OSRS has its own version of the massively popular Battle Royale game genre. Accessed through Lisa somewhere to the west of the Clan Wars area, it involves an island where you’re pitted against 23 other players. Your prayer points will be severely drained, and you’ll have to loot other players if you are to survive. Participants will have to fork out a payment of 100,000 or 1,000,000 OSRS gold to join. That may be a steep price but considering the rewards, it’s totally worth it!
Last Man Standing: the Basics
There are three game modes to choose from: Casual, Competitive, and High Stakes.
The first is something of a practice mode as it offers neither points nor rewards. It costs at least 100,000 gold to join Competitive mode. Rewards like Runescape gold and points are available and there’s a requirement of at least 150 combat level.
The last mode, High Stakes, is available at the developer’s whim.
You have to pay a million gold to join. However, you stand to win a whopping 15 million gold if you emerge on top. Of course, you could also win a free ticket to the next High-Stakes game (3rd to 5th place) or nothing at all (6th and below). It’s up to you to weigh that risk.
Last Man Standing can only be played on certain worlds.
They are 317, 384, 425, and 492. Those in the middle two (384 and 425) are available for free-to-play members. There isn’t any difference between free and members-only games. That’s because the equipment you use in the mini-game is the same and cannot be brought outside the instance.
Rewards include unique armor, a weapon, a crafting item, the Trouver Parchment, and halos. The halos, in particular, have an effect of ‘siding’ with a faction in the God Wars Dungeon. Wearing one will make those of that faction non-hostile to you.
Minigame Mechanics
Once in the island, all Combat Stats and Agility are raised to 99 (except defense which is capped at 75) for the duration of the game. All available prayers may be used (barring Redemption and Preserve). It also replaces your current spellbook with the Ancient Magicks one. It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve completed the related quest. Lastly, players are granted infinite run energy.
There is a default preset of items received upon arrival.
It includes a rune pouch with runes for Blood Blitz, Blood Barrage, Ice Blitz, and Ice Barrage. Players have to loot dead players or chests that appear randomly to get stronger equipment. Bloody and Bloodier Keys are required for the latter if someone got to the area first. A key appears in your inventory when you defeat another.
After a minute into the round, there will be an announcement about the fog.
Staying in it will damage you with the effects getting stronger the longer you stay in it. Along with the fog, the safe zone will also appear. The fog doesn’t really close in until 5 minutes into the game, but you should get closer to the boundary so you won’t have to rush to it.
Vending Shrines are scattered about the island, and you can buy and sell loot with them. They provide consumables, some gear, and other miscellaneous items. If you have aren’t too lucky with looting, sell what you don’t need and buy what you do to survive.
Potential equipment drops include different members-only equipment such as the Elder Maul, Ghrazi Rapier, as well as the Ahrim top and skirt robes. You’re going to need better equipment if you want to survive!
Strategies
There are two main ways to play Last Man Standing: offensive and defensive. The former requires you to be an active participant, searching out other players or places to loot. Still, that doesn’t mean you haphazardly attack everyone you see.
You still have to pick your battles and observe your opponents. Sometimes, you can speculate how many areas they’ve looted. Near the start, you can expect others to have fewer consumables but better weapons. The opposite can also be true, as they could have many consumables but weak weapons. As the round progresses you will have a hard time if you don’t upgrade equipment.
In actual combat, the best weapon you’ll be able to find is the Abyssal Whip, followed by Ice Barrage. Try to defeat as many as you can near the start of the round, as that’s when you are most vulnerable. You can even use the Smite prayer. Remember that all your combat stats are raised to 99, so normal magic is useless.
For the Defensive strategy, this is where you avoid direct combat and rely on knowing crate or dog spawns. You’ll camp somewhere safe on the outskirts of the safe zone. Buy some rope, so you can use them to cross the river in a pinch. This last tip may be a bit “cheat-y”, but you can use ladders to avoid attacks.
Last Notes
Buy consumables from the vending machines, not armor, as you’ll get equipment from other players anyway. You can also sell your starter spear for a survival token. If you see others dropping their spears, you might be able to get and sell them, too! Towards the end of the game, you should deny the other players some essential loot. Examples of those include accessories you may or may not have, arrows, or runes. If your opponent has a bow or uses spells, you just need to deny them any more ammunition, thus increasing your chance of survival!
Lastly, prayer flicking is a good skill to learn. As prayer points are sparse, this helps you conserve them and keep up your prayers for longer. It’s activating prayers for half a tick, benefiting from the effects but not using up a point. The process needs constant vigilance, so practice this skill.
Last Man Standing is a fun mini-game as long as you don’t take the competition too seriously. You’re going to win some and lose some, and you might usually be in the middle somewhere. Much of what you can do to survive is based on luck, as what you can get is random.
Also, you don’t have to exclusively use only one of the strategies to survive. You can shift depending on your situation and what you have on hand. At any rate, hope this helps in your future games. Happy hunting and surviving!