Phoenix

The Phoenix is a near-immortal bird of fire, and currently the only one of her race, although she once had a brother named Si'morgh, who died protecting her from a Dragon. She is involved in the In Pyre Need quest, in which players help her complete a ritual that occurs every 500 years in order to renew her lifespan.

After the quest, she can be fought as a level 84 monster in the Phoenix Lair. She was voted for by players in the Guaranteed Content Poll on 28 April 2008. She was mentioned in November 2008's Behind the Scenes as a future update (as well as January 2009's Behind the Scenes) and was released later in the month.

Fighting
Once players have completed In Pyre Need and have 51 Slayer, they may attempt to fight their way through the Phoenix Lair and defeat the Phoenix herself. This can be done once per day.

Following the D&D and Death Improvements update released on 26 May, the player may decide to pay 10 Phoenix quills to skip directly to the fight with the Phoenix or navigate the Phoenix's Lair without needing to kill any of the Reborn creatures there present.

The Phoenix herself has a combat level of 84 and high Defence. She attacks purely with Magic and can hit up to 350. It is advisable that lower-leveled players use the Protect from Magic prayer and range her with the best bow and arrows they can afford to use. Those who have a high Prayer level and access to Ancient Curses should use Deflect Magic instead. Players may also bring familiars to aid them.

She also uses a "Dust Attack" which will drain some of a player's stats, even if they have magic protecting prayers on. Affected stats are Attack, Magic and Ranged. Boosted stats are affected as if unboosted, so stat-boosting potions are a waste. Drained stats will return to their normal (unboosted) levels after a few seconds. This makes using magic against the Phoenix somewhat difficult.

Rewards
When the Phoenix is mortally wounded, she will move to the pyre. The player must then set the pyre on fire, burning the Phoenix and turning her to ash. She will quickly be reborn. The player may then speak with the new Phoenix and be rewarded with 5 Phoenix quills.

For every kill, the player will also receive 500 Slayer experience (5,000 Slayer experience is awarded the first time she is killed), 7,500 Firemaking experience, 3,000 Fletching experience, and 1,000 Crafting experience as a reward for defeating her, as well as the chance to get a Phoenix eggling when choosing the 'Exit' option to leave the Phoenix Lair.

Trivia

 * The examine text is an allusion to the song Great Balls of Fire.
 * After killing the phoenix, the adventurers log will say, "I killed a phoenix, a bird of fire.' Or after killing it again after reset "I killed 2 phoenices, Birds of fire."
 * With the use of Daily D&D tokens, it's possible to have more than 2 kills registered in the Adventure's Log.
 * Killing it 2 or more times will cause the Adventure's Log to say "I killed X phoenices, birds of fire".
 * If you use a tinderbox on the wounded Phoenix instead of the pyre she will say, "Light the pyre, not me!"

Phoenix