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Theatre of Blood

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

Theatre of Blood

Theatre of Blood
Type Raid
Videos 16 (first 2021-01-29, latest 2026-05-27)
Main source THEATRE OF BLOOD Money Making Guide OSRS (8m+ GP/HR) 2021

The Theatre of Blood is a six-room raid (Maiden through Verzik) that Gnomonkey describes as one of the hardest pieces of PvM to learn and, later, as the best raid in the game, with a very high skill ceiling and mechanical depth in every room. His 2021 money-making guide covers requirements, roles, setups and loot; later videos cover plugins, solo runs, hard mode and the effect of Project Rebalance on Verzik.

Contents

Difficulty and Gnomonkey's opinion

  • In January 2021 he calls it one of, if not the, hardest PvM encounters to learn, harder to complete consistently with low-KC randoms than the Inferno, since one mistake can wipe the team, and much harder to learn than Chambers of Xeric because a wipe means starting over, which makes learning Verzik at the end a nightmare1.
  • By March 2022 he calls it amazing S tier content, above CMs, where every room requires skill and allows harder, chancier strategies that lower health but make the raid faster, which he says Jagex should focus on2. A through line is that mistakes punish the team3; the main thing he dislikes is that almost every room requires reducing defence4. See also the PvM boss tier list.
  • In May 2022 he rates it 4/5 for inventory management, 5/5 for movement (exact placement in most rooms) and 3/5 for prayer management, since prayers are restored every room56.
  • In October 2022 he says it is very hard to jump into at base skill level but has an ocean of depth, with tech hidden in every room, and that with over 800 KC he is nowhere near mastering it78.
  • In July 2023 he calls it the best raid in the game, with Nylocas the best room, and says Maiden, Bloat, Sotetseg, Xarpus and Verzik all have incredible depth for improving times910; hitting its ceiling is almost impossible11. He quotes several high-level players who call it their favourite or the only fun thing in the game12.
  • In January 2021 he also calls it the best money maker in the game besides alting, with Nightmare close1; by July 2024 he says it and Chambers typically cap out around 10 million GP per hour13. He says complex switches practised at Nex prepare a player for it14.

Requirements

  • Requirements are significantly lower than Chambers. The stat requirements he lists come from the We Do Raids Discord and are bare minimums; lacking something listed will often stop teams taking you15.
  • Melee stats matter most as melee is used in every room; 90 combat stats are the bare minimum, but he strongly recommends maxing combat first15. 99 Strength versus 90 is a 10% DPS difference, which he calls 50% of the upgrade from a tentacle whip to a scythe; he recommends training in the Nightmare Zone16.
  • 94 Magic is needed for the freezer role at Maiden (Ice Barrage); non-freezers want it for Vengeance17. High Prayer reduces super restores used, and Agility matters, especially at Bloat17.
  • A Taste of Hope unlocks the Drakan's medallion teleport; Haunted Mine is needed for the Salve amulet and the Western Provinces hard diary for Elite Void and the Crystal halberd18.
  • Required unlocks: full Elite Void with each helmet, Crystal halberd, Salve amulets (stockpiled, since one is dropped each raid; he collected 500 in under an hour), Assembler, Dragon defender, rune pouch, Rigor and Augury19.

Teams and roles

  • Most teams are threes or fours. For learners he recommends fours; trios earn much more per hour but one death often seals a trio's fate. Five-man raids are much harder, and the raid does not scale below trios19.
  • Four-man roles are South Mage, North Mage, Melee DPS and Ranged DPS, deciding who freezes which side at Maiden and who does what at Nylocas; in a trio the melee DPS role is cut20.
  • DPS roles bring a rune pouch with lunar runes (mud, astral, death) for Pot Share and Vengeance, and cast Vengeance whenever it is off cooldown21.
  • The South Mage takes a mage offhand (Book of Darkness, droppable after Sotetseg) for 100% accuracy on the Nylocas at Maiden, soul runes to tank at Maiden and heal back with Blood Barrage, and an imbued heart21. The North Mage and melee DPS take a three-tick melee weapon unless using a whip; the melee DPS brings a Bandos godsword; the ranged DPS takes a ranging potion and about 20 chinchompas22.
  • In advanced teams the South Mage can bring all the freezes and freeze Maiden Nylocas 1 to 4 on the south side tick-perfectly while the other two machine-gun N1 and N2 with blowpipes, giving an extra Vengeance caster22.
  • At the board the South Mage should form the party, since Maiden prioritises players in party order from top to bottom23. The order players leave becomes the next orb order24.
  • Teams are found through the We Do Raids Discord (strict scammer ban list, own ToB guides), world 416 for free-for-all randoms, or a PvM clan with voice comms25.
  • In July 2021 he notes the fourth and fifth members can take thralls for free, since only two mages are needed, possibly creating a "melee thraller" role; he says the discussed meta of everyone bringing spellbook-swap runes wastes a giant section of inventory26.

Gear and supplies

  • He says stats matter much more than gear, and AFK'd combat at Ammonite Crabs between raids until maxed18.
  • Learners should stay in Full Void until comfortable with supplies; using no supplies in Verzik phase 2 is a sign to move on27. The basic setup's Swift blade is a melee-role item for Nylocas (needed only with a scythe) and can be swapped for about 20 black chinchompas or about 20 soul runes; Crystal halberd, Dragon claws and Dragon warhammer are all used, so he takes all three plus the BGS if in the role27.
  • If a learner owns a scythe he still recommends a whip for Verzik phase 2, since two-stepping with a whip is easier than scythe walking; he usually has learners try scythe walking after about ten KC. The blowpipe should hold at least rune darts28.
  • The intermediate setup uses fighter torso and obsidian legs until Bandos is affordable and drops void melee for Bandos; a BGS user brings a face guard29. It drops Bruise Brew for divine potions, with one divine super combat covering the raid before Verzik and a final super combat for phase 330. He keeps void mage helm and magic cape in inventory slots that work in both directions at Nylocas boss switches, and non-freezers can bank them for more food31.
  • Before entering he pre-pots a divine ranging potion and divine super combat, eats a shark then an anglerfish, and uses an imbued heart (important for the freezers)23. He stays fully potted almost always, especially when hammer speccing; with regular potions or a heart at Nylocas, use Preserve throughout32.
  • The goal is no food in a room, but learners should eat rather than die; more than one brew at Maiden, or a death, is a sign to reset33. For each room the whole team spam clicks the door and the party creator starts it so everyone enters on the same tick34.

Rules

  • Finishing a room instantly restores prayer, health and run energy, not drained stats35.
  • A dead player is caged rather than ending the raid; it ends only if the whole team dies, and reclaiming costs 100k, taken from the desk coffer before the bank35. A Hardcore Ironman loses status on dying in any room35.

Rooms

  • Maiden: progression described in 2022 is blowpipe around freezing most crabs, clumping crabs for a ranger to chinchompa, scything while moving each attack to avoid blood, equipping a ranged weapon as she attacks to avoid stat drain, and freezing the final crabs to kill her before they unfreeze; stacking the first and second crab spawns for area damage is another technique736. She calculates damage on her animation, on the same tick as stat drain37. A Surge potion claw plus ZCB use is valuable for stacking crabs in team speed runs, and the large crab pile makes a double Death Charge easy; duo raids have exactly two crabs3839.
  • Bloat, Nylocas, Sotetseg, Xarpus: thralls at Bloat do half damage while he is walking40. At Nylocas thralls only damage Nylocas of their style, without reflecting damage or locking out any Nylocas, and at Nylocas Vasilias only damage the boss on his correct style40. In 2023 he says Nylocas has depth from semi-random spawns, with speedrunners carefully keeping the room empty9. Solo, he calls it easily the hardest room41.
  • Verzik: thralls shine at all phases because her defence cannot be drained, especially phase one (damage capped at 10) and phase two (through her shield)42. Phase 1 involves spreading special attacks, running behind a pillar with careful timing, pre-hits and tactical tanking8. Surge potions are good at phase 2 for skipping the last red crabs38. For phase 3 one-tick tanking, set Visual Metronome to 7 ticks and click under her every 7th tick43.
  • Speedruns use a spellbook swap with the Max cape at Sotetseg, giving with CM Chambers a pool of 5 runs per day44.

Loot

  • Regular loot from a deathless raid typically pays for supplies with a scythe, averaging about 400k, dropping slightly per death45.
  • A deathless raid has a 1 in 9.1 chance of a purple chest regardless of team size, so trios are more profitable; the purple most likely goes to the MVP46. In 2024 he gives the chance as 9% split among the entire team, with the average purple worth far less than at Tombs of Amascut47.
  • MVP points go to the top damage dealer in a room: two for each boss and Verzik phase, one for Nylocas boss and Sotetseg; each death costs four46.
  • Purples: Avernic defender hilt 8 in 19, every other purple except the scythe 2 in 19 (including each Justiciar piece), Scythe of Vitur 1 in 1948.
  • Average chest value when splitting (see table below).
Team Deathless Per death Five deaths
Four-man about 3m about -150k about 2.3m
Trio 3.8m about -225k about 2.7m

Source:48

Solo and hard mode

  • In March 2024 he attempted a solo ToB aiming at sub 55 minutes after not doing regular solo in years, finding solo Nylocas completely different from hard mode4950. He thinks solo was always possible, with lack of Blood Fury the early obstacle at Maiden, and agrees solo is hard to learn while team raids are not too bad5152. The attempt ended at Verzik when he swung at 35.2% health53.
  • On Verzik phase 2 red crabs, in July 2023 he says solo requires tick-eating for 15 minutes in Xarpus's phase 2 and suggests one red crab spawn like hard mode54. In April 2024 he says Project Rebalance now spawns only one red crab if one player is left, a great change for solos, but lightning damage was untouched at 50, so a lone player dies instantly; he wants it scaled down as in hard mode5556.
  • A May 2024 update changed the solo red crabs to a single crab and capped lightning damage; he says tick eating with purple sweets for 15 minutes is no longer needed, and criticises that normal mode had not been fixed sooner57. He would not make a Wiki Guides video for solo ToB, saying no one should enter with budget setups57.
  • His solo normal-mode run finished in about 49 minutes, a personal best beating his old barely sub-55 by over five minutes58.
  • On hard mode, in 2023 he calls it a complete step down in every way except Verzik, which gets more health after the tornadoes5960.
  • In September 2023 he did the Entry Mode ToB for the Naked Man Triathlon, saying it is unbelievably hard without armour and that Nylocas is the worst room; he joked he would never do it again616263. He notes Verzik P1 appeared to AFK because she could not see him64.

Plugins

  • In 2021 he recommends the external ToB Damage Counter plugin (percent of damage per room; alerts chat if someone forgot a salve at Bloat or healed Verzik P3 by being hit by a tornado) and the ToB HealthBars plugin (player names in place of the orbs, helping phase 1 Verzik spec order)65. He lists the TobQOL plugin and others in 20246667686970. Details are on RuneLite plugins.

Suggestions

  • He wants party order static, with the creator staying leader7172. He suggests an arena CA such as Verzik phase 3 solo without tanking a melee hit, and notes the Perfect Theatre CA is usually done in a trio because of Xarpus and encourages arbitrarily harder play7374.

Revision history

Date Video Change
2026-05-27 Summer Sweep up WISH-LIST (OSRS) Added wish for static party order.
2025-09-11 How to Make Combat Achievements in OSRS Better Added Combat Achievement opinions (Perfect Theatre trio meta; arena CA suggestion).
2025-03-29 Why Surge Potions Aren't OP (OSRS) Added Surge potion uses at Maiden and Verzik P2, and Death Charge note.
2024-07-07 Ultimate Account Building Guide (OSRS) Updated loot and income view: 9% purple split among team; income caps around 10m GP/hr (was over 10m for trios in 2021).
2024-05-24 Solo Normal ToB - NEW UPDATE (OSRS) Added May 2024 solo update: single red crab and capped lightning; solo personal best about 49 minutes (previous barely sub-55); no more 15-minute tick eating.
2024-04-18 JAGEX RUINING EARLY GAME PVM (OSRS) Added call for lower red crab lightning damage in line with hard mode.
2024-04-17 REBALANCE DISASTER (OSRS) Added Project Rebalance change: one red crab when one player is left; lightning still 50.
2024-03-02 ToA - Solo ToB - Nex (03/01/24) Added March 2024 solo attempt notes and Maiden damage timing.
2024-02-25 Guide to PVM: Plugins (OSRS) Added TobQOL and other room plugins.
2023-09-12 Naked Man Triathlon (OSRS) Added Entry Mode naked run notes.
2023-07-30 A Plea To Jagex (OSRS) Changed opinion to best raid in the game; added hard mode criticism and solo Xarpus complaint.
2022-10-26 Why Raids 3 Is Losing Interest (OSRS) Added Maiden progression, ocean-of-depth opinion and 800 KC.
2022-05-11 Getting Into PVM in Old School Runescape (OSRS) Added inventory, movement and prayer ratings.
2022-03-19 PVM Boss Tier List (ALL BOSSES) OSRS Added S tier rating, team-punishment theme and defence-reduction dislike.
2021-07-13 Thralls Guide (Arceuus Spellbook) OSRS Added thrall notes for Bloat, Nylocas and Verzik.
2021-01-29 THEATRE OF BLOOD Money Making Guide OSRS (8m+ GP/HR) 2021 Page created: money-making guide covering requirements, roles, setups, rules, plugins and loot.
## See also

References

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  63. Naked Man Triathlon (OSRS), 2023-09-12. ▶ 2:09:50 ↩

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  74. How to Make Combat Achievements in OSRS Better, 2025-09-11. ▶ 36:47 ↩

Raids

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

Category: Raids