Old School Runescape's new cow boss is one tough bovine, but the easy mode is threatening to unleash a herd across Gielinor

Unless you’ve been living under an udder in Lumbridge, you’ll know by now that Old School Runescape has been milking any mention of Brutus the Bovine landing in Lumbridge. The result of Mod Acorn and Mod Arcane’s machinations during Game Jam 7 has now entered the paddock, and it’s causing a frenzied headache in a bunch of ways.

Now, it’s important to note here that Brutus is primarily designed as an entry-level boss – something for the MMORPG’s endless line of noobs to aim toward, and give a little direction to the early-game grind. But you can’t make a big deal about a boss without giving Old School Runescape’s devoted grind-setters something, too. Demonic Brutus is the answer: a Hard mode version of the cow destined to meet the end of a million steel scimitars.

So just how tough is this battle-hardened brute? One community post making the rounds on Reddit shows famed OSRS guides guy Gnomonkey getting absolutely battered by the bovine in double-tap fashion, taking a 47 and 55 damage wombo combo for an instantaneous KO. The boss? Still sitting pretty at full health. But any new boss in an MMO has a lengthy learning process. For Brutus, the trick seems to be doing a dance with a few other charging bulls he brings into the fight. One wrong step and you’re gored like an inexperienced matador.

Still, barely an afternoon went by before Gnomonkey made headlines again, this time for running a tired Demonic Brutus into the ground while swapping appropriate combat gear for, well… what else other than a purely cosmetic cow outfit? Turns out the trick to this boss is just about the same as any: just don’t get hit. Easy.

Why bother risking your hide against its horns, you ask? Every boss needs a good enough reason to run it. For some, it’s explosive EXP buffs, while for others it’s handy loot – often with rough odds. Things like an alternative to the Steel Defender are a great reason to battle this beast. Cute cow-themed slippers will do it, too. But OSRS players love a grind, and there’s rarely a better way to showcase their dedication than looting a miniature version of a bested boss that gleefully follows you around Geilinor.

And Brutus is no different. Except it is. Not only are the odds of this pet dropping far more favorable than virtually any other in the game, it being included in the Easy mode drop table in a fight that “takes about four seconds” means there’s real potential for the game to be overrun by a herd of Brutus’ orphaned calves, fittingly named ‘Beef’. And that’s exactly what seems to be happening.

Just hours after the vengeful bull made his debut, a line of tiny cows (and their father’s killers, of course) was spotted hanging around the game’s marketplace hub, with one guy comically asking if any of the butchers had even killed poor Brutus more than 100 times. With the drop chance listed at approximately 1/1000, you can bet your braised beef it’ll take me four years to get one. I won’t bother telling you how long I tried to get the last piece of the Barronite Mace.