Nomad

Nomad is a non-player character who wanders around the Soul Wars minigame area. When players first arrive on the island, they will encounter Nomad and his imp familiar, Zimberfizz. Nomad will offer players a tour of the battlefield along with a short explanation, or a book that explains fighting in the Soul Wars minigame.

Nomad built the Soul Obelisk. There is speculation that he might be a Mahjarrat in disguise due to his combat level of 699 in Nomad's Requiem, and being the strongest NPC and the highest levelled quest monster in the game. He also appears to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder, one minute being collected and calm, the next being maniacal and chaos craving.

Rewards
Nomad may reward players by exchanging Zeal points with:


 * Experience in Slayer or any Combat skill except Summoning. This amount varies upon your level in that skill. Saving 100 zeal points and spending them all at once will give a bonus to the experience received.
 * Charms
 * Other - Bringing Slayer monsters back from the dead as pets.

Nomad (monster)
In the quest Nomad's Requiem, he is immensely powerful with a combat of level 699 with 1400 Hitpoints, and with an arsenal of many attack styles. He must be killed as he is the boss battle of the quest. He normally uses melee which can deal high 20s and low 30s. Vengeance cannot be used to recoil huge amounts of damage back to Nomad. Also, prayers can NOT be used to protect against Nomad's attacks (although Protect from Melee or Deflect Melee will partially block out the rapid melee attacks that Nomad uses when he falls to 1/5 of his health). Additionally, the dragonfire attack from the Dragonfire Shield does not damage him. He sometimes makes 3 clones of himself, all attacking you at once (the clones hit constant 4-5s). If he does that, you have to attack all the clones until you find the real Nomad (the clones disappear as you hit them, and they will all disappear when you hit the real Nomad). The most dangerous attack of his is the one which will ALWAYS hit you for damage equal to your total hitpoints minus one. Having a Divine Spirit Shield (and quite possibly Elysian, Spectral, or Arcane) equipped seems to reduce this damage, as well as reducing his 75 damage attack. Before doing his most powerful attack he teleports you a few squares away from him then casts a spell similar to ice barrage, freezing you but not damaging you. After that he stores energy in his hand before unleashing a very powerful attack which looks like a lightning bolt. Since it takes pretty long for him to charge the attack, you will have time to restore your hitpoints back to maximum with Saradomin brews or Rocktails. In addition, if you are using Ranged, you can get several free hits while he is charging. After hitting your HP-1 he will stop attacking you for few seconds, giving you time to restore your hitpoints and restocking your food, potions, etc. from a Beast of Burden (like a pack yak). He will also heal himself to half of his hitpoints when he reaches 1/4 of his HP, though he will only do this once, and there is no way to stop him from doing this. When he has low HP left, he will attack you with melee attacks that are as fast as Throwing knives.

Strategy for Defeating Nomad
Nomad has been reported to be prone to stab attack. Armour has shown completely inneffective, so focus on the offensive for your gear. It is recommended to fill one's inventory with "brew sets".

For the fight, when you are frozen, be sure to be well above your maximum hitpoints, but not to drink a super restore, as you'll need to use Saradomin Brews again afterwards, which makes better resource of your Super Restore Potions. On the final 1/4 of his health, Protect from Melee/Deflect Melee, seems to have a good affect of slightly reducing the attack you sustain during this last quarter.

Finally, don't panic. The worst thing to do is constantly being above your hitpoints, wasting Saradomin Brews, when they could be better used during the battle. Also, if you die, don't be disheartened, just learn from your mistakes and retry.

When he performs his charge attack, exclaiming "you cannot hide from my wrath!" blocking yourself from his sight by hiding behind an obstacle blocks his attack entirely.

When Nomad "clones" himself, the player may stand behind the pillars, as well, completely avoiding any attacks, upon which the clones will disappear of their own accord within thirty seconds.

Nomad_Safety.jpg
When hiding behind an obstacle, Nomad will run to the other side of the obstacle. Doing so may allow a "hit and run" method, attacking Nomad once then running behind a pillar again, thus equalizing his attack rate with your own if yours is slower. However, if Nomad is ever unable to attack for more than five seconds, he will teleport back to center, shouting "Coward!" and completely restoring his hitpoints.

If using the "hit and run" method, one should stand behind a pillar, always letting Nomad hit you once every time he says "Face me!" then running back behind the pillar the instant you see or even hear your caharacter attack. Using a protection from magic prayer is most efficient at this time. Doing this will allow consumption of up to four potion doses but no more when behind the pillar.

When Nomad switches to the melee frenzy at the end, one should stand next to the pillar, this time, one step away from Nomad, walking up to Nomad to let him get in one attack, preferably clicking one pace back away from him IMMEDIATELY after clicking to walk up to him. Doing this method so far has reported to allow two crossbow shots per walk without Nomad Resetting his health.

The "hit and run" method DOES in fact work with melee, although requiring slightly faster clicking reflexes.

Trivia

 * Some medium-level Quest Cape owners were disappointed upon release, as Nomad is very difficult to beat even with high combat stats. (Players have reported defeating Nomad without having a particularly high combat however.) This has sparked some debate among the forums. Although there has been much complaint, Jagex has mentioned that they will not weaken Nomad.
 * His name derives from Nomad, a community of people who moves from one place to another rather than living in the same location.
 * After the player shows Zimberfizz Nomad's body, he can be seen teleporting out of his lair, implying his survival.
 * Nomad's dying words are, "You haved doomed the fate of this world" this could be speculation for his return/sequel quest, or Nomad thought that only he can stop his "Masters" wrath.
 * His chathead resembles the real face of Darth Vader as he appeared in Return of the Jedi, with his bald head, pale face, and strange eyes.
 * His face and clothing is also very similar to Darth Malak from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
 * On the 10 January 2010, Jagex issued a hint via their Twitter feed, "Next week in RuneScape: Why did Nomad get updated last week?!"
 * Before the graphical update in association with the quest Nomad's Requiem, he looked similar to an Elite dark mage. A second possible explanation for this was that Nomad gained this appearance from devouring/absorbing souls. Or maybe he is one due to the elite dark warror calls him a "traitor".
 * Nomad has the highest maximum hit possible by a monster in the game at 98, but the player fighting him would have to have 99 Hitpoints. If the player's hitpoints are lower than 99, the highest-hitting monster would be TzTok-Jad with a max hit of 98.
 * Neither Vengeance nor a Ring of recoil nor deflection prayers will work on Nomad.
 * Nomad has an interesting throne. Since the throne is located directly below the Soul Obelisk, it can be assumed he sits there to absorb filtered soul fragments.
 * Nomad's running and combat animations are different from a player's and other NPC's animations.
 * In postbag from the Hedge 43, Zimberfizz says "Be seein' you soon. Nomad's up to more mischief than a zombie impling in a butchers.", which is hinting at a possible sequel.