OSRS: What is the Nightmare Zone & Is It worth Doing?
This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something we may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. (Learn more).The Nightmare Zone (NMZ) is a combat based minigame in OSRS where players enter into a dream-like state, facing quest bosses they’ve previously fought in their travels. It’s located just outside Yanille, near the bank, and it’s regarded as one of the best sources of combat experience in the game.
This minigame is not only worth doing, but a requirement for most players, as you can imbue your gear here – which provides you with some useful equipment – such as the Slayer Helmet (i) and Berserker Ring (i).
To access the Nightmare Zone you’ll need to have completed at least 5 quests which have boss fights in them.
This minigame is also safe, and on death you won’t lose any items or statuses.
Nightmare Zone Modes
Currently there are three different modes in the Nightmare Zone:
Practice, Endurance, and Rumble.
These modes can also be played on “normal”, which allows players to face the quest bosses as they are in the quest. Or they can be played on “hard” which pits players against far tougher versions of the quest bosses.
Using hard mode provides more reward points than normal mode, so it can be worthwhile.
Practice mode provides no points or experience, and simply allows players to choose a boss to fight 1 on 1.
This mode is seldom used though, and is purely for fun.
Endurance Mode is another 1-on-1 fight mode where players face various waves of bosses, one after the other.
You’ll face all of the bosses you’ve unlocked in OSRS until you’re either defeated, or until you kill each and every boss, ending the mode!
Lastly, there’s Rumble. This is the most popular mode.
In Rumble you’ll face multiple bosses at once, up to a maximum of 4 bosses at any one time.
This mode does not end until the player dies or retires from the dream.
In Rumble, various power-ups will also randomly spawn – which can provide you with powerful bonuses such as Recurrent Damage (which adds an additional hit), or Power Surge (which constantly recharges your special attack).
Benefits of The Nightmare Zone
The main benefits to the Nightmare Zone are the reward points, which are used to purchase items from the rewards shop, and the large amount of combat experience you can obtain.
Reward points are mainly used to imbue rings, such as the Dagannoth King rings.
All rings that you imbue will have double the effectiveness, making them extremely powerful.
But other popular rewards include Herb Boxes, Seaweed, Flax, Buckets of Sand, and Scrolls of Redirection.
But what’s the biggest benefit?
Well the main reason players come to the Nightmare Zone is for the combat experience.
Here you can AFK here safely and level up extremely quickly, since you’re almost always in combat.
Common training methods here include using Dharok gear for strength experience (in conjunction with absorption potions), using a Blowpipe with Mithiril Darts, and using max melee strength gear with prayer gear.
Dharoking is especially popular too, since you can see up 170k experience per hour – which is hands-down some of the best experience you can get for strength.