OSRS Nex Guide: Frozen Key, Requirements, Phases and Gear

Overview

To fight Nex you need to have opened the frozen door in the God Wars Dungeon with a frozen key. You build the key during The Frozen Door miniquest from four pieces, one from each God Wars general, and the miniquest needs Desert Treasure I plus 70 Agility, Strength, Ranged and Hitpoints. Use the key once and it disintegrates, but the Ancient Prison stays open to you for good.

Nex herself is a combat level 1,001 Zarosian boss with 3,400 hitpoints, released on 5 January 2022. She fights through five phases, Smoke, Shadow, Blood, Ice and Zaros, and up to 60 players can fight her at once. The draw is the unique table, about 1/43 per kill: Torva armour, the nihil horn that makes the zaryte crossbow, zaryte vambraces and the ancient hilt.

Below: the frozen key step by step, the rest of the access chain, all five phases and their minions, team size and loot, and gear at three budgets.

How to Get the Frozen Key

The frozen key is made from four pieces, Armadyl, Bandos, Saradomin and Zamorak, which you collect from the God Wars generals during The Frozen Door. You need Desert Treasure I done to do the miniquest.

1. 1

   Get 70 Agility, 70 Strength, 70 Ranged and 70 Hitpoints.

   You can start the miniquest without them, but you need them to reach all four generals, and only Hitpoints can be boosted.

2. 2

   Bring a mith grapple and a crossbow, a hammer (or dragon warhammer), and two ropes for the one-time rope at Saradomin's Encampment.

3. 3

   Start The Frozen Door when a messenger hands you an important letter.

4. 4

   Kill Kree'arra, General Graardor, Commander Zilyana and K'ril Tsutsaroth.

   Each drops its key piece if you deal the most damage to it before it dies.

5. 5

   If someone else in your group always tops the damage, kill the general's bodyguards instead.

   They drop the piece at 1/20.

6. 6

   Combine the four pieces into the frozen key and use it on the frozen door on the south wall of the main chamber, between Armadyl's Eyrie and Saradomin's Encampment.

Using the key unseals the door permanently and the key disintegrates. Every player needs to have done this themselves, since the door checks whether you used a key on it. An unused key is destroyed if you die with it, and then you need four new pieces. The God Wars Dungeon guide covers each general's room and kill count.

Requirements and Access

Getting to Nex is a three-step gate: God Wars Dungeon access, the frozen door, then 40 essence inside the Ancient Prison.

Getting There and Banking

1. 1

   Teleport near the God Wars Dungeon with Trollheim Teleport (61 Magic and Eadgar's Ruse) or Ghommal's hilt 1 (41 Combat Achievement points).

2. 2

   Enter the dungeon and head to the frozen door on the south wall of the main chamber.

3. 3

   Kill Zarosian monsters in the prison until you have 40 essence, then pass into the respite room.

4. 4

   Ashuelot Reis, the nature spirit in the respite room, gives you bank access, so you can restock between kills without leaving.

If you die, a chest in the entry and respite rooms returns your items for 100,000 coins. An unsafe death deletes whatever was left in the deathbank.

Recommended Stats

These are the wiki's recommended levels for ranging Nex, which is the standard way to fight her. Smaller teams want higher Ranged.

Gear Setups: Budget, Mid and Best in Slot

Ranged is the backbone with a magic switch for specific phases. Prayer bonus and survivability matter more than at a scripted solo boss, because Nex fights are long and mechanics overlap.

Bring a defensive switch. There are moments in the fight where surviving matters more than your damage contribution, particularly if you are the blood sacrifice target.

Inventory and Supplies

Nex trips are long and mechanic-heavy. Bring sustain rather than maximum damage, especially while learning. Ashuelot Reis's bank access in the respite room means you can top up between kills.

• Saradomin brews and super restores, the standard combination for long team fights.
• Prayer potions if you are not using restores exclusively.
• Ranging potion and magic potion, or divine variants.
• A gas mask, facemask or slayer helmet, which shortens the cough from Choke in the Smoke phase.
• Your magic switch and any defensive switch you plan to use.
• A stab or crush weapon if your team expects you to break Ice Prison stalagmites.
• An escape teleport.

Do not bring your entire bank. Nex demands attention on mechanics, and a cluttered inventory turns a switch into a misclick at the worst moment.

Mechanics You Have to Respect

Each of the first four phases has a mage empowering her: Fumus, Umbra, Cruor and Glacies. Every time Nex loses another 20% of her hitpoints, that phase's mage becomes attackable and has to die before the next phase starts.

Nex's exact timings and heal amounts are tuning-sensitive. Confirm current behaviour on the OSRS Wiki Nex strategy page before a serious learning trip.

Phase-by-Phase Strategy

Nex is the same fight every time, in the same order. The mage for each phase becomes attackable once Nex has lost another 20% of her 3,400 hitpoints.

1. 1

   Before entering:

   dose your potions, set your protection prayer, and agree roles, including who tanks Choke's cough.

2. 2

   Smoke phase:

   spread out, dodge Smoke Dash, and kill Fumus once Nex is down to 2,720 hitpoints and it becomes attackable.

3. 3

   Shadow phase:

   keep your distance, step off your shadow, and kill Umbra at 2,040.

4. 4

   Blood phase:

   kill the blood reavers, stop hitting her while she kneels, run seven tiles if Blood Sacrifice marks you, and kill Cruor at 1,360.

5. 5

   Ice phase: leave Containment, break Ice Prison stalagmites with stab or crush, and kill Glacies at 680.

6. 6

   Zaros phase: she heals 500, so this is where saved supplies matter.

   Keep prayer correct and do not melee into Deflect Melee.

7. 7

   On the kill, run from her body before Wrath goes off.

8. 8

   After the kill, check supplies honestly before committing to another attempt.

If you are learning, ask your team to call Blood Sacrifice and Ice Prison out loud. Almost every new-learner death is a missed call rather than a mechanical failure.

Solo Versus Team

Up to 60 players can fight Nex in one encounter. Loot quantity is set by team size, and your share depends on your total damage to Nex, her mages and any blood reavers. The top damage dealer, the MVP, gets 10% more common loot and a 10% boost to unique chance.

Solo Nex is possible but demands endgame gear and complete mechanical mastery. It is not a reasonable way to learn the boss.

Learning in a small team of experienced players is the fastest path, and joining an established group is the normal way in once you have your own frozen door access.

Common Mistakes and What Actually Kills You

Nex punishes attention lapses, not bad gear. These are the errors that end learner trips.

• Attacking Nex while she kneels during Blood Siphon, which heals her instead of hurting her.
• Walking fewer than seven tiles away when Blood Sacrifice marks you.
• Staying inside a Containment 5x5, which hits for up to 60 and turns your prayers off.
• Leaving a teammate in Ice Prison because nobody brought a stab or crush weapon.
• Standing next to teammates while infected by Choke, spreading the cough.
• Ignoring blood reavers while focused on Nex.
• Spending all supplies before the Zaros phase, where she heals 500.
• Standing over her body when she dies, inside Wrath's 5x5.

Drops Worth Knowing

Nex's unique table rolls at about 1/43 per kill, with the pet rolled on top of that.

The ancient ceremonial robes come from the other monsters in the Ancient Prison, not from Nex, so you pick them up while collecting essence.

Combat Achievements

Nex has 11 Combat Achievement tasks worth 56 points. The Grandmaster ones are Nex Duo, Perfect Nex and I should see a doctor (kill her while a player is coughing). Task lists move with updates, so read the current list in game.

Get comfortable with full-team kills first, then reduce the scale one player at a time.

Ironman Notes

Nex is a major Ironman milestone because Torva, the zaryte vambraces and the nihil horn cannot be bought. For an iron, this boss is the melee armour endgame.

The frozen key is the real Ironman problem: you need a piece from each of the four GWD generals, and you only get it by topping the damage on the general or from its bodyguards at 1/20.

Because trips are long and supply-heavy, stockpile brews and restores before starting rather than farming between attempts. The Ironman equipment progression guide covers where Nex fits in the wider order.

FAQ

Still stuck on a mechanic? Ask the team on our Discord, it is free.