Guthan the Infested Best in Slot Gear & Strategy Guide

Guthan is a members monster, so you will need a members account to fight him. Reaching Barrows is also quest-gated: you must have completed Priest in Peril to enter Morytania, and have started His Faithful Servants to dig into the crypts. He is found in his crypt at the south-east of the Barrows area.

He can also be assigned as a boss Slayer target — the Wiki lists him as assignable by Konar, Nieve and Duradel — and a kill grants 115 Slayer experience when done on task.

Guthan uses melee equipment, which the Wiki notes makes him vulnerable to Magic attacks — so a Magic setup is the way to go. The page names the meta directly: he is commonly defeated with a trident of the swamp or trident of the seas, Iban Blast, Wind spells, or Magic Dart. Players can also use Entangle or Ice spells to attack him from a distance.

That makes Guthan a Magic-first target. Lean on your best Magic setup — see our Magic gear guide for the families that matter. Because his attacks are classed as crush, the page advises wearing armour with good crush defence to reduce how often he hits you. For an exact item-by-item loadout, use our Boss Gear Finder rather than guessing. As a Project Rebalance change (29 May 2024) Guthan gained a 50% elemental weakness to wind spells, which makes a wind-based setup especially effective.

The key to a fast Guthan kill is keeping his healing turned off, which is mostly a job for prayer rather than supplies. Pack the essentials for your chosen Magic setup:

• Runes (or a powered staff such as a trident) for your chosen attack — the Wiki names Iban Blast, Wind spells and Magic Dart alongside the tridents.
• Prayer restoration so you can keep Protect from Melee up — the prayer both blocks his damage and stops his set effect from triggering.
• Standard food as a backup for the hits that land before you can pray, especially if your Defence is low.

Guthan has one damaging attack plus a passive healing effect. Handle them like this:

Crush melee attack (max 24). Guthan attacks by stabbing with his warspear, but the hit is classified as crush, with an attack speed of 5 and a max hit of 24. The Wiki notes he is inaccurate compared to most of the other brothers, which is why he is often regarded as one of the easier ones — but he can still hit hard, so Protect from Melee is advised for players with low Defence. Wearing armour with good crush defence further cuts how often he connects.

Infestation (set effect). Guthan's set effect gives him a 25% chance per successful hit to heal himself for whatever damage that hit dealt. The more he hits you, the more he heals, and the longer the fight runs. The Wiki is explicit that using Protect from Melee also prevents his set effect from activating — no successful hit on you means no heal for him — so the prayer is doing double duty here.

The clean kill loop on Guthan is short:

• Turn on Protect from Melee before you engage. It blocks his damage and stops his Infestation healing from triggering, so it is the single biggest lever on the fight length.
• Attack with Magic. A trident of the swamp/seas, Iban Blast, Wind spells or Magic Dart are the named methods. With his 50% wind weakness, a wind-spell setup is a strong pick.
• Keep your distance if you prefer. The Wiki notes you can use Entangle or Ice spells to attack him from a distance, which lets you control the engagement.
• Stay patient. Even if the odd hit lands and he heals, his 100 Defence and your steady Magic damage will close it out — just keep the prayer on and avoid feeding the heal.

On his own NPC page, Guthan has a single listed drop: a Brimstone key, and only when he is killed on a Slayer task given by Konar quo Maten.

• Skipping Protect from Melee. It is not just damage reduction — it is what stops his Infestation heal, because the effect only fires on successful hits against you.
• Fighting him with melee. Guthan uses melee himself and is weak to Magic; meeting him in his own corner of the triangle is the slow way to do it.
• Ignoring crush defence. His warspear hits register as crush, so generic armour that is weak to crush lets him connect (and heal) more often.
• Trading hits and feeding the heal. Every hit he lands has a 25% chance to refund his HP; let too many through and an easy fight turns into a grind.