Nomad (monster)


 * This article is about the Quest Boss, for the music track, see Nomad (music track), for the NPC, see Nomad.

''NOTE: This article contains spoilers for those who have not completed Nomad's Requiem. If you have not done the quest, and do not want the quest to be spoiled, do not read further.''

Nomad is an immensely powerful being with a combat level of 699 and 10,000 Life Points, fought during the quest Nomad's Requiem. He is considered the hardest monster for a quest. He must be killed as he is the boss battle of the quest. Vengeance cannot be used to recoil huge amounts of damage back to Nomad. Also, prayers cannot 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 1/4 of his health). Additionally, the dragonfire attack from the Dragonfire shield does not damage him.

Nomad has an arsenal of many attack styles. The order of Nomad's special attacks is as follows:


 * Landmines - Otherwise known as "mines", are laid all around the player (damage avoidable)
 * Soul Blast - Nomad charges the 750-damage attack (damage avoidable)
 * Mirror Image - Nomad creates 3 illusions of himself (damage from clones avoidable)
 * Disintegrate - Nomad teleports the player to the centre and freezes them for 15 seconds - followed by an attack which deals the player's maximum life points minus one (unavoidable)
 * Enrage - When reduced to 25% health for the second time, Nomad will attack inaccurately with the speed of throwing darts. This attack only hits within melee range, making it possible to use the pillars to safespot by shooting him 2-3 times, then stepping up to him to get hit by his attack once, before stepping back and repeating this cycle. 

Between these special attacks, Nomad uses Magic, which can deal up to about 350 life points. This is the standard attack that players will face most of the time.
 * The flame vortices that are laid around the fight area deal 400 life points and drain the player's run energy to zero when stepped on. If you are next to one of these mines when they disappear, they can hit up to 700.
 * The 750-damage attack is evadable. Before Nomad launches the 750-damage attack, he waits a few seconds. This gives the player time to find a safe spot to evade the attack.
 * The 3 illusions that Nomad creates of himself will all attack the player at once, constantly hitting 40 or 50 life points. The player has to pick out the real Nomad by attacking them. If the player hits an illusion, he disappears. If the player hits the real Nomad, all illusions disappear. This attack CAN be avoided entirely by hiding behind a pillar. His clones will disappear after about 1 minute and he'll come for you again. It is highly recommended, though, that the player hide from the clones. This will give the player a chance to catch their breath, heal, refocus, and prevent the damage (up to 750 life points) the player may sustain while trying to find the real Nomad.
 * The most dangerous attack is the one which will hit the player for an amount damage equal to their maximum life points minus one. Before launching this attack, Nomad teleports the player a few squares away from him. He then casts a spell similar to Ice Barrage, freezing the player, but not damaging them. This makes Nomad's strongest attack unavoidable. After freezing the player, Nomad stores energy in his hand for a few seconds before unleashing his attack, which looks like a lightning bolt. The player should use this delay to restore their life points to full, otherwise they will die when Nomad uses the attack. Players using range should not use ruby (e) bolts now as the special effect could lower them below their max life points, resulting in a guaranteed death. Players should also remember that this attack does not lower their life points to one, it hits for their maximum life points minus one, which means that unless you are at full health (or boosted above it) you will die.

Strategy for Defeating Nomad
''Nomad is very difficult to defeat. It is likely that the player will die multiple times. If the player dies, they shouldn't be disheartened, but learn from their mistakes and retry. '''Having very high (85+) stats in all combat disciplines is advised, unless the player is particularly good at combat. 'Nomad is very hyped up a lot of the time - low levels have been known to kill him in a few tries - the trick is using ruby bolt(e), A familiar (like War Tortoise) and a dragon dagger, claws or another specing weapon. Nomad has been reported to be prone to stab attacks. It is recommended that the player fills their inventory with Saradomin brews and super restore potions at a 3:1 ratio, replacing up to one set of potions with combat boosting potions as preferred. This is to ensure that the player's combat skills remain sufficiently high to damage Nomad. If the player fails to do this, they could die. If the player brings a summoning familiar with them that carries combat supplies, they should quickly drop all the empty vials in their inventory while frozen in order to have space to withdraw more supplies from their Beast of burden. Rocktails can be used instead of Saradomin brews at very high levels.

Nomad's normal attacks are magical melee. This means that high magic defence armour is best. Dragonhide armour is recommended, as using Barrow's high-magic-defence armour such as Karil's can be expensive due to the player's likely frequent deaths. Although, if the player keep Karil's armour as kept on death, it will not break because it's in the inventory all the time.

When Nomad performs his 750-damage attack, exclaiming "you cannot hide from my wrath!", the player can avoid taking any damage by hiding behind a pillar. The player should be careful not to step on the flame vortices since it drains their run energy. One method that helps is to move out of the circle of mines and use ranged or magic on Nomad from a distance, giving the player more time to avoid the 750-damage attack as Nomad charges up for it.

When Nomad creates illusions of himself, the player may stand behind the pillars in the room, completely avoiding all attacks, upon which the illusions will disappear of their own accord within one minute. If Auto retaliate is turned on, the player's character will usually pick out and attack the real Nomad. It is possible to see which of the illusions are fake. The first 3 to attack are fake, the last one is Nomad. If his illusion attack starts and you didn't hide behind the pillar just watch which of the Nomads attacked last and that is the real one.

When the player is frozen just before the lightning attack, the player must be sure to be at or well above their maximum life points. However, they should not drink a super restore potion, as the player needs to use Saradomin brews again after the attack. This makes better use of their super restore potions. The player can use ranged to attack Nomad when he freezes the player, and familiars can still attack Nomad during that period. However, be careful if using enchanted ruby bolts, as their special effect (which drains 10% of the player's current life points) may go off just before Nomad's lightning attack. This could cause the player to die. Since it takes pretty long for Nomad to charge the attack, they can get several free hits if using Ranged or Magic. After launching his lightning attack Nomad will stop attacking the player again for a few seconds. This is a good time for the player to restore their life points and restock their food and potions from their summoning familiar, if they brought one.

If the player is hiding behind a pillar, Nomad will run to the other side of the pillar. Doing so may allow a hit and run method, attacking Nomad once, then running behind a pillar again, thus equalizing his attack rate with the player's if theirs is slower. If using the hit and run method, one should stand behind a pillar, always letting Nomad hit them once every time he says "Face me!". The player should stand on a square south of Nomad, behind a pillar. They should run back behind the pillar when their character attacks. Using the Protect from Magic or Deflect Magic prayer is most efficient at this time. Doing this will give the player time to consume up to four potion doses when hiding behind the pillar. The hit and run method works no matter what side of the combat triangle the player is using, but melee requires slightly faster clicking reflexes because the player has to walk up right next to Nomad. If Nomad is ever unable to attack for more than five seconds, he will teleport back to the centre, shouting "Coward!" and completely restoring his life points. This should be avoided at all costs.

When Nomad has 1/4 (2,500 LP) of his health left, he will heal himself with an amount equal to 1/4 of his total health (2,500 LP). There is no way to stop Nomad from healing. After this healing, Nomad will have 5,000 life points. The player will have to fight Nomad again and take away his life points. Nomad will only heal once.

When Nomad has only 1/4 (2,500 life points) of his health left again, he stops using his special attacks and attacks very fast with melee. He then has the same attack speed as Commander Zilyana, or throwing knives. However, his attacks will be very inaccurate. Protect from Melee or Deflect Melee seems to have a good effect of slightly reducing the damage the player sustains. If using a safe spot, one should stand next to a pillar, one step away from Nomad. Then the player should walk up to Nomad and let him hit once. Then they should immediately step back one square. It has been reported that by doing this method, the player can fire two crossbow shots for every hit Nomad does, without resetting Nomad's health. It is recommended to switch from Ruby Bolts (e) to Diamond Bolts (e).

Having a Divine spirit shield or an Elysian spirit shield equipped reduces not only normal damage, but damage from Nomad's lightning attack and his 750-damage attack as well. This can make the fight much easier and greatly reduce the risk of death, but is extremely expensive.

Players should note that Nomad's lightning attack does not reduce your life points to one, it hits your maximum life points level minus one, which means that unless you are at max life points or higher, it will kill you.

Tips

 * Fighting Nomad is somewhat safe, for if the player dies, they spawn in Soul Wars next to their gravestone and they can collect their items immediately. It is dangerous if the player's internet connection is unreliable, loses internet connection or gets disconnected, and they cannot log back in before the gravestone decays. Also, any items that don't appear at their grave are lost. If they have no Barrows items that they would lose upon death, or any items that wouldn't appear at their gravestone, and a reliable internet connection, there is no real need for concern because they'll be able to collect their items if they die.
 * Fighting Nomad can be expensive if using Barrows equipment, as it will degrade to 0 upon death, unless it is one of your 3 most valuable items kept on death. However, if the player has run out of supplies, and know they are going to die, run behind a pillar and safe spot. When Nomad heals to full life points he will no longer auto attack the player. They can then safely walk out of the room without having to die and repair Barrows equipment.
 * When fighting Nomad, it is recommended to use either ranged with Ruby bolts (e) and have auto-retaliate turned on (switch to Diamond bolts (e) when Nomad goes berserk), or use a high hitting melee weapon such as the Saradomin godsword (or any godsword; the Saradomin godsword's healing special effect is minimised by the large amounts of damage Nomad often inflicts).
 * Nomad is classified as a large monster and will therefore take double damage from the Dragon Halberd special attack. Many players have found this extremely helpful during Nomad's berserk mode.
 * It's also recommended that the player uses the spring pools at Oo'glog if they have done As a First Resort... to boost their Prayer and Life Points.
 * Since protection prayers do not work, Soul Split is a great alternative for players with at least 92 Prayer. At Nomad´s berserk mode using protect from melee DOES help a little.
 * A Bandos godsword is greatly suggested since it can lower the defence of Nomad and make the fight much easier. If the player doesn't have one, Darklight is a good alternative to lower Nomad's defence. The best weapon to use to lower Nomad's defence would be using the special attacks of the Statius's warhammer, but that weapon is very expensive to use.
 * If he has about 100 LP or less left and you are out of food/brews, turn on Retribution or Wrath. If you both die at the same time then it still counts as if he was killed.
 * Neither a Ring of Recoil or Vengeance have any effect on Nomad, so one shouldn't plan to use them during the fight.
 * If the player tries to leave the room when fighting Nomad through the arcane doorway, Nomad will say "And just where do you think you're going?" and teleport the player to the centre of the room, where Nomad hits the player with two of his normal attacks.
 * Sap Ranger has no effect on Nomad, although Leech Ranged may help boost the player's accuracy and damage. Be careful, as he can hit 989, and don't forget your food!

Trivia

 * A bug existed that allowed Nomad to be killed without retaliating or using any of his special attacks by using a Spirit Kyatt. This allowed many low levels that would not have been able to defeat Nomad normally to complete the quest. This has been fixed.
 * 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 nomads, a community of people who moves from one place to another rather than living in the same location (although he is referred to as if his name is Nomad, some people think he is a nomad).
 * After the player shows Zimberfizz Nomad's body, he can be seen teleporting out of his lair. This means that he is still alive; his current location is unknown.
 * Nomad's dying words are, "You have doomed this world" this could be speculation for his return/sequel quest, or Nomad thought that only he can stop his "Master's" wrath. This means that Nomad is actually the Protagonist character and not actually the Antagonist since the dark warriors that tried to defeat him were working for Lucien, much like the Plague quest series. It could be possible the player will encounter Nomad again when the next sequel of While Guthix Sleeps is released.
 * 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.
 * Nomad has the highest maximum hit possible by a monster in the game at 989, but only when fighting a player with 99 Constitution. One of his special attacks hits one less than the player's maximum life points.
 * 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."
 * Nomad is the second attackable NPC that can run. The other NPC is Zanik in The Chosen Commander when she is controlled by Bandos and attacks you. Other NPC's that cannot be fought which run are Snow imps, Arianwyn, Banner carriers, Sir Vant (while doing the Unstable Foundations tutorial), Commander Veldaban, and Xenia. Sigmund also runs in the secret H.A.M base in The Chosen Commander; he cannot be attacked, however.
 * He is the second Activity owner to be fought as a boss, after Kolodion in the Mage Arena.
 * As a NPC, Nomad wields his staff in his right hand, and as an attackable opponent, he wields it in his left and attacks you that way. It can be said that Nomad is the first boss that is left-handed.
 * Nomad looks curiously like the Apprentice from the Force Unleashed game as viewed during many of the games' pre-release pictures. This could be additional support leading to a sequel as Nomad mentions his "master" while the Apprentice also has an incredibly evil and power-hungry "master".