Nex/Strategies

Nex is the general of the Zarosian army.

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 than one hour). Making a bonfire will boost the player's maximum life points.

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. When using an instance, her first side curse is Deflect Magic. Unlike the base version of Nex, if there are player(s) in the bank room and no one in the boss room, Nex will not despawn; instead she will wander around or try to attack the first target she picks. If she is unable to reach a player, she will fly back to the centre of the room and try again, compared to flying straight to the player. She will also attempt to attack a player after she says "Fill my soul with smoke!".

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 and heal from her magic attacks during her Zaros phase.

It should be noted that if players plan to mage Nex, a second switch is required as her mages are immune to magic attacks. Regardless of your primary combat style, a second switch is recommended to bypass Nex's deflection curses.

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

Magic
Mages 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 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 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. This attack is magical, so the more magic attacks Nex uses, the greater the chance that she will drag a player more. As this attack is classified as a stun, Freedom and Anticipation can prevent her drags.

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 that drain prayer if they hit. 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 4,000 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 are within melee range of 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.
 * This attack will repeat again if a player who did not receive this ability is within range of Nex. (e.g. she uses "Embrace darkness!" then a player jumps down from the barrier, she will use it again)

Blood
Blood phase: During this phase, she will use Blood spells which will heal her for around 600 lifepoints per attack, and also hits others next to her target. 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 gained health must be depleted again. If she calls Cruor's name out, she will not heal from the reavers if she uses her siphon again.
 * "A siphon will solve this!" - Nex will summon two to three blood reavers (depending on team size; sizes of less than 10 will get two while more than that will get three), while kneeling down on the ground for 8 ticks. Any damage inflicted on her will instead heal her, shown by purple hit splats. In addition, if there are any blood reavers left over from the previous siphon, they will instantly die and Nex will be healed by how many life points they had. If she reaches 2/5ths of her health when she does this, the reavers will die but will not heal her, and no additional blood reavers will spawn. For every hit a blood reaver inflicts on a player, Nex will recover 92 lifepoints regardless of their actual hit.
 * "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 target's maximum life points 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 6,000+ damage. Players can use Freedom and Anticipation against this. If Nex is within melee range she will attack with melee, and with mage if distant enough. Other players can free the trapped player by attacking the icicles forming the prison, which may take a while to break.
 * "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 and be stunned. Small icicle rushes will surge from them, dealing up to 1,700 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 (2,000) damage even through prayer. She also gains a slight defensive buff during this phase, with the maximum damage that can be done against her up to 3500 per hit. 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 2500 (up to three targets max) regardless of the actual damage inflicted.
 * "NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!" - At the start of this phase, Nex heals for 33,333 life points 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 6,000 damage to all nearby players. Her version of Wrath covers a 5x5 area, although it takes longer to activate.

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, if she had a target and cannot find them, but still are in the arena. This will also skip 3 of her attacks, meaning that after 2 attacks after leaping, she will use her special abilities on that phase, or use overhead curses earlier.

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. As their represented spell users, they have the benefits of their ancient magick spells.

Nex can use all three Deflect curses, although she can only use two of them in each kill. Deflect Melee is always used on her Zaros phase, after Soul Split. Deflect Magic and Deflect Missiles can be used at any time during the kill. However, these two Deflect curses will switch every successful kill, so after Deflect Missiles, Nex will use Deflect Magic on the next kill. On her Zaros phase, Deflect Magic and Ranged are rarely used. These deflects operate differently then those of regular players: they provide 100% immunity to their respective style and reflect more damage.

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 2,200. All of Nex's attacks target one player, although they hit every player within her attack range. Only the magic attacks on her Blood and Zaros phase in addition to the melee attacks on the latter phase will hit multiple players at once if they are next to her target.

Unlike most other bosses, Nex will try to take advantage of the player's weaknesses for herself; if the player is weak against melee attacks, she will move in to attack them with both magic/ranged and melee attacks, which can be problematic on her Shadow phase. However, on her Blood, Ice and Zaros phases she will attempt to melee the player, regardless of her target's weaknesses.

Bringing a shield is also helpful throughout the fight, as her attacks can hit very high often, especially the ice prison on the ice phase. This is especially useful when soloing. It may seem a better idea for more experienced soloers to use Void Knight equipment over conventional high-tiered armour due to it having an accuracy buff that other armours do not provide, which is vital during the Blood, Ice and Final phases; however this means the player will be more vulnerable to attacks, especially during the Zaros phase.

Smoke
As soon as Nex appears, equip your shield and gain adrenaline from Fumus, using Anticipation as the last ability before attacking Nex. During this phase, Nex's magic attacks can hit up to 900 with protection prayers/curses (it will hit higher if the player blocks at the last second). 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. If you are dragged and have an elysian, divine or arcane spirit shield, equip it to reduce the damage from the next few hits while you are stunned. When Nex says "There is...", immediately use a bleed on her (excluding Dismember); if successful Nex will take double/triple damage depending on the bleed. Once Nex says "NO ESCAPE!" and starts moving from the middle, use Anticipation or Freedom to prevent her from dragging and stunning you, along with Devotion to block the hits if possible.

Once Nex reaches 160,000 lifepoints 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. Once he dies, attack Nex to begin 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.

Regardless of the quote said, immediately use a bleed if possible and go under Nex to multiply the damage from it. If the phase was started with a shadow trap, use of Soul Split is recommended to recover any lost health before she starts attacking the players. If players are ranging and Nex is focused on them, it is possible for her to start chasing them, causing massive damage from her darkness ability as a result. If this happens, the person being chased is advised to change any equipment that is causing them to be weak to melee and run away from her, using Surge if needed until she flies to them. Once she flies to her target, if that player is not tanking, the main tank will use Provoke to grab her attention.

Once Nex reaches 120,000 lifepoints and calls out Umbra, kill him as quickly as possible, while ensuring that you reach 100% adrenaline before starting the next phase, as it will be vital to clear it quickly. Use Berserk, Sunshine or Death's Swiftness before you start the blood phase.

Blood
During this phase, Nex will immediately begin with "A siphon will solve this!", and summon up to 3 Blood reavers (2 if in a team of less then 5). Gain adrenaline off Nex, avoiding any damage dealing abilities as it will heal her during this time. 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 10,000 lifepoints off that player and more from other players if they are within range, cutting their prayer points in half also. In addition, she will change targets if in a group, so the main tank will use Provoke to grab her attention again.

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 lifepoints by the time she does another siphon, as she will heal up to 14,800 lifepoints from two intact reavers. Stay within melee distance of Nex to reduce the amount of health recovered from her magic attacks, as they will heal her and will never miss, regardless of the armour worn. When she says "I demand a blood sacrifice!", stay at least 6 spaces away from her, and use Surge to escape if she tries to melee you. Staying within melee distance will prevent Nex from force moving you into a position where you may surge into a nearby wall. If Nex has not reached 90,000 lifepoints at this time, kill the other reaver. When she does another siphon, kill the reavers before focusing on Nex; it is very easy for her to recover health if players become too desperate to reduce her to 80,000 lifepoints from failed attacks. With a two-handed weapon, it is advised to use an auto-attack before using abilities; it can deal a large amount of damage and there is no delay between an auto-attack and an ability.

Once Nex reaches 80,000 lifepoints, 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. This is because if she can see you, she will launch four more attacks which can deplete the player's supplies. If Devotion and Resonance are available, immediately Resonance the first hit and Devotion the second one. 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 after the sacrifice ability, otherwise at the beginning of the ice phase the sacrifice effect will go off and heal Nex back to 90,000 lifepoints.

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 2,500 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 1,500 damage.
 * "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. If Nex is not planning to melee her target, she will always use a magic attack in tandem with the shattering prison, which can deal up to 2,500 damage in addition to a potential 8,000 damage from the shattering prison. The trapped player can be freed by attacking one of the icicles forming the prison, and the said player can also attack Nex while trapped in it.

In addition, her magic attack will drain 150 prayer points if they hit.

In a group, if the main tank is put in a prison of ice, they will usually use Freedom, then Barricade or Immortality, depending on the amount of health they have left. They should focus on gaining another 100% adrenaline to block the next prison, this time using Anticipation as Freedom will most likely be on cooldown, then the other ultimate defensive ability.

If soloing, players can either block the prison, or tank it instead. If players are planning to tank it, it is advised to reach 9,000+ lifepoints in time; use of Resonance and Reflect are highly important to avoid being combo'ed by the prison and potential attack. It is advised to start off the phase with "Contain this!" to reduce the amount of ice prisons overall and have a head start on the phase by dealing extra damage. Using Sunshine or Death's Swiftness is also advised to reduce her health as quickly as possible, since the supplies are usually depleted during this phase.

Regardless of party size, should Barricade or Immortality be unavailable or is not used, Resonance can be another alternative; should Nex's magic attack hit a player not using Protect/Deflect Magic, a message will say "You have been frozen!". As long as the player is keeping over 9,000 lifepoints, they will have enough health to tank the prison and heal themselves from her magic attack. This should not be relied on all the time as after casting the prison, Nex may attempt to melee the player but will be unable to until the prison breaks.

Once Nex reaches 40,000 lifepoints, kill Glacies as quick as possible to avoid another potential ice prison.

Zaros
During this phase, Nex begins with "NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!", healing back to 73,333 lifepoints and activating Turmoil which visibly drains the players stats when the effect occurs, and increases all of her combat stats. If Nex was not using a deflect curse during the previous phase, she will immediately start with Soul Split, healing 2,500 lifepoints per target (up to three targets) if her attack hits. Deflect Magic is the most common overhead prayer to use during this phase, as an unprotected magic attack can deal up to 5,000 damage, and her melee attack still has the same max hit as the last four phases. Her magic attacks also have a chance to drain the player's prayer points. In addition, thresholds and ultimates will have their damage greatly reduced; abilities like 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, unless another overhead prayer is in effect. After three attacks, she will switch to no overhead curses 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. Using ultimates are highly recommended to chip away her health bit by bit, as the increased defence means players will hit less. Once Nex is killed, she will activate Wrath - but it will take 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 Ice Asylum if they don't need to rebank to recover lost health and save supplies.