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This article is a strategy guide for Nex. Information on mechanics, setups, and tactics is on this page. For the hard mode strategy guide, see here.
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Nex is the general of the Zarosian army under the Temple of Lost Ancients.
Unless you possess the strongest gear and experience, it is recommended that you fight Nex with a team.
Skill level recommendations[]
- Level 80+
or (99 For solo) - Level 85+ (99 for solo)
- Level 80+ (99 for solo)
- Level 88+ (for extreme potions)
- Level 70+
- Level 68+ (for the war tortoise and bunyip), (96 for solo)
The following requirements are also useful:
- Level 96+ (for Overloads)
- Level 95+ (for Turmoil and Torment) or, alternatively 70+ with an Amulet of Zealots (Requires 48 )
- Level 87-96+ (for the Shadow nihil and pack yak)
- Completion of Ritual of the Mahjarrat to visit the Glacor Cave via the fairy ring code D-K-Q for a 5% damage boost for four hours upon visiting.
Location[]
Click to view a larger version (opens on a new page)
Nex resides in the Ancient Prison. To enter this prison, one must assemble the Frozen key. The four pieces of the key are obtained by defeating followers in each stronghold of the dungeon from the original four factions - Armadyl, Bandos, Saradomin and Zamorak. Level 70 in Ranged, Strength, Agility and Constitution are required in order to access those strongholds; boosts do not work.
Once all four components are obtained, fuse them together; this will yield the Frozen key with 10 charges. A charge is lost whenever the player enters the Ancient Prison, whether it be through the Frozen Door or PvM portal in the Max Guild. Charges can be replenished on the armour stand and other applicable NPCs. The PvM portal drops players off at the bottom of the staircase, or inside the safe room if players are wearing a full set of ancient ceremonial robes.
Players must then kill 40 Zarosian followers, or alternatively, wear the full set of ancient ceremonial robes to bypass the kill count, to enter the safe room, where Ashuelot Reis will let players access their bank.
Prior to fighting Nex, it is recommended that players who have completed Ritual of the Mahjarrat quest visit the Glacor Cave to receive a 5% damage boost from the effect of the Stone of Jas. This can be done via the Fairy ring code D-K-Q.
Recommended equipment[]
If you are in a relaxed team of several people, equipment such as ganodermic armour and chaotic weaponry will suffice. Nevertheless, Nex has quite high accuracy and defence, so tier 90 weaponry and at least level 80+ armour are recommended for smaller teams.
All players should bring a shield or defender.
Two combat styles are required to kill Nex efficiently if opting not to teleport out after each kill, as she utilises Deflect Magic and Deflect Missiles which provide her full immunity to that combat style and her mages are immune to magic attacks.
Rangers have high resistance against Magic but little resistance against melee. This may cause Nex to try and melee the player if she is targeting them. Nex always begins an instance with the Deflect Magic curse, which rangers can ignore if they teleport out after each kill and rejoin to the instance for the next.
Mages yield high resistance against melee and moderate resistance against Magic. If maging, a second combat style is required because Nex's mages are immune to magic attacks. Magic should only be used for every even numbered kill in an instance.
Meleers yield moderate resistance against melee and no resistance against Magic. Melee has the benefit of not having to switch combat styles until the Zaros phase starts. During the Shadow phase, if not using a Dragon rider lance or Noxious scythe, you must use the hit-and-run tactic or you will be engulfed by the shadows. A ranged or magic switch should be used whenever she uses Deflect melee in phase five.
The phases[]
Smoke[]
Let the virus flow through you!
Smoke phase: During this phase, she will use Smoke spells in the form of chaotic clouds. They deal significantly higher damage compared to the other ancient spells.
She has several special attacks during this phase:
- "Let the virus flow through you!" - Nex will send a virus at the player she is focused on, causing them to get infected. This counts as a standard attack and has a chance of missing. The player's combat stats are rapidly drained every time they say "Cough". This can spread between players and has a 3x3 radius. The cough resets if infected players infect healthy or other infected players.
- "There is... NO ESCAPE!" - Nex will teleport and fly through one of the paths of the central symbol, damaging any players who stand in her way for up to 5000 typeless damage and disabling their protection prayers.
- Magical drag - Nex's magic attack has a chance to drag a player towards her, stun them, and disable their protection prayers. Anticipation and Freedom will prevent Nex from dragging them.
Once she reaches 160,000 life points, the smoke mage Fumus can be attacked. The shadow phase will not start until Fumus has been killed and Nex has been successfully attacked.
Shadow[]
Fear the shadow!
Shadow phase: During this phase, she will use Shadow spells in the form of shadow vampyres - however, the attacks are classified as Ranged. This is the only phase where she uses ranged attacks. Successful attacks can drain the player points slightly. These attacks can occasionally splash - however, a second, unavoidable hit immediately takes its place, dealing even less damage than what it would have done normally.
Her special abilities in this phase are:
- "Fear the shadow!" - Shadow traps appear under every player within Nex's attack range. After 2 ticks, any player still standing on them will take 50% of their health as damage.
- "Embrace darkness!" - Nex will drastically darken the room for players within 15 spaces of her. The closer players are to Nex, the darker the room will be. Players within melee range of Nex for at least five seconds will receive a message saying "The shadows start to engulf you!" and be dealt rapid damage up to 400-700 per tick until they leave melee distance.
Once she reaches 120,000 life points, the shadow mage Umbra can be attacked. The blood phase will not start until Umbra is killed and Nex is successfully attacked.
Blood[]
A siphon will solve this!
Blood phase: During this phase, she will use Blood blitz, which heals her for around 600 life points per attack and has an AoE of 3x3 at her primary target. During this phase, her magic hit chance is increased to 100%, and like the previous phase, can also drain prayer points.
Her special abilities in this phase are:
- "A siphon will solve this!" - Nex summon two or three blood reavers and perform a summoning animation. Two reavers are summoned in a group of five or less, while three are summoned for six or more players. If attacked in her summoning animation, any damage dealt will instead heal her for the same amount. Nex's blood reavers will also heal her for 92 life points for every successful attack they make. When Nex uses the ability again, any remaining blood reavers from the previous summon will die and heal her for the health they had remaining.
- "I demand a blood sacrifice!" - Nex will target a player who will glow red. If the target does not move at least 7 spaces away from Nex within 5 seconds, she will heal equal to the player's maximum health while damaging them for 10% of their maximum health. All other players will have their current Prayer points cut in half. It is advised to use Surge or Escape if targeted. Nex seems to use this attack on the farthest player from her. If all players are within the same distance from Nex, she will target a random player instead. Her aggression will also shift to the targeted player.
- Healing - This ability is active from the start of the blood phase and last until the phase ends. If Nex is inflicted with a damage-over time ability (the only exception being the combust effect from the Dragon Rider amulet, any damage she takes from them will heal her instead.
Once she reaches 80,000 life points, the blood mage Cruor can be attacked. Cruor heals 100 of his life points each time he attacks a player; his attacks have a 100% hit chance. The next (Ice) phase does not start until Cruor is killed and Nex is successfully attacked.
Ice[]
"Contain this!" being used.
Ice phase: During this phase, she uses Ice spells which target all players in range. If the player does not have Protect/Deflect Magic activated, players will be bound for four seconds. In addition to this, the prayer drain from her attack increases greatly, this time draining it based on the percentage of prayer points left. They drain 150 prayer points at most.
Her special attacks in this phase are:
- "Die now, in a prison of ice!" - Nex freezes a targeted player using an ice stalagmite attack, stunning them and disabling their overhead protection/deflection prayer. When the ice recedes, the trapped player will be hit for 6000-8000 typeless damage. Players can use Freedom or Anticipation to avoid being stunned and can use Barricade to completely block the attack. Nex's attacks seem to be fairly erratic during the ice prison - sometimes, she may attempt to melee the player, other times launch magic attacks at them. The prison can occasionally glitch resulting in part of the prison missing, meaning that Nex can potentially attack with melee if she isn't next to or under the player. The trapped player cannot attack Nex, even if they have broken free of the stun - however, they can still attack other targets in range. Other players can free the trapped player by attacking the stalagmites, though it may take several tries to break them.
- "Contain this!" - Nex creates a barrier of ice (3 by 3 squares) around her. Players caught in the original ice barrier will be dealt up to 3,500 damage, be stunned for several seconds, and have their protection prayers/curses disabled. Small icicle rushes will surge from them, dealing up to 1,700 damage if they hit a player but not causing any further effects.
Once she reaches 40,000 life points, the ice mage Glacies can be attacked. Glacies can freeze players if she hits them, though this only occurs if Protect/Deflect Magic is not activated. The next (Zaros) phase does not start until Glacies is killed and Nex is successfully attacked.
Final[]
Zaros phase: During this phase, Nex activates Turmoil, yelling "NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!". She will heal 33,333 (1/6) of her life points, so her health for this phase begins at 73,333. Her Turmoil actively drains stats (stat drain projectiles are shown when this happens), and can occur at any time during this final phase.
Nex does not have any unique special attacks in this phase, using only her melee and magic autoattacks.
- Overhead curses - When Nex starts this phase, she will immediately activate Soul Split, unless she is still using Deflect Magic/Missiles from the previous phase. When Soul Split is active, Nex will heal 2,500 life points for every player she hits regardless of the damage she deals. She can heal off from a maximum of 3 players, so the maximum amount she can heal from a single attack is 7,500. Nex swaps overhead curses every 3 hits. She always starts with Soul Split before using Deflect Melee and finally no overhead curses.
- Turmoil - Nex will activate a unique version of Turmoil which allows her attacks to actively drain a player's combat stats.
- Increased AoE - Nex's melee attacks now shatter and hit other players that are near her primary target in a 3x3 AoE, although its damage is unchanged from previous phases.
- Increased damage - Nex's magic attacks deal significantly more damage - up to 5,500 if not protected against.
- Soft cap - Nex's damage cap decreases to 2000, which significantly reduces the amount of damage she takes if hits deal more than this amount.
- Wrath - Upon death, Nex will yell "Taste my wrath!", dealing around 4000 damage to players within a 5x5 radius of Nex. It takes significantly more time to activate than the player's version of Wrath.
Strategy[]
The battle against Nex is fought in a circular room that resembles the symbol of Zaros.
During the Smoke and Shadow phases, there is a gap of five auto-attacks before Nex performs a special attack. During the Blood, Ice and Zaros phases, the gap narrows significantly to three auto-attacks.
The battle has five phases: Smoke, Shadow, Blood, Ice and a final (Zaros) phase. There are 4 level 111 mages in the four corners of the room. These mages are Fumus, Umbra, Cruor, and Glacies, and they represent the four elements of the Ancient Magicks spellbook used in the first four phases. They are weak against bolts and are immune against magic. As their represented spell users, they have the benefits of their ancient magick spells. The mages also have a soft cap against any hits dealing over 1,000 damage.
Nex can use all three Deflect curses, although she can only use two of them in each kill. Deflect Melee is only used on her Zaros phase, mostly after a Soul Split. Deflect Magic and Deflect Missiles can be used at any time during the kill. Nex will swap between these two curses each time she respawns. In an instance, Nex will always start off with Deflect Magic each time the instance is re-created, whether it be a new instance or rejoined when it is empty.
During the fight, Nex uses Ancient Magicks spells of the same type as the mage of that phase, which deal around 2500 damage and inflict the appropriate side effect of that element. Nex also has regular melee attacks that deal the same damage as her magic attacks. On the first four phases, this only hits her primary target. On the final phase, this upgrades to a cleave-type attack which will also damage anyone next to or on top of her primary target.
Unlike most bosses, Nex will try to take advantage of the player's weaknesses; if the player is weak against melee attacks, she will move in to attack them with both magic (ranged on shadow phase) and melee attacks. During the last three phases, she will always move in regardless of the player's weaknesses. If Nex cannot attack her target for whatever reason, she "resets", attacking the player from a distance again - however, she can and will still chase the player again as usual.
Bringing a shield is highly recommended.
Storm Shards and Shatter do work on Nex; however, since accumulated stacks clear out during phase transitions and the hard cap that is applied during the Zaros phase, it is not recommended using it during the fight.
Smoke[]
Before Nex spawns, equip your shield and use the following abilites on Fumus to build adrenaline: drink a Replenishment potion, Escape, Preparation, Resonance, and Anticipation before attacking Nex. Players ranging or maging should immediately use a bleed and lure her out from the middle. Her magic attacks have a chance to drag the player to Nex, regardless of their distance to her and will stun them for 3 seconds and disable their protection prayers. If you are dragged, immediately use Freedom and reactivate protection prayers as soon as they can be used again. It is best to lure her away to the sides so players will not be dragged back into the corridors and be subjected to her "NO ESCAPE!" attack.
Once Nex reaches 160,000 life points and calls out Fumus, kill him as quickly as possible, while maintaining use of Anticipation or Freedom when possible to avoid being dragged while killing him. Right after Fumus is killed, one could use Devotion as it will not drain any adrenaline since you do not have any target.
While not required, it is recommended to have Nex phase before the virus attack, as it will cause her to lay shadow traps as her first attack on the next phase.
Shadow[]
During this phase, Nex either starts off with a shadow trap or "Embrace darkness!". A shadow trap is laid if Nex was attacked after Fumus died before she said "Let the virus flow through you!". She will begin with "Embrace darkness!" if she was attacked after attempting to give a virus to her target. In addition, Nex's ranged attacks will slightly drain prayer if they hit.
As most players will range, this will mean Nex will chase after them. Players can avoid this by wearing melee armour to increase their ranged resistance. However, if she chases down her target, it is recommended to have a piece of augmented equipment with Mobile to easily outrun Nex. Nex will stop attempting to melee players after some time has passed, after which she can be safely attacked again.
End the phase at or near 100% adrenaline, as clearing the next phase quickly is vital.
Blood[]
During this phase, Nex will start with "A siphon will solve this!", and summon up to 3 Blood reavers (2 if in a team of 5 or less). Gain adrenaline off Nex, avoiding any damage dealing abilities as it will heal her during this time, in addition to attacking immediately after finishing the siphon. Drink a dose of adrenaline potion and use your thresholds to deal as much damage to Nex as possible. The tank should stay within melee distance of Nex to reduce the amount of magic attacks she will use on them. Four attacks after summoning the reavers, Nex will pick a player within her attack range and say "I demand a blood sacrifice!", with that player turning red. The player should immediately run away from her, otherwise she will heal a large amount of health. In a group, the tank should immediately provoke her after she targets a player so keep her aggression on them.
When soloing, players should position themselves carefully during the four attacks before the sacrifice. If there are any reavers within attacking distance, severely wound or kill them to reduce the amount of health Nex will recover if she has not reached 80,000 life points by the time she does another siphon, as she will heal up to 14,800 life points from two intact reavers. Stay within melee distance of Nex to reduce the amount of magic attacks, as her magic attacks on this phase always hit and heal around 1,000-1,500 life points per cast. When she says "I demand a blood sacrifice!", wait briefly before using Escape to avoid the sacrifice. Staying within melee distance will prevent Nex from force moving you into a position where you may end up surging into a wall closeby and allowing her to heal from your mistake.
It is possible to clear the phase with Onslaught, though players should watch their health to avoid killing themselves.
Once Nex reaches 80,000 life points, all siphons afterwards will not summon any reavers, and if there were any reavers when she used it, will not recover any health from them. If Nex uses another siphon, move away from her to a position where she cannot see you and kill Cruor as fast as possible. Otherwise, she will see the player and will attack them, wasting supplies for the next two phases. If Devotion and Resonance are available, immediately Resonance the first hit and Devotion the remaining attacks. Once Nex demands another sacrifice, attack her immediately.
If you plan to begin the Ice phase with "Contain this!" instead of "Die now, in a prison of ice!" wait for her to say "I demand a blood sacrifice!". Make sure you stay far enough when phasing during the sacrifice attack, as failing to do so will cause Nex to start Ice phase with up to 90,000 life points.
Ice[]
During this phase, Nex will immediately use one of two unique ice phase abilities, dependent on what quote was said prior to starting this phase:
- "Contain this!" used first if Nex's last quote was "I demand a blood sacrifice!". She usually run towards her target's last position when she says this, and after 3 seconds four icicles will pop up, and have a 3x3 range around them. Getting hit by these icicles will deal up to 3,500 damage, stun anyone nearby and disable their overhead protection prayers. Smaller icicle rushes will also appear if players were in visible range of Nex, and have a range of 5 squares before disappearing. Getting hit by these will only deal up to 1,700 damage. Players should be wary whenever she does this as like the blood sacrifice, she may attempt to melee her target and result in them being hit by the main icicles. Surge/Escape is recommended if she tries chasing after the player after using this ability.
- "Die now, in a prison of ice!" will be used first if Nex's last quote was "A siphon will solve this!". She will encase her target in a prison of ice, stunning them for 5 seconds and disabling any overhead protection prayers for the same amount of time. Nex can either attempt to melee the target or use magic attacks against the trapped player. Although melee is not possible, she can occasionally melee through the prison if she flies into one of the tiles being covered in icicles. The prison deals up to 8000 damage and the addition of her magic/melee attack that can hit up to 2,500 can kill the trapped player quickly. To free the trapped player, simply break one of the icicles forming the prison; note that this may take multiple tries to do so.
In addition, her magic attack will drain 150 prayer points if they hit.
Once Nex reaches 40,000 life points, kill Glacies as quick as possible to avoid another potential ice prison. If Nex says "Contain this!", you should try to hide from her range if you can to prevent her from attacking you.
Zaros[]
During this phase, Nex begins with "NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!", healing back to 73,333 life points, activating Turmoil, which visibly drains the players' stats when the effect occurs, and increases all of her combat stats. Nex will always start off with Soul Split at the beginning of this phase unless her Deflect Magic/Missiles curse carried over from the previous phase. For every successful attack she does towards nearby players, she will heal 2,500 life points with a limit of three players at a time. Keep Deflect Magic active at all times during this phase, as an unprotected hit can deal over 5,000 life points. Her magic attacks also have a chance to drain the player's prayer points. In addition, attacks that deal over 2,000 damage become severely reduced, so Shadow Tendrils should not be used during this phase.
After three attacks, Nex will switch from Soul Split to Deflect Melee, so use of melee is discouraged during this phase. After another three attacks, she will switch to using no overhead curse before resuming the same rotation again. If Nex uses Deflect Missiles/Magic and the player has a melee switch, it is advised to use it as these curses will last significantly longer compared to Soul Split and Deflect Melee. Use of Resonance is encouraged to heal from her highly damaging attacks, saving supplies. Devotion is also recommended to reduce damage from her attacks.
In a group, players should stay away from the tank, as Nex's melee attacks now shatter, dealing damage to everyone next to or near her target. Regardless, players should keep their health above 2,500 to ensure they will not be accidentally killed from a swipe or a magic attack. Once Nex is killed, she will activate Wrath, which takes 3 seconds to charge, so players within 4 spaces of her should move away to avoid being hit by it. After each kill, a player should use the enhanced excalibur special and regenerate, Guthix's Blessing if they do not possess this item or Ice Asylum (group) if they don't need to rebank to recover lost health and save supplies.
Solo[]
The most effective soloing and duoing makes use of instances. This is because Nex will always start with Deflect Magic, making her completely vulnerable to ranged attacks for the entire fight. As this method is designed to kill Nex quickly and does not focus on a prolonged fight, use of augmented Pernix or Sirenic armour is recommended for increased damage and other perks. Superior void knight equipment provides both accuracy and damage bonus, but is often not enough to compensate for the various perks players can put on augmented armour. A shadow nihil and the Reckless aura will further speed up kills. Players attempting speed kills for the first time should bring a Pack yak until they feel comfortable enough to use shadow nihils.
Before Nex spawns, equip your shield and use the following abilites on Fumus to build adrenaline: drink a Replenishment potion, Escape, Preparation, Resonance, and Anticipation. Save Freedom for whenever Nex uses her drag attack. In general, use Deflect Magic, although switching to Deflect Melee can be helpful at times if Nex decides to melee you.
Click on Nex to perform an autoattack and immediately use Shadow Tendrils. After this, use Fragmentation Shot, lure Nex from the centre and prioritise using the abilities Corruption Shot, Snipe, Snap Shot, Bombardment, Tight Bindings, Fragmentation Shot, and Needle Strike/Mutated Dazing Shot until she reaches 160,000 life points. Always use Soul Split when running Nex. Use Rapid Fire to kill Fumus, cancelling it when he reaches around 2000 life points with Sacrifice, and tag Nex with an autoattack.
During her phase transition, switch to Soul Split, rapidly click on Nex to perform an autoattack once she becomes attackable again and immediately use Snap Shot. After this, use Fragmentation Shot and run into the western pathway of the Zarosian symbol as Nex chases you, prioritising the same abilities as before. Once you exit the symbol on the northern side, Nex will usually have stopped attempting to attack you in melee distance, thus avoiding the bleed from "Embrace darkness!". If Nex continues to stay in melee distance, use Surge and hide behind the corners of the symbol. Once Nex reaches 120,000 life points, kill Umbra with Rapid Fire and Sacrifice.
After Umbra dies, if your adrenaline is at least 75%, immediately click on Nex to use an autoattack and use Snap Shot. The autoattack will phase Nex into her blood phase while the second hit of Snap Shot will damage her significantly.
While Nex uses her blood siphon, use Anticipation, Freedom, Provoke, or Storm Shards to build to at least 92% adrenaline if necessary. When Nex's wings are fully raised, activate Snipe, move as far away from Nex as your weapon's attack range allows, and use Onslaught. If the player is concerned with dying due to Onslaught's self-damage, use Death's Swiftness instead.
Nex will often use her blood sacrifice in the middle of the player's Onslaught. It is usually better to sustain Onslaught and ignore the sacrifice if the player's health is high enough; otherwise, use Surge. Snipe with Nightmare Gauntlets should be the player's most prioritised basic ability during this phase.
If the player accidentally heals Nex too much, attack the blood reavers during Nex's siphon to reduce the amount she can heal from them, continue avoiding her sacrifice, and damage her until she reaches 80,000 life points. Kill Cruor; the player may not have the 50% adrenaline needed to use Rapid Fire, so simply kill him with basic abilities if this is the case.
If Nex's next attack is the ice prison, use Anticipation during her phase transition. Click on Nex to perform an autoattack and use Snap Shot before her prison targets the player. Heal to at least 8000 life points, use Reprisal if possible, and use Resonance to heal from her magic attack. After this, phase Nex to 40,000 life points and kill Glacies with the usual abilities. Stay away from Nex to avoid her containment special attack. If stunned (which will usually happen if hit by the containment or frozen due to not putting up the correct prayer), immediately Freedom out of it. Players should expect two ice prisons at most, with one or no prisons being rather uncommon.
During the final phase, have Deflect Magic active at all times unless confident enough to use Soul Split. Build to 100% adrenaline and "run" Nex when possible. While this will require considerable effort, it will prevent her from attacking often, since her Soul Split and increased damage output can significantly slow down kills.
Once Nex is killed, move far away to avoid her Wrath damage. All players in the room should teleport out, rebank, and return to the instance. This will ensure that when the instance is re-entered again, Nex will be using Deflect Magic rather than Deflect Missiles, which will happen if a player is still in the instance when Nex respawns.
