Nex OSRS Guide

Nex is a very interesting boss in OSRS because she was initially introduced to Runescape before being reworked to fit within the stripped-back elements of OSRS.

She also is a massive boss that most players can only take on when in a large group of up to 60 players at a time. So, if you’re looking to tackle one of OSRS’s most impressive bosses, here is everything you need to know about Nex.

Key Info Up Front

• Members Only: Yes
• Location: Ancient Prison in God Wars Dungeon
• Slayer Target: No
• Instanced: Yes

Nex Overview

Nex is a massive follower of Zaros, responsible for leading an army of followers during the Second Age. Those who opposed the Zarosian forces widely thought of her as unbeatable because she was capable of growing more potent after each of her victories.

Nex’s campaign of carnage continued until the Third Age when a group of Saradomin followers decided to lure her into a trap.

To do this, they led Nex and her followers into an ice cave they had prepared with magical properties. In the cave, most of the Saradomin followers engaged Nex’s army in battle to keep them distracted while the remainder of the forces performed a spell.

That spell put Nex and her followers into a magical sleep. Around the cave, the Saradomin followers built a massive structure named the Temple of Lost Ancients, which went on to become the God Wars Dungeon in OSRS.

Nex stayed enchanted until a Saradomin priest converted to Guthix and persuaded many of his peers to do so as well.

Those priests believed that they could reawaken Guthix so that he could bring an end to the God Wars that had ravaged the world of Gielinor for so long. However, when they performed the ritual, they accidentally awoke Nex instead of Guthix.

Once Nex was released from the magical sleeping spell, she quickly began slaughtering the armies of all sides of the God Wars. When she was first awoken, she was not at her full power, but by destroying so many solitary units, she quickly began regaining her lost power.

This motivated each side of the God Wars to team together just long enough to force Nex and her army back into her prison and lock the door, although they left her awake within it.

How to Reach Nex

Since Nex was resealed behind the Frozen Door in the God Wars Dungeon, players must complete a key to gain access to her. This is done by completing the miniquest called The Frozen Door.

The quest is started via a letter delivered to players after they meet its requirements. These are completing the quest Desert Treasure and meeting the following skill levels:

• Agility Level 70
• Hit Points Level 70
• Ranged Level 70
• Strength Level 70

Once you accept the miniquest, you’ll have to track down a general within each of the four factions inside the God Wars Dungeon. You must track down and kill Kree’arra, K’ril Tsutsaroth, General Graardor, and Commander Zilyana.

However, you can also collect pieces of the key by killing their bodyguards, although they only have a 5% drop rate.

Once you’ve collected all four pieces of the Frozen Key, you’ll be able to head to the southern section of the God Wars Dungeon. There you will find the Frozen Door that you can now open. After doing so you’ll have to talk to a spirit behind the door named Ashuelot Reis.

Once you talk to her, she will fill you in on Nex’s history before giving you access to the inner lobby of Nex’s prison, where players can group up before fighting her. Since The Frozen Door is only a miniquest, there are no rewards given for completing it beyond being able to face Nex.

Nex Stats

Before you fight Nex for the first time, you should familiarize yourself with her combat stats and attacks. Nex has a maximum Hit Points value of 3,400, which plays a big role in her attack phases below. She also has a Ranged stat of 350, Attack stat of 315, Defense of 260, Magic of 230, and Strength of 200.

These come with +200 melee accuracy, +20 Strength, +200 Magic accuracy, +22 Magic Strength, +150 Ranged accuracy, and +5 Ranged Strength. Nex also attacks every four ticks, which averages out to one attack every 2.4 seconds.

Nex also comes with strong defensive stats. Her Piercing Defense is +40, Slash Defense is +140, Pummel Defense is +60, Magic Defense is +300, and Ranged Defense is +190.

She also is entirely immune to Poison, Cannons, and Venom but can be attacked by Thralls. This means that you will deal the most damage against her if you use a melee weapon that deals Piercing or Pummel damage or a Ranged weapon.

Nex Combat

The fight with Nex is split into four phases. Each phase sees her drawing the power of ancient types of magic from one of four wizards spread out in the circular arena where players face her.

Nex progresses through the phases as she moves around the room and enters the phase associated with whichever wizard she is closest to. Once she reaches certain Hit Point thresholds, players can kill one of the wizards to remove that phase from her rotation.

While her special attacks change throughout the phases, there are some general aspects of fighting her as well. She can move around the arena with exceptional speed, which is equal to a running player. The room is also divided by a large hole in the center with a cross of bridges running over it.

However, she can jump over the holes instead. However, she does have relatively low combat stats for her level, so she can’t kill players too quickly.

Below you can find details on each of Nex’s combat phases.

Smoke

• Associated Wizard: Fumus
• Hit Point Threshold to Kill Wizard: 2,720
• Starting Quote: Fill my soul with smoke!

While Nex is in her Smoke phase, she will start using the Smoke Rush spell with added poisoning status. To counter this, you should try to stand in melee distance of her to force her to primarily use melee attacks that only target one player at a time.

During this time, you should make sure to pay attention and watch for her to target them. When she does, you’ll want to use your Protection from Melee spell to mitigate the damage you take.

Nex also has three special attacks during this phase. The first of these is called Choke, which is telegraphed by her saying, “Let the virus flow through you!” This attack prioritizes the players that are the furthest away from Nex.

If there are multiple players at the same distance from her it targets whichever has the lowest defense against magic. Players hit with the move become infected and start losing two Prayer points every two ticks and lowers their highest attack stat.

The infection can also be given to adjacent players, which also refreshes the cooldown timer on the player that passed it on. This phase always starts with Nex using Choke, so the player that gets infected with it should move away from the rest of the players as quickly as possible to avoid transferring it to anyone else.

The Smoke phase’s second special attack is called Drag. Drag targets a random player within six tiles of her and pulls them toward her while deactivating any protective prayers they have and stunning them.

The phase’s final special attack is Smoke Dash. This attack happens whenever she says, “There is…NO ESCAPE!” Afterward, she rushes over a bridge, dealing up to 50 damage to everyone she hits along the way.

To avoid taking the damage, keep an eye on which way she is facing when she says the quote and move out of the way as quickly as possible.

Shadow

• Associated Wizard: Umbra
• Hit Point Threshold to Kill Wizard: 2,040
• Starting Quote: Darken my shadow!

Once Nex enters her Shadow phase, she will use her Ranged combat skill to target players with shadow shots. This means that during this phase, you should have your Protect from Missiles prayer activated to protect from them, even though they look like a spell.

If you get hit by these, you will also have your Prayer points drained slightly unless you have a Spectral Spirit Shield equipped. Interestingly, the shadow shots also deal extra damage to targets the closer that they are to Nex.

This makes them especially dangerous because she can teleport next to a player to hit them for a ton of damage.

Nex’s first special attack in the Shadow phase is called Shadow Smash. Before Nex does this attack, she will say, “Fear the Shadow!” She then will summon a Dark Shadow beneath every player in the arena.

Once this happens, you have to move out of the shadow immediately as it explodes after three ticks, the shadow will explode for 50 base damage.

When Nex says “Embrace Darkness!” she is using the special attack of that name. This attack dowses the arena with shadows that get darker as players get closer to Nex.

Players who stand next to Nex during the attack take constant damage until they move far enough away. During this phase, the players that she targets should lead her away from the wizard Umbra so that the other players can attack and kill Umbra once they become vulnerable.

Blood

• Associated Wizard: Cruor
• Hit Point Threshold to Kill Wizard: 1,360
• Starting Quote: Flood my lungs with blood!

Once the Blood phase begins, you’ll need to watch out for her Blood Barrage spell. This spell damages players, heals Nex, and drains their Prayer points in one convenient package. Players wielding a Spectral Spirit Shield can diminish the damage and associated effects.

The spell only targets one player but has a splash damage effect that hits the area around the player within three tiles. So, if Nex targets you with Blood Barrage, move away from other players so that Nex doesn’t receive as much healing from the attack.

The first special attack in the Blood phase is called Blood Siphon. For this attack, Nex will say, “A siphon will solve this!” The ability summons Blood Reavers. The number that she summons depends on how big of a group she is facing, but she will never summon more than eight at a time.

While the Blood Reavers are active, damage that is dealt to her instead restores Hit Points, so you’ll want to shift your focus to killing the Blood Reavers first.

Then, there is also her Blood Sacrifice attack, telegraphed by the line “I demand a blood sacrifice!” At the start of this attack, Nex chooses one player for the sacrifice.

You will be able to tell which player was chosen by the red glow that it gives them. Once that player is marked for the sacrifice, they have to move at least seven tiles away from Nex within four seconds, otherwise, they take 50 damage that also heals her. The attack will also drain their Prayer points by a full third.

Ice

• Associated Wizard: Ice
• Hit Point Threshold to Kill Wizard: 680
• Starting Quote: Infuse me with the power of ice!

When Nex enters the Ice phase, her magic attack turns into the Ice Barrage spell. If Ice Barrage hits any players without the Protect from Magic prayer active, they are frozen in place and draining several Prayer points equal to half the damage dealt.

During this phase, players should try to stand adjacent to Nex as much as possible to avoid being hit by this powerful spell.

Nex’s first special attack in this phase is called Containment, called out by the line “Contain this!” The attack sees Nex hitting the ground, causing icicles to appear in a square of five tiles around her.

Any players that are caught in the wall of icicles have all of their protection prayers deactivated and are dealt 60 damage. Containment is especially lethal when players are near the wizard Glacies because he can freeze players and keep them from escaping it when Nex jumps at them.

Then, there is the Ice Prison attack. The attack begins with Nex saying, “Die now, in a prison of ice!” before she targets a single player and hits them with a stalagmite of ice.

This deactivates their protective prayers and shoves other players near them away. Four seconds after becoming imprisoned, it explodes, dealing 75 damage to every player inside of it. To prevent this damage, players have to team together to break the stalagmites of the prison using Pummel attacks.

Zaros

• Associated Wizard: None
• Starting Quote: NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!

Once all four of the wizards have been killed, Nex enters her fifth and final phase, referred to as the Zaros phase. When this phase begins, she immediately heals for 500 Hit Points. During the phase, she also only uses her regular melee and magic attacks in conjunction with different curses.

During this phase, her magic attacks will drain five Prayer points from players they hit, so you should stay in melee range of her to keep your protection prayers up as long as possible.

The first curse that Nex will use during this phase is called Turmoil. Once this curse is activated, it lasts for the remainder of the fight, making all of her attacks much more accurate and buffing their damage.

The curse also has a chance to leech melee stat points from the targeted player and add them to her own.

Nex’s other curses are overheads, which she cycles between after every five attacks. The first is the Soul Split curse. This is the first curse she uses during the phase, and sees her targeting three players with attacks. Her hit points are slightly restored for each successful hit she makes from the curse.

There is also the Deflect Melee curse, which deflects all melee attacks back at players that hit her while it is active. Finally, there is the Wrath curse.

When this one is activated, she says, “Taste my wrath!” and it is activated when she dies. If she is killed while it is active, players have three seconds to get at more than five tiles away from her, otherwise, they take a burst of 45 damage.

Nex Drops

Since Nex is typically fought by large groups of players, you have to pass a threshold of damage to qualify for loot drops. If you participate in a Nex fight and get a drop, however, it counts as a kill for official tracking purposes.

The player that deals the most damage is labeled the MVP and receives not only an announcement of such in the game’s chat log but also gains a 10% drop rate boost for common loot and an undetermined increased chance for drops on the Unique loot table.

Most of the drop rates for Nex’s drop tables have yet to be narrowed down by the community, so they are currently organized into wider ratings, like common and uncommon. You can find all of Nex’s drop tables below.

100% Drop Table

Main Drop Table

Tertiary Drop Table

Unique Drop Table

Nex Achievements

Nex Survivors

• Achievement Type: Restriction
• Difficulty Tier: Elite

Nex Survivors is for killing Nex without any involved player being killed a single time.

Nex Veteran

• Achievement Type: Kill Count
• Difficulty Tier: Elite

You will unlock Nex Veteran the first time that you kill Nex.

A Siphon will Solve this

• Achievement Type: Mechanical
• Difficulty Tier: Master

This achievement prevents Nex from healing with her Blood Siphon attack.

Contain This!

• Achievement Type: Mechanical
• Difficulty Tier: Master

You will defeat Nex without any player receiving damage from Nex’s Ice attack.

Nex Master

• Achievement Type: Kill Count
• Difficulty Tier: Master

The Nex Master achievement is for successfully killing Nex a total of 25 times.

Nex Trio

• Achievement Type: Restriction
• Difficulty Tier: Master

To get Nex Trio, you must beat Nex with a group of only three players, including you.

Shadows Move…

• Achievement Type: Mechanical
• Difficulty Tier: Master

Shadows Move is gotten by killing Nex with no player in the group being hit by her Shadow Smash attack.

There is no Escape!

• Achievement Type: Mechanical
• Difficulty Tier: Master

To get this achievement, you have to defeat Nex without any players in the group getting hit by Nex’s Smoke Dash attack.

I Should See a Doctor

• Achievement Type: Restriction
• Difficulty Tier: Grandmaster

I should see a doctor is earned by killing Nex while a player is still coughing.

Nex Duo

• Achievement Type: Restriction
• Difficulty Tier: Grandmaster

Nex Duo is unlocked by defeating Nex with a party of two or fewer players, including yourself.

Perfect Nex

• Achievement Type: Perfection
• Difficulty Tier: Grandmaster

You can unlock the Perfect Nex achievement by defeating her without any player getting hit by her Blood Siphon, Smoke Dash, Shadow Smash, or Ice attacks.

FAQs

Conclusion

Nex is an incredible challenge to take on in OSRS. The sheer scale of the fight and how many players most Nex attempts include made participating in one a great time for any player.

She also comes with great challenges and achievements to hunt down, so if you want to challenge yourself, you can try taking her on with only one or two other players.

For more intesresting readings check out:

• Dragon Crossbow OSRS Guide [2022]: 5 Easy Steps To Make A Dragon Crossbow
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• Blowpipe OSRS Guide: Tips And Recommendations

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Arron Kluz

Arron is a featured team writer and lifelong gamer. Ever since he started playing games on his old SNES, he has been hooked ever since. He has a particular love for games like Pillars of Eternity, Skyrim, a variety of beloved indie titles, and also a few online shooters to serve as a means of avoiding open-world fatigue. Outside of gaming, he enjoys watching arthouse movies, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and writing fiction.

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