ToA 500 Shadow Rebuild Guide (OSRS)


Date	2025-07-06
Type	guide
Video	youtu.be/91vxCCm7Jck

Summary

A Tombs of Amascut 500 invocation guide for someone who spent everything on a Tumeken's shadow: full Ancestral, a fang, mixed hide, a Void Waker and a Lightbearer, with no Bofa, no Magus and no prayer flicking. Gnomonkey runs the raid room by room, ending in about 37 minutes with two sand fuses left over. His main takeaway is that 500s have become easy post-update and are a cheap way to get a first fang kit or make money with a shadow.

Outline

0:00 Introduction: who the shadow rebuild setup is for
0:41 Gear requirements: full Ancestral, fang, mixed hide, Lightbearer, Void Waker
1:49 Shadow usage and strategy, why no Bofa
3:36 Special weapon overview: Seercull, surge potion, Mystic Vigor, BGS, DDS
6:42 Invocation setup for a first 500
8:26 Why no Magus or Ultor, mixed hide versus Bandos, and pre-pot
10:12 Monkey room
12:27 Baba encounter
15:30 Puzzle rooms
16:20 Kephri encounter
19:19 Zebak encounter
21:03 Akkha encounter and butterfly
25:40 Warden phases 1 to 3 and skull skip
31:10 Warden phase 4, loot and closing thoughts on upgrades

Topics covered

Tombs of Amascut

(0:00) Gnomonkey says his Tombs of Amascut 500 shadow rebuild setup is meant for a first fang kit or for making money with a newly acquired Tumeken's shadow, with no prayer flicking and very little effort required.
(0:30) Gnomonkey says 500 invocation level raids have become much easier after the update and can be ground for money.
(7:38) Gnomonkey says Tombs of Amascut raids have gotten a lot faster since before the update, so you can consistently run the timer invocation.
(41:34) In this guide Gnomonkey completed a 500 Tombs of Amascut raid in 37 minutes with almost two full sand fuses left over, no prayer flicking and one Keris used on Akkha because he made a mistake.
(41:34) Gnomonkey says you do not need to flick at all for a 500 as long as you have a Tumeken's shadow; the setup is completely free of tech, and you can add more switches if you flick offensive prayers.
(42:07) Gnomonkey says Tombs of Amascut is still very good for making money with a shadow even with the reduced purple value, and that the 500s are very simple to run.
(42:07) A first-time fang kit will be in the chest on a 500 run, and Gnomonkey has a separate guide for getting a fang kit without a Keris and without mega-rare gear.
(43:11) Gnomonkey says the Warhammer is terrible, especially with a shadow, because it basically cannot land on Zebak, and a shadow does not need defence drain; he would bring a bone dagger over a hammer.
(43:11) The Tumeken's shadow's accuracy interacts with the target's magic level, not its defence, so Gnomonkey drains mage level with a Seercull rather than defence.

Shadow rebuild setup

(0:30) For a Tumeken's shadow rebuild in Tombs of Amascut, Gnomonkey wants full Ancestral; each tier of mage armour down loses max hits: Virtus loses five max hits on the primary weapon and Arims loses ten.
(0:58) Gnomonkey says he would not do a shadow rebuild if you cannot also afford Ancestral, because mage gear matters a lot in Tombs of Amascut, and everything else in the setup is the cheap bare minimum.
(1:30) Gnomonkey's bare-minimum shadow setup includes an Osmumten's fang, mixed hide armour, a face guard, dragon boots, regular Barrows gloves (hybrid, nice for range), a Lightbearer, and a Void Waker; the Void Waker is the most expensive item besides the shadow.
(1:30) Gnomonkey notes that Eclipse is not used here because it is worse and is only really good for Atlatl builds due to the bonus burn damage the set gives it.
(1:57) With a Tumeken's shadow in a 500, Gnomonkey is mageing Zebak, Akkha, Warden P1, most of P2, and P3 and P4, so almost the entire raid and the vast majority of DPS is the shadow, with the fang doing Baba, Kephri and the last bit of Akkha.
(1:57) Gnomonkey says a Bofa has no use in this setup, because the only place it would be used is Warden P2, so you can spend nothing on a range switch and use fewer switches.
(2:31) Mixed hide armour is a hybrid giving strength bonus and stab bonus (good for the fang) plus range bonus, slightly worse than black dragonhide, so in P2 Warden Gnomonkey uses a blowpipe with the hybrid gear as his range switch.
(3:04) Gnomonkey suggests upgrades like primordial boots, pharaoh's gloves with a Zaryte vambraces switch, a Torva helmet and a Ring of Rancor make the raid a bit faster, but all are minor because the majority of DPS is the shadow.
(9:08) Gnomonkey says Mixed hide is almost equal to Bandos in DPS, and because you take no chip damage in any room anymore, not even Baba, you do not need Bandos.
(9:08) Gnomonkey says mixed hide lets you stay hybrid for ranged, save slots, and bring more prayer.
(44:13) Gnomonkey says the typical upgrade from mixed hide is adding Bandos and then dropping two slots to add Masori for the range switch, which speeds up Warden P2 with a blowpipe because the blowpipe's minimum hit is much lower in mixed hide.

Lightbearer

(5:34) Gnomonkey uses a Lightbearer rather than a Magus ring with his shadow; without a Magus in Max Mage, Mystic Vigor maxes the same as Augury would.
(8:37) Gnomonkey says you do not need a Magus ring with the shadow: with a moderately decent spec weapon like a Void Waker or Zaryte crossbow, Lightbearer gives equal or better DPS than a Magus, and skipping it saves a couple hundred million.
(9:08) Gnomonkey says you do not need Ultor or a Magus unless you run overly draining, and spec DPS and Lightbearer are really good in the raid; he draws the same argument as in his Phosani's Nightmare guide.

Mystic Vigor

(5:34) Gnomonkey highly recommends getting Mystic Vigor from the Royal Titans for a shadow rebuild, saying it is fairly common and easy to get with a drop rate of about 1 in 100.
(5:34) Gnomonkey prefers Mystic Vigor over Augury with a Lightbearer and no Magus because they max the same, Augury is slightly more accurate (under half a percent more DPS), but Mystic Vigor drains half the prayer.
(32:26) Gnomonkey camps Mystic Vigor the whole time on Warden so he uses no prayer.

Seercull

(3:33) The Seercull is kind of like a bone dagger but from magic: it drains a boss's magic level, is a 100% accuracy spec that ignores everything you are wearing and praying, and does not hit harder with better gear.
(3:33) Gnomonkey uses the Seercull spec on Zebak, saving around 20 seconds on average, more if you hit high.
(6:07) Gnomonkey says a curse scepter drains more on average than the Seercull but has only 25% accuracy on Zebak so it never lands, while the Seercull is a guaranteed hit, drains more in practice, costs nothing and is easy to get.
(20:50) Gnomonkey enters Zebak with his mage gear and Seercull on, salts up, and specs; it hit a 16 in this run.

Surge potion

(4:05) A surge potion gives 25% special attack energy and you can only drink a dose every five minutes; in a 500 you get to use the whole potion, which Gnomonkey says is rare.
(4:05) Gnomonkey brings surge potions for extra Void Waker DPS, noting they are cheap to make and Yama drops a lot of them for Ironmen.
(38:07) Gnomonkey says to use the whole surge potion, anywhere you would Void Waker, but save a dose for Warden P4, the most important time to have spec energy.

Invocations (Tombs of Amascut)

(6:40) Gnomonkey mentions the !invos command and his invocation video for how to progress up to 500s and for other 500 invocation setups.
(7:11) Gnomonkey says invocations have gotten a lot easier and he runs the timer, which he says you clear easily as long as you do not AFK between rooms and keep clicking the bosses.
(7:38) Because overlords became much easier and have no defence after the update, Gnomonkey runs overlords, which costs maybe 20 seconds in total, which lets him turn off double trouble.
(8:10) Gnomonkey says double trouble makes Akkha much more dangerous, so turning it off is good for a first fang kit or when you want to go brain-off for money; he also turns off jungle japes.

Tombs of Amascut supplies

(5:03) Prayer regeneration is like two restores in one slot because it slowly gives you prayer over time; Gnomonkey says he used nothing and had four restores left after a test run.
(6:40) Gnomonkey says BGS is a bit better than a bone dagger for respeccing, and you can also whack the Warden core with it; if you are poor he says to sell it for a bone dagger, but BGS is only about 19 mil.
(9:40) Gnomonkey pre-pots prayer regeneration, a divine super combat and a divine ranging potion before entering.
(15:22) Gnomonkey used one sand fuse on the monkey room and Baba combined, and says not to be worried about using sand fuses liberally.

Monkey room

(10:11) In the monkey room Gnomonkey always camps his ranged gear and swaps to other styles, no matter what setup he runs.
(10:11) After the last update the shamans and cursed baboons in the monkey room have less health, so a blowpipe can now one-shot the cursed baboons.
(10:37) In the monkey room, pray against the primary thing hitting you and change prayers dynamically as the next set spawns, praying melee as the default because the thralls hit you.
(11:04) Blowpipe specs are guaranteed hits so you can heal back health lost in the monkey room; Gnomonkey says you do not want to use the Keris there because it wastes a lot of prayer.
(11:31) Gnomonkey finished the monkey room with 90 health, which he considers ideal.
(11:58) If you are at about 50 health at the end of the monkey room you can poke a couple of monkeys with the Keris to get health back; over 80 health it does not matter, especially with Blood Fury.

Ba-Ba

(12:24) When Baba's monkeys pop up, Gnomonkey swaps to Circle (as transcribed), which has long range and will one-tick them regardless of what you use; remember death charge.
(13:24) In Baba's room the coffins can still be used to block one hit each without breaking open, and you can use coffins instead of rocks the whole time; you can stand up to one tile off of one and take no damage.
(13:50) Be careful if you sit on a rock in the middle of Baba's room, because there is a gap that can send you.
(14:22) Rooms are much faster now, so you do not need to resip a regular ranging potion; Gnomonkey's divine ranging had just run out and a divine ranging still gives its full effect.
(14:22) For Baba's boulders, if you reach the yellow tiles and kill a boulder as it touches you, begin running as it touches you and you will make it.

Kephri

(16:21) On Kephri Gnomonkey spams Void Waker specs (BGS is worse than Void Waker), sips a surge potion at the start, and places his first dung line, killing the spitting scarab before the melee scarab gets around.
(16:52) Gnomonkey says the Keris Partisan is best in slot on every add in Kephri's room in most setups, because they have so little defence and it maxes so high, about 30% better than the fang.
(17:51) Keris Partisan heals you from clicking or killing the adds in Kephri's room; you also have Blood Fury if it gets close, and if you take a big hit from the soldier scarab you can heal it back.
(18:21) Gnomonkey says that if you have really poor melee gear you probably want to use the shadow in Kephri's room.
(18:21) Kill the spitting scarab with the shadow while running away from the soldier scarab and keep casting at the spitting scarab; you can also use the Keris briefly and switch to the shadow when things look close.
(18:49) On Kephri, if you stand on a certain line the spitting scarab cannot reach you but you can reach it, so you take no damage from it.

Zebak

(20:21) A level four Zebak is a 1 in 6 chance, attacks really fast and makes Warden even harder; do not reset if it happens, and this is why Gnomonkey does Zebak before Akkha.
(21:48) When hitting Zebak's jugs, the shadow has a slow travel time, so you want to hit them early.
(22:21) In Zebak's room Gnomonkey stands on the left side for the first barricade, which always has a jug solve there, and where blood spawns that find him die instantly when they touch his character.
(23:16) To safely spec on Zebak, step at least two tiles away from him as soon as you do the spec, or spec from the sides and step away; if he melees you it will probably kill you.
(24:18) Gnomonkey says wave skip is very rarely worth doing, mostly when one wave is in front of Zebak and another behind it.
(24:18) To wave skip, mark the true tile on the waves (shift right-click), step away from the wave one tile when it touches your character so it hugs you, and then run straight through it; you must be moving away from or towards the wave before running through.
(24:49) Wave skip comes up more in level four Zebak, which is pretty rare.
(25:21) In this run Gnomonkey used no prayer flicking and a single prayer dose in Zebak's room, largely thanks to prayer regeneration.

Akkha

(25:21) After the update you can do Akkha's puzzle with 85 Mining and a rune pickaxe, and at 85 you do not even have to click on green if you are standing next to it.
(25:52) Gnomonkey does butterfly on Akkha, always starting from the bottom left quadrant and entering the room quickly so Akkha does not stand in a bad position.
(26:23) Gnomonkey says you do not want to get meleed by Akkha because if he melees you he is guaranteed to change styles after the special; he says to avoid that like the plague.
(26:51) As long as you butterfly properly, Akkha stays the same style colour and is 100% consistent now; you can do the room without butterfly, but Gnomonkey highly recommends learning it because it uses less prayer and makes the room simpler.
(27:54) If Akkha stalls in a bad spot, stand next to him and fake him out by stepping away right before he attacks, to avoid his melee.
(28:22) When forced to defend against a melee swap, pray melee until you see his animation begin and then pray mage; it is a three-tick window with a two-tick window to get the other prayer on, and chip damage is small compared to before.
(28:55) Gnomonkey does a melee hit from just below Akkha's icon to be tick perfect for the bottom of butterfly and starts instantly.
(28:55) Gnomonkey uses red tile markers to move between Akkha quadrants: cast from the opposite side of the shadow, click to the red tile, cast once more, then run down and cast again, which is tick perfect and also works diagonally.
(30:18) Gnomonkey spams fang specs in Akkha's last phase, but if you are not comfortable or are under 50 health, save spec for the Keris Partisan.

The Wardens

(30:52) Before Warden Gnomonkey banks his fang, since it has no use there, and grabs another power; he takes salt and adrenaline, then in P1 summons a thrall and does three specs with the Void Waker, sipping a surge potion, then switches to the shadow.
(31:24) In Warden P1 you will often get one set of orbs (most common), a second set if you get a little unlucky, and a third set is astronomically unlikely.
(32:26) Standing on a certain corner of Warden's P1 makes your shadow land faster so you might dodge the second set of orbs.
(32:53) In Warden P2 Gnomonkey moves his DDS into position and uses adrenaline from P1 to spam DDS specs, then a BGS whack; he death charges because you get spec off the core when they suck back in, and summons a range thrall.
(33:20) Gnomonkey says the only slower part of his setup is blowpiping Warden P2, which he notes is a single phase of the raid and not bad.
(33:47) On Warden's P2 skulls, you are safe standing next to them or up to two tiles away in any cardinal direction.
(34:14) Gnomonkey tries to get through P2 without using the Keris because if he reaches P3 he can heal off the skulls, saving spec energy; at P2 you get eight hits on the core and the eighth is a BGS.
(34:40) Warden's skulls on P3 max 10, so if you are ever close to that health you need to heal up; with the shadow the P2 phase is real fast.
(35:06) Gnomonkey does not use the Keris at the end of Warden P2 because the skulls on P3 give you health back when you Keris them, so he saves a bunch of spec energy and prayer.
(36:06) Gnomonkey says it is fine to Keris before P3 skulls if you are nervous, and that you can heal back to full with the Keris; make sure you have prayer because the Keris drains it.
(36:34) Gnomonkey says skull skipping increases your purple chance a lot, so it is very worth doing for money; for just a fang kit you can poke with the Keris.
(37:06) The Keris Partisan drains five prayer per skull even when you are overhealed, so once back at full health stop using it and use the Void Waker instead.
(37:06) Skull skipping increases purple chance because the skulls hitting Warden decrease his health by five percent, and if you do not do the skulls properly you do the damage instead; he gives a huge amount of the total loot points.
(39:07) To skull skip, stand on the red tiles you are running to and click when you see the orange particles from the skulls explode; the timing is very easy.
(39:07) Gnomonkey says to make sure you use your last surge dose on P4, the most important time to have spec energy, both for the Keris and for DPS specs.
(39:34) On Warden P4 Gnomonkey spams Void Waker, but if you have not done a 500 save energy for the Keris.
(40:06) On Warden P4 the lightning shadows follow a six-tick cycle: three ticks appearing, then three ticks striking; you dodge all of them by stepping on the first shadow that appeared as it strikes, which also dodges the Baba boulder.
(41:03) Sometimes the P4 lightning gives a pattern that forces you to get hit, so the dodge is generally but not 100% safe.