Darkness

This article is about the area effect. For other articles related to darkness, see Darkness (disambiguation).

Darkness is a game mechanic that darkens the player's screen. Not having a light source in the darkest areas will cause rapid damage from biting insects, and the player will be unable to attack anything. The damage is lethal.

Light sources can dispel darkness to varying degrees, though even the dimmest will prevent damage from biting insects. Some dark areas have environmental hazards or hostile monsters that can extinguish weaker light sources, with higher tier light sources being resistant to these hazards while also being brighter.

Darkness levels

There are three different levels of darkness which may be encountered:

Level	Effect
1	Slightly dims the player's screen.
2	Darkens the player's screen even more, potentially making it difficult to see the environment, but still has no penalties.
3	Almost completely obscures the player's screen. Without a light source, it is impossible to attack anything. After 9 seconds the player is warned, "You hear tiny insects skittering over the ground...". After another 9 seconds, there will be another message, Tiny biting insects swarm all over you! and one point of damage will be dealt after a set amount of ticks based on the location. This damage cannot be reduced by any means, but will stop upon igniting a light source or leaving the dark area. Logging out and back in will reset the damage timer.

Dark areas

The following is a list of dark areas and whether each has biting insects or explosive gas, and also notes the insects' attack delay in ticks:

Location	Darkness	Insects	Gas	Ticks between insect damage
Abandoned Mine bottom floor	1	No	No	N/A
Chasm of Tears	2	No	No	N/A
Crombwick Manor upper level	1	No	No	N/A
Dorgesh-Kaan mine	3	Yes	No
Dorgesh-Kaan South Dungeon	3	Yes	No
Enakhra's Temple shadow puzzle room		Yes	No
Genie's crevice	3	Yes	No	1
Kruk's Dungeon	3	Yes	No
Lumbridge Swamp Caves	3	Yes	Yes	1
Mole Hole	3	Yes	No
Mos Le'Harmless Cave	3	Yes	No
Shayzien Crypts	3	Yes	No
Skavid Caves	3	Yes	No	N/A
Slayer Tower basement	1	No	No	N/A
Sophanem Dungeon	3	Yes	No	1
Temple of Ikov lower level	1	No	No	N/A
Ver Sinhaza	1	No	No	N/A
Zamorak's Fortress	1	No	No	N/A

Dispelling darkness

Main article: Light sources § Light sources

The darkness level in an area is reduced by the cumulative strength of all carried and equipped light sources. Thus, carrying a candle in level 3 darkness will reduce the darkness to level 2, and another candle would reduce it to level 1.

A Fire of Eternal Light can be lit in the Lumbridge Swamp Caves, the Mole Hole, and the Mos Le'Harmless Cave to permanently dispel the darkness there, making a light source unnecessary.

Lumbridge Swamp Caves

If players are near the entrance to the Lumbridge Swamp Caves the moment Tiny biting insects swarm all over you! appears in the chatbox, they will automatically path toward the exit and leave the caves, accompanied by the message You manage to find your way to the exit. This forced movement respects the current run/walk setting. No damage is dealt by the invisible insects if the swarming begins immediately adjacent to the ladder.

Trivia

• Entering areas in the Temple of Ikov and the Abandoned Mine without a light source does not dim the screen, but rather teleports the player to a darkened copy of the normal room. Scenery in these areas are coloured black.

A chair near the boots of lightness.