Introduction
Hey KoA,
This guide will give you a very specific breakdown of what to do in order to successfully solo Nex. I'm writing this in response to the hopes that Nex will be included in the "instanced" boss fights eventually, as support for this idea is huge and they have hinted at it with the release of the other dungeons. This guide is specifically for KoA, so if you guys see anything that isn't clear or needs a bit of work just let me know below and I will get on it. I also know that Nex is changed frequently to make sure she remains challenging, so if something goes out of date let me know!
So despite what you may have heard, Nex is not impossible to solo. That being said, she isn't exactly a pushover either, and a mistake could cost you your life. Follow this guide, and I can guarantee you will be successfully soloing Nex, as long as you are willing to put in the effort.
Requirements (Real and Recommended)
In terms of levels, you will in the very least need all the frozen key pieces from each of the God Wars individual God rooms. These areas require:
70 Constitution
70 Ranged
70 Agility
70 Strength
In addition to these levels, I would strongly recommend the following:
90+ Attack (Drygores)
96+ Summoning (Yak)
96+ Herblore (Overloads)
Of course you are going to want the highest possible combat stats, but the above will at least see that you make a successful solo attempt.
Equipment
For weapons, using a dual Drygore set-up is the only way to ensure that passing the blood phase is a sure thing. This cannot be substituted even for a Chaotic Maul, so please make sure you have dual Drygores or access to them before continuing on.
For a shield, consider bringing a Divine or Arcane if you can afford one, otherwise a Chaotic Kiteshield will make a fine substitute.
In terms of actual armor, as long as you have 70+ Defensive gear you should be fine. Below are two examples of set-ups, ranging from minimum recommended to high-end:
Min
Max
The onyx(i) ring can be swapped for a 6th age circuit if needed.
As you see from the screenshots I am using a vampyrism scrimshaw along with the vampyrism aura. This is a very helpful healing tool at Nex because Soul Split will not often be safe to use.
You can sub out the Barrows armor for Bandos or Torva if you have the funds, but this is not a requirement.
Inventory
First of all, you need to actually get to the Nex bank room to prep for your kill. In order to do that, make sure you are wearing your Nex armor (to prevent the minions damaging you) and set your inventory up like this:
The ceremonial robes will let you pass the boss door without needing KC. The frozen key allows you to enter the general area of Zaros, and the food is for getting hit on the way to the bank room.
Once you are at the Nex bank, you will need to prep for the fight itself. This is the point when you have to make a choice to either use a bunyip + a tackle box for healing, or a traditional Yak for storing food. If you don't have the champions box it is recommended to use a Yak, and you will see that I use a Yak for my guide. If you would prefer to use the bunyip, please make sure you are comfortable using the scrolls quickly and in dire situations.
For a Yak, you will be looking at a set-up like this:
Adrenaline Bars
Pre-Fight
When you enter the boss chamber, Nex will begin spawning in the center, and slowly call her minions. Use this as an opportunity to build adrenaline on Fumus while she is distracted.
Make sure at this point that you:
- Have Magic Prayer on
- Have Turmoil on
- Have overloaded
- Have drank your prayer renewal
- Have your familiar in the room with you
If you manage to build your adrenaline enough, you will be able to use some early thresholds and will be in a generally more advantageous state than just standing waiting beside Nex.
Smoke Phase
Since the buff, it is very important to watch your prayer during the Smoke phase. When Nex is in melee distance you will want to be protecting from melee, while when she is further away you will want to protect from mage. During this time you will simply want to be doing as much damage as possible to Nex while watching your own health.
If you see/hear her yell "There is no escape!", you are going to want to immediately use "Slaughter" on her if you are within melee distance and run towards Fumus. Nex will head towards the center of the room and start taking triple the damage due to movement during slaughter. During this time you will want to have protect from magic on to prevent damage.
I should stress that you should be trying to keep yourself within melee distance of Nex as much as possible during this time.
I've found that you can either stand near Fumus during this phase, or hug the edge of the pit as shown below here:
PIC
Once Nex calls for Fumus, you are going to want to flip to your Royal crossbow or Zaryte bow and use the threshold "Rapid Fire" while praying soul split (this will heal you a bit but watch for Nex and use prayer swapping). Once Fumus is downed, tag Nex and the shadow phase will start.
Shadow Phase
First of all, pray range immediately.
If you have a laggy computer, this phase is going to be your worst nightmare. The first hit you land on Nex after the death of Fumus will trigger Nex to move to her Shadow phase, which darkens the entire room and causes Nex to change to range-style attacks.
Your aim during this phase is the same as the Smoke phase with one major difference - you cannot stand beside Nex for more than 1-2 attacks before you begin to take rapid damage and your overload burns away.
The way I find most effective for dealing with her during this phase is to use a sort of hit-and-run technique, where I will target Nex, use an ability while clicking 2 squares behind Nex on my opposite side. This will cause my character to hit Nex, run through her, and appear on the other side 2 squares away. At this point you can repeat this cycle while avoiding any "Shadow Traps" you see on the floor (the black circles pictured below).
Be careful not to stand in one place for too long, even far away from Nex. She will summon traps beneath you and hit you quite regularly during this phase unless you are moving.
Once you are practiced, this phase will become very easy to you, and is known to be a bit of a break before the Blood and Ice phases.
Once Umbra is called, head over to him and start building adrenaline. Make sure that you DO NOT kill Umbra before you have a full adrenaline bar, as you will need to immediately use an ultimate upon entering the Blood phase.
Blood Phase
Before tagging Nex to start the Blood phase, you will want to start running towards the entrance to the chamber. Before your adrenaline starts dropping, tag Nex and start attacking one of the reavers that will immediately spawn. After a few attack cycles, activate your ultimate ability "Berserk" and start focusing on dealing massive damage to Nex.
Pray mage and turmoil during this phase, but keep your prayer relatively low as one of her attacks actively cuts your prayer points in half.
When Nex calls for a blood sacrifice, she will heal on you. This is not avoidable in a solo as you will want to stay within melee distance at all times during this phase. Just keep dealing as much damage as possible and you should be able to get through this phase with a few lucky combos. If Nex yells for a siphon, attack a reaver right away as Nex will heal whatever the remaining HP of the reavers is.
When Nex calls for Cruor, head over and once again start building a full adrenaline bar on him. Kill Cruor when this is done.
Ice Phase
This is by far the most difficult phase during the solo. Once you tag Nex to start the ice phase, she will use "Contain This!" within a few seconds. You are going to want to start the phase with a slaughter and immediately kick her and run. She will take heavy damage assuming this hits her, and now you need to attack Nex to build your adrenaline back to full.
When Nex uses her first Ice Prison on you, use "Freedom" to break your stun and then the Ultimate ability "Barricade" which will stop the 5000+ LP damage attack that you will suffer otherwise. Continue to deal damage to Nex and build your adrenaline bar for her next Ice Prison, which you may need to substitute "Barricade" for "Immortality" a few times.
If you find yourself frozen in the Ice Prison without enough adrenaline to escape, do not panic. Use "Freedom" if available and try and eat. You will have a small window before you get hit that you will be able to eat 1 food, so this may save you. You could also use this opportunity to use a bunyip scroll to heal.
Once Nex calls for Glacies, head cautiously towards him. Nex will still fire ice prisons at you while you kill glacies, so if you brought a royal crossbow now would be a good time to use it. Just get rid of him as fast as possible and move to the Zaros Phase.
Zaros Phase
As long as you have a bit of food left by this point, you will be able to make this kill happen. Keep your shield handy and attack Nex while she is praying soul split or not praying at all. When she switches to praying melee, either swap to a magic bar or a defense bar and build adrenaline on her. Make sure not to melee her during this part, or she will reflect 100% of the damage back to you.
If you have a full adrenaline bar, DO NOT use Berserk, as Nex can easily hit you multiple 5k+ during this phase if you aren't careful with prayer. Instead, try using Immortality and letting Nex kill you afterwords for regeneration purposes. You could also flash defensive thresholds like resonance at regular intervals.
Continue widdling away at her HP until you are sure you can make the kill. At this point, feel free to switch to your dual-wield setup again and finish her off.
Staying Longer (Extended Trips)
The only way to really extend your trips at this point would be to get quite a bit of experience soloing and slowly work in shortcuts/bonus items. For example, you could take both a Yak and a Bunyip if you were comfortable making the switch mid-kill once your yak ran out of food. You could also take a range swap for killing the minions once you were comfortable with how Nex attacks you during the end of the phases.
Learning to use defensive abilities to your advantage such as resonance and immortality are also vital in the role of preserving food.
~Under Construction~
