With the latest update, Jagex has brought back a classic from the past. The 2008 remake of The Defender of Varrock offers a promising narrative and advances the Mahjarrat storyline to new heights. Let’s take a look at what’s in store for you on this prophesied journey and what other changes you can expect to the game itself.
The New Quest
The major talking point of the latest update, of course, is the Defender of Varrock quest. For those of you not familiar with the Mahjarrat storyline, it follows the legend of a young boy who grew up to be a warrior of extraordinary strength and spirit.
Our hero goes on to kill a lot of goblins, unsurprisingly earning himself the name of Arrav, which translates to the curse of goblins. Fast forward many years; his home, Varrock, is threatened by the Mahjarrat, and he sets off to find a powerful shield capable of defeating their leader, Zemouregal. It’s pretty much your classic medieval hero stuff so far, isn’t it?
In the fight that follows, Arrav is able to save his town. But this comes at the cost of his own life at the hands of Zemouregal. The prophecy that perfectly sets up the Defender of Varrock quest is the promise that Zemouregal makes to the dying Arrav: that he himself would lead his army to raze Varrock to the ground. Spooky.
Defender of Varrock is set many years later. As promised, Zemouregal is back with his army of the Mahjarrat, this time led by the undead Arrav. It’s your job to find a way to save Varrock, or Arrav’s sacrifice would have been in vain.
How do I get started?
Like any quest in Runescape, you’ll have to fulfill certain requirements, and will also earn some rewards upon completion. That said, if you don’t want to grind out these quests you can always buy OSRS accounts You can find these below.
Completion of the following quests:
- Shield of Arrav
- Temple of Ikov
- Below Ice Mountain
- Family Crest
- What lies below
- Romeo and Juliet
- Demon Slayer
- Garden of Tranquility
Skill Requirements:
- 55 Smithing
- 52 Hunter
Rewards:
- 2 Quest Points
- 15,000 Smithing XP
- 15,000 Hunter XP
Once you’re ready, get going to the Jolly Boar Inn, where you’ll find Elias White. Talking to him will initiate the Defender of Varrock quest.
New Weapons and Enemies
The latest update to Old School Runescape didn’t just copy and paste the 2008 original and throw it at us. There are some fresh additions to the quest to make sure it isn’t too repetitive. One of these is the new enemy type—the armored zombies—which are essentially just a stronger version of the normal kind. You don’t have to pull your punches on these fellas!
The other change comes in the form of a new weapon. To be worthy of lifting the new Zombie Axe, you need at least 65 attacks. Another challenge is that it drops broken and requires 70 Smithings to repair. And while it’s not the strongest weapon out there, it acts as an excellent intermediate weapon, especially since it doesn’t cost you any OSRS gold.
What else is new?
Apart from the hype around the new quest, there have also been other minor changes to the game.
By left-clicking Configure on your Rune Pouch, you can preset and easily switch between up to four different loadouts. This can come in handy during long journeys where you won’t have to empty and reconfigure your Rune Pouch again and again, and it makes the entire process just a little bit faster.
Another minor addition is the Quest Start highlight. As the name suggests, enabling this option from the settings menu highlights the characters or areas you need to interact with to initiate a quest. This can certainly save you the time and effort needed to find the point of interest, but some players like the mystery of searching for the character in question themselves.
All of us here love Runescape’s soundtrack, right? Well, then you’re going to love the expansion of the Modern Music Area Mode that covers the areas of Karamja, Morytania, The Digsite, Fossil Island, Mos Le’Harmless, and Ape Atoll. Note that if you are an old timer and prefer the classic music area modes instead, you can always shift to them from the settings menu.
Remember how annoying it was to have to click every time your bucket emptied while pouring water in Trouble Brewing? Well, that’s a thing of the past now with the latest update. So sit back and relax as your character does the job itself.
Finally, as far as the PvP World Rota is concerned, it has moved to Period A. In particular, while World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been activated, World 569 (AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been deactivated.
