Beating Imaru in Dragonwilds: The Boss Where You Have to Poison Yourself
Imaru goes spectral three times during her fight, and while spectral she is immune to all damage — the only way to hurt her is to deliberately become Soul Rifted. Every other minute of Fellhollow is spent avoiding Wither. This fight requires you to embrace it, kill her thralls, knock her out of spectral form and reach a Purification Pool within 40 seconds, three separate times. Here is the whole sequence.
On sourcing. Jagex do not publish boss mechanics. The strategy below comes from the community RuneScape: Dragonwilds wiki, which flags its own boss pages as being updated for 1.0 — so expect details to move.
Before You Walk In
Imaru is Fellhollow's power level 5 boss, fought at the end of Withering Heights.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Region | Fellhollow |
| Power level | 5 |
| Weak to | Nothing |
| Immune to | Poison, Burning, Bleed |
| Reward | Imaru's Head, and the Dragoncurse Shield from the quest |
Three immunities is the most of any boss below power level 6, and between them they cancel weapon poison, weapon barbs and fire arrows entirely. Bring none of them.
Since Fellhollow is undead and spectral, two items carry real bonuses:
- The Salve Amulet — +17% damage against undead.
- The Zombie Axe — higher base damage, and it deals crush and slash simultaneously.
The healing kit matters more here than in any earlier fight, because the phases are long:
| Food | Effect |
|---|---|
| Undead Delight | 180 health, plus Sea Life — 3 health per second for 1,200 seconds |
| Eggs Royale | 120 health, also Sea Life — the option if you would rather not grind |
| Pumpkin Soup | 70 health and Soul Food |
| Pumpkin Spice Infusion | Soul Food from the infusion slot — so it can run alongside Sea Life |
That last row is the trick. Soul Food from a food and Soul Food from an infusion do not stack, but taking Sea Life from food and Soul Food from an infusion puts two separate regeneration effects on you at once — because they occupy different slots.
For crossbow users, Enchanted Steel Bolts are the standout ammunition here: a 15% chance to heal 20% of your health when they strike. In a fight this long, that is sustain rather than damage.
Her Attacks
| Attack | What it does |
|---|---|
| Energy bolts | Launched at you while flying |
| Fire-breathing sweep | Sweeps right to left, then reverses on later iterations |
| Foot stomp | Sends a rot spike at you along the ground |
| Rot bolts | Three spat while airborne, building Wither |
Two positioning facts decide the early fight.
Standing under her belly avoids the fire sweep entirely — and it is also where melee wants to be.
The foot stomp aims directly at you unless you are under her belly, which means the same position dodges two of her four attacks.
But her heart is the critical-damage target, and "will be hard to hit unless using melee" — so melee gets both the safe position and the damage bonus, while ranged and magic trade safety for reach.
The rot bolts need respect. "They are like missiles and will still hit if you dodge too early." The guidance for ranged and magic is blunt: attack only twice between dodges during that attack, and melee should simply wait it out.
Her loop in phase 1 is: attack twice, fly away for about five seconds, return, slam, aim rot spikes. Use the five seconds to check your health and buffs — it is the only reliable window in the fight.
The Spectral Phases
Phase 2 begins with Imaru landing in the centre in spectral form, immune to all damage. She charges an attack that can take half your health or kill you outright.
The counter is the fight's signature mechanic:
- Enter Soul Rifting — deliberately let Wither take you.
- Damage her in that state, which is the only way to interrupt the charge.
- Deal with the rotsworn thralls that appear to attack you.
- Reach a Purification Pool before time runs out.
- If she is still on the ground, attack her — aim for the exposed chest.
Phase 3 starts below 50% health. She lands within five seconds, combines rot spikes with fire sweeps, and those sweeps now leave withered marks scattered across the platform. Stay close to her to avoid them — the safe ground is next to the thing trying to kill you. She then flies up and breathes fire around the arena, at which point the centre is safe, and ends the phase by summoning explosive rot rocks near you.
The spectral sequence in phase 3 has a hard timer: 40 seconds to kill the rotsworn enemies, knock her out of spectral form, and cleanse at a pool.
Phase 4 begins below 10% health and repeats the spectral sequence one last time — thralls first, then her, then the pool, then attack her heart.
One detail worth knowing for the ending: "If you kill Imaru whilst you are withered, you will automatically go back to normal, and nearby rotsworn enemies will die in the process." So the last cleanse is optional if you can finish her.
Hard Mode and Group Play
Hard mode does not add mechanics — it compresses them. "She will summon thralls earlier, and most mechanics will be done earlier as well." It remains soloable, but the wiki recommends two or more players.
The recommended opening, cast during the short grace period on entering the boss instance:
| Style | Do this immediately |
|---|---|
| Melee | Whetstone, then either Enchant Weapon: Fire or Air, plus a Ferocious Infusion and a Lesser Attack Potion |
| Ranged | Spectral Arrows for two-handed bows; Enchanted Steel Bolts for crossbows; a Relentless Infusion for −33% ranged stamina |
| Magic | Magical Focus, an Arcane Infusion for −33% magic stamina, and a Lesser Magic Potion |
| Melee and ranged both | Tempest Shield — it blocks her bolt attacks and earth spikes |
Note that Enchant Weapon: Fire is still worth casting despite her Burning immunity, because its +33% damage applies regardless. Only the Burning on critical hits is wasted.
For a group, the thrall phases are the natural division of labour. The spectral sequence has three jobs on a 40-second clock — clear thralls, break her spectral form, reach a pool — and a group that assigns them in advance clears it comfortably where an uncoordinated one runs out of time.
And there is a health-management subtlety specific to Soul Rifting. You are deliberately spending time in a state you normally flee, so the regeneration perks matter more than raw healing: Sea Life at 3 health per second ticks throughout the spectral sequence, when you will be too busy to eat.
Practical tips
- Imaru is immune to Poison, Burning and Bleed — leave poison, barbs and fire arrows home.
- She has no weakness; use water and air runes, and cast Fire for the +33% damage anyway.
- Stand under her belly — it dodges both the fire sweep and the stomp.
- Her heart is the crit target, realistically only reachable in melee.
- Rot bolts track — dodge late, not early.
- Spectral phases need Soul Rifting; you have 40 seconds to clear thralls, break her and cleanse.
- Sea Life from food and Soul Food from an infusion stack — different slots.
- Enchanted Steel Bolts heal 20% of your health on a 15% chance.
- Killing her while withered cures you and kills nearby rotsworn.
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Conclusion
Imaru is Fellhollow's power level 5 boss, with no weakness and immunity to Poison, Burning and Bleed — three immunities that cancel weapon poison, weapon barbs and fire arrows outright. Her four attacks — energy bolts, a fire sweep, a rot-spike stomp and three tracking rot bolts — all feed the Wither gauge, and standing under her belly avoids two of them at once while putting melee in range of her heart, the critical-damage target. The fight's defining mechanic arrives in phase 2: she turns spectral and immune to all damage, and the only counter is to deliberately enter Soul Rifting, clear the rotsworn thralls, knock her out of it, and reach a Purification Pool inside 40 seconds — repeated below 50% and again below 10%. Prepare with Undead Delight for 1,200 seconds of Sea Life, a Pumpkin Spice Infusion so Soul Food runs alongside it from a different slot, the Salve Amulet for +17% against undead, and Enchanted Steel Bolts if you are shooting. And there is a merciful ending: killing her while withered cures you automatically and kills the rotsworn around you.
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