Arachnophobes beware... our latest boss has eight legs and a whole lot of scares to share!
Needless to say, many of you were pleasantly surprised by having Araxxor dropped on you out of nowhere last week, and it's exceedingly rare for giant spiders to be a welcome surprise...
Hundreds of thousands of you checked out the newspost and almost 20,000 of you filled out the survey, which gave us a clear set of candidates for tweaks to make ahead of polling next week. We'll try to keep it brief so that you can get back to amassing Slayer points in anticipation!
Amulet of Rancor
While an upgrade to the Amulet of Torture was a welcome proposal for many of you, there were two topics that stood out as leaving some room for improvement:
- The Amulet of Rancor could stand to be a little stronger so that weighing it up against the Amulet of Blood Fury is a tougher call.
- Players don't want to see the Amulet of Torture left dead and buried, or feel like their grind to 93 Crafting was in vain.
On the first point, we're looking to bump up the Melee accuracy stats on the Amulet of Rancor to give it a little extra power against enemies with higher Defence. We'll also be adding some negative bonuses for Ranged and Magic since these shouldn't impact the its intended use-cases and come with the added bonus of keeping the Eclipse Atlatl in check. For the updated stats, check out the image below!
Now let's talk Crafting requirements. Many of you felt that an item which improves on the Amulet of Torture in every way but has a lower Crafting requirement feels a little 'off'. We had a lot of back and forth on this point because there were so many options put forward by all of you!
We saw a handful of suggestions for lowering the Amulet of Torture's Crafting requirement to make some room for the Amulet of Rancor. While we're not opposed to this in principle, we don't believe that lowering or shifting requirements to make room for one specific piece of content is a viable long-term solution. This doesn't rule out the potential for us to perhaps rebalance requirements in the future as a more far-reaching and dedicated project, but at this time we're not wanting to set a precedent for doing this on a case-by-case basis for specific rewards.
In this case, we believe the simplest path forward is to make the associated untradeable Araxxor drop attach to the Amulet of Torture to create the tradeable Amulet of Rancor. This attachment process requires a Crafting level somewhere in the 80s, meaning Main accounts will need the Crafting requirement to effectively sell the drop (similar to vestiges from the Desert Treasure II bosses) but Irons will still require an Amulet of Torture in the first place, effectively requiring 98 Crafting. Mains can still just buy the Amulet outright, so won't need a Crafting level to use the powerful new offering!
We want to be clear that we don't think 'upgradescape' or 'componentscape' should be the approach we take to every upgrade and sometimes we do just want to offer up items that are outright better than an existing item. In this specific instance, the Amulet of Torture's whopping Crafting level requirement makes this trickier to do in a way that makes sense for players, but we want to re-iterate that this isn't the approach we're going to take to every future reward, lest we wind up with component trees and crafting recipes rivalling indie survival games...
Noxious Halberd
A halberd that's viable as a mainhand weapon? After all these years? It's true!
The Noxious Halberd is the first of its kind in Old School's history, a Melee weapon with extra range that can hold its own against high-tier weaponry. While most of our weapons focused on dealing damage and upkeeping high DPS boast weak Special Attacks (or don't have one in the first place), many of you felt that the Noxious Halberd's Special Attack was too weak even as a utility offering.
With that in mind, we're adjusting the Special Attack as follows:
- Energy cost reduced from 60% to 50%.
- Increases your minimum hit on your next attack with the Noxious Halberd by however much you were poisoned for. Meaning if you were about to be dealt 16 damage by poison, using this Special Attack would cure you and your next hit would roll between 16 and your maximum.
We're not looking to go overboard here, the likes of the Scythe of Vitur, Blade of Saeldor or Tentacle Whip don't have useable or noteworthy Special Attacks and we don't think they need to. We're hopeful that reducing the cost of this particular Special Attack might make it more appealing for some niche utility, but we're not looking to create an all-in-one weapon that excels as a damage dealer and sports a powerful Special Attack.
Aranea Boots
These webbed-up walkers were largely intended to be a thematic addition to Araxxor's loot table that wouldn't make huge waves in the later stages of your journey as a player.
That said, many of you wanted to see them get a little bit of a boost, so we're giving them another +2 Strength bonus, totalling +4.
With this added Strength bonus, the Aranea Boots rival the Dragon Boots in offensive potential but lose out to the Primordial Boots, though they have no defensive bonuses whatsoever. We think this puts them in a more interesting spot, since obtaining them for yourself requires a higher Slayer level than both Spiritual Mages and Cerberus, as well as a more challenging encounter than the three-headed Hellhound.
We believe this makes them a more viable 'tribrid' boot for players looking to cut down on switches, but they're still outcompeted by Primordials, Pegasians and Eternals for people looking to get the most bang for their buck!
Extended Anti-venom+
We've not got much to say here beyond "we've made up our minds about the Herblore requirement!"
We're keeping the requirement for these at 94 Herblore just like the Anti-venom+. There's been a fair bit of chatter around Anti-venoms in general and their associated Herblore requirements compared to their 'value' for players, which we've made note of but aren't looking to change at this time for the same reasons we outlined when talking about the Amulet of Rancor's Crafting requirement.
That's all we've got for feedback tweaks! We've included another very short survey just below (or you can click here instead) to gauge your thoughts on these proposed tweaks, so make sure to fill it out if you can spare a couple of minutes.
Before we sign off, we'll make a pledge to you all: we promise that Araxxor is the last 'big spider' boss we'll make for a long time and that we'll cook up some cool and creative enemy types for other upcoming releases!
Good luck on your gains, happy 'Scapin'!
If you can't see the video, click here.
If that title sounds familiar, youve either been around a really long while, or you happen to play RuneScape, too. The arachnoid antagonist arrived in our sister game almost a decade ago, where he resides in the aptly-named Araxyte Hive beneath the Haunted Woods.
Thats where the similarities end, were afraid: this is not a backport of the RuneScape boss. Weve given the ol cobblers nightmare an all-new, Old School spin and today, youre getting your first look.
Weve been waiting to add Araxxor since the release of A Night at the Theatre. Youll have encountered araxytes there during a segment where you obtained some strange spider eggs although some of the eagle-eyed among you already figured out that these werent spiders at all!
With araxytes and their cobwebby cave in place, all that remained was to add an enormous spider to bring the whole thing together. Here he is!
Perhaps the most significant way our Araxxor diverges from his RuneScape counterpart is that were not setting out to make him too challenging. Instead, were offering him as a new Slayer boss which requires 92 Slayer and an araxyte Task to tackle. His lower-level buddies will also count towards the task, if youre not in the bossing mood.
Slayer bosses can be tricky. As we learned with our last offering, the Alchemical Hydra, they need to be interesting enough to feel engaging without being so tricky that they become a boring grind. Of course, they also need to reward you for all the time youve spent levelling Slayer so far!
As is customary, were not divulging every mechanic Araxxor has up his many sleeves, but we will give you a little taste of the battle to come.
Right up front, we want to assure you that Araxxor is not as tough as the Awakened Desert Treasure II bosses or the Fortis Colosseum.
Instead, youll control the difficulty of the fight yourself. Choose to deal proactively with Araxxors minions before they hatch, and youll have an easier, but slower time. Set them loose and youll kill Araxxor faster, but only if you survive their onslaught. The choice is up to you.
The fight features all the mechanics youd expect from a big ol spider: smaller spiders, venomous acid, ferocious fangs and more legs than you can count. Its a melee-focused encounter unfortunately, we havent yet released any oversized boots, so youll have to settle for your next best spider splatter.
To say any more would reveal too much, but were confident that were delivering a fight thats both easy to grind and satisfying to master.
We can however tell you about the treasures lurking in Araxxors lair. Lets see the rewards!
Broadly speaking, boss rewards are split up into untradeables, consumables, and unique equipment. Araxxor has something in all three categories so well work our way through them in that order.
Untradeable Rewards
Our first untradeable is the Araxyte Head. This is essentially an Araxxor-themed equivalent of the Kalphite Queen or Hydra Head, and its primary use-case is creating a Slayer Helmet thatll send your enemies scurrying for cover.
In the real world, a waist-high spider following you around would be cause for concern. In Old School RuneScape, however, we love all kinds of pets, and after beating Araxxor you may just walk away with a buggy buddy of your own! This not-so-scary spider looks equal parts angry and drop-dead adorable, and we cant wait to give him a cuddle. Maybe.
Our final untradeable is the Jar of Venom which might seem a bit odd, because all our other Jar items have been tradeable. This puts them in a weird spot of being rare flex cosmetics that you can purchase for a relatively inconsequential price and for the Jar of Venom, we want to try something a bit more exclusive.
In fact, thats our thinking for all three of these untradeables, which will appear in three tiers of rarity. The most common will be the Araxyte Head, followed by the uncommon Jar of Venom, and the rarest, most prestigious reward of all: the Araxxor pet.
Were curious to hear what you think of this proposal, so be sure to send your feedback through all the usual channels! If opinion seems divided about what should and shouldnt be untradeable, were open to adding an extra poll question to accommodate.
Consumable Rewards
After all that pet-hunting, youre going to want a snack... or at least something to sell on for your efforts. Everything in this section is tradeable, so should add consistent profit to your spider-slaying adventures.
First up is the Araxyte Venom Gland. Believe it or not this is consumable, and will deal 4 Venom damage while curing and providing 20 seconds of immunity to Venom. It may be gross, but its a nice trick to have in your back pocket when youre trying to extend a trip to Araxxor without banking to grab more Anti-venom+ Potions. Incidentally, the Venom Gland can also be used to brew the new Extended Anti-venom+ Potion at Level XX Herblore.
Regular Anti-venom+ Potions provide three minutes of immunity to Venom per dose. As you might expect, the Extended Anti-venom+ extends this effect to six minutes per dose. This means that you'll be able to store a whopping 24 minutes of Venom immunity in a single Inventory slot, making it the perfect addition to your Araxxor loadout.
Well also throw in some Teleport Scrolls so that you can get yourself back to Araxxor quickly after banking. These will be a fairly common drop, so getting comfortable with the fight and extending your trips should result in you obtaining more Scrolls than you need how convenient!
Unique Equipment Rewards
Saving the best for last, we have a selection of unique rewards with their own headings, even! crafted from bits of Araxxor himself. The specific body parts are yet to be decided, but hopefully you get the gist!
Aranea Boots
These unconventional kicks are set to be crafted from a somewhat rare drop. They offer some serviceable tribrid stats but come with an added ability which grants occasional immunity to spider webs.
Assuming you haven't negated the effects of a spider web in the last ten seconds, the Aranea Boots will grant you immunity to the next web that you walk on. This could mean avoiding a punishing mistake against Verzik Vitur, saving some Run Energy at Venenatis, or perhaps preventing Sarachnis' binding web.
This may not be the most impactful drop, but we thought it was on-theme, niche, and a welcome addition to the loot table. Not every unique needs to be a game changer!
Noxious Halberd
Ah, the trusty Halberd. Long gone are the days when we watched enviously as our elven-trap dodging friends safespotted TzHaar over vents. Now these lengthy weapons are more likely to be found mouldering in an Alch pile, only seeing sunlight to deliver the odd Special Attack or two.
Its time to change that! With the Noxious Halberd, were offering up a Halberd whose primary use is as a DPS weapon.
Woah, thats a lot of numbers! For context, the Noxious Halberd has similar DPS to the Blade of Saeldor. Its 5-tick attack speed means it scales worse with gear than the 4-tick blade, so it wont be a best-in-slot contender.
On top of its raw stats, youll have a 33% chance per swing to inflict Venom on your target (assuming it isnt immune), which increases to 50% chance when used in conjunction with a Serpentine Helmet.
All this means the Noxious Halberd packs a pretty punch, but it also sports a Special Attack! We still intend for it to be DPS focused rather than a spec weapon, but the Special will round out the Halberds utility and hopefully add an extra use-case or two.
For 50% of your Special Attack Energy, you can cure any Poison or Venom youre afflicted with, and increase your next Halberd attacks minimum hit. For example, if youre about to be hit for 20 Venom damage, you can use the Special to cure yourself and give your next Halberd swing a minimum hit of 20, rolling between 20 and your max hit.
So, how valuable is the Halberds extra attack range? Since this is a unique feature of the weapon, its harder to compare than a simple Strength or Slash bonus. It could make all the difference in Verziks second phase, or when staying further away from a burning teammate in the Great Olms chamber. We want to know where you would be excited to make use of a Halberd that puts the unique in unique weapon drop.
Amulet of Rancor
Next, we have the Amulet of Rancor, which supercedes the Amulet of Torture as the best-in-slot Melee amulet, and will be a rare drop from Araxxor. Compared to other Amulet-slot offerings, Torture wasnt that far ahead of Fury, so theres plenty of room to upgrade!
Compared to the Amulet of Torture, the Amulet of Rancor offers +5 to Slash, Stab and Crush Accuracy and a further +2 Strength bonus, which may increase Max Hit in some setups.
The only requirement to equip this nifty necklace is a hefty 90 Hitpoints, which is a stretch beyond the requirements for Zenyte jewellery.
While many of you will be able to buy and trade these, we know Irons are interested to know how theyll make one. The Zenyte Amulet (from which the Amulet of Torture can be made) requires a whopping 98 Crafting, which doesnt leave a lot of room for a requirement increase. Instead, the Crafting requirement for the Amulet of Rancor will be in the 80s, since we expect its easier to work with nice squishy spider parts than a precious gemstone.
Thats all we have to share with you today. Well be running an in-game poll for all these rewards soon, but first, we have a survey to gauge your feelings about what youve seen today. To share your thoughts, click here, or fill out the embedded version below. It should take around 5-10 minutes.
You can also join the discussion in all the usual places on Reddit, Twitter, or the Old School RuneScape Discord. Tell us: does our version of Araxxor have legs?
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.
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