As a general rule, I try to mimic the mechanics in OSRS as closely as possible. However, sometimes there are good reasons to make different decisions if we believe they make the game more fun or certain features less frustrating. I now need to make a decision to either follow OSRS or go our own way.
For the uninformed, I will give a brief overview of the Nightmare's mechanics and the reasons why I'm not sure if we want to have it the same way as in OSRS.
The Nightmare has three phases. During each phase, you first have to destroy its shield, after which four totems in each corner of the room activate. These need to be attacked in order to charge them. Once all four totems are charged, the next phase begins. This exact process is repeated three times. After all totems have been charged a third time, the Nightmare is killed and drops its items.
At the beginning of the fight, the player with the highest melee (slash) defense stats is focused, who will be the tank during the entire fight.
The Nightmare has three basic attacks:
- Melee, which hits all players standing under her and anyone standing next to the targeted player (the tank)
- Ranged, which hits all players in the area
- Magic, which hits all players in the area
- Grasping Claws: Numerous black holes (portals) appear in the area with arms shooting out after a short delay. If a player stands on any portal, they will take up to 50 damage. Simply move into a tile free of a black portal to avoid damage. The Nightmare uses this attack during all three phases.
- Sleepwalkers: At the start of the second and final phases, the Nightmare will summon sleepwalkers that walk toward her, the number of which is dependent upon the number of players, ranging from 1-24. They have just 1 HP. At the end of this attack, she will charge up a powerful blast that hits all players in the room for a minimum of 5 damage and a maximum of 96 damage, depending on how many sleepwalkers she absorbed. This damage is unavoidable, so kill as many sleepwalkers as possible before they reach the Nightmare.
- Husks: The Nightmare spawns two husks around random players (one that uses ranged attacks and one that uses magic attacks). The targeted players will be frozen in place until the husks are killed. The Nightmare only uses this attack during phase 1.
- Flower Power: The Nightmare will divide the room into four equal quadrants with lines of flowers. One quadrant will be safe as indicated with white nightmare flowers, while the remaining quadrants are unsafe as indicated with red nightmare berries. If players are in the incorrect quadrant, they will take rapid damage. The Nightmare only uses this attack during phase 1.
- Curse: A pink glow fills the player's screen and protection prayers are shuffled. Clicking on Protect from Magic activates Protect from Missiles, Protect from Missiles activates Protect from Melee and Protect from Melee activates Protect from Magic. The Nightmare only uses this attack during phase 2.
- Parasites: The Nightmare throws a parasite onto random players. After it has grown, it will burst out of the player and deal damage to them, and will then begin healing The Nightmare until killed. In OSRS, drinking a dose of Sanfew serum or Relicym's balm before it emerges will weaken the parasite and greatly reduce the damage taken when the parasite bursts out. The Nightmare only uses this attack during phase 2.
- Surge: The Nightmare will teleport to one of the four edges of the room, then immediately surge across to the opposite side dealing up to 60 damage to anyone caught in her path. Move out of the way to avoid taking damage. The Nightmare only uses this attack during phase 3.
- Spores: Puffshroom like objects spawn around the arena. Standing within 1 tile of one will cause it to explode, causing the player to become weary; their run is disabled and their attack speed is lowered by 1 tick for a short duration. The Nightmare only uses this attack during phase 3.
Surge and spores are attacks that I'm definitely willing to implement, and they aren't too hard to add, but if we're going to deviate from the Nightmare's mechanics on OSRS, then we may have to consider in what way - do we stick with just the husks and flower power attacks in all phases, do we add husks, flower power, surge and spores in all phases or do we skip special attacks in the second (and possibly third) phase altogether?
Please let me know what you prefer!
