THEATRE OF BLOOD Money Making Guide OSRS (8m+ GP/HR) 2021


Date	2021-01-29
Type	guide
Video	youtu.be/sCmYo21i2I8

Summary

A roughly 87-minute beginner-to-intermediate guide to the Theatre of Blood covering requirements, role-based setups, RuneLite plugins, and a room-by-room walkthrough (Maiden, Bloat, Nylocas, Sotetseg, Xarpus, Verzik) with an improvements section for each room. Gnomonkey, with over 250 KC, calls ToB the best money maker in the game besides alting, with efficient trios making over 10m GP/hr.

Outline

0:00 Intro: why ToB is hard, rewarding, and who the guide is for
1:00 Requirements: stats, quests, diaries, unlocks and team sizes
5:43 Setups: roles, basic, intermediate and gear choices (scythe, whip, Saeldor)
10:23 RuneLite plugins and in-game settings
12:10 Pre-pot and groundwork: party order, spec weapons, supplies
15:22 Maiden of Sugadinti walkthrough
23:52 Maiden improvements: free first hit, skipping 30s, machine gun method
27:19 Pestilent Bloat walkthrough
32:03 Bloat improvements: tick eating, trio opener, drive-by spec
33:26 Nylocas room: waves, aggros, pillars, role breakdowns
38:10 Nylocas role walkthroughs: mage, melee and ranged
49:04 Nylocas boss improvements: pre-switching prayers and gear
50:12 Sotetseg walkthrough and maze
55:55 Sotetseg improvements: venge tanking, tick eating, skipping death balls
58:16 Xarpus walkthrough
1:04:27 Xarpus improvements: scythe walking and the 2-2-1-2-1 cycle
1:07:07 Verzik phase 1: Dawnbringer spec rotation at the pillars
1:11:27 Verzik phase 2: bombs, lightning bounce, purple Nylocas, red crabs
1:14:59 Verzik phase 3: spider phase, specials, sub-20% tornadoes
1:20:53 Verzik improvements: pre-hits, scythe walking, practice and sub-20% tips
1:24:48 Rewards: chest value, purple chance, MVP points and orb order

Topics covered

Theatre of Blood

(0:00) Gnomonkey considers the Theatre of Blood one of, if not the, hardest PvM encounters to learn, and with low-KC randoms harder to get consistent completions in than the Inferno, because a single mistake can wipe the entire team.
(0:00) Gnomonkey considers the Theatre of Blood much harder to learn than Chambers of Xeric because when the team wipes you have to start over, which makes learning Verzik at the end of the raid a nightmare.
(0:00) As of January 2021, Gnomonkey calls the Theatre of Blood the best money maker in the game besides alting, with Nightmare coming close; consistent, efficient trio teams can make over 10m GP/hr if they complete raids quickly.
(0:32) The guide is aimed at beginner to intermediate players; Gnomonkey has over 250 KC and says more advanced techniques exist (for example Phoenix necklaces at Bloat or 7050 stacking at Maiden) that he has not used and might cover in a follow-up.
(1:00) The Theatre of Blood has significantly lower requirements than Chambers of Xeric; the stat requirements Gnomonkey lists come from the We Do Raids Discord and are absolute bare minimums, and lacking something listed will often stop teams taking you.
(1:00) Melee stats matter most for the Theatre of Blood because melee is used in every room; Gnomonkey says 90 combat stats are the bare minimum but strongly recommends maxing combat first if you want to grind it for money.
(1:33) 94 Magic is needed for the freezer role at Maiden because it unlocks Ice Barrage; even non-freezers want 94 Magic to cast Vengeance, and higher Magic lets freezers keep their prims on at Maiden with an imbued heart boost.
(1:33) A high Prayer level is very important in the Theatre of Blood because it reduces super restores used, and prayer is also restored on completing each room; Agility also matters, especially at Bloat.
(2:00) Gnomonkey says stats matter much more than gear in the Theatre of Blood and AFK'd combat at Ammonite Crabs between raids until he was maxed combat.
(2:00) Completing A Taste of Hope unlocks the Drakan's medallion, which teleports you straight to the Theatre of Blood; Haunted Mine is needed for the Salve amulet and the Western Provinces hard diary for Elite Void and the Crystal halberd.
(2:26) Gnomonkey says 99 Strength versus 90 Strength is a 10% DPS difference, which he describes as 50% of the upgrade from a tentacle whip to a scythe, and recommends training combat in the Nightmare Zone before attempting the raid.
(2:59) Finishing any room in the Theatre of Blood instantly restores prayer, health and run energy, but not drained stats.
(2:59) Dying in a Theatre of Blood room does not end the raid for the team; the dead player is caged, and the raid only ends if the whole team dies, after which you pay 100k to reclaim your items. Reclaims pull from your desk coffer before your bank, so Gnomonkey recommends filling the coffer.
(2:59) Dying in any room of the Theatre of Blood as a Hardcore Ironman instantly revokes your status, even if the team does not wipe.
(3:29) Absolutely required unlocks per Gnomonkey: full Elite Void including each helmet, Crystal halberd, Salve amulets (stockpile them since you drop one each raid; he collected 500 in under an hour), Assembler, Dragon defender, rune pouch, and both Rigor and Augury; teams will likely turn you down without them.
(3:29) Most Theatre of Blood teams are threes or fours; Gnomonkey recommends fours for learners because trios make much more money per hour but one death often seals a trio raid's fate. Five-man raids are much harder due to how the raid scales, and the raid does not scale below trios.
(3:59) In a four-man team the roles are South Mage, North Mage, Melee DPS and Ranged DPS, which determine who freezes on which side at Maiden and who does what at Nylocas; the South Mage typically mages at Nylocas while the North Mage melees. In a trio the melee DPS role is simply cut.
(4:25) The DPS roles take a rune pouch with lunar runes (mud, astral, death) to cast Pot Share and Vengeance, and constantly cast Vengeance whenever it is off cooldown.
(4:25) The South Mage typically takes a mage offhand such as a Book of Darkness (droppable after Sotetseg) so they have 100% accuracy on the Nylocas at Maiden, a small pile of soul runes to tank at Maiden and heal back with Blood Barrage, and an imbued heart to help with magic at the Nylocas room.
(4:58) The North Mage and melee DPS take a three-tick melee weapon unless they use a whip; the melee DPS also brings a Bandos godsword, and the ranged DPS takes a ranging potion and about 20 chinchompas to assist the South Mage at Maiden, along with their BGS.
(4:58) In more advanced teams the South Mage can be the only one bringing freezes and freeze all of the Maiden Nylocas 1 to 4 on the south side tick-perfectly, while the other two players machine-gun the N1 and N2 spawns with blowpipes, giving the team an extra Vengeance caster; this is only worth it if the South Mage is very comfortable freezing.
(6:00) Gnomonkey recommends learners stick with Full Void until comfortable with supplies; using no supplies in Verzik phase 2 is a good sign you can move to a more advanced setup.
(6:00) The Swift blade in his basic setup is a melee-role item for the Nylocas room, needed only if using a scythe, and can be swapped for about 20 black chinchompas if ranging or about 20 soul runes for the main mage at Maiden (Blood Barrage); if bringing a BGS, replace a brew with it.
(6:00) Crystal halberd, Dragon claws and Dragon warhammer are all used in various rooms, so Gnomonkey takes all three special attack weapons (plus the BGS if it is part of the role) and still uses the hammer in most rooms even when bringing a BGS.
(6:33) If a learner owns a scythe, Gnomonkey recommends still bringing a whip for Verzik phase 2, because two-stepping with a whip is much easier than scythe walking; he usually has learners attempt scythe walking after about ten KC. The blowpipe should be loaded with at least rune darts, which make more money than they cost given how profitable the raid is.
(8:05) Gnomonkey's intermediate setup swaps Bandos for fighter torso and obsidian legs until affordable and drops void melee for Bandos since melee DPS matters in every room; an Ancient magicks player not bringing a BGS brings a cert palm (as transcribed), and the BGS user brings a face guard for an extra BGS max hit.
(8:38) The intermediate setup drops Bruise Brew completely and incorporates divine potions, since food should hardly be used in the rooms before Verzik; one divine super combat covers the whole raid before Verzik and the final super combat is just for Verzik phase 3.
(9:05) Gnomonkey keeps void mage helm and magic cape in specific inventory slots so they work in both directions during Nylocas boss switches, and brings a Guthix rest for tick-eating; non-freezers can leave the void mage hood and magic cape in the bank to bring more food to Verzik.
(9:39) Gnomonkey recommends the We Do Raids Discord for finding teams (it has a very strict scammer ban list and its own ToB guides), world 416 for free-for-all randoms, and joining a PvM clan or using voice comms like Discord, since every room benefits from quick communication.
(11:09) Gnomonkey recommends the external ToB Damage Counter plugin (shows percent of damage per room, and alerts chat if someone forgot to equip their salve at Bloat or healed Verzik P3 by being hit by a tornado) and the ToB HealthBars plugin (replaces the top-left orbs with player names, helping with phase 1 Verzik spec order).
(12:10) Before entering the raid, Gnomonkey pre-pots a divine ranging potion and divine super combat, eats a shark then an anglerfish to restore and overheal his health, and uses an imbued heart to boost magic; the heart matters for the two freezers and can be skipped by DPS.
(12:10) The South Mage should form the party at the board because Maiden prioritises attacking players in party order from top to bottom, letting the mage run in to tank and heal back hits with Blood Barrage. Keep hammer and defender equipped so you can bring an extra piece of food into the raid.
(13:10) Gnomonkey says to stay fully potted almost all the time in the Theatre of Blood since it is a massive DPS increase, especially when hammer speccing, as hitting a spec is much less likely if you are not potted or not praying Piety; if using regular potions or an imbued heart at Nylocas, use Preserve the entire time.
(15:13) Gnomonkey says the goal in each room is to use no food, but learners should not be afraid to eat since it is better to eat than die; if you drank more than one brew at Maiden or someone died, it is usually a sign to reset and try again to save supplies.
(15:43) For every room, have the whole team spam click the door and the player who formed the party start the room so everyone enters on the same tick; items dropped in the raid stay on the ground a very long time because it is an instance.
(1:24:39) Per Gnomonkey, the regular loot from a deathless raid is typically enough to pay for supplies if you use a scythe, and the average loot from a deathless raid is about 400k; quantity drops slightly with the number of deaths.
(1:25:10) A deathless Theatre of Blood raid has a 1 in 9.1 chance of providing the team a purple chest regardless of team size, which is why Gnomonkey says trios are more profitable; the purple most likely goes to the raid MVP, with the odds for others scaling with total MVP points.
(1:25:10) MVP points are awarded to the player dealing the most damage in a room: two points for each boss and each Verzik phase, but only one for Nylocas boss and Sotetseg; each death reduces your point counter by four.
(1:25:43) Among Theatre of Blood purples, Avernic defender hilt is the most common with an 8 in 19 chance, every other purple except the scythe (including each Justiciar piece) has a 2 in 19 chance, and the Scythe of Vitur is the rarest at 1 in 19.
(1:25:43) Per Gnomonkey, the average deathless four-man chest is worth about 3m if splitting, with each death reducing the average by roughly 150k (a five-death four-man chest averages about 2.3m); the average deathless trio chest is worth 3.8m with each death reducing it by about 225k (a five-death trio averages about 2.7m).
(1:26:15) The order players leave the raid becomes the next orb order if you do another raid, so exit in the order you want, or recreate the team afterward to keep the order you want.
(1:26:15) Gnomonkey says this was his longest video yet and took hundreds of hours to create.

RuneLite

(10:08) Before entering the Theatre of Blood, Gnomonkey says to turn off auto retaliate (leaving it on has gotten him killed multiple times) and to have F keys bound to easily accessed keys via the key remapping plugin, since F keys are practically necessary in the Nylocas room.
(10:41) Gnomonkey recommends tagging every main boss that moves in the Theatre of Blood in NPC Indicators with tile highlighting (most important at Bloat and Verzik), and enabling highlight current true tile in the tile indicators plugin to see your position from the server's perspective.
(11:42) Gnomonkey recommends the external RuneWatch and We Do Raids ban list plugins, which highlight people on those lists in orange to avoid being scammed by players who steal drops instead of splitting.
(11:42) The anti drag plugin is extremely useful for gear switches because it stops you accidentally dragging items around; Gnomonkey keeps it set at 10 but says to find a number comfortable for you.

Maiden of Sugadinti

(15:41) The Maiden of Sugadinti is the first boss of the Theatre of Blood and one of the harder rooms; many of her attacks heal her, and the more she is healed the higher her max hit rises for all her attacks, so a bad room becomes a downward spiral and wipes are not uncommon if freezers are off.
(16:09) If more than five Nylocas are let through to the Maiden she can start hitting over 30 through prayer on every attack. She stays on the west side of the room and throws basic magic attacks at the nearest player, with a chance to drain the stat of the combat style the target is using.
(16:09) As soon as the Maiden begins her attack animation, who she targets and the damage are already decided; if two players share a tile next to her she attacks the one higher in the orb order.
(16:38) The Maiden throws blood splats under everyone and on random tiles around one player; they damage players standing in them each tick and heal her for the same amount, hitting up to one tick after the animation when next to her, and she will not throw blood again until at least three attacks have passed. At high healing these can hit in the thirties each tick.
(17:06) The Maiden randomly spawns blood spawns (up to eight in the room), with double spawn chance if someone steps in her thrown blood; they roam leaving a blood trail that damages players and heals the Maiden just like thrown blood.
(17:32) At 70%, 50% and 30% health the Maiden spawns two Nylocas per player (up to ten) that walk to her and heal her for their full remaining health if they arrive; each has 200 health and the community labels them north 1 to 4 and south 1 to 4. The goal is to freeze them, in stacks where possible, then kill the final clump with ice barrages or chinchompas while others hit loose ones.
(17:58) Gnomonkey starts the Maiden fight in full melee gear with the Dragon warhammer spec ready, Piety and Protect from Magic on; BGS users attack with their main weapon until both hammer specs are dumped on her, then both BGS specs. It is efficient to BGS rather than hammer if two hammer hits landed.
(18:30) If new to the Maiden, Gnomonkey says to switch to the blowpipe for the rest of the fight (removing prims) to give more time to react to blood; the two non-mages should constantly cast Vengeance on whoever is tanking, and must be ready to move whenever she throws blood.
(18:58) Non-mages stand relatively close to the Maiden to tank hits while the South Mage, first in the party, takes the hits more than 50% of the time; once she is at 75 to 80% the mages switch into mage gear, activate Augury and prepare Ice Barrage.
(19:25) Freeze timing at the Maiden is very tight and missing freezes can wipe the team; a common learner mistake is forgetting to turn on Augury or not equipping void gloves.
(19:52) To avoid splashing Nylocas at the Maiden you need at least 55 magic attack bonus with Augury on and an avoid setup, reached by taking boots off or using an offhand magic weapon like a Book of Darkness; boots on without an offhand can still reach 100% accuracy with an imbued heart boost but only if you do not tank hits in mage gear.
(20:26) In a typical team the North Mage freezes North 1, 2 and 3: North 1 and 2 are frozen outside the clump and North 3 falls within it. Casting barrage ahead of time on each next Nylocas works if you clicked North 1 immediately; the window is three ticks, so if timing felt slow skip 2s and make sure to freeze 3s in the clump.
(21:26) Gnomonkey freezes a Nylocas twice if the 1s or 2s are missing and the first freeze was well timed, since it is free damage and helps get the 3s in the clump; after freezing, switch back to range gear and kill loose Nylocas outside the clump.
(21:53) The South Mage typically freezes South 1, 2 and 4: freeze South 1 immediately, wait until South 2 is closer to the Maiden to freeze it (both 2s and 4s can be clumped on the south side), and freeze the 4s when they are one step from the clump. Missing the four Nylocas clumped in the 4s heals the Maiden 800 and dramatically raises her max hit, and missing 4s twice almost certainly wipes.
(22:20) At the Maiden, freeze earlier than you think rather than later; once everything is frozen the South Mage runs in front of her to tank and casts Blood Barrage on the clump to heal, or Ice Barrage if at full health since it does more damage.
(22:50) The ranged DPS throws chinchompas at the clump as the South Mage freezes, with chins set to medium fuse and standing four to six tiles away for maximum accuracy, communicating with the mage about whether they need more Blood Barrage healing; the melee DPS stays on the boss and helps finish loose Nylocas.
(23:20) If there are more than four blood spawns at the Maiden, Gnomonkey starts piping blood spawns the mages have frozen; once the 30% Nylocas are dealt with and spec has regenerated, switch to melee gear and throw a Crystal halberd or claw spec, then pick up food and move on to Bloat equipping the salve.
(23:52) An easy improvement at the Maiden is to enter in full mage gear or in range gear with a twisted bow and fire one free Ice Barrage or Twisted bow shot, then switch into melee gear and hammer while running to the boss.
(23:52) According to Gnomonkey's DPS chart, the Scythe of Vitur beats all weapons at the Maiden regardless of her defense, with the blowpipe and Twisted bow fairly close; a blowpipe with dragon darts overtakes the Twisted bow at 46 defense.
(24:19) Using a scythe as a DPSer through the whole Maiden fight is another improvement, but you must move every time she attacks (every 10 ticks) to avoid blood splats, which hit a tick after the animation begins.
(24:19) To skip the 30% Nylocas at the Maiden with a scythe-heavy team, each player uses only one spec at the start to land two hammer specs and two decent BGS specs (the BGSer can throw an extra spec if hitting below about 40); in a trio the BGSer dumps both specs after two hammers land. Specs are kept so claws can be used later.
(25:17) When the 30% Nylocas spawn in a skip attempt, the mages freeze them all as fast as possible instead of clumping and everyone switches to melee, dumping claw specs; at about 8 to 10% Maiden health all four players dump Crystal halberd specs so she dies before any Nylocas arrive, and if any Nylocas get through you should usually abort the skip.
(25:47) A South Mage who freezes the first Nylocas quickly can tell the North Mage to freeze only North 1 and 2 and return to the boss while South freezes the rest, giving two extra scythe swings and a better chance of the skip.
(26:18) In trios Gnomonkey often uses the machine gun method: the South Mage freezes every south Nylocas while the other two shoot N1 and N2 twice each with blowpipes, typically nearly or fully killing both; placing tile indicators where South 1 spawns helps freeze it instantly, but it is very hard for a South Mage with bad ping.
(26:50) If freezing all at the Maiden and a Nylocas takes more than one step after being frozen, you were a tick off and must skip 2s to make up for it; if missing 1s or 2s, time the freeze on 3s so they freeze side by side instead of in a pile, since catching 3s and 4s still needs to be tick perfect.

Pestilent Bloat

(27:19) Pestilent Bloat is a relatively simple room but easy to wipe in if you fly the team; he is classified as undead (hence the salve amulet) and takes only 50% damage while moving.
(27:19) If caught in Bloat's line of sight he fires flies at you for 10 to 20 damage each, and teammates in your line of sight take the same flies.
(27:48) Bloat drops meat from the ceiling on tiles marked by a shadow, dealing 30 to 40 damage and stunning you for a few seconds, which usually leads to being flied to death; meat can never fall on the same tile twice, so a tile meat just fell on is 100% safe from the next meat.
(27:48) After a short time Bloat goes down (he stops and the yellow dots on his back flash from yellow to black) and stays stunned for about 15 seconds during which he can be damaged; when he gets back up he stomps, hitting anyone in line of sight for 40 to 80, then resumes walking or running.
(28:21) Bloat can turn and go the other direction mid-run, so do not overturn corners during the fight; he almost never turns more than once per section.
(28:50) Entering Bloat: one player runs ahead to the gate opposite where Bloat is, prays ranged and enters with Bloat while the rest wait at the gate, timed so they take one fly on entering; this guarantees Bloat goes down closest to the gate, giving the most hits and lowering the chance he turns twice.
(29:21) Eat an anglerfish before entering Bloat to save time afterward, or if you only have brews drop one at the gate to equip spec weapons; do not drop a brew next to the pillar during the fight since teammates can pick it up by accident or have their pathing disrupted.
(29:50) When Bloat first goes down enter praying Piety and ranged; a BGSer opens with a single BGS spec (Bloat has only 100 defense and regains stats when he moves again), then does three to four whip or scythe hits depending on distance, steps back and uses a Crystal halberd spec before running behind the pillar.
(30:22) Non-BGSers at Bloat do three to four whip or scythe hits then drop a claw spec, step back and use a Crystal halberd spec, then run behind the pillar; they open with regular melee weapons so they can spec after the BGSers lowered Bloat's defense.
(30:51) To avoid meat at Bloat, pick the tile you will move to next and make sure no meat is where you are clicking; stay on the opposite side of Bloat and do not run too far past corners. Each later down is four whip or scythe hits then a halberd spec behind the pillar.
(31:23) Bloat should never survive past four downs unless something has gone catastrophically wrong (usually teammates have died); run energy becomes a concern, so do not waste it. After the room drop your salve, pick up food and fill your inventory with sharks from the chest for the Nylocas room.
(31:55) One non-mage buys a stamina potion to pot share before Nylocas; Gnomonkey usually has the ranged DPS buy it.
(31:55) In more advanced teams players take every Bloat stomp to get a two-down Bloat, and can tick eat the stomp by eating the instant the screen shakes, or tick eat flies as they approach; Gnomonkey brings a Guthix rest for this (heals 5 HP, four doses, regenerates 5% run energy, can overheal, and counts as a potion so wastes no combat ticks).
(32:28) In trios Gnomonkey opens Bloat with a Crystal halberd spec, four scythe hits, then another halberd spec before getting behind a pillar and tanking the stomp, which has the highest damage potential and most consistently gets a two-down Bloat.
(32:28) A harder Bloat strategy has the BGSer enter first and drive-by spec Bloat while running through him, which hurts the speccer for about 60 to 80 damage so they must tick eat future stomps; the BGS damage is halved but still drains the full defense it would have hit, like the SGS, and it lets them get an extra scythe hit when he goes down.

Nylocas

(33:26) Before the Nylocas room, drop some food outside or inside the arena to equip two-handed weapons and remove boots or defender if maging or ranging, pot share stamina before entering, drop the leftover stamina dose in the middle in case a melee runs out of energy, and drop sharks in the centre since the melee players take a lot of damage.
(33:26) Gnomonkey considers the Nylocas room the hardest room to learn besides Verzik, and says if learning with equally inexperienced people it is likely where you will wipe the most.
(33:58) In the Nylocas room, waves of coloured Nylocas walk down the ramp; some are predetermined aggros that attack players and the rest walk to one of four pillars and attack it. If pillars are destroyed they heavily damage the team and attacking Nylocas fan out to attack players, and if all four pillars fall the entire team dies; the goal is to lose no pillars.
(34:29) The Nylocas room is the main reason roles exist in the Theatre of Blood: in fours there is a dedicated mage and ranger plus two melees who periodically hybrid to help the mage, in trios one of each role. The waves always come the same way, they are not random.
(34:29) Nylocas colour sets both the attack style and the style needed to damage it: Hagios requires magic, Toxobolos requires ranged and Ischyros requires melee.
(35:01) Large Nylocas have double health and a higher max hit and split into small variants; Nylocas health scales with team size, with eight health in trios and nine in fours.
(35:01) Left alone for a long time Nylocas change colours to a different style, and if a player damages a Nylocas with the wrong style they can never attack that Nylocas again, which is a problem if it was an aggro they tagged.
(35:29) Late in the Nylocas waves Nylocas flash to different colours as they come down the ramp, so do not hit them with the wrong style as they may be aggros; at the end there will be a huge number of Nylocas on the pillars and it is the mage's job to freeze and dump barrages on those piles.
(35:55) Barrage dumps on the pillar piles kill any Maiden Nylocas on the pillars and also stop Nylocas of any style from attacking the pillars for a few seconds, which is very important for saving the pillars. Because the waves are always the same, the room is one you can keep improving in as you memorise them.
(38:16) Gnomonkey's mage-role walkthrough: wear full mage gear, drop sharks, unequip defender and boots for extra mage bonus, kill aggros first (he knows an aggro is not dead if he did not get the XP drop), barrage doubles instead of casting even though it is a tick slower, and help melees kill their aggros.
(40:11) As the Nylocas mage, use pre-hits on your own aggros as they come down the ramp, call out to teammates where to cast, and start throwing barrages religiously late in the waves, especially at pillars that are low.
(41:33) Nylocas melee role: walk in unpotted and divine potion right before a Nylocas comes down, loop around the arena with the other melee so each takes half, scythe doubles when possible, and when two melees are present hit the big ones with meat instead of scything them. Switch to a staff to help the mage with aggros.
(45:13) Nylocas range role: kill the first right-side aggro immediately, drink a ranging potion with Rigor on all the time, run in a big circle, always click the next Nylocas so no ticks are wasted (two ticks between shots), and chin doubles once they get close for the highest accuracy.
(48:25) Before the Nylocas boss, share the ranging potion with everyone and equip the BGS if you are the BGSer; the middle of the room is where the range potion shares to you.

Nylocas Vasilias

(36:25) Before Nylocas Vasilias, the ranger pot shares a three-dose ranging potion, everyone drinks a super combat and prays melee with Piety since the boss always starts on melee; one BGSer drops a single BGS spec then a Crystal halberd spec, since the boss has only 50 defense, while everyone else drops one claw spec and one halberd spec.
(36:51) Nylocas Vasilias spawns matching the wave colours, always starting as melee, and changes to a different style every ten ticks following the combat triangle; it can only be damaged by the current style and attacks with that style. Its max hit is 70 if not protected.
(37:18) Attacking Nylocas Vasilias with the wrong style reflects 100% of the damage back at you and heals the boss for the same amount, so attacking off colour with a scythe can quickly kill you. Your character automatically stops attacking when it changes colour, unlike Xarpus.
(37:18) A beginner strategy for Nylocas Vasilias is to attack it, open the prayer book, change the protection prayer when it changes, then gear switch into the next style and attack, changing offensive prayer afterward; switching protection prayers correctly is always the top priority.
(49:04) For Nylocas Vasilias, DPS is best in the order melee, then ranged, then magic, so improving means never missing hits in your strongest setup; a staff is four tick so two mage hits are easy, versus five-tick scythe or Twisted bow.
(49:04) Gnomonkey recommends pre-switching at Nylocas Vasilias: after landing hits in the current style, switch the offensive prayer (for example Piety to Rigor after two scythe swings) and gear to the style that would give the most DPS next, so that if it changes to that style you are already ready, then switch the offensive prayer again after your attack.

Sotetseg

(50:04) Sotetseg is a stationary boss that uses melee attacks (protect from melee only halves the damage; Bandos is good here for melee defense) and magic orbs that split to two teammates as either red magic or grey ranged orbs that must be protected against; a single mistake can get you killed or wipe the team.
(50:33) Sotetseg's melee attack has a max hit of 45 and his orbs have a max hit of 50; the orbs are far more accurate than his melee, and an orb hitting you off prayer disables your prayers for a short time, which is devastating if chain-gunned.
(51:02) After Sotetseg has fired ten orbs (melee attacks do not count) he fires a large red death ball at a random player; tanking it alone instantly kills you regardless of health, while stacking with teammates spreads the damage evenly.
(51:02) At 66% and 33% health Sotetseg chooses a random player, teleporting the team back to the gate; the chosen player runs a maze in another dimension following a red path while taking small damage, and their tiles appear red to the others, who must follow.
(51:31) In the Sotetseg maze a red tornado spawns behind the followers after the third row and slowly follows; if you are too slow it hits someone and damages the whole team for roughly 50. A player stepping on a grey tile damages the whole team 10 to 20 per tick, and if the chosen clicks across a grey tile every follower walks across it, which can immediately KO the team.
(51:59) On a first Sotetseg visit, mark the five tiles showing where each player stands (the middle tile is where you stack for death balls); stand equal distances from Sotetseg on the four corner tiles so you can see orbs.
(52:31) Sotetseg regains his defense completely after each maze, has 200 total defense and his defense is capped at 100 minimum, so BGS is a poor spec weapon here. In quads one player hammers in phases 1 and 2, one in phases 1 and 3, one in phases 2 and 3, and a fourth fills if someone misses; in trios the fill is dropped.
(52:59) Players signal their hammer phase by typing the phase numbers in chat and type 1 for a hit or 0 for a miss if not using voice; if most hammers landed and the fill has specs left in the last phase, the fill can dump claw specs since lowering defense further is worthless.
(53:29) First-time Sotetseg strategy: camp magic prayer and switch to ranged prayer for incoming orbs without using protect from melee, since melee can be outhealed unlike orbs; once comfortable, start praying protect from melee between orbs. When a death ball comes, stack on the middle tile and pray mage.
(53:58) When someone is chosen for the maze, turn off prayers, equip the hammer and activate spec if specing next phase, and eat leftover Nylocas sharks if drained; the chosen steps to the third row and waits for the team before running.
(54:29) Gnomonkey recommends running straight lines early on and mentions his movement guide and an online Sotetseg maze trainer (linked in the description); he says not to over-train past the point of being tick perfect through mazes when raiding with newer players, because they cannot keep up and you can wipe the team by being too good.
(55:02) If following in the maze, click the next red tile as soon as your true tile updates, never stop on a grey tile, and if the chosen mistakenly crosses grey tiles keep going; stopping on a grenade tile guarantees killing your whole team, and messing up a single grey tile will likely kill at least one person.
(55:30) Use a Crystal halberd spec on Sotetseg if you have more than 30% spec near the end of the fight.
(56:01) Sotetseg improvements: open with an Ice Barrage or Twisted bow shot and switch into melee gear while running up, and keep the team venged; with a scythe, Gnomonkey activates Redemption instead of protection prayers when venged to tank melee hits, since Redemption is not disabled by orbs, and tanks a single orb for extra venge damage.
(56:31) Below 45 health, where Sotetseg's melee can kill, Gnomonkey flinches Sotetseg's attacks; with a whip you lose ticks flinching, so he does not recommend tanking Vengeance without a scythe.
(56:31) To tick eat a Sotetseg death ball, step one tile back from him and wait, then eat when the ball completely envelops your character (or when he starts his next attack animation); you cannot tick eat with something that does not overheal if at max HP, so use an anglerfish, brew or Guthix rest.
(57:31) You can skip death balls by baiting one out when you are one or two hits from the next maze, then hitting Sotetseg down to start the maze as soon as it is fired; Gnomonkey says you can get through the whole fight without taking a death ball this way.
(57:31) If your whole team dies and you start a maze, Sotetseg chooses you and you must run the maze with no indicators; take a screenshot of the maze and mark the tiles with RuneLite after exiting the portal.
(58:05) After Sotetseg is the final resupply chest before Verzik: drop sub-four-dose potions or bruise, leftover sharks, any Book of Darkness, soul runes, chins and Guthix rest; drop or drink super combat doses beyond eight; each player buys one stamina potion, three to four super restores and fills the rest of the inventory with brews, buying these last.

Xarpus

(59:04) Gnomonkey considers Xarpus the easiest room of the Theatre of Blood, a quiet before the storm of Verzik, and says it is the one room where you should use absolutely no supplies; Xarpus should never need food, and Gnomonkey says it is better to die than eat food here.
(59:34) At the start of the Xarpus fight he is invincible and graves appear around the room that heal him if not stood on, so spread the team evenly to stand on graves; after a couple of minutes the graves disappear and he hovers, no longer invincible, and begins firing poison blobs at teammates in order top to bottom.
(59:34) Xarpus's poison blobs damage you if they land within one tile of your character, so you must be at least two tiles away; blobs can also split off from a teammate's splat and chain to someone else, and are only fired or split off on the tick Xarpus turns toward someone, every four ticks.
(1:00:07) After Xarpus is damaged to 20 to 30% health (depending on how much graves healed him), he screeches and turns to a random quadrant for short periods; attacking him while he faces your quadrant recoils 60 to 80 damage per splat, and with three hit splats this can almost instantly kill you.
(1:00:33) On entering Xarpus each person takes a quadrant and drops a bruise to use a two-handed weapon; first-time players should mark the sixteen tiles around him. Only two graves are active at a time in a four-man (one in a three-man, which makes the start much longer), so step off once the third grave spawns.
(1:01:07) When all 15 graves (12 in a trio) are done, drink super combat if not potted, enable Piety and drop both hammer specs on Xarpus; the two BGSers hold their specs and melee until hammers are dropped, and dump BGS if at least three hammers hit, otherwise one BGSer backs up with more hammer hits first.
(1:01:37) Xarpus has the highest defense of any boss in the Theatre of Blood at 250, so intelligent speccing matters; spec from a corner that will not affect scythe walkers, and moving back after the first spec then speccing again after he turns means he paints no tile near him.
(1:02:07) Learners at Xarpus move to their graves-phase corner after specing and switch to ranged gear, attacking constantly and moving only when he looks at them; teams who are all ranging should move in a zipper pattern to condense painted tiles, while if anyone is scythe walking others should walk the outer edge clockwise in the first and second rows to stay out of their way.
(1:03:07) At Xarpus always click the shadow, since his hitbox goes up and down and the space under him has no hitbox, so misclicking under him can cost large damage; do not keep firing AFK after the screech or you are almost guaranteed to die, and switch to melee gear once he starts turning.
(1:03:07) After the screech with a four-tick weapon like a whip, attack Xarpus twice per head turn since he turns every eight ticks, moving between attacks to near where he is facing and then to the marked yellow tiles after the second attack, since he never faces the same area twice in a row; do not paint those yellow tiles earlier.
(1:04:07) As a learner with a scythe at Xarpus, use a two-to-one cycle (two hits, then one after the turn), since attacking while he faces you is guaranteed death with a scythe; once he is about 5% health the team can all use Crystal halberd specs to finish him.
(1:04:07) After Xarpus dies, pick up potions and head to Verzik; someone with an anglerfish can overheal to pick up the staff, otherwise someone drops a brew first to free a slot.
(1:04:27) According to Gnomonkey, Scythe walking at Xarpus matters less than expected because a blowpipe with dragon darts does more damage than a scythe when Xarpus is reduced to one defense with the standard walk, and rune darts are almost the same DPS as the scythe; the scythe is much better when he has not been drained much (more relevant in trios) and the blowpipe also beats a Twisted bow unless Xarpus was barely drained.
(1:05:10) Scythe walking at Xarpus uses the same four-tick timing as at Verzik, but the cue is reversed: you need to get off Xarpus the tick he turns (when you first see the poison blob leave his mouth) and cue to begin attacking when he turns toward someone; walk clockwise so you do not run into teammates.
(1:06:12) A tick-perfect scythe cycle at Xarpus is 2-2-1-2-1: if you hit the same tick he turned you get two hits the next turn, then one, then two, then one, queuing your attack in his face; Gnomonkey says he can usually walk the same tile about four times before moving, and he has not fully learned a harder method that wastes no ticks by ragging the corners on the fourth hit.

Verzik Vitur

(1:06:43) Gnomonkey calls Verzik by far the most dangerous boss of the Theatre of Blood, with three phases that are more like separate boss fights: a pillar phase swapping the Dawnbringer, a middle-of-the-room bomb phase, and a spider phase alternating ranged and magic.
(1:07:10) On a first visit to Verzik set up tile indicators for the middle tiles for phase two and for tiles behind pillars (safe from the phase one magic attack), drop potions between a set of pillars as your marked spot, ensure at least one player with a tentacle whip or serpentine helm on each side to poison the purple Nylocas, and keep at least two inventory spaces open for the staff and two-handed weapons.
(1:07:39) New Verzik players should drop a large amount of potions (all but two brews and two restores), because if you die with them your team cannot use them; as you get comfortable you can drop fewer.
(1:08:13) Verzik phase 1: players take turns speccing with the Dawnbringer and attacking Verzik between her attacks, with regular attacks capped at a max hit of 10 and the Dawnbringer spec doing 75 to 150 damage uncapped; the Dawnbringer cannot splash and Gnomonkey says taking damage in P1 is a huge waste since you need the supplies later.
(1:08:46) Verzik's phase 1 magic attack has a max hit of 68 through prayer and hits anyone in her line of sight; hiding behind a pillar makes her hit the pillar instead, which collapses after about four to five attacks and deals around 50 damage to anyone next to it. After the first pillar falls the team moves to the other northern pillar.
(1:09:13) To start Verzik phase 1 stand on the ready tile and pray Protect from Magic, as an unprotected mage hit can hit for up to 137; the first player in orb order has the Dawnbringer spec primed and starts the fight, and nobody should repot or use Piety during P1 since the prayer points are not worth it.
(1:09:41) Each Dawnbringer spec uses 35% special energy; the first in orb order fires two specs then drops the staff, the second picks it up for two specs and runs behind the pillar, and so on through the orb order as specs regenerate, with the others fitting in two whip hits or two scythe hits (one tick of leeway) per attack by clicking Verzik when she spreads her legs wide.
(1:10:34) After the pillar goes down in phase 1 you can still attack twice then run diagonally to the other pillar; if forced to use the back pillars swap to mage for two to three mage hits. When Verzik's HP hits zero all remaining pillars collapse, so be away from them.
(1:11:33) Verzik phase 2: she fires ranged skull bombs every four ticks that explode on contact with the ground, and after every four bombs a lightning ball at a random target that bounces up to four times between teammates; if not bounced into Verzik the last player takes about 50, so where you stand to attack matters.
(1:12:05) In phase 2 Verzik summons Nylocas bombs that target a player and walk toward them, stopping next to the target's tile and exploding a tick later for up to 64 damage at the centre, 8 at two tiles away and 0 at three tiles.
(1:12:05) In phase 2 Verzik also fires a large purple orb at a random player when summoning Nylocas, dealing over 50 if directly under it, which becomes a large purple Nylocas that gradually heals Verzik until poisoned (poisoning stops the healing and deals a large poison splat).
(1:12:35) At 35% health in phase 2 Verzik summons two red Nylocas on each side and puts up a barrier for a short time where any damage dealt to her heals her for the full amount; the red Nylocas heal her their full remaining health after several of her attacks, and she begins using magic attacks that heal her while still occasionally firing skull bombs.
(1:13:07) At the start of phase 2, each player stands on their tile on their potion side, uses the brief window while she moves to the centre to repot and activate Piety and Protect from Ranged; Gnomonkey recommends a whip over a scythe for inexperienced players since timing is more lenient, going in for one hit right after she attacks and zigzagging out, using her cape moving as the cue.
(1:13:37) In phase 2 zigzag towards the centre of Verzik rather than above or below her, since otherwise lightning can bounce to the other side without hitting her; a bounce can deal up to about 40 damage and usually leads to a bomb hit, so if bounced immediately click back on to get back in cycle.
(1:14:07) In phase 2, if a Nylocas bomb is coming at you, wait until it is one tile away then run three tiles away, but do not run to the edge of the map, since lightning then will not chain to teammates and hits you for 50 and bomb timing is slower for everyone; poison the purple Nylocas with a free hit if you have a tentacle whip or serpentine helm.
(1:14:34) Once Verzik hits 35%, activate Protect from Magic and attack the red Nylocas only as needed because they heal Verzik one to one; scythers should return to Verzik after two hits (only two hits land on the Nylocas) while whippers lower the Nylocas health.
(1:15:03) Verzik phase 3 is the final challenge and a DPS race where most food is used; she turns into a spider and alternates magic and ranged attacks randomly, with damage calculated when the attack hits like Jad or Nightmare, so switch prayers to match the telegraphed attack; keep health above 60 and recombat pot after brewing.
(1:15:36) In phase 3 Verzik selects a random tank; if the tank is in melee range when she attacks she can melee the whole team for up to 60, so the tank should stay under her or step away each attack, and if the tank is out of melee range for more than two attacks she swaps tanks. She does four normal attacks before each special in a fixed order: Nylocas bombs, webs, musical chairs (yellow tiles), then a death ball.
(1:16:08) When Verzik summons bombs in phase 3, spread out first to see who they target and pull them away from the tank if they target you; after four more attacks she goes to the centre and sprays webs, and a player stepping on a web is stunned and takes around 50 when it disappears unless teammates deal at least 8 damage to it.
(1:16:35) Experienced teams web run in phase 3: wait on the tile for Verzik to reach the centre, spam click, hit and wait a tick, then run and hit on each side of her; others put on mage gear and staff and hit her while running clockwise around her, freeing anyone caught in webs. The tank can hit twice before going under Verzik thanks to a delay after webs.
(1:17:07) In musical chairs Verzik becomes immune to damage and yellow tiles appear around the arena, one per player; each player must stand alone on a tile, and if two or more share a tile everyone takes the full yellow orb damage of around 70. Gnomonkey says to stay put once on a tile, and in a pinch you have about two ticks to tick eat the orb or can chug bruise.
(1:17:35) Verzik's death ball hits a random player for 474, so you usually tank it, healing to 115 with bruise during musical chairs; if a teammate is standing on you when it lands it bounces to them for small damage to both, and bouncing it to three unique players dissipates it, which Gnomonkey says is rarely practical.
(1:18:35) Below 20% Verzik enrages, which Gnomonkey calls the most dangerous and difficult part of the raid: she summons a purple tornado per player, each following only its owner, and being hit takes half your current HP and heals Verzik (a 30 hit heals her 3% of your total health); she also attacks every 5 ticks instead of 7.
(1:19:07) Communicate before starting the sub-20% phase of Verzik and hold off attacking if she is near 20% right before a dangerous special like musical chairs; once below 20% keep moving as the phase starts (you can often run through a tornado and avoid damage), and dump both claw specs, which if the whole team does without taking a tornado is usually enough to KO her.
(1:19:37) In the sub-20% Verzik phase, priorities are one, not taking a tornado, two, not dying, and three, hitting the boss; a tank should keep running from Verzik, getting one hit per her attack to avoid melee, and can run through her if stuck in a corner. Getting caught in a web is a guaranteed tornado.
(1:20:10) In the sub-20% phase, if only one person web runs, Verzik may shoot in front of them so run a bit further each hit; for musical chairs run farther from the yellow tile to lure the tornado away then run toward it, and if timing is off just tick eat the yellow orb and keep moving; this is why the team waits until after yellow tiles to start sub-20%.
(1:21:09) Verzik P1 improvement: when not holding the staff, open with a claw swipe then three scythe hits and get behind the pillar tick perfectly (four scythe hits do not fit; four whip hits always fit), or switch to a staff behind the pillar for a pre-hit then swap to scythe for two hits; the same pre-hit works with the Dawnbringer after the first four players used two specs.
(1:21:39) Scythe walking at Verzik P2: she has a four-tick attack cycle and the scythe is five-tick, so you stand next to her on any safe tick and leave only when she attacks; you click when you see her cape move and click back onto the bombs when they explode, but visual cues are unreliable when she skips bombs or teammates run far.
(1:22:09) Gnomonkey says a trainer exists for scythe walking Verzik (linked in the description) though it does not feel 100% accurate to him, and suggests practising on bronze or iron dragons near the Catacombs entrance in full tank gear with an anti-dragon shield and a low-damage five-tick weapon, for around 30 minutes before attempting it in the Theatre of Blood.
(1:22:43) Players with Lunars can cast Pot Share on teammates' super restores during the Verzik fight to save total restores, easiest on off-ticks while attacking Verzik or at any time below 35%.
(1:23:11) For Verzik P3 below 20%, Gnomonkey says to stop worrying about your own health, pray magic and stop switching prayers, dump both claw specs and hit at every opportunity even while healing; he says players running around taking tornadoes and doing no damage would help the team more by being dead.
(1:23:39) Vengeance casters comfortable with P3 can pot share a stamina to everyone before webs so teammates bring more brews instead of stamina; to always reach webs, count four attacks after bombs come out then stand in the web position. Tanks can one-tick tank by moving away or under Verzik only the tick before she attacks to sometimes gain an extra scythe swing.
(1:24:07) Gnomonkey considers leaving your teammates only a single potion after the Verzik kill rude and says to steal as many potions as possible immediately after the kill ends while leaving more for others, comparing it to picking up garbage for friends after a movie.

Scythe of Vitur

(6:33) Gnomonkey recommends against using a Blood fury with a scythe because it uses three charges per hit, which is expensive, though it is a great option with a whip while learning.
(7:04) Gnomonkey says a scythe is almost always 25% more DPS than a tentacle whip in the Theatre of Blood, enough to speed up completions so much that it makes more money in the long run than a whip even at about 1k per swing; this is why people do scythe rebuilds.
(1:21:39) The scythe is a five-tick weapon, which is why walking Verzik phase 2 with it needs a different cycle than a four-tick whip.

Blade of saeldor

(7:04) Gnomonkey says a Blade of saeldor is around 5% more DPS than a tentacle whip, making it a decent option to bridge the gap while grinding for a scythe.
(7:04) The Blade of saeldor lacks the whip's poison, which is needed at Verzik phase 2 for the purple Nylocas, so you must bring a serpentine helm, switch and avoid ranged and pipe the Nylocas, or have a teammate poison it.
(7:37) Gnomonkey would not imbue a Blade of saeldor for Theatre of Blood use because you will make enough for a scythe before nearly reaching the 1000 crystal shard imbue cost; crystal shards can be bought via enhanced crystal teleport seeds that turn in for 150 shards each.
(7:37) Because the Blade of saeldor has a cheaper cost to hit than the whip, taking a serpentine helm with it makes the supply cost almost the same as with a whip.

Dragon warhammer

(13:40) In the Theatre of Blood, the Dragon warhammer spec drains 30% of a boss's current defense, whereas the BGS drains defense by the damage just dealt, so BGS is better if its average spec hit exceeds what a hammer would drain; this is after two hammer hits at the Maiden and after three at Xarpus.
(17:58) At the Maiden, Gnomonkey has the team dump both hammer specs first and then both BGS specs, only using the hammer instead of BGS if fewer than two hammer hits landed.
(52:31) At Sotetseg the team assigns who hammer specs in which phase (since he regains defense after each maze), and BGS is considered poor there because his defense is capped at a 100 minimum.

Bandos godsword

(13:40) The Bandos godsword in the Theatre of Blood drains a boss's defense by the amount of damage the spec just dealt, making it better than the Dragon warhammer when its average hit is higher than the hammer drain.
(29:50) At Bloat, a BGSer opens with a single BGS spec since Bloat has only 100 defense, mainly for extra damage from the team on the first down.
(1:01:37) At Xarpus, the two BGSers hold their specs until at least three hammers have hit, then dump BGS; Xarpus has 250 defense, the highest in the raid.

Dragon claws

(14:13) Gnomonkey calls Dragon claws the highest DPS special attack in the Theatre of Blood: extremely accurate and fast at 4 ticks, but it takes 50% of the special attack meter; it is used to quickly drop bosses that have a dangerous phase or when defense-lowering specs will not help, such as at Sotetseg.
(1:19:07) In the sub-20% Verzik phase the team dumps both claw specs, which if landed without anyone taking a tornado is usually enough to instantly KO Verzik.

Crystal halberd

(14:13) Gnomonkey says the Crystal halberd special attack is the highest possible damage of any single spec but can be inaccurate compared to Dragon claws, and is very slow at seven ticks.
(14:13) Halberd specs are typically used right before a boss transitions to an invulnerability phase or when it would outright kill the boss, so that the seven-tick cooldown is avoided completely.

Dawnbringer

(1:08:13) In Verzik phase 1 the Dawnbringer is not subject to the max-hit cap of 10, its spec deals 75 to 150 damage, and it cannot splash unlike the pillars at Nightmare.
(1:09:41) The Dawnbringer spec uses 35% special energy per spec, so players cycle through the orb order firing two specs each as the energy regenerates.

Guthix rest

(32:28) Gnomonkey brings a Guthix rest to tick eat in the Theatre of Blood because it heals 5 HP, has four doses, regenerates 5% run energy, can overheal when at full health, and counts as a potion so it does not waste combat ticks.
(57:00) A Guthix rest or bruise brew is useful for tick eating Sotetseg death balls, and Gnomonkey says it is possible to clutch an entire last phase with them while taking five or more death balls and flinching the whole time.

Tick eating

(31:55) At Bloat you can tick eat the stomp by eating the instant the screen shakes after his foot comes down, and tick eat flies by eating as you see them coming, though if you are flied repeatedly after you can still die from the next fly.
(56:31) A Sotetseg death ball can be tick eaten by stepping one tile back, waiting until the ball completely envelops your character (or until he starts his next animation) and eating; you must be drained or use an overhealing item like an anglerfish, brew or Guthix rest.
(1:17:35) In Verzik's musical chairs phase you have about two ticks to eat a yellow orb before it hits you, so if you cannot reach a safe tile you can tick eat it, or just chug bruise if unsure of the timing.

We Do Raids

(1:00) The Theatre of Blood stat requirements in Gnomonkey's guide are taken straight from the We Do Raids Discord.
(9:39) Gnomonkey recommends the We Do Raids Discord for finding Theatre of Blood teams, noting it has a very strict ban list for scammers and some great guides of its own for the raid.
(11:42) A We Do Raids ban list RuneLite plugin highlights banned players in orange so you can avoid people who steal drops instead of splitting.