Start your first Tombs of Amascut attempt at raid level 0 with all invocations off. Learn the four paths and Wardens before adding faster attacks, supply restrictions or limited attempts. Entry Mode still threatens Hardcore status: the low difficulty setting does not make its deaths safe.
This OSRS Tombs of Amascut guide gives a first-clear route through Zebak, Kephri, Akkha, Ba-Ba and Wardens. It covers the normal mechanics with a small three-style setup. Higher path levels, Insanity, butterfly movement and red-click methods are later learning projects.
Unlock the pyramid and choose the right settings
Complete Beneath Cursed Sands to access the raid at the Jaltevas Pyramid in the necropolis. Use the grouping interface to make a solo party or join your agreed team, then inspect the active invocations before starting. ToA supports solo learning as well as teams; confirm the leader’s settings instead of trusting the displayed mode name alone.
Category | Raid level | First-session approach |
|---|---|---|
Entry | 0–149 | Begin at 0; repeat until the mechanics are understood |
Normal | 150–299 | Build toward it by adding understood invocations individually |
Expert | 300+ | A later goal requiring stronger execution and a suitable setup |
Keep attempt limits, time limits, reduced supplies, path-level increases and faster special mechanics off for the first run. Without a limited-attempt invocation, a wipe allows a room retry while preserving earlier raid progress. That is useful practice for ordinary accounts, not protection for HCIM status or careless disconnects.
Bring three combat styles and manageable supplies
Around 75–80 in your main offensive skills is a useful learner target, with adequate Defence, Hitpoints and all protection prayers. This is a practical recommendation rather than a fixed combat requirement. Higher stats help, but cannot replace switching style, avoiding floor hazards and responding to the boss.
Role | Useful starting direction | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
Stab melee | Zamorakian hasta, another suitable stab weapon, or a fang if available | Ba-Ba, parts of Akkha and general melee damage |
Scarab weapon | Keris partisan from the quest | Kephri; upgrades are optional progression |
Ranged | Crossbow with compatible enchanted bolts or a supported bow setup | Zebak, baboons and later Wardens phases |
Magic | A charged powered staff with a small accurate switch | Akkha, baboons and the appropriate Warden shield |
Core special | Dragon dagger and an ordinary melee follow-up | Damage during Warden core exposure |
Carry food or brews, restoration, combat boosts, poison preparation and a one-click escape. Count the gear switches first, then reserve enough space for the opening paths. For example, eight switch items, a melee special, two boosts, five restores, poison protection and an escape leave ten slots for healing before any additional tools. Adjust the layout to your actual equipment; do not add items until it overflows.
The Path of Het has a pickaxe available and supports storing a better one for later runs. Check your tools before the puzzle rather than assuming a pickaxe in the bank helps. Antidote++ protects against poison, but it does not grant venom immunity; avoid the venom trails in the baboon room even while poison-protected.
Use a repeatable path order and supply plan
For this first run, use Zebak → Kephri → Akkha → Ba-Ba. Starting with Zebak gives an early chance to practise clear projectile prayers. After two paths, inspect the Helpful Spirit bundles. Power provides smelling salts; a learner who needs healing may choose differently, so read the offered contents and preserve enough supplies to continue.
Smelling salts repeatedly boost combat stats for eight minutes. Nectar heals while draining combat stats; tears of Elidinis restore stats and Prayer; ambrosia is strong emergency recovery. Keep the supplies bag accessible and learn its Resupply option. After the four paths, use the second spirit choice to prepare for Wardens, usually valuing Life’s healing when you already have an offensive boost.
Boss completion restores health, Prayer, run and special energy. Use that recovery between paths, but do not gamble your last health on a nearly dead boss if a mechanic is about to land.
Zebak: water first, then projectile prayers
In Crondis’ challenge, collect a water container, fill it at a waterfall and water the central palm. Avoid spikes and the darker poison-cloud tiles; hits spill water as well as damaging you. Kill crocodiles if they are preventing the palm from filling. Learn a clean route before trying precise trap skips.
At Zebak, stay out of melee distance and attack with Ranged. A thrown pot that becomes red orbs means Protect from Magic; a rock that splits into smaller rocks means Protect from Missiles. These normal attacks check protection on impact, giving you time to respond to the visible projectile.
For the roar, locate a rock with a usable safe area behind it. Push or pull a water jug into position, break it to clear nearby poison and stand behind the rock for the soundwaves. Do not assume every rock already has a clean tile behind it. For tidal waves, move into the visible gap and keep checking the next wave rather than attacking from a spot that pulls you out of safety.
His attacks speed up late in the fight. Prioritise the next correct prayer and a safe tile over an extra shot. Leave Upset Stomach and other special modifiers off until the base pattern is familiar.
Kephri: dodge shadows and preserve walking space
Scabaras’ challenge combines sequence, matching and tile puzzles. Read the instruction for the puzzle you reach. In a solo run, use the opened crossovers to progress between the two sides; the final number puzzle needs earlier puzzles finished before its tablet can be used. Do not run across unknown floor tiles trying to force a solve.
Use your Keris partisan or suitable stab setup on Kephri. Her ordinary fireball targets a tile marked by a shadow, so move away before it lands. Protection is a fallback, not a substitute for dodging. When scarabs swarm around you for Dung Strike, position so the resulting dung line does not trap you away from the boss or block the area you still need.
During shield-recovery intermissions, clear the larger scarabs and reduce swarms reaching her. Protect from Missiles against the spitting scarab. Prioritise the arcane scarab when it appears because its charged attack can cause heavy damage. A fast Ranged weapon helps with small swarms. Clear eggs or move away from their explosions instead of standing between multiple hazards.
Akkha: style switches and memory movement
Het’s challenge uses mirrors to redirect a beam toward the shielded statue. Break worn barriers when necessary, rotate and place mirrors, then mine the seal while the shield is down. Avoid darkness orbs and the beam itself. In teams, check whether dirty mirrors need cleaning when a route unexpectedly stops working.
Akkha changes his attack style and protection. Watch both: use a style he is not protecting against and match your overhead to the attacks he is currently using. Keep the small gear switches organised so changing weapon does not leave you fighting in the wrong armour. His damage is not completely removed by protection prayers.
When shadows appear, focus one and use the quadrant you have cleared. For Memory Blast, watch the floor markers flash, remember the order and move through the indicated safe quadrants as the bursts occur. Keep Feeling Special? off so you learn the base timing first. If trailing orbs materialise, avoid moving through their trail; standing still can prevent creating a long chain when no other mechanic requires movement.
In the final orb phase, use melee against the vulnerable target and make controlled movements around the white orbs. Stop chasing damage through a cluster of them. Heal before committing to a movement that leaves no easy recovery window.
Ba-Ba: clear baboons, then handle rocks
In Apmeken’s challenge, bring the room’s hammer and neutralising potions. Use Magic against melee brawlers, melee against throwers and Ranged against mages. Prioritise shamans, avoid cursed-baboon venom and move away before a volatile baboon explodes. Respond to the indicated pillar or vent task rather than clicking every object. In teams, the player with Apmeken’s Sight must communicate the required fix.
For Ba-Ba, keep Protect from Melee active and use the chosen melee setup. Step off falling-rock shadows. When the large thrown rock comes, stand next to usable debris to block it; do not confuse a debris object with a damaging shadow still forming beneath you. Avoid the marked shockwave area and kill baboons that are opening sarcophagi.
At the rolling-boulder phases, identify the cracked boulder, shoot it with Ranged and move through the gap it opens. Watch the next row before moving again. Leave Mind the Gap!, Boulderdash and related modifiers off during the first clear so their extra consequences do not obscure the basic sequence.
Wardens phase 1: obelisk and controlled damage
Before descending, organise the supplies bag, refresh smelling salts if needed and keep emergency healing easy to find. Speak to the required NPC and confirm the team’s blocking plan. Attack the central obelisk while avoiding the floating-pyramid lights and maintaining health for charged orbs.
For the usual learner route, briefly block the energy flow to Tumeken’s Warden so it charges more slowly, leading to Elidinis’ Warden in phase 2. Blocking costs health, so stop once the intended timing is established rather than absorbing an entire phase. In a team, assign the blocker and explain which orb attacks require spreading or grouping. Solo charged-orb damage needs a health reserve.
Wardens phase 2: shield, prayers and core
Attack with the style the Warden is not protecting against: switch between Ranged and Magic as the shield changes. A red skull projectile means Protect from Magic; the ordinary skull projectile means Protect from Missiles. Avoid the obelisk’s floor beams and move off its lightning danger areas. Stay out of melee distance for the usual Elidinis fight.
A divine projectile can turn off your overhead and show a scimitar, arrow or spell. Reapply Melee, Missiles or Magic protection to match. If a binding projectile traps you, you can still eat and change prayers; stabilise those rather than repeatedly clicking movement while unable to move.
When the core is exposed, switch to melee. Melee attacks land maximum hits here, making the dragon dagger special useful, especially with liquid adrenaline reducing special costs. Continue with your melee weapon when energy runs out. Multiple core exposures are acceptable for a first clear; the goal is to survive the cycles rather than force an advanced damage target.
Wardens phase 3 and the shrinking floor
The restored Warden attacks the floor. Move to the side opposite the incoming side slam, then use the middle when both sides are hit. Watch its arms and the floor instead of relying only on a memorised left/right phrase. Keep Insanity off; it changes the speed and how the sequence resumes after siphons.
When Energy Siphons appear, switch to melee and destroy them all within the window. They are immune to Ranged and Magic. Do not attempt a skull-skip shortcut on the first clear. The phantom bosses add their own attacks as the phase develops, so maintain the required prayer and keep moving off falling hazards.
In the final stand, the back rows disappear while lightning shadows appear. Stay on the remaining floor, move off developing shadows and keep dealing damage. Preserve ambrosia for a useful emergency rather than burying it inside the bag. Recovering health early is better than opening the bag only after the next hit becomes fatal.
Recovery and increasing difficulty
Every ToA death risks Hardcore Ironman status, including at raid level 0. Limited-attempt failures can put unprotected items into retrieval, with a fee based on the items and capped at 500,000 coins. Reclaim stored items before another dangerous death. Logging out or disconnecting in an unsafe room can count as a death, so use a deliberate exit or available teleport rather than closing the client as an escape plan.
Ordinary Ironmen can join raid teams under raid loot rules, while Group Ironman prestige and UIM deathbank choices need separate checks. After a wipe, identify the missed mechanic before retrying. After a clear, raise difficulty gradually: change one understood invocation, then verify whether it adds a mechanic, speeds an attack or reduces a resource.
Low-level Entry is practice with reduced reward potential, not a promise of profitable uniques. Use the scoreboard to track avoidable damage and deaths. If a combat or account unlock is still blocking progress, the OSRS PvM progression guide helps choose a specific preparation goal before the next attempt.
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