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Chambers of Xeric: Challenge Mode

This article is compiled from the videos of GnomonkeyRS. It records what Gnomonkey said, with sources, not verified game fact. See About.

This article is about the hard version of the raid. For the regular raid see Chambers of Xeric.

Chambers of Xeric: Challenge Mode

Chambers of Xeric: Challenge Mode
Type Raid
Requirements Highest gear and stats of any raid1
Layout Always identical, starts with Tekton2
Solo record 26:38 by rot salad3
Personal best 27:04 (solo, 2023)4
Solo time to beat about 1 hour 15 minutes5
Videos 3 (first 2023-02-02, latest 2024-11-08)
Main source The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS)

Chambers of Xeric: Challenge Mode (CM) is a regular Chambers of Xeric with every room's stats cranked: everything hits harder, is tankier and has more health5. Gnomonkey considers it genuinely one of the toughest pieces of content in the game. He had not learned it until early 2023, when he began speedrunning it on Twitch6. It has by far the highest gear and stat requirements of any raid1. It is not for money: anyone running it is definitely not doing it for the gp67.

The benefit over regular Chambers is that there is no scouting and the same raid is done every time, but it is harder8. CM gives extra kits at the end and bonus points if the time is made5. In late 2024 he advises doing regular Chambers instead unless a player has at least a Twisted bow, Sanguinesti staff and a decent mage setup, because the only reason to do CM is the kit chance and normal raids give better purples even counting scouting time9.

Contents

Requirements

  • Twisted bow: the player should not enter without one. With only a Bow of Faerdhinen he says the run will go badly and regular Chambers, which gives more loot per hour, should be done instead10. See Twisted bow, whose damage cap is higher still in CM, maxing around 96 on quite a few bosses10.
  • Not needed: a Scythe of Vitur. Everything is so tanky that an Osmumten's fang is effectively the same as a scythe, and a Lance is basically the same as a scythe at Olm11.
  • Valuable items used almost nowhere else, such as Inquisitor's armour and mace and a harmonised nightmare staff for the Ice Demon12.
  • Skills:
  • 95 Thieving to receive three grubs from the chest. Some setups use a Thieving cape to boost to 100 for a chance at four grubs12.
  • 96 Woodcutting for a chance at 8 kindling from the Ice Demon, with 99 preferred to speed up the Muttadile tree12.
  • In his setup, 99 Mining, or a max hit is lost13.
  • Purple sweets: an absurd number are needed to be competitive13. A solo CM eats more than a solo Theatre of Blood, but they are paid for by the drops received, with some profit on the side13.

Mechanics and layout

The room layout and boss order are always the same, starting with Tekton214. Each room drops supplies such as overload, prayer enhance and restore, so few potions need to be brought and more can be farmed as the run goes14. Gnomonkey describes the raid as similar to regular Chambers, the difference being whether problems can be fixed quickly when Olm throws a lot of garbage at the player, since hits are much harder when things go wrong15. Much of the skill is preparing for the following room and keeping inventory and banking under control, a skill not used much in other raids6.

Setup

Gnomonkey runs the Surge Thrall setup: the standard spellbook through the Ice Demon, then a Max cape or Magic cape swap to the Arceuus spellbook for thralls. He calls it by far the fastest setup7. In his 2023 speedrun he kills the Ice Demon with an Inquisitor's armour set and a dragon warhammer16. In 2024 he says that with the Twisted bow loadout from his first run he made the solo time even while AFK-ing about 20 to 30 minutes explaining rooms, and that the Grandmaster time of 38:30 is feasible with this setup17.

He can do at most five CM raids a day, typically for a few hours on stream, and jokes that Grandmasters of Combat Achievements should get a bonus to cape swaps7.

Speedrunning

Time Detail
Solo world record 26:38, held by rot salad (video description, 2023)3
Gnomonkey, 2023 PB 27:04.2, replacing 27:51, still ranked sixth4
Floor 3 pace 12:40 in his May 2023 run, which he considered not great. Low twelves are nice and sub twelves very fast18
Hole on the last floor Targets sub 13 minutes, with his best barely sub 1219
Olm If pacing sub 28:30 he reaches Olm in under 20 minutes on the clock20

In February 2023 he was still three seconds off a sub 28:30 time20. In the May 2023 run, six zero hits in a row on lances in the middle of Olm and a bit less trolling cost what would likely have been a world record Olm at the very least21.

After a raid he tries to remember that purples do not exist: the goal is a good time, not paying back the hundreds of sweets used22.

Room ratings (May 2023)

Reviewing the raid backwards, he rated Olm, Vasa and Guardians as disgusting (very good), Mystics pretty good, Muttadile kind of bad, Vespula, thieving and Tekton average, and Vanguards and Shamans bad23.

Revision history

Date Video Change
2024-11-08 SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS) Added the 2024 guidance: what CM is, Twisted bow requirement, Scythe not needed, supplies and the 1h15 solo time.
2023-05-02 COX CM Speedrun in 27 Minutes Added the 26:38 solo world record, Ice Demon method, floor 3 pace, Olm ratings and his 27:04 personal best.
2023-02-02 The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS) Page created: toughness, requirements, purple sweets, Surge Thrall setup, room layout and sub 13 and sub 12 targets.
## See also

References

  1. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 0:32 ↩↩

  2. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 2:30 ↩↩

  3. COX CM Speedrun in 27 Minutes, 2023-05-02. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩

  4. COX CM Speedrun in 27 Minutes, 2023-05-02. ▶ 29:15 ↩↩

  5. SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS), 2024-11-08. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩↩

  6. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩↩

  7. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 1:57 ↩↩↩

  8. SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS), 2024-11-08. ▶ 0:31 ↩

  9. SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS), 2024-11-08. ▶ 1:09:03 ↩

  10. SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS), 2024-11-08. ▶ 1:00 ↩↩

  11. SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS), 2024-11-08. ▶ 1:45 ↩

  12. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 1:02 ↩↩↩

  13. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 1:30 ↩↩↩

  14. SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS), 2024-11-08. ▶ 2:27 ↩↩

  15. SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS), 2024-11-08. ▶ 1:08:13 ↩

  16. COX CM Speedrun in 27 Minutes, 2023-05-02. ▶ 1:29 ↩

  17. SOLO CM COX GUIDE + Shadow Running! (OSRS), 2024-11-08. ▶ 1:09:20 ↩

  18. COX CM Speedrun in 27 Minutes, 2023-05-02. ▶ 12:45 ↩

  19. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 9:08 ↩

  20. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 13:29 ↩↩

  21. COX CM Speedrun in 27 Minutes, 2023-05-02. ▶ 27:35 ↩

  22. The Chambers CM Experience (OSRS), 2023-02-02. ▶ 14:59 ↩

  23. COX CM Speedrun in 27 Minutes, 2023-05-02. ▶ 28:08 ↩

Raids

Tombs of Amascut • Chambers of Xeric • Theatre of Blood • Chambers of Xeric: Challenge Mode • Raids 4 • Theatre of Blood: Hard Mode

Category: Raids