Castle Wars is a Runescape minigame for members only. It is like Capture the Flag, but with fighting. To access this minigame players must head southeast of the Tree Gnome Village (Since this minigame is members only, it is located in a members only area).
To start off with the minigame, players need to pick a team. Each team is based on the 3 Runescape gods: Saradomin (good), Guthix (neutral), and Zamorak (evil). If players are loyal to Saradomin, they can step into the blue portal. If they are loyal to Zamorak, they can step into the red portal. If they are loyal to Guthix, however, they will be put into the team that has less players when they step into the green portal.
Players should bring what they need, but they can't bring a cape or helmet, as they will be supplied with a hood and cape of their god's color. Players don't need to worry about dying as they won't lose items if they die. They will be sent back to their team spawn room instead of Lumbridge.
After the time is up for entering players, the game starts and players enter the respawn room of their team's castle. Players have 20 minutes to capture their enemy's flag as many times as possible. Players can do whatever is necessary to get the opposing team's flag and keep their own.
Map
The arena consists of two castles with an accessible castle wall. A river separates the two castles. There is a bridge that players can cross of course. There is also a tunnel beneath the arena that players can use to sneak between the castles. However they are caved in and a pickaxe is needed to clear the rocks, players can grab a bronze pickaxe in the respawn room.
First Floor/Spawn Room
There will be a table with bandages which heal 6 hp. Players should grab a few but save some space as there are other tools essential to their war. Players can use the bandages to heal themselves or teammates. Of course enemies can't get in the room, but players can only stay inside for two minutes. Players can leave and go back in the spawn room to obtain more bandages if they are damaged.
Second Floor
If players go up the stairs outside or climb the ladder up they will find themselves on the second floor. There isn't much here except the stairs to the team's flag.
Top Floor
The top floor is where the flag is located. Some enemies will camp out here and wait until the flag appears at the flag holder. If players can't capture the flag, they can wait here and kill enemies attempting to capture their flag.
Ground Floor
The bottom of the arena (besides the tunnels underground). This is where enemies can charge the castles. This is also where the tables of equipment are.
Equipment
Here's a list of equipment available to players during the minigame, it can be found on the ground floors of the castles.
Tool kits
The tool kits are little gray boxes. They fix things that can be broken by enemies like the castle gates and catapult.
Barricade
The barricades are pieces of wood on the table next to the tool kits. They can be placed anywhere and they block anyone. Of course they're destroyable by attacking them or using special explosive potions.
Buckets
Buckets are on the floor next to some crates. There's a sink that players can use to fill them up. If the catapult or a barricade is on fire from an explosive potion, players can use the bucket of water to put it out.
Explosive potions
Explosive potions have orange liquid in the vials. They can be used on barricades or a catapult to destroy to them. Also they can be used to cause a cave-in and prevent movement between castles underground in the tunnels. Players can dig and remove the rocks though.
Warning: Do not drop these, they will cause 15 damage when dropped. They're good for Dharokers though, you just take off your armor, drop them to get low hp, and put it on to dish out pain. However you can't wear full Dharok in Castle Wars because of the hood, so you can't use that or any other barrows effects.
Rope
On the table next to the explosive potions, there are ropes. If players use them on a castle wall, they can scale the wall without having to get through the castle gates. Ropes won't disappear after players scale the wall, they will stay there for the remainder of the game. Players can use these to an advantage by setting as many ropes as they can on the enemy's castle wall.
Rocks
Rocks are used to bombard a small area around the castles with a catapult. They are good for slightly longer distance ranging assistance but they are not as effective as ranging with a bow.
Bronze pickaxes
If players are going underground, they're going to need one to dig their way through cave-ins.
Tinderbox
If players going to destroy the catapult, they might as well set fire to it, right? That's what a tinderbox is for. It slows down the reparation of the catapult and players can use that time to attack the enemy fixing it. However, water can put out fire, making it easier to use an Explosive Potion to destroy the enemy’s fixtures.
Tactics for Playing the Game
There are multiple ways for players to make themselves useful in the minigame, these are some of the options available.
Flagbearer
Holds the team's flag if obtained, or steals the enemy's flag to score. This player should be one of a relatively high combat level (at least 90+) in order to prevent an easy kill if the opponents swarm the single player. Advantages of such a player would be to have access to multi-target Ancient Magicks (Ice Burst and Ice Barrage) to enable the immobilizing of any pursuing enemy.
The flagbearer holding his/her own team's flag usually hides along their teams outer walls, or upon their own castle wall (use a rope on the wall to climb up, as entering the castle will cause the flag to be 'Safe' - returned to it's original position, thus an opponent will be able to obtain it with less fighting involved ). They are generally surrounded by many people to help defend that player, or as medics to heal him/her when low on hitpoints. One tactic some players use is to use emotes (other than 'Yes' and 'No') to 'hide' the flag, and thus preventing passing enemies from seeing it. To cause further confusion, other allies standing nearby could also dance so an opponent would find it even harder to find the flag. Another strategy is that players stand on the same spot as the flagbearer, to hide him/her from view.
Ideal items for the flagbearer to bring would be runes (if using Ancient Magicks), a number of Explosive Potions (if attempting to steal the enemy flag) and many bandages. Also, barricades can be used in some places to block pursuing opponents. Ideal armour would be Barrows armour, Dragonhide or Dragon/Rune armour to have a chance to withstand attacking opponents.
Medic
A medic heals teammates that are essential to important jobs such as flagbearer capturing the flag. Usually these players have a combat level under 50 and are therefore less able to withstand other player's attacks. Medics should have a lot of bandages and a few barricades if necessary.
Mage
Mages usually stand along the outer wall of their own castle using spells on those who run by. They usually wear mage robes and have necessary runes in their inventory.
Ancient Mages, however, can gain much more experience by going to the enemy's spawn room level and casting multi-player Ancient Magick (normally Ice Barrage or Ice Burst) to gain decent amounts of experience, or often by locating a flag carrier, as they often have many people swarming about them. In crowded areas, ice barrages and ice bursts often give great mage experience and hinder movement. A possible use of Ancient Magicks is to attack multiple barricades, as this offers relatively good experience and helps the team.
Medics should also be guarded by a higher leveled player if nessecery.
Rangers and Meleers
Usually consists of those who do not fall under the above categories. These players are normal "soldiers" who fight random opponents, whether tactically or randomly. Normally attacking an opponent with a flag is strategic unless outnumbered severely. These players should travel in groups to achieve maximum effectiveness, enabling them to kill solitary opponents quickly, thus reducing damage done to themselves. These players play a crucial role in Castle Wars, and the rangers usually "snipe" opponents from the top of the castle (just as medieval archers did to protect their castle).
If players are training to become a ranger, and cannot afford arrows or simply do not have the time to make them, they can go to Castle Wars on a populated world and stand below the archers. They generally do not have time to go down and pick up their arrows, and someone else can easily pick them up and gain hundreds, though some rangers may frown upon that and consider it a form of stealing.