and the Amplifier to the brand-new Volcanic Forge (no points for guessing where this is located).
- Sacrifice the items and Amplifier to create an improved item, which is tradeable.
- Use 5,000 Revenant Ether to activate the item, at which point it will no longer require Ether to charge.
- On a PvP death where the item is protected, it will become inactive and require 5,000 more Revenant Ether to reactivate. 3,750 of that Ether will go to whoever killed you, and the remaining 1,250 will vanish into... well, the ether.
On a PvP death where the item isn’t protected, whoever killed you will receive the inactive version. 3,750 Revenant Ether will go to the PKer, and 1,250 will be removed from the game.
We’ve got a few candidates for this system already – let’s have a look!
Amplified Weaponry
- Amplified Armadyl Godsword
- Special Attack Accuracy bonus increases from +100% to +200% (or, 2x to 3x). On Special Attack hit, reduce your attack delay by 1 tick before your next hit, meaning you'd hit 5 ticks (down from 6) after a successful Special Attack.
- Amplified Volatile Nightmare Staff
- Special Attack Accuracy bonus increases from +50% to +150% (or 1.5x to 2.5x). On Special Attack hit, reduce your attack delay by 1 tick before your next hit, meaning you'd hit 4 ticks (down from 5) after a successful Special Attack.
- Amplified Dark Bow
- Attack rate reduced from 9 ticks to 6 ticks (5 on Rapid). Special Attack damage is uncapped. In absolute maximum gear, this would give the Special Attack a 52-52 max hit, or 54-54 with a Slayer Helmet (i) while on-task.
We’ve narrowed these three down from a long list, in the hope that people won’t feel forced to participate in PvP if it’s not their scene.
We’re also focusing on Accuracy and DPS buffs rather than Max Hit increases, so that these items feel less of a ‘hail mary’ and more of a momentum swing. The reduced Attack Delay upkeeps momentum on a succesful hit, which feels like a suitable trade-off in power for anyone brave enough to sink two Armadyl Godswords and 5,000 Teeth.
The Amplified Dark Bow is a little different. Increasing its Attack Rate the way we have means it’ll fire two arrows every 5 ticks, equivalent to one arrow every 2.5 ticks. This means it actually outperforms the Magic Shortbow from a DPS perspective, although it’ll still be weaker than a BOFA with Crystal Armour. We think this is a fitting upgrade for an iconic item with a 90 Slayer requirement and takes it from a niche PvP weapon to a serious contender in some common setups. Keep in mind though that most players won’t be bringing their max Ranged gear into a dangerous zone like the Wilderness!
If you are happy to risk it, all three Amplified weapons will do 25% more damage against the World Boss itself. That’s a nice added bonus without being a requirement to get your hands on the best loot.
Oh, and it should go without saying that all three weapons will get a slight visual upgrade upon Amplification, so you can easily spot exactly what you’re up against (and look incredibly cool).
These are the most high-risk items on our list – but let’s see what you can amplify on a budget.
Amplified Tomes
The Tome of Fire has long occupied a staple slot in PvP. This is because it boosts spells like Fire Surge, which exist alongside Teleblock in the Standard Spellbook, making for a potent Magic DPS option if you're using multiple combat styles in lower Wilderness levels where players are able to teleport away. Similarly, the Mage's Book occasionally shows up in less tanky setups due to the Magic damage and Accuracy it provides but has fallen out of favour lately.
The Mage’s Tome of Fire (or Water, if you like) requires a Mage’s Book and a Tome of Fire (or Water) to create. It provides +18 Magic Accuracy, +2% Magic Damage and the usual elemental boost associated with the Elemental Tomes.
It costs a mere 20 Teeth to put together. If unprotected on death, whoever kills you will get 10 Teeth, and the rest will be removed from the game. Oh, and they don’t require any Revenant Ether to activate!
Not big on reading? No problem...
Amplified Shields
The Odium and Malediction wards have existed in Old School for more than a decade without any sort of souping-up – and conveniently, they look very similar to another iconic shield, the Toktz-ket-xil. You can probably see where we’re going with this...
For the first time, we’re letting you combine these shields with the power of augmentation to create a tribrid shield, an offensive-focused variant with extremely limited defenses: the Trinity Ward.
The Strength bonus is in line with the Dragon Defender. It has +2 Ranged Strength and Accuracy over the Odium Ward and Magic Accuracy smack dab in the middle of the Malediction Ward and the Mage’s Book. It may not do much defensively, but it’s a great starting point for cutting down on switches or simplifying your gear when you’re just getting started in PvM.
Like all the other items we’ve mentioned, the Trinity Ward is tradeable, so you’ll be able to pick one up whether you’re a PvP afficionado or not.
Like the Mage’s Tomes, the Trinity Ward requires 20 Teeth to put together. If unprotected on death, whoever killed you will get all the components and 10 Teeth – and it will not require Revenant Ether to activate.
There’s one last use for Teeth we’d like to propose. Deep breath now...
Revenant Ether
5,000 Revenant Ether to charge a weapon is a lot. We’ve had no shortage of feedback telling us that the upkeep costs of Ether weapons are too time-consuming, leading to players obtaining these rare drops and being unable to use them effectively.
This update brings two solutions for this long-standing issue.
First, the ability to trade your Teeth for Revenant Ether with an NPC in the Revenant Caves, on any world. We’re not certain whether we’ll use the Emblem Trader or a new NPC for this, but in either case – don’t ask what their plans are for those Teeth...
The exchange rate is 1 Tooth for 2,000 Revenant Ether, which might sound like a lot until you remember that there’s a hard cap of 3,300 Teeth entering the game per day. This limits incoming Revenant Ether to a mere 6.6 Million a day, a tiny proportion of the volume currently traded between players. This is hardly a high-yield Ether farming strategy, but will serve as a nice way to mix up the grind.
For the players most affected by Ether shortages, GP is no longer an issue, which is why we’ve seen so many suggestions for our second Ether-alleviating proposal: allow players to chisel Ancient Statuettes for Revenant Ether. The output is as follows:
- Ancient Emblem: 500,000 GP or 1,000 Ether
- Ancient Totem: 1,000,000 GP or 2,000 Ether
- Ancient Statuette: 2,000,000 GP or 4,000 Ether
- Ancient Medallion: 4,000,000 GP or 8,000 Ether
- Ancient Effigy: 8,000,000 GP or 16,000 Ether
- Ancient Relic: 16,000,000 GP or 32,000 Ether
- This change lets you choose between two resources for your follow-up rare drops after obtaining a Revenant Weapon, which should help considerably with upkeep!
Additional Rewards
Of course, Teeth alone won’t flesh out a loot table, so we've got some other offerings to bulk things out - remember, no alchables!
Blighted Saradomin Brews
After all these years alone, Blighted Super Restores are being given their perfect partner! Blighted Saradomin Brews function exactly the same as Saradomin Brews but with all the usual restrictions of Blighted items - Wilderness and PvP Worlds only.
The aim is to reduce the entry-cost of Wilderness content by lowering the cost of your supplies - this means that if you're only comfortable risking 500,000 GP then you won't have a quarter of it taken up by potions and food. The top 60 contributors to the World Boss kill will receive an average of about 30 Blighted Saradomin Brews, so we'll see a healthy number of them enter the game each day! If you find yourself running low, they’re tradeable, so you can always buy more.
The loot table will also feature other Blighted supplies, including:
- Super Restores
- Ancient Ice Sacks
- Manta Rays
- Wilderness Crabs Teleports
- Rune Pounch Note (Rare)
- Amulet of Wrath
Amulet of Wrath
If you're looking to get an extra boost to your kill contribution, you could consider seeing what Ava makes of those Teeth...
Using one of Ava's new trinkets (purchaseable for, you guessed it, teeth), a ball of string, and 5,000 Revenant Ether, you'll be able to make a new amulet which boasts identical stats to an Amulet of Glory alongside +15% bonus damage against Wrathmaw.
Additionally, you'll be able to use a 'Check' option on the Amulet to see the boss' location if there's one active in the world. On death in PvP, the Amulet and 5,000 Revenant Ether will be lost, with 3,750 Ether going to whoever killed you and the other 1,250 being removed from the game.
Deep Wilderness Teleport
This new teleport tablet will let you teleport to safety beyond level 30 Wilderness, but requires you to have been out of combat for ~20 seconds beforehand, and sports a very long animation.
In short, you won’t be able to use this as a clutch escape tool, but it might save you some time running back and forth through the Wilderness.
Let's recap!
We're looking to introduce a Wilderness World Boss, who spawns at a wide variety of Wilderness locations, three times a day in a small number of worlds. The boss boasts a hefty number of Hitpoints but shouldn't pose much mechanical challenge so long as you're paying attention, since you'll be at risk of combat with other players.
As a reward, you’ll obtain a number of Teeth, decided by your contribution to the battle. These Teeth can either be converted into Revenant Ether, or spent on Amplifiers.
Amplifiers can be used to upgrade the Armadyl Godsword, Volatile Nightmare Staff and Dark Bow, but require two of the base weapon to make, ultimately sinking items from the game. Amplifiers can also be used to make a new Mage's Tome off-hand or the Trinity Ward.
On top of all of this, you'll be able to break down Ancient Statuettes for more Revenant Ether if you're not hurting for GP and struggling with upkeep on Revenant weaponry!
You can let us know what you think of all that in the survey below. We’ve got questions on how you feel about the boss as a whole, and the individual rewards we’re proposing, so that you can help us shape them before they go to the poll. The survey should take 5-10 minutes, so if you’ve got the time to spare, be sure to have your say!
Alternatively, click here to fill the survey out in a separate tab!
Don’t forget to check out the Overview Blog for more news from the 2024 Summer Summit!
You can also discuss this update on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.
Mods Abe, Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, BigRig, Blossom, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Criminal, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Enigma, Errol, Gecko, Gengis, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hooti, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Leebleh, Lenny, Light, Liron, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nin, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Saiyan, Sarnie, Shogun, Shroom, Sigma, Skylark, Smithy, Sova, Squid, Starry, Suharun, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, TJ, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Yume
The Old School Team.