Main page/Guides/Minigame guides/Castle wars

Introduction

Castle Wars is a safe combat-based team game which lasts ten minutes. The goal is to breach the other team's defences and capture the flag atop their castle, while also defending your own castle and 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. Your team will score one point for each time it manages to capture the enemy flag, and the team with the most points at the end of the match wins.

How To Get There

There are two methods on how to get to Castle Wars, one being the Spellbook Teleport under "Minigame Teleport":

Then select "Castle Wars":

The second method is by using the Quest Tab:

Then click the Minigame Icon:

Finally, select "Castle Wars":

Requirements

There are only a few requirements to join a Castle Wars match, which are of not bringing food, capes, helms nor coins to the arena. Apart from that, there are no requirements to join in, however having strong combat skills is highly recommended as Castle Wars is a combat-based minigame. All three sides of the combat triangle are commonly used, with rangers and magers tending to guard and defend the base while the meleers attack the enemy base.

Joining a Match

To join a match, choose which team you would like to ally and enter the corresponding portal. Entering the red portal will enroll you on the Zamorak team, and entering the blue portal will enroll you on the Saradomin team. The green portal is the Guthix portal; if you choose to go through this portal you will be enrolled on whichever team currently has the fewest players, be that Saradomin or Zamorak. After you have entered the portal of your choosing you will be put into the waiting room.

Waiting Room

The waiting room is where the players wait for the next game to start. Once there, Saradomin team members will find themselves wearing a blue cape, while Zamorak team members will be wearing red capes; these are automatically removed when leaving the game. The time remaining until the next game begins is displayed near the top of the screen in white text.

• You will need at least one player per team for the match to begin.
• Each match lasts for twenty minutes, with a five minute interval between each one.
• If you need to leave, you can do so through the portal of the god's colour located inside the waiting room.
• If another player leaves an ongoing game, a window will appear asking if you wish to enter the game. The first player to answer yes will join the ongoing game.
• Players wearing items associated with another god will be turned into either a sheep (if entering Guthix), hare (if entering Saradomin) or imp (if entering Zamorak) for the duration of their stay in the waiting room.

Castle Wars Arena

The castle wars arena is split from north-east to south-west by a river. North-west of the river is the castle of Zamorak and south-east of the river 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 river 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.

Game Interface

During a match, there will be an overlay on the game window that gives you information about the current match in progress. The overlay shows information at the top, at the top-left and on the left side of the screen.

• The interface at the top of the screen details the match score

• The interface at the top-left of the screen details whether or not the flags are in their areas (safe), have been dropped, or have been taken by the opposite team.

• The side interface details how much time is left in the game, the defences of your castle's main gate and side gate, whether the team's two tunnels have been collapsed or cleared, and whether the team's catapult has been damaged or is operationaln. You should use this to determine if you should defend your castle or not.

Castle Wars Areas

The Castles

Each castle has multiple floors connected by stairs and ladders. The armoury is on the ground floor, the respawn room is on the first floor, a trapdoor room (with access to the respawn room) is on the second floor and the flag room is on the top floor.

• The armoury room is where all the 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.
• The respawn room is where the game begins. In this room, there is a table of bandages and an altar where players can recharge their prayer points.
• The trapdoor room is usually attended by rangers and magers whose goal is to guard and defend the team's flag.
• The flag room is where the team's flag is located, in its flag stand. If the enemy steals this and manages to carry it to this same part of their own castle, they will score a point.
• The enemy castle is identical to yours.

Middle Island

There is a small island with two bridges connecting it in the middle of the map. It has two towers on it with stairs leading to the top which players can use to snipe enemy players from above, two buildings adjacent to the towers which can be entered and used for cover and two ladders leading down to the middle of the underground caves. Controlling the middle island gives the team an advantage over the other, since it will be easier to rush the enemy castle.

Underground Tunnels

The underground tunnels can be accessed by climbing down the ladder in either team's storeroom, or one of the two ladders on the central island. Along each of the four tunnels underground are rocks that you will have to destroy your way past. There are two ways to destroy these rocks:

• Mining them.
• Exploding them with two explosive potions.

If one of these tunnels has been cleared of rocks, you'll then be able to mine the wall nearby to collapse the area again (you can also do that with a explosive potion).

The Catapults

There are two catapults inside the Castle Wars arena, one for each team. They are located on the first floor battlements of the castles. Players may use the catapult if they have ammonition (rocks), which can be found in the armoury room. After players have ammo, they can operate the catapult by clicking on it - this will bring up the catapult controls interface. To aim the catapult, click one of the grid squares displayed in the controls interface:

Tools

Throughout the game, players can acquire a range of tools that can aid them in successfully capturing the other team's flag and defending their own.

Tool	Name	Description	Source(s)
	Bandages	Used to heal yourself or your teammates	Starting Room
	Barricade	Used to block the enemies movement	Store Room
	Rope	Used to scale the walls of your opponents' Castle	Store Room
	Explosive Potion	Used to destroy barricades and collapse underground tunnels	Store Room
	Pickaxe	Used to remove rocks and collapse underground tunnels	Store Room
	Rocks	Used as ammunition for your catapult	Store Room
	Toolkit	Used to repair broken doors	Store Room
	Tinderbox	Used to set fire to barricades	Starting Room and Store Room

Gear and Inventory

Gear

Since a lot of players rush the enemy castle by freezing the opponents, you should bring the best mage-defensive gear you can afford, in order to avoid ice barrage and freeze them as well. If you are planning to rush, it's worth bringing an Elysian spirit shield or Primal kiteshield (b), to reduce the amount of bandages that you will need.

Inventory

Recommended inventory for flag-rushing:

Recommended inventory for defending:

Rewards

By winning, drawing or losing the game, you will be rewarded with Castle Wars tickets. You earn three tickets if you win, two if you draw or one if you lose.

• Players with best castle wars performance (most kills, most captures and most catapult damage) receive extra tickets (+2).
• Every player receives extra tickets (+1) when Max is promoting Castle Wars.

These tickets can be saved up and exchanged for many rewards, by trading with Lanthus at the Castle Wars lobby. But anything bought by using Castle Wars tickets cannot be traded to another player. Castle Wars Tickets can be spent on:

Combat Equipments:

Decorative Equipments:

Tools and Resources: