Wintertodt/Strategies
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Wintertodt can be fought with 50 Firemaking, an axe, and a tinderbox.
Equipment
- Equip the best axe you can use (for players with higher Woodcutting levels the chance to cut is maxed out, allowing for the use of weaker axes while maintaining maximum cutting speed. Players at level 46 Woodcutting can use as low as a steel axe and still maintain maximum cut speed).[1][2][3]
- A tinderbox or bruma torch is required to relight the braziers, and an inventory space may be saved by wielding the torch.
- A knife can be used to fletch the roots, yielding modest Fletching experience and more points when added to a brazier, at the cost of lower rate of Firemaking experience.
- A hammer is required if the player intends to repair shattered braziers, which grants a fair amount of Construction experience (based on your current Construction level). An imcando hammer may be wielded in order to save an inventory space.
- Unfinished potions from the crates can be made into rejuvenation potions to restore warmth or heal the Pyromancers (only required by one or two people per brazier if playing in a large group).
- At least 4 pieces of warm clothing are a necessity; the clue hunter outfit is an option easily obtained by any player. Pieces of the pyromancer outfit are preferred once the player has obtained them.
- If the player is not wearing a minimum of four pieces, upon entering the prison, a game message will appear stating "You feel the cold wind strike you as you enter; perhaps you should find some warmer clothes."
- Food if not using rejuvenation potions to restore warmth.
Warm clothing
Throughout the fight, the player will take intermittent passive damage as the cold of the Wintertodt begins to seep into their bones. This passive damage is scaled to each player's Firemaking level as well as the number of braziers that are currently lit. Wearing warm or winter-themed equipment will reduce the damage taken.
Four of these warm items need to be equipped to receive the maximum damage-reduction.
Wintertodt's attacks
The Wintertodt has three attacks that can damage the player, as well as two other actions that interfere with defeating it.
- Players will occasionally take passive damage while in the area; this is unavoidable, but is significantly more frequent when the Wintertodt has high energy. It will interrupt fletching and feeding braziers, but does not interrupt chopping bruma roots.
- A snowfall in a 3x3 area over the players: Signals that after a short delay, a large pile of snow will deal heavy damage to anyone standing within the area. Players should move to avoid this.
- A heavy snowfall over a lit brazier: Signals that after a short delay, the brazier will be shattered and anyone standing in a tile adjacent to the brazier will take damage. This occurs more frequently at low energy.
- A light snowfall over a lit brazier: Signals that after a short delay, the brazier will be extinguished but no damage will be dealt. This occurs more frequently at low energy.
- A snowfall over a pyromancer: Signals that after a short delay they will be damaged. This attack cannot however damage the player.
Tip: While relighting or repairing a brazier takes several ticks, other actions can be started before the animation has completed. For example, the player can begin repairing the brazier and click on their food to heal during repairing the brazier, and can then still relight the brazier and immediately use a knife on a log to fletch.
Tip: You can fletch or combine the Bruma herb with the Rejuvenation potion (unf) while running. If you are running from the Bruma roots to the Brazier you can fletch 1 Bruma root to increase points gained.
Tip: When going for maximum Firemaking experience by feeding Bruma root to the Brazier without fletching it, taking a Rejuvenation potion with you can be really helpful to make sure you hit the 500 point mark when rounds go fast so you get your rewards. This is because a rejuvenation potion adds a quick 75 points for healing the Pyromancer.
Tip: The 3x3 snowfall attack must have a 3x3 space unobstructed by scenery to occur. There are several spots (most importantly the ones next to the bruma roots) where a snowfall cannot occur.
The area shown in the image is safe, and none of the Wintertodt's attacks will damage the player within this zone. Players cannot fletch here; however, they can make rejuvenation potions.
Warmth Meter
The warmth meter, visible on the HUD at the top left of the player's game client, acts as the player's health when inside the prison; As such, having 0% warmth is equivalent to dying. Players can restore their warmth by eating any type of food that heals at least 4 Hitpoints, which will restore 35% warmth. Rejuvenation potions are the most convenient to use, as they can easily be made inside the prison; each dose restores 30% warmth, and can also be used to heal the pyromancers whenever they are incapacitated. If Druidic Ritual has not been completed, Brew'ma can make them on the player's behalf.
Players will also naturally regenerate 8% warmth per minute, with an additional 1% for each warm clothing worn. Various health regeneration methods, such as Rapid Heal, regen bracelets, and Heal Other, will aid warm regeneration further as well.
Large groups
Equipment
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It is preferable to equip four warm items in slots that will not interfere with other useful equips. If available, you should bring any pieces of the pyromancer outfit to increase experience and a bruma torch to replace your tinderbox. You should equip a wieldable axe that will get you closest to maxing out your cut speed on the bruma roots (Note that the Infernal axe counts as a warm item and will not use charges on bruma roots). Health regeneration boosts, such as from a regen bracelet or Hitpoints cape, or prayer gear to increase the duration of the Rapid Heal prayer will aid in passive warmth regeneration.
Strategy
During the fight, pay attention to your warmth meter and the area around you, making sure to eat food or drink a rejuvenation potion if your warmth gets too low. The Wintertodt can perform a powerful snowfall attack in a 3x3 area, which deals high damage to your warmth. If snow begins to fall, be sure to avoid the affected area.
Upon entering the Wintertodt lobby, if you did not bring your own food to restore warmth, take one or more rejuvenation potions (unf) from the crates and bruma herbs from the sprouting roots found on the east or west walls of the lobby area. If you have Druidic Ritual complete, combine unfinished potions with the herbs to make rejuvenation potions; otherwise, go to Brew'ma to make them for you. Restock on potions from the lobby or food from the bank chest outside Wintertodt during the respawn timer.
Immediately when the Wintertodt's energy bar turns green at the start of the fight, light one of the braziers with a tinderbox (you can immediately do so when the respawn timer hits 0:00). This will start off the fight with 25 points towards the 500 required. You will also receive Firemaking experience (Firemaking level * 6). The brazier should be relit any time it is extinguished while you are nearby.
When your inventory is full of roots, begin adding them to the lit braziers. Each root added to a brazier will provide 10 points and some Firemaking experience (Firemaking level * 3).
Fletching the roots into kindling is only recommended for gaining points and not Firemaking experience, because the amount of time it takes to fletch causes it to be slower overall experience. Fletching requires a knife and provides Fletching experience (Fletching level * .6). Adding the kindling provides 25 points and will give 30% more Firemaking experience than roots. The best place to stand while fletching is either hugging the wall right next to the bruma roots (to avoid the 3x3 attack) or 2 squares away from a brazier (so you can react quickly if it is broken or extinguished, while staying out of range from the shrapnel).
Broken braziers are fixed extremely quickly on Wintertodt worlds, so you will have to click on it immediately after it is broken if you want to gain Construction experience. It can immediately be relit after it is fixed unless the pyromancer is down, in which case your best option is to either heal the pyromancer yourself, run towards another brazier, or fletch while you wait for someone else to heal the pyromancer.
Make sure to gain at least 500 points during each round to be eligible for the reward and experience. The time to subdue on a Wintertodt world averages about 5 minutes and 20 seconds, including both the fight and wait time between each round. The waiting time between each round is 60 seconds.
Maximum Firemaking Experience (World Hopping)
This method allows maximum experience rates to be achieved by taking advantage of the bonus experience awarded for successfully subduing the Wintertodt.
After subduing the Wintertodt, world hop to the next available Wintertodt world with 50% or more energy. (It is possible to achieve the minimum 500 points whilst starting from 40% energy, but not reliably)
Chop roots as normal, but immediately fix/light the brazier if it is broken or extinguished. Fletch all available roots while standing at the brazier, burn the kindling and repeat.
Bonus experience does not scale based on points, so once you have reached 500 points, use the remaining time to either continue fletching and aim for 750 points (for additional reward rolls) or just burn roots (for maximum Firemaking experience).
Whilst this method requires more focus, with good world syncing and consistent successful kills, it is possible to achieve up to twice as many kills per hour compared to camping one world.
The increased kills per hour and decreased downtime allows for significantly higher experience rates (up to 475k per hour at level 99). Reward rolls per hour are comparable with the solo method below.
Solo Method
Soloing the Wintertodt may grant more reward rolls per hour. If done efficiently, one can easily expect about 42 rolls per hour from soloing the Wintertodt. As opposed to the group method, soloing provides approximately 20-25% lower Firemaking experience rates, but significantly faster Construction experience rates (around 9k/hr at level 60). It also requires less attention since action-interrupting damage will occur less frequently.
Requirements
- Level
50 is required to participate in the Wintertodt fight. - Completion of
Druidic Ritual is required to pick bruma herbs, which are used to create rejuvenation potions that heal the pyromancers.
Owning a player-owned house is required to receive experience from repairing broken braziers.
Level 
60+ is recommended, allowing the use of the northern gap-jump shortcut as well as providing more run energy for moving between braziers.
Equipment
The following section will assume that the goal of the player is to maximise rolls at the cost of Firemaking experience. 4 warm items should be equipped at all times throughout the fight. In addition, weight-reducing gear such as camouflage Hunter gear (which also counts as Warm clothing) or pieces of the graceful outfit can significantly increase your efficiency, as the beginning and end of each round typically require lots of running. To maximise the amount of weight-reducing gear you can equip, consider wearing warm items in the neck slot and the shield slot.
Ironman accounts can easily obtain 4 warm items by obtaining the clue hunter boots and gloves, available north of Ardougne near the Fishing Guild, and the rainbow jumper and rainbow scarf, available for free by speaking to Gilbert south-east of Barbarian Village.
Having as many free inventory spaces as possible will reduce the amount of trips needed between the bruma root and brazier. It will also allow you to carry more rejuvenation potions at the beginning of each round, saving trips to restock.
For soloing the Wintertodt, camouflage Hunter gear and the graceful outfit is a better option than the Pyromancer outfit. The outfit allows you to run between braziers for a much longer period of time, hastening the early and ending stages of the solo fight. Bring 4 warm items that allow you to wear as many Graceful pieces as possible. If you need to replace part of a graceful outfit with warm items to hit the 4 item requirement, opt to replace the gloves and hood first as they give the least weight reduction and run energy restoration bonuses.
Without the graceful outfit, the beginning of the round (where you take most damage while soloing) may last significantly longer. Thus, you may need to bring more food or rejuvenation potions to solo the Wintertodt with this bare-bones setup.
Any level explorer's ring is very useful to regain run energy. The ring of endurance can also greatly improve run energy management.
Stacking the effects of the Hitpoints cape and the regen bracelet may reduce the amount of rejuvenation potions you require to up-keep your warmth.
For players who have obtained the Max cape, it is an improvement over the Hitpoints cape as it offers the combined benefits of the Hitpoints cape, Agility cape, Construction cape, and Firemaking cape. With it, your POH can be used instead of Ferox Enclave to restore stats between rounds. Additionally, the fire max cape will count as a warm item, enjoying both benefits at once.
If taking a bruma torch in the off-hand slot, take a hammer or an equivalent item in your inventory. If taking an Imcando hammer in the off-hand slot, take a tinderbox or an equivalent item in your inventory.
Starting a round
There is no need to bring food, as Rejuvenation potions weigh less and heal more per slot than almost all foods. Upon entering the Wintertodt prison, grab some unfinished rejuvenation potions and complete them with the bruma herbs available near the entrance from the crate.
You want to reduce the Wintertodt's energy from 100% to 20–30% as quickly as you can. Do this by running around the prison, lighting all the braziers. Once all four braziers are lit, begin chopping bruma root to fletch into kindling and feed the brazier. If a brazier is extinguished in this early stage, run to light it again. It is possible to fletch 2–3 kindling after you've begun running between a brazier.
Alternatively, once all braziers are lit, players may return to the safe area and wait for the Wintertodt's energy to deplete, only leaving to relight the two closest southern braziers. Since you are more likely to be damaged by the Wintertodt during this early stage, this method saves some rejuvenation potions.
Earning points
With the Wintertodt's energy reduced, passive damage and area attacks will be far less frequent, while braziers explosions and pyromancer damage will be far more frequent.
Shift your focus to the south-western brazier. Unlike the eastern braziers, path-finding between the bruma root and a western brazier places you immediately beside the pyromancer, saving a small amount of time when healing them.
General Strategy
Continue to feed the south-western brazier. If the Wintertodt's energy is high (15–30%), fletch by the braziers, fixing and lighting them as soon as they extinguish, and heal the pyromancer each time they are damaged. When multiple pyromancers are shown to be down, it may be worth it to heal all the pyromancers and light each brazier, fletching as you run between them. With the Wintertodt's energy low (5-15%), you may also continue to fix and light braziers as they extinguish (more intensive), but doing so is not as important. If the Wintertodt's energy gets below 5%, avoid lighting the brazier as this may end your round prematurely. Instead, use this time to chop and fletch kindling, heal other pyromancers, or create more potions.
Ending a round
Once you are tired of playing, or when you are close to being forcibly logged out, consider how to end your round:
- The Wintertodt's energy is ~10%: Begin fixing and lighting braziers as soon as they extinguish while continuing to chop and fletch kindling. Aim for this method if you do not have any weight-reducing gear.
- The Wintertodt's energy is ~20%: Switch your focus to 2 braziers, running between them to keep them lit. If both stay lit, chop and burn kindling. Fletching when you need to run between braziers can significantly increase efficiency at this point.
Quickly end the round by running between the 2 southern braziers, ensuring they are lit. If both are lit, stand between both braziers so that you may quickly run to one that does extinguish. Lighting a 3rd or 4th brazier will be difficult with the Wintertodt at low energy, but you may consider doing so if the Wintertodt's energy is still high (>15%).
You will lose all your points and not be rewarded if you die while attempting to subdue the boss.
References
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