Claws of Guthix is a combat spell that requires a minimum of level 60 Magic to use. It is one of the god spells and requires completion of the Mage Arena miniquest in order to be cast. It must be casted 100 times in the arena before it can be used outside. This spell requires 2 Blood-Runes, 1 Fire-Rune and 4 Air-Runes to use. Players must have the Staff of guthix equipped to be able to use this spell, and must have used it 100 times inside the arena before casting it outside, but a Guthix Cape is optional.[1]
When cast, this spell lowers the opponent's Defense by 5% until it is below their base level. Like other drain spells, it can completely eliminate the effects of a Super defense potion. It has a unique animation composed of several 3D models that appear in a sequence on the target, and then disappear. If you have level 80 Magic and cast the spell Charge, then this spell's maximum hit is increased from 18 to 25.
It was the most popular offensive Magic spell in pay-to-play, particularly in duels.
The spell only awards experience when it successfully drains defense, which mostly means that it only awards experience on the first cast on a player or monster. This behaviour can be observed in footage of the game dating back to 2005.
From 2007, many claws of guthix animations remained stuck in the Wilderness where they had previously been cast on players. The claws of guthix could not be walked through, and blocked the entrance to important locations like the Mage Arena bank. Since the server was not restarted for several years, this caused lots of problems until the bug was eventually fixed in 2009.[2]
When the spell is cast, the game cannot decide whether to spell Defense with a C or an S. When cast on a player, they will receive the message Your defence[sic] has been reduced by the spell. When their Defense level drops below the base level, the casting player will receive the message Your opponent already has weakened defense.[3]
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