What the New OSRS Amulets Mean for the Meta (OSRS)


Date	2026-09-03
Type	news-opinion
Video	youtu.be/PJX1aJr8dQc

Summary

Gnomonkey examines the new elemental magic amulets added in the final Summer Sweep-up batch, which beat the occult necklace when casting elemental spells. He checks DPS calculations showing the meta barely changes for now because of thralls, expects some movement after Raids 4, likes the mid-game progression the amulets add, but argues such a major balance addition should have been polled rather than slipped into a sweep-up.

Outline

0:00 Introduction: new elemental amulets and their sources
0:33 Community reaction versus real strength
1:03 Gear calculator comparison at a fire-weak boss and the thrall factor
3:02 Maggot King as the one real DPS gain
3:32 Raids 4 elemental base max hit item and future meta shifts
4:36 Who benefits: mid-game accounts and a gap filler before the occult
6:31 Concern: drops from very low level mobs
7:01 Concern: not polled, and the interaction with the Raids 4 poll
9:32 Shadow rebalance concern
10:02 September stream incentives and closing

Topics covered

Elemental amulets

(0:00) The final part of the Summer Sweep-up added elemental magic amulets that buff the specific elemental spell styles; they drop from low-level Slayer mobs, such as the air one from killerwatts and the water one from sea snake hatchlings.
(0:00) Once you obtain all four elemental amulets they can be combined into one singular amulet that buffs all elements.
(0:33) Gnomonkey says the elemental amulets are much more powerful than the update notes suggested and beat an occult necklace when you are using elemental spells.
(0:33) Gnomonkey says many people are blowing the amulets out of proportion by claiming they shift the meta everywhere.
(1:35) In Gearscape's calculator against 'Zalra' (a very elementally weak boss with 50% fire weakness, low mage defence and a max hit cap), the harmonised nightmare staff is 0.5% better than the Eye of Ayak even without the amulet, and with the new amulet it is 4.7% better.
(2:02) Gnomonkey says once thrall DPS is included, the amulet setup no longer wins against the Eye of Ayak setup at 'Zalra', because thralls add about 0.625 DPS and work with any weapon, including the ranged half of the kill.
(2:32) Gnomonkey says the only boss he could think of where the new amulet gives a tangible best-in-slot DPS increase is the Maggot King, where it is 2.7% better.
(4:04) Gnomonkey says if you ever kill bosses with elemental spells you want the new amulet, which is a big deal for mid-game and even low-level accounts since it needs very little Magic to obtain, although it doesn't shift best in slot much.
(5:04) Gnomonkey considers the amulets a good gap filler: ironmen casting spells don't have an amulet that substantially affects DPS until the occult necklace, which needs 93 Slayer (as he says).
(5:31) Gnomonkey thinks the amulets pave the way for a future occult upgrade, such as one giving 7% to 8% mage damage instead of 5%.
(6:30) Gnomonkey finds it strange that such strong amulets drop from super low-level mobs and suggests they could have dropped from Slayer monsters in the 50s or 60s, or from low-level bosses like the Titans, to make those worth killing.

Raids 4

(3:32) Gnomonkey says Gearscape has a Raids 4 reward toggle, and that Raids 4 will add an item that increases the base max hit of all elemental spells by two, which stacks and multiplies with the new elemental amulet.
(3:35) Gnomonkey expects that once Raids 4 releases with the amulet, the harmonised nightmare staff will start beating weapons like Shadow and powered staves on things very weak to an element, such as Zulrah and Phosani's Nightmare (whose totems are heavily fire weak, though thralls are very good there).
(8:31) Gnomonkey notes players already voted on the elemental damage reward for Raids 4 without knowing the amulets would be added, and some might not have voted yes had they known.

Opinion: Major balance changes should be polled

(7:01) Gnomonkey says he considers it a valid complaint that the amulets, arguably new best-in-slot items, were added without a poll, and that changes that substantially affect progression and balance should be polled.
(7:31) Gnomonkey says tacking something like this onto a sweep-up only makes sense if it is really weak and effectively quality-of-life for low levels, but the amulets exceed that.
(7:56) Gnomonkey says the update notes were unclear, saying plus two max hits when it should have said plus two base max hits.
(9:04) Gnomonkey says he personally thinks the amulets are a cool addition and that the harmonised nightmare staff being a little better than Shadow in a couple of places is how it should be, but that the decision should be up to players to vote.

Shadow rebalance

(9:32) Gnomonkey worries about how the amulets and Raids 4 changes interact with the planned Tumeken's Shadow rebalance, since Shadow is the cheapest mega rare with fewer use cases than other mega rares and could become even more niche.

Harmonised nightmare staff

(4:04) Gnomonkey says that right now the harmonised nightmare staff is slightly better than the Eye of Ayak on paper at Phosani's Nightmare but not worth using, and that might change after Raids 4.
(9:04) Gnomonkey says the harmonised nightmare staff is currently not useful and only has a use at the Maggot King, so a couple more uses make sense to him.

Gnomonkey

(10:02) Gnomonkey ran September stream incentives including a 100 million GP PvP from scratch challenge and a boss randomizer made by Sax that picks a random boss and a random setup, which could range from a Twisted bow to garbage, and rolls one per 50 total subs or per 10 pack of gifted subs.