The Theatre of Blood, also known as TOB or Raids 2 is a linear (non-random) raid in old school Runescape and one of the most profitable ways to make money in the game. Many people are interested in learning this end-game content which is why we’ve decided to put together a TOB guide. This complete Theatre of Blood Guide for OSRS covers everything you need to know to master raids 2 as quickly as possible.

This guide is useful for complete beginners but also players who have been inside the theatre of blood and need a memory refresher.

Getting Started – Theatre of Blood

Theatre of Blood Location

The Theatre of blood is located in the south-east corner of Morytania. Players who have completed a taste of hope can teleport here using the Drakan’s Medallion. Otherwise, players can use their ectophial to teleport to the ectofunctus and pay 10K to take a boat to the theatre of blood.

how to get to the theatre of blood if you haven't completed a taste of hope: use an ectophial to teleport to the ectofunctus and then walk north to the boatman, pay him 10K and he will take you to the theatre of blood.
Requirements: Ghost’s Ahoy Quest
Theatre of blood is located in the south-east corner of Morytania, next to meiyerditch. If you have a Drakan's Medallion you can teleport to the theatre of blood.
Stat Requirements
  • 90+ Attack
  • 90+ Strength
  • 90+ Defence
  • 90+ Ranged
  • 95+ Magic (ice barrage)
  • 77+ Prayer rigour/augury

Gear Requirements
Example of the elite void learners outfit for the theatre of blood guide.
void learner setup (welfare)

Gear for Theatre of Blood osrs can range from an elite void tribrid (best for learning) all the way to bandos with void range/mage switches or even armadyl/ancestral switches depending on your budget. At a minimum, you should have at least 50M worth of gear.

The recommended minimum setup is: Elite void melee, dragon boots, dragon defender, tentacle whip, Amulet of Torture, Berserker ring (i), and a fire cape. Your inventory will consist of: void range helm, void mage hood, Blowpipe, trident, bandos godsword, ava’s accumulator (assembler highly recommended), necklace of anguish, crystal halberd (bloat specs), salve amulet (100% needed), rune pouch with barrage runes and the rest of your inventory will consist of 2 super combats, 2 ranging potions, 3 super restores and the saradomin brews.

For more gear info you can use the bestinslot TOB gear guide.

Inventory Setup

Your inventory should consist of the following:

Theatre of Blood inventory example. Bring a range switch, magic switch, spec weapons, salve amulet, rune pouch with barrage runes, super combat potions, ranging potions, super restores and saradomin brews.
  • Range switch (example: assembler, void range helm, blowpipe, anguish)
  • Mage switch (example: void mage hood, trident of the swamp)
  • Defense reducing spec weapon: DWH/BGS
  • Bloat Spec weapon: Crystal Halberd/Dragon Claws
  • Salve amulet (e) for Bloat
  • Rune pouch with barrage runes (death, blood, water)
  • Super combat potions
  • Ranging potions
  • Super restore potions
  • Saradomin Brews
Dying inside the Theatre of Blood

Once you die inside a room of the theatre of blood, you get taken to a spectator seat until your team finishes the room. If they succeed you will be able to partake in the next room. However, if your entire team dies (team wipe) you will all be expelled from the theatre of blood and have to retrieve your items from the chest outside which will cost you 100K.

Warning: Always collect your belongings right away. Dying once more (outside of the theatre of blood) due to any circumstance will result in the unclaimed items being lost forever.

(You wouldn’t be the first guy to PK right after wiping on a theatre of blood game, not fun.)

Hardcore ironmen will lose their hardcore status if they die inside the theatre of blood in osrs.

Theatre of Blood Point/reward system

Below is the revealed invisible point system of the osrs Theatre of Blood. These points can be used to purchase supplies in-between rooms.

ActivityPoints
start with8
Death-4
Participating in each room3
Most DMG on Maiden2
Most DMG on Bloat2
Most DMG on Nylocas Boss1
Most DMG on Xarpus2
Most DMG on each Verzik Phase2 (per phase)
After Verzik-8 (your starting points get removed once Verzik is defeated)

The revealed drop rates for purple items are as followed:

Purple ItemsChance
Scythe of Vitur1/19
Ghrazi Rapier2/19
Sanguinesti Staff2/19
Justiciar Faceguard2/19
Justiciar Chestguard2/19
Justiciar Legguards2/19
Avernic Defender Hilt8/19

TOB Cheat Sheet
an in-depth cheat sheet for theatre of blood (raids 2). TOB quick guide.
Credit: obviouslyherbie

Resources

Here are some useful links to get you started with the theatre of blood.

Complete Theatre of Blood OSRS Guide

Quick Navigation
Maiden Guide
Bloat Guide
Nylocas Guide
Sotetseg Guide
Xarpus Guide
Verzik Guide

Maiden of Sugadinti Guide (TOB)

Complete guide of the Maiden of Sugandinti. Part of the osrs theatre of blood guide.
Maiden Quick Guide (Theatre of Blood)
  • Always pray mage
  • DWH/BGS Spec
  • Blowpipe/tbow maiden
  • Freeze Nylocas at 70% / 50% / 30% (switch early if you’re new)
  • Dodge Blood Attack
  • Freeze and kill blood spawns

Gear

Weapon: Blowpipe with dragon darts is best in slot, twisted bow or rune darts are also a good option. For freezing you’ll want the Sanguinesti staff, Trident of the Swamp or Kodai Wand.

Spec weapon: DWH/BGS

Team Setup/Strategy

The Nylocas are classified as S1, S2, S3, S4, N1, N2, N3, and N4 by the location that they spawn in. There should be a designated mager for the S1, N1 and N2 spawns which should be frozen AS SOON as they spawn. The remaining nylocas S2 S3 S4 N3 and N4 can be frozen once they clump together in front of maiden. This is where the tank can blood barrage them to heal and finish them off. Repeat this for all 3 Nylocas spawns. (70%, 50% and 30%)

Setup for a 3/4 man team:

  • Player 1: N1,N2
  • Player 2: S1,S2
  • Player 3: S2,S4 (tank)
  • Player 4: DPS (backup freezes)
An illustrative image about maiden position in the theatre of blood. Part of the theatre of blood guide. The maiden of sugadinti room is the first room of raids 2.
1-minute Guide

Once you enter the Maiden floor of the theatre of blood, pray mage and use your dragon Warhammer spec on the maiden twice. Or if you’re using a BGS, spec twice AFTER other players have used their dragon Warhammer specs. 

Tank

The person closest to the maiden will be the tank. The tank should be ready to call if they get too low so someone can take over. 

Special Attacks

  • Nylocas Spawns (70%/50%/30%)
  • Blood Splat Attack
  • Blood Spawns

Nylocas Spawns

Nylocas spawn at 70%, 50%, and 30% so always keep an eye on that so you can switch in time. You do not want the Nylocas to reach the maiden as they will heal her. In your first couple of games or if your switches aren’t that great you’ll want to switch a little prematurely so you can be sure to not miss them.

Note: every time a red spider reaches the maiden it will not only heal her but also add 1 max hit to her attacks. 

Blood Splat Attack

The Maiden can randomly shoot blood attacks at players, you must step away two tiles to avoid damage. If damaged, the maiden will be healed and your prayer will be drained. 

Note: the more you get hit by blood attacks, the more blood spawns will happen. 

Pestilent Bloat Guide (TOB)

Complete Pestilent Bloat Guide. Part of the Theatre of Blood Guide for OSRS. Bloat special abilities such as bloat flies, bloat stomp, falling meat, direction changes and more.
Bloat Quick Guide (Theatre of Blood)
  • Always pray Range
  • Stay out of sight of the bloat
  • Equip salve (e) or (ei)
  • Only attack bloat once he has stopped moving
  • Dodge the meat falling from the ceiling
  • Use dragon claws, crystal halberd or other spec weapons to quickly deal damage to bloat
  • Only do 4-5 attacks once bloat has stopped. Limit to 4 when you’re still learning
General Info
  • Equip Salve amulet (e)
  • Overhead prayer: Ranged
  • Weapon: Tentacle Whip/rapier/blade of Saeldor/scythe
  • spec weapon: dragon claws/crystal halberd
1-minute Guide

Bloat is, in my opinion, the easiest boss in the Theatre of Blood as damage can be avoided completely as long as no one makes any mistakes. He’s also pretty quick to kill (usually 2-4 attacks when he’s standing still).

Only attack Bloat once he is standing still. Don’t forget to equip your salve (e) amulet.

Bloat Special Attacks

  • Bloat Flies (if bloat sees you)
  • Meat falling from the ceiling
  • Stomp (happens when attacking him for too long)

Bloat Flies

Make sure bloat is on the other side before entering the room. If he sees you, flies will start attacking you and your surrounding teammates. These flies deal rapid 15-20 damage. Damage can be slightly reduced by having protect from missiles on. Always keep moving around the centerpiece and stay out of his line of sight until he stops moving.

Bloat Stomp

Once bloat has stopped moving you hit him with 4-6 melee hits and use your Dragon Claw/Halberd Specs to increase damage. After the 4-6 hits you want to quickly run around the corner. Taking too long and getting too greedy will result in bloat performing his Stomp attack which can easily deal up to 80 damage and combo you out with flies.

Falling Meat

After bloat has stopped moving for the first time, meat will start falling from the sky. You can avoid these by paying attention to the shadows on the floor indicating where they will end up. Falling meat can hit up to 50 damage and stun you temporarily, possibly causing bloat to catch up to you.

Nylocas Vasilias Guide (TOB)

Nylocas Vasilias room is part of the theatre of blood guide. In this room multiple nylocas spawn from 4 directions that attack pillars. Afterward, the players have to face the Nylocas boss.
Nylocas Quick Guide (Theatre of Blood)
  • Each player has their designated attack style (if 4 man, 2 players will melee)
  • Use mage protection once the room gets out of hand
  • Mage role should barrage nilocas on pillars 
  • Once the boss spawns use your DWH/BGS to spec the boss out as he will always spawn in the melee form
  • Always prayer switch first before switching gear, you will automatically stop attacking the boss every switch
  • Incorrect combat damage will be reflected back at you
Team Setup/Strategy
  • Player 1: Mage
  • Player 2 Range
  • Player 3: Melee
  • Player 4: Melee (helps out with mage)
1-minute Guide

In this room, different colored nylocas will spawn from 4 different directions. Each color represents a different attack style. The attack styles being: White (melee), Green (range), and Blue (mage). Every player should have their designated attack style to make things as smooth as possible. If you’re in a 4-man team 2 players should be on melee. One of the melee roles should be ready to switch to magic if the room gets too crowded with blue nylocas. 

different style nylocas, ranged nylocas, magic nylocas and melee nylocas. Every nylocas style should be attacked by it's corresponding weapon. Avoid the nylocas from damaging the pillars during this phase of the theatre of blood.

Avoid pillars falling

Most of the nylocas will try to damage one of the four pillars, you want to avoid the pillars being destroyed as this will hit you with 35 damage. Multiple pillars falling, a nylocas exploding or other events could easily combo you out if you’re not careful. If all pillars fall, the entire team gets wiped. Always focus on the pillars with the lowest health first.

Nylocas Boss

Once the nylocas waves are over, the Nylocas boss will spawn. You want to be ready to spec the boss out as they always spawn in their melee form. After that, the boss will assume a random attack style and your character will automatically stop attacking. Once this happens you want to switch your overhead prayers first and then your gear, hit two attacks and repeat. 

Damage from the wrong combat style will be automatically reflected back at you, heal the boss, and on top of that having the wrong overhead prayers could very easily combo you out as the boss’s max hit is 60. 

Sotetseg Guide (TOB)

Sotetseg OSRS Guide. Part of the complete Theatre of Blood Guide.
Sotetseg Quick Guide (Theatre of Blood)
  • Use your specs wisely: At least 2 DWH specs at the start and 2 after each maze
  • Prioritise your overhead prayers
  • If you’re meleeing the boss, protect from melee when nothing is coming your way
  • The big red attack needs to be shared between all players, you can do this by forming a square around the targeted player. 
  • Shadow Maze spawns at 66.6% and 33.3%
General Info
  • Attack style: Melee, Ranged, Magic & typeless
  • Total health: 4000
  • Overhead Prayer: Melee + mage/range flicks
  • Weapon: Twisted bow/Scythe/Tentacle Whip/Blowpipe
  • Spec Weapon: DWH/BGS
Team Setup/Strategy

Melee Formation:

The cyan marked tiles is where you should be standing in a melee formation on a 4/3 man team.

Credit: IronQueen

1-minute Guide

Upon entering the room, 2 Dragon Warhammer specs should be used on the boss to lower its defenses but make sure your team has 4 specs left, 2 for after each maze. 

More than 2 DWH specs (or 1 DWH/60BGS DMG) won’t do any good as the sotetsegs defense reduction is capped.

Sotetseg Regular attacks

With this boss, you have to be quick to react to his different attacks. Always pray melee when you’re standing within range of him and be ready to switch to magic (red orb) or range (grey orb) depending on the orbs he randomly shoots at players. This same orb can travel from player to player so paying good attention and communication is key. 

Sotetseg Special Attacks

  • Disable prayers
  • Red Exploding Bomb (3X3) 115 Max hit
  • Shadow Realm Maze (66.6%/33.3%)

Red Exploding Bomb

Every so often, sotetseg can target one of the players with a big red ball, once this happens all player should meet together in a square to share the damage of the attack. The designated spots for these are the 4 tiles south of the boss. No players should be on the same tile as this is an easy way to get comboed out due to a lack of visibility. The attack has a 3×3 range. 

sotetseg red exploding bomb team formation
Example of the team formation during the exploding ball attack

Sotetseg Maze (Shadow Realm Maze)

At 66% and 33% Sotetseg will teleport the players to the maze and assign one maze leader. This player is the only one who will see the maze and it’s their job to guide the other members through it. 

Sotetseg's Shadow Realm Maze simulator
A Shadow Realm Maze Simulator can be found in the resources of this article

The maze leader should wait on tile 1 for a few seconds before quickly making their way through the maze.

The rest of the team will attempt to follow the path that the leader is pointing out. Stepping on a wrong tile will give rapid damage to you and your surrounding team members. 

Once the first player in the maze (not the leader) reaches the 4th row of the maze, a red tornado will star to chase the players along the path. Players who get behind and end up within 1 square of the tornado will be hit with two 44 hits, very possibly killing the player. Once it has hit one player, it will turn invisible and continue to chase the other players. 

Xarpus Guide (TOB)

Xarpus OSRS Guide. Part of the Theatre of blood guide. Xarpus has a typeless, unavoidable attack which covers the room in poison blobs.
Xarpus Quick Guide (Theatre of Blood)
  • Cover the exhumed healing spots, one person per spot
  • DWH/BGS Spec once the fight is started
  • Xarpus attacks in blood order (top left of your screen)
  • Use a blowpipe or twisted bow
  • No overhead prayers needed
  • Move two tiles for every poison attack that’s coming your way
  • Below 25% Xarpus will screech, never attack him on the side he is staring at
  • 2 whip hits or 3/4 blowpipe hits every time he looks in a new direction
General Info
  • Attack Style: Typeless
  • Maximum Total health: 5080
  • Overhead prayer: none
  • Weapon: Blowpipe/Tbow (start) + Scythe/whip (health below 25%)
  • Spec weapon: DWH/BGS

1-minute Guide

Xarpus Special Attacks

  • Exhumed Healing spots (beginning of the match) 
  • Poison Splash Attack
  • Intent Stare Attack

Exhumed Healing Spots

Once you enter the room Xarpus will be in the center and green exhumed healing spots will randomly spawn on the floor. These will heal Xarpus similarly to how pools heal Olm. You can avoid the healing by standing on it (only one player per exhumed). Players should be spread around the room (at least 1 in each corner) so that they can hop on these spots as quickly as possible to avoid Xarpus from getting too high health (5080 max). After this, players can start speccing out the boss and move to their corners (if blowpiping).

Poison Splash Attack

After the healing spots, spec out the boss to reduce its magic, quickly switch to your ranged gear and spread out around the room. Xarpus will attack you by spitting yellow poison balls at the square you are standing on. You’ll want to move 2 tiles away once you see the ball coming in your direction. This will leave a yellow poison blob on the floor, standing on that tile will deal rapid poison damage to your character. These splats do not disappear. Once the splats hit the floor, they will bounce off to the player next to you. This means that you often have to deal with two attacks coming your way at the same time, you want to time this so that you don’t have to waste two tiles. 

theatre of blood osrs xarpus special attacks: how to avoid the poison splash attack
Example of a player moving two tiles once Xarpus targets him for the poison splash attack

Intent Stare Attack

Xarpus’ intent stare attack happens below 25% of his health. This is where player want to come to the middle to attack the boss. During this phase, if you attack the boss while he is looking at you you will take massive damage, with a max hit of 90. Good attention, quick reactions and run are required during this phase. You can use either melee gear or a blowpipe during this phase. 

Illustration of xarpus' line of sight during the intent stare attack.
illustration of Xarpus’ line of sight during the intent stare attack

Don’t forget to pick up the dawn bringer staff the skeleton is holding once you leave the room. 

Verzik Vitur Guide (TOB)

Theatre of Blood Phase 1 (shield phase)

Verzik Phase 1. Part of the Theatre of Blood Guide (tob). In the first phase, verzik attacks with magic and has a shield. The Dawnbringer staff will do a lot of damage (up to 150) to Verzik's shield.
Verzik Phase 1 Quick Guide (Theatre of Blood)
  • Overhead prayer: Protect from Magic
  • Every player does 2 Dawnbringer specs in blood order (orbs on the top left of your screen), drop dawn bringer behind pillar once finished
  • Always check pillar health (can take about 3/4 of Verzik attacks before collapsing)
1-minute Guide

Overhead prayer: Always protect from mage

Once you enter the room, Verzik will be non-aggressive and sitting on her throne. It’s customary to drop a couple of brews in case you die so that the remaining team members can carry on the fight with enough food. One player will start talking to Verzik, turning her aggressive. 

During phase one Verzik will have her shield up, indicated by the cyan health bar on the top left of your screen. This is where dawn bringer comes into play, the special attack (35% spec required) of this staff is very effective during the shield phase and can hit up to 150. Once the first player has run out of specs, they should drop the staff behind a pillar so that the next member can pick it up and do the same. Once every player has used their specs, the first player should have regenerated enough to spec again and every player should be able to do one more spec after that. 

When not using dawnbringer, players should hide behind the pillars (always check the pillars health though) to avoid damage from Verzik.

Advanced players will attack the boss with their regular weapons to speed up this phase. However, this is not recommended during your first couple of runs. 

[insert illustration]

Pillars 

Pillars will collapse after 4 – 5 attacks from Verzik, be sure to always pay attention to the pillar’s health. Standing next to a pillar when it falls will result in 60+ damage and the possibility of being comboed out by verzik. 

Theatre of Blood Phase 2 (Swing Phase) 

Verzik Phase 2. Part of the Theatre of Blood Guide (TOB). In the second phase, verzik attacks with both ranged magic and typeless attacks. Though you should be praying ranged during this phase.
Verzik Phase 2 Quick Guide (Theatre of Blood)
  • Overhead prayer: Protect from Ranged until 35% then switch to magic
  • Prioritize movement over DPS
  • Step in and out to hit verzik with a whip or scythe (1 hit only, see gif)
  • Freeze Nylocas when they spawn
  • Once Verzik is below 35%: pray mage and focus on the red nylocas, never stop moving to dodge Verzik’s ranged attack. 
1-minute Guide

Overhead prayer: Protect from Ranged until 35% health, than switch to mage

Every 4th attack verzik does will be an electricity attack, this can hit you with 50 damage if you’re too far removed from Verzik. 

Nylocas that spawn should only be frozen, not killed. Attack the purple crab with a poison weapon such as the tentacle whip to prevent it from healing Verzik. The red Nylocas that spawns after 35% health should be killed first before focussing back on Verzik, have your overhead prayer set to magic and remember to keep moving to dodge ranged attacks. 

Movement is key to phase 2 of Verzik. You should practice the in n out movement. 

Theatre of Blood Phase 3 (Spider/Final Phase)

Verzik Phase 3 is the last phase of the last monster in this linear raid. Once Verzik phase 3 is defeated you get access to the treasure room where you can get a chance for purple loot.
Verzik Phase 3 Quick Guide (Theatre of blood)
  • Overhead prayers: Blue orb = magic prayer/ Green spikes = Ranged prayer
  • 1 player will randomly be chosen as the tank by Verzik. This player should use the “attack + walk under technique” similarly to how tanking General Graardor works. 
  • Every 4 attacks Verzik will spawn a new special attack in this order: Nylocas > Webs > Yellow pools > bomb > repeat
  • Tornadoes spawn at 20% and will follow you, don’t let them catch up to you, Veziks attacks will be faster at 5 ticks per attack

1-minute Guide

Overhead Prayer: Verzik switches between 2 regular attacks during this phase, magic and ranged and they are indicated by the conventional colors. (Blue orb = Magic and Green spikes = Ranged). 

Tank job

Verzik randomly assigns one player as the tank, this person will tank Verzik applying the “attack – walk under” technique that is also commonly used to tank General Graardor. 

Walk under Verzik until you see her see her use an attack then quickly attack her with your whip or scythe and quickly walk back under her. Repeat. 

Verzik Special Attacks

Special attacks happen every 4 Verzik attacks an always in the same order: Nylocas > Webs > Yellow Pools > Bomb > Repeat

Nylocas

After the first 4 attacks, verzik will spawn the first special attack which is always Nylocas. The non-tanking players should freeze them using ice barrage and then continue focussing on Verzik. 

Webs

When Verzik goes into web phase, run clockwise around the boss and hit her in the center of each side.

Yellow Pools

When pools spawn you quickly want to run to the nearby pool, this will protect you from Verzik’s attack. The amount of pools that spawn depend on the players in the room and every pool can only protect one person.

Green Ball Attack (Bomb)

After the yellow pools, you always want to brew up to make sure you can tank the green ball attack or bomb. Verzik targets one player for this attack, it will deal 74 damage.

Purple tornadoes

Once verzik reaches 20% health, purple tornadoes will spawn and chase players. Don’t let the tornado catch up to you as this will heal Verzik. Verzik will also increase her attack speed during this part of the fight so beware if you’re tanking.

Note: Every player has their own storm chasing them and only their designated storm can damage them.

Theatre of Blood OSRS Guide Summary and tips

Hopefully, this Theatre of Blood OSRS Guide is helpful in your first attempts at raids 2.

I’d advise you to get a discord chat with your TOB-group going. TOB requires a lot of strategy, having a voice chat with your group will help you out a lot.

Remember that the theatre of blood is end-game content in osrs and that it will take many tries before you and your team get used to the different bosses. This will cost you a lot of money (in supplies and the 100K upon death) so make sure you are ready for that.

Some players fail up to 100 times before they get their first KC. TOB is a learning process and requires a lot of patience and perseverance.

Remember to take breaks and don’t let yourself get frustrated or discouraged.

We’ve all been at 0kc. Only hard work and patience will get you to 100kc and up.

Chambers of Xeric is definitely easier than the theatre of blood so you should practice that first (it’s also easier to find a group to do COX with) before heading over to the theatre of blood.

If you’re very new to bossing in osrs, a good solo-boss to get you started would be Zulrah so definitely check that out as well.

Feel free to let us know if anything is missing from this theatre of blood guide for osrs. If you enjoyed this guide, check out our skilling guides as well!