Tormented demons can be fought within the Ancient Guthixian Temple after completing the While Guthix Sleeps quest. As with their original version from RuneScape 2, multiple combat styles and protection prayers are needed to successfully fight these demons. They count as greater demons for the purposes of a Slayer task.
They drop the tormented synapse, which is used to create powerful demonbane weaponry, and the burning claw, which can be combined in a pair to make burning claws.
Requirements
- Completion of
While Guthix Sleeps for access to the Ancient Guthixian Temple.
Recommendations
- High combat stats in at least 2 combat styles.
- Level 75 or higher
- Level 75 or higher
- Level 70 or higher
- Level 70 or higher
- Level 75 or higher
- Level 70 or higher (for Piety, 74 for Rigour, 77 for Augury)
- Level 82 or higher (Dark Demonbane and magic defence)
- Level
- Completion of Shadow of the Storm for access to Arclight.
- Completion of A Kingdom Divided for access to Dark Demonbane.
Transportation
The quickest way to reach the temple is by using a Guthixian temple teleport scroll, which are dropped by tormented demons at a rate of 1/12. Alternatively, players can use a games necklace to teleport to Tears of Guthix via either jewellery on the player or in a Jewellery box in the player’s POH. From here, a lit sapphire lantern must be used to attract a light creature in order to descend into the chasm. Follow the chasm and climb the walls next to the centre skull, and enter the skull above to enter the central chamber of the temple.
Fight overview
Tormented demons can use protection prayers, attack using every combat style along with ground-targeted fire bombs, and possess smart pathing, allowing them to move around objects and stack on top of each other. They are capable of attacking with melee if players stand underneath them, and will switch randomly to a magic or ranged attack if they cannot reach the player and were previously using melee, which makes them difficult to safe-spot.
Every 150 health lost since its last prayer swap (roughly 25% of its max health), the demon will change its protection prayer to the last combat style it was damaged with, as well as stop attacking for 6 ticks (3.6s). Summoning a thrall with a third attack style can be used to occasionally exploit this. This is also a good time to use a special attack if you brought a third weapon style.
Multicombat
Tormented demons are spread out in groups throughout the temple, and players can fight up to three of them should they choose to do so, which results in varying attack behaviour.
With two demons attacking, one will always use melee, and the other using magic or ranged; they will not attack simultaneously as to allow players to prayer flick their attacks. If the player moves, it may change the cadence of the attacks and make it harder to prayer flick. If a third demon attacks, it will only use fire bombs, requiring the player to move frequently.
Fire bombs
Roughly every 60 ticks (36s), the demon(s) will briefly bind the player in place, disable their run, then release two fire bombs: one targeting the tile the player stood on, and one in a 3×3 area centered on the player’s location. Players have 2 ticks (1.2s) to move to a safe tile before they land and explode, or they will take 40+ damage. Players can Ctrl click to run if this is enabled in the in-game settings.
Fire bombs will still cause damage even if the demon is killed while they are airborne.
The demon will always change its combat style after this attack, and the player’s run will be re-enabled. Players can determine the next attack style through the following observations:
- If it approaches the player, it will use melee.
- If it does not approach the player, it will use magic or ranged – whichever wasn’t used before.
- If the demon previously used melee, you will have to guess and/or correct your protection prayer as it can be magic or ranged.
Shield
Tormented demons usually have a fire shield that reduces damage done by non-demonbane weapons/spells and non-abyssal weapons by 20%. They will drop this shield after first being attacked and after each fire bomb attack; this is indicated by an animation as if flames descend from above and then blow away. The shield remains down until they are attacked once, allowing time to switch gear. This allows you to use weapons they are weak to as early as the second hit of combat, reliably increasing DPS.
For the player’s one attack while their shield is down, all damage dealt by specific weapons is increased by X2−16, where X is the weapon’s attack speed. The attack speed for this one attack is also set to 4 ticks (2.4s); if multiple demons are attacking, the attack speed decreases by one tick per additional demon that is fighting the player, allowing back-to-back powerful hits if timed correctly. These benefits only apply to:
- Melee weapons set to the crush attack style (this works even if the attack rolls against Slash or Stab defence, for example while using a godsword’s special attack)
- Heavy ranged weapons (crossbows and ballistae)
- Spells (not from a powered staff).
As such, heavy ranged weapons with a Rapid style should be set to Accurate instead.
If the player mistakenly uses a weapon matching the protection prayer of the monster while the shield is down, the attack speed and damage bonus will still apply, but be divided by 3 and rounded down. For example, a 7 tick weapon (+33) will always hit 11 on prayer.
| Standard attack speed | Damage bonus | Speed vs 1 demon | Speed vs 2 demons | Speed vs 3 demons | Example Weapons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 (4.2s) | +33 | 4 (2.4s) | 3 (1.8s) | 2 (1.2s) |  Heavy ballista (Accurate),  Dharok’s greataxe[a],  Dragon 2h sword[a] |
| 6 (3.6s) | +20 | 4 (2.4s) | 3 (1.8s) | 2 (1.2s) |  Crossbows (Accurate),  Elder maul,  Godswords[a][b] |
| 5 (3s) | +9 | 4 (2.4s) | 3 (1.8s) | 2 (1.2s) | Crossbows (Rapid),  Scythe of vitur[a],  Soulreaper axe[a] |
| 4 or faster | +0 | 4 (2.4s) | 4 (2.4s) | 4 (2.4s) |  Inquisitor’s mace[a],  Abyssal bludgeon. |
Defencelessness
Roughly 30 ticks (18s) after the start of the fight, the demon will become defenceless, giving the player 100% accuracy when attacking it; this is indicated by the flames on the demon’s body being extinguished. This increased accuracy will last until the player’s first hit after the fire bomb attack. After the fire bomb attack, the player’s accuracy will be return to normal until 30 ticks pass again and the demon becomes defenceless once again. This means that every time the player hits the demon when its shield is down, except at the start of the fight, the player will have 100% accuracy on top of any bonus damage.
These frequent periods of defenselessness can make it worthwhile to bring extra damage boosting gear to increase max hit. Alternatively a fast weapon can be used, such as a toxic blowpipe, though it is still inferior to demonbane weaponry.
Equipment
Like demonic gorillas, players will have to use multiple combat styles to be able to attack the demons off prayer. Unlike demonic gorillas, tormented demons remain on one style for 150 hitpoints instead of 70, meaning players will have to switch less often and can bring more gear switches if they prefer. However, the player will continue attacking when the demon changes prayers. Switches can be reduced when not much damage is gained to save inventory space.
The demons’ unique accuracy mechanic encourages bringing different ranged weapons for the high and low accuracy phases, such as the toxic blowpipe and bow of Faerdhinen respectively. There is usually little benefit in switching into armour that only provides accuracy bonuses during the high accuracy phase, for example this can make the toxic blowpipe viable in full melee strength boosting gear reducing switches. The shield mechanic promotes bringing a strong, slow Crush (melee) or Heavy (ranged) weapon for when the shield is down. Ranged weapons brought for this purpose should be set to Accurate to increase their maximum hit and damage scaling, as the decrease in weapon speed is ignored.
Note: All weapons that are not classified as abyssal or demonbane deal 20% reduced damage against tormented demons.
With no additional gear switches, the heavy ballista (on accurate) and Dharok’s greataxe (on crush) are the strongest weapons for hits when the shield is down. Dharok’s greataxe becomes even more powerful when used with the full Dharok’s armour set, which multiplies damage after it is rolled (and after the 33 bonus damage is added) based on the number of hitpoints the player is missing. Similarly, using a tzhaar-ket-om with a berserker necklace multiplies damage by 1.2 after the bonus damage has been added, making it more effective than a Dharok’s greataxe on its own. The Saradomin godsword and the eldritch nightmare staff are solid options to extend trips for players who find themselves taking a lot of damage, or as a safety net for recovering from mistakes. The godsword is also beneficial to use its special attack due to the guaranteed hits during specific parts of the fight, helping with sustains. These weapons pair well with Death Charge while still allowing the player to bring Thralls. A Lightbearer can be brought in addition should the player still struggle with supplies, though this is not recommended if the player is using Arclight or Emberlight as they benefit greatly from strength bonus.
Melee is the strongest style against the demons, especially considering the accessibility of Arclight for most accounts. Due to non-reduced damage and 100% accuracy for a large portion of the fight, Abyssal weaponry, even the abyssal whip, outperform weapons like the inquisitor’s mace and Osmumten’s fang.
| Slot | Recommended equipment for Melee switch – Item (most effective → least effective) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 Slayer helmet (i)[a]/ Torva full helm |
 Neitiznot faceguard /  Serpentine helm |
 Inquisitor’s great helm[b] |
 Blood moon helm |
 Helm of neitiznot |
 |
 Amulet of rancour |
 Amulet of torture |
 Amulet of blood fury |
 Amulet of fury |
 Amulet of glory |
 |
 Infernal cape |
 Fire cape |
 Mythical cape |
 Ardougne cloak |
 Mixed hide cape |
 |
 Torva platebody |
 Bandos chestplate /  Inquisitor’s hauberk[b] |
 Blood moon chestplate/  Fighter torso |
 Obsidian platebody |
 Mixed hide top |
 |
 Torva platelegs |
 Bandos tassets /  Inquisitor’s plateskirt[b] |
 Blood moon tassets |
 Obsidian platelegs |
 Mixed hide legs |
 |
 Emberlight[c] >  Arclight[c] |
Abyssal bludgeon >  Abyssal dagger |
Scythe of vitur[b] |
 Abyssal tentacle > Inquisitor’s mace[b] |
 Abyssal whip |
 |
 Avernic defender |
 Dragon defender |
 Dragonfire shield |
N/A | N/A |
 |
 Ferocious gloves |
 Barrows gloves |
 Combat bracelet |
N/A | N/A |
 |
 Primordial boots |
 Aranea boots / Dragon boots |
 Echo boots |
 Guardian boots |
 Mixed hide boots /  Climbing boots |
 |
 Ultor ring |
 Berserker ring (i) |
 Brimstone ring |
 Ring of suffering (ri) |
 Ring of shadows |
 |
 Burning claws[c] |
 Dragon claws |
Abyssal dagger(When attacks are 100% accurate) |
 Saradomin godsword |
Emberlight/Arclight |
