Skip to content

Nightmare Zone

This article is compiled from the videos of GnomonkeyRS. It records what Gnomonkey said, with sources, not verified game fact. See About.

Nightmare Zone

Nightmare Zone
Type Activity
Location Just outside Yanille1
Requirements No stat requirements; a majority of quests for optimal points2
Cost per run 26k, or 16k with a quest cape3
Max XP About 160k xp/hr (2020)4
Max points About 1 million per run5
Release/Update Getting Ahead quest changed the best XP boss6
Videos 5 (first 2020-03-08, latest 2024-09-28)
Main source Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021)

Nightmare Zone (NMZ) is an activity just outside Yanille where players refight quest bosses. It is known as the best place to train combat, to the point that some call it overpowered.1 Gnomonkey called it the best place in the game to train combat for XP in 2020, because many bosses give a bonus XP multiplier and it provides rewards such as ring imbues and scrolls of redirection.7 He calls it amazing for melee, the one set of skills that usually cannot be maxed through Slayer slash bossing alone.8

He said in 2024 that he would still rather AFK a couple of weeks there to get combat stats over with than use Wildy Slayer or other faster methods, since it is AFK and has XP-multiplier bosses.9 By September 2024 he had changed his mind, saying sulphur nagas are better for XP than anything in NMZ, including Dharok.10

Contents

Requirements and preparation

NMZ has no stat requirements, but a majority of quests must be completed to get optimal points. The maximum points an hour method additionally requires ice gloves (to fight Fareed) and practically needs nearly every quest boss unlocked.211 A quest cape cuts the entry cost by 10k, so he recommends unlocking it if close.2 A decent Prayer level saves a lot of money when using Piety.8 The best way to get there is the mid-game teleport directly to it.8

He would not train hard in NMZ below base 70 melee stats; before that he uses Ammonite Crabs and Obsidian armour, since overloads benefit lower levels much less.2 Much of the data used comes from Skull64's Reddit post, who gathered the base point value of each boss and gave Gnomonkey his spreadsheet.7

Starting a run

The coffers need a decent cash amount to start a customisable hard rumble. Each run costs 26k (16k with a quest cape), and overloads and absorption potions can be taken from the barrels beforehand.3 Talk to Dominic Onion, ask for a customisable hard rumble, then drink the potion he fills in the area.12 Hard doubles the bosses' offensive stats and health but not their defence. Since the player's health is 1, it only increases XP an hour and points an hour.1312

The customisable rumble lets players disable bosses; at least five must stay enabled.12 After entering there is a 30-second cooldown before bosses spawn, then four random bosses from the loadout appear (often several of the same one); killing one gives points and spawns a replacement.12 Use the cooldown to drink an overload and drop to 1 health and to drink absorptions, but do not lower health too fast while the overload is proccing, which can kill and eject the player.14

Health stays low by flicking rapid heal before every 60 seconds elapse, which resets the regeneration timer. Gnomonkey uses a 50-second interval timer video that beeps every 50 seconds.15

Power-ups

Power-ups spawn randomly every few minutes.16

Power-up Effect
Ultimate Force (white) Kills every currently spawned boss and replaces them; no points or XP for bosses wiped by it1616
Power Surge (yellow) Rapidly refills the special attack meter (45 seconds of infinite special attack)1716
Zapper (purple) Constantly damages nearby bosses16
Recurrent Damage (red) Each attack leaves a second hitsplat of the same damage16

Power Surge is the only power-up that gives extra XP, through additional special attacks, and he considers it the only one worth caring about; the others just kill or damage monsters faster.1716 Dragon claws or a granite maul are held for specials.1718

Methods

Method Points/hr XP/hr AFK
Max XP About 200k6 About 160k with Power Surge (270k points/hr in March 2020)4 Yes19
Mixed Over 500k, almost 2.5x max XP19 About 10% less than max XP19 Yes19
Max points Double the mixed method20 Much less20 No20
Hyper AFK None21 About 85k22 Fully23

Max XP

Disable all bosses except Arrg, Moss Guardian, Headless Beast, Count Draynor and Sand Snake. Headless Beast replaced the Kindle (as transcribed), the previous best, after the Getting Ahead quest.6 They have regular mechanics with no freezes or stuns and either the lowest defence or an XP multiplier, but each gives few points.6 In March 2020 his chosen set was Count Draynor, Sand Snake, Moss Guardian, Agrith-Na-Na and the Ice Troll King, which give a bonus experience multiplier and inflict no status effects. That set produced about 160k xp/hr depending on Power Surge spawns and 270k points an hour, and the hurt boxes (rewards) covered the entrance fee and Dharok's repairs, leaving only prayer potion costs.134 By December 2020 he put the same method at about 200k points an hour.6

He calls this typically the best way to train XP once there are enough points for ring imbues. Only Power Surge should be used, because the others lower boss health or kill them and take the player out of combat faster.624

Mixed

Using Skull64's data, a new meta was found shortly before December 2020: enabling only the Dream Mentor bosses without the Desert Treasure bosses divides points per boss by six, while leaving both off or both on avoids the penalty.25 The mixed method turns both groups off and enables most non-annoying bosses: Arrg, Moss Guardian, Headless Beast, Count Draynor, Sand Snake, Ice Troll King, Khazard Warlord, King Roald, Black Knight Titan, Tree Spirit, Bouncer, The Kendal, Me, Black Demon, Skeleton Hellhound, Nezikchened and Jungle Demon.26 Only Power Surge is used, and extra bosses should not be disabled to squeeze out XP, since each disabled boss is roughly a negative ten percent points multiplier.19

Max points

Every boss is enabled except Corrupt Lizardman, Witch's Experiment, Elvarg, Nazastarool, Dagannoth Mother, Glod, the Recipe for Disaster bosses, Chronozon, Barrelchest, Slagilith and Tanglefoot, because they are slow or annoying.20 Gnomonkey would not recommend it to most players unless rushing points.20

  • The annoying bosses left on are Kamil (stops auto-retaliate and freezes with each attack; counter with Protect from Magic or spam clicking), Agrith-Naar (teleports the player into melee range), the Giant Roc and Dad (both stun) and Essyllt (stuns and drains stats by five at a time).27
  • Bosses worth the most points are prioritised and the rest are left to stack up, using the NMZ Optimal Points plugin to find the best boss.27
  • Ultimate Force is extremely useful here, clearing stacked low-value bosses. With four horrible bosses and no Ultimate Force, he would often die or drink the potion to leave and start again.2829
  • Essyllt from Song of the Elves and the Dream Mentor bosses are the juiciest. The Inadequacy is worth 80k points, the highest of any boss.30
  • A boss that teleports the player should usually be killed first, even if it is not the most points.30
  • Fareed needs ice gloves to stop the weapon being unequipped, which is dangerous with a full inventory because the weapon would drop. Damis should be avoided, since his second form rapidly drains prayer.115
  • A run earns at most just over one million points, after which no more are gained, so a new run is started usually every 30 to 40 minutes.5

Hyper AFK

Hyper AFK is the most AFK training method in the game, tied with splashing.23 The old method allowed six hours AFK, but it was changed so the character stops auto-retaliating after 20 minutes and needs client interaction; the player still does not log out until the six-hour log or death.23

A normal customisable rumble is used with only Count Draynor, Sand Snake, King Roald, The Kendal and Me enabled, avoiding ranged attackers that could pull the player out of combat and log them out, and anything hitting harder.31 The inventory is about five super strengths, a locator orb and absorption potions, with no prayer since that is less AFK.23 Super combats cost six times more than super strengths for under 1% to 2% more DPS, depending on the boss.31

  • Dharok's is not used, as health is not lowered often; max melee with a chaotic weapon or Obsidian armour is significantly better because its higher defence extends absorption trips.32
  • On entering, fill the locator orb down to 1 HP, drink around 1000 HP of absorption potions, then a super strength, and stand in the centre, because a corner eventually makes the player leave combat and log out.32
  • Up to 20 minutes can be AFK'd before leaving combat, then another super strength is drunk and the orb refilled to 1 HP; usually about 200 absorption HP per 20 minutes, less with max melee.22
  • The method gives about 85k XP an hour, similar to Ammonite Crabs, but the player cannot be logged out in NMZ. Crabs are still not bad up to 99s if fossils are needed for the museum, though less AFK.2221
  • No points are gained: absorptions are at best break-even. He suggests a couple of XP/points mix runs first, then using those points to supply absorptions.21

Gear

Below 92 hitpoints, Obsidian armour with a Berserker necklace and Obsidian sword has very low accuracy and defence but insane damage, which suits NMZ where most bosses have low defence.33 Armour defence does not matter with absorption potions because every max hit is one anyway; cape, boots, gloves and defender can be downgraded, though they add DPS if affordable, and a fire cape is fine.34 A chaotic weapon with absolute max gear beats Obsidian by a very small margin until 92 hitpoints, where Dharok's set overtakes everything.35

Dharok's effect scales with maximum health and is boosted by constantly reduced health. On paper it would be best around level 85, but because it is slow and often overkills it overtakes at 92.35 After 92 hitpoints only a charged scythe of Vitur with max gear beats Dharok's, with about 15% more DPS at 99 HP and a bigger difference at lower HP.36 A scythe costs just under 1.5m gp an hour to use, so it only pays if the best moneymaker earns over 11.2m gp/hr, which he says is technically possible for people with many vaults or high-level Theatre of Blood raiders. For the other 99.9% he would use Dharok's.3637

The inventory is a locator orb or dwarven rock cake for self-damage, a holy wrench to save prayer potions, dragon claws or a granite maul with ornate handle for specials, overloads and absorptions, and the rest prayer potions.18 Claws are the better special weapon, but a maul is acceptable; the ornate handle costs about 1m gp and reduces the maul's spec cost.18 He dislikes using Saradomin godsword or Ancient mace specs to save prayer because they waste XP and defeat the purpose of prayer.18

For gearing goals, he estimated in 2022 that max melee gear besides Torva with a Rapier would cost roughly 200 million gp, and said that once he had the gear he would AFK NMZ until Attack and Strength were maxed, then move on to Nex.3839

Rewards

Reward Cost / value
Ring imbue (most rings) 650k points; doubles the stats of most rings40
Salve amulet imbue 800k points; works for any combat style, needed for ranging Vorkath and Chambers of Xeric40
Black mask / slayer helmet imbue 1.25m points, the most expensive; works for any combat style40
Herb boxes 9,500 points each, 15 a day, worth on average 10k apiece4142
Scroll of redirection 775 points; redirects house tablets to any house portal or Trollheim42

He is never a fan of daily herb boxes, but 150k worth for 95k points quickly pays for admission.41 Many redirection teleports are very powerful for Clue Scrolls and God Wars Dungeon, and he highly recommends a small stockpile.4242

Training advice and later view

  • Each stat level is worth about 2% DPS, and going from worst to best gear is often less beneficial than gaining the last 10 levels in a stat.43
  • For non-melee stats he says Monkey Madness 2 plus barraging with the Shadow/Shining-type staff (as heard, "shining slash barraging") gives the fastest results.9
  • In September 2024 he said sulphur nagas beat anything in NMZ, including Dharok, for XP, and add passive Prayer and Runecrafting XP, drops and hard clues; the requirements are about 50 Slayer and 55 Herblore, and he hopes they are not nerfed.1044
  • He now says NMZ's only advantage is herb boxes, which an ironman cannot get, so there is little reason to use it any more.45

Revision history

Date Video Change
2024-09-28 HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MELEES FAST! (OSRS) Changed opinion from NMZ being the best option to sulphur nagas being better, leaving only herb boxes as an advantage.
2024-07-07 Ultimate Account Building Guide (OSRS) Updated view: still prefers AFK NMZ over Wildy Slayer for combat stats; added level and gear advice.
2022-08-03 How Would I MAX My Main From Scratch? (OSRS) Added gear cost estimate (about 200m) and plan to AFK NMZ before Nex.
2020-12-24 Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021) Added full guide: requirements, gear, rumble setup, all four methods, power-ups and rewards.
2020-03-08 Is Dharoks Effective at Nightmare Zone? (Yes and No) Page created: location, Hard rumble choice, bosses, Power Surge and about 160k xp/hr.
## See also

References

  1. Is Dharoks Effective at Nightmare Zone? (Yes and No), 2020-03-08. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩

  2. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 0:32 ↩↩↩↩

  3. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 5:39 ↩↩

  4. Is Dharoks Effective at Nightmare Zone? (Yes and No), 2020-03-08. ▶ 5:27 ↩↩↩

  5. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 11:51 ↩↩↩

  6. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 7:52 ↩↩↩↩↩↩

  7. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩

  8. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 0:56 ↩↩↩

  9. Ultimate Account Building Guide (OSRS), 2024-07-07. ▶ 3:52 ↩↩

  10. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MELEES FAST! (OSRS), 2024-09-28. ▶ 7:34 ↩↩

  11. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 4:49 ↩↩

  12. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 5:52 ↩↩↩↩

  13. Is Dharoks Effective at Nightmare Zone? (Yes and No), 2020-03-08. ▶ 3:27 ↩↩

  14. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 6:21 ↩

  15. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 7:00 ↩

  16. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 6:49 ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  17. Is Dharoks Effective at Nightmare Zone? (Yes and No), 2020-03-08. ▶ 4:59 ↩↩↩

  18. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 4:21 ↩↩↩↩

  19. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 9:22 ↩↩↩↩↩

  20. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 9:55 ↩↩↩↩↩

  21. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 14:46 ↩↩↩

  22. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 14:19 ↩↩↩

  23. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 12:53 ↩↩↩↩

  24. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 8:22 ↩

  25. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 8:34 ↩

  26. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 8:53 ↩

  27. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 10:24 ↩↩

  28. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 11:07 ↩

  29. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 11:25 ↩

  30. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 12:23 ↩↩

  31. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 13:19 ↩↩

  32. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 13:53 ↩↩

  33. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 1:53 ↩

  34. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 2:27 ↩

  35. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 2:54 ↩↩

  36. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 3:27 ↩↩

  37. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 3:53 ↩

  38. How Would I MAX My Main From Scratch? (OSRS), 2022-08-03. ▶ 2:00 ↩

  39. How Would I MAX My Main From Scratch? (OSRS), 2022-08-03. ▶ 2:30 ↩

  40. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 16:18 ↩↩↩

  41. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 16:44 ↩↩

  42. Nightmare Zone Guide (AFK, Points, XP) NEW METHOD (OSRS 2021), 2020-12-24. ▶ 16:49 ↩↩↩↩

  43. Ultimate Account Building Guide (OSRS), 2024-07-07. ▶ 4:20 ↩

  44. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MELEES FAST! (OSRS), 2024-09-28. ▶ 7:45 ↩

  45. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MELEES FAST! (OSRS), 2024-09-28. ▶ 9:35 ↩

Activities

Inferno • Corrupted Gauntlet • Fortis Colosseum • Hallowed Sepulchre • TzHaar Fight Cave • Nightmare Zone • Deadman Mode • Guardians of the Rift • Volcanic Mine • The Gauntlet • Salvaging • Elf pickpocketing • Soul Wars • Drift net fishing • Trouble Brewing • Ourania Altar • RuneScape 3 Leagues • Sorceress's Garden • Chompy bird hunting • Fortis Colosseum speedrun • Gridmaster • Birdhouse run • Wilderness • Vyrewatch Sentinel • Barrows • Barracuda Trials • Chaos altar • Slayer point boosting • Black chinchompa • Blisterwood tree • Graveyard Agility Course • Kalphite • Deep sea trawling • Rogues' Den • Rooftop Agility courses • Castle Wars • 3-tick 4-granite • Knights of Ardougne • Mixology • God Wars Dungeon

Category: Activities