The crystal prison(the Gauntlet)
1. Overview of the Gaunlet
The Gauntlet is a minigame much like the one in OSRS but a much more simplified version in Runura (resource gathering removed;boss fight only). It is the place where you grind for 1 of the best ranging armor (crystal armour) and one of the most expensive and highly desired ranged weapon (Bowfa) in game that can be used or various other pvm content. Best part about the Gauntlet is the fact that there is no gear required and it provides a bunch of alchables (rune/dragon stuff), so even new players can enter and grind it out without worrying about existing gears.
2. Requirements
The Gauntlet can be completed with a variety of stats, but the following are recommended for the smoothest experience:
Ranged: 90+
Mage: 90+
(you can techncially do the 5-1 method, utilizing only 1 mainstyle but recommended to just stick to hybriding for an easier time)
Prayer: 45 (for Protection Prayers + mystic might/eagle eye) preferably 77+ with rigour and augury;
Hitpoints: 90+
3. Gear and Inventory Setup
No gear is required as you aren't allowed to bring any item in anyway. you collect your gear from the crystal thingy in the middle when you enter the gauntlet.
4. Boss fight mechanics
The boss fight will test your ability to deal with a number of mechnanics. I would say it's most similar to demonic gorrillas in a sense due to requiring at least 2 styles (boss prayers) + prayer switching.
Boss prayers: Hunlief starts out the fight protecting from Melee, then switches his prayer according to your 6th attack style (hence the mention of 5-1 earlier, where you hit him 5 times with your primary style, then unequip and kick him on your 6th attack to get him to protect from melee). generally it's alot easier to just switch between range/mage after every 6 hits.
Basic Attack: Hunlief starts the fight using ranged basic attacks then switches to Magic after 4 hits and alternates between the 2 until the end of the fight, both of which can be fully negated with the right prayer. You can either count the number of attacks then switch accordingly, or rely on other visible animation cues to signal changing of style (he will have lightning charge around him when switching to mage, Crystal spikes around his body/head when switching to range [not to be confused with when he uses tornado; more on this below]. if you do miss the prayer, it can hit 30+ (IIRC) off pray
Special attacks: In addition to above, Hunlief has 4 special attacks:
1) Disco floor/ floor is lava: This attack starts with him colouring some tiles on the floor in blue for a few seconds before turning red. Avoid standing on these when it turns red as it will damage you every tick (roughly 5-10 per tick)
2) Disarm Prayer: This attack looks very similar to his Magic attack, except he will disable your prayers. keep calm and switch your protects back on after being hit by this.
3) Tornado storm: This is by far the most annoying mechanic to deal with when it comes to Hunlief. During the fights he will summon 1/3 tornado that chases you around the room and deals 4-12 damage per tick if it reaches you. These tornadoes on its own is not too difficult to deal with but coupled with Disco floor and managing your prayer, can turn out to be a deadly combination, especially with 3 tornadoes stacked onto you.
4) Trample: Hunlief will trample you if you happen to run under him which can deal 40 + damage [iirc] but this mechanic is rarely encountered if you stick to mage/ranged.
5. Strategy and Tips
Before entering the room, do ensure you take the full perfected armor set and the bow + staff, along with 1 potion(generally you dont need more than 1 if your combat is high enough) and full invent of paddlefish if you are just starting out.
Do not panic if you lose count of the attacks, his damage only registers when the projectile hits you (at least in my experience) rather than when he launches the attack, so you can look at his projectile and switch accordingly; The ranged attack looks like a horn while the mage attack is a magic ball attack.
Having to keep count of your attacks while managing your prayer while avoiding his special attacks can be abit overwhelming, but a tiny little trick to help keep track with your 6 attack style is to sync it with his 4 attacks (if you do not stop attacking, your 6th attack should be right before he launches his 1st attack of his 2nd style), so you can time switching weapons together with your protect pray switch.
6. Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Getting tricked by his tornado and thinking its animation for style switch:
As mentioned, the animation for tornado and him switching style can be very similar and sometimes it tricks you into switching off pray. Best solution to this is to either just keep the count in your head or to watch for his projectile after you switch pray and to quickly switch back if required.
Ignoring the Tornado/lava floors:
These mechanics when stacked up can deal significant damage and cause your hp to drop rather significantly. The room can feel rather claustrophobic depending on his lava floor placement but at times its better to soak 1-2 ticks of damage of that than to get hit by triple tornadoes [if you do, move off as soon as you can to avoid taking too much damage]. Best solution is to stack up the tornadoes then kite it by move to a new tile as soon as you launch an attack.
7. Rewards and Conclusion
Upon defeating Hunlief, You can claim your loot from the reward chest, which consist mostly of rune/dragon items, sometimes giving other Etc. items like arrows, runes, coins, gems, and the highly sought after Enhanced weapon seed/armor seeds.
With the right preparation, strategy, and patience, the Gauntlet will be an easy grind for all you Bowfa+crystal armor hopefuls out there.
8. Video example
Below is an example of a kill, im not the best pvmer so it looks abit scuffed. With a little practice and you probably can do a kill without eating or minimal eating 🙂(Also apologies on the vid quality as im playing on a 34" monitor so it scales rather poorly. )
