The Nightmare

"Nightmare" redirects here. For other uses, see Nightmare (disambiguation).

This fight takes place in an instance with a deathbank.

On death, you can pay Shura 60,000 to retrieve lost items.
Any unsafe death will delete all items left inside the deathbank. Any items left on the ground will be lost.

This article has a strategy guide.

All information on mechanics and strategy will be on this page.

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The Nightmare
Released								6 February 2020 (Update)
Members								Yes
Combat level								814
Size								5x5
Examine								Sweet dreams are most definitely not made of this.
League region								Morytania✓
Combat info
XP bonus								+0%
Max hit								50/60 (Melee) 33/39 (Ranged and Magic) Increased by 20% if using incorrect protection prayer
Aggressive								No
Poisonous								No
Attack style								Slash, Ranged, Magic
Attack speed								6 ticks (3.6 seconds)
Combat stats
2,400				150				150				150				150				150
Aggressive stats
+140				+128				+140				+64				+140				+64
Melee defence
+120								+180								+40
Magic defence
+600												No elemental weakness
Ranged defence
+600								+600								+600
Immunities
Poison								Immune
Venom								Immune
Cannons								Immune
Thralls								Not immune
Open in DPS calculator
Advanced data
Monster ID								9425,9426,9427,9428,9429,9430,9431,9432,9433,9460
Link								MOID

The Nightmare
Released								6 February 2020 (Update)
Combat level								814
Members								Yes
Race								Unknown
Location								Sisterhood Sanctuary
League region								Morytania✓
Examine								Sweet dreams are most definitely not made of this.
Advanced data
NPC ID								378
Link								MOID

The Nightmare of Ashihama, often referred to as The Nightmare, is a boss monster located in Morytania. The Nightmare can be found in the Sisterhood Sanctuary under the town of Slepe. Access to Morytania is the only requirement for fighting The Nightmare.

Upon starting the fight, players are transported to a dream world, where the fight arena takes on a different appearance containing various Eastern motifs such as Torii gates.

While The Nightmare can be fought in groups alongside other players, there is a stronger version called Phosani's Nightmare that can only be fought solo.

Ironmen are eligible for drops from The Nightmare when defeating it alongside other players. Group ironman players will lose their prestige upon completing an encounter they started with a player outside of their group.

History

The Nightmare's true origins are unknown, but according to a legend in Ashihama, it was told that an ancient ritual was performed by several shamans, birthing an otherworldly horror that took on the appearance of a large, hag-like woman. For as long as the sirens of Ashihama can remember, The Nightmare has plagued them, their dreams stolen and feasted upon. These shamans appeared to have attempted to fight off The Nightmare, eventually culminating in the creation of four totems that could channel power to stop her, but the shamans were wiped out before they could use them on her.

The Nightmare resided in the caves underneath Ashihama, thus making the sirens wary of entering them in the event they would stumble into her. One brave siren, Shura, went into the caves and recovered the four totems, allowing her people to fight the Nightmare. Driven out of Ashihama, it fled west to the mainland, eventually arriving in the Morytanian town of Slepe. While most of the sirens were content with the Nightmare gone from their lands, Shura continued to pursue it as she wanted to make sure it would be defeated for good.

The Nightmare arrived at an opportune moment, with the town suffering from the Sleeper Plague as a result of vampyre machinations due to a critical shortage of blood for their growing society. The Nightmare began feasting from the victims of the plague and began growing more rapidly than she did on Ashihama. Shura managed to contain her in the centre of the Sisterhood Sanctuary and sought adventurers to keep the Nightmare's powers in check. Despite their efforts, the Nightmare eventually manifested into Phosani's dreams, though it would also be kept in check by Sister Senga and other adventurers.

Transportation

The quickest methods of reaching Slepe, where The Nightmare resides, are:

• Teleporting to the Sisterhood Sanctuary via Drakan's medallion after the Slepey tablet has been acquired from Phosani's Nightmare
• Teleporting to Ver Sinhaza via Drakan's medallion, then running north. Once players pass the small dock, they can run east to arrive at Slepe. From there, the player can go down the stairs in the small building directly south of the graveyard, and then run east to arrive at the bridge to the Sisterhood Sanctuary.
• Teleporting to the Hallowed Sepulchre with a Hallowed crystal shard (can be purchased from Mysterious stranger for 1 Hallowed mark) after completion of Sins of the Father, then running to the shortcut on the east side of the city (requires 63 Agility and two long ropes to unlock). Players can then run east to Slepe, where they can go down the stairs as mentioned above.
• Using the Ectophial to teleport to the Ectofuntus, then heading north to the small dock and paying Andras 10,000 coins to row to Slepe. The player will arrive at a dock just south-west of Slepe. Players may also pay Andras a one-off fee of 1,000,000 coins to gain permanent access to his boat for free.
• Using Morytania legs 3 or 4 to teleport to Burgh de Rott, running east to the small docks and then taking the boat to Slepe. This requires partial completion of Sins of the Father, but costs no money.
• Fairy ring code ALQ then run south-east.
• Fenkenstrain's castle teleport tablet, then run south-east.
• Spider cave teleport, then run south-east.

Official worlds

The following official worlds are assigned to The Nightmare:

World	Location	Members	Activity
337	United States (east)	1	Nightmare of Ashihama
514	United Kingdom	1	Nightmare of Ashihama

Fight overview

Main article: The Nightmare/Strategies

To begin the fight, approach The Nightmare's unconscious body and select the Disturb option. Players may join in the following 30 seconds before the fight begins: afterwards, players must wait until the fight is over (with The Nightmare or all the players defeated) before they may join.

Unlike most boss fights, The Nightmare's health and combat stats scale to the number of players in the fight (ranging from 5–80 players), though it may be fought in smaller team sizes. The minimum durability of her shield is 2,000 and caps at 19,600. If the Nightmare is floating in the centre rather than lying on the ground, it is an indication that she is fighting a group of players; the symbols on the ground also indicate the phase she is in.

The fight against the Nightmare consists of three phases, all three of which involve the player(s) breaking down its shield sufficiently before they can charge the four totems in the corners of the arena, unleashing a magical blast that deals massive damage to her. In each subsequent phase, the Nightmare will change its special attacks. Once the totems are charged a third time, the Nightmare will be defeated, ending the encounter.

The Nightmare's melee attack ignores accuracy and always hits. In addition, players take 20% of her base damage if using Protect from Melee, and 120% of her base damage if using the incorrect protection prayer. If the Nightmare has very low combat stats, her max hit will be at least a random number between 1-6, subject to the effects of prayer. The Nightmare's defence can be lowered down to a minimum of 120, however she restores drained stats at a rate of 20 per minute.

If the player dies while fighting the Nightmare, they will be placed by the Pool of Nightmares and must reclaim their items from Shura. This is a flat 60,000 regardless of carried wealth.

Money making

The following money making guide is available for The Nightmare:

Method	Hourly profit	Skills
Killing The Nightmare	3,588,210	85+ , 85+ , 85+ , 85+ , 85+ 70+ recommended

Drops

A large group of players in a battle against The Nightmare of Ashihama.

Every player in the fight who reaches the minimum damage threshold (which requires dealing damage to both The Nightmare's mental shield and the totems) will be eligible to receive a drop, with the quantity increasing based on how much damage they have done.

The player who deals the most damage in the fight will receive big bones and 10% additional non-unique loot. Additionally, when unique drops are rolled, a weighting system based on damage dealt determines which player will receive it. Players eligible for a unique drop will receive regular bones as a drop.

Drop rates are estimated based on 251,259 samples from the Drop Rate Project, unless otherwise cited.

100%

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Big bones	1	Always	342	0
	Bones	1	Always	35	0

Uniques

With each kill, The Nightmare has a chance to roll two unique drop tables, one containing the armour, mace, and staff, and one containing the orbs; both table rolls can be successful with each kill. The armour, mace, and staff drop table has a 1/83.33 chance to roll, and the orb drop table has a 1/320 chance to roll (with an effective chance of 1/66.67 to get any item).

Additionally, there is a chance that both are rolled a second time (independent of the first rolls), with this chance being $(partySize-5)\mathrm{\%}$, clamped between 0 and 75 percent (with party size-related improved drop rates capped at 80 players (meaning that with a full 80 member party, the armour, mace, and staff drop table has a 1/68.6 chance to roll and the orb drop table has a 1/343 chance to roll, or ~1/57.2 for either).

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Nightmare staff	1	1/300–1/171.5	40,070,736	360,000
	Inquisitor's great helm	1	1/420–1/240.1	41,382,220	300,000
	Inquisitor's hauberk	1	1/420–1/240.1	89,847,874	600,000
	Inquisitor's plateskirt	1	1/420–1/240.1	88,929,991	450,000
	Inquisitor's mace	1	1/750–1/428.7	297,244,654	3,000,000
	Eldritch orb	1	1/960–1/548.7	220,321,442	2,400,000
	Harmonised orb	1	1/960–1/548.7	201,570,823	2,400,000
	Volatile orb	1	1/960–1/548.7	37,964,600	2,400,000

Runes and ammunition

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Cosmic rune	11–242	4/100	1,100–24,200	330–7,260
	Nature rune	8–176	4/100	840–18,480	864–19,008
	Death rune	7–176	4/100	1,295–32,560	756–19,008
	Blood rune	16–440	4/100	4,368–120,120	3,840–105,600
	Soul rune	8–132	4/100	3,256–53,724	1,440–23,760
	Steel cannonball	6–220	4/100	1,776–65,120	18–660
	Rune arrow	31–547	3/100	2,294–40,478	7,440–131,280

Resources

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Mithril ore	11–176 (noted)	4/100	1,551–24,816	1,067–17,072
	Coal	15–264 (noted)	4/100	2,385–41,976	405–7,128
	Gold ore	9–176 (noted)	4/100	1,206–23,584	810–15,840
	Adamantite ore	40–95 (noted)	4/100	22,120–52,535	9,600–22,800
	Magic logs	1–55 (noted)	4/100	901–49,555	192–10,560
	Grimy cadantine	1–16 (noted)	4/100	2,802–44,832	13–208
	Grimy torstol	1–16 (noted)	4/100	3,583–57,328	15–240
	Snapdragon seed	1–7	3/100	50,992–356,944	36–252
	Uncut emerald	2–44 (noted)	3/100	1,082–23,804	60–1,320
	Uncut ruby	27–60 (noted)	3/100	32,967–73,260	1,620–3,600
	Runite ore	1–16 (noted)	2/100	10,158–162,528	1,920–30,720

Consumables

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Bass	1–18	6/100	65–1,170	24–432
	Shark	1–16	6/100	912–14,592	102–1,632
	Prayer potion(3)	1–10	5/100	6,305–63,050	91–910
	Sanfew serum(3)	1–8	5/100	16,012–128,096	144–1,152
	Saradomin brew(3)	1–10	5/100	5,951–59,510	105–1,050
	Zamorak brew(3)	1–10	5/100	387–3,870	105–1,050

Coins

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Coins	2,291–43,958	2/100	2,291–43,958	2,291–43,958

Tertiary

Multiple players can receive the tertiary drops each kill. The MVP has a 5% higher chance of receiving each, with the exception of the Little Nightmare pet in teams of fewer than 5 players.

	Item	Quantity	Rarity	Price	High Alch
	Clue scroll (elite)	1	1/190; 1/200	Not sold	12
	Little nightmare	1	1/800–1/4,000	Not sold	N/A
	Jar of dreams	1	1/1,900; 1/2,000	759,953	1

Combat Achievements

There are 14 Combat Achievement tasks (totalling 67 points) available for The Nightmare.

Name	Description	Type	Tier	Comp%
Nightmare Adept	Kill The Nightmare once.	Kill Count	Hard (3 pts)	13.8%
Nightmare Veteran	Kill The Nightmare 25 times.	Kill Count	Elite (4 pts)	7.2%
Sleep Tight	Kill the Nightmare solo.	Restriction	Elite (4 pts)	3.5%
Explosion!	Kill two Husks at the same time.	Mechanical	Elite (4 pts)	3.9%
Nightmare (5-Scale) Speed-Trialist	Defeat the Nightmare (5-scale) in less than 5 minutes.	Speed	Elite (4 pts)	4.9%
Nightmare (Solo) Speed-Trialist	Defeat the Nightmare (Solo) in less than 23 minutes.	Speed	Elite (4 pts)	3.3%
Perfect Nightmare	Kill the Nightmare without any player taking damage from the following attacks: Nightmare rifts, an un-cured parasite explosion, Corpse flowers or the Nightmare's Surge. Also, no player can take damage off prayer or have their attacks slowed by the Nightmare spores.	Perfection	Master (5 pts)	2.1%
Nightmare (5-Scale) Speed-Chaser	Defeat the Nightmare (5-scale) in less than 4 minutes.	Speed	Master (5 pts)	2.6%
Nightmare Master	Kill The Nightmare 50 times.	Kill Count	Master (5 pts)	5.7%
Nightmare (Solo) Speed-Chaser	Defeat the Nightmare (Solo) in less than 19 minutes.	Speed	Master (5 pts)	2.5%
Nightmare (Solo) Speed-Runner	Defeat the Nightmare (Solo) in less than 16 minutes.	Speed	Grandmaster (6 pts)	1.6%
Nightmare (5-Scale) Speed-Runner	Defeat the Nightmare (5-scale) in less than 3:30 minutes.	Speed	Grandmaster (6 pts)	1.9%
Terrible Parent	Kill the Nightmare solo without the Parasites healing the boss for more than 100 health.	Mechanical	Grandmaster (6 pts)	1.9%
A Long Trip	Kill the Nightmare without any player losing any prayer points.	Restriction	Grandmaster (6 pts)	1.9%

Changes

Date	Changes
21 - 22 January 2026	Hotfix The Nightmare now fully resets its magic defense at the start of each kill.
20 August 2025 (Update)	Players who die during the encounter will now respawn by the Pool of Nightmares rather than their spawn point.
29 May 2024 (Update)	Improved Nightmare’s drop rates.
14 April 2021 (Update)	Nightmare drop calculations will now factor in the total contribution that is present when the boss dies. This is to prevent boosting of drops.
20 January 2021 (Update)	Players will no longer be damaged by the Sleepwalkers special attack after teleporting out of an encounter with The Nightmare.
11 November 2020 (Update | poll)	The Nightmare's initial start timer has been reduced from 40 to 30 seconds. Players can disturb her again upon her defeat to start the next fight in 10 seconds. The scaling for her shield and totems has been changed. For groups of five or more, 200 and 30 health will be added to her shield and the totems per player, decreased from 400 and 60, respectively. Damage from parasites and husks are now completely negated if the correct protection prayers have been used. The pet drop rate has been changed to scale with group size. Previously, it was always 1/4,000 (or 1/3,800 for the MVP). An audio bug has been fixed in which the sound effect for The Nightmare's Confusion Curse ended too quietly. An issue was fixed where The Nightmare would sometimes appear to face away from the player who took damage because she was re-targeting the player with the highest Defence halfway through her attack.
16 July 2020 (Update)	Pets can no longer be brought to the Nightmare fight.
2 July 2020 (Update)	Crowded fights will no longer cause The Nightmare's broadcast messages to be truncated.
26 March 2020 (Update)	Players can now permanently dismiss the warning message that appears when leaving The Nightmare's dream world.
12 March 2020 (Update)	The standard loot quantities were increased. Unique and tertiary drops were made more common with their drop mechanics changed.
20 February 2020 (Update)	Players will now be given fake XP drops when charging the totems in The Nightmare fight. Ironman Mode players now may fight alongside ordinary accounts instead of only being able to group with other iron players, and subsequently the Pool of Nightmares was removed.
13 February 2020 (Update)	The player's Hitpoints Orb now changes pink to indicate a parasitic infection. A scoreboard has been added near Shura, which shows personal and global kills, deaths and fastest kill time. Players can now spectate players fighting by right-clicking the entry portal. To improve readability, messages that appear during the boss fight now have different colours. The volume of The Nightmare defend sound has been reduced again. The Nightmare has been added to the Boss Kill Count section of the HiScores page.
7 February 2020 (Update)	The surge attack delay has now been increased by one tick. The volume of The Nightmare defend sound has been reduced. The MVP will now receive big bones as a drop. There is now a greater chance to receive food and potions as a drop, and their quantity has been increased. The nightmare staff now has a separate roll from the other uniques.

Gallery

• 
  The Nightmare boss arena.
• 
  Concept art of the Nightmare from RuneFest 2019.
• 
  Artwork of a group of adventurers battling the Nightmare.
• 
  The Nightmare's awakening animation.
• 
  The Nightmare's walking animation.
• 
  An animation of The Nightmare's Range attacks.
• 
  The Nightmare's surge attack animation.
• 
  The Nightmare Steam Trading Card.
• 
  A part of the RuneScript code displaying The Nightmare's melee attack. RuneScript resembles PHP and C, RuneScript is at a higher abstraction than the actual Nightmare Melee attack code.
• 
  A part of the RuneScript code displaying The Nightmare's spore attack. RuneScript resembles PHP and C, RuneScript is at a higher abstraction than the actual Nightmare Melee attack code.

Pre-release gallery

This gallery contains previews shown on a livestream on 22 January.

• 
  A map of the Sisterhood Sanctuary; the purple marker displays where the player arrives in the Sanctuary, while the red marker displays The Nightmare's location.
• 
  The Sisterhood Sanctuary entrance.
• 
  The Sisterhood Sanctuary lobby.
• 
  A preview of The Nightmare, indicating it is in the middle of a fight.
• 
  A preview showing Shura and the pool used to create the ironman-only instance.
• 
  An overview of the Sisterhood Sanctuary.
• 
  A view of the dream world in which players battle The Nightmare.
• 
  Another view of the dream world.
• 
  Another view of the dream world.

Trivia

A pre-release teaser in which a ghostly face of The Nightmare rises as the player dies.

• The Nightmare's examine text is a reference to the song Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by British pop duo Eurythmics.
• Ashihama is an island in the Pincers region in the Wushanko Isles (Eastern Lands). It is described as "a heavily fortified island known for the refinement and ambition of its citizens". "Ashihama" (芦浜) is also Japanese for a reed beach or shore.
• If a player spends too long in The Nightmare's dream without sufficient activity they will be removed from the fight. This will be accompanied by a chat message 'The Nightmare grows tired of your poor effort and removes you from her dream.'.
• Prior to The Nightmare's release, two teasers were silently released in an update on 16 January 2020:
  • Sleepwalkers spawned in various locations, and made their way to the entrance of the Sisterhood Sanctuary, where they would climb down (but actually despawn).
  • If a player died anywhere (except a PvP death), there is a 10% chance that a ghostly face of The Nightmare would rise.
• A unique drop from The Nightmare, the siren's charm, which is used alongside a mage's book to create the Siren's tome, initially passed The Nightmare of Ashihama poll. However, a decision was made a day after the poll closed to withhold it from being released into Old School RuneScape, due to continued concerns on how it would devalue the arcane spirit shield.
• The Nightmare had a festive override wearing a red partyhat during the 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 Christmas events.