Castle Wars Guide

This minigame has been rated as Low Risk. See the minigames page for a definition of high and low risk.  

Overview

Introduction

Castle Wars is a safe combat-based team game lasting twenty minutes. It invites members to enter a battle between good and evil in a RuneScape style game of "Capture the Flag". Participants may choose to ally themselves with Saradomin or Zamorak, while followers of Guthix may be placed with either team in order to ensure that the teams are of equal size. During the course of this epic battle, participants may be required to scale tall curtain walls to surprise their enemy, use explosives to demolish barricades and clear tunnels, heal their fellow players, storm through heavily guarded areas to wear down the enemy's defences, or make the highest sacrifice of all by laying down their life to protect their standard. A select few will have the honour of capturing the enemy's standard, scoring vital points for their team.

Getting There

Getting there is very easy and can be accomplished in two ways. The fastest and most popular route is to either make or purchase a ring of duelling and teleport to the Castle Wars arena with it. An intermediate route is to teleport to the Yanille lodestone and walk west to castle wars. The lobby area is shown below.

Preparation

Once at the Castle Wars arena, the player can use the chest in the south-east corner to access their bank and prepare for battle. Capes and food are prohibited, so make sure to bank these before entering. Players can only take wield-able items, potions, runes, or butterflies into the game. Stocks of bandages and other supplies are stored in the castle spawn rooms and armouries once you enter the game. Players may obtain a castle wars manual for free from Lanthus for more information on gameplay.

Teams

There are a number of themed worlds where like-minded players can be found, these are world 24, 52 and 59. When you are ready, enter a potal to join your preffered team; the blue portal is for Saradomin, the red is for Zamorak, and the green Guthix portal will automatically place the player in the team with the fewest people. Once in the waiting area, Saradomin players will find themselves wearing a blue cape, while Zamorak team members will be wearing red capes. These are automatically removed when leaving the game.

Participants entering a portal wearing items from another god will be turned into one of three creatures for the remainder of the waiting period. Saradomin will turn unfaithful team members into rabbits, Guthix will turn the unfaithful into sheep and Zamorak will cause the unfaithful to become imps. Items that cause this are god armousr, prayer books, prayer symbols, and other god-aligned items.

Return to Top

 

General Information

Castle Wars Arena

The castle wars arena is split from north-east to south-west by a river, known as the moat. North-west of the moat is the castle of Zamorak and south-east of the moat is the castle of Saradomin. In the centre of the arena is an island with four towers, two trapdoors that lead to the dungeon and a bridge connecting it to each area, thus connecting the lands of Zamorak and Saradomin. At each end of the moat are stones which can be jumped across to reach the opposing team's land. In the dungeon, each castle has two tunnels leading from it to a central cavern, located under the island. There are ladders in the north-west and south-east corners of the dungeon leading to their respective castles.

In-Game Screen

The in-game screen reports on the condition of the player's team defences, the game score, and the status of both team's standards. On the left hand side of the screen are icons that display the current strength of the castle's main gate, side gate, whether the team's two tunnels have been collapsed or cleared, and whether the teams catapult has been damaged or is operational. At the top of the screen is a display showing the status of both team's standards; safe, dropped or taken. This interface also displays the score and time remaining in the game.

Return to Top

 

Items

Most inventory items from outside castle wars are prohibited. Players cannot take anything into the game unless it is wield-able, a potion, runes, or butterflies. Stocks of bandages and other supplies are stored in the castle spawn rooms and armouries. Since capes are prohibited, rangers cannot bring Ava's attractor, Ava's accumulator or Ava's alerter to help collect their dropped ammunition. However, players may show Lanthus the device and he will enchant the castle wars team cape to have the same effect. This needs only be done once; the effect will remain in all future games.

Items that are found within the castle wars arena will disappear from the participant's inventory at the conclusion of the game. When participants die during the game they will not lose any of their own items.

Respawn Room
Image	Name	Information
	Bandages	Since food from the outside cannot be used during the game, the primary source of healing is bandages. Bandages heal up to 10% of your maximum lifepoints and also restore some run energy. They can also be used on other players, and are found in the respawn room.

Armoury
Image	Name	Information
	Barricade	Barricades are very useful items that are used to block pathways. These should be placed strategically in order for them to be fully effective. Each team may only have ten barricades placed at any one time. A barricade that has been damaged but not destroyed by an enemy attack may be destroyed and another set up in its place.
	Bucket of water	The bucket of water is used to put out fires that are set on the castle's main gates, the team's barricades, and the catapult. There are water sources and buckets in the armoury of each castle.
	Climbing rope	Climbing ropes are used to scale the walls of a castle. This is a very useful tactic for surprise attacks on the enemy.
	Explosive potion	Explosive potions are powerful explosives that have three uses. They can be used for removing barricades, sabotaging catapults and clearing tunnels. They are used by "using" the potion with the object to be demolished. Care must be taken that they are not dropped as they deal significant damage to the person that dropped the potion.
	Pickaxe	A pickaxe can be used for clearing and collapsing tunnels. You can take your own pickaxe into the game to make it easier to get through the tunnels; the bronze picks in the supply room are very slow compared to a rune pickaxe. When collapsing the tunnel on enemies, use your pickaxe to clear the tunnels (instead of explosive potions) to save on potion usage. This works for people who are tunnelling or others who are just passing through. The pickaxe on the player's toolbelt can also be used.
	Rock	Rocks are used as catapult ammunition. They are located in the castle armoury.
	Flare	Flares are used to signal catapult users where to fire. They will look like red or blue smoke coming out of the ground and can only be set outside castle walls on land. Flashing boxes in the catapult interface indicate the location of a flare.
	Tinderbox	The tinderbox is used for setting fire to barricades in order to remove them. It may also be used to damage the enemy's main gates and catapult. This takes longer than using explosive potions, and can also be thwarted by a bucket of water. The advantage is that no inventory spaces are taken, as the tinderbox on a player's toolbelt can be used.
	Toolkit	The toolkit is used for repairing catapults and doors when they become damaged. This can be accomplished by either using the toolkit with the item being repaired, or having one in the inventory when selecting the repair option. You can only repair a broken door or catapult when it is fully broken. If the catapult is on fire then it needs to be extinguished with a bucket of water first. Doors cannot be destroyed by their own team; an enemy must destroy it before it can be repaired.

In addition to items such as weapons, armour, potions and runes, butterflies (caught using the hunter skill) can be brought into the game. Butterflies can be used only on other players (not yourself) to improve their stats or to heal some life points. The improvement is roughly 20% of the player's level, but this figure is not exact. One final item from outside the minigame has a special use in castle wars:

Player Made
Image	Name	Information
	Castle wars brace	Made by enchanting an emerald bracelet. The wearer receives a 20% damage bonus when attacking a player holding their team's standard. The wearer also heals 50% more when using bandages. The bracelet contains 3 charges, and one charge is used up at the beginning of each game. Provided you are wearing the bracelet when you enter the game (not the waiting room) the effect is applied and lasts for the remainder of the game, even if the bracelet is removed.

Return to Top

 

Castle Wars Areas

The Castles

Each castle has multiple floors connected by stairs and ladders. The armoury (supplies) is on the ground floor, the respawn room (with bandages) is on the first floor, a trapdoor room (with access to the respawn room) is on the second floor, and the top floor contains the team's flag. Additionally, there is a lower dungeon area with tunnels which run underneath the game grounds from each castle to the islands.

The Armoury

The castle armouries are where all castle wars items (except bandages) are found. This area should be left open at all times so that team members can freely restock their supplies. However this also allows the enemy to access the supplies, so it is a good place for players to position themselves to deter enemy re-supply. These people will also guard the ladder leading to the dungeon and the ladder leading to the keep. Items available here are barricades, climbing ropes, explosive potions, pickaxes, rocks and toolkits. There is a water source located on the wall next to the ladder leading to the dungeon.

The Keep

The keep is the main tower in the centre of the castle that is the stronghold of the castle. The standard is kept on the top level of the keep. Many players should be positioned on all three levels of the keep, as well as the lower-level players that can act as engineers and medics. The team spawn point is located on the first floor of the keep.

The Curtain Wall

The curtain wall is the large outer wall of the castle. The catapult is located at the outer corner of the wall walk. The wall walk should be primarily manned by archers and mages. Low level players can station themselves here to operate, repair and re-supply the catapult. Archers and mages can use this vantage point to protect the outer and inner areas of the castle.

The Moat

The moat is the boundary between the land of Zamorak and the land of Saradomin. In the centre of the moat is the island. There should be a couple of teams patrolling the moat to deter intruders from crossing using the jumping stones at either end.

The Island

The island has four towers on it that hold great tactical advantage. Small teams of rangers or mages should be placed on each tower to block the enemy from crossing the island.

The Dungeon

The dungeon can be either an advantage or a disadvantage. Engineers with pickaxes and/or explosive potions can clear and collapse the tunnels as needed to block an enemy entrance point. The dungeon can also be used to ambush the enemy castle and for returning the enemy's standard to score points.

Return to Top

 

Strategies and Tactics

Using the Catapult

The catapult is an area weapon that hurls large rocks for long distances. Optimally the catapult should be manned by low level players. The catapult team's primary concern is to continuously fire rocks at the bridge and island area to inflict maximum damage on enemy soldiers crossing the bridge. Care should be taken to ensure that as few team members are in the target area as possible. If the player has completed the Catapult Construction quest, teammates will not be damaged when using the catapult.

The catapult is used by left clicking on it while rocks are in the operator's inventory. To fire it, click on a square in the interface and click 'FIRE!'. The three different views rotate around the catapult to give you a better view of the battlefield. Flashing squares represent areas your teammates have set off flares. Operators may also wish to carry buckets of water to extinguish a burning catapult, and a toolkit to repair it.

Ballistae

Ballistae can be set up by using four pieces bought from Lanthus in the Castle Wars lobby. Those pieces are: ballista base, ballista bow, ballista bolt stock and ballista chamber; each piece costs 2 tickets and lasts only one game. Ballista ammo must be bought and costs 4 tickets for 100 bolts; only 30 bolts can be used each game. Ballista stands are located in pairs, in front of the castle, by the stepping stones and in front of the bridges leading onto the middle island.

Retrieving Your Standard

When a team captures their own standard they can ensure that the opposing team does not score any points. This is done by killing the enemy that holds the standard outside of the castle. If the enemy holding the standard is killed inside the castle it will be returned to its stand. If they are killed outside the castle the standard can be picked up and held for an indefinite amount of time. When this occurs players should protect the standard so the enemy cannot recapture it.

Carrying the flag uses both hands. To pick it up the player must have one or two inventory spaces free so a weapon and/or shield can be unequipped. If a weapon or shield is equipped while carrying the flag the flag is dropped. Once a player is carrying their own flag they become more vulnerable to damage and cannot be healed by their allied teammates.

Proximity Chinchompas

Proximity chinchompas can be deployed in either proximity mode or timed mode. In proximity mode the chinchompa becomes a stationary land mine. If an enemy player moves within 3-4 squares the chinchompa will detonate damaging all nearby enemies (as well as any allied familiars) for a moderate amount of damage. In timer mode chinchompas will run forward in the direction the user is facing until they become stuck. After a short time they will explode dealing the same damage as a chinchompa in proximity mode.

Medics

Medics should typically be low level players. Their responsibility is to re-supply warriors with bandages and to heal them while they are fighting.

Engineers

Engineer is also a good low level position. The engineer's job is to set up barricades in strategic positions to block enemy fighters, remove barricades using explosive potions when needed, clear and collapse the tunnels to kill or block intruders, and repair the main gate and catapult. Engineers should carry a number of explosive potions, barricades, buckets of water, and a toolkit.

Rangers and Mages

Rangers and mages should position themselves on the wall walk and on the four towers located on the island. Operating in teams is of vital importance to ensure effectiveness. Teams on the wall walk should watch both the interior of the castle and the exterior, and teams on the island towers should ambush any enemies that attempt to cross the island. Ancient magics are incredibly useful in this game as the spells can hit multiple enemies at once.

Hunter/Killer Teams

Hunter/Killer teams are the primary diversion for the enemy. These teams will be primarily responsible for maintaining constant pressure on the enemy castle. While capturing the flag may be very tempting, these teams should maintain control of the enemy's keep if it is taken and await the arrival of the capture team. This will ensure that only the strongest players are holding the enemy standard so that recapture by the enemy is as difficult as possible.

Protecting the Keep

Protecting the keep is one of the most vital positions available. Engineers should be watchful and place barricades to trap or block the enemy from progressing into the keep. Only ten barricades can be placed at any one time so effective use of as few barricades as possible is essential.

Capturing the enemy standard

Teams of high level players can take the sole responsibility of capturing the enemy standard. These should be the strongest members of the team and will alternate movement between both castles. Fast movement is essential to ensure that they are in place when the other team scores a point to capture the standard again. Fast re-supply of bandages and explosive potions is necessary and little attention should be given to enemy attacks. Above all the team member holding the standard should never stop to fight. Other members of the capture team should protect the flag bearer as they make their way back to the castle.

Return to Top

 

Summary

The primary objective of castle wars is to capture the enemy's flag as many times as possible in twenty minutes. While some team members may only want to score kills and capture the enemy flag, players acting as an individual is the primary reason for lost games. The team that works together in the most organized and structured way will often win. Needless fighting should be avoided at all costs and fighting in teams is preferable. This ensures efficient and effective kills that waste as little time as possible.

Remember, there is no “I” in TEAM.

End Game

The end game screen shows you the final outcome of the game: The score, team deaths, most kills and most captures, tickets won and total tickets, your kills, captures, your total games played and capes unlocked.

Return to Top

 

Hybrid Armour

Hybrid armour is a reward from playing 5 of the combat based mini-games. Each of the armours require level 85 in three of the following skills: Strength, Defence, Magic and Ranged. There are three sets of hybrid armour: battle-mage (mage/melee), trickster (ranged/mage) and vanguard (melee/ranged). In the normal game these sets of armour are purely cosmetic. However, in Castle Wars, Fist of Guthix, Soul Wars and the TzHaar Fight Pits they deal additional damage to other players. 3% additional damage is applied per piece of the set worn.

Each of the items are randomly awarded at the end of a game. Each game only awards a certain piece of each of the three sets. By playing games of Castle Wars you have a random chance of gaining a helm of your choice from the sets. The boosts of any hybrid armour will not stack with those of the castle wars armour sets. Hybrid armour is untradeable.

Hybrid Armour Helms
Pic	Name	Stats
		Level	Class	Armour bonus	Lifepoints
	Battle-mage helm	85	Hybrid	435	320
	Trickster helm
	Vanguard helm

Return to Top

 

Rewards

At the conclusion of the game members of both teams will receive castle wars tickets. The number awarded can be seen in the table below. Gold tickets can be spent on high-level decorative armour, halos and the faithful shield. Silver tickets can be spent on consumable items, capes and low-level decorative armour. Decorative armour is a hybrid class armour, meaning it can be used by any class without penalties to accuracy. However it only provides stat bonuses within the castle wars minigame.

Image	Ticket type	Number awarded
	Silver ticket	One awarded at the end of each game, regardless of outcome and number of players.
	Gold ticket	Two awarded for a win, one awarded for a draw and none awarded for a lost game. There must be at least 5 players on both teams at the end of the game for gold tickets to be awarded.

Note that if you have spent less than 10 minutes in a game of Castle Wars you will be ineligible to receive tickets regardless of your team's performance; additionally, your total games played will not be increased.

Items purchased with gold tickets
Image	Name	Cost (Gold tickets)	Description
Detailed Decorative Armour
	Detailed decorative helm	40	A level 40 hybrid helm.
	Detailed decorative platebody	80	A level 40 hybrid platebody. Counts towards the detailed armour set effect.
	Detailed decorative platelegs	60	A set of level 40 hybrid platelegs. Counts towards the detailed armour set effect.
	Detailed decorative shield	60	A level 40 hybrid shield. Counts towards the detailed armour set effect.
	Detailed decorative sword	50	A level 20 melee weapon.
Intricate Decorative Armour
	Intricate decorative helm	400	A level 60 hybrid helm.
	Intricate decorative platebody	800	A level 60 hybrid platebody. Counts towards the intricate armour set effect.
	Intricate decorative platelegs	600	A set of level 60 hybrid platelegs. Counts towards the intricate armour set effect.
	Intricate decorative shield	600	A level 60 hybrid shield. Counts towards the intricate armour set effect.
	Intricate decorative sword	500	A level 30 melee weapon.
Profound Decorative Armour
	Profound decorative helm	650	A level 80 hybrid helm.
	Profound decorative platebody	1100	A level 80 hybrid platebody. Counts towards the profound armour set effect.
	Profound decorative platelegs	800	A set of level 80 hybrid platelegs. Counts towards the profound armour set effect.
	Profound decorative shield	800	A level 80 hybrid shield. Counts towards the profound armour set effect.
	Profound decorative sword	800	A level 40 melee weapon.
Halos and Faithful Shield
	Guthix halo	300	Reduces the drain rate of the prayers: Clarity of Thought, Improved Reflexes, Incredible Reflexes, Chivaly and Piety.
	Saradomin halo	300	Reduces the drain rate of the prayers: Thick Skin, Rock Skin, Steel Skin, Chivalry and Piety.
	Zamorak halo	300	Reduces the drain rate of the prayers: Burst of Strength, Superhuman Strength, Ultimate Strength, Chivalry and Piety.
	Faithful shield	200	A hybrid shield with a good prayer bonus.

Items bought with silver tickets
Image	Name	Cost (silver tickets)	Description
Basic Decorative Armour
	Basic decorative helm	4	A level 20 hybrid helm.
	Basic decorative platebody	8	A level 20 hybrid platebody. Counts towards the basic armour set effect.
	Basic decorative platelegs	6	A set of level 20 hybrid platelegs. Counts towards the basic armour set effect.
	Basic decorative shield	6	A level 20 hybrid shield. Counts towards the basic armour set effect.
	Basic decorative sword	5	A level 5 melee weapon.
Ballista
	Ballista base	2	One of four required parts to build a Ballista in game.
	Ballista bolt stack	2	One of four required parts to build a Ballista in game.
	Ballista bow	2	One of four required parts to build a Ballista in game.
	Ballista chamber	2	One of four required parts to build a Ballista in game.
	Ballista ammo	4	Required to fire the Ballista.
Potions
	Melee potion set	1	Contains one of each of the following potions: super attack, super strength, super defence, and super energy.
	Ranged potion set	1	Contains one of each of the following potions: super ranging, super defence, and super energy.
	Magic potion set	1	Contains one of each of the following potions: super magic, super defence, and super energy.
Other
	Castlewars chinchompa	1	Proximity or mobile explosive, one ticket buys three chinchompas.
Team Capes and Hoods
	Saradomin team hood	10	A cosmetic hood for use outside of castle wars.
	Saradomin team cape	10	A cosmetic cape for use outside of castle wars.
	Zamorak team hood	10	A cosmetic hood for use outside of castle wars.
	Zamorak team cape	10	A cosmetic cape for use outside of castle wars.
Prestige Capes
	Castle wars flag cape	2	Capture the most flags in a match to unlock this cape.
	Castle wars kills cape	2	Kill the most players in one match to unlock this cape.
	Castle wars hobbyist cape	2	Complete 500 matches to unlock this cape.
	Castle wars enthusiast cape	2	Complete 1,000 matches to unlock this cape.
	Castle wars professional cape	2	Complete 5,000 matches to unlock this cape.

Rewards Notes

• Wearing the basic decorative platebody, platelegs and shield during a castle wars match gives you a +10% damage boost against the enemy.
• Wearing the detailed decorative platebody, platelegs and shield during a castle wars match gives you a +15% damage boost against the enemy and +10% damage against barricades/ballistae.
• Wearing the intricate decorative platebody, platelegs and shield during a castle wars match gives you a +20% damage boost against the enemy, +10% damage against barricades/ballistae and immunity from catapult damage.
• Wearing the profound decorative platebody, platelegs and shield during a castle wars match gives you a +25% damage boost against the enemy, +10% damage against barricades/ballistae and immunity from catapult/ballista damage.
• Consumable rewards can only be used for one castle wars match.
• Only 30 ballista bolts may be taken into a match at a time.
• Potion sets and proximity chinchompas cannot be used outside of castle wars.
• You may only ever possess 3 proximity chinchompas at a time.
• Rewards can be sold back to Lanthus for the same number of tickets required to purchase them.

Return to Top

 

Credits

Original Guide By: Binyam

Thanks To: adamparkzer, Asad_Qureshi_El_C, bluehooloovo, Brainymidget, Cacmypants, Cameron, cecil 090, Dark_Aura, Dudecrush8, Eeeeediot, Darkblade986, Fey_Warrior, GreatSilverWyrm, Howlin1, ixunforgiven, Jammy_Man, Jesant13, killer999663, Kragx, Ks Jeppe, Lansal, Matrix19918, Mil, Myweponsg00d, Octarine, patrick6101, Racheya, Rien Adelric, Shiva, Sorator, Speedyshel, Squattinbear, Studio1417, superstyle4, TheLeonardo, tonguetamer3, Vulxai, wiseTSM, wizzkid785

Last Updated by: Arceus

Last updated: 15-Dec-2014