Soul Wars is a legendary mini-game that was in the original Runescape, remade to fit in the Oldschool universe. Here are some things to note about Soul Wars:
- It is an instanced game and you will not lose your items upon death.
- You will need to bring your own equipment, except for the cape slot. Ava’s attractor or accumulator will not work.
- Games will only be initiated on worlds 320, 328, 329, 350, and 535.
- A combat level of 40, along with a total level of 500 is required to enter Soul Wars.
- Avatars can now hit more than one player at once.
- To get to the Soul Wars island, it is accessible through highly visible portals in both Edgeville and Ferox Enclave.
Getting Started
To start playing, you will have to initiate the required tutorial by talking to Nomad. You will be assigned a team as long as you don’t bring food, potions, or a cape. If you log out during the tutorial, you will have to start it again.
Once you join the lobby, each team will have to have at least 10 members before starting. If teams are imbalanced, the game will start by balancing an even amount of players, capping the total amount to 60.
Playing Soul Wars
The goal of Soul Wars is to defeat the opposing teams’ avatars via combat. Along the way, players will engage in PvP combat, kill slayer monsters, bury bones, gather soul fragments to weaken the avatar. A typical game lasts around 10 minutes.
Soul fragments are used at the Soul Obelisk in the center of the map to reduce the damage mitigation effect for the enemy team’s avatar. These soul fragments are obtained by killing monsters that wander the map, and the Obelisk must be under control of your team in order to sacrifice them. This leads to heavy PvP battles to take control of this area.
At the other end of the spectrum, you may increase the damage mitigation effect by gathering bones of dead players and burying them at a graveyard. Low level players with special account builds may use this mechanic to passively leech Zeal, although it is still useful.
Similar to Pest Control, you will need to keep up with in-game activity in order to receive Zeal. Acceptable activities include:
- Destroying enemy barricades
- Killing NPCs
- Killing enemy players
- Healing team members
- Burying bones at a graveyard
- Sacrificing fragments at the obelisk
- Attacking the enemy Avatar
- Capturing graveyards
- Capturing the obelisk
If a team reaches 5 Avatar kills, or if the opposing team drops below half of the original player count, then the game is won. If 15 minutes passes without these two conditions, the game is automatically ended and a winning team will be chosen.
Strategies and Gear
A reasonable strategy is to have high-level players run shards to the obelisk, while lower level players kill monsters for shards or bury bones in the graveyard. Having players with PvM weapons (like the Scythe or Virtus or Twisted Bow) should handle Avatar killing.
When it comes to gear, it depends on your account build, your wealth, and desired training style. It would be best to bring something that you would use in a high-level PvP situation, or gear optimized to kill the Avatar.
Take note: You will be fighting in multi-combat, so prepare to use or defend against Ice Barrages.
Spending Zeal
Zeal Tokens are rewarded to players of both teams, assuming they had enough activity. Winning a game ensures a 20% increase of tokens, while the losing team gets a 20% decrease. At the end of the day, everyone gets rewarded for active participation.
Tokens can be spent within a few different shops located on the island, which contains Combat Experience (like Pest Control), Item Imbues (like Nightmare Zone), and items.
Gaining Experience
Just like Pest Control, you can trade in your Zeal for Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Magic, Ranged, or Prayer experience. Luckily for pures, you need to be at least level 30 to purchase experience in any given skill, so that should prevent accidental exchanges for defence experience.
It is best to stack points as trading 100 gives bonus experience over 1 or 10.
Soul Wars Item Imbue
The Item Imbue shop is simply an alternative to the Nightmare Zone imbues with all of the same items & effects available.
Items currently available to imbue:
- Black Mask
- Slayer Helmet
- Salve Amulet
- Salve Amulet (e)
- Ring of Suffering
- Ring of the Gods
- Berserker Ring
- Archers Ring
- Warrior Ring
- Seers Ring
- Granite Ring
- Treasonous Ring
- Tyrannical Ring
Items
- Soul Wars Cape: A cape that’s just like what you use in the mini-game. It’s available in either red or blue, requires level 70 Prayer to equip, and provides a +8 Prayer bonus.
- Ectoplasmator: Prayer experience is rewarded for killing ghostly creatures. This includes the barrows brothers, ghosts, shades, revenants, aberrant spectres, or spiritual creatures.
- Spoils of War: Gamble for a random item. There is a rare chance to receive the Avatar Pet, but also valuable items like seeds, runes, and coin stacks.
