What you need to know and do
In Old School Runescape, the Nightmare of Ashihama is a boss in Slepe in Morytania. Some say she originated from a ritual performed in Ashihama. There, she terrorized the town until a group of sirens drove her out. The Nightmare then moved to Slepe, where a sleeper plague ravaged the town. She did not let go of the opportunity and drew all the victims to her dream world to strengthen herself. This is where adventurers can come in and challenge her for rewards worth OSRS gold.
Fighting the Nightmare of Ashihama
Her unconscious body lies in the Sisterhood Sanctuary, a dungeon beneath Slepe. You can disturb her sleep to start the fight. If she is floating, there is a group already fighting her, so wait your turn. You’ll see what phase the fight is in by the images on the floor below her.
Your goal is to break her mental shields to make her vulnerable to the totems’ effects. She will always have 2,400 HP, and the totems damage her for 800 each charge. That means you have to break her shield and charge one of the totems three times. It doesn’t have to be the same totem. Her shield’s durability is influenced by how many players have come to challenge her. The minimum is 2,000 points and the maximum is 19,600.
She has standard attacks for all three styles of combat. Praying for protection from the correct style reduces damage, but making a mistake makes you receive more instead. For her Melee attack, she picks the character with the most melee defense as her target for this attack. You’ll see her claws glow as she swipes them across the ground and the targeted player. Other players in the group can avoid this attack entirely by positioning themselves away from her designated tank.
Her Magic attack also makes her claws glow, but she’ll spin and twirl instead of swipe her claws. As for her Ranged attack, it’s quite recognizable as she’ll twist and contort herself until she shoots a projectile. It produces a clicking sound as well, so listen carefully for that tell.
She also has some special attacks she uses, depending on what phase she’s in.
The Nightmare’s Special Attacks
Grasping Claws – She’ll spawn a big portal beneath her, as well as many smaller portals across the arena. Any player standing on a small portal will lose up to 50 HP when the Nightmare stabs her claws through the big portal.
Sleepwalkers – Sleepwalkers, summoned by the Nightmare, will start to walk toward her. Allowing the boss to absorb these sleepwalkers increases the damage of the subsequent blast she’s charging. The blast is unavoidable, so all you can do is weaken it. Thankfully, a single attack is enough to kill these walkers. The number of sleepwalkers depends on the number of players challenging her. In a solo encounter, letting the Nightmare absorb the lone walker will result in death.
Husks – The Nightmare makes two Husks appear around random players. These target players will be frozen until the husks are defeated. One (blue, skinny) uses Magic, and the other (green, bulky) uses Ranged. Black portals will not spawn under players targeted by Husks, as well.
Flower Power – Flowers will divide the field into four. Three of these sections will damage players inside it, while the last is a safe space. White flowers mark the boundaries of that safe space, as opposed to the unsafe spaces’ red berries. Attacking the Nightmare while in an unsafe space will also heal her.
Curse – The screen will glow pink with no discernible effect. However, this attack shuffles your Prayers. Protect from Magic becomes Protect from Missiles. The latter activates Protect from Melee, and clicking Protect from Melee protects from magic instead. The effect lasts for 5 attacks.
Parasites – She will throw parasites onto random players. These players have a few moments to keep these from growing strong by drinking a dose of Sanfew Serum or Relicym’s Balm. Otherwise, the parasites will burst from their host with accompanying damage and then start healing the boss. When weakened, the damage from bursting out will be less and they’re easier to defeat.
Surge – The boss will teleport to one edge of the battlefield then surge across to the other end. Easily avoidable by moving away from her path.
Spores – Puffshrooms (or at least similar shrooms) will appear in the arena. Standing near these will trigger their explosion, applying a ‘weary’ debuff onto the character. Run will be disabled and attack speed lowered by 1 tick.
Here is when she uses these attacks.
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
| Grasping Claws | ||
| Sleepwalkers (beginning of Phases 2 and 3) | ||
| Husks | Curse | Surge |
| Flower Power | Parasites | Spores |
Preparing for the Fight
The recommended level is 85 for Attack, Strength, Defense, Magic, Hitpoints, and 70 Prayer. The equipment you’ll use depends on whether you’re fighting alone or with other people. If the group wants a certain player to be the tank, then make sure they have the highest Defense. The bonus from the Piety Prayer affects this calculation. When you’re the tank, don’t flick Piety else you risk losing the Defense bonus and make her switch melee targets.
You may have to buy OSRS gold to get the most recommended gear for this fight. Some of these are even rewards from the boss herself.
The Rewards
You’ll get Bones from her, though Big Bones are reserved for those who dealt the most damage to her. However, getting bones means you’re eligible to receive a unique drop. There are two unique tables, one for the equipment and one for the orbs. It can take a few fights to get these drops.
You can get much OSRS gold selling off anything from the unique table, though. The cheapest thing on it is the Nightmare Staff, which currently fetches 25.4M on the GE. If you’re lucky enough to get a Harmonized orb you can start to sell OSRS gold, as it costs a whopping 835.3M! That’s more than enough to make up for all the spent OSRS gold buying supplies and equipment for the fight.
Besides these twisted bow unique items, you may also get ores, herbs, GP, some food or potions, ammunition, and runes. You may also receive the Little Nightmare pet, a Jar of Dreams, or an elite Clue Scroll.
Conclusion
Remember to keep track of your positioning to avoid both shrooms and the portals, as well as the tank’s position. Movement is critical for avoiding damage. Thankfully, most of her attacks are telegraphed and recognizable.
Enjoy fighting the Nightmare of Ashihama in Old School Runescape!
