Shikado

Shikado is the smallest major island in the east, although it is larger than all the small islands that make up the Assikai archipelago. Most of the island, apart from the neutral and burial ground, is single-combat PvP on every world. Shikado is the battleground of an ongoing war between three factions: The Magi, The Battalion and The Rogues. '''Note: This is not a safe place. If you die anywhere on the island, you will loose your items as normal'''.

Neutral Zone
The main entrance of the island is the only safe place in the whole of Shikado. To get there, you need to either take a charter ship for 1500gp (750 after Cabin Fever) from Tokaji, Ganpon, Assikai, Port Phasmatys or Mos Le'Harmless or cast Shikado Teleport with 76 Magic after completing Sorcerers of the East. There are three main buildings as well as a musician and a small summoning obelisk. On the far east side, there is the chapel - containing an altar which restores players' prayer points to maximum. Next to this is the bank, which also contains some combat dummies. The dummies provide no combat experience (unless the player has under 8 Attack, in which case they give 5 xp per hit) but, unlike those in Varrock and Lumbridge, anyone can use them to test their maximum hits.

The other main building in the lobby area, where you arrive from Shikado Teleport. This is where you 'start' the PvP activity although players can just go out and fight straight away with no reward if they wish. There are three cubicles, each one with a representative of their faction. To participate in the activity, you need to sign up as a mercenary for one of these factions. Each faction uses a different style of combat as their primary means of attack: The Magi use magic, The Battalion use melee and The Rogues use ranged. It is advised to side with the faction that uses your best combat style as this will make it easier to get more rewards. You can switch between factions but must wait a day after switching before switching again. This building also contains the Mercenary Veteran who gives the rewards for the activity. To start playing, simply leave by one of the three gates.

The Island
Shikado is divided into three separate areas - one for each faction. The Magi inhabit the west, The Rogues own the east and The Battalion occupy the sector in the middle. Each area is populated by mages, warriors or rangers allied with each faction. If you have not joined a faction or belong to an enemy, the NPCs will be aggressive to you. There are three types of each: Initiate, Adept and Elite. Initiates are level 57, Adepts are level 81 and elite are level 115. Each has all the strengths and weaknesses of their combat style, mages are strong against melee but weak against ranged for example, and this can be used to players' advantages during combat. Not only are there NPCs to contend with but also other players. You can be attacked by any player allied with enemy factions. Those who have not sided with anyone may be attacked by anyone but can also attack anyone. Each kill for a faction will reward you will a certain amount of mercenary credit. The amount received depends on the enemies combat level and how you killed them - kills not performed with the factions preferred attack style are worth half the amount of credit (or no credit if it was worth 1 to start with). No credit can be earned while not belonging to any factions so no rewards can be claimed either. The credit received for a kill with the correct combat style is listed in the table below:

Each area is divided from each other by a long fence. On the Magi side it is topped by initiate mages, on the Rogue side it is manned by initiate archers. These may also be killed for credit with magic, ranged or a halberd. The mages and rangers will also engage any warriors that come into their line of fire. If these warriors have halberds, they may fight back. In the Magi area, there is a fairy ring that can be used for transport or a quick escape. This fairy ring is unique as it can only be used after 10 seconds outside of combat. The code is 'A-I-S'. When an attempt is made to teleport there, a warning message will appear informing them they are about to enter a dangerous PvP area. This warning message can be turned off after being viewed 10 times and can be turned on and off after that at the Doomsayer. In the south of the Battalion area, there is a shrine in which is a summoning obelisk and an altar. The altar is special as it also restores lifepoints as well as prayer points and cures poison and disease. The shrine itself is not a PvP area but the altar and the obelisk can only be used once every 30 minutes (these are separate timers, not the same one for both facilities).

Rewards
When enough mercenary credit has been accumulated for any faction, it can be swapped for rewards with the mercenary veteran. Credit is not shared between credit - you have a separate amount for each one. If you change faction, your old credit is maintained for your old faction while you start to earn credit for your new faction. Many of the rewards are similar and are the same for each faction while others are unique. The list below details all the rewards that can be obtained from any faction:


 * 100gp - 1 Credit
 * Combat Lamp (10x your skill level in Attack, Defence, Strength, Magic, Ranged, Prayer or Summoning) - 5 Credit
 * Shikado Respawn (respawn in Shikado lobby on death) - 250 credit
 * Extra Save Slot (4 items, or 5 with Protect Item, will be kept on death in Shikado PvP unless skulled) - 500 credit
 * Shrine Gravestone (7 minute gravestone) - 750 credit
 * Temple Gravestone (8 minute gravestone) - 1000 credit

Combat lamps and money can be claimed as many times as wanted. The others only have to be bought once and, in the case of the extra save slot, are permanent. If you switch gravestone or respawn point, you can switch back again for a reduced cost of only 10 credit. Each faction has a unique set of battle armour also available as a reward - one for each combat style. The prices are the same but the stats aren't:


 * Chest Slot - 1000 Credit
 * Legs Slot - 900 Credit
 * Head Slot - 800 Credit
 * Boots Slot - 700 Credit
 * Gloves Slot - 600 Credit

A full set would cost 4000 credit. The armour can be worn at 85 Defence and with 85 in that factions' chosen style - 85 Strength for Battalion, 85 Magic for Magi and 85 Ranged for Rogues. Each set has a special ability - melee armour has a chance to boost the strength of the next hit, ranged armour has a chance to boost accuracy while magic armour has a chance to save runes. The armour will degrade after blocking 1000 lifepoints of damage (this is not the damage taken but the damage the player would have taken if not wearing the armour minus the actual damage to give the damage blocked). When degraded, the armour looses 10% of its bonuses. After this happens 10 times (10,000 lifepoints of damage blocked), the armour will degrade completely. When this happens it will become a metal, leather or silk lump, depending on the type of armour. This can be taken back to the veteran mercenary and repaired for half the armour's original price (so to repair a full set fully costs 2000 credit). The armour can't be repaired unless fully degraded but can sold back at any stage for 20% of the credit (so a full set is worth 400 credit). At no points is any of the armour tradeable. The stats for a full suite of battalion battle armour in best condition is given below:

The stats for a fully repaired set of magi battle robes are as follows:

Finally, fully repaired rogue battle armour has the following stats:

Each faction also offers an extra unique item of clothing - a Cape of Strength (Battalion), Ring of Prayer (Rogues) and Amulet of Summoning (Magi). The Cape of Strength costs 800 credit. It increases the max hit of all melee attack by 10% and offers some small stat boosts:

The Ring of Prayer is a unique reward from the Rogues that also costs 800 credit. It acts as a permanent holy wrench and can be used once a day to restore 10 prayer points. It also gives some small stat boosts:

The Amulet of Summoning is the final piece of unique jewellery, available from the Magi. It to costs 800 credit. When worn, all summoning familiars will last for 25% and have a 10% higher maximum hit when in combat. Like all the other jewellery, it gives some small stat bonuses:

Warlords' Burial Ground
In the far south-east of the Rogue area is the Warlords' Burial Ground dungeon. This area is fenced off and not PvP, but is by no means safer. Inside the dungeon can be found a new high level set of armour.