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Yama contracts

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

Yama contracts

Yama contracts
Type Mechanic
Videos 5 (first 2025-05-09, latest 2025-06-05)
Main source Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History

Yama contracts are tradable, single-use agreements introduced with Yama: the player brings a contract to Yama for a harder fight with a fixed reward on success. Gnomonkey covered them from the pre-release blog through the launch problems and the hotfix patch of late May 2025, moving from strong criticism to a conditional recommendation. See also Update: Yama contracts and Opinion: Yama contract system and tradable contracts.

Contents

Design and intent

  • Per the blog as read by Gnomonkey, contracts are tradable agreements for a more challenging fight with a guaranteed reward on success1. The contract is consumed on the attempt, so a player chooses between attempting it once or selling it to another player2.
  • Jagex states that base-form Yama remains the intended experience for the overwhelming majority of players, with contracts as an added layer3. At the time of the blog there were at least seven bespoke contracts, each fundamentally changing the approach and each with a fixed reward known beforehand3.
  • Jagex states contracts are not a slightly harder fight with slightly more common uniques: some of Yama's restraints are removed and the reward is guaranteed on success4. Contracts must be completed solo, since Jagex wanted to avoid handling two players with the same contract4.
  • Jagex says guaranteed tradable rewards on rarer contracts mean skilled players profit on every kill, because market forces make the contract cheaper than its reward5. Some tradable-reward contracts can only come from Yama himself, not from Chasm demons6. Jagex was warm on repeat contracts for untradable rewards7.
  • Contracts could be obtained at release, but Jagex planned to enable them fully on 23 May 2025, a week later, to fix bugs and let players stock up8. Gnomonkey considered the delay necessary, since with a tradable drop and an immediately live boss contracts would cost around a hundred million GP9.

Obtaining contracts

  • Besides Yama's drops, certain contracts can be target-farmed from demons in the Chasm of Fire, which display a glyph indicating how to kill them; examples are killing with magic, using Slayer with invocations, or killing while bound. More active methods give better odds1011.
  • Contracts for the cosmetic Radiant Oathplate armour variant can come from the Chasm demons, which Jagex expected to be in greater supply than Awakener's Orbs and not as costly as the chase for Sanguine Torva12. Jagex called the demon source an easy lever to tweak and said it would watch contract volume, price and ironman feel13.
  • Before the launch changes the solo rate was 1 in 20 for a dossier and 1 in 33 per contract type, about 15% of dossiers giving a Radiant Oathplate kit contract, roughly one per 125 kills14.
  • Launch changes: the dossier rate went from 1 in 20 to 1 in 17, then to 1 in 1215. Weightings were adjusted to reduce teleports and increase purifying sigil (Radiant kit) contracts, with tradable-reward acquisition contracts at about the previous rate15. Contracts now drop three at a time and the Chasm demon rate is three times higher; meeting the active sigil's condition makes them two times more common, and killing a demon with the special attack glyph (essentially needing a purging staff) makes them five times more common instead of three16.
  • Gnomonkey needed about 200 contracts for his kit; at the original rates that would have taken about 25,000 Yama kills and roughly 2,100 hours17. He says the new rates are roughly five to six times faster18.

Individual contracts

Gnomonkey says all contracts give Yama very high health (the lowest 3,000, one 4,000) plus higher defence, stats and damage19. Fights take roughly 6 to 15 minutes20.

  • Forfeit Breath: Yama drains run energy every four game ticks and on dealing damage, and reaching zero run energy kills the challenger2122. Gnomonkey calls it one of the two easiest contracts (10 to 15 contracts for him), a gimmick and a boring fight, and used a food healing about 23 with 10 run energy2319.
  • Glyphic Attenuation: glyph protection lasts roughly four ticks, Yama is weak to crush only, and prayer bonus inversely affects prayer drain (higher bonus drains faster but deals more damage)2425. Phase three must be meleed, ruling out Dono fly-style methods26. Gnomonkey found it fun but like a melee-only Combat Achievement rather than an awakened Yama27.
  • Sensory Clouding: increased prayer penetration (he saw 40 hit through melee prayer), Yama pursues forever, void flare explosions are lethal and cannot be survived with a hot rock cake stall, Phoenix necklace or Redemption, and the challenger has 50% reduced attack range2829. It took him about 12 minutes; phases one and two were a slog but phase three was a great time, and he calls it probably the second hardest contract and close to a really good boss fight2030.
  • Divine Severance: prayers are active for one tick then disabled for five, so each must be tick perfect, and Yama spawns a lethal void flare every ten seconds that must be caught or the boss heals to full31. Gnomonkey called it the worst designed contract, likened to Kephri medic with tick-perfect prayers, and easier than Forfeit Breath3233.
  • Bloody Blows: void flare specials spawn twice as many orbs and the flares are more resistant (splashing possible); both Yama and the challenger get the Dharok's armour effect3435. The player needs 15 health or lower in max mage to be guaranteed to one-shot void flares, the purging staff still working despite the demonbane note36. Yama chips through prayer for a max hit of 12 in the last phase37. Gnomonkey used Guthix Rest to raise and rock cake to lower health38, and calls it by far the hardest, about two times harder than the others, taking about 80 contracts39.
  • Oathplate Acquisition: costs roughly 60 to 70 mil GP per attempt, guarantees a piece of Oathplate, and is lost on death40. Meteors fall through the whole fight, the final phase has sets of five meteors, Yama constantly spawns four void flares dealing 70 if not caught, and all healing and prayer restoration is halved; the centre meteor rags a tile41.
  • Shard Acquisition: see "Moneymaking" below.

Release problems and the 2025 patch

  • Divine Severance was impossible at release: void flares had 140 health against a best purging staff hit of about 84, and three orbs spawned at about 800 boss health and exploded after 20 ticks42. Jagex hotfixed it at 2 a.m.; it had been acting as a duo encounter, doubling void flare HP43. Gnomonkey says Reddit theories about holy water or Din's bulwark were wrong44.
  • Bloody Blows was also impossible at release: the raised minimum hit did not work on void flares45. Gnomonkey wasted many attempts on it, his first and most expensive contract46.
  • He bought about 50 of each contract before release at 3 to 5 million each, a little over a billion; some then fell to around 100k to 500k and he lost roughly 300 million on bugged contracts47. He had sold half his contracts before launch expecting the price to drop48. There is a 500k death fee on top of contract cost, and he lost over a billion in total49.
  • Patch of 29 May 2025: Yama no longer has increased HP on any contract except Bloodied Blows (40% to 20%) and Glyphic Attenuation (25% to 15%)50. Prayer penetration on magic and ranged attacks in Bloodied Blows fell from 10% to 5% (chip damage about 12 to 6)51. Phase transitions moved to 75% and 50% from 66% and 33%, so phases one and two are shorter while the final phase keeps its length5253. Glyphic Attenuation's prayer-bonus damage increase was strengthened54. Duo void flares no longer always spawn with 140 HP, and splashing on void flares in Bloodied Blows is no longer possible55.
  • The tile ragging mechanic was removed from the Catalyst, Worm and Shard Acquisition contracts but remains on Harmony and Oathplate Acquisition56. The demonbane restriction was removed from all contracts, so Emberlight works on all except the crush one (Glyphic)57.

Moneymaking

  • After the patch the Shard Acquisition contract no longer rags the player, which Gnomonkey says makes it much easier and very profitable58. It costs about 8 to 10 mil and gives 45 Oathplate shards worth about 16 mil, six to eight mil profit per kill58.
  • It is effectively duo-only: one player uses the contract and gets 45 shards and rare drops only, while the partner gets normal loot; the roles must be agreed beforehand5859. Irons can practise by bringing Yama 100 pineapple pizzas59.
  • Gnomonkey says he made about 300m from shard contracts, his partner Sax similar, and 50m/hr or more is easy depending on drops60. He reads Hedron's calculation of shards at 350k each, 45 per kill: profit of 5.75 to 9.75 mil per kill, roughly 86.25 to 146.25 mil per hour at 15 kills an hour61. He says it will not last and urges strong players to jump in now61.
  • Gnomonkey calls Oathplate acquisition the best moneymaker in PvM, likely forever, a near death-match for PvMers, as hard as a hard mode Theatre of Blood solo Nylocas; he expects most players cannot do it, though a very good player on an iron could with a lot of practice406263. One contract drops per eight Oathplate pieces, many going to ironmen who cannot do it64.

Gnomonkey's opinion

  • Before launch he strongly disliked the Chasm demon farming, comparing it to RuneScape 3 Ascension keys, and called it a "Slayer 2.0" system that does not benefit the game, though he saw the logic of a cheaper second supply656667. He found needing AFK Slayer to unlock more attempts at the hardest content backwards68, and having used five contracts on Oathplate attempts found both buying more and killing greater demons unengaging12.
  • After the patch he said he can probably recommend contracts: they are not super expensive, fair and dramatically less of a slog69. He still dislikes the system but says Jagex made it dramatically better70.
  • He considers the Harmony and Oathplate contracts still insanely difficult and expensive per attempt, reading the lack of change as meaning they are not bugged71. Shard Acquisition he considers feasible and fairly good for profit56.

Revision history

Date Video Change
2025-06-05 Oathplate Contracts Solved - Gridlock Gambit Method (OSRS) Added Oathplate Acquisition costs (60 to 70 mil), mechanics and Gnomonkey's difficulty assessment.
2025-05-30 Shard Contracts: NEW BEST GP/HR! (OSRS) Added Shard Acquisition profit estimates (6 to 8 mil per kill) and duo method after the ragging removal.
2025-05-29 Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS) Added the 29 May 2025 patch: HP, prayer penetration, phase thresholds, ragging and demonbane changes. Changed opinion to a conditional recommendation.
2025-05-25 Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History Added drop-rate changes (dossier 1 in 20 to 1 in 12, contracts three at a time), per-contract mechanics, release bugs and his losses.
2025-05-09 Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS) Page created: pre-release blog explanation of contracts, demon farming source and Gnomonkey's initial criticism.
## See also

References

  1. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 0:29 ↩

  2. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 0:59 ↩

  3. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 1:30 ↩↩

  4. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 1:59 ↩↩

  5. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 16:58 ↩

  6. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 13:02 ↩

  7. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 13:14 ↩

  8. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 3:24 ↩

  9. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 3:58 ↩

  10. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 6:46 ↩

  11. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 7:48 ↩

  12. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 10:41 ↩↩

  13. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 9:13 ↩

  14. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 1:57 ↩

  15. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 3:27 ↩↩

  16. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 3:54 ↩

  17. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 2:24 ↩

  18. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 4:27 ↩

  19. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 18:23 ↩↩

  20. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 22:48 ↩↩

  21. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 16:14 ↩

  22. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 16:47 ↩

  23. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 17:50 ↩

  24. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 18:57 ↩

  25. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 19:23 ↩

  26. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 20:45 ↩

  27. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 21:13 ↩

  28. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 21:41 ↩

  29. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 22:15 ↩

  30. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 23:20 ↩

  31. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 24:25 ↩

  32. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 23:53 ↩

  33. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 25:20 ↩

  34. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 32:43 ↩

  35. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 33:11 ↩

  36. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 34:10 ↩

  37. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 34:41 ↩

  38. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 36:14 ↩

  39. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 32:12 ↩

  40. Oathplate Contracts Solved - Gridlock Gambit Method (OSRS), 2025-06-05. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩

  41. Oathplate Contracts Solved - Gridlock Gambit Method (OSRS), 2025-06-05. ▶ 1:19 ↩

  42. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 26:50 ↩

  43. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 29:39 ↩

  44. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 29:06 ↩

  45. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 38:40 ↩

  46. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 39:07 ↩

  47. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 5:29 ↩

  48. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 4:55 ↩

  49. Yama Contracts are the Worst Update in OSRS History, 2025-05-25. ▶ 48:29 ↩

  50. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 4:37 ↩

  51. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 5:11 ↩

  52. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 5:40 ↩

  53. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 6:09 ↩

  54. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 6:34 ↩

  55. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 7:08 ↩

  56. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 7:41 ↩↩

  57. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 8:42 ↩

  58. Shard Contracts: NEW BEST GP/HR! (OSRS), 2025-05-30. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩↩

  59. Shard Contracts: NEW BEST GP/HR! (OSRS), 2025-05-30. ▶ 1:02 ↩↩

  60. Shard Contracts: NEW BEST GP/HR! (OSRS), 2025-05-30. ▶ 0:03 ↩

  61. Shard Contracts: NEW BEST GP/HR! (OSRS), 2025-05-30. ▶ 2:01 ↩↩

  62. Oathplate Contracts Solved - Gridlock Gambit Method (OSRS), 2025-06-05. ▶ 0:26 ↩

  63. Oathplate Contracts Solved - Gridlock Gambit Method (OSRS), 2025-06-05. ▶ 4:12 ↩

  64. Oathplate Contracts Solved - Gridlock Gambit Method (OSRS), 2025-06-05. ▶ 0:57 ↩

  65. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 8:35 ↩

  66. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 8:43 ↩

  67. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 8:58 ↩

  68. Yama Contracts: Missed the Mark (OSRS), 2025-05-09. ▶ 21:33 ↩

  69. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 11:05 ↩

  70. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 17:30 ↩

  71. Yama Contracts SAVED!!! (OSRS), 2025-05-29. ▶ 8:15 ↩

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