Guardians of the Rift

This article has a strategy guide.

All information on mechanics and strategy will be on this page.

Guardians of the Rift
Released								23 March 2022 (Update)
Type								Minigame
Members								Yes
Location								Temple of the Eye
League region								Desert✓
Participants								1-200
Skills								Runecraft, Mining, Crafting
Reward currency								Abyssal pearls
Music								Guardians of the Rift, The Guardians Prepare
Map
<mapframe align="center" frameless="" plane="0" width="300" y="9492" x="3616" height="300" zoom="2" mapID="-1"> [] </mapframe>

Guardians of the Rift is a non-combat minigame that takes place within the Temple of the Eye. The main goal of the game is to assist The Great Guardian in closing an abyssal rift to the Scar, the most dangerous part of Abyssal Space, by supplying it with guardian stones while protecting it from the abyssal creatures that come through the rift.

Requirements

• Completion of Temple of the Eye quest
• Level 10 Runecraft is required for Temple of the Eye, although only an additional 154 experience is needed to reach this level after completing its prerequisite quests. Level 27 Runecraft is required to play the minigame after quest completion. Due to experience gained from Temple of the Eye, players will have reached at least level 27 Runecraft before they start the minigame. However in seasonal game modes such as Leagues it is possible to not meet this requirement if the quest is auto completed.
• Any pickaxe
• A chisel (only if you want to craft guardians)

Getting there

The portal to the Guardians of the Rift minigame resides in the basement of the Wizards' Tower. Players can get there faster than walking by using the following:

• The amulet of the eye teleport.
• The grouping minigame activity teleport.
• A necklace of passage teleport to the Wizards' Tower.
• Fairy ring code DIS to the Wizards' Tower.
• An amulet of glory teleport to Draynor Village and walking south.
• Lumbridge Home Teleport and walking south-west.
• Teleporting to the Scar via ring of shadows, requiring Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire.

Bank chest

Players looking to change their gear or inventory loadout may use the bank chest found just north of the portal. For players who are using the Scar essence mine, as well as players who have the amulet of the eye, the bank is a fairly close bank to a teleport, making it an efficient stop for players looking to bank and return.

Official worlds

The following official worlds are assigned to Guardians of the Rift:

World	Location	Members	Activity
425	Australia	1	Guardians of the Rift
441	United States (west)	1	Guardians of the Rift
445	United States (west)	1	Guardians of the Rift
459	Germany	1	Guardians of the Rift
464	Germany	1	Guardians of the Rift
478	United States (east)	1	Guardians of the Rift
490	United States (east)	1	Guardians of the Rift
492	United States (east)	1	Guardians of the Rift
507	United Kingdom	1	Guardians of the Rift
522	United Kingdom	1	Guardians of the Rift
534	Australia	1	Guardians of the Rift

Gameplay

Main article: Guardians of the Rift/Strategies

The objective of the minigame is to allow the Great Guardian to charge up enough power to close the rift where Abyssal creatures are coming through.

An overview of the Temple of the Eye, where the minigame takes place.

Players will need to do the following throughout the battle:

• Imbue essence acquired during the minigame at runic altars to power up the Great Guardian
• Create elemental and catalytic guardians to do battle with the incoming Abyssal creatures
• Create/repair barriers to protect the Great Guardian from Abyssal creatures

To imbue essence and create rift guardians, players must obtain guardian fragments from guardian remains of varying sizes in the Temple. There are three nodes that can be mined off of - guardian parts, guardian remains, and large guardian remains. Parts and normal remains can be found in the edges of the temple area, while the larger remains are past some rubble in the mid-east of the Temple area, requiring level 56 Agility ^{(not boostable)} to access.

The huge guardian remains, which give guardian essence when mined, are found at the mid-western area of the temple. Though normally inaccessible, portals will occasionally appear that takes players there, spawning approximately every 2 minutes. Portals remain active for around 25 seconds.

The doubling effect of certain mining enhancers—such as Varrock armour (all tiers) and charged celestial rings—will apply when mining for guardian fragments and essence.

• 
  Mining guardian fragments
• 
  Portals that takes players to the huge guardian remains.

Imbuing essence

The UI showing the time remaining for the active earth and blood Portal Guardians and the portal to the huge guardian remains, among other things.

Creating guardian essence on the workbench. Crafted runes can be deposited into a bank via the Deposit Pool next to it.

Guardian fragments are converted into guardian essence, which are storable in essence pouches. They are brought to runic altars to be imbued via entering Portal Guardians surrounding the centre of the Temple. Only two portals are active at a time: one elemental and one catalytic. Imbuing guardian essence requires the same Runecraft level as crafting them regularly in the corresponding altar. Note that crafting on runic altars during the minigame will not give players the rift guardian pet.

In addition, for every guardian essence crafted, there is a 1/250 chance that players will receive a portal talisman, which can be used on the Portal Guardians to take them back to the runic altar they previously used, even if the portal is closed for that altar. These cannot be kept after the game ends, so players should use them whenever possible. Players can right-click "Toggle-talisman" on a Portal Guardian to stop receiving portal talismans of the selected type.

Once players imbue their essence into either an elemental or catalytic guardian stone, they can return to the Temple and power up the Great Guardian. Each guardian stone will give two energy of the respective type; if crafting combination runes, players will instead receive polyelemental guardian stones, which give three elemental energy when used on the Great Guardian.

The number of guardian stones required to fully charge up the Great Guardian scales with player count: the Great Guardian must be powered up with 250 guardian stones for each player inside the temple in order to reach 100%.

When powering up the Great Guardian, the player's run energy will be restored by 1% for each guardian stone granted to the Guardian. In addition, a small bonus amount is restored based on the player's current special attack energy, ranging from 1% extra with a totally depleted special energy bar up to 11% additional run energy when the special bar is completely full.

Be aware that players need to have completed certain quests to be able to enter some Portal Guardians:

• Guardian of Cosmic - Lost City
• Guardian of Law - Troll Stronghold
• Guardian of Death - Mourning's End Part II
• Guardian of Blood - Sins of the Father

Charging cells

Charged cells are used to create rift guardians and erect barriers. Uncharged cells are obtained from a container near the entry barrier, and are charged in the same way guardian essence is. However, players can only hold up to ten uncharged cells, and can only have one charged cell at a time.

Barriers and rift guardians protecting the Great Guardian from Abyssal creatures.

Rift guardians are created with a chisel via the essence piles near the tables at the south, and can either be elemental (east) or catalytic (west). These will follow the elemental/catalytic guides in the outer ring. Only ten rift guardians can be active at any time.

Barriers are created by using charged cells on the cell tiles at the front-centre. Using increasingly higher tiers of cells in order (ex. medium to strong cells) will also strengthen them. Using lesser charged cells (ex. a strong cell on an overcharged barrier) will instead recharge the barriers by "healing" them. Should a barrier break, the cell tile will need to be repaired, which requires ten guardian essence.

The strength of the cell corresponds to the Runecraft level of the runic altar it is charged in:

Standard runes

Level	Type		Tier		Alignment
1		Air		Weak		Elemental
5		Water		Medium		Elemental
9		Earth		Strong		Elemental
14		Fire		Overcharged		Elemental
2		Mind		Weak		Catalytic
20		Body		Weak		Catalytic
27		Cosmic		Medium		Catalytic
35		Chaos		Medium		Catalytic
44		Nature		Strong		Catalytic
54		Law		Strong		Catalytic
65		Death		Overcharged		Catalytic
77		Blood		Overcharged		Catalytic

Combination runes

Since each combination rune can be made on either of two altars, the cell tier is determined by the elemental altar that's used.

Level	Type		Alignment
6		Mist		Polyelemental
10		Dust		Polyelemental
13		Mud		Polyelemental
15		Smoke		Polyelemental
19		Steam		Polyelemental
23		Lava		Polyelemental

Gaining energy

Players can gain energy by either using cells, by using guardian stones on the Great Guardian, or by repairing a barrier. For each stone used, players will get 5 Runecraft experience and two energy in elemental or catalytic depending on the type of essence used; if crafting combination runes, players will get a polyelemental guardian stone instead, which gives three elemental energy. If players use ten essence on repairing a cell tile they will gain 25 energy in both types.

Each cell can be used in one of four ways: to build a barrier, to recharge a barrier, to strengthen a barrier (one tier at a time) or to create a guardian. Higher level cells give more energy, except for when building barriers, which always gives 2 energy in both types. Using cells on barriers gives equal energy in elemental and catalytic, whereas creating a guardian gives energy only in the energy type matching the guardian they created. Creating a guardian awards $2x+1$ energy, where $x$ is the energy that would be awarded for strengthening a barrier with the same cell.

Tier		Barrier					Guardian
		Placing	Strengthening	Recharging	Health restored	XP	Creating	XP
	Weak	17	N/A	2	10	30	6	30 80
	Medium	20	7	5	25	100	15	100 80
	Strong	24	13	9	50	180	27	180 80
	Overcharged	30	22	15	100	250	45	250 80

Phases of the battle

Charged with enough power, the Great Guardian closes the rift.

New players cannot join in after the initial 120 second timer ends. After this enemies will begin spawning and altar portals will open.

The battle is split into three phases:

The first phase is short, giving players two minutes to prepare by obtaining guardian essence and uncharged cells to create and power up guardians. Initially, there are some weak cells used in the beginning stages of the battle that should be used to erect barriers.

After the two minutes pass, abyssal creatures will begin spawning from the rift, consisting of mostly abyssal leeches and guardians. There will be a few walkers among them. The monsters will attempt to attack the Great Guardian, with their attacks draining its energy. They will also attack barriers and rift guardians, although they only retaliate back for the latter, not actively targeting them. Should the Great Guardian's energy level reach 0%, the encounter will fail.

When the guardian reaches 60% charge, the temple will rumble as the rift glows more intensely, damaging all active barriers by 50 health (in a mass) and spewing out more guardians and walkers compared to leeches. Players should heal the barriers and create more rift guardians if necessary.

When the guardian reaches 100% charge, it will seal the rift. All abyssal creatures and rift guardians will automatically die once this occurs and there's a brief period of respite for players inside to leave or reposition themselves.

At the beginning of a new game, all guardian fragments, essence, and portal talismans acquired during the game will be removed from the player's possession - this also applies when leaving the minigame area.

Rewards

At the end of a game, players will receive points and Runecraft experience equal to their Runecraft level * 45 as long as they gained at least 150 total energy during the game. An elemental point will be given for every 100 elemental energy and a catalytic point will be given for every 100 catalytic energy, with a chance of rounding up (ex. 73 elemental energy will give a 73% chance of gaining one elemental point). One of each are used to search the Rewards Guardian, located just outside the rift gate, where players can receive their rewards from. A maximum of 1,200 total energy can be earned per game (1,320 when using the abyssal lantern burning yew logs), with a cap of 1,000 per energy type. If a player reaches the maximum point cap, the chatbox will display the message You are fully attuned with runic energy and cannot earn anymore until the rift has been closed.

Rewards Guardian

Main article: Rewards Guardian

The Rewards Guardian.

Rewards from the Guardian include a standard loot table including runes and talismans, as well as various unique rewards.

Item		Info
File:Abyssal pearls.png	Abyssal pearls	Used to purchase items from the Temple Supplies shop.
	Intricate pouch	Can give a tarnished locket or a lost bag. Grants a random amount of runes or one of several dragon items. Also has a chance at granting a hard clue.
	Atlax's diary	An old diary of someone's experiences at the Temple of the Eye.
	Elemental talisman	Grants access to all elemental runic altars.
	Catalytic talisman	Grants access to all catalytic runic altars, provided the player has completed the quests to access those that require it.
	Abyssal needle	Combines all essence pouches into one colossal pouch (requiring 85 Runecraft(not boostable) and 56 Crafting to use). If the colossal pouch is lost, players may simply use a normal needle on the Rewards Guardian to obtain another Abyssal needle.
	Abyssal lantern	Gives various benefits within the minigame depending on the type of logs used to light it. Can also be purchased with 1500 pearls.
	Abyssal dyes	Recolours the raiments of the eye, lost bag, and amulet of the eye. Comes in red, green, and blue.
	Abyssal protector	An abyssal creature pet, similar to an abyssal guardian.

Temple Supplies

Main article: Temple Supplies

Apprentice Felix, the proprietor of the Temple Supplies shop.

Items from the rewards shop are purchased with Abyssal pearls, which are obtained from the Rewards Guardian.

Item		Info	Pearls required
	Raiments of the Eye	Each piece grants the wearer 10% more runes (up to a maximum of 60% when the full set is equipped).	400 (Hat), 350 (Top and bottoms), 250 (Boots)
	Ring of the elements	Teleports players near the elemental runic altars. Charged with one of each elemental rune and one law rune.	400
	Guardian's eye	When used on the rift guardian pet, will allow it to transform to a Greatish guardian.	3,000
	Talismans	Used to create tiaras and enter runic altars. Elemental, catalytic, and wrath talismans are not sold. Blood talismans are exclusively sold here.	10 (Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Mind, Body), 30 (Chaos, Cosmic), 50 (Nature, Law), 80 (Death), 100 (Blood)

Music

Track	Details
File:The Guardians Prepare.ogg	The Guardians Prepare. Plays during the first phase of the game.
File:Guardians of the Rift.ogg	Guardians of the Rift. Plays during the rest of the game.
File:Guardians of the Rift - Abyssal Rift closes.ogg	Plays upon winning a game of Guardians of the Rift.
File:Guardians of the Rift - Great Guardian defeated.ogg	Plays upon losing a game of Guardians of the Rift.

Changes

Date	Changes
[[{{#explode:23 May 2024| |0}} {{#explode:23 May 2024| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:23 May 2024| |2}}]] (update)	The barrier has been made more red when players are unable to enter the minigame. A red, eye open variant has been added, indicating the player count has reached 200 but the game has not yet started.
[[{{#explode:4 October 2023| |0}} {{#explode:4 October 2023| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:4 October 2023| |2}}]] (update)	Players in the Guardian of the Rift will no longer get Mining experience beyond the first 250 guardian fragments mined per game.
[[{{#explode:9 August 2023| |0}} {{#explode:9 August 2023| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:9 August 2023| |2}}]] (update)	Players can no longer kill Apprentice Tamara during the Guardians of the Rift minigame.
[[{{#explode:28 June 2023| |0}} {{#explode:28 June 2023| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:28 June 2023| |2}}]] (update)	A permanent chisel spawn has been added south-east of the cell tables, directly between the red dark laces. A "Repair" option has been added on Apprentice Cordelia to quickly repair essence pouches, providing the player has unlocked the ability to do so via her.
[[{{#explode:3 May 2023| |0}} {{#explode:3 May 2023| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:3 May 2023| |2}}]] (update)	Players can now purchase an abyssal lantern from Apprentice Felix via dialogue for 1,500 abyssal pearls.
[[{{#explode:18 April 2023| |0}} {{#explode:18 April 2023| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:18 April 2023| |2}}]] (update)	Worlds 425 (Australia), 441 (US West) & 459 (EU) will now become additional theme worlds for Guardians of the Rift.
[[{{#explode:7 December 2022| |0}} {{#explode:7 December 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:7 December 2022| |2}}]] (update)	Essence Pouches have been added to the minigame's loot table.
[[{{#explode:11 August 2022| |0}} {{#explode:11 August 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:11 August 2022| |2}}]] (update)	Two new official worlds have been designated for the minigame: 490 for United States (east) and 507 for United Kingdom
[[{{#explode:26 May 2022| |0}} {{#explode:26 May 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:26 May 2022| |2}}]] (update)	The amount of players that can join a game has been increased from 100 to 200. Players seeking to play in smaller groups can now speak to Apprentice Tamara to lock down the barrier once the first stage of the game begins; this cannot be done on official worlds, and players must have Tamara re-lock the barrier each time a game ends. A brief period of time has been added upon the Great Guardian reaching 100% power to allow players to hand in their excess guardian stones before the game ends. Multiple rift guardians can now be simultaneously made from one essence pile, and the time it takes to create one has been reduced. The "Inspect" option from cell barriers has been removed, and the length of their health bars have been halved. In addition, they will always display their health bars if not full.
[[{{#explode:18 May 2022| |0}} {{#explode:18 May 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:18 May 2022| |2}}]] (update)	It is no longer possible to cast Alchemy spells inside.
[[{{#explode:26 April 2022| |0}} {{#explode:26 April 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:26 April 2022| |2}}]]	The official worlds 571 and 576 have been switched with 464 (Germany) and 534 (Australia).
[[{{#explode:13 April 2022| |0}} {{#explode:13 April 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:13 April 2022| |2}}]] (update)	Crafting combination runes will now give polyelemental guardian stones instead of elemental guardian stones. As a result, the bug in which the Raiments of the Eye provided extra elemental guardian stones when crafting combination runes has been fixed. Abyssal lanterns and dyes can be exchanged with Apprentice Felix for 100 and 50 abyssal pearls, respectively. Placing cells on an empty cell tile now gives 17-30 of each energy (depending on the type of cell used) rather than 2. Repairing a broken cell tile now gives 25 of each energy rather than 10. Cells can now be upgraded at a runic altar, without having to drop weaker cells to acquire a better charged cell. The Deposit Pool now has "Deposit-runes" as its left-click option. Destroy options have been reinstated for guardian fragments and stones. Guardians of the Rift completions have been added to the HiScores. Portal Guardians will no longer appear active during the starting phase.
[[{{#explode:11 April 2022| |0}} {{#explode:11 April 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:11 April 2022| |2}}]]	Two new official worlds have been designated for the minigame: 571 for Australia and 576 for United States (east), both being free-to-play worlds.
[[{{#explode:30 March 2022| |0}} {{#explode:30 March 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:30 March 2022| |2}}]] (update)	Timers have been added to the minigame UI for when the first phase ends, when the active Portal Guardians will change, and when the shortcut portals close. Official worlds have been dedicated for the minigame: 445 for the United States (west) and 522 for the United Kingdom. Prices for the Raiments of the Eye have been reduced. Players who purchased them before this update will find upon login that the difference in abyssal pearls have been refunded to their bank, their inventory if the bank is full, or on the ground if both are full. The entry barrier now has "Quick-pass" option, and will appear red with the eye closed when a game is ongoing. Players can also toggle the visual effects that occur when using portals off or on via the barrier. Gameplay items now have a "Drop" option rather than "Destroy". The superior cell will now be prioritised when two players are attempting to assemble a rift guardian with differently charged cells. The rubble leading to the large guardian remains now has a "Climb" option rather than "Climb-down". Portals to the huge guardian fragment mine will no longer spawn to the north due to players being prone to misclick objects around it.
[[{{#explode:24 March 2022| |0}} {{#explode:24 March 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:24 March 2022| |2}}]] (update)	Hotfix The amount of players that can join a game has been increased from 60 to 100. Players can now enter the game during the first phase. Charged cells can now be used on barriers with full health for contribution. The drop rate of abyssal pearls have been increased by 15%. Points cap has been increased from 1,000 to 1,200. Cells now 'heal' full-health barriers, giving extra contribution points but not Runecraft XP.
[[{{#explode:23 March 2022| |0}} {{#explode:23 March 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:23 March 2022| |2}}]] (update)	Hotfix The infernal pickaxe will no longer lose charges during the minigame. Players who have not completed Temple of the Eye can no longer access the Guardians of the Rift lobby. The "Peek" option on the entrance to the minigame now displays the power % of the Great Guardian. The Mind portal talisman can no longer be obtained during the Guardians of the Rift tutorial. Fixed an issue where players were unable to craft Mind and Water runes after the Guardians of the Rift tutorial.

Gallery

• 
  Promotional artwork for the minigame.
• 
  Promotional artwork used for the Steam Client.
• 
  Prototype of Guardians of the Rift from the December 2020 Gielinor Gazette, when the project was known as Guardians of Gielinor.
• 
  Early concept birdseye image of the Temple of the Eye, by Mod West.
• 
  Concept art of the Temple of the Eye, by Mod Jerv.
• 
  Concept art of the rift guardians, by Mod Grub.

Developers

• Main developer(s): Mod Elena, Mod Husky
• Quality Assurance: Mod Curse
• Art: Mod Skylark and Mod West
• Dev Blog & newspost: Mod Light

Trivia

Icons for runes used in the minigame UI. Notably, astral, soul, and wrath icons exist despite never seeing use.

The pineapple, moai and rock in the style of SpongeBob SquarePants.

• Originally, the minigame was to be called Guardians of Gielinor. This name was changed prior to its release to Guardians of the Rift.
• Despite not being used during the minigame, icons indicating active portals to the Astral, Soul, and Wrath Altars exist in the game's files.
• On the ocean floor to the east of the Temple, a pineapple, moai, and rock can be seen. This is a reference to the homes of the main characters of the television show SpongeBob SquarePants. This is further evidenced by their examine information.
• Several mechanics of the minigame were changed from the original Developer's Blog midway through development:
  • Players would need to bring their own pure essence alongside guardian fragments in order to create guardian essence. This was changed to no longer be necessary.
  • There was originally a bank chest inside the minigame area where players can retrieve pure essence from alongside any other items they may have forgotten to bring. With the aforementioned change making pure essence unnecessary, the bank chest was changed to a Deposit Pool.
  • Cells were originally referred to as batteries.
  • The outer edges containing large and huge guardian remains were both originally going to be accessible with varying Agility levels, with the yellow portals being able to bypass the Agility requirement. This was changed so that only the huge remains are accessible via portal, giving guardian essence when mined rather than fragments.
• Several rewards for the minigame were also changed midway through development:
  • The catalytic talisman would not allow access to the Death Altar until Mourning's End Part II was completed.
  • The Blood Altar was not planned to be accessible via the Abyss.
  • The abyssal lantern was purchased from the Temple Supplies reward shop rather than being a random reward from the Rewards Guardian. In addition, lighting it originally required two logs of a certain type, but would only stay lit for one round; up to ten logs could be used to light it, which would allow it to stay lit for five rounds.
    • The lantern was later made purchasable, though via Apprentice Felix rather than from the Temple Supplies shop.
  • The Raiments of the Eye originally gave a 10% chance per item (60% when all items are equipped) to craft additional runes. What "additional runes" meant was never clarified, and was changed to its current functionality.