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This is a safe minigame.
If you die here, you will not lose any of your items.
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This article has a strategy guide here.
All information on mechanics and strategy will be on this page.

Nightmare Zone logo

The Nightmare Zone is a combat-based minigame that is located north of Yanille, northwest of the bank. The minigame involves players having "dreams" to fight bosses they have fought before in quests. It is run by Dominic Onion, who is a mage from Lunar Isle. This minigame is safe, meaning you will not lose items on death; however, any items you drop manually on the ground will be lost if you die, as you will be taken away from the arena.

History[]

Dominic did not plan on calling his business the Nightmare Zone; it was what the local folk have been calling it. The plan came to him in a vivid dream when he was younger where he saw himself running a successful business from a great structure. He told his father about it, who laughed and said he should be a banker like his ancestors. He refused and wanted to find out what that dream meant, so he studied to find out more about Magic, particularly oneiromancy and dream interpretation. Once he had learned enough, he left Lunar Isle attempting to find the location where he built the huge tower. Since he had not found it or gathered enough money for its construction, he decided to set up a small business north of Yanille selling dreams to people.

Getting there[]

Nightmare Zone location

Nightmare Zone map location.

Requirements[]

To begin the game, the player must complete at least five quests required to access the minigame:

Contact! Haunted Mine Recipe for Disaster
Desert Treasure [1] Holy Grail Roving Elves
Dragon Slayer Horror from the Deep Shadow of the Storm
Dream Mentor In Search of the Myreque Shilo Village
Fairy Tale I - Growing Pains Legends' Quest Tree Gnome Village[1][2]
Family Crest Lost City[1][2] Troll Romance
Fight Arena[2] Lunar Diplomacy Troll Stronghold
The Fremennik Isles Monkey Madness I What Lies Below[1][2]
The Grand Tree Mountain Daughter[2] Witch's House[1][2]
The Great Brain Robbery My Arm's Big Adventure Vampire Slayer[1][2]
Grim Tales One Small Favour The Depths of Despair[2]
The Corsair Curse Tale of the Righteous[2]
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 This quest is highly recommended for Smoke Barrage/Burst or chinning.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 This quest is highly recommended for Meleeing.

Playing[]

Nightmare Zone lobby

The Nightmare Zone lobby.

Dominic's coffer.

The minigame requires coins to be put into the coffer. Coins can be deposited into and withdrawn from the coffer in multiples of 1000, to a maximum of 2,147,483,000 coins. The amount of coins needed for each mode varies according to the type of mode respectively:

  • Practice mode is free, requiring no coins.
  • Endurance mode requires 1,000 coins for normal mode, and 5,000 coins for hard mode.
  • Rumble mode requires 2,000 coins for normal mode, and 6,000 coins for hard mode.
  • Customisable rumbles requires 22,000 coins for normal mode, and 26,000 coins for hard mode. Players who have the maximum amount of quest points will have the cost reduced by 10,000 coins.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble![]

Game modes[]

Nightmare Zone rumble mode

Two players participating in a rumble.

There are 3 modes of play in Nightmare Zone as follows: practice, endurance, and rumble.

All modes have a 'Normal' or 'Hard' difficulty which can be applied.

  • Normal - In normal mode, quest monsters are fought at the original levels they were at in their respective quests.
  • Hard - Hard mode doubles the hitpoints, attack, strength, magic, and ranged levels of the bosses where applicable. Their defensive stats remain unchanged.
The dream potion.
The spectator potion.

Once the player chooses a mode to participate in, money is deducted from the coffer, and Dominic prepares the Dream potion on a plinth, which when drank will bring you into the Nightmare Zone arena. Those who wish to spectate can drink the spectator potion and enter the name of the player whom they wish to spectate.

You do not need to bring the required quest items needed to finish off bosses; for example, the Black Knight Titan will die without the use of Excalibur, and items such as Magic secateurs will be provided for Tanglefoot and an Anti-dragon shield for Elvarg, and runes will be provided for Chronozon and the Dagannoth mother. All items provided this way have "(nz)" at the end of their names, indicating that they cannot be taken out of the Nightmare Zone. Magic experience from casting spells by using "(nz)" runes is heavily reduced.

NOTE If you log out inside the arena you will log in outside of the Dream World.

Practice[]

Players can select a single boss which you have previously defeated in a quest to fight 1-on-1 until either boss or player dies. No experience is given and no Nightmare Zone points will be awarded for defeating the boss. Drops, such as Dragon Bones from Elvarg, WILL be awarded on defeat of the boss.

Endurance[]

Fighting every boss the player has unlocked 1-on-1 in waves until the player either dies or defeats all bosses available, gaining Points for each boss defeated (see Points Awarded in the 'Bosses' section below).

Rumble[]

This mode allows you (or a group of friends) to fight multiple randomly generated bosses at once and when you kill any single boss another one will spawn in its place endlessly until the player dies. This mode requires all players in the group to have the coins required for participating. Bosses encountered in a rumble are those that all players in the group can access. Reward points are rewarded for boss kills (points split between teams, see 'Bosses' section Note).

NMZ custom rumble interface

The interface for customisable rumble dreams.

To start a rumble, one player must speak to Dominic and he/she must invite participating players within the enclosure. Those that leave the enclosure will automatically leave the group. Once the hosting player drinks the Dream potion, players in the group will be prompted to either join the shared dream or leave the group.

It can last six hours in rumble mode if you don't die within it.

As of 10 March 2016, players can select their own set of bosses within the dream by selecting the customisable options after selecting Rumble mode. Customisable dreams require 22,000 coins for normal mode, and 26,000 coins for hard mode. Players who have the maximum amount of quest points will have the cost reduced by 10,000 coins. However, points obtained within customisable rumbles are reduced compared to that of regular rumbles, depending on how many bosses you remove. Having another player who has fewer quests completed host the rumble does not increase points gained.

Power-ups[]

Nz power-up

A player using the Zapper power-up in Rumble mode.

In Rumble mode, there are power-ups that spawn somewhere in the arena randomly and gives a player a temporary advantage against the bosses within the arena. There are four power-ups, each with an individual colour denoting its use:

  • Recurrent damage - Red in colour, using this power-up deals extra damage whenever you hit. The extra damage does NOT give exp. The extra damage is dependent on your initial damage, damaging the monster 3/4 of the initial damage. For example, hitting a 35 will deal an extra 26 damage upon the monster. This power-up lasts 45 seconds.
  • Zapper - Purple in colour, using this power-up damages nearby monsters. The zapper won't damage bosses that are immune to normal attacks (such as the Dagannoth Mother and Tanglefoot). This seems to have a max hit of 8. This power-up lasts 1 minute.
  • Power surge - Yellow in colour, using this power-up fills the user's special attack bar and regenerates it by 20% per tick. This power-up lasts 45 seconds.
  • Ultimate force - White in colour, using this power-up instantly kills all the bosses that are present in the arena. Points will NOT be gained for killing bosses in this manner
    • These kills will, however, count towards your Slayer task (if applicable) and grant Slayer experience as long as you dealt some damage to your assigned monster within the Nightmare Zone.

Power-ups disappear if they are not activated within 1 minute.

Bosses[]

The following table details the list of monsters that can be encountered within the Nightmare Zone; the more quests a player has completed, the more a player has access to. In Rumble mode, the only bosses that appear are those that all participating players have access to.

Note: Point values increase based on the number of bosses included. These points are the maximum points that can be given (assumes ALL quests have been completed and ALL bosses included, not just those required for bosses below). If you are in a team, points are split between those who attacked the monster. The person who did the most damage will take a larger percentage of the maximum points from that monster.
Also of note is that many bosses provide an increased Experience amount per damage dealt, such as Dad, Moss Giant, Arrg, Slagilith, and the Ice Troll King.
Name Combat Level (Hard Mode) Hitpoints (Hard Mode) Defence Level Attack style Points gained (Normal) Points gained (Hard) Notes and precautions Quest
Count Draynor 34 (177) 40 (210) 30 Melee 43 1588 A Hammer and Stake are not required to kill him.
Regenerates 1 hitpoint each time you hit, unless you are carrying garlic. Kills count towards vampyre slayer tasks.
Vampire Slayer
Corsair Traitor 35 (103) 55 (160) 20 Magic 845 Can cast weaken which lowers your def by 10 per cast The Corsair Curse
Sand Snake 36 (154) 60 (180) 20 Melee 49 1178 The Depths of Despair
Corrupt Lizardman 46 (152) 50 (150) 38 Melee, ranged 4827 Can poison the player damaging the player through absorption potions Tale of the Righteous
King Roald 47 (188) 60 (150) 30 Melee 86 1792 Shouts various humorous phrases. What Lies Below
Witch's experiment 19, 30, 42, 53 (47, 77, 90, 103) 21, 31, 41, 51 (63, 93, 102, 113) 19, 29, 39, 49 Melee 111 513 Will use a glare that will drain players' stats, and four forms must be defeated before the player can progress further. Witch's House
The Kendal 70 (210) 50 (150) 60 Melee 192 2253 Mountain Daughter
Me 79 (201) 45 (135) 74 Melee 1,085 8,264 Initiates a humorous dialogue between them and the player as the fight progresses. Lunar Diplomacy
Elvarg 83 (214) 80 (240) 70 Melee, Dragonfire 1,190 3,601 An anti-dragon shield is provided in the arena, and is a must to fight Elvarg. Without it, she will severely damage you and drain your stats. Kills count towards green dragon slayer tasks. Dragon Slayer
Moss giant 84 (182) 120 (240) 60 Magic, Melee 1,225 6,818 Unlike its regular counterparts, this one uses Magic attacks only and is more powerful (hits through prayer). Roving Elves
Slagilith 92 (202) 60 (150) 75 Melee 1,471 8,264 Extremely weak to crush attacks; a pickaxe is provided in the arena. One Small Favour
Nazastarool 91, 68, 93 (176, 153, 181) 100, 75, 110 (154, 180, 176) 80, 58, 80 Melee 1,506 6,611 Has three forms which the player must defeat in order to progress through the minigame. Shilo Village
Treus Dayth 101 (194) 85 (240) 100 Melee 1,576 7,644 Does not possess cranes, pickaxes or mine carts, but will disappear and return briefly after a fair amount of damage is dealt. Haunted Mine
Skeleton Hellhound 97 (198) 55 (132) 100 Melee 369 8,057 In Search of the Myreque
Dagannoth mother 100 (201) 100 (240) 81 Melee, Ranged 1,751 8,264 Weaknesses vary by colour: white is weak to Air spells, blue is weak to Water spells, orange is weak to melee, brown is weak to Earth spells, red is weak to Fire spells, and green is weak to Ranged. Horror from the Deep
Agrith-Naar 100 (196) 100 (209) 82 Melee, Magic 1,753 7,851 Uses Magic and teleports player around only when out of Melee range. Silverlight is not required to finish him. Shadow of the Storm
Tree spirit 101 (199) 85 (187) 80 Melee 400 2,176 Undead but no benefits [1]. Lost City
Dad 101 (201) 120 (240) 50 Melee 1,786 8,264 Can knock player back several spaces. Stand against a wall, he will knock you down, but not away from him. Kills count towards troll slayer tasks. Troll Stronghold
Tanglefoot 111 (199) 102 (204) 91 Melee 2,154 8,057 Can only be damaged by using Magic secateurs, which is provided in the arena. Fairytale I - Growing Pains
Khazard warlord 112 (192) 169 (256) 80 Melee 373 2,003 Tree Gnome Village
Arrg 171 (210) 150 (255) 40 Melee, Ranged 2,224 9,090 Will attack the player from a distance with ranged attacks. Kills count towards troll slayer tasks. Troll Romance
Black Knight Titan 120 (210) 141 (255) 91 Melee 2,521 9,090 Excalibur is not required to kill him. Highly resistant to ranged Holy Grail
Ice Troll King 122 (216) 150 (255) 80 Melee, Ranged, Magic 2,591 9,297 Using Protect from Melee will result in the king knocking you several squares back. It is recommended to use Protect from Missiles and drinking a dose of Absorption to negate the magical damage he deals. The Fremennik Isles
Bouncer 137 (244) 116 (232) 120 Melee 3,274 12,190 Doesn't count towards hellhound slayer tasks. Fight Arena
Glod 138 (276) 160 (255) 110 Melee 3,327 15,702 Has the chance to make players either run away in fear of the huge giant or charge at him in anger. He can disable any active Prayers on the player, and lowering their prayer points by a noticeable amount. Grim Tales
Evil Chicken 159 (286) 120 (240) 126 Magic 4,413 16,735 Magic attack hits very low but frequently. Recipe for Disaster - Sir Amik Varze
Agrith-Na-Na 146 (235) 200 (255) 82 Melee, Magic 3,730 11,363 Recipe for Disaster - Final battle
Flambeed 149 (238) 210 (255) 75 Melee, Magic 3,887 11,570 Like Fareed, ice gloves must be worn, or use Water spells to attack. Recipe for Disaster - Final battle
Karamel 136 (186) 240 (255) 100 Melee, Magic 3,222 7,024 Like Kamil, it drains stats very frequently so an Overload is recommended. Recipe for Disaster - Final battle
Dessourt 121 (217) 140 (255) 99 Melee, Magic, Ranged 2,556 9,710 Has an attack which is one part Magic, one part Ranged, each of which do double 5s for a total of 10 Hitpoints. Protect from Magic or Missiles is recommended to halve the damage received. Recipe for Disaster - Final battle
Gelatinnoth Mother 130 (201) 240 (240) 81 Ranged, Magic 2,959 8,264 Uses Ranged and Magic attacks simultaneously. Like the Dagannoth Mother, weaknesses vary by colour: white is weak to Air spells, blue is weak to Water spells, orange is weak to Melee, brown is weak to Earth spells, red is weak to Fire spells, and green is weak to Ranged. Recipe for Disaster - Final battle
Culinaromancer 75 (209) 140 (255) 10 Melee, Magic 980 8,884 Magic attacks hit very high; Protect from Magic is recommended. Recipe for Disaster - Final battle
Chronozon 170 (297) 60 (120) 173 Melee 5,061 18,181 All four Blast spells are required to kill him. Runes are provided in the arena. Family Crest
Black demon 172 (292) 165 (255) 152 Melee 5,166 17,561 Kills count towards black demon slayer tasks. The Grand Tree
Giant Roc 172 (257) 200 (255) 100 Melee, Ranged 5,166 13,636 Has a special attack that will knock players several squares back and stun them. Beware of its Ranged attack where it will fling a rock towards the player; move away or receive large damage. My Arm's Big Adventure
Dessous 139 (217) 200 (255) 99 Melee, Magic, Ranged 3,380 9,710 Like Dessourt, he uses a special attack that is both Magic and Ranged. Wind spells are very effective. Desert Treasure
Damis 103, 174 (200, 272) 90, 200 (198, 255) 90, 160 Melee 5,288 15,082 Earth spells are very effective against Damis. After his first form is defeated, he will become far stronger and will drain Prayer at a high rate. Absorption potions are recommended. Desert Treasure
Fareed 227 (299) 130 (255) 135 Melee, Magic 4,868 18,388 You must wear ice gloves in order to melee him, and since ice gloves are not provided in the arena, Water spells are an effective alternative. He can hit very high without Protect from Melee. Note: Not wearing Ice Gloves while fighting Fareed with a FULL inventory will result in your weapon being dropped to the floor, and you will lose the weapon if you don't pick it up before dying. Desert Treasure
Kamil 154 (273) 130 (255) 135 Melee, Magic 4,150 15,289 Desert Treasure
Nezikchened 187 (295) 150 (150) 167 Melee, Magic 6,112 17,975 Legends' Quest
Barrelchest 210 (380) 134 (255) 140 Melee, Ranged 6,322 29,752 Drains Prayer and turns them off when using protection prayers. The Great Brain Robbery
Giant scarab 191 (316) 130 (255) 169 Melee, Ranged 6,374 20,454 It is weak to stabbing attacks and Magic, and uses what appears to be Earth Blast but is really a Ranged attack, so use Protect from Missiles. It will not summon reinforcements as it did during Contact! Contact!
Jungle Demon 195 (327) 170 (255) 170 Melee, Magic 6,654 21,900 It is recommended to use Ranged attacks as it is weak to it, and can deal both high Magic and Melee damage when in Melee range. In rumble hard mode, customisable, the jungle demon will only use melee attacks. The 10th squad will not be here to aid you like they did during Monkey Madness I. Monkey Madness I
The Untouchable 274 (440) 90 (180) 434 Melee 13,134 39,876 Reflects a portion of Melee damage. Dream Mentor
The Everlasting 223 (365) 230 (255) 120 Melee 8,704 27,479 Has a very high Magic Defence; stab or Ranged attacks will deal better damage. Dream Mentor
The Inadequacy 343 (600) 180 (255) 240 Melee, Ranged 20,595 74,380 Uses Melee attacks only when within Melee range; otherwise, it will only use Ranged attacks. It will not summon doubts like it did during Dream Mentor. Dream Mentor

Rewards[]

The rewards chest.

The rewards for the Nightmare Zone are contained in a chest near Dominic Onion, and the rewards are split into three categories: Resources, Upgrades, and Benefits. These rewards can be purchased using Reward points obtained inside the minigame. A maximum of 2,147,483,647 points may be stored in the chest at once.

Resources[]

Dom Onion's Reward Shop stock

The rewards for participating in the Nightmare Zone.

Resources include certain Herblore ingredients, elemental runes, and items that are only obtainable via the minigame, such as scrolls of redirection.

Note: The only item Ironman mode accounts may buy from the resources tab of the shop are scrolls of redirection.

*All players can only purchase 15 herb boxes per day.

Item Points required GE value GP per point
Snape grass Snape grass 175 271 1.55
Red spiders' eggs Red spiders' eggs 300 668 2.23
Flax Flax 75 4 0.05
Bucket of sand Bucket of sand 200 47 0.24
Potato cactus Potato cactus 1,250 808 0.65
Seaweed Seaweed 200 45 0.23
Dragon scale dust Dragon scale dust 750 166 0.22
Compost potion(4) Compost potion(4) 5,000 325 0.07
Air rune Air rune 25 5 0.2
Water rune Water rune 25 4 0.16
Earth rune Earth rune 25 4 0.16
Fire rune Fire rune 25 5 0.2
Rune essence Rune essence 60 11 0.18
Pure essence Pure essence 70 2 0.03
Herb box Herb box 9,500 10,364.8[2] 1.09
Vial of water Vial of water 145 4 0.03
Scroll of redirection Scroll of redirection 775 N/A N/A
  1. https://twitter.com/JagexAsh/status/708233143325728769
  2. Herb box value approximated based on data from Herb box main page.

Upgrades[]

Upgrades can imbue certain items for reward points, increasing stats. The imbued black mask and slayer helmet enhances Magic and Ranged accuracy and damage to assigned Slayer targets. The imbued Fremennik rings increase stats, and imbued crystal equipment will not have its stats lowered as it degrades. For crystal equipment, each charge costs an additional 2,000 points to imbue; 2,000 points for 1/10 and 20,000 points for an unused one.

Imbuing it will add an (i) to its name and will have an "Uncharge" option. The uncharge option removes the imbued bonus, and will refund 80% of the points back. Dying will cause your imbued item to lose its charges, and the player will have to obtain the points again to imbue it.

Item Points required
Black mask Black mask (imbued)[1] 1,250,000
Slayer helmet Slayer helmet (imbued) 1,250,000
Salve amulet Salve amulet (imbued) 800,000
Salve amulet (e) Salve amulet (e) (imbued) 800,000
Ring of suffering Ring of suffering (imbued) 725,000
Berserker ring Berserker ring (imbued) 650,000
Warrior ring Warrior ring (imbued) 650,000
Archers ring Archers ring (imbued) 650,000
Seers ring Seers ring (imbued) 650,000
Tyrannical ring Tyrannical ring (imbued) 650,000
Treasonous ring Treasonous ring (imbued) 650,000
Ring of the gods Ring of the gods (imbued) 650,000[2]
Granite ring Granite ring (imbued) 500,000
Crystal bow Crystal bow 20,000
Crystal shield Crystal shield 20,000
Crystal halberd Crystal halberd 20,000
  1. The Slayer helmet can be imbued in the same manner as the black mask, and the black mask (i) can be used to assemble the helmet, making it a Slayer helm (i).
  2. Also requires a Holy wrench in addition to the points.

Benefits[]

Overload usage

A player uses an overload potion.

Benefits include certain potions that can only be used within the minigame. Dominic's potions are sold by the dose. When you purchase a dose, it is automatically stored in the barrels until the player withdraws them. All Nightmare Zone potions, excluding overloads due to the damage dealt, can be drank extremely quickly, and like combo foods, you can actually drink 28 absorptions at the speed of cleaning an inventory of herbs, by clicking on them one by one, this can also be done with food/other potions with Nightmare Zone potions, without delaying any hits.

Item Points required
Super ranging (1) Super ranging 250
Super magic potion (1) Super magic 250
Overload (1) Overload 1,500
Absorption (1) Absorption 1,000

Trivia[]

  • For someone with a Quest point cape, the maximum number of points on the Endurance mode is 159,699, on the Hard Endurance mode it is 608,725 points.
  • The maximum number of points on a Hard Mode Rumble is 1,048,575 () points.
  • Dominic Onion is a play on 'Dominion' as the minigame resembles the Dominion Tower in RuneScape 3.
  • Trying to cast the lunar spell Dream while in a dream within the Nightmare Zone yields the message "You cannot perform Inception here. Dreaming within this dream will inevitably activate your Kick (i.e. death)."
  • There is a very small chance for a cow to appear inside a dream. According to Mod Mat K (confirming player speculation), this is an easter egg referring to the cow in the area to start a dream, which couldn't be moved when the minigame was developed due to the lack of a map editor.[1]

References[]


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