How Vengeance works
Casting Vengeance takes no time at all (a 0 tick cast) and puts a charge on you. The next hit that lands on you for at least 1 damage triggers it: your character shouts "Taste vengeance!" and the attacker takes 75% of that hit, rounded down, with a minimum of 1. Then the cooldown runs: 50 ticks, which is 30 seconds, before you can cast it again. The spell icon greys out while you wait.
| Hit you take | Damage reflected |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 20 | 15 |
| 50 | 37 |
| 80 | 60 |
| 81 | 60 |
Because the reflection is a percentage of one hit, Vengeance is strongest when something hits you once, hard. A boss that deals damage in many small splats wastes it.
Requirements and runes
You need 94 Magic and the quest Lunar Diplomacy, which itself asks for 40 Defence, 65 Magic, 61 Crafting, 60 Mining, 55 Woodcutting, 49 Firemaking and 5 Herblore. After the quest, swap to the Lunar spellbook on Lunar Isle, next to the Oneiromancer, or use the spellbook switching options in a player-owned house.
Each cast uses 10 earth runes, 4 astral runes and 2 death runes. A staff of earth or a tome of earth covers the earth runes, which is how most players run it. In the Wilderness a blighted vengeance sack replaces the runes at a fraction of the cost.
Rules and limits
- Poison, venom and disease damage do not trigger it.
- Some monsters are immune to recoil effects, and Vengeance does nothing against them.
- It ends if you log out or teleport into a player-owned house, and you cannot cast it inside a house.
- It stacks with a ring of recoil.
- Since a 2013 change it reflects the full 75% even when you are low on Hitpoints; before that, it was capped at your remaining health.
Vengeance in PvM
The trick is to take a big single hit on purpose. The Kalphite Queen is the textbook example: she hits hard in single blows, so every Vengeance returns a large chunk of damage. The thermonuclear smoke devil is the opposite, with a max hit of 8.
Three combat achievements need it: Demonic Rebound at the Abyssal Sire, Insect Deflection at the Kalphite Queen, plus a few others on the task list. For those, all you need is one successful reflection, so pick a moment when the boss is about to hit you hard.
For a full reflection, Dharok's armour with an amulet of the damned, a ring of recoil and Vengeance together can send back 100% of a single hit. Echo boots also rebound some damage. These are niche setups, but fun for low Hitpoints Dharok's kills.
Vengeance in PvP
Vengeance is a staple in player killing, especially against heavy hitters like dragon claws specs and Dharok's. Players cast it on the same tick as their own special attack animation so the opponent cannot see it coming, and the usual counter is to switch to a weak, fast weapon to pop it cheaply before landing the big hit. If your account is on the Lunar spellbook mainly for this, the Lunar spells money makers are worth a look for when you are not fighting.
Is it worth the xp?
At 112 xp a cast and a 30 second cooldown, Vengeance is not a training method. Even recast every time the cooldown ends, it tops out around 13,000 Magic xp an hour, and only if something keeps hitting you. Train Magic with the methods in the Magic training guide and treat Vengeance purely as a combat tool.