What Blood Burst does
Like every burst spell, it lands on the target you click and anything else in the 3x3 square around it, nine targets at most, with a 5 tick cast speed. Instead of freezing, blood spells have life leech: you heal 25% of the damage dealt. On a big stack that adds up quickly, because the healing comes from every target hit, not just the first one.
Healing is worked out from the damage the spell would have done. A monster on 2 hitpoints that takes a 20 still heals you as if it took 20, and so does a target that is immune to the damage itself. A small list of bosses is immune to life leech entirely, including Sotetseg in the Theatre of Blood, the wights in the last act of Desert Treasure II and a few other raid bosses.
Healing rates
| Setup | Healing per damage dealt |
|---|---|
| No bonuses | 25% |
| Any ancient sceptre | 27.5% |
| Full bloodbark armour (5 pieces) | 35% |
| Full bloodbark plus ancient sceptre | 38.5% |
Each piece of bloodbark armour adds 2% (helm, body, legs, gauntlets and boots). The blood ancient sceptre also lets you overheal up to 10% above your maximum Hitpoints. The Sanguinesti staff's built-in spell is also blood magic, but bloodbark does not boost it.
Runes and requirements
One cast uses 2 blood runes, 4 chaos runes and 2 death runes. There is no elemental rune in the cost, so a staff cannot cut it the way a water staff does for ice spells. The kodai wand and Staff of the Dead still save runes on some casts. Blood runes are the biggest part of the price; watch the blood rune price before buying a few thousand.
You need 68 Magic and Desert Treasure I, which unlocks the Ancient Magicks spellbook. Switch to that book before the trip, since the spell does not appear on any other.
The blood spell family
| Spell | Level | Base damage | Base xp | Targets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blood Rush | 56 | 15 | 33 | 1 |
| Blood Burst | 68 | 21 | 39 | Up to 9 |
| Blood Blitz | 80 | 25 | 45 | 1 |
| Blood Barrage | 92 | 29 | 51 | Up to 9 |
Blood Burst is the earliest multi-target blood spell, two levels before Ice Burst. Base damage is one lower than Ice Burst's 22, and the cost per cast is higher because of the blood runes.
Blood Burst or Ice Burst
Pick by what is likely to kill you. Ice spells freeze, which stops melee monsters from reaching you and is why most Slayer bursting uses ice. Blood spells keep your Hitpoints up, which matters when you are taking chip damage from all sides and would otherwise eat through your inventory. On a long Slayer trip, some players carry both and swap to blood when their health gets low. If the stack can hit you at range, freezing does little and blood is often the better choice.
Training with Blood Burst
The best known method is the bandits in the Bandit Camp in the Kharidian Desert. Standing two tiles west of the door inside the Big Heist Lodge, you burst the bandits while wearing one of the faction items they react to, so they stay aggressive and keep attacking you. Life leech outheals their damage, so you can stay a long time. The wiki gives about 150,000 Magic xp an hour, or about 235,000 when autocasting defensively. It costs a lot per hour and the drops will not pay you back. The one risk is the 20 minute aggression timer switching auto retaliate off. Our Magic training guide compares it with the cheaper routes.
Gear
Bloodbark armour is the obvious pick: decent Magic attack for its level and the extra healing. Add an ancient staff, ancient sceptre or kodai wand to autocast, an occult necklace for damage, and a slayer helmet (i) on task. For full loadout planning by level, see our magic gear progression.