Nex/Strategies

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Nex is the second strongest boss in all of RuneScape only being surpassed by the Queen Black Dragon. If you want to defeat her, it's important that you're properly prepared. This article will explain the strategies players usually use when fighting her.

Note: It is strongly recommended that you fight Nex with a team. You can find a team at the official RuneScape Forums, in the Teamwork section. Without taking advantage of unintended game mechanics or some impractical tactics it is considered impossible to solo Nex.

Preparation

Getting there

File:Ancient prison features.png
Nex's dungeon features.

Nex resides in the Ancient Prison. See the main article for information on how to get there. After the main room of the Zaros stronghold (where you can kill monsters to increase your killcount), but before Nex, there is a safe room with a bank. This bank is accessed via the nature spirit Ashuelot Reis. This room functions like a safe area where players can't be attacked and can refill on supplies before fighting Nex. There is no altar within the boss chamber, and the only way out of that chamber is to teleport or be slain. Once your team is ready for the fight, go down the slope to enter the room.

Equipment

You won't last long against Nex if you don't have the right equipment. This is a list of recommended equipment.

Pernix/Armadyl/Royal Teams
Void Teams
For both teams


Min Levels

85+ Ranged OR 90+ Defence

67+ Summoning

70+ Prayer 90+ Attack and Strength

High Levels

90+ Ranged

90+ Defence

96+ Herblore for Overloads (or 94 with boost Greenman's Ale (m))

79+ Summoning (Fire Titan)/88 (Unicorn) and 96 (Yak)


Ranged Duo

Ranged Solo

Battle overview

File:Nex Mages.png
The Four Mages, in order from left to right of the phases

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 phase. There are 4 level 285 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.

During the fight, Nex uses Ancient Magicks rush spells of the same type as the mage of that phase. Nex also has regular melee attacks that hit up to around 360. Every time a fifth of her health has been taken away, one of her mages will become vulnerable; at this point, Nex will say "[mage name], don't fail me!". Once that mage is killed, the next phase will begin.

The phases

This section lists all the different attacks Nex will use. See below for what players should do in the different phases.

Let the virus flow through you!

File:Smokebarrage.png Smoke phase: During this phase, she will use Smoke spells which deal over 250 damage through prayer and poison for 88 damage. Her special attacks in this phase are:

  • "Let the virus flow through you!" - Damages, lowers combat stats, drains prayer points (2 per second), and spreads between adjacent 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 700 and disabling their protection prayers.
  • Dragging a player - Draws a player to the central crossway, disabling prayer and stunning them for a short period of time.

​After she reaches 4/5th of her life points and her mage Fumus is killed, she will go to the next phase.

Fear the shadow!

File:Shadowbarrage.png Shadow phase: During this phase, she will use Shadow spells, which are in fact ranged attacks. This is the only phase in which she uses Ranged. Her special attacks in this phase are:

  • "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 600 damage.
  • "Embrace darkness!" - The room will be darkened drastically. The closer you are to Nex, the darker the room will be. If you stand next to Nex, you will take constant damage.

​After she reaches 3/5th of her life points and her mage Umbra is killed, she will go to the next phase.

A siphon will solve this!

Blood phase: During this phase, she will use Blood spells which will heal her. Her special attacks in this phase are:

  • "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 (up to 3030).
  • "I demand a blood sacrifice!" - Nex will target a player, who will glow red. If (s)he does not move away from Nex in time, she will cast blood barrage on everyone, halving prayer points and healing herself.

​After she reaches 2/5th of her life points and her mage Cruor is killed, she will go to the next phase.

Contain this!

Ice phase: During this phase, she will use Ice spells which will target all players, freeze them and lower prayer points. Her special attacks in this phase are:

  • "Die now, in a prison of ice!" - Nex freezes a targeted player using an ice stalagmite attack. When the ice recedes, the trapped player will be hit for 500-750 damage. However, it is possible for other players to destroy the icicles that make up the prison, allowing the trapped player to avoid damage.
  • "Contain this!" - Nex creates a barrier of ice (four by four squares) around her. Getting caught in this can result in up to 400 life points of damage and it will disable your prayer for a short period.

​After she reaches 1/5th of her life points and her mage Glacies is killed, she will go to the last phase.

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 damage even through prayer. She will cycle between using Soul Split, Deflect Melee and no overhead prayer.

  • "NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!" - At the start of this phase, Nex will heal 6,000 life points and activate Turmoil, giving her greater Attack, Strength, and Defence and lowering those stats from all players.
  • "Taste my wrath!" - Upon death, Nex will activate Wrath, dealing damage up to 600 to all nearby players. Her version of Wrath has a larger radius than that of players, but it has a longer activation time.
  • Nex activating Turmoil

    Nex activating Turmoil

  • "Fear the shadow!" While the room gets darker.

    "Fear the shadow!" While the room gets darker.

  • "No escape!" Fly attack.

    "No escape!" Fly attack.

​Killing tactics

Note: If you stand on Nex for too long, you will take constant hits of 100, your overload timer will be sped up, and your stats will be drained.

File:Smokebarrage.png Smoke phase: Before Nex spawns, stand within melee distance (MD) of her spawn area, in the middle of the room. When she spawns, use all of your weapon's special attacks, drink a dose of recover special, and continue fighting. Use Protect from Magic, or Protect from Melee if you are the tank.

  • "Let the virus flow through you." - If you get the virus, don't run. It's more important to stay within melee distance of Nex; this will force her to use melee on a single player most of the time.
  • "There is... NO ESCAPE!" - This attack can be completely avoided if you don't stand in her path. If the tactics are performed properly she will only move during this attack, and then fly back into the original spot.

When Nex says "Fumus, don't fail me!", run over to kill Fumus in the north west corner. DD (everyone on the team stands on the same square) exactly 2 spaces south-east of Fumus's spawn spot. It's possible Nex will fly towards you and then back to the middle of the room again, delaying her attacks significantly. If you do this fast enough Nex will not use Smoke Barrage again. Once Fumus is dead, you can step away from your team-mates to let the virus dissipate.

File:Shadowbarrage.png Shadow phase: The damage from her shadow attacks (excluding the shadow traps from "Fear the shadow!") is based upon how close the player is to Nex when the attack is launched. Therefore, it is recommended to space out from Nex to prevent constant heavy damage. Protect from Ranged will reduce 25% of the incoming damage; however, if Nex targets you, use Protect from Melee - this will be much more effective when she gets close.

  • "Fear the shadow!" - When a trap appears under you, take a few steps away from where you're standing. Don't wildly run away; shadow traps from other players will harm you if you step on them. The traps are normally laid after every 4 of Nex's shadow attacks. However, the "Embrace darkness!" attack is always accompanied by shadow traps.
  • "Embrace darkness!" - You'll only take constant damage if you're in Nex's melee range. Don't stand too close to her.

Once the phase is finished and Nex says "Umbra, don't fail me!", the player Nex is targeting should lure her over to the boss chamber entrance. When Umbra is dead, the player should hit her once (known as tagging, people in the friends chat will say "Tag" or "T") when she is near the entrance.

Blood phase: Turn Protect from Magic back on. If you haven't done so yet, lure Nex over to the entrance to the chamber. This will cause fewer reavers to spawn, and they will spawn closer to the players.

  • "A siphon will solve this!" - Stop attacking Nex; attack the reavers. Nex uses her siphon after every 5th attack. It's easy to recognise this attack; she will stop attacking and you'll see purple hitsplats on her. Nex usually spawns 1 or 2 blood reavers (if you're on the west side of the chamber, she might on rare occasions not spawn any reavers) when siphoning. During each siphon, attack the reavers 1-2 times (referred to as tagging reavers). It is essential to at least damage the reavers greatly as all their remaining health will be conferred to Nex during her next siphon.
  • "I demand a blood sacrifice!" - Don't run. You have to stay in melee distance; ignore the warning in the chatbox. She will use Blood Barrage on all players, healing herself and halving everybody's prayer points. It is crucial for players to keep their prayer points as low as possible during this phase so as to not waste potions unnecessarily.

After the barrier is down, kill Cruor in the south-east corner. Make sure you spread out from other players now to minimize the amount Nex will heal.

After the 5 September 2012 update, the time inbetween siphons has been drastically decreased, and Nex heals more from reavers . It is not recommended to go to Nex with less than a 4 man team. Tagging reavers is an absolute must.

Ice phase: In this stage, Nex's Ice Rush attacks drain the prayer points of everyone hit by 1/4 of the damage dealt (similar to Soul split/Smite). While attacking her, keep Protect from Magic on at all times, otherwise you will be likely to get frozen for a long period of time.

  • "Contain this!" - Step back if you're close to Nex. This attack will imprison all players standing in a four-by-four ice wall around her; it can be avoided. If you get hit, your prayer will be deactivated; if that happens to you, re-activate Protect from Magic as fast as you can.
  • ​"Die now, in a prison of ice!" - A single player will be trapped in an icicle cage - they can be easily identified by their prayer deactivating. If a team-mate is trapped, break the icicles. If you're trapped, heal yourself, run out of the cage once it's broken, and turn your prayer back on.

Once the barrier is gone, kill Glacies in the southwest corner. Watch out for Glacies freezing you; he can do this through Protect from Magic and leave you open to be hit by "Contain This!".

Final phase: Once Glacies has been killed, get within melee distance of Nex. Nex returns to using Smoke spells during this phase, though with their poisoning ability negated. Because Nex sometimes uses Deflect Melee during this phase, Ranged attacks are recommended for this final phase (Ranged is used for all phases, except the special attacks in the start and on the blood phase). She will switch between Deflect Melee and Soul Split throughout this stage. It is recommended to use Protect from Melee if tanking, otherwise Protect from Magic. If tanking, a Staff of light's special attack could be used to reduce 50% of melee damage.

It is important to note that during the final phase, Nex will heal 6,000 life points (bringing her up to 12,000). Nex will prioritise players with the lowest crush defence (if everyone is at the same distance). Be careful not to "corner tank"; if you are in the corner, and you are counted as furthest away, and still in Nex's melee range, this may cause her to move out of position and start casting a lot of magic attacks.

  • "Taste my wrath!" - Upon death Nex will use Wrath, so players are advised to quickly move away from Nex to avoid damage. You'll easily have time to move out of this.

What to do when Nex prays ranged?

After 5 September 2012, Nex has the ability to protect from ranged attacks, which can be deadly since she deflects the damage back. What you need to do is bring a melee weapon+armour such as rapier and Bandos and simply melee her when she protects ranged. Note: So far, it is observed that Nex prays ranged randomly on any phase, so always be on the lookout.

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