It’s my favorite time in Old School RuneScape again, the return of the League game mode! If you’re like me and you’re just taking it slow, whether due to real-life obligations or you just aren’t rushing in general, then I’ve got some tips to get you through the Demonic Pacts league pressure-free.
Before we begin, let me preface this by saying: I won’t be giving you an ultra-efficient setup or a fast start. What I’m offering are some bits of advice and relic/area/etc. recommendations that work with a lax playstyle. If you’re the type who AFKs on the side while working or playing another game, or somebody who likes going through everything at your own pace, then this guide’s for you!
If you’re in it to rush for the rewards or to get through the first few tiers ASAP, players much better than me already have excellent routes for that. I recommend Faux’s League Start Guide (aka the reason why you’ll see some people wearing pink skirts in Varlamore) if you’re that kind of player!
Let’s get started!
Tip #1. Set Realistic Goals
Although leagues gives us massive power boosts, it’s not a guarantee that every single player will achieve everything throughout the event’s duration. For casual or more inexperienced players, I highly recommend picking relics and pacts that fit your personal preferences rather than what people consider to be the meta picks (especially with pacts).
You may be asking “But why?”, and my answer to that is going to be: Some tasks are deceptively hard, even with all the league buffs. Those OP 40-pact builds you see floating around online aren’t exactly attainable for every player, and that’s completely fine! Did you see content creators go Abundance in tier 1? You probably don’t want to copy that if you aren’t rushing through a planned task route!
For pacts, I’d recommend trying a build that uses the water magic capstone, because it’s insanely forgiving with all the free heals you get. Blindbag and thorns seem fun too, and I’ll probably try it out after using a reset.
Why the Non-Maxed Mindset?
Let’s say you took Morytania as one of your areas. If you wanna unlock more pacts to boost your combat capabilities, you’ve got some easy tasks like “Defeat a Werewolf” or “Equip a full Barrows Set” (I have a Barrows guide if you don’t know how to do it yet). These are practically free because of how easy they are, sure. Now let’s take a look at some of your other potential tasks…
Defeat Araxxor 1 time? Sure, it’s a relatively easy boss to learn, but you’re going to need 92 slayer to even fight it. That’s a slog of a grind if you don’t have the slayer relic. Defeat Phosani’s Nightmare? That’s rough for a learner. Complete 25 normal/hard Theatre of Blood runs? Probably fine… if you already know how to run it or have a group that’s willing to carry you through it.
There are plenty of ways to turn your character into an overpowered god without max points, so try not to pressure yourself too much into getting all 40 unlocked. I have this silly build that I’ll be resetting once I get more points, but it does work wonders in content that I’m doing, even if it’s suboptimal:
Tip #2. Unlock Based on Playstyle, Not Popularity
I always try to hammer in this point every time a fun game mode like this starts. Always pick your unlocks based on your personal playstyle/preferences, not what people are calling the meta.
Leagues are all about fun, and you don’t have to rush through points because we’ve got weeks to enjoy this temp mode. I’ll share with you some of my picks and my reasoning below, just so you can get a general idea of how I approach this with a laid-back mindset.
Picking Your Relics
This league, relics have been turned down a notch and are pretty useful across the board. Unlike with the previous league, Raging Echoes, there isn’t any clear “best” relic in every tier (Clue Compass, anyone?).
I don’t claim to have the most efficient setup, and I kind of missed out on something that looks insanely fun, but here’s my current and future choices (I’m writing this while I’m at tier 6):
- Tier 1: Endless Harvest – This relic lets you fish, chop wood, and mine essentially forever with a single click, and the only thing stopping you is the 30 minute inactivity timer.
- It doubles your gains from these skilling methods too, so it’s a nice AFK relic that’s perfect for a chill playstyle and still lets you keep up with some of the more active players.
- Tier 2: Hotfoot – I’m almost 89 agility as we speak, and most of those levels were gained by simply running around with the Searing boots on.
- This relic also automatically cooks any fish you’ve caught and smelts all of the ore you mine. It synergizes well with Endless Harvest, and I’m already sitting at plenty of 99s because of it.
- Tier 3: Evil Eye – I plan on doing a lot of PVM this league, and this is extremely helpful for getting back to bosses that I want to farm. I’ve been using it for Echo Amoxliatl as we speak (guide for that soon!)
- The Hueycoatl teleport is a quick banking option. This is my favorite thing about the relic that isn’t necessarily related to the boss it’s tied to.
- The Abyssal Sire teleport is also a quick fairy ring option!
- Tier 4: Conniving Clues – Hear me out, some tasks are tied to clues. This league, they’ve toned it down a bit so you don’t have to go giga hard on completing clue scrolls. With that said, it’s still a bunch of easy points, and some of the gear is actually useful (even if just for alching later on).
- Its usefulness drops after a while, but by then, you’ve already earned a ton of quick points and some potentially decent starting gear/cash.
- I’ll be honest, Transmute is probably the better “chill” choice here, but I like having a balance of buffs for both active and passive gameplay. I’m at the point where I wouldn’t really need it anyway, partly because of the next relic.
- Tier 5: Soul Harvest – This turns every bone drop from enemies into soul shards, which can be turned in for either Prayer or Runecraft XP. It’s insanely fast XP for both of these, and they’re easy to max out if you’re killing a lot of stuff.
- This is practically my “solve” for Runecraft. With Kandarin as a location (we’ll talk about this next), all I have to do is walk to the Ourania altar and spam click on it for tons of runes and EXP.
- If you don’t know how to use it for prayer, take the Quetzal (Renu) to Teomat and find the libation bowl in the nearby building.
- Tier 6: Culling Spree – Since I’m doing a lot of PVM and plan on completing tasks that require a high slayer level, Culling Spree is the perfect choice for grinding this slow skill. You can also get some sick buffs from it if you know how to game the slayer task system.
- Tier 7: Reloaded (to be unlocked) – Previously, in my league plan blog post, I was going to take Flow State here. I’ve pondered on it for a while, but I’ve decided to go Reloaded instead, though I’m not entirely sure what to reload into.
- I might get Woodsman just to max out hunter and fletching quickly, but it seems a bit wasteful.
- Larcenist is another possibility, just because it’ll help immensely with crafting and thieving. I’m not sure yet.
- Tier 8: Minion (to be unlocked) – It’s just a completely hands-off damage boost that loots stuff for you. It also synergizes well with Conniving Clues, because you can easily get Zamorak items to feed it.
I’ll level with you, I have been insanely inactive (relatively) in the league’s first week as I have just moved into a new home. With that said, you’ll notice that I already have tier 6, and I’m inching my way towards 7 as we speak.
That’s all thanks to my relic choices letting me get some quick points while I’m active and accumulating some big ones while I’m busy working and setting up my new space. I’m sitting on plenty of 99s right now, all done while barely clicking the screen.
Like I said, pick relics based on your playstyle. Mine happen to be great for AFKing, but if you’re more inexperienced in PVM, Eternal Sustenance might be a much better T6 choice for you. Butler’s Bell and Transmute are also better T4 options than Conniving Clues if you’re even more AFK-oriented!
Picking Your Areas
For areas, I always go for places that I personally like before thinking about the actual ingame benefits related to the league. In Demonic Pacts, I’ve followed the same mindset while also picking a region that’s just straight up strong right now.
- Area 1: Kandarin – Kandarin is a bit overpowered right now if you plan on using a mage build, mainly due to the echo boss and its drops. I also like it because it’s got a lot of unlocks that I want, though, so I locked it in as my first real unlock (we’re all forced to get Karamja first).
- Demonic Gorillas drop some much-appreciated items needed for certain demonic pacts to really pop off.
- Lots of easy tasks to complete, which is a plus!
- Area 2: Tirannwn – Call me crazy, but I actually like the Corrupted Gauntlet. With this area, I can take full advantage of certain demonic pacts and just beat down every version of Hunlleff (even the echo one) with little effort.
- It also has Zulrah, which has some pretty good drops for the builds I want to try. I’m also already familiar with it, so I don’t even need to cheese it (I will though).
- Crystal gear is also really good with the echo drop for this region, and there’s a really good training method for crafting/smithing if you have Larcenist!
- Area 3: Desert (to be unlocked) – Right now, I’m gravitating towards Desert just because I’m already familiar with ToA and I want to farm it with silly buffs. Maybe I’ll take Morytania instead, though I’m not entirely sold on the idea yet.
- Side note: I highly recommend taking at least one region with a raid if you want to learn it or just want to get mega rares. Kourend, Morytania, and Desert are the ones with raids. Disregard that if you don’t care about raiding at all.
- If you took Desert, I have a guide on how to kill Echo KQ that might come in handy.
Tip #3. Use the Wiki’s Tracker!
The official wiki’s task tracker is an insanely useful resource for tracking your progress with tasks. If you’re taking a laid-back approach to the league, then you likely don’t have a route planned out, just like me!
If you’re playing on the RuneLite client, you can simply slap your IGN and press “Look up” to automatically check off anything you’ve already completed. I’ve been using it to pick what tasks to do next, and it’s perfect for players who want a very loose guide on what to do next.
There’s also one for Demonic Pact tasks that I’ve been using to keep track of what else I can squeeze points out of. Never shy away from resources like these, as they’re going to save you a lot of time and help you avoid the stressful “what now?” moments that’ll inevitably happen if your task grind starts slowing down.
Final Tip: Just Hop On In and Wing It!
Those who are taking the “chill” approach like me probably did minimal or no planning before the mode even came out. My best advice for you is just hop in and try the game mode yourself.
It’s two months of pure dopamine, and not to be all “Ohhhh, FOMO” on you, but you may as well try it now as it’ll be gone for another year or two afterwards. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they release a new one next year, or do another shorter temp mode like Grid Master
It’s a great way to learn some content that you aren’t really familiar with as well. With very low effort, you can cheese your way to the last wave of the Inferno, then just do it as normally as you can at the final fight. I’ve even seen a guy sit through Fortis Colosseum without really doing anything (Guzu, you silly man) if you’re into that.
Got any other tips to share? Let me know in the comments below and I may even edit this with your addition!