Soul Wars.
Play your part.
Capture the Obelisk, defeat the enemy Avatar and turn teamwork into rewards.
Learn the basics01 / The objective
One team.
Three priorities.
Kill the enemy Avatar more times to win. Matches last up to 15 minutes, or end when a team reaches five Avatar kills.
Take control.
The Soul Obelisk sits at the centre of the battlefield. Capture it by keeping more of your team nearby than the opposition.
The two neutral graveyards are worth holding too: they give your team closer respawns and a useful place to bury bones.
Offer fragments.
Collect soul fragments from the monsters wandering the map, mainly Forgotten Souls, and take them to the Obelisk. Offering them reduces the enemy Avatar’s damage reduction.
Your team’s control of the Obelisk makes those offerings more effective. Help secure the centre before committing a large haul.
Bring it down.
Both Avatars start with 100% damage reduction. The red team’s own Avatar is the Avatar of Destruction and the blue team’s is the Avatar of Creation. Once the enemy Avatar is vulnerable, help your team damage and defeat it. Rushing it while its protection is full wastes time.
Keep an eye on your own Avatar. Bury bones in a graveyard to restore its protection, and switch back to defence when needed.
02 / Before you join
Ready for
the island?
Soul Wars is a members-only team minigame. Meet the entry levels, then head to the Isle of Souls and speak to Nomad.
- Get there. Use the Edgeville portal, the portal in the Ferox Enclave dungeon or the minigame teleport. An amulet of glory, a ring of dueling or fairy ring B J P also get you close.
- Meet Nomad. Complete his short tutorial once, on any world, to learn the objectives and unlock the team lobbies. Leave food, potions, capes, followers and non-combat items behind, and do not start it poisoned, envenomed or diseased.
- Find a game. Soul Wars runs on any world, but worlds 320 (US west), 350 (UK) and 535 (Australia) are dedicated and more likely to be busy. Join a team lobby from there.
- Account
- Members
- Total level
- 500+
- Combat level
- 40+
A normal death inside Soul Wars does not cost you your carried equipment. You respawn at a graveyard controlled by your team.
Items you manually drop can still be lost. Safe deaths also do not remove the need to stay active.
The wiki lists Soul Wars as a safe PvP activity, safe for Hardcore group ironmen too. In the lobby, the north is safe from player combat and the south is not on PvP worlds.
03 / Make it count
Earn Zeal.
Choose your reward.
Spend your Zeal Tokens at Nomad’s shop on combat XP, imbues, supplies and Soul Wars rewards.
- Soul cape
- 2,500 Zeal
- Ectoplasmator
- 250 Zeal
- Spoils of War
- 30 Zeal
Each Spoils of War box has a 1 in 400 chance at Lil’ Creator, which can change into Lil’ Destructor. A pet drop is never guaranteed.
Understanding Zeal
Every contribution
counts.
Your reward depends on your activity, match length and the final result. These are public-match caps, not a guaranteed payout.
| Loss | Draw | Win |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | 50 | 60 |
What earns contribution?
- Offer soul fragments at the Obelisk (cap: 30).
- Capture the Obelisk or a graveyard (cap: 6 captures).
- Damage the opposing Avatar (cap: 260).
- Bury bones in a graveyard (cap: 15).
- Kill foes, Forgotten Souls or wolves.
Each type of contribution has its own cap. Offering 36 fragments earns the same Zeal as offering 30, so change roles when the team needs something else.
Zeal for killing players depends on the combat-level gap between you and your opponent, and killing the same player repeatedly pays less. Bandages keep the activity bar up but add little Zeal, at most a point or two in some games.
A short game can award less Zeal. To reach the cap, a game has to last at least 10 minutes and 15 seconds. Compared with a loss, a draw pays roughly 1.25 times the Zeal and a win roughly 1.5 times. Team strength, match time and your actions all vary, so there is no fixed hourly rate.
One mix the wiki lists for the cap: kill 8 Forgotten Souls, offer 30 fragments and capture 6 areas.
Do I need a quest?
No quest is required. You need membership, 500 total level, 40 combat and Nomad’s introductory tutorial.
Can I buy combat XP with Zeal?
Yes, for Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Ranged, Magic and Prayer. The skill must be at least level 30.
Does winning guarantee 60 Zeal?
No. That is the public match cap. Your contribution and match length affect the amount, so there is no fixed hourly rate.
Should I focus only on player kills?
No. Territory control, fragments, Avatar damage and team support all matter. If the enemy Avatar is still protected, help with fragments or the Obelisk. Once it is vulnerable, change priorities.
How much combat XP does a Zeal Token give?
It depends on the skill and your level in it. For Attack, Strength, Defence and Hitpoints, one Zeal Token gives 30 XP at levels 25 to 34, 120 at 49 to 54, 300 at 78 to 81 and 480 at 98 to 99. Ranged and Magic give 27, 108, 270 and 432 at the same levels. Prayer gives 14, 56, 140 and 224.
The wiki lists a limit of 1,000,000 XP redeemed from Zeal per day, citing a Jagex developer. You can spend 1, 10, 100 or a custom number of tokens at once.
What does the reward shop sell?
Beyond the Soul cape (2,500 Zeal), Ectoplasmator (250) and Spoils of War (30), the shop sells blighted supplies, such as entangle, vengeance and teleport spell sacks, manta rays, anglerfish, karambwans and super restore potions, at 10 Zeal each. Blighted items cannot be used during a game.
What do imbues cost?
A black mask or Slayer helmet costs 500 Zeal to imbue and a Salve amulet 320. The ring of suffering costs 300, the granite ring 200, and the other imbuable rings 260 each. The ring of the gods also needs a holy wrench in your inventory.
The wiki says the cost is halved once you have claimed the hard Combat Achievements rewards. Un-imbuing an item refunds 100% of the Zeal, but items imbued at the Nightmare Zone cannot be un-imbued for Zeal. An Ardougne diary elite task asks for a Salve amulet imbued with Nightmare Zone points, so Zeal is not the right route for that one.
How long until a public game starts?
Teams are balanced by combat level. Once 20 players are waiting, a game starts within four minutes. With 40 waiting it starts after three minutes, with 80 after two minutes, with 100 after 30 seconds and with 120 straight away.
The eastern lobby is for group games, where Zeal is limited to 30 per game.
Can I stop gaining combat XP while I play?
Yes. Speak to Nomad to turn off combat experience gain inside the minigame. The wiki changelog dates this to the 25 March 2026 update.
What if my Lil’ Creator did not appear?
If you already have a follower out when the pet drops, it goes to your inventory instead. If your inventory is full and you have a follower, you do not receive it and must claim it from Probita in East Ardougne. Use Metamorphosis to switch between Lil’ Creator and Lil’ Destructor.
How is OSRS Soul Wars different from the RuneScape 3 version?
The original launched in RuneScape 3 on 10 February 2009; the Old School version was released on 6 January 2021. The original ran one 20-minute game at a time. Old School games last at most 15 minutes and several run at once.
Entry requirements were added to curb botting, Slayer was removed from the minigame, and both teams can now offer fragments and bury bones, with the non-controlling team earning one-third. A team can also have up to 60 players.
What do the key terms mean?
- Avatar
- Your team’s boss. Protect yours and defeat theirs.
- Soul Obelisk
- The central capture point where you offer fragments.
- Zeal
- The currency you earn and spend at Nomad’s shop.
- Imbue
- An upgrade that improves certain items.
Sources & game details
Game data from the Jagex guide and the OSRS Wiki, last checked. Costs and rules can change with game updates, so check the sources for current figures.
