The Gauntlet/Strategies
Overview
The Corrupted Gauntlet is notorious for being a hard to learn, hard to master challenge. Starting off from scratch, persistence will be key while learning but with the allure of the powerful Bow of Faerdhinen and the Crystal Armour set, it will pay off.
The Gauntlet and it's Corrupted version are, for the most part, 1:1 with Old School Runescape. There is already a plethora of information on the main Gauntlet page here along with the OSRS Wiki and guides on Youtube to cover any strategy you'll use to take on Hunllef. I'll be primarily focusing on differences that Zeah has, along with some tips to help along the way. The information may seem overwhelming at first but I highly suggest trying it a few times to get used to it.
General Information
While you cannot take any gear or auras into the challenge, Relics and some Pet Perks may be used to great effect. The Font of Life perk is invaluable during this encounter and may likely save you from being stacked out while learning. The 'Gauntlet Helper' plugin on OSRS Runelite can be a great assist as this will count Hunllef's attacks and inform you when a prayer switch is needed. You can use this by loading Runelite on the side, or by using a browser version found here
Gauntlet vs Corrupted Gauntlet
The main differences for the Corrupted Gauntlet are:
- Red theme instead of blue
- Increased combat stats of all monsters
- 7 minutes 30 seconds prep time instead of 10 minutes
- Corrupted Hunllef has a higher HP total and increased combat stats
- Slightly increased frequency of damaging tiles and tornado spawns
- Extra loot roll and higher rates for rares
When using weapons inside the Gauntlet, be sure to set your attack style. Especially in the case of the bow, make sure it's set to Rapid. Note that each tier of weapon will need to be changed independently. The Halberd offers equal stats in both Stab and Slash so it isn't as important to change as Hunllef's defense stats are equal.
Hunllef will always start with Protect from Melee or Protect from Range active when you start the encounter.
Strategies and Planning
If you are not using relics in The Gauntlet, the T3 bow set to Rapid style will be your top DPS choice especially when paired with the Rigour Prayer. You will likely want to pair this with the Staff. Focusing on both ranged weapons will allow you to keep distance from Hunllef and give you a bit more breathing room to keep uptime while dodging the tornadoes and floor patterns.
Information on preparation, such as shards required and crafting materials can be found on the Gauntlet page. Be sure to collect as many fish as you can before heading into the fight. Note; The Crystal Paddlefish that you can create with regular Paddlefish and 10 shards offer less healing than the standard Paddlefish. However, these can be used for combo eating (like Karambwan).
Boss Fight
Hunllef switches it's protection prayers after every 6th attack to force you to switch weapon. If deciding between relics, I would recommend Fluid Strikes or Quick Shot equally. Quick Shot will be fantastic DPS against the boss on relic, and will speed up your prep once you obtain the shards and weapon frame to craft a bow. Fluid Strikes will benefit your starting weapon to assist prep and also give you a faster weapon against the boss between your ranged hits. By doing this, you can completely avoid using the Staff and focus on alternating between the Halberd and the Bow. You will want to obtain the T3 versions of both of these weapons.
- Hunllef always starts the fight using a ranged attack, so activate Protect from Ranged before stepping into it's arena.
- It will alternate between Ranged and Magic attacks every Four (4) attacks. There is an animation to identify it switching style if you happen to lose count.
- During Mage phase, Hunllef can occasionally hit you with an attack that will disable your protection prayer. This special attack will be visually different from the rest and can easily be identified, it is bright purple. This counts as one of the four attacks before it switches style.
- Hunllef will occasionally summon tornadoes that will track the player and deal 10-20 damage per tick if they land on you. You can easily be one shot by this if all tornadoes hit you at once. If you plan to craft armour during your preparation, this can mitigate some of the tornado damage as well as damage from the boss itself.
- The Tornado spawn will count as one of the 4 attacks during it's Ranged or Mage phases.
- Stepping under Hunllef risks it using it's Trample attack which can deal high damage and will not count as one of the 4 attacks.
- Parts of the boss arena will highlight all through the encounter. This signifies that after a few seconds, they will turn deadly. Standing on the highlighted areas will result in you taking 10-20 damage per tick. The speed at which these start damaging will slightly increase as the fight goes on. The pattern for the floor tiles will generally be the same and with practice you'll get used to where they will spawn. The best way to preemptively avoid these is by avoiding standing too close to the corners of the room (Unless you are dodging or running from tornadoes).
5:1 Method
By doing the 5:1 method, you'll be manipulating Hunllef's protection prayer switches in order to keep uptime using your preferred weapon. You must have a weapon for all three styles for this to work. Example:
- Hunllef begins the fight with Protect from Melee active. (Note; this will always be Protect from Melee or Ranged.)
- Attack 5 times with your T3 Bow and then a Staff attack for the 6th hit.
- Hunllef will switch to Protect from Mage
- Switch back to your Bow and launch another 5 shots and then swap to your melee weapon for the 6th hit.
- Hunllef will switch to Protect from Melee.
- Repeat
If using Fluid Strikes, you'll be using the Halberd for your main hits. In this case if Hunllef starts off with Protect from Melee, do 6 bow attacks before beginning to 5:1. Furthermore, your starting weapon will be melee, so Fluid Strikes shines even more here as it'll help you with the initial preparation until you can gather some shards and a weapon frame.