This week we’re bringing you war AND peace! First up, we have War’s Retreat, an all-new PvM hub that’ll make getting into bossing easier than ever. And if you’re after a more relaxed experience, then say no more, because we’ve also got news about the Winter Chill Off event. Just read on for all the juicy details!

War's Retreat

If you want to show some bosses who’s boss, then War’s Retreat is the place to be! It’s an all-purpose PvM hub, filled with all the Bank Chests, Adrenaline Crystals, and Boss Portals that an adventurer could need. Plus, you can meet up with your fellow warriors and group up together to defeat the trickier bosses.

Want to see for yourself just how awesome War’s Retreat is? Click below for the virtual tour.

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Requirements

Of course, not just any old adventurer can take advantage of War’s hospitality. You’ll need to be a battle-hardened warrior, with a combat level of at least 60, to enter.

To do so, simply march north of Draynor, where you’ll find a new addition to the Gazebo of the Apocalypse. Simply lay your battle-worn hands upon War’s noble insignia, and you’ll be whisked away to War’s Retreat. If you’re not up for all that teleportation faff, you can also gain access through the dingy cupboard at the back of Death’s Office.

After you’ve got 10 boss kills, you’ll be able to unlock the War’s Retreat Teleport from War’s Shop for an even easier way to saunter on in and launch into the fray.

F2P players can access War’s Retreat and earn Marks of War at the same rate that members do, but they will be unable to purchase auras, consumables, and most upgrades from War’s Shop.

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Boss Portals

The Boss Portals in War’s Retreat can teleport you straight to the lair of any boss in the game, but they all work in different ways.

By default, you will have one Boss Portal unlocked, which can be attuned to any boss you have previously defeated. You can unlock a second Boss Portal in War’s Shop. The first attunement is free, but after that they will cost 100,000 GP each. War will give you a 50% discount when attuning to a boss that you’ve already slain 100 times. You know, mates’ rates.

The Reaper Portal is always attuned to your Reaper Assignment, even if you haven’t killed that boss before – but you must have at least one kill left on your task to make use of it.

Finally, the Seasonal Portal will be attuned to whichever boss War currently has beef with. Right now, it’s attuned to The Shadow Reef, where you can face the Ambassador – it’s the perfect place to dive in if you’re new to bossing, and you can even group up with other newbies (or experienced combat veterans) right there in War’s Retreat.

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Dummy Area & Bank Chest

War has provided a range of training dummies for you to practice on before facing the real tough guys. They are fitted with all the latest dummy technology and can be customised just like the ones in the Combat Academy.

This area also houses a Bank Chest for you to refuel and drop off your loot between battles.

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Campfire

Towards the entrance to War’s Retreat is a giant-sized campfire, perfect for getting cosy after a hard day battling in Gielinor’s most dangerous regions. War’s campfire provides the same buff to lifepoints that ordinary campfires do, and it can be upgraded to increase the buff duration.

The upgrades run from oak all the way up to elder and can be purchased in War’s Shop. You’ll need 1000 Marks of War and 1000 logs of the relevant tier.

Unlike regular bonfires, War’s campfire never needs to be relit – apparently the big man is a fiend for s’mores.

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Adrenaline Crystal

Once you’ve killed 1000 bosses, War will allow you to use his personal Adrenaline Crystals to prepare for battle. Upon activating an Adrenaline Crystal, you will receive 25% Adrenaline every 1.8 seconds – a faster and more convenient alternative to just bashing a dummy.

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Altar of War

The Altar of War will restore both Prayer and Summoning points when used. To unlock it, you will need to complete a certain number of boss kills.

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Marks of War

War might argue that the thrill of the hunt is its own reward, but he’s conceded that for the rest of us, a real prize is in order. With that in mind, he will be rewarding each boss kill with ‘Marks of War’, a unique currency that can be spent in War’s Shop to purchase upgrades for the Retreat, auras, and various consumables.

You can earn up to 1,000 Marks of War per hour, and each boss is worth a different amount of Marks. Please be aware that using Deathtouched Darts will not award Marks of War.

Some options in War’s Shop will need to be unlocked by completing a certain number of boss kills. Once they are unlocked, the items themselves can be purchased with the correct amount of Marks of War.

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Auras

Last night the following auras were removed from Solomon's General Store and added to War’s Shop:

Vampyrism Aura

Dark Magic Aura

Berserker Aura

Reckless Aura

Maniacal Aura

You will keep any auras you have already purchased with Loyalty Points, and they will automatically count towards the Aura Aura Aura! Achievement. Unfortunately, we cannot refund any Loyalty Points you’ve already spent on these auras.

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New Completionist Cape Requirements

War’s Retreat will come with four new Achievements, and one meta Achievement:

Aura Aura Aura!: Unlock every aura in the War's Retreat store.

Relight My Fire: Fully upgrade the campfire in War's Retreat.

To unlock the Completionist Cape, you will need to complete:

My Last Resort: Unlock the War's Retreat Teleport, a second Boss Portal, the Altar of War, and the Adrenaline Crystals.

To unlock the trimmed Completionist Cape, you will need to complete:

…the meta Achievement War, What Is It Good For? which you will receive after completing the other three Achievements.

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Extra Reaper Points | +50%

To celebrate the launch of War’s Retreat, War’s old pal Death will be awarding 50% extra Reaper Points to all completed Reaper Assignments from now until February 10th.

Well, what are you waiting for? Get to slaying!

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Winter Chill Off

That terrifying jokester Morn is back again for some chillin’ and skillin’ this week. From now until February 3rd, you can mosey on down to the Lumbridge Crater to take part in the Winter Chill Off!

In case you’ve forgotten the rules, here’s a quick reminder. Six skills will be competing to win your favour and beat out the competition. While skilling anywhere in the world, you’ll gain skill tokens, which can be handed in at the Skilling Booths to vote for your favourite skill. At the end of the day, the least popular skill is eliminated, and the votes are reset. You can still train at eliminated booths, but obviously you can’t vote for them. For every day they survive without being eliminated, each skill booth will get their base XP rate boosted by 10%.

On February 3rd, we’ll announce the winner and subject the losers to Morn’s merciless jeering for six more months.

Hot contenders Agility and Herblore have returned this time around, and are joined by Divination, Slayer, Firemaking and Fletching. Which skill will win? We literally DO NOT KNOW YET!

This time we’ve spiced up the skilling fun by introducing sub-tasks. While you’re at the booths, you’ll earn extra XP for following the leader’s instructions, and less XP if you choose to ignore them. Neither choice will affect the amount of tokens you receive while skilling.

Ready to hear about the rewards? Morn’s brought along another of his “very normal” and “safe” weapons, the Blightreaver Staff. You can also take home a wintry recolour for the Blightreaver 2-handed Sword, a Mini Morn pet, and any rewards that you missed in the Summer Skill Off.

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Patch Notes

Among War's Retreat and the Winter Chill off we've made some fixes as well:

Frost dragons will now consistently work towards both Dragons cluster tasks and Creatures of Daemonheim cluster tasks assigned from Laniakea

The charming imp can now place collected spirit gems directly into the spirit gem bag

A kill timer is now available at Kalphite Queen and the Corporeal Beast.

To read all the Patch Notes, click here

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Double XP Weekend: Extended

Double XP Weekend: Extended will return on February 21st. This time, you’ll have a full 48 hours of Double XP time to enjoy, so mark your calendar and start plotting how to make those gains!

DXP Weekend: Extended will run from February 21st at 12:00 Game Time to March 1st at 12:00 Game Time.

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Premier Club Reminder

There’s just enough time left to purchase Premier Club for 2020 and make massive savings on your RuneScape membership. Depending on the package you choose, you can also get T-Bone the dinosaur pet, the Bright Inquisitor Armour, a Premier Pass for all future Yak Track events and a heap of other bonuses besides.

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Twitch Prime Reminder

Time is also running out to claim this month’s Twitch Prime Rewards, which include the Umbral Bow, Umbral Staff, and Umbral Cloak cosmetics.

To claim, all you have to do is link your RuneScape and Twitch Prime accounts. Then log in to the game, navigate to your Customisations menu and strut your spooky stuff.

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LootScape

Our live streams are always a great opportunity to grab some awesome in-game prizes! Right now, each and every RuneScape stream watched will give you a random drop from one of the following:

Guaranteed:

250 resources in a random Base Camp resource

1 - 2 hunter marks

Drop from Basic Drop Table (see below)

View counter goes up on Orb

Chance based (if unowned):

A random skilling outfit piece

Either Nature's Balance or Loots Cape

Basic Drop Table: Prismatic small fallen star, Prismatic medium fallen star, Prismatic small lamp, Prismatic medium lamp, Spirit Ruby, Spirit Diamond, Advanced Pulse Core, Spring, Silverhawk down, Medium DG Token Box, Small DG Token Box, Uncut Dragonstone, Large Cash Bag, Medium Cash Bag or Small Cash Bag.

Exciting, right? So don't hang about - connect your RS account to your Twitch account and find out more here . Once that's done, have fun and watch our streams during the day for a guaranteed drop.

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Live Streams

Tuesday 28th January – 17:00 UTC (Game Time) – General Q&A

We’re back on the sofas this week for another round of Q&A covering everything happening in Gielinor at the moment – including the freshly released War’s Retreat, the Winter Chill Off and the upcoming Double XP Extended event. We will also take some time to talk about Mining & Smithing Stone Spirit fixes and other projects we’ve got in the works.

Got a question you’d like us to answer on stream? Send them on Twitter with #RuneScapeLive and our other official channels, or simply hop in the livestream and send them in the chat!

Saturday, February 1st – 11:00 UTC (Game Time) – Base Tank Featured Stream

This week, our featured streamer is Base Tank! Join him for a PvM session on Telos and Nex speed duos – LootScape included!

You can now receive in-game loot when you watch a RuneScape streamer. It works exactly the same way as our official streams, just watch Base Tank’s stream on (his Twitch channel) and you’ll receive the LootScape the following day.

LootScape will be enabled (see all details above).

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Pink Skirts Events

Pink Skirts is a dedicated P-Mod-led community, and it invites you to a range of daily activities such as PvM masses, Q&As, and other thrilling or chillin' events! Check out all the community events organized by the Pink Skirts on the in-game calendar or on their official schedule here.

The RuneScape Team