The Fractured Archive (Raids 4) opens on 20 October 2026 at 11:00 UTC, and the question all over r/2007scape on launch eve is not "what are the mechanics" (nobody outside Jagex knows yet) but "what do I bring, and how much GP do I need to not embarrass my team?" This guide answers that with live Grand Exchange prices: three gear budgets, what a raid inventory costs, what a team wipe actually costs you, and whether to buy supplies now or wait.
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TL;DR: How much GP do you need for Raids 4?
- Entry requirement: completion of While Guthix Sleeps (180 Quest points, 72 Thieving, 67 Magic, 66 Agility, 65 Farming, 65 Herblore, 62 Hunter, 49 Firemaking, Warriors' Guild access, plus its quest chain). No quest, no raid, and Jagex has confirmed limited accounts that can't finish it are locked out at launch. (Source: OSRS Wiki, While Guthix Sleeps)
- Realistic day-one budget: about 100M gets you a workable melee/ranged/magic setup (Osmumten's fang, Bandos, torture, blowpipe, Sanguinesti staff). About 500M gets you a proper mid-tier kit. A max "Tbow + Scythe + Shadow" setup is ~3.2B for the three weapons alone. (Live GE, 19 Oct 2026, prices.runescape.wiki)
- A standard raid inventory costs ~182K (brews, restores, divine potions, sanfew, anglerfish). There is no Overload and no banking mid-raid, so bring it all.
- A team wipe costs at most 500K if you loot your grave in time. If you let the grave expire, Death charges 5% of your gear value instead, which is ~160M on a max weapon trio.
- Don't panic-buy supplies: the main potions have already risen 1.5–7.5% in the last 30 days. Buy one week of supplies, not a month.
The short version: bring the gear you already own, budget ~182K per raid in supplies, and never let your grave timer run out. If your bank is short of the 100M entry tier, top up GP rather than burning launch week grinding.
What is The Fractured Archive (Raids 4)?
The Fractured Archive is Old School's fourth raid, billed by Jagex as the "toughest raid yet" since its First Look blog in January. It lies deep beneath Lumbridge, and the entrance is a cliff face near the Guthixian Temple, where Lucien showed his hand during While Guthix Sleeps. (Source: Jagex, "The Fractured Archive: Everything You Need To Know")
The key numbers from the official launch blog:
| Fact | Value | Why it matters for your GP |
|---|---|---|
| Team size | 1–8 players, scaling from 2 (3–5 recommended) | Bigger teams = less pressure on your individual DPS gear |
| Bosses per raid | 5 of 8 | You choose your route, so gear can be tuned to your path |
| Practice Mode | Not available at launch | Early learning happens at full risk, with real supplies |
| Overloads / banking mid-raid | None | Your inventory is your whole budget for the run |
| Team wipe | Kicked to lobby + gravestone | Death fees are real; see the wipe section below |
Mod Arcane, the raid's Principal Systems Designer, set expectations bluntly in the launch blog: "This one has been cooking for a long while now, there's high expectations."
Which bosses are in Raids 4, and does your route change your gear?
Every raid starts with the Archive Guardian and ends with a still-unrevealed hooded final boss. In between you pick one door from each of three pairs:
- Bork (and the Smorks) or Ezekiel, a justiciar of Saradomin
- Dreadnoth the Jellied or a mysterious necromancer
- Xarth, "a Tormented Demon unlike any you've seen before", or the Dagon'hai Trio
Jagex is explicit that this is not random: the same pairs appear every raid, and each pairing awards the same number of reward points. In the blog's own words, the choice comes down to "personal preference, perhaps the gear available to you and your party, or even just which option your current squad tends to find easier/faster."
That last line is the money point. Your existing bank can steer your route. Until the community settles on a meta route (Jagex expects one to form), don't buy niche gear for a single boss whose weaknesses nobody has confirmed. One caveat worth knowing: Xarth is described as a Tormented Demon variant, and some players in r/2007scape's loadout threads are packing a demonbane swap just in case. Its weaknesses are not public, so treat that as a speculative hedge, not a requirement.
How much does Raids 4 gear cost? Three budgets ranked
All prices below are live Grand Exchange mid-prices pulled on 19 October 2026 from prices.runescape.wiki. Prices move fast around a raid launch, so re-check before you buy.
Budget 1: ~100M "I can contribute" setup
| Slot | Item | Live GE price |
|---|---|---|
| Melee weapon | Osmumten's fang | ~15.4M |
| Melee body | Bandos chestplate | ~21.1M |
| Melee legs | Bandos tassets | ~14.0M |
| Melee neck | Amulet of torture | ~19.2M |
| Ranged (spec/minions) | Toxic blowpipe (empty) | ~11.6M |
| Magic | Sanguinesti staff (uncharged) | ~18.7M |
| Total | ≈ 100M |
This is the same backbone most players already bring to Theatre of Blood and Tombs of Amascut. It covers all three combat styles, which matters in a raid that Jagex designed so "plenty of rooms give different players opportunities to engage in distinct ways."
Budget 2: ~500M mid-tier setup
Everything in Budget 1, plus:
| Item | Live GE price |
|---|---|
| Bow of faerdhinen (inactive) | ~105.8M |
| Masori body (f) | ~75.2M |
| Masori chaps (f) | ~53.0M |
| Masori mask (f) | ~17.1M |
| Ultor ring | ~104.2M |
| Eye of ayak (uncharged) | ~42.9M |
| Running total | ≈ 498M |
This is where your DPS stops being the reason a room drags. If you only upgrade one thing, our OSRS gear upgrade order guide ranks which slot buys the most damage per million.
Budget 3: max gear (~3.7B)
| Item | Live GE price |
|---|---|
| Twisted bow | ~1.31B |
| Scythe of vitur (uncharged) | ~1.13B |
| Tumeken's shadow (uncharged) | ~763M |
| Torva full helm + platebody + platelegs | ~470M |
| Total | ≈ 3.68B |
Max gear is a luxury for launch week, not a requirement. If you're stuck choosing between the two big weapons, read Twisted Bow vs Scythe of Vitur before committing a billion.
How much do Raids 4 supplies cost per run?
Because "there's no Overload or equivalent in this raid, nor will you be able to bank or deposit supplies during the raid" (Jagex, launch blog), your starting inventory matters more than in ToA. There is a points-based resupply mid-raid, similar to ToA's Helpful Spirit, and Jagex says "your performance up until then does play a role" in it.
A typical starting inventory at live prices (19 Oct 2026):
| Supply | Qty | Unit price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saradomin brew(4) | 6 | ~7,112 | ~42.7K |
| Super restore(4) | 8 | ~10,486 | ~83.9K |
| Divine super combat potion(4) | 1 | ~19,107 | ~19.1K |
| Divine ranging potion(4) | 1 | ~6,939 | ~6.9K |
| Sanfew serum(4) | 1 | ~22,720 | ~22.7K |
| Anglerfish | 4 | ~1,644 | ~6.6K |
| Per-raid inventory | ≈ 182K |
Expect to burn several of these per evening while learning: early attempts on a new raid end in wipes far more often than clears. Ten learning attempts at ~182K each is ~1.8M in consumables before runes and charges.
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What happens to your gear if your team wipes in Raids 4?
This is the part most players are getting wrong. Jagex confirmed that on a full team wipe "you'll be removed from the Archive and find yourself back in the lobby with a gravestone nearby", the same model as Theatre of Blood but using normal graves instead of a death storage.
Normal grave rules then apply (Source: OSRS Wiki, Item recovery fees):
- Items under 100K: free to reclaim from your grave
- Items 100K–1M: 1,000 each
- Items 1M–10M: 10,000 each
- Items 10M+: 100,000 each
- Total grave fees are capped at 500,000
So a wipe in a 3B+ setup still costs at most 500K if you loot the grave inside the 15-minute window. The real danger is letting the timer run out: expired graves go to Death's Office at 5% of item value, which is ~160M on a Tbow/Scythe/Shadow trio. The grave timer pauses while you're idle or logged out, but don't AFK in the lobby after a wipe.
Some players in r/2007scape's launch loadout threads are sending in max gear anyway, reasoning that the death fees are small next to what a new raid pays while it's fresh. That logic holds as long as grave pickup is step one after every wipe.
Should you buy supplies now or wait until after launch?
The 30-day GE trend says the pre-raid run-up has already happened (24h average buy prices, prices.runescape.wiki):
| Supply | 18 Sep 2026 | 18 Oct 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saradomin brew(4) | 6,994 | 7,097 | +1.5% |
| Super restore(4) | 10,085 | 10,432 | +3.4% |
| Divine super combat(4) | 17,828 | 18,946 | +6.3% |
| Sanfew serum(4) | 19,301 | 20,749 | +7.5% |
Verdict: buy enough for your first week of attempts and stop. Hoarding a month of potions at a pre-launch premium is a bet against the market. Jagex is also deliberately keeping raid loot conservative after ToA, admitting that "some resources (e.g. Torstol seeds) are still struggling to recover from the impact that the raid had on them," so don't count on regular loot to repay a big supply stockpile.
One more thing to watch: Jagex calls the new Ascension crossbows "effectively a raid-tier upgrade to the Toxic Blowpipe." If you were planning to buy a blowpipe purely as a long-term upgrade, it may be worth waiting to see how the market reprices once crossbows start dropping. If you need it for launch week, buy it; at ~11.6M it's cheap insurance.
What rewards can you get from The Fractured Archive?
From the official reward list, the tradeable items that will set the GP market are:
- The Obligator: the crush-based megarare, rolling damage multiple times against crush-weak targets
- Ascension crossbows: dual-wield crossbows firing Ascension bolts
- Zorya's Tome: a two-handed, 3-tick magic weapon built around its special attack
- The Rondache: a shield that mitigates 2 damage from every incoming Melee, Ranged and Magic hit
- Zeal: an unlock item for a Piety upgrade (+5% Attack and Strength)
Untradeables include the Archivist's Folio (raid teleport) and Elemental Fragments (+2 base max hit per element). Jagex has deliberately not published drop rates or unique weightings ahead of launch. If you want the full picture across older raids, our ToA, CoX & ToB gear cost breakdown compares the entry price of every raid.
Short on GP for the 100M entry tier, or want to skip the grind and spend launch week raiding? Top up your bank and get in on day one.
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FAQ
What are the requirements for Raids 4 in OSRS? You must complete While Guthix Sleeps, which needs 180 Quest points, 72 Thieving, 67 Magic, 66 Agility, 65 Farming, 65 Herblore, 62 Hunter, 49 Firemaking and access to the Warriors' Guild. Jagex confirmed there is no workaround for limited accounts at launch.
When does The Fractured Archive release? Tuesday 20 October 2026 at 11:00 UTC (07:00 EDT, 04:00 PDT, 13:00 CEST), per Jagex's official launch blog.
Can you solo Raids 4? Yes, but Jagex calls solo clears "very challenging". Solo scaling is set to 2 players (more lenient than Theatre of Blood, which uses 3), and Jagex compares soloing it to soloing ToB rather than Chambers of Xeric. The recommended team size is 3–5.
How much GP do I need to start Raids 4? A workable setup costs about 100M at 19 October 2026 GE prices, plus roughly 182K in supplies per attempt. You can enter with less, but your team will feel it on DPS checks. See our guide on how much GP you need to start bossing if you're building from scratch.
What happens if you die in The Fractured Archive? If the whole team dies, everyone is ejected to the lobby and a normal gravestone appears nearby, the same wipe model as Theatre of Blood. Grave fees are capped at 500K; after 15 minutes, items move to Death's Office at a 5% fee.
Is there a Practice Mode or Entry Mode for Raids 4? Not at launch. Jagex will enable Practice Mode later. It lets you replay any boss or phase you've already reached with supplies refunded.
Prices: live Grand Exchange data from prices.runescape.wiki, pulled 19 October 2026. Raid details: Jagex's official "Everything You Need To Know" blog (6 October 2026) and the OSRS Wiki. Boss mechanics and drop rates were not public at time of writing; this guide will be updated after launch.
