Nex/Strategies

Nex is one of the strongest bosses in RuneScape, surpassed only by the Kalphite King, Vorago and Araxxor. All of her attacks can hit very high and can hit multiple players at once.

Unless you possess the strongest gear and experience, it is recommended that you fight Nex with a team.

Skill level recommendations

 * Level 80+ or  (95+ For solo)
 * Level 85+ (90+ for Solo)
 * Level 80+ (90+ for solo)
 * Level 96+ (for Overloads)
 * Level 95+
 * Level 68+ (for the war tortoise and bunyip), (96 for solo)

The following levels are very useful:
 * Level 88+ (for extreme potions)
 * Level 95+ (for Turmoil and Torment) or, alternatively 70+ with an Amulet of Zealots (Requires 48 )
 * Level 88-96+ (for the unicorn stallion and pack yak)

Getting there
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 Armadyl, Bandos, Saradomin and Zamorak. Each piece is found in a different stronghold, and the strongholds require 70 Agility, Constitution, Ranged, and Strength. None of these skills may be boosted.

The frozen key has ten charges and one is used whenever entering the prison. The key can be repaired at an armour stand for 50,000 to 10,000 coins per charge, depending on your Smithing level.

Inside the prison is a chamber of Zarosian followers, which are aggressive towards all players, unless they use the Shard of Zaros, a post-quest item from completing Fate of the Gods quest. Like all chambers, another door is at the end, which requires killing 40 Zarosian followers or by wearing a set of ancient ceremonial robes, which bypass the killcount. It is highly advised you bring a set of ceremonial robes to avoid killing Zarosian followers.

Beyond here is a safe room and the spirit Ashuelot Reis, with whom you can access your bank. On the eastern wall is a magical barrier, which you can dispel to enter Nex's chamber. When you reach the safe room, deposit your key and ancient ceremonial robes (if you die with your key and fail to protect it, you will have to kill followers in the main strongholds for the key again and may take longer then one hour). Making a bonfire will boost the player's maximum lifepoints.

There is no altar within, and the only way out is to teleport or be slain. Unlike the other bosses of the God Wars Dungeon, if you die your grave will be on the spot you died. If there is no one in the room, Nex and any remaining bodyguards will despawn. If a player enters Nex's room, she will spawn shortly afterwards, but if a player logs in her room the spawn will be slightly delayed.

Nex also has the option to be fought in an instanced fight; her instance costs 800,000 coins for one hour, but can be set at either fast, average or slow spawn rates. The player can begin the instance by clicking on the barrier.

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. Void can be used for DPS, although doing so is not recommended unless one has prior experience at Nex.

If you plan to solo Nex, you should bring a shield to counter her ice prisons. Also, surpassing her blood phase by yourself requires incredible DPS (40,000 damage in around 25 seconds); this may require drygore, Ascension, or seismic weaponry.

Melee
Meleers yield moderate resistance against melee and no resistance against Magic.


 * Head: Malevolent helm > Torva full helm > (Superior) Tetsu helm > Ganodermic visor
 * Amulet: Saradomin's whisper > Amulet of fury
 * Ring: Ring of Vigour > Warrior ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) / Sixth-Age circuit / Warrior ring
 * Cape: Completionist cape > Max cape > TokHaar-Kal > Fire cape > Skillcape
 * Body: Malevolent cuirass > Torva platebody >(Superior) tetsu body > Bandos chestplate / Verac's brassard
 * Legs: Malevolent greaves > Torva platelegs> (Superior) tetsu legs > Bandos tassets / Verac's plateskirt
 * Gloves: Static gloves > Torva gloves / Spellcaster gloves > Bandos gauntlets
 * Boots: Ragefire boots > Torva boots > Bandos boots
 * Main-hand: Drygore mace / rapier / longsword > Chaotic claw / rapier / longsword / maul
 * Two-handed: Noxious scythe > Chaotic maul / Chaotic spear
 * Off-hand: Off-hand drygore mace / rapier / longsword > Off-hand chaotic claw / rapier / longsword > Enhanced excalibur
 * Shield (optional): Divine spirit shield / Chaotic kiteshield > Bandos warshield
 * Scrimshaw: (Superior) scrimshaw of vampyrism
 * Aura: Vampyrism > Inspiration > Invigorate

Magic
Magers yield high resistance against melee and moderate resistance against Magic.

Ranged
Rangers have a high resistance to Magic, however little resistance against melee. This may cause Nex to try and melee the player if she is targeting them.

Smoke
Smoke phase: During this phase, she will use Smoke spells in the form of chaotic clouds. These have a moderate range and are also capable of poisoning the player, up to 360 poison damage. Her special abilities in this phase are: After she reaches 4/5th of her life points and her mage Fumus is killed, she will go to the next phase.
 * "Let the virus flow through you!" - One player (the one Nex targets) will get infected (this may miss). 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 spread it to healthy players.
 * "There is... NO ESCAPE!" - Nex will teleport and fly through one of the paths of the central symbol, damaging players who stand in her way for up to 4000 and disabling their protection prayers.
 * Dragging a player - Draws a player to Nex, deactivating their prayers and stunning them. Nex tends to do this during the beginning of the phase, and after that she usually tends to do the drag after she does her "NO ESCAPE!" attack.

Shadow
Shadow phase: During this phase, she will use Shadow spells, which are in fact ranged attacks that represents a shadowed vampyre. This is the only phase where she uses ranged-based attacks. Her special abilities in this phase are: After she reaches 3/5th of her life points and her mage Umbra is killed, she will go to the next phase.
 * "Fear the shadow!" - Shadow traps will appear under every player in the area. After 3 ticks, any player still standing on them will be hit for up to 4000 damage. One can use Soul Split when she calls a shadow, helping save food during the kill.
 * "Embrace darkness!" - The room will be darkened drastically, only occurring to players within 15 spaces of her. The closer you are to Nex, the darker the room will be. If you stand too close to Nex for five seconds, you will get a message saying "The shadows start to consume you!" and be dealt rapid damage up to 700 per tick until you get away from her.

Blood
Blood phase: During this phase, she will use Blood spells which will heal her. Her special abilities in this phase are: After she reaches 2/5th of her life points and her mage Cruor is killed, she will go to the next phase. If she sacrifices the Blood reavers before she calls Cruor's name out, the health must be depleted again. If she calls Cruor's name out, she will not heal from the reavers.
 * "A siphon will solve this!" - Nex will summon up to three blood reavers and kneel down for about 8 ticks. During this, all damage she receives instead heals her, shown by purple hit splats. Any blood reavers from the previous siphon will instantly die, and Nex will be healed by however many lifepoints they had remaining. If her health runs to 2/5th of her maximum lifepoints and she does this, the reavers will die but she will not heal from them.
 * "I demand a blood sacrifice!" - Nex will target a player, who will glow red. If the player does not move away from Nex in time, she will heal an amount equal to 100% of the targets maximum lifepoints and deal damage equal to 10% of them. It is advised to run if targeted. Nex seems to use this attack on the farthest player from her. If all players are close enough, she will pick a player within melee range.
 * Healing - This ability is active from the start of the blood phase and last until the phase ends. If Nex is attacked with a successful bleed over time ability, such as Combust, Fragmentation Shot, Deadshot, Dismember or Slaughter, the hits will instead heal Nex instead of doing damage.

Ice
Ice phase: During this phase, she will use Ice spells which will target all players, freeze them (if Protect/Deflect Magic is off) and lower prayer points. Her special attacks in this phase are: After she reaches 1/5th of her life points and her mage Glacies is killed, she will go to the last phase.
 * "Die now, in a prison of ice!" - Nex freezes a targeted player using an ice stalagmite attack, stunning them and dropping their overhead protection/deflection prayer. When the ice recedes, the trapped player will be hit for 5000+ damage. Players can use Freedom against this. If Nex is within melee range she will attack with melee, and with mage if distant enough.
 * "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 3500 damage, get stunned and be unable to eat. Small icicle rushes will surge from them, dealing up to 2000 damage if they hit a player but will not cause any other effects.

Final
Final phase: During this phase, she will only use her normal magic and melee attacks. However, they will become far more accurate and powerful, hitting massive (2000) damage even through prayer. She will cycle between using Soul Split and the other Deflect prayers, with deflect melee being the most commonly used during this phase. It should be noted that her Turmoil will drain stats off players and her Soul Split will heal for almost twice the hit she inflicts.
 * "NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!" - At the start of this phase, Nex heals about 2/5th of her life points (she heals 40,000 turning it to 73,333) and activates Turmoil, giving her greater combat stats and lowering combat stats from all players in range.
 * "Taste my wrath!" - Upon death, Nex will activate Wrath, dealing up to 3000 damage to all nearby players. Her version of Wrath has a larger radius than that of players, but activates after 3 ticks.

Strategy
The battle against Nex is fought in a circular room that resembles the symbol of Zaros. Nex moves very quickly; she can jump across the room in 2 ticks, as well as being able to leap across the holes. The battle has five phases: Smoke, Shadow, Blood, Ice and a final (Zaros) phase. There are 4 level 165 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. As their represented spell users, each one also has special benefits for themselves.

Nex can use all three Deflect curses. She may use Deflect Magic and Deflect Ranged during any time during the fight, although it is uncommon for her to use them during the Zaros phase, where she generally uses Deflect Melee often during that phase. Nex's wings will change color according to the deflection curse she is using; blue for magic, green for ranged and orange for melee.

During the fight, Nex uses Ancient Magicks spells of the same type as the mage of that phase. Nex also has regular melee attacks that hit up to around 2200. Depending on the phase, Nex's attacks may or may not be area of effect attacks. The only time this happen is with her magic attacks during the Blood phase, along with her melee attacks during the Zaros phase. When Nex loses 40000 lifepoints, she will say "[mage name], don't fail me!". Kill the mage she has called for, and Nex must be successfully attacked to begin the next phase.

Note that when killing the mages, she will start the next phase only when a successful hit is launched at her. For example, if Glacies is killed and Nex hasn't been successfully hit yet, Nex will continue to use "Ice phase" attacks until she is successfully hit.

With a royal crossbow, one can kill Nex's mages without being in their attack radius, saving food.

Bringing a shield is also helpful throughout the fight, as her attacks can hit very high often.

Smoke
It is best to be within melee distance of Nex during this phase, while using Protect/Deflect Melee. Anticipation/Freedom should be used as frequently as possible, and Surge to be used when she says "There is..." to stay out of her NO ESCAPE!" attack. Before she says "NO ESCAPE!", magers should use Combust, meleers should use Slaughter and rangers should use Fragmentation Shot as she will move towards the player provided that they aren't standing in the paths when she finishes her attack.

Nex's drag attack occurs only while she is using magic attacks, so it is best to stand next to her to drastically reduce her chances of doing so. As the attack is classified as a stun, using Anticipation and Freedom are highly recommended and should be used whenever possible as her drag does not occur all the time.

Shadow
Players should keep a moderate distance away from Nex during this phase, while using Protect/Deflect Missiles. Meleers should perform the hit and run tactic, as being too close for too long will cause rapid hits of up to 600 and she may also begin to chase them, depleting food heavily. She will spawn shadow traps under every player in the room after every 4 attacks, which will inflict heavy damage if a player is not quick enough to move - this can be easily avoided by moving to where no shadow traps are.

She can also use melee when within range, which should be avoided. Note that for rangers she is likely to run after them unless provoked by another player, as she exploits their weakness of being susceptible to melee. This can be mitigated by wearing a magic/melee helm and legs with a range body, at the cost of 20% accuracy for rangers, where Nex is likely to continue ranging them instead.

Should Nex chase after a player and inflict many rapid hits, it is advised to use Surge to get away from her, or another player to use provoke.

Blood
At the beginning of the phase, she will say "A siphon will solve this!", and spawn two Blood reavers near her. Incoming damage will also heal her. Her magic attacks will heal her slightly. During this phase, the DPSers should be using ultimate abilities such as Berserk and Death's Swiftness to deal as much damage as they can on her; the team has around 30 seconds to deal 40,000 lifepoint's worth of damage onto her.

After four/five attacks, Nex will say "I demand a blood sacrifice!". One player will be targeted (this is shown with them fully red, and is usually the furthest away from her). If the player is within five spaces of her before the attack ends, she will deal moderate damage to that player, launch a magic attack on all players within range (which will heal her on the damage from her attacks if they were unprotected), and cut their prayer points by 50%. After that, the team has around 5 attacks before she will say "A siphon will solve this!" If she says this again and her health has not been depleted to 80,000 lifepoints, she will gain lifepoints equal to the combined total of the reaver's lifepoints. Bleed abilities are not recommended on this phase, as Nex will gain lifepoints rather then losing them.

Note that the last special that Nex uses during this phase will determine which one she uses next on the Ice phase - it is advised for her to have last used "I demand a blood sacrifice!" so that she first uses "Contain this!" instead of "Die now, in a prison of ice!".

Ice
Nex's regular magic attacks drain prayer points during this phase. It is advised to use Protect/Deflect Magic on this phase as they will get frozen if not. At the beginning of the phase, she may use one of these attacks first:

Nex may say "Contain this!". After two ticks, four large icicles will appear in a 3x3 radius around her. If any players are near them, they will be dealt with heavy damage, their overhead prayers disabled and be unable to eat for a short time. Smaller icicle rushers also form near them. Players who are next to them will be dealt with moderate damage instead.

Nex may also say "Die now, in a prison of ice!". Her current target will be trapped in an ice prison, be stunned and their overhead prayers disabled. If the player is not freed within five ticks, the ice will shatter and deal up to 8000 damage on them, which can be fatal if she manages to land another hit on them. Players can use Anticipate or Freedom to negate the bind, and with full adrenaline use either Barricade or Immortality.

If one of the abilities was not used at the beginning of the phase, after five regular attacks she will use the other ability.

Final
Once Nex reaches this phase, she will say "NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!" where she will activate a stronger version Turmoil, which has a chance to drain a player's combat stats. Her overhead prayers consist of a stronger version of Soul Split, which heals much more then the damage she does on her target(s). She may also use any of the Deflection Curses, although she uses Deflect Melee the most on this phase.

Nex's attacks will increase in terms of accuracy and strength. In this phase, she will attack with Smoke spells, with their effects negated at a cost of higher damage. Her melee attack will also shatter, dealing melee damage to anyone next to or on her target.

Once she is defeated, she will activate Wrath which has a larger radius than that of a player's - however it takes 3 ticks to hit and can be easily avoided.