1. Old School RuneScape
  2. News

Old School RuneScape News

Desert Treasure II Improvements | August 16th



Today we have an exciting announcement!


Want to find out what we're working on behind the scenes? Are you curious about the year ahead and what's in store for you? Old School RuneScape's Summer Summit premieres this Saturday! Make sure to tune in and get a first look at Old School's roadmap for the rest of the year and into early 2024.


At the Summer Summit we'll be announcing our upcoming roadmap and exciting content for the future. You'll get a chance to have YOUR say on the next round of content updates coming to the game, so you don't want to miss out.

https://youtu.be/jsu2gngPBkY

If you can't see the video above, click here to watch it!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Desert Treasure II Improvements[/h2]

Speaking of summer, we’re getting tanned in the Desert (and a bunch of other places) with more improvements to Desert Treasure II and its post-game bosses.

Whisperer
  • The Whisperer will no longer prompt players to use their Awakener’s Orb if you have already killed her in the same trip, letting players fight her without interruption.


Leviathan
  • The only way to avoid all the damage in Leviathan's enraged phase is to delay enraging it, which isn’t especially exciting. We've made a change so that Leviathan basic projectiles will no longer hit through Prayer in the period after the boss enrages and before the buff NPC spawns.
  • Leviathan should now drop Brimstone Keys in an accessible location on death. Of course, you’ll need a boss Slayer Task for the Leviathan to get them at all.


Duke Sucellus
  • The Duke's sight overlay is now cleared upon leaving the instance.
  • We've updated how the rendering of the Duke's vent and acid walk projectile works so that they should be clearer.


Other Changes
  • Successfully obtaining the Ancient Blood Ornament Kit will now send a Clan Chat or Group Ironman Announcement broadcast. Hurrah!
  • Additionally, your Personal Bests for each of the four Desert Treasure II bosses are now also correctly broadcasted in Clan channel or GIM channel. This counts for both normal and awakened versions. You can use the Combat Achievement interface if you'd like to wipe your current PB at each boss.
  • The new Ancient Scepters now have trouver versions.
  • Each Ancient Sceptre now has its own placeholder in the Bank.
  • The Bandit should now correctly spawn when using the Ring to teleport.
  • Virtus Robes are now included in skill guides and level up messages.
  • Each piece of the Virtus Robes set can now be stored in the Magic Wardrobe.


The art of Desert Treasure II has been incredible. This week the art team have been kind enough to introduce further improvements.
  • The statues of Azzanadra in Lassar now have an Idle animation!
  • The Stranglewood cutscene now correctly features one shrine in it rather than two.
  • The pier on the western edge of the Stranglewood has had a small visual improvement.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Torva[/h2]

Following community feedback, we've updated Torva Armour’s visuals to bring it more in line with community expectations. We hope you agree that these small changes pack a lot of punch!

Here’s exactly what’s changed:
  • The Torva Torso has been brought in at the waist very slightly (now matching Blood Torva).
  • The Back of the Torva Helmet has been lowered to conceal the neck more.
  • Female characters will notice their neck is thicker while wearing Torva. Don’t panic – this is just a neat visual trick and doesn’t affect the thousands of other female character armour models.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Loot Tracker and Buff Bar[/h2]
  • The loot tracker on our C++ Client currently only tracks PvE fights with NPCs. We've updated it today to ensure that PvP loot can now be tracked.
  • The Buff Bar has been improved:
    • Getting bound by the Strangled now shows as a bind on the Buff Bar.
    • In addition, the bleed icon used on the Buff Bar has been resized.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Poll Booth[/h2]

2023 has been our first year for the new and shiny Community Polling Charter! If you're not sure what we mean, be sure take a look at the explanation of how we poll content from this blog post. We've had lots more polls, surveys and blogs this year but they might be confusing to some members of the community who don't keep up to date with our newsposts.

As of next week, any future in-game polls will be listed under the following new categories to offer clarity for players:
  • Greenlight - These polls show as green in the poll interface and have a pass requirement of 70%.
  • Opinion - These polls show as blue in the poll interface and have no pass requirement.
  • Lock-in - These polls show as orange in the poll interface and have a pass requirement of 70%.


Simple!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Mobile UI Rework: Beta Update[/h2]

Many of you will have seen the recent Mobile UI Rework newspost, which detailed our plans for the upcoming Mobile UI Beta.

Unfortunately, testing has since identified an issue which adversely affects the UI elements when swapping from a Beta World to a normal game world. Because of this, we’ve decided to postpone tomorrow's Beta until a later date.

While there is a potential workaround available to us for this issue, it wouldn’t give you, the player, the best and fullest experience of the Mobile UI Rework as it stands. This rework is really important, and we want to give you a chance to experience the changes properly and share your feedback without encountering any issues that could detract from that process.

How this might affect our plans for a Forestry Beta is still TBC. We will update you once our investigations have concluded, and when we are confident in a date we can deploy the fix and have the Beta ready for release.

We know many of you were looking forward to trying out the new UI, and we apologise for making you wait a little longer. Any further updates will be added to this newspost and/or shared via our social channels.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Makeship Plushies Incoming![/h2]


Been wondering who these mystery characters are? Check out these breaking pictures of our first official OSRS plushies from Makeship and find out how to win one!



We have invited Wise Old Man, Nieve, Gnome Child and Bob the Cat to join us on our tropical island for the Summer Summit… in plushie form!

Makeship will be sponsoring the stream so keep an eye on our socials later today and tune in to the Summer Summit for your chance to win one of these cuddly characters! Click here for full Ts and Cs.

If you’d like one of these guys for yourself, you can also sign up on the Makeship store and be reminded when they go on sale on August 23rd. Mark your calendars now!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]
  • As of today’s update, attempting to open an Impling Jar with a Clue in your Inventory of the same tier that the Impling could give, you’ll be given a warning.
  • The generic parchment menu text has been given slightly stronger contrast against its background to improve readability.
  • Fixed a graphical issue when wearing Virtus Robes with certain weaponry.
  • Obtaining a Wilderness boss pet that could be obtained from more than one source will now update the kill-count for both in your Clan Broadcast, provided you have one.
  • Fixed a bug where certain items were being skipped or displaying incorrectly in the Collection Log. Players affected by this issue should find the issues resolved upon their next log-in. We know this bug affected the following items:
    • Mounted fish items
      • Big Swordfish
      • Big Bass
      • Big Shark
      • Golden Tench
    • Hallowed Sepulchre items (Including Hallowed tools, rewards)
  • We also fixed incorrect Collection Log values related to Larran’s Big Chest, the Brimstone Chest, and The Gauntlet.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]PvP Rota[/h2]

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:
  • 539 - (US) - PvP World
  • 318 - (UK) - Bounty Hunter world
  • 548 - (Germany) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 577 - (US) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 559 - (UK) - LMS Competitive


World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been activated with this rota.

World 569 (AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using 'Zerker' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.
[hr][/hr]
You can also discuss this update on our official forums, 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 Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Enigma, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.

Desert Treasure II - Further Changes | August 9th

We’re back with another round of Desert Treasure II improvements!

[h2]Changelog August 9th[/h2]

[expand]
Desert Treasure II
  • Quartz received from the Desert Treasure II bosses can now be used to open a chest in the Ancient Vault's basement.
  • Dying or teleporting away on the same tick that a boss dies should now correctly add to players’ Kill Count total.
  • Vardorvis
    • The Prayer Projectile is now coloured green to indicate that it’s a Ranged attack.
    • At least one spike will always spawn when Vardorvis uses his Jump/Dash attack.
    • Players will no longer experience two consecutive ‘Blood Captcha’ attacks.
  • The Whisperer
    • Hitsplats now appear for Sanity damage.
    • The Whisperer will now do the correct number of normal attacks.
    • The Whisperer's entrails will spawn even if players are no longer in the arena when the boss is defeated.
    • This boss should now correctly drop Clues.
    • Slightly decreased the respawn timer.
    • Fixed some issues that would cause a Perfect Kill to fail.
  • The Leviathan
    • Players will no longer receive the "Your melee attacks can't reach the lure!" message when trying to Autocast in Melee range.
    • We've adjusted the colour of the Melee projectiles to be clearer for players with visual impairments.
    • Casting Shadow Spells should now grant the default cast XP.
    • Fixed some issues that would cause a Perfect Kill to fail.
  • Duke Sucellus
    • The preparation phase has been changed to feature more predictable rotations.
  • Soulreaper Axe:
    • The Soulreaper Axe now requires at least 5% normal special attack to be used.
    • If a Phoenix Necklace’s healing effect procs, it will reset 'Mighty stacks'.
    • Players can no longer pull up an interface to stall the 'Mighty stack' timer.
  • A number of rewards have been given 'inspect' options, hinting at what players should do with them.
  • A new music track has been added for The Stranglewood.
  • We've made it clearer that players need to read a tablet before burning a boat inside The Scar.
  • We've made it clearer that players need a Key to unlock chests inside Lassar.


Other Changes
  • Ancient Icons can now be ground into 5,000 Ancient Essence using a Pestle and Mortar.
  • Players can no longer kill Apprentice Tamara during the Guardians of the Rift minigame.
  • Bounty Hunter is now accessible after 12 hours of login time, rather than 48, provided the player satisfies the other requirements.


PvP Rota

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:
  • 560 - (UK) - PvP World
  • 319 - (US) - Bounty Hunter World
  • 579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 580 - (US) - LMS Competitive


World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been de-activated with this rota.

World 569 (AUS) for Bounty hunter has been activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using 'Main' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.
[/expand]
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Desert Treasure II: Further Changes[/h2]

We’re kicking this week’s round of Desert Treasure II changes off with a new loot system!

We’ve seen players getting extra Quartz after their first chunk and having nothing to do with them, so we’ve introduced a new way to use them. A mysterious new chest has appeared in the basement of the Ancient Vault, where you can exchange your spare Quartz for Dragon Plateskirts, Dragon Dart Tips, Soul Runes, and more!



Now for the bosses…

Vardorvis
  • The Prayer Projectile is now coloured green to indicate that it’s a Ranged attack.
  • At least one spike will always spawn when Vardorvis uses his Jump/Dash attack.
  • Players will no longer experience two consecutive ‘Blood Captcha’ attacks.


The Whisperer
  • You will now see Hitsplats for Sanity damage.
  • The Whisperer will now do the correct number of normal attacks.
  • The Whisperer's entrails will spawn even if you're no longer in the fight arena when the boss is defeated.
  • This boss should now correctly drop Clues.
  • The respawn timer has been decreased slightly.
  • Fixed some issues that would cause a Perfect Kill to fail.


The Leviathan
  • You'll no longer receive the "Your melee attacks can't reach the lure!" message when trying to Autocast in Melee range.
  • We've adjusted the colour of the Melee projectiles to be clearer for players with visual impairments.
  • Casting Shadow Spells should now grant the default cast XP.
  • Fixed some issues that would cause a Perfect Kill to fail.


Duke Sucellus
  • The preparation phase has been changed to feature more predictable rotations.


We’ve also made some small adjustments to the mighty Soulreaper Axe!
  • The Soulreaper Axe will no longer prevent you from using its special attack if you don't have enough regular special attack energy.
  • If a Phoenix Necklace’s healing effect procs, it will reset 'Mighty stacks'.
  • Players can no longer pull up an interface to stall the 'Mighty stack' timer.


And last but not least, a few miscellaneous changes:
  • A number of rewards have been given 'inspect' options, hinting at what players should do with them.
  • A new music track has been added for The Stranglewood.
  • We've made it clearer that players need to read a tablet before burning a boat inside The Scar.
  • We've made it clearer that players need a Key to unlock chests inside Lassar.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]
  • Ancient Icons can now be ground into 5,000 Ancient Essence using a Pestle and Mortar.
  • Players can no longer kill Apprentice Tamara during the Guardians of the Rift minigame.
  • Bounty Hunter is now accessible after 12 hours of login time, rather than 48, provided the player satisfies the other requirements.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:
  • 560 - (UK) - PvP World
  • 319 - (US) - Bounty Hunter World
  • 579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 580 - (US) - LMS Competitive


World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been de-activated with this rota.

World 569 (AUS) for Bounty hunter has been activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using 'Main' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.

[hr][/hr]

You can also discuss this update on our official forums, 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 Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.

DT2 Feedback Tweaks | August 3rd

[h2]Changelog - August 3rd[/h2]

[expand]
Desert Treasure II
  • Adjustments have been made to the post-quest Desert Treasure II boss drop tables. More information on this is given later in the post.
  • A chest has been added to Kasonde's hideout in the Stranglewood. Stink bombs can be taken from it. When set off, a stink bomb will attract the nearest Strangled to the coordinate it was set off on.
  • New bits of scenery have been added to Lassar and the Stranglewood that when interacted with, provide a stamina boost.
  • Improved pathing to Salt deposits within Duke Sucellus's room. You should now be able to click from the upper floor to a deposit with ease!
  • Vents within Duke Sucellus's room will now correctly despawn when the encounter ends.
  • Resolved an issue that could prevent the Duke Sucellus encounter from starting.
  • Female Sanguine Torva has the correct assets.
  • Both body type versions of Sanguine Torva now have the correct inventory models & chatheads.
  • Torva has been replaced with reworked version that was shared in the Poll 80 newspost.
  • Players are no longer able to feed Abyssal leeches items with a "destroy'' option.
  • The leeches in the Persten wight fight will now always target the player.
  • Ketla and her clones were not doing the right amount of damage, this has been changed so they are closer to what we had intended.
  • The Amulet of the Eye will no longer be lost on death.
  • The bandit in the Ancient Vault will now sell you multiple rings. In addition, the ring now has a charge option to make charging easier. This option also tells you which runes are needed if you don't have the right ones.
  • Some puzzles within the Ghorrock Prison have been improved to make the solution clearer.
  • The gates in Ghorrock Prison are now clearly named to show what gem their lock is.
  • Damage should no longer carry over to Kasonde once the fight has ended.
  • Various minor balancing changes have been made to the quest versions of the Desert Treasure II bosses (the difficulty of these bosses should remain very close to how they were last week). Their respective combat levels have also been increased to better reflect their difficulty.
  • Some temple walls within the Stranglewood can no longer be walked through.
  • Awakener's orbs have been added to the Collection Log. As the orbs are tradeable, any gained before this update will not appear.
  • Boss slayer tasks for the four new bosses could be given before completing DT2. This is now fixed.
  • Slayer tasks no longer apply to the Awakened versions of the Desert Treasure II bosses.
  • Vardorvis has had some clickbox improvements.
  • It is no longer possible to safespot the Mysterious Stranger.
  • Wearing the Ring of Shadows will correctly show the hidden ghosts inside the Sepulchre.
  • Some scenic Braziers within the throne room of the Lassar Undercity have been removed.
  • Progress while in a Scar maze will now save, so if you need to leave and return, you don't need to redo already completed challenges.
  • Boss information has now been added to the Combat Achievements interface, alongside Monster Examine being enabled.
Hotfixes Now Cold
  • Issues with stairs in the Lassar area have been resolved.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented pillars from being destroyed during The Whisperer encounter.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Soulreaper axe to hit higher than intended.
  • A bug has been resolved that means the Leviathan is less likely to use Melee to prevent players from bypassing all mechanics of the encounter.
  • Leviathan, if enraged during the spin lightning special attack, would carry on doing it. It should stop.

[/expand]
[hr][/hr]

[h2]Desert Treasure II - Week One Tweaks[/h2]

Since last week's release, tens of thousands of you have taken it upon yourselves to undergo the epic adventure that is Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire.

Before we get into talking about what we're changing, what we're likely to change in future and what we're still waiting for info on, we'd like to take another moment to say thank you to each and every one of you. The response to Desert Treasure II and everything that's come with it has been overwhelming and we're beyond grateful for all of the kind words you've shared with us.

With all that said, we'd like to make a handful of changes this week to improve players' experiences with the quest itself, as well as cementing some of the hotfixes we've implemented since the quest's release. You might not see as many changes as you anticipate this week, since our focus is on quest improvements and bugfixes first and foremost. The remaining feedback changes will be coming in next week's game update, so you won't have too long to wait!

Ring of Shadows

Let's kick things off with something we know you'll appreciate! Have you ever fallen afoul of multiple axes simultaneously while fighting Vardorvis, prepared yourself for the walk of shame to re-gear, and only then realised that your Ring of shadows is stuck in your gravestone and you'll have to run from half the world away? Us neither, but it's happened to a friend of ours...

Today, you'll be able to Trade with the Mysterious bandit in the Ancient vault to purchase multiple Rings of shadows, for a mere 75,000 coins. Perhaps now you'll be able to leave the Witch's plant pots alone, she worked hard on those and your grubby hands are starting to disturb the soil.

Stamina-Boosts

All of the areas added alongside Desert Treasure II are pretty hefty, and will absolutely put your cardiovascular systems through their paces. While Stamina potions do exist, some players pointed out that it felt unusual to be provided with stamina-restoring items in Ghorrock prison and the Scar, but not in either of the remaining areas.

Anybody starting (or continuing) the quest this week should keep an eye out for shrines in the Stranglewood and rejuvenation pools around Lassar, which we've added to help you keep topped up while navigating these sections of the quest.





Ghorrock Prison

Many of you seem to have really enjoyed your prison break from this icy hellhole, while others have found yourself broken instead. Two puzzles in particular stand out as perhaps a little unclear for some of you, so we've updated a handful of the notes throughout this section of the quest in the hopes that the correct solutions feel more intuitive to any budding escape artists!

Additionally, we received reports that some of the locked gates throughout the prison were difficult to discern for players with various forms of colourblindness, so we've renamed the gates to reflect their associated gem key.



The Strangled

For those of you struggling to navigate your way through the Stranglewood (you're definitely just spam clicking the minimap, aren't you?), we've got a stinky addition to help you sneak past the hungry Stranglers.

A chest has been added to Kasonde's hideout in the Stranglewood. Within this chest you'll find some Stink bombs that can be taken from it. When set off, a Stink bomb will attract the nearest Strangled to the coordinate it was set off on, keeping them far enough away from you to make your great escape. Nice.

Awakened Boss World Firsts

It's been exhilarating watching you all take on the awakened forms of the Desert Treasure II bosses. For those of you who missed it, here are the first ten completions we saw since they were released on Friday, 28th July.



Good luck to all of you still chasing for the infamous Blood Torva!

Whilst we're on the topic of Blood Torva, we accidentally included the old models with last week's game update. This week, we've added the refined versions following your feedback. Check out the blood dripping look below!



[hr][/hr]

[h2]Desert Treasure II - Drop Rates[/h2]

Let's take a step back from the enigmatic and thrilling battles of Desert Treasure II, it's time to turn our attention to a burning issue that has been the talk of Gielinor - the hotly-debated drop rates. We've seen the speculation, and your fervour hasn't fallen on deaf ears.

In response, we're pulling back the curtain on the drop tables. It's time to dispel the rumours, clarify the odds, and equip you, our intrepid adventurers, with the knowledge you need to brave the challenges of this exciting new update.

Rates to hit the unique table before today's update:
  • Vardorvis - 1/180
  • Duke - 1/108
  • Leviathan - 1/120
  • Whisperer - 1/77
Note: the Awakened variants of these bosses have 3x the chance to hit the unique table.


Weightings:
  • Virtus 1/8
    • A separate 1/3 roll then determines which piece is awarded
  • Vestige roll 3/8
    • Rolling this will increment a variable by one, the third time this is hit, drop the vestige and reset the variable
  • Chromium Ingot 3/8
  • Axe Piece 1/8
Untradeable Unique rates

These drops get more common with your KC until you get it for the first time, then they are flat rate as per the below:
  • Teleport tablets - 1/25
  • Ancient Elemental Quartz - 1/200
Awakener's Orb rates:
  • Vardorvis - 1/80
  • Duke - 1/48
  • Leviathan - 1/53
  • Whisperer - 1/34
Clue rates
  • Equal chance to roll for any Easy/Medium/Hard/Elite clue
  • Trate is 1/40 for a specific clue mentioned above
Pet rates
  • Vardorvis - 1/3000
  • Duke - 1/2500
  • Leviathan - 1/2500
  • Whisperer - 1/2000
Drop table order
  • Roll for tradeable unique
    • If not, roll for Awakener's orb
      • If not, roll for untradeable uniques
        • If not, roll 1/5 for supply drop
          • If not, roll for resource drop
  • Additionally roll for clues & pets


Let's take a moment to dive into the drop rates for the Virtus set that's been catching everyone's eye. Finding that sweet spot between Ahrim's and Ancestral's price has been key, so the rarity of Virtus had to be dialed in just right. We made the decision to include Virtus as drops for all four separate bosses, encouraging you to grind all of them for their unique drops. You still have the option to focus on one boss if that's your thing, but we wanted to make sure that if you were going for each of the respective rings, you'd eventually get Virtus passively along the way

We did toy with the idea of having just one boss drop the whole Virtus set at a more common rate, which could have made target farming the set much easier. Implementing it this way could also prevent a potential crash in the set's value, as it wouldn't be coming into the game as quickly as it will when all four bosses are being farmed simultaneously by those hunting for their Vestige. Ultimately it all boils down to a delicate balance of rarity, demand, and the effort required to obtain them. We feel like the current implementation is the best option for the long-term grind, but understand why some of you may feel frustrated if you're exclusively seeking out Virtus.

As for general drop rates, we feel much more comfortable erring on the side of caution, especially for the initial few day. We'd much rather avoid a situation where too many uniques are entering the game vs not enough. It's much healthier for us to correct too few uniques entering the game vs too many.

With all this in mind, now that we have more information, we're changing the tradeable unique rates to be approximately 20-30% more common, depending on the boss (Vardorvis and Leviathan have received the biggest improvement). This means the following rates will now apply:
  • Vardorvis - 1/136
  • Duke - 1/90
  • Leviathan - 1/96
  • Whisperer - 1/64
Note: the Awakened variants of these bosses have 3x the chance to hit the unique table.

Keep in mind that we might fine-tune the drop rates even further down the line. Our goal is to ensure that the long-term value of items remains balanced, but we're also considering how these items fit into each player's progression journey, taking into account the time and difficulty of each encounter. So, stay tuned for any updates in the future as we continue to optimise your experience.

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Other Changes[/h2]
  • As Raiding dungeons can now contain banks, players protected by the Deadman Mode PvP protection are no longer permitted to enter them. You can speak to the Doomsayer to cancel your protection early.
  • Various spelling mistakes during Desert Treasure II dialogue have been resolved. Thankfully most of you spacebar spammed and didn't notice, but we fixed them anyway.
  • Improved pathing to Salt deposits within Duke Sucellus's room. You should now be able to click from the upper floor to a deposit with ease!
  • Vents within Duke Sucellus's room will now correctly despawn when the encounter ends.
  • Resolved an issue that could prevent the Duke Sucellus encounter from starting.
  • Female Sanguine Torva has the correct assets.
  • Both male & female sanguine torva has correct inv models & chatheads.
  • Torva has been replaced with reworked version shared in the Poll 80 newspost.
  • Players are no longer able to feed Abyssal leeches items with a "destroy'' option.
  • The leeches in the Persten wight fight will now always target the player.
  • Ketla and her clones were not doing the right amount of damage, this has been changed so they are closer to what we had intended.
  • The Amulet of the Eye will no longer be lost on death.
  • Damage should no longer carry over to Kasonde once the fight has ended.
  • Various minor balancing changes have been made to the quest versions of the Desert Treasure II bosses (the difficulty of these bosses should remain very close to how they were last week). Their respective combat levels have also been increased to better reflect their difficulty.
  • Some temple walls within the Stranglewood can no longer be walked through.
  • Awakener's orbs have been added to the Collection Log. As the orbs are tradeable, any gained before this update will not appear.
  • Boss slayer tasks for the four new bosses could be given before completing DT2. This is now fixed.
  • Slayer tasks no longer apply to the Awakened versions of the Desert Treasure II bosses.
  • Vardorvis has had some clickbox improvements.
  • It is no longer possible to safespot the Mysterious Stranger.
  • Wearing the Ring of Shadows will correctly show the hidden ghosts inside the Sepulchre.
  • Some scenic Braziers within the throne room of the Lassar Undercity have been removed.
  • Progress while in a Scar maze will now save, so if you need to leave and return, you don't need to redo already completed challenges.
  • Boss information has now been added to the Combat Achievements interface, alongside Monster Examine being enabled.

[hr][/hr]

[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:
  • 539 - (US) - PvP World
  • 318 - (UK) - Bounty Hunter world
  • 548 - (Germany) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 577 - (US) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 559 - (UK) - LMS Competitive

World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been activated with this rota.

World 569(AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been activated with this rota.

[hr][/hr]

You can also discuss this update on our official forums, 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 Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.

MMO releases the sequel to an 18-year-old quest that features such rare drops the developer has to step in and reassure players: 'No need to put nan in the cage as the clock chimes midnight, just kill bosses'




Old School RuneScape has released a sequel to an 18 year-old quest, spotted by GamesRadar+, one which has immediately caused confusion as players rushed to bag the new loot it comes with… and in most cases, didn't get it. Desert Treasure 2: The Fallen Empire is the MMO's first Grandmaster quest since 2019 and is a sequel to, you guessed it, Desert Treasure (released in 2005). It sees players returning to the Kharidian Desert to explore a big old vault and take on the lich-like Mahjarrat...
Read more.

Desert Treasure II – The Fallen Empire | July 26th

After months of anticipation, Old School's most ambitious quest to date is finally here. Get ready for Desert Treasure II – The Fallen Empire!

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Desert Treasure II – The Fallen Empire[/h2]


We’ve already covered a lot of this information in our recent ‘Get Ready for Desert Treasure II’ newspost, but we’ll repeat it here so that everyone has a chance to see it before they play the quest.


This week sees the launch of Old School RuneScape’s biggest (and hopefully best) quest to date. Before you head to the desert to get started, there are a few things we’d like you to know.

Firstly, we have an ominous warning. If you are a Hardcore or Group Hardcore Ironman, we strongly advise that you play through the quest on a non-Hardcore account first. We’re not just building hype here: Desert Treasure II is a dangerous quest. Everything from the bosses we’ve spoken so much about to the environment itself can and will kill you.

Consider this your last warning. We expect Death’s Office to be full to bursting by the end of the day…


Secondly, we aren’t kidding when we say this quest is our biggest yet. Desert Treasure II will take you on an epic journey across Gielinor, from familiar locales to places you’ve never seen before. You’ll fight four tough bosses – Duke Sucellus, Vardorvis, the Leviathan and the Whisperer – and encounter plenty of other challenges along the way. You’ll run into familiar faces, and be introduced to new characters with their own stories, secrets and motivations.

In short, if you were planning to spacebar through the whole thing in two hours, we’re afraid you might have to adjust your schedule. You can of course play through the quest exactly as you want (yes, even you cheeky spacebarrers), but for those happy to go at a slower pace, we'd highly recommend you take your time and really savour our most ambitious quest to date. It’s absolutely dripping with lore, answers to unanswered questions, and ties to loose ends.

There’s so much to explore, and plenty of secrets tucked away for our most eagle-eyed players to find. The music and audio is some of the best we’ve ever heard from the Audio Team, so you’ll want to turn your volume up too. Basically, this is Old School storytelling at its very best, and we’re thrilled beyond words for you to finally experience it.

Don’t believe us? Hear it from Mod Ed himself:

"When you think about RuneScape's most iconic quests, there's a pretty good chance the Mahjarrat story will be one of the first to come to mind. While Guthix Sleeps, Ritual of the Mahjarrat, and indeed, Desert Treasure, are regularly considered some of the finest quests ever made. Now, all these years later, we're finally revisiting those epic stories with our own take on the legendary Mahjarrat.

Earlier this year, we made our first foray into the Mahjarrat storyline with Secrets of the North, but that was nothing compared to the might of this next instalment. This is a story we've been wanting to tell for years, and it's only through your tremendous support for our past storytelling efforts that we're now finally able to do so. We've made sure to honour the deep legacy of the Mahjarrat storyline, whilst also pushing the boundaries for storytelling in Old School like never before. Whatever you might be expecting, you're probably not ready for this. This is the one where everything changes. So, from myself and the rest of the team, it's an honour to be able to finally share Desert Treasure II – The Fallen Empire with you."

Mod Ed



If you'd like to hear more from the team, and even a couple of playtesters, check out our recent Dev Diary!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch it!

As a heads-up from us, we want as many people as possible to be able to experience Desert Treasure II spoiler-free. Of course, you're welcome to seek out discussion from other players if you'd like, but we won't be posting or sharing anything that divulges information about the quest until next week.

We'll still be keeping an eye on all of your feedback and fixing any bugs or making small tweaks for QoL purposes during the first week as per usual. However, unless something is clearly miles away from our expectations (and our own experiences testing the bosses), we don't plan on making any balancing changes until at least the second week following the release.

The bosses are supposed to be challenging. We want to give you time to learn their mechanics, put together gear setups and get familiar with the bosses so that overcoming them feels like an accomplishment, rather than knee-jerk any changes and deprive players the feeling of a hard-fought victory.

Now for every spacebar warrior's worst enemy...

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Backstory[/h2]


During Gielinor's Second Age, the world was dominated by an empire the likes of which had never been seen. The areas now known as Asgarnia, Misthalin and even the Wilderness all once flourished under the banner of the Empty Lord. With the grand city of Senntisten at its heart, this civilisation washed over Gielinor like an unstoppable tide, pushing the boundaries of magic and science, while crushing any who stood in their way.

Fast forward to today, the Fifth Age, and you won't find much trace of this ancient empire. Indeed, Saradominists and Zamorakians alike have spent many lifetimes purging all remnants of it. However, small fragments of this fallen empire remain, for those who know where to look.

Perhaps you’ve already encountered some of these remains. Maybe you’ve met the monstrous Nex, sealed behind the Frozen Door for millennia. Or perhaps you’ve visited the bandits of the Kharidian Desert, the final human followers of the Empty Lord. You might even have encountered some mysterious Mahjarrat hidden away beneath those same sands. However, there are other parts of this forgotten empire that even you won’t have encountered yet. For example, this story begins deep in the desert, within a mysterious vault…


(If you're looking for even more backstory, check out this video made by PoisonedPotion to get you up to speed!)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[hr][/hr]

[h2]Requirements[/h2]


You’ll need to brush up on your Mahjarrat knowledge before you start Desert Treasure II, so you’ll need to complete the following quests:
  • Desert Treasure I
  • Secrets of the North
  • Enakhra's Lament
  • Temple of the Eye
  • The Garden of Death
  • Below Ice Mountain
  • His Faithful Servants

You'll also need to be sufficiently experienced in a number of skills to stand any chance at gaining access to the contents of the ancient vault:
  • 75 Firemaking
  • 75 Magic
  • 70 Thieving
  • 62 Herblore
  • 60 Runecraft
  • 60 Construction

As a reminder, none of these requirements are boostable. We hope you enjoy having the cold of the Wintertodt seep into your bones!

To start the quest, get yourself over to the Ancient Vault, which can be found north-east of Nardah, south of the Ruins of Uzer.

If you need a visual, here's where you can start the quest!

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Rewards[/h2]


At this point you should be familiar with these, but just in case, let’s have one more look at the quest rewards!


Ring of Shadows



The Ring of Shadows serves as a one-stop-shop for various unlockable boss teleports and some offensive stats for players who are being particularly cautious with their GP.

Since the ring is untradeable, you'll be able to reobtain it for a fee if you ever misplace it, whether that's through sheer forgetfulness or an untimely PvP death.

The rest of the rewards in this section will come from the bosses unlocked upon quest completion. Starting with...


Four New Rings



The Fremennik Rings have remained the best style-specific rings since the ancient era of 2005. Duke Sucellus, Vardorvis, the Leviathan and the Whisperer will each drop upgrade components used to create the powerful new Bellator, Magus, Ultor and Venator rings, which should shake up this age-old meta.




The completed Rings are all tradeable, but require completion of Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire to equip.

The bosses will also drop untradeable Vestiges, specific to each boss. To make these tradeable, you'll have to do a spot of handicrafts – to do so, you’ll need 90 Magic and 80 Crafting (both boostable). We'll give you a quick breakdown of how this works, should you be lucky enough to snag a Vestige on release day!
  • Each boss drops a specific, untradeable vestige. Depending on the boss you're killing, this will be a Bellator, Magus, Ultor or Venator Vestige.
  • Each boss drops tradeable bars. These are non-specific - all of the bosses can drop the exact same bars, or you can buy them from other players.
  • Fremennik Rings can be broken down to provide their respective Icon. You'll want the Icon that corresponds to the Ring you're trying to make:
    • Warrior Icon for Bellator Ring
    • Seers’ Icon for Magus Ring
    • Berserker Icon for Ultor Ring
    • Archers’ Icon for Venator Ring
  • Combine your Vestige, three bars, and your Fremennik Icon to create your brand-new Ring!

Of course, crafting like this hasn't occurred on Gielinor for a very long time. Perhaps it might be worth seeking out a particularly knowledgable Fremennik to learn a little more about these rings before getting started?


Now, what are the Mahjarrat without a spot of Ancient Magicks? You guys have Ancients, right?


Virtus Robes



Virtus Robes are making a return, offering massive increases to Ancient Magicks damage while serving as a middle-ground between Ahrim's Robes and Ancestral when using Standard spells or powered staves.




Each piece of the Virtus Robes set is tradeable and does not require completion of Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire to equip.

Each of the bosses has a chance to drop a piece, so if you wind up enjoying one of them more than the other three, you'll be able to farm it to your heart's content while hunting the full set!

Maybe Magic isn't your thing? Perhaps you prefer the simplicity of hitting things with a really big axe? Boy, do we have news for you…


Soulreaper Axe



The Soulreaper Axe is a hefty 2-handed weapon that’ll really give you the edge in combat… for a price.

Before we get much deeper into the details though, we'd love to shoutout Deztroyer, who has already made a massive version of the Soulreaper axe in the real world! Check it out here.

Attacks with the Soulreaper Axe will damage you for 8 Hitpoints and grant you a 'Mighty Stack'. Each Mighty Stack gives you a +6% Strength level boost (additive with bonuses from Prayers) and stacks up to five times, for a total of 40 Hitpoints lost and a +30% Strength boost. Once you're fully stacked, you'll stop taking extra damage and be free to slap your foes silly with one of the scariest Slash weapons in Gielinor.

Alternatively, if you're looking for a quick extra heal, you can use the Soulreaper Axe's special attack Behead. Behead consumes any Mighty Stacks you have, and for each stack consumed you’ll increase your accuracy by 6% and heal for 8 Hitpoints – coincidentally the same number of Hitpoints you exchange for a Mighty Stack! The best part is, you’ll get your healing even if the attack itself misses. Any Mighty Stacks that you have will be lost if you switch weapons, or if you go 10 ticks (6 seconds) without attacking.



The Axe is made up of four untradeable components (one from each boss) but can be traded to other players in its completed form. You'll need to have completed Desert Treasure II to equip it.

While 'hit things with big axe' has been a fun diversion, we're heading back to the arcane arts to wrap up our rewards section!


Ancient Sceptre Upgrades


Remember that Ancient Icon you went dry on for ages before upgrading it into an Ancient Sceptre? It's time to imbue that Sceptre with the power of the Ancient elements themselves…

Each of the post-quest bosses will drop an untradeable Sigil that coincides with their Ancient element: blood, ice, shadow and smoke. These Sigils can be combined with an Ancient Sceptre to create the Blood/Ice/Shadow/Smoke Ancient Sceptre.

These upgrades retain the +5% magic damage and +10% to Ancient Magicks effects, but will imbue the Sceptre with new effects depending on the element:
  • Blood Ancient Sceptre: Blood magic can now overheal you by 10% of your Hitpoints.
  • Ice Ancient Sceptre: Ice magic gains 10% accuracy on unfrozen, freezable targets.
  • Shadow Ancient Sceptre: Shadow spells also drain Strength and Defence in addition to the target's Attack level.
  • Smoke Ancient Sceptre: Smoke spells reduced healing received by 20% for 10 cycles on hit if the target is poisoned.

Upgraded Ancient Sceptres have an increased Magic requirement compared to their predecessor, requiring 75 Magic as well as the usual 60 Strength and 50 Attack to equip.

Alongside these, we'll be tweaking the Ancient sceptre and its upgraded variants to behave similarly to other untradeables on death in PvP, and attaching a repair cost to boot.

But wait, there's more…

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Awakened Bosses[/h2]


Over the last week, you've been voting on whether or not you'd like to see harder, aspirational, Awakened variants of the post-quest bosses enter the game. That poll closed earlier this week, and we’re beyond excited to say that we will be developing these Awakened variants.

This means that in a few weeks (exact date TBD), you'll be able to challenge an Awakened version of each of the four post-quest bosses. To access them, you'll need to consume an Awakener's Orb. These are tradeable 'keys' of sorts and can be obtained as a drop from the regular bosses.

Although the Awakened bosses themselves won’t be available at launch, you'll be able to start receiving Orbs from today, giving you the chance to stock up while you prepare yourself for the challenge ahead.

Following their release, defeating the Awakened variant of all four bosses will reward you with the much-requested Blood Torva kit, in the form of an item you can use on all of your Torva pieces.

Here's a lovely turnaround showing off the new Blood Torva from all angles!

We have a bunch of ideas for these encounters, but we'll be keeping quiet until we get them out in front of you. In the meantime, good luck, have fun, and enjoy pondering your Orbs!

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Wrapping Up[/h2]


We've had a fantastic time working on and realising our newest Grandmaster quest, and we hope you're excited to experience all of the passion and work that's been poured in to Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire.

All that remains is to wish you all good luck. After all, you’ll need it…

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Other Changes[/h2]


Given the sheer size of Desert Treasure II, we only have a small handful of other changes for you this week:
  • In case you missed it, you're now able to re-order your characters on the Jagex Launcher if you're using a Jagex Account. Nice!
  • Players no longer need to enter their bank PIN after hopping worlds, assuming they have the relevant setting toggled. For players on the C++ client, you will be required to re-enter your PIN if you close and re-open the client, and we're working on a fix for this.
  • Your hairstyle will no longer lose volume if you died wearing certain headgear.
  • Leaves pruned off Farming patches are now tracked in the Loot tracker on the C++ client.
  • We've recently added our New Official Client to the Jagex Launcher! Check out this post for more information!
  • Players are no longer able to use kept-on-death Keys to drop items that are not usually dropped on death (such as Ironman Armour) into Gravestones.

[hr][/hr]

[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]


This week marks the first week that we're including Bounty Hunter as part of the PvP World rota. If you have any feedback about the rota going forward, let us know and you'll look to make changes or tweaks where necessary!

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:
  • 560 - (UK) - PvP World
  • 319 - (US) - Bounty Hunter world
  • 579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 580 - (US) - LMS Competitive

World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been de-activated with this rota.

World 569 (AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using 'Zerker' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.

[hr][/hr]


You can also discuss this update on our official forums, 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 Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.