Skull (status)

This article is about the status. For the item, see Skull (item).

A clan of players who are skulled killing another player who is also skulled.

A skull is a status effect in RuneScape, where skulled players will lose all items upon death. If the Protect Item prayer is used, players will get to keep their single most valuable item upon death.

Mechanics

A player with a skull status effect loses all items upon death, or all but the most valuable item with the Protect Item prayer. In the high-risk PvP worlds, the prayer effect is prevented.

The skull appears above players who attack other players unprovoked in the Wilderness, or who enter the Abyss without an abyssal bracelet equipped. Players can also be skulled by asking the Emblem Trader to skull them or by equipping an amulet of avarice or cape of skulls, by which they will remain skulled until 20 minutes after the amulet or cape is unequipped.

The skull will disappear automatically after 10 or 30 minutes depending on how the player got it; it disappears 10 minutes after exiting the Abyss, and 30 minutes after attacking a player. If a player re-enters the Abyss or initiates combat with another player, the skull timer will reset. If a player needs to quickly remove their skull, they can die to another player or a monster. Skulls can also be removed by dying in Last Man Standing, or by entering the Gauntlet.

If the player holds any loot keys while being skulled, their skull icon will be changed accordingly to show the number of held keys, as will the icon next to their name in the choose option interface.

Modified skull icons that show how many loot keys the players have.

Skull prevention

Players who are attacked by another player in the Wilderness can retaliate against that player without getting skulled themselves. Players might also turn on the PK Skull Prevention setting, which will restrict them from attacking players when it would result in gaining the skull status.

In multi-way areas, players can unintentionally skull themselves with multi-target attacks (e.g. burst or barrage spells, chinchompas, special attacks) by using the spell against their aggressor and hitting other players that have not attacked them yet if the skull prevention setting is not turned on.

Skull types

	Description	Additional effect
	The default skull status.		0
	The high-risk PvP world skull status.	Prevents the Protect Item effect.	1
	The skull status with the Forinthry Surge boost.	When wearing an amulet of avarice, 15% extra accuracy and damage in all combat styles against all revenants. Taking the amulet off removes the buff, while hopping worlds reduces its duration by one minute. An opponent wearing amulet of avarice can receive the buff by killing the player.	1
	The skull status in Deadman Mode.	Main article: Deadman Mode § Skull status	1
	The skull status while holding a loot key, or a bank key in the Deadman Mode. The number of keys on the icon reflects the number of keys a player has in their inventory.	When killed, the opponent receives the extra loot keys held by the player.	0
	The skull status with a Forinthry Surge in the Deadman Mode.	Combines the additional effects of the Forinthry Surge and the skull status in the Deadman Mode.	1
	The skull status with a Forinthry Surge while holding a loot key, or a bank key. The number of keys on the icon reflects the number of keys a player has in their inventory.	Combines the additional effects of the Forinthry Surge and loot keys, or bank keys in the Deadman Mode.	1

Note that while the TzHaar Fight Pit red skull () also shows over the player and shares a similar appearance, but does not have the same effect on items dropped on death.

Legacy skull types

	Description
	Legacy Deadman Mode skulls.	1
	Initial Bounty Hunter skulls.	1
	Bounty Hunter skulls after a rework.	1

Skull trickers

Players entering the Wilderness should watch out for skull trickers. Skull trickers will attempt to get players to attack them first through deception, aggravation, and by exploiting in-game mechanics. Skull tricking is common as many PvM-ers have no intention of player killing, so they may bring three or four valuable items assuming that they would keep them all on death. As the PK Skull Prevention setting restricts players from attacking other players when it would result in gaining the skull status, it averts this danger entirely.

Revenants

Although being skulled is extremely dangerous as it makes the player a lucrative target for player killers and/or clans, the skull status also modifies revenants' drop table, increasing/decreasing rare drops while in some cases completely removing lower-value items.

Wearing the amulet of avarice will cause the player to be indefinitely skulled until 20 minutes after unequipping it, and allows them to receive the Forinthry Surge skull variant by contributing as a top-damager against the Revenant maledictus. Forinthry Surge provides a 15% accuracy and damage boost to all revenants for 30 minutes. Other players can obtain this skull if they kill the holder while wearing an amulet of avarice, transferring its effects and duration.

Changes

Date	Changes
[[{{#explode:23 February 2022| |0}} {{#explode:23 February 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:23 February 2022| |2}}]] (update)	The skull icon now adjusts to display the number of the loot keys in the inventory if a player has any. This change also includes a separate set of icons signifying the Forinthry Surge boost.
[[{{#explode:2 February 2022| |0}} {{#explode:2 February 2022| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:2 February 2022| |2}}]] (update)	The skull icon now changes to a light blue variant if the player holds the Forinthry Surge boost from the Revenant maledictus.
[[{{#explode:9 December 2021| |0}} {{#explode:9 December 2021| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:9 December 2021| |2}}]] (update)	Skull status is now active for 30 minutes after attacking a player, and cannot disappear during PvP combat. A new PK Skull Prevention setting was added, which restricts from attacking another player that would result in gaining a skull.

Gallery

• 
  The skull Steam Emoticon.

Trivia

• In RuneScape Classic, getting marked with a skull was officially known as setting one's alignment to Evil.
• According to the Mage of Zamorak, the skull is said to be the mark of Zamorak; however, this dialogue has since been removed with the release of the Temple of the Eye quest.
• Sir Renitee asks for the player to be skulled for switching to the "Skull" family crest.

See also

• Wilderness
• Player killing
• Items Kept on Death