Nightmare Zone/Strategies
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General Advice[edit | edit source]
To start a rumble instance, you must have at least 22,000 coins for normal mode or 26,000 coins for hard mode. A minimum of five quests is required to activate a "dream" in Nightmare Zone. It can be helpful to bring a Pet with you into the arena, because your pet can help with bodyblocking, and reducing the number of foes that can hit you - this will save Absorption potion points. When starting a rumble, the bosses in the fight will be based on what the whole group can access. For example, if a player has completed every quest but a group member has completed only Lost City, Monkey Madness I, Witch's House, Haunted Mine and Tree Gnome Village, only the bosses from those five quests will be fought. The following quests are strongly recommended:
If you have completed any of the other quests, you may opt to instead pay 22,000 coins (for Normal) or 26,000 coins (for Hard) to Dominic Onion for a Customisable Rumble. You will be able to enable or disable any bosses you have unlocked with the requirement that you may not begin until the bosses from at least 5 quests are enabled. Despite having multiple boss encounters, quests such as Desert Treasure, Recipe for Disaster, and Dream Mentor count for only 1 of the 5 mandatory minimum quests to begin. Selecting any boss from a quest featuring multiple bosses will toggle ALL of that quest's bosses on or off simultaneously. The most common quests taken for melee are Mountain Daughter (MTD) or The Grand Tree (Black demon), where the five quests are as follows: Lost City, Tree Gnome Village, Vampyre Slayer, Fight Arena and then either Mountain Daughter or The Grand Tree. MTD gives more experience an hour whilst Demon is better for points. If you have done Lunar Diplomacy, you may fight Me.
A normal rumble costs 22,000 coins while a hard rumble costs 26,000. This can be very helpful for the player if they do not want to use other methods listed above, although you should be wary that the less bosses you select in the rumble, you will get reduced points.
Adding more bosses increases the amount of points given per boss. A session with 5 bosses gives 28.5% of a boss's maximum points while 10 bosses gives 32.5%. Count Draynor gives 1822 points with 5 bosses and 2083 points with 10 bosses.
The main strategy entails playing Nightmare Zone on Hard Rumble mode and killing the bosses from said quests. Players can adopt one of the following methods to gain points and combat experience very effectively.
Note: Avoid using the Ultimate Force power-up as it obliterates every boss in the room without yielding any points or XP. If you want to maximise experience rates, only grab the power surge as it will restore special attack quickly. The bonus damages done by Zapper and Recurrent damage do not give any experience and is just a way to kill the bosses faster for points.
Note 2: Although it is true that Zapper and Recurrent Damage do not give additional experience, activating these power-ups is unlikely to impact experience rates unless the user is killing enemies faster than they spawn. Therefore, activating all power-ups except Ultimate Force is recommended for more points.
Also of note is the fact that Moss Guardian, Dad, Ice Troll King and Arrg provide an increase of experience of 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% and 17.5% respectively (That is 4.3; 4.4; 4.5; and 4.7 experience per 1 damage respectively, in comparison to the 4 experience one gets normally). This is especially useful if using Dharok's Set and Absorption potions as you can maximise DPS, although one might want to avoid Dad and Ice Troll King as they push the player a few squares away, along with Arrg as he attacks using range, which potentially increases damage taken as you won't be able to stay in a corner.
Optimal points[edit | edit source]
See Nightmare Zone/Strategies/Optimal points
Suggested skills[edit | edit source]
43+
31+
40+
40+
40+
40+ (75+ Recommended)
45+
Setups[edit | edit source]
This setup offers a straightforward and fairly AFKable way of gaining Nightmare Zone points for absorptions, overloads or imbues. Players can gain up to around 90,000 Melee experience per hour and 400,000 Nightmare Zone points per hour. This setup requires using prayer potions which can be somewhat expensive however, and is a worse option overall for strictly Melee training compared to using Dharok's (more experience per hour) or normal mode (much more AFK and cheaper) setups.
Equipment[edit | edit source]
This setup aims for a mix of strength and prayer bonus. Optimal equipment consists of the Proselyte armour in the body and leg slots, and equipment that maximises the player's accuracy and strength bonuses in the other slots.
Inventory[edit | edit source]
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- A special attack weapon for replenishing Prayer points or more damage output
- 4-6 Overloads or super combat potions
- Holy wrench (optional)
- Rest prayer potions or super restores
Strategy[edit | edit source]
Select a hard customisable rumble, and choose bosses that can only attack with Melee. All the viable bosses are listed below, and the player should select as many as possible for more points per hour.
- Trapped Soul (The Ascent of Arceuus)
- Count Draynor (Vampyre Slayer)
- Sand Snake (The Depths of Despair)
- King Roald (What Lies Below)
- The Kendal (Mountain Daughter)
- Me (Lunar Diplomacy)
- Skeleton Hellhound (In Search of the Myreque)
- Tree Spirit (Lost City)
- Khazard warlord (Tree Gnome Village)
- Black Knight Titan (Holy Grail)
- Bouncer (Fight Arena)
- Black Demon (The Grand Tree)
Using Dharok the Wretched's equipment with absorption potions requires paying more attention than the other Melee setups, but it offers the fastest Attack and Strength experience for solo players. Players can gain up to 180,000 Melee experience per hour using dragon claws for special attacks, and 155,000 experience per hour using granite maul. Players can sustain around 1 hour per session with this setup.
Equipment[edit | edit source]
This setup uses the Dharok the Wretched's equipment for main damage output. Dragon claws are the best option for special attacks, followed by granite maul. Players can take 1-2 extra switches for higher strength bonus when using special attacks. The rest of the gear should consist of equipment that maximises the player's strength and accuracy bonuses.
| Slot | Item (most effective → least effective) | ||||
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 |  Dharok's helm |  Neitiznot faceguard (for special attacks) |  Helm of neitiznot (for special attacks) |  Berserker helm (for special attacks) |  Obsidian helmet (for special attacks, no quest reqs) |
 |  Amulet of torture |  Amulet of fury |  Amulet of glory | N/A | N/A |
 |  Infernal cape |  Fire cape |  Mythical cape | .gif){kind=small} Cape of Accomplishment |  Ardougne cloak 4 |
 |  Dharok's platebody |  Bandos chestplate (for special attacks) |  Fighter torso (for special attacks) |  Obsidian platebody (for special attacks) | N/A |
 |  Dharok's platelegs | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
 |  Dharok's greataxe | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
 |  Ferocious gloves |  Barrows gloves |  Granite gloves |  Combat bracelet | N/A |
 |  Primordial boots |  Dragon boots |  Guardian boots |  Rune boots | N/A |
 |  Berserker ring (i) |  Brimstone ring |  Warrior ring (i) |  Ring of the gods (i) |  Ring of suffering (i) |
 | Dragon claws |  Granite maul (with Ornate maul handle) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Inventory[edit | edit source]
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- Dragon claws or granite maul (or) for special attacks
- Helm of neitiznot and Bandos chestplate switches for special attacks (optional)
- 3 Overloads
- 3-5 Absorptions
- Locator orb or a dwarven rock cake
- Holy wrench (optional)
- Rest prayer potions
Strategy[edit | edit source]
Choose a hard customisable rumble, and choose Count Draynor, Sand Snake, Moss Guardian, Arrg, and Ice Troll King as the bosses.
- Run to any corner except the south-east corner, drink all your absorption potions and sip a dose of overload.
- Use the locator orb or guzzle the rock cake down to 1 Hitpoints. After that, flash the Rapid Heal prayer once (quickly turn it on and off).
- Turn on Piety and attack the bosses spawn. Drink prayer potions as needed.
- Flash Rapid Heal every 50–60 seconds in order to stay at 1 Hitpoints for the entire trip so that you deal the maximum damage with the Dharok's set and the bosses can keep hitting 1 damage. Flashing said prayer resets the timer that heals the player over time. If you allow your health to raise to 2, your max hit will be lowered and the bosses will hit 2's on you and reduce your absorption by 2 each hit. If this happens, simply use the locator orb or guzzle the rock cake again.
- Once the overload expires, the player returns to 51 HP and should sip some overload, and flash Rapid Heal.
- Those who have experience with flicking offensive prayers might wish to set up their quick-prayers to simultaneously activate Rapid Heal and their best offensive prayer. This improves your damage output and makes accidental HP regeneration much less likely, as long as you remember to keep flicking. However, doing this requires significantly more effort.
- Once the Power Surge power-up spawns, activate it, switch to your special attack weapon and repeatedly use special attacks.
Using normal customisable rumble with absorption potions is a very straightforward and the most AFKable way of training Melee stats in the game. With this method the player does not need to interact with the client for 20 minutes, after which the player will stop attacking the monsters. Players can gain up to 85,000 experience per hour, and sustain 3–6 hours per session depending on their equipment and stats. While this method does slightly profit Nightmare Zone points, players who are solely looking to gain points for imbues are advised to use other setups instead.
Equipment[edit | edit source]
For this setup, ghrazi rapier along with Bandos armour offers the best experience per hour and good sustainability due to the high defences of the Bandos armour. Toktz-xil-ak along with full obsidian armour and berserker necklace offers the second best experience per hour and is a much more affordable option, however it has poor sustainability due to its low defensive stats. Players who want good sustainability but cannot afford a ghrazi rapier should use abyssal whip (for training Attack or Defence) or abyssal bludgeon (for training Strength) along with Bandos armour.
Inventory[edit | edit source]
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- 4-5 super combat potions
- Locator orb or dwarven rock cake (optional but recommended)
- Rest Absorptions
Strategy[edit | edit source]
Choose a normal customisable rumble, and choose a combination of the following bosses:
- Count Draynor
- Sand Snake
- King Roald
- The Kendal
- Trapped Soul
- Me
- Tree spirit
- Khazard Warlord
Run to the middle of the room. Use absorptions until 951-1000 absorption, get down to 1 Hitpoints using the locator orb or rock cake, and sip a super combat potion dose. Repeat after 15–20 minutes.
Using normal customisable rumble with absorption potions is a very straightforward and the most AFKable way of training Ranged in the game. With this method the player does not need to interact with the client for 20 minutes, after which the player will stop attacking the monsters. Players can gain up to 115,000 experience per hour if using a toxic blowpipe and 70,000 experience if using magic shortbow (i), and sustain 3–6 hours per session depending on their equipment and stats. While this method does slightly profit Nightmare Zone points, players who are solely looking to gain points for imbues are advised to use other setups instead.
Equipment[edit | edit source]
For this setup, using the Void Knight equipment offers the best experience per hour. However, due to its poor defensive stats it is recommended to use a more defensive setup for better sustainability, such as Armadyl or dragonhide armour with justiciar faceguard or other tank helmet. Players who need even better sustainability can replace other Ranged equipment with more defensive pieces, such as Bandos tassets and ring of suffering (i). Using a locator orb or dwarven rock cake to extend trips is recommended with this setup.
Toxic blowpipe is the best weapon to use, but this is not recommended due to its significantly higher cost compared to other options. Magic shortbow (i) with amethyst or rune arrows offers a slower but much cheaper option. Alternatively, players can use Armadyl/dragon/rune crossbow or mithril darts with a shield for slightly less experience per hour but more defence.
Inventory[edit | edit source]
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- 4-5 super ranging or bastion potions
- Locator orb or dwarven rock cake (optional but recommended)
- Rest Absorptions
Strategy[edit | edit source]
Choose a normal customisable rumble, and choose a combination of the following bosses:
- Count Draynor
- Sand Snake
- King Roald
- Trapped Soul
- The Kendal
Run to the middle of the room. Use absorptions until 951-1000 absorption, get down to 1 Hitpoints using the locator orb or rock cake, and sip a super ranging or bastion potion dose. Repeat after 15–20 minutes.
The chinning method involves the use of grey, red, or black chinchompas. In addition, adopting either the standard Prayer strategy or Absorption method are also used. It all depends on what the player can afford, are willing to spend, or can use. Grey chinchompas require a Ranged level of 45; red require 55, and black require 65. On the Short Fuse attack style, you throw 1,200 chins per hour. Medium Fuse is 1,500. Also, while chinning, the player has to lure the bosses. The process of luring is pretty simple. In the middle of the arena, the player, or lurer, runs between three squares. This allows the enemies that spawn to pile up on one square. Aside from Armadyl armour, Void Knight equipment with the Ranger helm could be worn instead.
Inventory[edit | edit source]
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- 3 Overloads
- 23-24 Prayer potions or 23 Absorptions
- Holy wrench (optional)
- Dwarven rock cake or Locator Orb (only if using Absorptions) [1]
Upon adopting either the standard Prayer strategy or Absorption method, Smoke Barrage is the best spell to use for Magic. It does not require Soul runes, and it does not stop enemies from moving. This is vital to obtaining the most XP. The player can cast about 1,200 spells per hour. Also, vital is luring the bosses. The process of luring is pretty simple. In the middle of the arena, the player, or lurer, runs between three squares. This allows the enemies that spawn to pile up on one square. In lieu of Ancestral gear, Void Knight equipment with the Void mage helm or Ahrim's equipment work as less expensive alternatives.
Inventory[edit | edit source]
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 8000 |  8000 |  8000 |
- Rune pouch with 8000 Fire, Air and Death along with 4000 Blood runes in your inventory
- 3-5 Overloads
- 20-21 Prayer potions or 20-22 Absorptions
- Saradomin godsword or Ancient mace as a spec weapon if using prayer method
- Holy wrench (optional)
- Dwarven rock cake or Locator Orb (only if using Absorptions) [1]
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A Dwarven rock cake is for Dharoking and for Absorption uses. It is used with Absorptions in which the player, standing in any corner except the south-east corner with Protect from Melee on, guzzles the rock cake down to 51 Hitpoints, Overloads, uses Absorptions, and flashes Rapid Heal in order to stay 1 HP for the entire trip so that the bosses can keep hitting 1 damage. Flashing said prayer also resets the timer that heals the player over time. Once the Overload expires, the player returns to 51 HP and should re-activate Protect from Melee, sip some overload, and flash Rapid Heal. Protect from Melee can be deactivated afterwards. Note: Protect from Melee has to be used while rock caking and re-potting! It should also be on when absorption isn't present.