OSRS Desert Treasure II Guide: Bosses, Gear and Requirements

Overview

Desert Treasure II — The Fallen Empire is the Grandmaster sequel to Desert Treasure I, released on 26 July 2023. It is the gate to the Forgotten Four: Vardorvis, Duke Sucellus, the Leviathan and the Whisperer, which between them drop Virtus robes, the four ancient ring vestiges and the components for the Soulreaper axe and its cousins.

Two things surprise people about this quest. The first is that the skill requirements are all unboostable, so there is no stat-boost shortcut to starting it. The second is that the quest itself gives you no new spells and no new spellbook — it uses the Ancient Magicks you already have. What you get is boss access, a Ring of shadows, three 100,000 XP lamps and the ability to wear ancient rings.

This page is the map, not the walkthrough. It covers what gates you, what each boss is like, what they drop and at what rate, and the order most players find easiest.

Requirements Before You Start

All six skill requirements are unboostable, and they are checked when you try to start the quest rather than partway through. Do not turn up at the vault expecting to sip a potion.

The quest prerequisites are the bigger time sink. You need Desert Treasure I, Secrets of the North, Enakhra's Lament, Temple of the Eye, The Garden of Death, Below Ice Mountain and His Faithful Servants, each with their own chains behind them.

Secrets of the North is the one that quietly costs days: it sits behind Making Friends with My Arm, The General's Shadow and Devious Minds, which pull in Swan Song, Cold War, Wanted! and more. If you are planning from a fresh-ish account, treat Secrets of the North as its own project before you look at DT2 at all.

Items You Actually Need

You must be on the Ancient Magicks spellbook, and you need runes for one cast each of Blood Burst, Ice Burst, Smoke Burst and Shadow Burst. Bring extra in case of a misclick.

Other required items

• Ring of visibility — from Desert Treasure I, do not sell it
• Facemask or Slayer helmet
• Tinderbox, pestle and mortar, and a pickaxe — all obtainable during the quest if you forget

Worth bringing

• Desert heat protection, or a Desert amulet 4 to skip it
• Digsite teleport and a Nardah teleport or Desert amulet 4
• Xeric's talisman, or one in your house portal nexus
• Stamina potions — there is a lot of desert walking

The Four Bosses

You fight all four during the quest, and unlock the ability to repeat them afterwards. Each has a normal version and an awakened version started with an Awakener's orb. The numbers below are for the quest and post-quest normal versions; awakened variants have significantly more health, higher max hits and immunity to stat drain.

Vardorvis

A melee-only fight in an enclosed ritual site. His melee damage scales with his remaining health, so he is at his most dangerous at the start, and his axes fly across the arena on fixed paths you have to step out of. He is weak to fire and to slash. During the quest he is level 572 with 500 hitpoints; the repeatable version is the level 784 fight.

Duke Sucellus

The lowest-health boss of the four at 485, but the one that punishes inattention hardest: his gaze can hit 101, which is more than most accounts have in a single hit buffer. He is a Crush and Magic attacker, and he is immune to cannons. The fight starts with him asleep, and how you wake him decides how the rest of it goes.

The Leviathan

A ranged-and-magic fight against a boss that throws colour-coded orbs at you — you switch prayers to match, and its Smoke Blast hits 60 if you are caught in it. 900 hitpoints, cannon immune, and the arena is a narrow ledge, so mistakes tend to be positional rather than defensive.

The Whisperer

The most mechanically busy of the four. She attacks with all three styles, has a Screech that hits 45 and a Soul Siphon that hits 50, and she is 60% weak to earth spells. Her melee comes in a double hit of 42, which is what kills unprepared players. 900 hitpoints and not thrall immune, so thralls are worth the runes here.

Drops and the Ancient Ring Chain

Each boss rolls a unique table at a fixed rate per kill: 1/64 for the Whisperer, 1/90 for Duke Sucellus, 1/96 for the Leviathan and 1/136 for Vardorvis. Hitting that table then splits into Virtus, a vestige roll, a chromium ingot or that boss's signature weapon piece.

Virtus pieces come from all four at one third of the Virtus rate each: 1/1536 per piece from the Whisperer up to 1/3264 per piece from Vardorvis. The full set gives 6% magic damage normally and 15% when you are casting Ancient Magicks, which is why it beats Ancestral for bursting and barraging.

Turning a vestige into a ring

• Break down the matching Fremennik ring from the Dagannoth Kings to get its icon
• Take the icon, the vestige and 500 blood runes to Peer the Seer — needs 90 Magic and 80 Crafting, both boostable
• Take the upgraded icon, a ring mould and three chromium ingots to a furnace at the same levels
• You must have at least one kill on that boss to wear its ring, which the quest gives you automatically

The vestiges are untradeable but the finished rings are not, so the ingots are usually the bottleneck rather than the vestige — you need three per ring and they drop at three times the vestige rate, which sounds generous until you want all four rings.

The other things worth knowing about

• Awakener's orbs drop from all four, most often from the Whisperer at 1/34.5, and each one buys a single attempt at an awakened fight
• Quartzes — blood, ice, smoke and shadow — drop at roughly 1/200, with the first one boosted to as good as 1/50 by 300 kill count
• Tablets drop at roughly 1/26 until you get your first, then never again

What Completion Actually Gives You

• Three ancient lamps, each worth 100,000 XP in Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Ranged, Magic or Prayer at level 60 or above
• The Ring of shadows, a teleport ring covering the quest's locations
• The ability to wear ancient rings
• Access to the Scar essence mine
• The ability to refight all four bosses, and to challenge their awakened variants with orbs
• The ability to fight Demonic Brutus using abyssal potatoes
• 5 quest points

FAQ

Can I boost any of the DT2 skill requirements?

No. Firemaking 75, Magic 75, Thieving 70, Herblore 62, Runecraft 60 and Construction 60 are all unboostable and checked when you start the quest.

Does Desert Treasure II give new spells?

No. It gives boss access, ancient ring access, the Ring of shadows and three 100,000 XP lamps. You must already be on the Ancient Magicks spellbook to start it, and you leave on the same spellbook.

Which of the four bosses should I learn first?

Duke Sucellus has the least health at 485 and the most forgiving pattern once you know to avoid his gaze. Vardorvis front-loads his damage and the Whisperer has the most mechanics, so leave those two until you are comfortable.

How long does the quest itself take?

The wiki rates it Very Long, and the four boss fights are the bulk of it. The realistic answer depends far more on how many attempts each boss takes you than on the puzzle and dialogue sections.

Do I need all four rings?

No. Most players build toward the one that matches their main style — Ultor for melee strength, Magus for magic, Venator for ranged, Bellator for melee accuracy. Each needs its own vestige plus three chromium ingots.

Is the awakened version worth doing?

Only for the combat achievements and the challenge. Awakened bosses have far more health, higher max hits and immunity to stat drain, and each attempt consumes an orb.

Related Guides

• Desert Treasure II quest walkthrough
• Secrets of the North
• OSRS Vardorvis Guide: Axe Mechanics, Gear, Strategy and Drops
• OSRS Duke Sucellus Guide: Prep, Phase, Gear, Mechanics and Drops
• OSRS The Leviathan Guide: Prayer, Stun Mechanics, Gear and Drops
• OSRS The Whisperer Guide: Sanity, Gear, Mechanics and Drops
• OSRS Bosses List: Every Boss, Mini-Boss and Slayer Boss

Bottom Line

Desert Treasure II is gated by six unboostable skills and a long prerequisite chain, and Secrets of the North is usually the real blocker rather than any of the levels. Clear that first and the rest of the requirements are ordinary training.

The reward is not a spellbook — it is permanent access to four repeatable bosses that drop Virtus, the ancient ring vestiges and the Soulreaper axe components. That access is the reason to do the quest.

If the prerequisite chain is the part you do not want to grind through, our questing service handles it hand-played from wherever your account currently sits.