Kephri is easier to learn when you separate three tasks: dodge the marked fireball tile, place dung where it preserves walking space, and control the scarabs during shield recovery. Use your Keris partisan or another suitable stab setup on the boss, then change targets when the dangerous support scarabs appear.
This guide covers Scabaras’ challenge and Kephri’s base encounter for a learner ToA run. It then explains how invocations change the room. It does not require an advanced dung trap or a high-level damage setup. Learn the ordinary kill before copying a method that deliberately leaves a minion alive.
Bank checks: the partisan has a specific job
Beneath Cursed Sands unlocks the raid and awards the Keris partisan. Its scarab role makes it a practical starting weapon for Kephri. A fang or an upgraded partisan offers later alternatives, but their relative performance depends on raid level and the complete setup. Do not turn an example upgrade into a universal minimum.
Bring a fast ranged option for small swarms, useful melee gear, Prayer restoration, healing and poison preparation. A powered staff is not the default substitute for a scarab weapon. Check the attack style and ammunition before starting, and leave switch slots that you can use while watching fireball shadows.
A protection prayer does not replace dodging Kephri’s bombs. Antipoison also solves a different problem from explosive eggs or a charged scarab attack. Know which threat each supply addresses instead of treating every defensive item as general immunity.
Path of Scabaras: solve the displayed puzzle
The challenge contains several small puzzles and a final number task. Read the instruction at each board rather than running across tiles in search of a lucky solution. In a team, divide jobs and communicate completion so two players do not undo each other’s work.
For a sequence board, watch and repeat the displayed pattern. For matching boards, find corresponding symbols on both sides. For the lights puzzle, remember that stepping on a tile changes neighbouring lights; plan the arrangement instead of clicking the same centre tile repeatedly.
Finish the earlier puzzles before using the final number tablet. Read the requested sum, use the symbol values shown on the walls near the entrance and choose tiles that add to it. Going over the required number causes damage. A rotated diagram can be misleading if you have not matched its orientation to the room.
Solo arrangements let you move between areas that are divided in a group layout. Do not assume your teammate can cross over exactly as you did in solo. Before the boss, restore any resources lost to puzzle errors and make sure everyone is through.
Fireballs: move after the mark, not into the next bomb
Kephri’s ordinary fireball leaves a shadow showing where it will land. Move off that location and attack again from clear ground. Repeated huge movement loops use time without helping if the next click returns you to a targeted tile.
Keep your weapon and food within reach so that a supply click does not stop the next movement. When Aerial Assault is enabled, the danger grows from a single tile to a 3×3 area and bomber scarabs follow that change. A one-tile dodge that worked with it disabled can then fail.
Path levels can speed her attacks too. If a previously comfortable rhythm becomes unreliable, check the actual path level and modifiers before blaming equipment. The immediate response is to shorten the decision and use an adequately clear tile.
Dung Strike: place a barrier without trapping yourself
Flying scarabs around a player signal the dung mechanic. Position before the knockback so the resulting line leaves access to the boss, the scarab targets and the next clear movement area. In a team, call the targeted player rather than allowing several people to guess the same placement.
Rows of dung limit travel for the rest of the encounter. Filling an arbitrary gap can strand a teammate or block a later minion. For the first clears, use a simple shared placement plan with open walking space; an exact trap is a later method that needs its own demonstrated positions.
Blowing Mud targets two players in groups but adds no second target when solo. That does not make it free coordination in a team. Before raising difficulty, agree how both targeted players will avoid creating intersecting barriers.
Eggs and shield recovery are different target decisions
Eggs can explode near players, and darker eggs can hatch ranged Agile Scarabs. Clear threatening eggs or move out of their explosion area. Do not tunnel on the boss while several eggs develop beside the tile you intend to use.
When the shield empties, Kephri pauses and support scarabs arrive. Small swarms restore the shield if they reach her. A fast ranged weapon lets you remove them, but the larger combat scarabs still need attention. In a team, assign swarm coverage and combat-scarab damage rather than having everyone chase the same small target.
Target | What it does | Learner priority |
|---|---|---|
Arcane Scarab | Charges a powerful attack | Focus it promptly and watch the charge rather than only Kephri’s bar |
Spitting Scarab | Ranged attacks and poison | Use Missiles protection while relevant and remove the ongoing pressure |
Soldier Scarab | Melee pressure and healing support | Kill it for a straightforward clear; a deliberate trap needs a separate plan |
Small swarms | Restore Kephri’s shield | Clear with a fast weapon while maintaining bomb awareness |
Without More Overlords, the first recovery brings the Spitting Scarab; the second brings Soldier and Arcane Scarabs. More Overlords adds another combat scarab to each recovery. Read that setting before assuming the targets will match a base-run demonstration. The dangerous charge is not a reason to forget the tile beneath your character.
Final health phase: preserve the route you built
After the third shield bar, Kephri becomes directly vulnerable and uses dung against the party. Be ready for that transition rather than filling the previous bar while already caught in another knockback. Continue dodging, keep the correct weapon on and finish surviving threats.
If a Soldier Scarab is still alive, its support remains relevant. An experienced trap routine may leave one at low health, but an accidental survivor is not the same strategy. For learners, removing it is simpler than assuming the fight will end before its support matters.
Modifier | What the learner must change |
|---|---|
Lively Larvae | Expect more dark eggs and protect the available floor |
Aerial Assault | Move clear of the larger bomb area |
More Overlords | Prepare for extra combat scarabs during recovery |
Medic! | Keep clearing additional healing swarms outside recovery windows |
Blowing Mud | Coordinate two targeted players in groups |
All ToA deaths risk Hardcore status, including Entry Mode. Understand your attempt limit and recovery plan before experimenting with an unfamiliar trap. The completion checkpoint is a finished encounter with a usable supply reserve, not the fewest possible shield charges at any cost.
After the encounter: choose one improvement
Review the first recurring mistake before changing equipment or adding invocations. Record whether the problem was a missed cue, an unusable switch, a supply shortage or a route you had not learned. Repeating the same setup while correcting one cause makes the next attempt easier to assess.
For access, the full raid and Helpful Spirit supplies, use the ToA first-clear guide. For difficulty progression, use the first-150 invocation guide and check the actual enabled settings before entering.
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