Custos

Jagex Raid Boss Competition Entry

Timothy Wong

The Primordial Guardian

RSN: Timothy XD

Aim of Boss:
To create a boss that is heavily based on Teamwork, and is tremendously difficult to defeat with the recommended number of teammates, with each person carrying out their roles.
To make players required to use and know their abilities well; and apply them at the right time.
To make ore use of normally overlooked factor of the game - for example the weight of a character and
their equipment.
To encourage communication and planning across a team base; so that working together will make the
boss fight go much smoother.
To remove time-based deaths; for example - [if you do not click this ability within this timeframe; you will
die] - the boss should offer different decisions for the player; where they can decide the best way to escape a certain attack depending on the situation of the team, and failure to do so does not conclude in
instant death or taking a large hit; but rather being transported to another part of the fight to fight themselves back up. This will also further encourage team communication.
To have a boss fight not just be a boss fight - to tell a story through the boss fight rather than another monster to camp for drops.

Fitting in with RuneScape Lore

During the creation of the Elder Artefacts, multiple were created before the finalisations of the ones we
know of today. However - a second set of all 12 Artefacts were put into storage and safekeeping by the
Elder Gods. This secondary set, though weaker than their primary versions, are still a force to be reckoned
with.
Created by the Elder Gods as a guardian of the Elder Artefacts, Custos (Latin for Guardian) was formed
soon after the creation of the Elder Twelve. With all 12 Artefacts present at the hands of the Elder Gods at
the time; the perfect Guardian to protect them was thus created; tuned finely and imbued with all the immense power from the Originals.
To ensure the security and to prevent false users from accessing such powerful objects, Custos cannot be
defeated even by the power of a single Elder Artefact, never mind mortal weaponry. To effectively defeat
Custos, the power of all 12 Artefacts remaining within his keep must be channelled through a medium immune to God Magic - The World Guardian.
Custos was created and programmed to do just one thing: To protect the Artefacts from falling into he
wrong hands, and he will do whatever it takes to protect them.

Location
Accessed by going through The World Gate - The World Guardian must bring The Measure; in order to track
down the Primordial Realm - the land of sacred clay, and the land where all was created by the Elder Gods
- the land with the highest ever seen Anima levels.
The primordial Realm has lands made of sacred clay, a perfect -but dangerous- environment for Custos.
Custos will take advantage of the Elder energy he possesses along with the versatility of sacred clay to manipulate and transform the environment to suit his needs in defending the Artefacts.

Phase Breakdown
The intention of this boss is to surprise players with whats coming next. Therefore, what phase and what
mechanics Custos chooses is heavily dependant on what the group does.
Below is a diagram showing the entire boss fight and the possibilities that are available, depending on
conditions:
Entrance Phase

Deaths
Office

The Source
Conditonal 1

Random

Conditonal 2

Conditonal 3

Conditonal 5

Conditonal 6

If Death
Conditonal 4

10 Clay Golems

OR

10 Clay Warlocks

OR

After 3 conditionals

10 Clay Archers

Deaths
Office

The Median

If Entire team dies

Deaths Office

If suceeed
Rejoin
Group
If fail
Deaths
Office

This is NOT
a map

The Isles
2

If death Deaths
Conditional/Random
6

Office

Conditional

Ranged/Magic

Melee
The Closing
END

END

The Artefacts
The final aim of the boss fight is to be able to harness the power of the Elder Twelve to be able to channel
the energy, Through the World Guardian to defeat Custos.
On the way, the players will collect all 12 Artefacts by completing different areas of the boss.
The First Artefact the players already hold, The Measure. Each Elder Artefact will also hold a passive effect
when the players activate it.
Below is a breakdown of the Artefacts, based on order of appearance, explaining the passive effects and
also when they appear.

The Measure
Appears on: Entrance
Effect: None. Required to create instance.

The ornament
Appears on: Entrance Phase
Effect: Each team member gains a button on their
screen, which can be clicked once per 2 minutes to
unleash a team-wide healing spell for 2000 lifepoints
per player in the team.

The Siphon
Appears on: Conditonal 1/2/3/4/5/6 at Random
Effect: 2% Passive Magical damage boost to entire
team.

The Kiln
Appears on: Conditonal 1/2/3/4/5/6 at Random
Effect: Adds button to allow the summoning of 6 level
500 Sacred Clay Golems to aid in battle. Can be
used once every 5 minutes.

The Catalyst
Appears on: The Isles, Chosen at Random by Custos
Effect: 5% Passive damage boost to all styles for entire team.

The Bowl
Appears on: The Isles, Chosen at Random by Custos
Effect: Stat-boosting potions will last 50% longer.

The Thread
Appears on: The Isles, Chosen at Random by Custos
Effect: Each hit has a 5% chance of binding the opponent for 3 seconds..

The Mirror
Appears on: The Isles, Chosen at Random by Custos
Effect: Passively, for each hit the team takes, there is
a 7% chance that 25% of the damage taken will be
reflected back onto Custos

The Horn
The Blade
Appears on: Conditonal 1/2/3/4/5/6 at Random
Effect: 2% Passive Melee damage boost to entire
team.

Appears on: The Isles, Chosen at Random by Custos

Effect: Protection prayers have a 1% chance to block
100% of damage.

The Shard
The Locator
Appears on: Intermediate phase after Conditionals
Effect: When activated, allows team to pick which
Artefact they want to encounter next.

Appears on: The Isles, Chosen at Random by Custos

Effect: 2% Passive Ranged damage boost to entire
team.

Boss Area Map

Below shows the various levels that the boss can travel to throughout the boss fight, please refer back to these
maps when viewing the phase breakdown and boss fight mechanic parts.
To phase: Condition 6

Area One (Entrance)

Artefact: The Ornament (The Source)

Boss Spawn Area

(Doesnt move for first
phase)
End of phase collapse
The Ornament

Sacred Spike Area

Sacred Spike Area

The Glistening Gate

Area Two (Condition 1)
Artefact: The Locator (Crown Archival) or The Kiln (Elder Kiln) or The Blade (Guthixs Sword) [Random]
Condition: Custos healed 1-3 times from walls on phase 1.

Artefact Location

Safe surge zones

Next Phase

Custos

Wall collapse begin

Area Three (Condition 2)

Artefact: The Locator (Crown Archival) or The Kiln (Elder Kiln) or The Blade (Guthixs Sword) [Random]
Condition:: Total lifepoints healed with defensives between 2000 and 5000

Artefact
Unstable plinths

Next phase

Fall to here

Custos

Path

Area Four (Condition 3)

Artefact: The Locator (Crown Archival) or The Kiln (Elder Kiln) or The Blade (Guthixs Sword) [Random]
Condition: Provoke was used more than 3 times

Clay Basilisks
Fall to here

Seismic Mage

Custos

Area Five (Condition 4)

Artefact: The Locator (Crown Archival) or The Kiln (Elder Kiln) or The Blade (Guthixs Sword) [Random]
Condition: Total adrenaline of entire group together exceeds 500% by the end of phase 1

Custos

PolyPortal

Bridge

Custos
Bridge

Clay Planks

Clay Planks

Fall to here
Artefact

Area Six (Condition 5)

Artefact: The Locator (Crown Archival) or The Kiln (Elder Kiln) or The Blade (Guthixs Sword) [Random]
Condition: Total adrenaline of entire group exceeds 800% by the end of phase 1

Eagle Platform

Artefact
Fall to here

Custos

Eagle Platform

Area Seven (Condition 6)

Artefact: The Locator (Crown Archival) or The Kiln (Elder Kiln) or The Blade (Guthixs Sword) [Random]
Condition: If no other condition is selected.

Artefact

Fall to here

Custos

Custos enters

Area Eight (The Median)

Artefact: The Siphon (Staff of Armadyl)
Condition: Initiates after 3 conditional stages.

The Locator

Custos

Energy pulse path

Area Eight (The Isles)

Artefacts: The Catalyst (Stone of Jas), The Bowl (Vessel of Life), The Thread (The Unbroken Link), The Mirror (Elder Mirror), The
Horn (The Sound of Mah), The Shard (Spikes of Death).
Condition: Initiates Upon completion of The Median.

The Catalyst
Custos
Custos

Custos

The Shard

Custos

The Bowl

Unstable Clay
Platform

Custos
The Mirror

The Horn
Custos
The Thread
Area Nine (The Closing)
Artefacts: None
Condition: Initiates upon completion of The Isles.

Custos

Custos

Custos

Phase Breakdown
Environment will change from phase to phase. The phase in which Custos will enter next is determined by
several factors which can only be controlled by the team. However, the landscape of entrance every time
will be the same - bears striking resemblance to stealing creation - where the floor is sacred clay, and will
be formed into the required environment depending on what mechanic of the boss is triggered.
Phases below will not be numbered, but rather go by name, as they do not appear in chronological order,
but rather dependant on the fight: The name will reflect the condition for it to enter the respective phase:
Entrance Phase
The

Source Area One

The entire area, created by sacred clay; and pulsating with energy. However, ages of abandonment
leaves it in a ruin-like state. However, Elder Energy
remains to protect the area, shown by the glowing
door supports and struts. The area was built to be
God-proof, and the only way this was achievable was
through God Magic itself. However, with the dawn of
the sixth age, The World Guardian, immune to God
Magic, can enter.
Upon entering this phase, one player must touch
The Ornament in the middle to alert Custos.

The Glistening Gate

Modelled on Autodesk Maya | Student Licensed

Once a player comes into contact with The Ornament,

Custos will form out from the floor out of Sacred Clay,
and begin attacking. In this area, if players may not
stand on the sides (marked sacred spike area on the
Area One map), or Custos will form sacred spikes to protrude from the walls and bleed the player for 500 damage per 0.5 seconds, incrementing by 150 damage per
bleed up to a maximum of 1100 damage.
Sacred Spikes
The Ornament

Modelled on Autodesk Maya | Student Licensed

During this phase, as a part of Custos ability rotation, he may also form a sacred shield out from the
floor as shown below, in front of up to half the team:

Modelled on Autodesk Maya | Student Licensed

The Shield

Modelled on Autodesk Maya | Student Licensed

Note: unless stated otherwise, typed damage (melee, ranged, magic) may be stopped using resonance, devotion (with correct prayer), barricade.
Typeless damage can only be barricaded.

If a shield is summoned in front of an attacker, the

player will be bound to the spot; this can be cleared
by using Freedom. Any additional damage will also
be blocked and absorbed by the shield. The shield
will absorb all incoming damage, and after 5 seconds, will reflect 50% of this damage back onto the
player as magic damage, whether or not they have
moved away from the shield. If the player remains
behind the shield when this happens, it will close
onto them and deal an additional 2000 typeless
damage. This Shield however, will also block any
non-melee damage coming from the boss to you.

Attack Rotation and Mechanics for The Source

1. Players enter the Glistening Gate, prepare and get ready to fight.
2. One player (Most likely the Tank) touches The Ornament, and Custos spawns.
3. As Custos spawns, the first attack he will do is slam the Ornament, unleashing an Area of Effect Magic attack covering the entire room, hitting all players for ~4000.
4. Custos will begin attacking a single player after this, either at random with Ranged and Mage from
afar, or melee if the player is up close. Or if he is Provoked, he will remain to attack one player.
5. After 5 auto-attacks, he will raise his arms and call Sacred shields to block and reflect damage to up
to half of the team members, this is repeated 3 times in succession, whilst at the same time still attacking one person (Tank).
6. Once the last shields have been summoned, Custos will attach himself to the walls and begin to build
Elder Energy. During this time, a barricade will appear around Custos, rendering him immune to damage. Players will also be energised due to the entrance of Elder Energy into the area, and will deal 300%
damage. For every 1000 damage inflicted on Custos during this barricade attack, he will deal 10%
more damage for the rest of the fight. However, for every 500 lifepoints healed using Defensive abilities
will lower Custos upcoming damage by 5%. (Players should aim to use regenerate or rejuvenate to lower damage). This also applied to the Ornaments AOE attack.
7. Custos comes out from his barricade, does 5 auto-attacks. He will then shatter the two walls on either side of him, sending fragments of sharp sacred clay at all players, giving each a 1500 bleed per 1
second. This can be cleared by Freedom. Custos will also heal to half lifepoints.
8. The walls adjacent to Custos will slowly rebuild during the fight. The groups job at this point is to do
maximum damage per second to get Custos down before he heals again.
9. Custos will rotate from Step 3 until 0 lifepoints.
At 0 Lifepoints:
A Cutscene will play of Custos releasing hold on The Ornament, and a player is selected at random to
touch the Ornament and imbue themselves with its power. A counter will appear on the screen saying
2/12 Artefacts activated (The Measure the group already holds is included)
The floor marked on the map will then collapse. If Custos is moving to Area 7 (Condition 6), he will
smash open the wall behind him and move onto the next phase (Condition 6).
Additional:
- Any bleeds inflicted on Custos during this phase will heal him (only entrance phase).
To phase: Condition 6
Map
wall

wall

End of phase collapse

Boss Spawn Area

(Doesnt move for
first phase)

The Ornament

Sacred Spike Area

Sacred Spike Area

The Glistening Gate

Phase Breakdown- Conditionals

There are 6 conditional phases that Custos may choose depending on what conditions were met on phase
one. To prevent the same rotations appearing again and again, the mechanism works as below:
- When a condition is met, the game engine ticks the appropriate area, and adds it to a list of potential
upcoming phases.
-If only 3 conditions are met, then the game engine will randomise these and make Custos change phase,
the order unknown to the players.
-However, if more than 3 conditions are met, the game engine will select two based on the order of the conditions met - so first two may be determined by players, and the remaining conditions that were met would
be randomised.
In each conditional room, an Elder Artefact exists, and Custos will use its power in order to try and defeat
the players. At the end of each phase, one single player of each group must also go up and touch the artefact, in order to imbue the team with power.
Below is a breakdown of the boss mechanics of each conditional area:
Conditional 1 - Wall Collapse Escape

Area Two

This phase initiates if, on phase One, Custos was able to heal to half health between 1-3 times, inclusive.
The basis of this level is straightforward. Once players drop down from the top level, the east wall will immediately begin collapsing. A shadow will form where the rocks will land, and players must move from
these locations to avoid being hit an initial 3000, with additional bleed damage of 300 per 0.5 seconds +
Stun. This stun can be cleared by Freedom.
When the Elder Artefact is within view, Custos will go over to it and use it against the team. Effects were
covered before.
Toward the end of the phase, Custos will use a bomb attack, in which one of the two outlined safe-surge
zones on the maps will be active, and players must stand on it to prevent being blasted.
Conditional 1 - Attack rotation and Mechanics
1. Players drops down from phase One, Custos follows quickly after.
2. Custos raises hand and begins to collapse the east wall, and the entire tunnel.
3. Custos does 4 auto-attacks before the next segment of the wall collapses. Players should move when
shadow appears.
4. After the third collapse, Custos will once again begin summoning reflecting shields, mechanics were
explained earlier. This will persist throughout the rest of the phase.
5. Custos will remain to heal up until the sixth wall collapse. At this point, once players weaken Custos to
25% Health, Custos will heal up to 75%, before harnessing the power of the Elder Artefact.
6. Custos shield ability will stop after the ninth and final wall collapse.
7. Custos will then stand near the exit to the tunnel, and begin to unleash powerful attacks hitting between 6000-8000. Players may avoid these by standing on the safe zones that will be marked on the
minimap ONLY.
8. Once Custos reaches 0 health, he will drop the Artefact which he picked up, and a player must touch it
and imbue he power onto the team.
9. Custos will then retreat into the cave exit; and players should follow to advance to the next stage.

Conditional 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
The remaining conditionals have a similar rotation to Conditional One. The Differences lie in the room layout, as well as the Artefact spawn found on that specific rotation.
Below breaks down the specials of each conditional possible. Buffs which Artefacts can grant Custos were
covered in the section earlier.
Conditional 2 - Unstable Pillars
On this conditional, Custos can only attack using ranged and magic. His attacks will always hit everyone in
the team. One player must hop across the pillars in order to reach the Elder Artefact. However, some pillars are unstable and will collapse. This will cause the player to jump to the nearest pillar and be dealt
6000 damage. This can be avoided by looking closely at the pillar before jumping.
No special attacks are gained by Custos on this phase. However, he will focus much stronger attacks on
the jumper. Therefore, it is recommended that this player has high lifepoint boost, as will as a good knowledge of defensive abilities.
Conditional 3 - The Moving Earth
This conditional consists of 3 main floating platforms. These platforms and continuously shake, therefore
the gap between them will oscillate between big a small. Upon falling down to this stage, players must
surge at the correct moment to get over the rocks. If they surge at the wrong time, they will fall through
and die. On the second platform, Custos will summon clay basilisks to attack the players. These are level
650, and are highly dangerous. They can use AOE attacks, so it is recommended for players to spread out.
Once the basilisks are dead, 3 Seismic Wizards will be located at the edge of the Third platform. They are
using Elder Magic to Push Custos to safety. These must be defeated in order to have the platform which
Custos is on float back, so that players can surge over.
Seismic Wizards are mortals, imbued by Custos with Elder Magic and have a combat level of 1560. They
have combo attacks similar to the Barrows Brothers: Rise of the of Six, in which they can aid each other in
the fight, as well as being able to re spawn if not killed within a certain time.
Upon reaching Custos, he will attack with his normal auto-attacks, AOE attacks and normal specials rotation. However, when below half health, Custos will gain an earthquake AOE, which cracks the earth and
deals 1000-2000 damage constantly. However, this damage can be lowered by inspecting the ground for
less cracked places, and moving to them.
Conditional 4 - Mirror Image
This conditional sees Custos splitting himself into two parts, one located either side of a PolyPortal. The
raid team must now split according to what style Custos is using. This is random and for fastest boss kill
time, players should use their combat triangle knowledge to split the team. Once split, Custos will continually attack with auto-attacks either side of the portal, as will as normal AOEs and special attacks.
Players on either side must attack Custos, and fix the bridge so that they can walk over to him. The aim of
the phase now is similar to Vorago, except it is timed.
Both teams on either side now must deal as much damage as possible to push their version of Custos into the polyportal. Both versions must enter the portal within 3 seconds of each other, or else they will reset.
Conditional 5 - Rage
Upon entrance to this conditional, players will find themselves in a large circle room, with Custos in the
centre. Upon entrance, players must click the Divine Barricade Energy Channel directly in front of them.
This will drain players adrenaline to form a barricade, as Custos will release a very powerful attack which
will hit everyone for 90-100% of their lifepoints. The more adrenaline the Energy Channel absorbs, the
less damage the team takes.
On the North and South sides of the room are located Eagle Platforms. Attacking Custos from one of these
will yield a 15% Damage boost to both Magic and Ranged. An Energy Channel can also be found on these,
as Custos will continue to use his powerful charging attack. Players should decide whether to split up or
not.

Conditional 6 - Reflects
On this phase, Custos cannot be attacked, and his health will also reduce down to 100,000. Players will
be on a separate room from Custos, only visible through a small gap in the wall.
The point of this phase is to kill Custos using defensive abilities and reflects only. Custos will do attacks
on random players, as will as AOE attacks. Spells such as Vengeance and deflect prayers will also do damage to Custos.
It is recommended that players are competent at using defensive abilities, as will as have healers and
support roles among the team. Damage should also be negated where abilities are not able to be used, or
are on cool down. Resonance will also help very much on this phase.
Once Custos is defeated, he will retreat to the next phase, and the players will not be able to cross the
bridge and imbue the Artefact.

The Median - Breakdown

Once 3 Conditional phases have been defeated, Custos will then initiate The Median phase. In this
phase, Custos will once again remain in the middle, using his usual attacks. However, for his special on
this phase, Custos can channel energy pulses from the walls to fire into the ring in which players cannot
move from.
During this phase, the energy beams can be reflected using the Reflect ability. It also gains an extra 25%
effectiveness, so will reflect 75% of the damage onto Custos, whilst blocking 50% of it to the player. This
damage cannot be resonanced, but can be barricaded against.
Upon completion of the phase, the players gain the power of The Locator. This allows the players to
choose which Artefact they want to encounter on the first Island of The Isles, which is the next area.
The Artefacts they can choose from will be the ones that have not been encountered in the conditionals.

The Isles - Breakdown

The Isles is an open area, suspended in Primordial Space, surrounded by Energy. Upon the entrance to
The Isles, Custos will land on the Island which the players selected using The Locator.
On The Isles, Custos himself has a 100% damage boost throughout the entire phase, and does not
change on what island is jumps to. The order in which he initiates the Artefacts is random, apart from the
first, which is chosen by the team.
Between each island phase, Custos will pull the entire team to the central rock. This is where taking note
of the weight of each character is important. Custos will slam the rock pillar, so that is become unstable.
Players must move accordingly to the rock, to balance it out. If the rock falls, it takes all players with it,
and the fight is lost.
After every balance, players must also surge off the rock in order to get off.
At the end of each Island phase, one payer of the team must also touch the Artefact to imbue its power.
At the End of The Isles, all Island will collapse, and take the players to the final area. The final area is chosen based on how much of each style of damage what inflicted onto Custos throughout the ENTIRE fight from the very start. If Melee was the most used style, Custos will use Mage in the final stage and so on,
from the combat triangle.

The Closing - Breakdown

Knowing that he is losing the fight, Custos will draw all the power that he has remaining, unleashing
strong AOE attacks onto the team, with the style of the attack dependant, as explained before. This
phase is the easiest of all phases, as no specials will be used.
At 1000-5000 lifepoints remaining, the team must gather in a line in front of Custos to Channel all the
power into him to defeat him.

Rewards - Tier 95 Weaponry

Pictured below are the 3 Weapons obtained as extremely rare drops, along with other items with an average
worth of 2-3m per kill.

Bow of Judgement

Wand of Convolution

Sword of Turbulence