Karil the Tainted Best in Slot Gear & Strategy Guide

Karil the Tainted is one of the six undead Barrows brothers — ancient warriors of Saradomin whose wights still guard the treasures buried with them. He is fought as part of the Barrows activity: a members-only, solo, minigame-like run through the crypts east of Mort'ton where you slay the brothers and loot the chest at the centre of the tunnels for increasingly valuable rewards the more monsters you kill. Karil is a ranged-attacking brother, examined in-game as "A vengeful spirit corrupted by dark magic."

Compared with his armoured siblings, Karil is not complicated — he has one damaging attack and one annoying passive. The whole fight comes down to praying correctly and bringing a style he is weak to, which makes him one of the more forgiving brothers to learn on.

Karil is a members monster, so you will need a members account. He is found in his crypt to the south of the Barrows area, east of Mort'ton in Morytania. Before you can reach and dig into the crypts you need:

• Completion of Priest in Peril, which is required to enter Morytania.
• The His Faithful Servants miniquest started, which lets you begin digging into the crypts. (Completing that miniquest — slaying all six brothers and looting the chest for the strange icon — rewards some Prayer experience and the ability to use your minimap inside the Barrows tunnels.)

The quickest way there is casting Barrows Teleport in the Arceuus spellbook (requires level 83 Magic) or using a Barrows teleport tablet, which drops you right next to the entrance. Karil can also be assigned as a boss Slayer target — the Wiki lists him as assignable by Konar, Nieve and Duradel — and a kill grants 100 Slayer experience on task.

Here is the key reversal new players miss: a player wearing Karil's crossbow set is tanky against magic, but Karil himself is fairly weak to Magic attacks, and the Wiki adds he is weak to both melee and magic, and in particular to air spells. So you bring a style he is weak to — not Ranged. He has a Magic level of just 1 and a 50% elemental weakness to wind spells, which makes air spells especially strong here; melee is also a clean answer thanks to his low defensive profile against it.

That makes Karil a Magic-first or melee target. Lean on your best Magic setup with air spells — see our Magic gear guide for the families that matter — or swap to melee gear if your Attack and Strength are the stronger stats. For an exact item-by-item loadout rather than guessing, use our Boss Gear Finder. A handy aside: Karil's own dropped armour set gives a high Magic Defence bonus, which is why players later wear it against other magic-heavy bosses — but that is loot to chase, not the gear you fight him in.

Karil is a short, cheap fight, so your supplies are light:

• Your best attacking setup for the style he is weak to — an air spell on the standard or Ancient spellbook, or your melee weapon of choice.
• Enough food and prayer restoration to keep Protect from Missiles active for the run through all six brothers, since you will be praying against several attack styles across the crypt.
• A teleport out (Barrows teleport tablet or your chosen exit method) for after you loot the chest.

Note there is no stat-restore requirement specific to Karil — his only stat effect drains Agility, not a combat stat, so it does not weaken your damage.

Karil has one damaging attack and one passive effect. Handle them like this:

Ranged attack (max 20, speed 4). Karil's only damaging attack is Ranged, hitting for up to 20 at a fast attack speed of 4. The Wiki is explicit that all of his damage can be avoided through Protect from Missiles — so with the prayer up he simply cannot hurt you. Keep it on from the first tick.

Tainted Shot (set effect). Karil's set effect, Tainted Shot, gives a 25% chance per successful hit to lower your Agility level by 20%. The important warning: this effect activates regardless of whether the hit would have landed, so it can still fire even while you are praying Protect from Missiles. It only affects your Agility, so it will not weaken your attacks — it is a nuisance, not a threat — but do not be surprised to see your Agility drop during the fight.

The clean kill loop on Karil is short:

• Turn on Protect from Missiles before you engage. With it up, all of his damage is blocked.
• Attack with a style he is weak to. Air spells are the strongest pick — he is weak to Magic in general and has a 50% weakness to wind spells, with a Magic level of only 1 — and melee is a solid alternative if your melee stats are higher. Do not attack him with Ranged; his own gear leaves him resistant to it.
• Ignore the Agility drain. Tainted Shot can lower your Agility even through the prayer, but since it does not touch your combat stats you can keep attacking through it.
• Move on and loot the chest. Karil is one of six brothers; clear the rest, then loot the chest at the centre of the tunnels — the more of the crypt you clear, the better the rewards.

On his own page, Karil has a single listed drop: a Brimstone key, and only when he is killed on a Slayer task given by Konar quo Maten. His signature loot — Karil the Tainted's equipment, made up of Karil's coif, Karil's leathertop, Karil's leatherskirt and Karil's crossbow — is his trademark Ranged set, but note these come from the Barrows chest rewards rather than appearing as on-page kill drops from Karil himself, and completing a Barrows run is not guaranteed to give a Barrows item. The crossbow is two-handed and fires special Bolt racks ammunition, and the armour is prized afterwards for its high Magic Defence.

• Fighting Karil with Ranged. His own crossbow set is built around Ranged, and he is resistant to it — bring Magic (air spells) or melee, the styles he is actually weak to.
• Forgetting Protect from Missiles. The prayer blocks 100% of his damage; without it you take steady 20s for no reason.
• Panicking over the Agility drain. Tainted Shot only lowers Agility, not your combat stats, so it never weakens your hits — there is no need to carry a counter for it.
• Wearing Karil's set to fight Karil. The high-magic-defence armour is great elsewhere, but it does nothing to speed up killing the brother who is weak to magic and melee in the first place.