Nex



Nex (meaning "murder" or "death" in Latin and Zarosian) is the Zaros boss of the God Wars Dungeon with a combat level of 1001, making her currently the strongest monster in RuneScape fightable by conventional methods. She is the first monster to have a combat level of over 1000 (the only other monster is the level 9001 Ferret of Doom, which cannot be fought). She resides in the Ancient Prison - the Zaros stronghold of the God Wars Dungeon - which was released on 10 January 2011. It is highly recommended that one brings at least 3 players to fight her due to her siphon healing up to 3030 lifepoints at once in the blood phase and the patched bug with which soloing was possible, making it impossible for a single player to kill her using conventional methods.

Nex is an immensely powerful entity and one of Zaros's most powerful weapons of war. What race she really is has been long lost to time; however, she possesses physical traits of the Icyene, Demons, Aviantese and Vampyres. Her history and origin are equally mysterious, but whatever they are she has aligned herself with Zaros and was the leader of his last army. She has over fifteen unique combat moves, and is cited as being RuneScape's most powerful and intelligent boss to date.

Battle
NOTE: All damage done to Nex is capped at 500. Nex moves very quickly; she can jump across the room in 2 ticks. This, coupled with the fact that her conventional attacks can hit over 200 through prayer, makes even a second of inattentiveness very dangerous. As she loses life, her four mages will become increasingly vulnerable and it is important to kill the mages when you can, to disable her attacks.

Nex has five phases: Smoke, Shadow, Blood, Ice and a final phase. All of her spells are based on the Ancient Magicks spellbook.

Smoke phase: During this phase, she will use Smoke spells which deal up to 250 damage through prayer, poison for 88 damage and disable prayers. She can also cast a virulent cloud on players which lowers combat stats drastically, is transmitted from player to player and lowers prayer points at a rate of two a second. After she reaches 4/5th of her life points and her mage Fumus is killed, she will go to the next phase.

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. Nex has also two special abilities in this phase: firstly, she can lay "shadow traps" on the floor (which deal up to 650 damage if not moved away from in time) and darken the room drastically. If you stand close to Nex when she says "Embrace darkness!" you will get a warning message and will be dealt constant damage, so melee attacks are advised against in this stage. After she reaches 3/5th of her life points and her mage Umbra is killed, she will go to the next phase.

Blood phase: During this phase, she will use Blood spells which will heal her. She will also have two special abilities; for the first one, she will crouch, cover herself with a Siphon and summon various Blood reavers. '''Not killing them in time will cause them to die on Nex's next siphon and all their remaining health will be given to Nex. Note she can heal up to 3030 lifepoints in this manner (1010 from each of the three reavers).''' Any damage dealt to her during the siphon will heal her instead. She will also demand a "Blood sacrifice" which causes a player to glow red. If the targeted player remains in the same spot they will be damaged and everyone's prayer points will be halved. After she reaches 2/5th of her life points and her mage Cruor is killed, she will go to the next phase. Even though the maximum amount of reavers summoned by Nex is 3, it is very rare to see her summon more than 2 and it is only possible if Nex is standing at the east side of the room.

Ice phase: During this phase, she will use Ice spells which will target all players, freeze them and lower prayer points; however the damaging effect of the spell can be somewhat lowered if Protect from/Deflect magic is used. Her special attack will lock a player in an ice prison which will deal heavy damage unless a player break a stalagmite and the trapped player runs to safety in time. Her containment spell causes a larger ring of ice stalagmites to surround her, causing damage and disabling the prayers of those caught inside. 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 activate Turmoil (giving her greater attack, defence, and strength as well as lowering those stats from ALL players) and cycle between no overhead, Deflect melee and Soul split prayers. Her other attacks will become far more accurate and powerful, hitting massive damage even through prayer, and while the frequency of her "No escape!" attack will decrease, it will be far more dangerous when performed, consistently hitting over 500+. When Nex is killed, she will activate Wrath, which has a bigger radius than the curse available to players but a longer activation time. Her wrath can hit up to 600, so it is highly recommended to keep near full health when Nex's health is critical.

Attacks
In addition to conventional magic, melee, and a shadow phase specific ranged attack which hit up to 360 each, Nex has the following special attacks:
 * "There is... NO ESCAPE!" - Nex will teleport and fly through one of the paths of the central symbol, disabling protection prayers and damaging for up to 650 (800 if Nex is in her final phase). if a player is still on the targeted path when the attack commences, they will not be able to escape. So if you see she says "There is" and you are in one of those central paths turn on deflect melee/ protect melee, this will lower the damage of the "NO ESCAPE!" attack
 * "Let the virus flow through you." - Nex will create a cloud which reduces stats, spreads to adjacent players and deals damage. Can be nullified by standing away from other players.
 * Smoke barrage - Poisonous.
 * Dragging a player - Draws a player to the central crossway, disabling prayer and stunning for a short period of time.
 * "Embrace darkness!" - Turns the boss area darker. This attack is usually followed by shadow attacks which hit everyone within 10 squares of Nex; damage is calculated based upon how close the player is to Nex when the attack is launched.
 * "Fear the shadow!" - If anyone stands on the same place for over 3 ticks, they are hit by a very powerful shadow barrage and lose 400-800 LP.
 * "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.
 * "A siphon will solve this!" - Nex will summon 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, all remaining health healing Nex.
 * "Die now, in a prison of ice!" - Nex freezes a targeted player using an ice stalagmite attack, rendering them immobile. When the ice recedes, the trapped player will be hit for heavy damage (usually 600 life points or more, about 800 max). Therefore, it is recommended to keep one's lifepoints near their max if trapped. 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 around her. Getting caught in this can result in up to 400 lifepoints of damage and it will disable your prayer for a short period of time.
 * "NOW, THE POWER OF ZAROS!" - Nex will activate Turmoil, and switch between Soul Split, Deflect Melee, and various Leech curses and heal herself for 6,000 Lifepoints.
 * "Taste my wrath!" - Upon death, Nex will activate Wrath (with a larger radius than that of players' curse), dealing damage to everyone around her.