Decaying avatar

The Decaying avatar is a monster encountered in the Nomad's Requiem quest. It can heal three times while the player fights it, if it can eat nearby roots. The player can destroy the roots to prevent it from healing. Meleeing these roots, as the spawn is some squares away, is difficult to do before the Avatar reaches them and eats them. Each root appears depending on the percentage of life points it has lost in 25% increments: the first time after dealing 10,500 damage, the second after 21,000 damage, and the last one after 31,500 damage. Failing to destroy all three roots means that 105,000 life points of damage must be dealt during the battle.

Unlike the avatars of Creation and Destruction, the decaying avatar will not drain your prayer when it hits you.

Note: This boss battle takes a lot of time, make sure you have time to spare. If you log or teleport out you need to start all over.

Note that the decaying avatar has considerable defence, and no weakness. Also, each subsequent root which appears should have a higher priority because it will heal more health. (As each root heals the avatar to its full life points, the third root would heal 3 times as much as the first.)

The Decaying avatar can be fought as a class A boss monster in the Dominion Tower minigame if the player has completed Nomad's Requiem and defeating it is a requirement to unlock Spellcaster gloves. If you want to fight the Decaying avatar, climber mode is recommended as he seems to appear more often when compared to endurance.

Strategy
One common method used to kill the avatar is to range it using ruby bolts(e) from a safe spot. Ruby bolts(e) can cause damage equal to 1/5 of your target's remaining life points (with some exceptions including a 750 damage maximum like when used against Nomad), which can help shorten the length of the fight. Once the last root has been destroyed, players may switch to diamond bolts(e) or another preferred method of combat.

An easy way to negate the avatar's high defence is with Verac's set as not only does it have a chance of ignoring his defence, it also provides a hefty prayer bonus for any prayers/curses.

The sap and leech ancient curses may also be used to drain his defence. However, since piety is required from the regular prayer book to complete the smoke chamber, it might be time consuming to switch between prayer books.

The avatar is weak to fire spells, and it has been tested to hit slightly more often than melee or range. This method is recommended for those with significantly higher magic levels than melee and range because magic will generally hit lower than melee/range. Beware of the healing roots if using magic as failing to destroy the roots will greatly increase the cost.

Additionally, players who possess a chaotic or a drygore rapier (or equivalent weapons of those tiers) may make use of these weapons' high offensive bonuses.

Roots spawn northwest then southeast then northeast and will heal the avatar to 100%. The player can have more time to destroy the roots by safe-spotting the Decaying avatar from the opposite end of the room from where the root will appear. For example, if the next root is the southeast one, the player should range the avatar from the west end of the room. Therefore, the avatar must walk farther to get to the root, and the player can run there and destroy it before the avatar reaches it. Activating Protect from Melee or Deflect Melee is highly advised when switching safespots. Note: using bind or freeze spells will not prevent the avatar from walking to the roots. Do not use this, as this will be a waste of time.

If using a safespot: After finding your chosen safespot, remember to click around periodically to prevent your account from logging out. You will be taken to the surface, and all progress will be lost.

Probably the best method of killing the avatar is using a strong halberd (dragon recommended) and staying behind a safespot. This is the safest and cheapest method but it's the most time consuming.(Extremely slow)

Dominion Tower
When fighting the avatar in Dominion Tower, the same strategies as for Nomad's Requiem can be used. In addition, the avatar can be trapped using the outer ring of the fighting arena. Since the Decaying avatar is a Class A boss, it can only appear after floor 6 in the Dominion Tower.

The healing roots do appear in the Dominion Tower as in quest. Unlike in Nomad's Temple, the roots will spawn in this order: north-west, north-east, south-west. If possible, try to position yourself so that you will be nearer where the root spawns than the avatar will be. The roots will not grow back in the same spawn.

Trivia

 * The Decaying avatar is a prototype of the Avatar of Creation found in the Soul Wars minigame. The Decaying avatar also has a higher combat level than both the main Soul Wars avatars.
 * The avatar has the ability to survive the deathtouched dart, in its third stage of battle. The player must deliver the final blow.

Decaying avatar