PK trip
A PK trip or PKing trip (short for "Player Killing trip") is a PvP event in Old-School RuneScape where a clan searches throughout the Wilderness for other players to kill or clans to fight. PK trips are held either to make as much profit as possible for the attending members, or to engage in fights with other clans. The Wilderness Guardians has held PK trips since 2003 throughout most versions of the game, and continues to hold them in OSRS at a rate of around 3 trips per week. PK trips are not held in RuneScape 3 due to unbalanced PvP and a lack of PvP clans in the game.[1]
Contents
Requirements
WG recommends that clan members have a combat level of 100+ to attend PK trips. For a standard trip, members are expected to bring at least two combat styles, in one of the following combinations:
- Melee & Range with a Dragon Spear (level 90+ ranged and a multi-combat attack weapon such as black chinchompas are recommended)
- Melee, Range & Teleblock/Entangle ("TBs"; level 85+ magic required)
- Melee, Range & Ice Burst/Barrage ("mage" or "tribrid"; level 82+ magic & use of the Ancient Magicks spellbook is required; level 94+ magic is recommended)
As wide a range of styles is ideal, but the clan aims for at least 2 mages, as well as 2 or more TBers in lower Wilderness. There are no specific requirements for gear, though members are asked to bring reasonably good equipment so as to be able to fight other clans and teams. A single high-value item (+1/plus one) is a common addition - usually for high damage or making use of the special attack - Some common +1s are:
- Armadyl Godsword, Zamorak Godsword, Osmumten's Fang, or Abyssal Tentacle (melee)
- Dragon Crossbow or Heavy Ballista (ranged)
- Toxic Staff of the Dead (mage)
As a general rule of thumb, the Armadyl Godsword is the highest valued +1 which normal members are permitted to bring (due to the risk of losing them if they are maced or otherwise smited by an enemy) - however Master Guardians are generally allowed to use more expensive weapons such as Voidwakers and Noxious Halberds.
While bringing some less-expensive gear such as Xerican robes is usually acceptable, using extremely cheap items (such as adamant armour) and one-iteming are considered dishonourable and are against the WG Rules. WG no longer hosts gear checks, though members are suggested to have at least 5 sets banked at all times, and their bank organised appropriately to facilitate quick and easy returning in the event of a fight with another clan.
Format
PKing trips are held on average three times per week, and last between half an hour and 2 hours, possibly more - depending on the turnout and level of activity. They may be either planned days in advance, or held spontaneously if there is enough activity and demand. Trips usually start in the evening for EST-timezone members (nighttime for GMT timezone). Trips are not mandatory to attend, though it is strongly recommended.
A trip will be announced via Discord, and attendees are expected to join a PvP voice channel so they may listen to the trip leader's calls. While a microphone to talk is strongly recommended, it is not required. PKing is almost always held in P2P (due to the significantly higher chance of action), and in multi-combat zones. The event involves the clan massing at a designated location (the host's choice), before going PKing in any combination of the following areas:
- Shallow Wilderness (Wilderness Slayer Cave)
- Mid-level Wilderness (Venenatis and Vet'ion)
- Deep Wilderness (Callisto, New Gate/Glory Hill, Annakarl, and the Lava Maze)
- Members' Wilderness (Rogue's Keep, Chaos Elemental, and Scorpia)
During a PK trip, WG will generally hop worlds at a location to try and find targets such as PvMers and solo PKers. The old ARPK policy no longer applies, and any non-PKers with a decent risk (including glory runners and players doing the Mage Arena 2 miniquest) are considered fair game. Occasionally the clan will run into a small team or clan, resulting in a fight.
PK trips generally last 1-2 hours, though this is largely dependant on the level of activity and the success of the trip. If there are many other, more powerful clans out which pose a significant threat, the trip is likely to end early - whereas if significant profit is being made, the trip may continue for three hours or more. In the past, special 24-hour PK trips have been held on rare occasions. For all PK trips, members are permitted to join and leave at any time.
Members are welcome to take screenshots of trips, specifically of high-value kills, and share them in Discord for the trip's recap. Producing videos is also welcome, though the leadership should be consulted if Discord audio is to be recorded and included with the footage.
Aside from the standard trip, there are several variations on how a PKing trip can be hosted, which are as follows.
Ballista Trip
A Ballista Trip is a trip where all or almost all members bring a Heavy Ballista and gear with high range bonuses, with the intention of dealing a large and high amount of damage to targets very quickly. This setup is generally ineffective when fighting other clans and large groups of players, but works well against PvMers, solo PKers, and small teams. One or two TBers may also be required. A variant of this type of trip is the Dark Bow Trip, where players utilise the Dark Bow's special attack instead, though this has fallen out of favour in recent years.
Mace Trip
A Mace Trip involves the clan using Ancient Maces to try and lower a target's prayer level, so that they become smited and lose any valuable items (+1s) which they would normally protect, such as Godswords. Mace trips generally involve avoiding any large groups of hostile enemies - instead focusing on skulled PvMers and solo or small groups of PKers. Only one kill can be gained at a time before all of the clan must bank and set themselves up again - however, the potential for profit is much greater than a standard PK trip, and hundreds of millions of coins can be made in a single night.
It should be noted that WG does not engage in skull-tricking, as this is considered dishonourable.
Rewards
With the exception of during fights with other clans, all members are expected to make a reasonable profit from loot on a PK trip. When a kill is obtained, the member who gets the kill has all rights to the loot, with the exception of keys with smited +1s obtained on mace trips.
The use of loot keys is considered essential for Wilderness PvP. It is not recommended to leave high-value items (such as smited +1s) out of keys, as they may be dropped in a difficult or inaccessible location (e.g. in an area with many enemies, or in an unknown location if the target dies after the member who dealt the most damage leaves for some reason, but still gets the key later on). There are pros and cons to leaving food and potions out of keys:
- Pro: The member who got the kill can resupply immediately if they are low
- Pro: Loot piles which are left to appear for the entire clan to use reduce the overall frequency of members having to bank
- Pro: The member can prolong their presence during a fight and reduce the time spent banking
- Con: Resupplying from loot piles is usually unnecessary on PK trips when not fighting another team
- Con: Many loot piles left during a fight will clutter up the area and can make it difficult to focus on the fight itself
- Con: During a fight, loot piles which are left to appear for everyone can also be used by the enemy
- Con: The value of items left on the ground will add up significantly over time
On PK trips, members can usually leave to bank their keys whenever they feel it is necessary (it is recommended if the combined value of the keys a member holds exceeds 1,000,000 coins). During a fight with another clan or team, members should not bank their keys unless they are also out of supplies and cannot continue fighting. Exceptions can be made in the case of members getting significantly high-value keys, such as a smited +1 from an enemy - in which case they may leave immediately to bank the key, re-supply if necessary, and return to the fight as quickly as possible.
Sharing loot from kills is not required - however in the case of high-value kills and smited items outside of mace trips, it is recommended that the member with the key split the value with either:
- All attending members if each member will get a share greater than 1,000,000 coins
- Any other members who may have been essential in securing the kill - such as a member who scouted the target, or the TBer(s) of the trip
History
PK trips were originally known as Raids in WG, though the name was changed to the more common "PK trip" in 2017 to avoid confusion with PvM raids in Old-School RuneScape.
The term "Raid" originated from the clan's early alliance with The Sabres in 2003, whose PK trips were known as "patrols". This stemmed from TS's ARPK policy - they considered themselves to be patrolling the Wilderness, similar to a police force hunting PKers. His Lordship coined the term "raid" based on this premise, contrary to the popular belief that the term originated in the multiplayer online game World of Warcraft.
The earliest raids took place all throughout the Wilderness. In previous eras WG was known to have daily raids, though this was reduced to three per week around 2010. Raids catered for the three major timezones: America, Europe and Australasia - though the "Aussie Raid" was eventually removed due to decreasing popularity. After the changes to PvP combat in 2007, raids were known to have been hosted in the free-for-all Clan Wars arena in RS2. During the PvP and Bounty Worlds era around 2010, the clan would PK between the Bounty Hunter bank and Clan Wars arena in the Wilderness, and occasionally visit Falador on the PvP worlds. Following the re-release of the old Wilderness mechanics in 2011, the clan's raids were generally limited to the Forinthry Dungeon.
PK trips are no longer held in RuneScape 3 due to the lack of activity in the Wilderness. Since 2013, PK trips have been held in the Old School RuneScape Wilderness. Between 2017 and 2020 the main location for PK trips was the Revenant Caves, though this was made unsuitable for clans with the introduction of the singles-plus combat zone.
Megaraids
An historical type of PK trip was the Megaraid, which was considered one of the most important types of events hosted by the clan. All members were required to sign up on the Forums and attend unless they were occupied in real life. Megaraids often had extensive preparation (a week or more). While the actual happenings of a Megaraid were the same as a standard PK trip, they usually had a far better turnout and thus an increased level of success. Unplanned PKRIs were not uncommon on Megaraids. In previous years, one of the three recurring weekly PK trips would be chosen to be a Megaraid, though they were eventually hosted far less often to preserve the effects. It has been several years since the last Megaraid.
References
- ↑ Shmungle1380 (28 July 2024), "Is it true that the pvp in rs3 isnt as good as old school runescape?", Reddit. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
