Upon completion of the Spirit of Summer quest, I was presented with one of perhaps the first ever wilderness-based rewards ever. It allowed me to use a few random safe-spots dotting the wilderness as well as doubling the chance of getting something good from a revenant itself. Perhaps Jagex’s way of making it so more of us would actually go out there and fight with them.

At first, I thought there was no way I would use this except to fight prayer-potion ghosts in level 30 wilderness and getting away when I had a clue scroll to do. That’s all I ever went out in the wilderness to do, anyways, so I didn’t really know my way around it. In fact, I was so unfamiliar with the wilderness that I actually had to use the world map to find my way around it, and every coordinate wilderness clue involved my use of the interactive map RSBANDB is so well famous for.

However, I got to thinking once I had that ring. I’ve run away from so many revenants I’ve been getting panic-attacks every time I saw a yellow dot appear on the mini-map, because it usually meant a cross-country run and an over-abused spirit terrorbird special. I feared the revenants, because they are just so darn powerful for their levels. They use all three forms of attack; they freeze; they teleblock; they poison; they kill.

Perhaps if I got to know them better by engaging them in combat, I could probably gain an upper hand against them. I never saw myself as a wilderness-person, as I never PKed when the option was available. This way, I would finally be confronting my fears by purposely experiencing them, like I would with heights, evil clowns, darkness, and Dex-in-a-bad-mood. … hmm, better save that last one for another lifetime.

So, I decided that while I had nothing to do, I would face my fears and brave the wilderness, taking on any and every revenant that came my way. I put on my ring, grabbed a super set, stockpiled myself full of food, and, of course, summoned a spirit terrorbird to hold some extra provisions. I also brought some crumble undead runes so I could test to see if they were actually considered to be ‘undead’, for if they were, I could use a salve amulet against them.

I brought full proselyte, a Neitiznot helmet, and other various items of lower worth, so that if I did die, I wouldn’t lose millions. I primarily chose proselyte to use not only a protection prayer, but also Piety for extra defense and attacking bonuses. I also stocked up with a couple of prayer potions, and even a super anti-poison, for I knew their poison hurt a lot when they get that lucky shot in. I traded my gloves for a Forinthry bracelet to allow myself immunity to teleblocks, and I made sure I had that new ring on before cracking my knuckles, wishing I didn’t just do that, and then heading out.

Ready for anything, I left the Bounty Hunter arena and ventured north. Kolodion’s was usually a good hang-out point for revenants, because 60% of the time I went there, there would always be one there, waiting for me. With run on and rapidly clicking the Tireless Run special for my terrorbird, I dashed north with my eyes on my map and my fingers on my trackpad. Should a revenant appear, I would not allow myself to run from it. For now, though, I focused on not running into a bunch of dragons, because I left my anti-fire shield in the bank.

My first revenant appeared nearby the gate to member-only wilderness. One can easily recognize a revenant because it is always moving around, never stopping unless you get close. Once that happens, watch your character, and if you’re hit by something, you’ve found a revenant. The clever creature started off with a poisoning strike, so I whipped on Protect from Ranged and Piety, ran at it, and engaged in combat.

Just my luck, it was a level 126 revenant knight. They like to pride themselves on not only being hard-hitting, but also incredibly defensive. For every hit I make on it, 3 of them will miss, and this usually happens when it’s healing itself. Fortunately, I was in a solo-combat zone, and it was alone, so I took it on.

At first, I was doing horribly – it scored massive hits on me and began to wear me down in supplies. Taking the chance, I unloaded my Crumble Undead spell on it, and was pleased to discover the spell had a hard impact against it. While it paused to heal itself, I replaced my glory with my salve amulet, filled my hitpoints to the top, and had at it again.

The salve amulet really made a difference. not only did I hit it comparatively more often, but I kept it down at a state of low hitpoints, making it heal more and hit me less. Once you’re at that state, you can relax and make sure you’re not about to die, or worse, get attacked y another revenant. When your target starts healing itself, another revenant in a non-multi-combat area can jump in and steal you away until you bring it down to a state of healing as well. From there, it’s a constant swapping back and forth with no real progress, and a real food-drainer, so it is advised you avoid these situations as much as possible and stick with solo revenants unless they’re very low level compared to you.

I finally succeeded in bringing the knight down, and for what? Coins. A poor drop, but at least they dropped something. I grabbed them and headed back down to Bounty Hunter, for that first encounter left me nearly foodless, even with the terrorbird’s assistance. I made it back in one piece and, surprisingly to myself, reloaded myself with food and potion and went out again. I had thought that, since it was such a loss, I would have stopped it then and there, but I was wrong.

It wasn’t the gamble that drove me to do it. It was the thrill. I fought that revenant, and fought it hard. It nearly had me dead, and there were some close points where it looked for certain the victor stood triumphant over his fallen foe. Besides, knights were only a cream of the crop. I had yet to fight what I more likely faced: orks and werewolves.

Leaving my glory behind and keeping my salve amulet, I went back into high-level wilderness. For another first time, I saw a white dot but didn’t react. I knew the wilderness was ‘safe’ now, so I disregarded what should’ve been a potential threat. Instead, I approached and followed him, offering my protection against the revenants in case he encountered any. Would’ve been a pity if he did and I never got a chance to fight it.

This was not the case. There was an ork at the Mage Arena waiting to ambush him, and I DID get to fight it. I stole it away from my escortee and fought it will full force. One thing that surprised me about the ork was how much easier it was then the knight. I hit it nearly every second shot, and had it in the pause-to-heal zone in less then two sharks. It died before it could make another strike, and I got out of that fight with yet more coins. A thousand this time.

A sudden realization came over me: this was EASY! I had been fearing the revenants all this time, but now that I fight them, that’s all one must do. Just be prepared to fight and not run, and not only are you not disappointed but you even gain a little reward off of it. A few orks later yielded me a dragon dagger, and by then, I was really into slaying revenants.

Nowadays, I will actually teleport to Bounty Hunter without reason, prepare myself, and actually go out on a bout to do some revenant slaying. I would escort people around the wilderness, take off against a revenant clan, and even follow some low-level revenants around to watch their patterns of travel. Sometimes I would find clans, but if there was a knight in one, I would immediately leave it alone and get away. I’ve yet to encounter a dragon revenant, and I hope I never do, because from what I heard, they can skull. Plus, they’re higher level then revenant knights, so that obviously means they would be even harder to hit and bring into the pause-to-heal zone.

For now, though, the revenant orks are my favorites. Tough and challenging, but easy to hit and kill, and their drops aren’t half bad. I can’t tell if the ring really works or not, but it’s good to have in case a clan appears and I need use of one of the portals (especially near the axe hut). To stay safe, I usually hang around Kolodion’s. They appear there a lot around there, anyways, and since it’s high-level wilderness, I can fight more of them, so I’m hardly disappointed.

Careful hunting, everyone!