Nex/Strategies

A group of players fighting Nex

Nex, the Zarosian general of the Ancient Prison, is one of the most powerful bosses in Zeah. It is strongly recommended that players fight her with a team, as it is extremely difficult to solo Nex.

If you find this guide to be too long, we recommend you watch this youtube video.

Getting There

To access the Ancient Prison must obtain the frozen key. The four pieces of the key are obtained by defeating monsters from the other factions; Bandos, Zamorak, Saradomin and Armadyl.

Fight Overview

Nex possesses high health but fairly low combat stats and defensive bonuses for her level - however, she should still not be underestimated. While she is weakest to stab attacks, ranged is also needed for the shadow and Zaros phases and her bodyguards. The bodyguards have fairly high Defence with varying defence bonuses, with three of them being slightly weaker to melee than they are ranged. Regardless, bringing melee and ranged is recommended for smooth and fast kills in smaller teams or solo trips.

During the fight, Nex uses Ancient Magicks of the same type as the mage of that phase with a range of 10. Nex also has a standard melee attack that can hit players within melee distance, hitting up to 30.

If Nex is not in combat with a player for at least 8 ticks, she will fly ahead of where you are running and resume attacking. If the player is under her, she will dash to the center of the room. If the player is already in the center of the room, she will dash to of one of the bridges in the cross. Player attacks are interrupted when she does this and must be reinitiated. Nex is immune to any hits that are in process during this maneuver, such as those from crossbow bolts, so it is advised only to do this if a new position will benefit the team.

Smoke Phase (Phase 1)

Nex's first phase, the smoke phase, starts when she shouts "Fill my soul with smoke!" During this phase, Nex will use Smoke Rush against players, which can poison. This is the only phase where her basic magic attacks do not drain prayer. All players should stand within melee range of her, a strategy known as melee distancing (MD), which will cause her to use her melee attack which only targets one player, as opposed to her magic attack which targets multiple players and deals more total damage. While in melee distance, the player being targeted by Nex may use Protect from Melee to reduce the overall damage taken, and then immediately switch to Protect from Magic once Nex switches targets.

Her special attacks in this phase are:

• Choke - Nex will shout Let the virus flow through you! The player furthest away with the least amount of magic defence bonus will be targeted with the attack and become infected, drains two prayer points per every two ticks, and drains stats based on the player's highest attack bonus. The virus will also spread between adjacent players, infecting players without it, and resetting the duration on infected players.

• A slayer helmet will reduce the duration of the choke, and the spectral spirit shield will reduce the prayer drain.

• Drag - Nex will drag a random player towards her, stunning them and deactivate their protection prayer. Nex will only drag players if they are within 6 tiles away. There is a 1/4 chance for Nex to drag a player if they do not have Protect from Magic on and a 1/8 chance if they do.
• Smoke Dash - Nex will shout "There is... NO ESCAPE!" and dart down one of the four aisles in the chamber for up to 50 damage. Nex will look at the direction she intends to fly down towards prior to the attack as a warning indicator to avoid that area.

Nex will always start this phase by using her Choke attack. In teams, player should spread out to avoid taking damage from the Choke mechanic.

After Nex reaches 80% health (2720 hitpoints), she will shout "Fumus, don't fail me!". Now, her mage Fumus will become vulnerable and must be killed to proceed to the next phase. Fumus is weakest to stab attacks, although ranged is still reasonable.

Shadow Phase (Phase 2)

Nex's second phase, the shadow phase, starts when she shouts "Darken my shadow!" During this phase, Nex will shoot shadow shots which are considered as Ranged attacks. Having Protect from Missiles active will cut the damage taken in half. Successful hits can drain prayer points slightly, which can be reduced by the spectral spirit shield.

Her special attacks in this phase are:

• Shadow Smash - Nex will shout "Fear the shadow!" Deadly shadows will appear under every player. Players have three ticks to move out of their way before they erupt and deal up to 50 damage.
• Embrace Darkness - Nex will shout "Embrace darkness!" The chamber will be darkened drastically. The closer players are to Nex, the darker the room will be. If players stand next to Nex, they will take constant damage from the pure shadow. If this damage is triggered, the player must remain outside of Nex's melee distance for 10-15 seconds to avoid taking damage while next to her.

Players that are targeted by Nex should try to lure her away from Umbra. This allows the entire team to attack Umbra, once she is vulnerable, while maintaining a safe distance away from Nex.

After Nex reaches 60% health (2040 hitpoints), she will shout Umbra, don't fail me! Now, her mage Umbra will become vulnerable and must be killed to proceed to the next phase. Umbra is weakest to ranged attacks.

Blood Phase (Phase 3)

Nex's third phase, the blood phase, starts when she shouts "Flood my lungs with blood!" During this phase, Nex will use Blood Barrage against players, which heals her a percentage of the damage dealt and drain prayer based on the damage dealt which can be reduced by the spectral spirit shield. Move away from other players to reduce damage and Nex's healing.

Her special attacks in this phase are:

• Blood Siphon - Nex will shout A siphon will solve this! Nex will summon up to eight blood reavers (depending on team size) and kneel down for about 8 ticks. During this, all damage she receives will instead heal her. When a new siphon is used, the previous siphon's reavers, if any, will die and heal Nex for their remaining health.
• Blood Sacrifice - Nex will shout "I demand a blood sacrifice!". A single player will be marked for sacrifice, and will glow red. The marked player has about four seconds to move at least seven tiles away from Nex, otherwise they will be dealt up to 50 damage through Protect from Magic which heals her and drains the player's current prayer points by 1/3rd. Closest players will also take up to 12 damage through Protect from Magic, and their prayer is drained by 1/3rd as well.

After Nex reaches 40% health (1360 hitpoints), she will shout "Cruor, don't fail me!". Now, her mage Cruor will become vulnerable and must be killed to proceed to the next phase. Cruor is weakest to slash attacks, although ranged is still reasonable.

Any blood reavers that persist will be automatically killed once Nex starts the next phase.

Ice Phase (Phase 4)

Nex's fourth phase, the ice phase, starts when she shouts "Infuse me with the power of ice!". During this phase, Nex will use Ice Barrage against players, which will freeze them if they are not praying Protect from Magic and lowers their prayer points by half of the damage she deals, reduced to one third by the spectral spirit shield. Be wary of the 'Containment' special attack when standing in melee distance!

Her special attacks in this phase are:

• Containment - Nex will shout Contain this! She will smash the floor and icicles will appear in a 5x5 area around her. Getting caught in this can damage players up to 60 hitpoints and will deactivate protection prayers. Players near Glacies should be wary of this special as it is possible for Glacies to freeze them in place and at the same time Nex glide to the corner and use this special right after. If one is frozen and cannot escape the special attack, praying Protect from Missiles will reduce the damage by half its original amount.
• Ice Prison - Nex will shout Die now, in a prison of ice! She will freeze a targeted player using an ice stalagmite attack, spawning stalagmites within a 3x3 AoE centred on the target player and deactivating their protection prayers. Players next to the formation will be shoved aside for no damage, although players on the same tile as the target will also be imprisoned. Four seconds after forming, the prison will shatter, dealing up to 75 damage to everyone inside it if one of the stalagmites were not destroyed. To destroy these, use crush-based attacks; while unarmed players can destroy them via kicking and punching, crush weapons (especially those with higher accuracy like the Elder maul) are more effective and have less chance of failing. Like with the Containment special attack, If one is frozen and cannot escape the special attack, praying Protect from Missiles will reduce the damage by half its original amount

After Nex reaches 20% health (680 hitpoints), she will shout Glacies, don't fail me! Now, her mage Glacies will become vulnerable and must be killed to proceed to the last phase. Glacies is weakest to crush attacks, although ranged is still reasonable.

Zaros Phase (Phase 5)

Nex's fifth and final phase, the Zaros phase, starts when she shouts NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS! During this phase, Nex will call on Zaros' power, healing her for 500 hitpoints, and will only use her normal magic and melee attacks. Her magic attacks drain 5 prayer points if they hit, which can be reduced with the use of the spectral spirit shield.

Similarly to the smoke and ice phases, all players should run up to Nex to reduce the team's overall damage taken. Players with the lowest crush defence bonus are targeted more frequently by her melee attack.

In addition, she will use several ancient curses, which are Zarosian prayers, in this final phase of the fight:

• Turmoil - Lasting until the end of the fight, Nex's magic and melee attacks are now far more accurate and powerful, hitting massive damage even through prayer. In addition, it can also drain the player's melee stats, transferring the drained stats to her own.
• Soul Split - An overhead prayer in which Nex will heal a small percentage of her health for every successful hit she inflicts on up to three players. She will use this as soon as the phase begins.
• Deflect Melee - An overhead prayer in which Nex will activate a variant of Protect from Melee that deflects the damage the player would have dealt to her with melee attacks.
• Wrath - An overhead prayer in which Nex shouts Taste my wrath! This is a stronger version of Retribution, and deals up to 45 damage to players within a 5x5 radius of Nex upon her death. Players have three seconds after her death to run away from her Wrath attack.

Note: She will change overhead prayers every 5 attacks. And repeat the cycle until she is defeated.

Equipment

In order to access Nex's Prison, you must first pass through the Zarosian encampment. In order to do so safely, it is highly recommended that you wear a Zaros-affiliated item until you have passed safely beyond the essence-consuming door. Teleporting out of the arena will place you in this dangerous area, so it is recommended you keep this item with you at all times. For the purposes of the following section, consider the following:

• Zaryte vambraces and the are Zarosian items and protect the player from aggression, so additional protection is unneeded;
• can replace in most instances with little to no DPS loss while providing a slight bonus to prayer.
• can replace Pegasian boots
• can replace the Armadyl helmet or Royal dragon hide coif

Example Setup

An example of what a Nex setup could look like

Inventory

The following inventory is a basic setup for Nex encounters in a large team. As the duration of the fight depends largely on the size of the team, anglerfish may be substituted for additional saradomin brews and super restores as needed. You may adjust the ratio of Saradomin brews and Super restores if you find you run low on one or the other.

If using a crossbow setup, a Toxic blowpipe or a Twisted bow (with Dragon arrows) can be brought to hit Fumus, Umbra, Cruor, Glacies and Blood Reavers.

At least two players should also bring a crush weapon, such as a Dragon warhammer or Bandos godsword set to the crush attack style, in order to free trapped allies during the ice prison special attack.