If you’ve spent any time poking around the darker, sand-covered corners of the Kharidian Desert, you’ve probably seen some strange things. Giant vultures? Check. Sentient statues? Obviously. But there is a specific, somewhat unsettling item that sits in a weird limbo of Old School RuneScape lore and mechanics: the Eye of Ayak.
It’s gross. It’s a literal eyeball.
Most players encounter it during a quest and then immediately forget it exists. Honestly, that’s fair. In a game where we’re constantly chasing high-tier boss drops like the Tumeken's Shadow or the Osmumten's Fang, a quest item that looks like it belongs in a jar of formaldehyde isn't exactly a priority. But the Eye of Ayak represents a very specific era of OSRS design—a bridge between the old "fetch quest" tropes and the newer, more narrative-heavy content Jagex has been pushing.
What is the Eye of Ayak anyway?
To understand this thing, you have to go back to the Beneath Cursed Sands quest. This was a massive deal when it dropped in 2022 because it finally pushed the desert storyline forward after years of stagnation. It served as the direct prerequisite for the Tombs of Amascut (ToA), which is currently one of the most popular raids in the game.
The Eye of Ayak isn't a weapon. You can't wear it. You can't eat it (thankfully). It’s a quest item obtained by defeating Ayak, a specific boss-like NPC located within the Tombs of Amascut area during the quest's progression. Ayak himself is a Scabaras-aligned creature. If you know your desert lore, you know the Scabaras are the followers of the god of isolation and rot. They aren't exactly the "friendly neighbor" type of NPCs.
During the quest, you’re tasked with infiltrating the ruins and dealing with the corruption spreading through the area. Getting the Eye of Ayak is a mandatory step. You kill him, you take his eye, and you use it to bypass a barrier. It’s a classic "key and lock" mechanic, but with a bit more gore than your standard iron key.
The mechanics of the Ayak fight
Ayak isn't exactly the Theatre of Blood. He’s not going to make you tick-eat or perform a 7-way switch. However, for mid-level players who are just getting their feet wet in questing, he can be a bit of a nuisance. He uses a mix of styles, and because he’s a "Scabite," he has that annoying tendency to be faster than you expect.
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Most players just slap on some Prayer—usually Protect from Melee or Ranged depending on how they're kiting him—and burn him down with a Dragon Scimitar or a Magic shortbow.
It’s fast.
Once he’s dead, the Eye of Ayak drops. You pick it up. You feel a little weird about putting a wet eyeball in your backpack next to your sharks and teleports. But you do it because you want those quest points and the eventual access to the raid.
Why people get confused about the Eye
Here is where the SEO-fueled confusion usually starts. Because the Eye of Ayak is found in the same physical location as the Tombs of Amascut (ToA), newer players often think it has something to do with the actual raid mechanics.
It doesn't.
Once you finish Beneath Cursed Sands, the Eye of Ayak serves zero purpose. It won't help you kill Wardens. It won't increase your drop rate for a Masori body. It won't even help you solve the puzzles in the Path of Scabaras. It is a one-and-done item. If you still have it in your bank, you are literally just wasting a bank slot. Talk to the Wise Old Man in Draynor Village; he’ll tell you it’s junk. He’s right.
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There’s also a common misconception that you need it to re-enter the tomb if you leave during the quest. While some older OSRS quests were notorious for making you re-obtain lost items, modern Jagex design is a bit more forgiving. If you lose the eye before you use it on the barrier, you can usually just go back and grab it or check your quest storage.
The Scabaras Connection
The real value of the Eye of Ayak is what it tells us about the world. Jagex put a lot of effort into the "Scabaras" aesthetic for this questline. The eye itself is modeled to look like a compound eye, or at least a highly mutated one. This ties directly into the lore of the Menaphite Pantheon. While Amascut (The Devourer) is the big bad, the minor deities like Scabaras provide the "flavor" of the desert.
Scabaras represents the fear of the unknown and the things that crawl in the dark. The Eye of Ayak is a physical manifestation of that corruption. It’s supposed to be unsettling. When you use it to open the way forward, you’re literally using the essence of a corrupted being to delve deeper into a cursed tomb. It’s great environmental storytelling, even if the item itself is mechanically boring.
Getting the Eye: A quick walkthrough
If you’re currently stuck on this part of Beneath Cursed Sands, here is the no-nonsense way to handle it.
First, make sure you’re actually at the right stage. You need to be inside the Necropolis. You’ll be prompted to deal with Ayak as part of the "Shadow of the Storm" follow-up vibes that the quest carries.
- Gear up. You don’t need much. Even Iban’s Blast or a Rune Crossbow will shred him.
- The Encounter. Ayak will spawn. Keep your health above 40 just in case you get unlucky with his max hits.
- The Drop. The Eye of Ayak will appear on the ground. Pick it up immediately. Don't teleport out thinking it went to your inventory automatically. It didn't.
- The Gate. Head to the barrier. Use the eye. The path opens.
That’s it. You are now one step closer to the real challenge: the raid itself.
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The legacy of quest items in OSRS
OSRS has a long history of items like the Eye of Ayak. Think about the Dwarven Stout or the Glarial’s Pebble. These are items that define our journey through Gielinor. We hold onto them like they're sacred relics, only to realize later that they’re just bits of code taking up space.
But there’s a certain charm to it. Every time you see an Eye of Ayak in someone’s screenshot of their "quest tab," you know exactly where they were in their OSRS journey. They were at that tipping point. They were moving from the "early game" into the "late-mid game." They were about to unlock the desert's biggest secrets.
It’s a rite of passage.
Final verdict on the Eye
Is it a cool item? Kinda. Is it useful? Absolutely not after the quest. Should you keep it? Only if you’re a hoarder who loves collecting organic tissue in your bank.
If you're looking for it because you're following a guide, just focus on the combat encounter. Ayak is a pushover if you have any semblance of combat stats in the 60s or 70s. Just get in there, take the eye, and get out. The Tombs of Amascut are waiting for you, and trust me, the loot in there is much better than a slimy eyeball.
Actionable Steps for Players:
- Check your Quest Log: If you don't see the objective to kill Ayak, you haven't progressed far enough in Beneath Cursed Sands.
- Clear Bank Space: After the quest, go to the Wise Old Man. Use his "clean out junk" feature. It will identify the Eye of Ayak and other useless quest items for you to delete safely.
- Prepare for ToA: Once you've used the eye to pass the barrier, start looking into entry-level ToA builds. The quest is the hard part; the entry-level raid is actually very accessible.
- Don't overthink the fight: Ayak is a quest boss, not a mechanical challenge. High DPS (Damage Per Second) is your best friend here.