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Thralls

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

Thralls

Thralls
Type Mechanic
Requirements Book of the Dead1
Types Zombie (melee), skeleton (ranged), ghost (mage)223
Damage 0 to 3 every 4 ticks, average 1.54
Dps About 0.6 to 0.625456
Cost 10 fire runes per thrall7
Update Planned upgrade dropped from the Doom of Mokhaiotl8
Videos 12 (first 2021-07-13, latest 2025-10-04)
Main source NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS)

Thralls are summoned allies from the Arceuus spellbook, cast with the Book of the Dead. Gnomonkey treats them as a nearly universal source of damage: the key to any challenge run is using thralls always, because they deal a lot of damage while his own damage is low.9 He calls them really important for Olm1 and often uses them in Tombs of Amascut, where he keeps the Book of the Dead as an offhand switch.5

Contents

Damage and value

A thrall hits 0 to 3 (average 1.5) every 4 ticks, adding about 0.625 DPS.4 He repeats the figure as 0.625 DPS on every boss, around two thirds of a DPS, which speeds up a raid by several minutes, especially with weaker gear.5 In 2025 he says thralls are always 0.6 DPS, roughly a 15% DPS increase for Sardaco's gear, and that the lower the gear, the bigger the share.6 In a Tombs of Amascut raid they save one to two minutes10 and added about 2k extra damage in one run because everything in the raid is very tanky; with 4 DPS from a player, 0.6 of it is the thrall, which is bigger than a weapon upgrade.11 Thralls never miss: they roll zero to three damage every hit, ignore defence and just punch through.12

His own damage can still exceed a thrall's: he states he somehow does more DPS to Jad than a thrall, noting a thrall costs 10 fire runes while Undead Grasp costs 12 per cast.7 He disagrees with a Reddit post comparing thralls to Surge potions as something you lose DPS without; Surge potions are not the same.13 In a September 2025 competitive raid the group voted to allow thralls and the Book of the Dead over one objection14; players noted that during Kephri the only damage being done was through thralls and told everyone to re-thrall15, and his thralls probably did about half of his damage, which affected how the top score was viewed.16

In the Colosseum, he found waves became easy once he switched to thralls, which provide so much DPS that Ancients is not the play.17 He pulled soul runes from his Shadow for Death Charge to keep SGS specs going18, and notes that everything there has high magic defence, and SGS plus Bloodfury gives the same sustain as camping Death Charge.17 He chose thralls over Barrage in the mage-only Fight Caves because they out-damaged his own casts on high-mage-defence monsters.19

Choosing a type

  • Zombie (melee): often wastes ticks walking around, so he typically avoids it2, but he summons it for the last phase of Akkha20 and for Theatre of Blood phase 1 (otherwise damage is reduced).21
  • Skeleton and ghost: effectively the same, both with a range of six tiles.2
  • Where a monster has high defence but is not invulnerable to a style, such as the Dagannoth Kings or the Kalphite Queen, thrall style does not matter and full damage goes through.2
  • At Callisto the mage thrall does nothing because he is invulnerable to magic.22
  • Many Chambers of Xeric bosses have flat reductions: the Great Olm's hands and head take 50% less from the wrong style, and a wrong-style thrall's max hit drops to one. Use mage on the mage hand, melee on the melee hand and skeleton (ranged) on the head.223
  • Much content forces a type: a mage thrall on Vasa Nistirio (crystals are immune to ranged), a specific type for each hand of Ulm with ranged on its head, and melee at Theatre of Blood P1.21
  • At the Ice Demon a thrall maxes one and rarely hits (about one in four hits; a would-be three becomes a one, otherwise a zero), so he does not bother summoning one, though he does not knock others for it.2324
  • Chambers is one of the few raids where thralls are not the default spellbook, but they are really good for learning solo Olm25; without one, a zero hit makes Olm turn midway and hit you.26

In Tombs of Amascut he uses Death Charge because many things give it: monkeys at Baba, Kephri's swarms and adds, Akkha's shadows and the core on Warden P2. He runs no Blood Barrage in the Atlatl setup because thralls and Death Charge give more specs and DPS.1010 Thrall monkeys in Ba-Ba's room also drink prayer.27 For Nex he brings runes for Death Charge and thralls, since thralls hit through Nex's very high defence; see Nex gear setup.

The Doom of Mokhaiotl upgrade (2025)

In January 2025 the Doom of Mokhaiotl blog proposed a consumable stored in the ammo slot that makes thralls boomerang back when they despawn and damage the target if they hit.28 Gnomonkey objected that many bosses are in walled areas (Ulm, Warden P3, Duke Sucellus) where a boomerang cannot pass, and some wander (Vasa Nistirio).28 His design principle is that any upgrade must always benefit thralls so the currency has a reason to be used; otherwise players spam the consumable at bosses where the mechanic does not work.29

He assessed community suggestions:

Suggestion Opinion
Thrall damage 0-3 to 1-3, no thrall book Always buffs thralls and works as a baseline, but he wants better; the no-book part would be a huge buff.3031
AoE around the thrall Dislikes it: players do not control the spawn, so a thrall one tile off Kephri misses, forcing re-summoning and more currency.32
Stand-with-thrall buff (e.g. min hit of four) Would push players to use thralls where they cannot reach (Vespula, Zuk); the buff should apply where thralls are already used.33
User-controlled thrall placement Likes it, and says the boomerang would work much better with it.34
Typeless thralls with different effects Appealing, turning the choice into decision-making rather than APM.35 A typeless omni-thrall would reduce complexity.36
Damage over time on all thralls Adds little; burn is buggy and appears to count as ranged, so it hits zeros on ranged-immune targets.37
Debuff building a DoT on the target Too complicated: a thrall is summoned and does damage, as Avenge is cast and reflects.38
Exploding thrall or thrall bomb Too crazy an effect for something that should be simple and small.39

He is leaning toward three differentiated types, each doing its own simple thing.40 Thralls are currently set-it-and-forget-it, poor ground for a play-around bonus, and may need a rework.41 A thrall upgrade charging the book of the dead is less clunky than ammo-slot tokens, which he finds really frustrating, and it should charge something even if the book is later removed by a quest.42 He agrees thralls are far less interesting than Vengeance, which involves deciding when to dump health on a target; players almost never take Vengeance outside spellbook swapping in Theatre of Blood and just camp thralls.4344 He suggested on stream that doing something right with a thrall could grant a mini Vengeance or recoil proc, though it would require a rework.45

Jagex then removed the planned upgrade from the rewards.8 He had asked for ideas, got hundreds of comments, and was shocked Jagex dropped the idea instead of using one; he calls dropping the thrall currency and upgrade one of the worst changes he has heard of pre-update.846 A minimal upgrade, he says, would be hitting one to three, or giving thralls different effects and making them typeless.47

Revision history

Date Video Change
2025-10-04 DUO TOA INSANITY with @SardacoTV (OSRS) Updated: roughly 15% DPS increase for Sardaco's gear, bigger than a weapon upgrade (Oct 2025).
2025-09-23 WOW VS OSRS HIGH RISK TOA (OSRS) Added competitive raid ruling and thrall damage share (Sep 2025).
2025-06-28 TOA 300 IRONMAN/BUDGET Guide (OSRS) Added ToA raid-time savings, Death Charge sources and zombie thrall on Akkha.
2025-06-25 NEW 300 TOA BUDGET GUIDE (OSRS) Updated DPS value as roughly two thirds on every boss and the ToA switch (Jun 2025, was 0.625 from one video).
2025-05-01 NEW Entry Mode CM CoX Guide (OSRS) Added Book of the Dead requirement and Olm learning advice (May 2025).
2025-03-29 Why Surge Potions Aren't OP (OSRS) Added damage figures: 0-3 every 4 ticks, 0.625 DPS (Mar 2025).
2025-01-14 Jagex Let Reddit Win - Varlamore Final Dawn Blog #3 (OSRS) Added Jagex dropping the upgrade and his reaction (Jan 2025).
2025-01-12 NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS) Added the Doom of Mokhaiotl upgrade proposal and his critique of each community suggestion (Jan 2025).
2024-10-27 Your First Budget Solo CoX Guide (OSRS) Added Chambers and Ice Demon notes (Oct 2024).
2024-05-09 WIKI GUIDES: Fight Caves MAGE ONLY (OSRS) Added the always-use rule for challenge runs, with the Undead Grasp cost comparison (May 2024).
2024-03-22 WORLD RECORD COLOSSEUM + Mini Guide (OSRS) Added Colosseum use and the high magic defence note (Mar 2024).
2021-07-13 Thralls Guide (Arceuus Spellbook) OSRS Page created: thrall types and which monsters resist or are immune to them.
## See also

References

  1. NEW Entry Mode CM CoX Guide (OSRS), 2025-05-01. ▶ 2:01 ↩↩

  2. Thralls Guide (Arceuus Spellbook) OSRS, 2021-07-13. ▶ 3:06 ↩↩↩↩↩

  3. Thralls Guide (Arceuus Spellbook) OSRS, 2021-07-13. ▶ 5:02 ↩↩

  4. Why Surge Potions Aren't OP (OSRS), 2025-03-29. ▶ 6:36 ↩↩↩

  5. NEW 300 TOA BUDGET GUIDE (OSRS), 2025-06-25. ▶ 3:01 ↩↩↩

  6. DUO TOA INSANITY with @SardacoTV (OSRS), 2025-10-04. ▶ 2:34 ↩↩

  7. WIKI GUIDES: Fight Caves MAGE ONLY (OSRS), 2024-05-09. ▶ 3:42 ↩↩

  8. Jagex Let Reddit Win - Varlamore Final Dawn Blog #3 (OSRS), 2025-01-14. ▶ 6:25 ↩↩↩

  9. WIKI GUIDES: Fight Caves MAGE ONLY (OSRS), 2024-05-09. ▶ 2:51 ↩

  10. TOA 300 IRONMAN/BUDGET Guide (OSRS), 2025-06-28. ▶ 4:56 ↩↩↩

  11. DUO TOA INSANITY with @SardacoTV (OSRS), 2025-10-04. ▶ 46:27 ↩

  12. DUO TOA INSANITY with @SardacoTV (OSRS), 2025-10-04. ▶ 50:49 ↩

  13. Why Surge Potions Aren't OP (OSRS), 2025-03-29. ▶ 2:28 ↩

  14. WOW VS OSRS HIGH RISK TOA (OSRS), 2025-09-23. ▶ 7:03 ↩

  15. WOW VS OSRS HIGH RISK TOA (OSRS), 2025-09-23. ▶ 13:00 ↩

  16. WOW VS OSRS HIGH RISK TOA (OSRS), 2025-09-23. ▶ 1:21:15 ↩

  17. WORLD RECORD COLOSSEUM + Mini Guide (OSRS), 2024-03-22. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩

  18. WORLD RECORD COLOSSEUM + Mini Guide (OSRS), 2024-03-22. ▶ 0:29 ↩

  19. WIKI GUIDES: Fight Caves MAGE ONLY (OSRS), 2024-05-09. ▶ 32:30 ↩

  20. TOA 300 IRONMAN/BUDGET Guide (OSRS), 2025-06-28. ▶ 21:58 ↩

  21. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 7:27 ↩↩

  22. Thralls Guide (Arceuus Spellbook) OSRS, 2021-07-13. ▶ 3:34 ↩↩

  23. Your First Budget Solo CoX Guide (OSRS), 2024-10-27. ▶ 49:00 ↩

  24. NEW Entry Mode CM CoX Guide (OSRS), 2025-05-01. ▶ 9:52 ↩

  25. Your First Budget Solo CoX Guide (OSRS), 2024-10-27. ▶ 6:03 ↩

  26. NEW Entry Mode CM CoX Guide (OSRS), 2025-05-01. ▶ 52:46 ↩

  27. DUO TOA INSANITY with @SardacoTV (OSRS), 2025-10-04. ▶ 9:35 ↩

  28. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 0:29 ↩↩

  29. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 1:00 ↩

  30. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 1:26 ↩

  31. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 1:59 ↩

  32. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 2:29 ↩

  33. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 3:26 ↩

  34. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 3:57 ↩

  35. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 7:58 ↩

  36. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 8:57 ↩

  37. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 8:26 ↩

  38. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 9:24 ↩

  39. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 10:27 ↩

  40. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 9:54 ↩

  41. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 4:24 ↩

  42. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 6:55 ↩

  43. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 11:25 ↩

  44. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 12:22 ↩

  45. NEW MAGE CAPE - Tradable vs Untradeable? (OSRS), 2025-01-12. ▶ 11:52 ↩

  46. Jagex Let Reddit Win - Varlamore Final Dawn Blog #3 (OSRS), 2025-01-14. ▶ 7:16 ↩

  47. Jagex Let Reddit Win - Varlamore Final Dawn Blog #3 (OSRS), 2025-01-14. ▶ 12:07 ↩

Mechanics

Colosseum invocations • Yama contracts • Invocations (Tombs of Amascut) • Jal-ImKot • Inferno pillars • Jal-Ak • Alt account • Thralls • Nex gear setup • Tempoross • Turael • Inferno waves • Jal-Nib • Doom of Mokhaiotl: rock block method • Monkey Room • Fortis Colosseum pillars • Phantom barrage • Awakened bosses • Melee gear progression • Demonic Brutus • Jal-MejRah • Prayer flicking • Butterfly Tech • Fortis Colosseum setup • Doom of Mokhaiotl: melee punish • Sulliuscep • Botting • Off-ticking • Corner trapping • Doom of Mokhaiotl: car attack • Combat Achievements • Doom of Mokhaiotl: shield phase • Pest Control • Blood Barrage • Nylocas • Great Olm 4-1 method • Nex reset • Triple Jad • RuneScape 3 combat • Tightrope skip

Category: Mechanics