Skulling

A PK skull is the skull icon shown above a player's head. A skulled player keeps no items when they die (one with Protect Item) instead of the usual three (four with Protect Item). You get a skull by attacking another player first in the Wilderness or another dangerous PvP area, and you can also skull yourself on purpose: some content needs a skull, and skulled players get better drop rates from revenants and the Wilderness bosses.

A skull lasts 20 minutes, and its colour shows the player's current kill streak.

Getting a skull

How	Details
Attacking a player first	In the Wilderness and the other dangerous PvP areas, attacking a player who has not attacked you gives you a 20-minute skull. If they attacked you first, fighting back does not skull you. In multi-combat areas only the player you attack counts: the other players hit by your barrage spell or chinchompa do not skull you. Attacks in Duel Arena duels, in Tournaments and on combat dummies never skull you.
`::skull`	Gives you a 20-minute skull anywhere, with the message "You activate your Pk Skull. It will disappear in 20 minutes." You can also put it on a key: open `::keybinds` and pick Activate Pk Skull. It cannot be used in the Wilderness while you carry a clue scroll, so skull before you go out. It also cannot be used in the 5 seconds after you remove a skull.
Emblem Trader	Right-click the Emblem Trader at `::shops` and choose Skull (or Talk-to and I want to change my skull), then Give me a PK skull. If you are already skulled, your skull starts again at the full 20 minutes.
Cape of skulls	Wearing the cape gives you a 20-minute skull. If you are not skulled, the game asks you first.
Skotizo and Avatar of Destruction	You must be skulled to attack these two bosses. If you are not, attacking them asks "Attacking this monster will get you skulled" and choosing Yes - Attack and skull me! skulls you. Every attack on them starts your 20 minutes again.
Crate Frenzy	Using a crate during the event skulls you, as well as teleblocking and freezing you.
Risk Zone	In the PvP area of the Risk Zone (`::riskzone` and `::highrisk`) you are skulled automatically, and Protect Item cannot be used anywhere in the Risk Zone.
Hardcore PvP	Hardcore PvP players are always skulled.

Fighting back and Auto Retaliate

A player you attacked first can fight back without being skulled, and so can you if they attacked you first.

In dangerous PvP areas, Auto Retaliate does not fight back for you if fighting back would give you a skull. Attack the player yourself if you want to fight back anyway.

How long a skull lasts

A skull lasts 20 minutes (2,000 game ticks) from the last time you were skulled. Getting a new skull starts the 20 minutes again.
Logging out does not remove your skull: the time left is saved and keeps counting down when you log back in.
Dying removes your skull.

Removing a skull

Emblem Trader: anyone can ask the Emblem Trader at ::shops to Remove my Pk skull (right-click Skull, or Talk-to and I want to change my skull). The game says "Your Pk Skull has been removed."
::unskull: Legendary Donators and above can remove their skull with a command, or with the Remove Pk Skull key in ::keybinds.
You cannot remove a skull while you are in a PvP area or under attack, and Hardcore PvP players cannot remove theirs at all.
After removing a skull you have to wait before you can remove one again. The wait depends on your donator rank:

Donator rank	Wait between removals
No rank	5 minutes
Donator	3 minutes
Super Donator	2 minutes
Extreme Donator	1 minute 30 seconds
Legendary Donator	1 minute
Royal Donator	40 seconds
Divine Donator	20 seconds

What a skull changes

Items kept on death

	Not skulled	Skulled
Without Protect Item	3 items	0 items
With Protect Item	4 items	1 item

The items you keep are the ones with the highest PK point value. Untradeable items and items that are always lost follow their own rules; see Items Kept on Death. The Items Kept on Death button on the Worn Equipment tab shows what you would keep, and you can switch the skull and Protect Item on and off in that window to compare.

Better drop rates

While you are skulled, your drop rates are 20% better (every drop rate is multiplied by 0.8, so 1/1,000 becomes 1/800) when you kill:

Revenants in the Revenant Caves;
Wilderness bosses in the Wilderness, such as Callisto, Venenatis, Vet'ion, Scorpia, the Chaos Elemental, the Chaos Fanatic, the Crazy archaeologist and Skotizo;
any monster on the PvP floor of the Royal Donator Zone (for example the Royal Revenants) or in the Divine Monster Dungeon.

The bonus stacks with your other drop rate bonuses. Type ::dropbonus to see all the bonuses you have right now.

Content that needs a skull

Skotizo and the Avatar of Destruction: you must be skulled to attack them. You also need a skull, and a combat level of 126, to pick up the Avatar's loot.
Clue scrolls: emote, monster-kill and skilling steps of Treasure Trails only count while you are skulled.

What the skull looks like

Your skull is shown above your head to every player. Its colour shows your current kill streak, and it changes again when you carry loot keys or take part in a Wilderness event.

Kill streak skulls

Kill streak	Skull	Hardcore PvP skull
0–4
5–9
10–14
15–19
20–24
25–99
100+

Killing a player who is on a kill streak of 25 or more (a red skull) is announced to the whole server.

Loot key skulls

While you are skulled and carry loot keys from player kills, your skull shows how many keys you have. Loot keys are always lost when you die, so other players can see what you are carrying.

Loot keys	1	2	3	4	5 or more
Skull
Hardcore PvP skull

Bloodlust and Clan Warfare skulls

While a Bloodlust or Clan Warfare event is running, players near the event show their kill streak in the event, from 1 up to 10:

Event kill streak	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10+
Skull

A player who is not skulled shows only the number (); they still keep their items as normal.

Bounty Hunter

In the Bounty Hunter interface, a small skull appears in front of your target's name while your target is skulled.

Hardcore PvP

Hardcore PvP is a game mode you can pick when you create an account. Hardcore PvP players:

are always skulled: the skull never runs out and cannot be removed, and they have their own horned skulls (see the tables above);
cannot use Protect Item, so they keep nothing when they die (apart from untradeables, see Items Kept on Death);
cannot join clans;
have only one life: when another player kills them, the account becomes a normal account.

Skulling

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