A first Normal Verzik clear depends on recognising phase changes and following a shared team plan. Pass Dawnbringer and use pillars in phase one; maintain spacing and avoid bombs in phase two; then read projectiles, support the tank and handle specials in phase three. Treat each transition as a reset, not a chance to continue the previous attack pattern.
This is a Normal Theatre of Blood learner guide. It does not apply Entry Mode’s reduced punishment or Hard Mode’s extra mechanics. Practising a movement in Entry helps, but it does not make Normal a safe death or replace a team caller. Read the relevant section before entering rather than trying to learn the full fight from a chat message during combat.
The final pre-fight check
There is no supply chest after Xarpus. Collect dropped potions, restore brew-drained stats, check run and make sure someone has Dawnbringer. Agree who uses it first, who receives it next and where it will be dropped. Confirm phase-one pillars, phase-two sides, purple-spider responsibility and the intended phase-three tank.
Keep all three protection prayers, food and restores easy to reach. An ordinary melee weapon can be used while learning; a Scythe is not a substitute for movement. If you bring insulated boots for phase-two lightning mitigation, remember their 37 Slayer requirement and that they do not make lightning harmless.
Phase one: Dawnbringer and pillar cover
Activate Protect from Magic before the fight starts. Verzik’s shield caps ordinary damage heavily; Dawnbringer is the exception. Its special attack always hits and deals 75–150 damage to the shield. Use the agreed specials, then drop the weapon where the next player can safely collect it. Say when it is down so the handover does not become a search around the room.
Verzik charges a powerful magic attack every 14 ticks. Correct magic prayer reduces the hit, but a learner should use the supporting pillar as cover rather than deliberately tanking it. Hide with the team behind the agreed pillar before the attack launches. Different players using different pillars unnecessarily damages more of the room’s cover.
Pillars lose health when they absorb the attack and eventually collapse. Move to the next agreed pillar before being caught beside a collapsing one. Do not wait until your character is stunned to begin finding the replacement. At the phase transition, all remaining pillars fall, so move away from their edges as the shield breaks.
Ordinary melee attacks between hiding cycles can contribute, especially with multiple hitsplats, but the number you can fit depends on position and weapon speed. Copying a veteran’s extra attack without their timing risks a large magic hit. Establish safe hiding and clean Dawnbringer passes first, then increase damage between them.
Phase two: spread, protect and move
Cue | Action |
|---|---|
Phase two begins | Protect from Missiles and move to the assigned side |
Urn bomb aimed at your tile | Move off that tile while preserving team spacing |
Purple Athanatos spawns | The assigned player applies poison or venom |
Red spiders appear near 35% health | Protect from Magic; stop hitting Verzik during her healing animation |
Phase three approaches | Heal, restore stats and prepare to read both projectile styles |
A common four-player formation splits two east and two west. Five-player teams add one south; trios use east, west and south. The purpose is to maintain useful space for bombs and lightning, not to stand motionless on one marked tile regardless of what appears.
Urn bombs target players’ current tiles and can be dodged by moving off them. Protect from Missiles reduces damage when a bomb hits, but does not replace movement. Standing close at the wrong moment can cause a body slam and stun; standing under Verzik can trigger a heavy stomp. Protect from Melee does not block those phase-two attacks.
Melee learners need a timed step-back and return rather than camping beside her. A Scythe uses a more specific movement rhythm, often called Scythe walking. Practise the rhythm for the weapon you are using and follow a caller; do not assume a marked tile by itself prevents a slam. If you lose the cycle, step clear and recover instead of forcing another attack while stunned or on a bomb tile.
Every fifth attack can produce bouncing lightning. Spacing allows the lightning to pass through Verzik, damaging her, rather than making damaging bounces between badly positioned players. Do not run far away from the formation to heal without telling the group. Insulated boots mitigate some lightning damage, but neither fix the formation nor guarantee survival.
Phase-two spiders and the red transition
Exploding Nylocas chase players. Let them approach closely enough to trigger, then move away; avoid pulling them through teammates. Freezing can buy time, but check whose job that is. The purple Athanatos heals Verzik and must be poisoned or venomed. Merely hitting it with an ordinary weapon is not the intended solution.
At 35% health or below, Verzik summons two red Matomenos. Stop hitting Verzik during the summoning animation because those hits heal her. Switch to Protect from Magic, damage the red spiders and keep sensible spacing. After the animation finishes, resume the agreed boss-and-spider priorities.
The later phase-two magic attack affects an area around its target. Protect from Magic blocks its damage, but does not prevent the corresponding healing effect. Spread so that one attack does not catch several players. Bombs and lightning can still occur, so do not forget movement merely because the prayer has changed.
Phase three: identify the tank and read projectiles
Verzik lands and chooses a primary target. That tank must prevent her from choosing a melee attack by stepping under or away at the correct point before she attacks. A tank standing still beside her can expose every nearby teammate to a heavy melee hit that cannot be prayed against. Simply turning on Protect from Melee is not a tanking method.
Non-tanks should give the tank room, keep damage controlled and watch the projectile animation. A front-leg stomp launches ranged barbs; blue energy signals magic. Switch to the matching protection. Both attacks can hit the group, so do not copy a nearby player’s icon without looking at the boss.
Before enrage, the attack interval is seven ticks. Do not improvise a tank transfer: the boss can change target after her current target remains away from melee distance for too long. If the selected player cannot tank, call it and use the team’s agreed transfer method. Chasing her unpredictably can make the rest of the room harder to read.
The tile diagram is an orientation aid for pillars, phase-two positions and web movement. It does not show a universally safe tile for every special. Match the diagram to your room orientation and your team’s method before importing markers.
Phase-three specials in order
Special | Learner priority | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
Nylocas | Handle your chasing spiders away from the tank and teammates | Dragging an explosion through the group |
Webs | Keep moving on the agreed route; free a trapped teammate if safe | Stopping in another player’s web trail |
Yellow pools | Take one unoccupied pool each and stay until the hit | Sharing a pool or leaving before impact |
Green ball | Use the pre-agreed tank-or-bounce call and sufficient health | An unplanned pass into the base tank |
These specials repeat in that order, with four ordinary attacks between them. Keep watching ordinary projectile prayers between mechanics. A successful yellow pool does not mean you can ignore the next ranged or magic attack while rearranging gear.
Webs: Verzik moves to the centre and becomes invulnerable during the initial movement, then launches webs. Continue along the team’s route without stopping on the trail. If a player is caught, their web can be broken by another player. A coordinated melee web cycle is an advanced damage method: attacking on different ticks leaves webs in the route of teammates. If you fall behind, skip attacks to catch up or use the agreed separate ranged method instead of trying to make up time with one extra hit.
Yellows: each pool protects one player. Choose an unoccupied one, coordinate if two people run towards the same pool, and remain there until the blast lands. Two players sharing a pool both lose its protection. Verzik is invulnerable while charging, so use the window to heal or restore stats instead of wasting attacks. Do not leave early because the animation looks nearly finished.
Green ball: decide before the fight whether the target will tank it or the team will bounce it. The hit is 75% of the target’s Hitpoints level, which is 74 damage at level 99; that refers to the level, not 75% of current health. A healthy target can take it, but a low-health player needs an immediate clear call. A bounce requires moving beside another player before impact. Avoid improvising a pass into the tank, who already has movement and prayer responsibilities. Ordinary last-second food timing is not a reliable tick-eat for this attack.
Below 20%: tornadoes change the pace
At 20% health or below, Verzik summons a personal purple tornado for each player and speeds ordinary attacks from seven ticks to five. Your tornado follows you. Contact deals half your current health and heals Verzik for three times that damage, so standing still to finish a long switch can undo a large amount of team damage.
Keep moving, read projectiles and maintain the tank’s faster rhythm. Do not cross a teammate’s route without checking their space. The specials still happen, including yellows and the green ball. Prepare the next safe position early instead of reaching a pool at the last moment with a tornado directly behind you.
Low-health optimisations used by experienced teams reduce the healing from a tornado hit, but they also reduce your margin against mistakes. A learner should not adopt a fixed low-health target while still missing prayers or expecting a green ball. Heal for the next actual threat and concentrate on avoiding tornado contact.
What to review after an attempt
Identify the first failure rather than blaming the final death. Was Dawnbringer missing, a pillar handover late, phase-two spacing broken, a red transition attacked, the tank left beside the boss, or a yellow shared? Pick that mechanic for the next attempt. Extra gear rarely fixes an unrecognised phase cue.
Normal ToB deaths are dangerous, including for Hardcore accounts. A full-team wipe ends the raid and retrieval costs 100,000 coins; another dangerous death before reclaiming can destroy the stored items. On a successful clear, enter the treasure room beneath the collapsed throne and collect your reward. A consistent first-clear team is built by repeating clean decisions through all three phases, then adding damage as those decisions become reliable.
For equipment functions, team assignments and raid-wide death rules, use our Normal ToB preparation guide alongside this encounter walkthrough.
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