Humid Bloat

Video contributed by Verix, with commentary by the Blert community.

Video

The basics

Humid Bloat is a strategy where players attack Bloat while he is walking, casting the Humidify spell to stall their character's animation between attacks, and using Phoenix necklaces to avoid death.

This strategy works by combining two game engine mechanics:

1. While a player is animation stalled, all damage against them is queued, and applied once the stall ends.
2. When a Phoenix necklace procs, it clears the remainder of the player's damage queue.

By entering the stall at low enough HP that the first fly will proc a Phoenix necklace, but not kill you, you can survive all fly damage and continuously attack Bloat every 5t while he is up.

In order to cast Humidify, you need a container in your inventory that can be filled with water. Teams will set up so that each player has either an empty vial or a teacup (from a Guthix rest). Between attacks, you must empty it.

Standard Humid cycle

The Humid cycle repeats every 5 ticks as follows. On your very first attack, your vial will already be empty, so skip that click.

1. Scythe Bloat. On the same tick as you swing, click your vial to empty it, equip a Phoenix necklace, then click Bloat to target him.
2. On the following tick, cast Humidify, stalling you for 3t. Your character will automatically run towards and attack Bloat coming out of the stall.

You must click Bloat before entering Humidify so that your character is targeting him while stalled. This will cause your character to run towards him and catch up coming out of the stall.

Strategies and entries

Prior to the first down, Bloat walks around the room either clockwise or counterclockwise (chosen randomly on entry). This means that his position is known on every tick. By starting the room when Bloat is at a specific position, teams can optimize their attack cycles against him.

In scales 3+, there are two common Humid strategies ("Bloats"):

• Alex Bloat: most commonly used in trios.
• Vintage Bloat: most commonly used in 4s and 5s.

These strategies give each player in a team a role with an "entry": the tick at which they enter the room (based on Bloat's position), and the sequence of movements and attacks they perform at the start, up to their first Humidify cast. After that, the player does the standard 5t Humidify cycle until Bloat goes down.

Each role's entry is specifically designed such that the player's first Humidify occurs at a valid HP threshold, and must be performed exactly as shown. Many roles require you to sip a dose of Saradomin brew to overheal before entering, and to activate the Rapid Heal prayer on a specific tick such that HP regen will occur during the first Humid stall, tickeating the damage from the initial fly on exit.

Verix's video showcases every entry for the roles in these two Bloats.

Consistency

Humid Bloat does not have a 100% rate of success, even if everyone plays perfectly. Be prepared to reset a lot.

• While stalled, hands can drop onto your character, and you won't be able to dodge them. These will either kill you instantly or stun you for several ticks as Bloat walks away. If you survive, you should continue the exact same Humid cycle, even though you won't actually be attacking; with luck, you might catch up.
• Fly damage is random within a small range. On certain entry roles, it is possible that every fly from Bloat high-rolls its damage and kills you without proccing your Phoenix necklace.
• Depending on the scale, you might not get good damage RNG on Bloat after he goes down. This is particularly noticeable in trios. In 4s and 5s, as long as everyone survives, you should almost always kill Bloat on the first down.

Because of this, individual consistency is essential. A wise man once said that if every person in a team of 5 is only 90% consistent at Humid, there is a 41% chance that someone will die. (Before the unavoidable stuff above!) Go practice in Entry mode before trolling your team.

Other spells

Several roles have one or two players casting Hunter Kit in addition to Humidify as part of their entry. This spell stalls you for only 2t, allowing you to avoid some initial damage while still being maneuverable for the opening sequence.

Instead of Humidify, players can run the same strategies using Spellbook Swap as the stall. The benefit of this is that no vial is required; however, after each stall you will be on the Arceuus spellbook and need to cast a different spell each time to return to Lunars (as they have cooldowns). This involves more clicks and precision than Humid, especially to get attacks with a Salve.