OSRS Nightmare of Ashihama and Phosani's Nightmare Guide: Requirements, Gear and GP/hr

Rewritten 4 October 2026: rebuilt as a full Nightmare and Phosani's guide with figures from Grand Exchange prices as of 4 October 2026.

Quick answer

• Required: only the quest Priest in Peril, for both bosses. Every combat stat below is a recommendation, not a requirement.
• Style: melee on the boss, usually with a crush weapon, and magic on the four totems. The totems take double damage from magic.
• Phosani's Nightmare (solo): about 10.4M to 11.3M NET GP/hr at 9.2 to 10 kills per hour, with max gear and stats.
• The Nightmare (5-man team): about 4.4M NET GP/hr per player at 12 kills per hour. Single modelled scenario.
• Read this first: rare unique drops are 92% to 95% of gross loot. An average hour is not a typical hour. At Phosani's, a player has a 42% chance of getting no unique in 10 hours.
• Prices: 7-day median Grand Exchange prices, window ending 4 October 2026.

Nightmare or Phosani's: which one is this guide for?

The Nightmare of Ashihama is a group boss in the Sisterhood Sanctuary, under Slepe in Morytania. It was released on 6 February 2020. Phosani's Nightmare is the harder, solo-only version of the same fight, in the same dungeon.

This guide covers both. Phosani's pays more per hour for a skilled solo player. The Nightmare is the team fight, with more players sharing each kill and each drop.

Requirements

The Nightmare

Required: Priest in Peril, to enter Morytania. Nothing else is required.

Recommended:

• Attack 85, Strength 85, Defence 85, Magic 85 and Hitpoints 85
• Prayer 70
• A Taste of Hope, for the Drakan's medallion teleport. Ghosts Ahoy, for the ectophial, is the slower alternative.

Phosani's Nightmare

Required: Priest in Peril. Nothing else is required.

Recommended:

• Attack 95, Strength 95, Defence 85, Magic 95, Hitpoints 95
• Prayer 70
• A Taste of Hope or Ghosts Ahoy, as for the Nightmare

How to start it: select "Drink-from" on the Pool of Nightmares, north of the Nightmare's arena. Since 13 August 2022 you do not need a Nightmare kill first. With 0 Nightmare kills the game shows a warning, and you can ignore it.

Gear by budget

The three setups below are for Phosani's Nightmare. The Nightmare uses the same melee and magic progression. Upgrade melee gear before magic gear, because most of each kill is melee.

Each tier shows what it costs to buy at 4 October 2026 Grand Exchange prices (7-day median). The cost has two parts:

• Tradeable gear: items you buy and wear as they are.
• Upgrade inputs: some pieces cannot be traded, but you build them from items you can buy. Ferocious gloves are made from Hydra leather, for example. We price those inputs.

Some pieces cannot be bought at all. They come from quests, minigames, diaries or other bosses. We list them by name under each tier and do not price them. Potions, food and runes are not in these totals. They are in the supplies line of the GP/hr table.

Max setup: about 3.05B GP to buy

• Melee: Inquisitor's great helm, hauberk and plateskirt. Scythe of Vitur on crush, Infernal cape, Amulet of rancour, Ferocious gloves, Avernic treads (max), Ultor ring, Rada's blessing 4.
• Magic switch for totems: Tumeken's shadow with a Saturated heart, Ancestral robes, Occult necklace, Imbued Saradomin cape, Confliction gauntlets, Magus ring.
• Utility: Crimson kisten for special attacks, Hallowfell for husks and parasites, Blisterwood stakes for sleepwalkers, Ham joint.

About 3.05B GP to buy at 4 Oct 2026 prices (tradeable gear about 2.84B + upgrade inputs about 213M).

• Tradeable gear, about 2.84B: 17 items. The Scythe of Vitur (about 1.19B) and Tumeken's shadow (about 781M) are about 70% of it. The three Inquisitor's pieces are about 310M.
• Upgrade inputs, about 213M: Avernic treads (max) about 201M (Avernic treads, Primordial, Pegasian and Eternal boots, and 12,000 Demon tears). Ferocious gloves about 8.8M (Hydra leather). Divine rune pouch about 3.6M (a rune pouch).
• Assumes you already own a Thread of Elidinis for the Divine rune pouch. It is not on the Grand Exchange.
• Not priced, because you earn them: Infernal cape (the Inferno), Rada's blessing 4 (elite Kourend & Kebos Diary), Imbued Saradomin cape (Mage Arena II. A replacement costs 250,000 coins), Book of the Dead (A Kingdom Divided), Drakan's medallion (A Taste of Hope) and Blisterwood stakes (The Blood Moon Rises). Ferocious gloves also need Dragon Slayer II.

Entry setup: about 141M GP to buy

• Melee: Abyssal bludgeon, Neitiznot faceguard, Fighter torso, Blood Moon tassets, Mythical cape, Amulet of blood fury, Ferocious gloves, Dragon boots, Berserker ring (i), Rada's blessing 3.
• Magic switch: Trident of the swamp, Occult necklace, Imbued Saradomin cape, Tormented bracelet.
• Utility: Crimson kisten and Blisterwood stakes.

About 141M GP to buy at 4 Oct 2026 prices (tradeable gear about 102M + upgrade inputs about 39.0M).

• Tradeable gear, about 102M: 7 items. The Crimson kisten (about 53M) is about half of it.
• Upgrade inputs, about 39.0M: Neitiznot faceguard about 11.8M (Helm of Neitiznot and Basilisk jaw). Amulet of blood fury about 11.1M (Amulet of fury and Blood shard). Ferocious gloves about 8.8M (Hydra leather). Berserker ring (i) about 3.7M (Berserker ring). Divine rune pouch about 3.6M (a rune pouch).
• The ring imbue is paid with points, not bought: Nightmare Zone points, Soul Wars Zeal Tokens or a scroll of imbuing.
• Assumes you already own a Thread of Elidinis for the Divine rune pouch. It is not on the Grand Exchange.
• Not priced, because you earn them: Mythical cape (Dragon Slayer II, then 10,000 coins at the Myths' Guild), Fighter torso (Barbarian Assault), Rada's blessing 3 (hard Kourend & Kebos Diary), Imbued Saradomin cape (Mage Arena II. A replacement costs 250,000 coins), Book of the Dead (A Kingdom Divided), Drakan's medallion (A Taste of Hope) and Blisterwood stakes (The Blood Moon Rises). The faceguard needs The Fremennik Exiles to wear, and Ferocious gloves need Dragon Slayer II.

Budget setup: about 36.0M GP to buy

• Melee: Dual macuahuitl with the full Blood Moon armour (helm, chestplate, tassets), Mythical cape, Amulet of fury, Barrows gloves, Dragon boots, Berserker ring (i), Rada's blessing 3.
• Magic switch: Trident of the swamp, Occult necklace, Imbued Saradomin cape.
• Utility: Burning claws and Blisterwood stakes. Bring a second Sanfew serum, because slower kills can see more than four parasites.

About 36.0M GP to buy at 4 Oct 2026 prices (tradeable gear about 28.7M + upgrade inputs about 7.3M).

• Tradeable gear, about 28.7M: 9 items.
• Upgrade inputs, about 7.3M: Berserker ring (i) about 3.7M (Berserker ring) and the Rune pouch about 3.6M.
• The ring imbue is paid with points, not bought.
• Not priced, because you earn them: Mythical cape (Dragon Slayer II, then 10,000 coins at the Myths' Guild), Barrows gloves (Recipe for Disaster, then bought for 130,000 coins), Rada's blessing 3 (hard Kourend & Kebos Diary), Imbued Saradomin cape (Mage Arena II. A replacement costs 250,000 coins), Book of the Dead (A Kingdom Divided), Drakan's medallion (A Taste of Hope) and Blisterwood stakes (The Blood Moon Rises).

The Scythe of Vitur, Tumeken's shadow and Trident of the swamp are priced as bought uncharged. Charging them is a separate cost.

Mace or scythe?

The Inquisitor's mace with Inquisitor's armour gives kill times close to the Scythe of Vitur on crush. The mace attacks every 4 ticks and uses no charges. Each scythe swing costs blood runes and vials of blood. The mace also makes a ham joint or paint cannon swap unnecessary for husks.

Neither boss is undead, so a Salve amulet does nothing here.

Inventory

Phosani's, max setup: the magic switch, Crimson kisten, Hallowfell, Blisterwood stakes, Ham joint, 2 Prayer potions, 1 Sanfew serum, 1 Divine super combat potion, 6 Anglerfish, 1 Surge potion, Book of the Dead, Saturated heart, a Divine rune pouch (Aether, Blood, Fire and Death runes), Drakan's medallion and a house teleport.

Phosani's, entry and budget setups: swap upgrades for more food. Those setups carry 13 Anglerfish and 3 Prayer potions.

The Nightmare, 5-man: the magic switch, 3 Sanfew serums, 3 Divine super combat potions, 5 Super restores, 6 Anglerfish, a Saradomin godsword, Book of the Dead, a Saturated heart and a rune pouch (Fire, Cosmic and Blood runes). In smaller teams, swap some Anglerfish and divine potions for Saradomin brews and Super combat potions.

Before Phosani's, eat an Anglerfish to overheal. If you do not have the Slepe teleport yet, drink a Stamina potion before you leave the bank. Your run energy will not last to the sanctuary without it.

Mechanics by phase

You do not damage the Nightmare's health directly. In each phase you break her shield, then you charge four totems in the corners of the room. When all four are charged, they blast her. Magic deals double damage to the totems.

Prayer and standard attacks

• Ranged: she contorts with a clicking sound. You have 3 ticks to pray Protect from Missiles.
• Magic: she flails and throws pink petals. You have 3 ticks to pray Protect from Magic.
• Melee: she charges her claws. You have 2 ticks to pray Protect from Melee, or step out of the way.

At the Nightmare, correct prayer reduces damage. At Phosani's, correct prayer blocks all damage. Unprayed hits at Phosani's reach 80 (ranged and magic) and 73 (melee).

The Nightmare: three phases

• Phase 1: Grasping Claws, Husks and Corpse Flowers.
• Phase 2: starts with sleepwalkers. Then Grasping Claws, Curse and Parasites.
• Phase 3: starts with sleepwalkers. Then Grasping Claws, Spores and Surge.

The Nightmare has 2,400 health. Each totem blast deals 800, so three blasts end the fight.

The special attacks

• Grasping Claws (all phases): black portals appear around her. Any portal tile hits for up to 50 at the Nightmare and 50 to 65 at Phosani's. Step onto a tile with no portal.
• Husks: two husks freeze you in place until you kill them. At Phosani's, kill the ranged husk first in phases 1 and 2. A crush weapon always hits its maximum on husks at Phosani's.
• Corpse Flowers: lines of flowers split the room into four. Stand in the quadrant with white flowers on both sides. Red berries hit you fast, and anything that would damage her from the wrong quadrant heals her.
• Curse: your protection prayers shift by one for 5 attacks. At the Nightmare, Protect from Magic turns on Missiles, Missiles turns on Melee, and Melee turns on Magic.
• Parasites: a parasite bursts out of you after about 18 ticks. Drink a dose of Sanfew serum or Relicym's balm before that, or click the Hitpoints orb. A weakened parasite deals much less damage and has less health.
• Spores: do not walk within 1 tile of a spore. It makes you weary, turns off run and slows your attacks.
• Surge: she charges across the room. It hits for up to 60 at the Nightmare and about 80 at Phosani's. Move off her line.

Sleepwalkers

Sleepwalkers walk to the boss between phases. Each one that reaches her makes her next blast stronger. They have 10 health and die to any hit.

• The Nightmare: 1 to 24 sleepwalkers, depending on team size. In a solo kill, a blast with no sleepwalkers killed always kills you.
• Phosani's: 2 after phase 1, 3 after phase 2, 4 after phase 3. If none die, the blast deals 149. If all die, it deals 5.

Phosani's extras

• Four phases: three shield phases (400 shield each, totems at 200 charge, or 100 with magic) and a final phase of 150 health.
• Random order: each phase uses one spawn attack, one attack paired with Grasping Claws, and one of Curse or Surge. The sets alternate, so you cannot learn one fixed order.
• Phase 3: she turns off your protection prayer if it is already on when her attack starts. Pray after the animation begins.
• Desperation phase: she uses Grasping Claws without stopping while sleepwalkers keep spawning. These only hit for 15 each. Enter it with full health, boosted stats and 100% special attack energy, and focus on the boss.
• Corner rifting: skilled players stand under the corners of her body to dodge Grasping Claws without losing attacks. Learn to dodge the portals first.

Team size at the Nightmare

The Nightmare scales to a 5-player fight by default. Smaller teams face the same shield and totems as five players. Above five, each extra player adds 200 shield per phase and 30 totem charge, and more sleepwalkers spawn.

One player gets each unique, chosen by the damage they dealt. Above five players, the team gets a second roll with a (team size minus 5)% chance, up to 75%. A solo Nightmare kill takes well over 16 minutes. Most solo kills are for Combat Achievements or practice for Phosani's.

Your chance of a unique per kill falls as the team grows. The table assumes every player deals equal damage.

We only modelled GP/hr for a 5-man team. We have no sourced kills-per-hour figure for other team sizes.

Loot and profit

Drop rates

Phosani's Nightmare (per kill):

• Any unique: about 1/111
• Nightmare staff: 1/507
• Each Inquisitor's armour piece: 1/700
• Inquisitor's mace: 1/1,129
• Each orb (Eldritch, Volatile, Harmonised): 1/1,600
• Slepey tablet: 1/25, and guaranteed by kill 25. It unlocks the Drakan's medallion teleport to Slepe.
• Parasitic egg: 1/200. It unlocks a cosmetic for the pet.
• Little Nightmare pet: 1/1,400
• Jar of Dreams: 1/4,000

The armour, mace and staff table rolls at 1/140, and the orb table at about 1/533. The two tables are separate, so one kill can give both.

The Nightmare (per kill, for the whole team): Nightmare staff 1/300, each armour piece 1/420, Inquisitor's mace 1/750, each orb 1/960. The team table rolls at 1/84.7 and the orb table at 1/320. Your share depends on team size, as in the table above.

Unique prices

Seven-day median Grand Exchange prices, window ending 4 October 2026. "After tax" is what you receive when you sell. The Grand Exchange takes 2%, capped at 5M per item.

Prices are moving. On 4 October 2026 at 13:44 UTC, the latest prices for the mace and armour were 10% to 15% above these medians. The mace was at about 323M, the hauberk about 133M, the plateskirt about 127M and the helm about 87.5M. The Nightmare staff was also about 15% above its median, at about 31.9M. If this holds, the GP/hr figures below are low. If prices fall back, they are about right.

Few Jar of Dreams trade, about 7 a day, so its price is less reliable than the others.

GP/hr scenarios, gross and net

Phosani's assumes max gear and stats, at 9.23, 9.5 and 10 kills per hour. The Nightmare assumes a 5-man team, 12 kills per hour and equal damage. NET is gross loot, minus GE tax on what you sell, minus supplies.

What these numbers mean for one player

After 20 hours

• At Phosani's: 18% chance of still having no unique.
• In a 5-man team: 49% chance of still having no unique.

• Uniques are almost all of the value. They are 94.6% of gross at Phosani's and about 92% at the 5-man Nightmare.
• Without a unique, you earn very little. NET from common drops alone is about 41k GP/hr at Phosani's (typical) and about zero at the 5-man Nightmare, where supplies use up the common drops.
• Dry streaks are normal. At 9.5 Phosani's kills per hour, the chance of no unique is 42% after 10 hours and 18% after 20 hours. In a 5-man Nightmare team at 12 kills per hour, it is 70% after 10 hours and 49% after 20 hours.
• Selling and buying fast costs a little. If you sell drops at the instant-sell price and buy supplies at the instant-buy price, typical Phosani's NET falls to about 10.66M and 5-man NET falls to about 4.37M.
• Not included: the cost of your gear, and the 60,000 coin fee to reclaim items after a Phosani's death.

These are long-run averages. They are what the hours are worth over hundreds of kills, not what one session pays.

The rewards today

Inquisitor's mace and armour after the 22 July 2026 rebalance

On 22 July 2026 Jagex moved the mace's armour bonus into the mace itself. The mace's extra bonus no longer depends on wearing the armour.

• Inquisitor's mace: 80 Attack, one-handed, attacks every 4 ticks. Crush attack rose from +95 to +102. Strength bonus rose from +89 to +96. Stab +52, slash -4, prayer +2. You can wear a defender with it.
• Inquisitor's armour: each piece needs 70 Strength and 30 Defence. The set effect is gone. Each piece now gives its own crush accuracy and damage bonus: helm 0.5%, hauberk 1%, plateskirt 1%.
• Armour crush attack and strength: helm +10 and +6, hauberk +16 and +4, plateskirt +12 and +2. Helm and hauberk crush bonuses were raised to match the Oathplate pieces. The old stab and slash penalties are gone, so stab and slash attack are now +0.
• Defence: the armour's defence bonuses are low, around adamant armour. It is a crush damage set, not a tank set. For defence gear, see our best-in-slot defence items.

Nightmare staff and the three orbs

The Nightmare staff needs 72 Magic and 50 Hitpoints. It gives +16 magic attack, +14 magic defence and +15% magic damage, and attacks every 5 ticks. It autocasts standard spells and Ancient Magicks. It did not change in July 2026. Since 5 August 2026 it has no Hitpoints requirement on the permanent Deadman world only.

Adding an orb raises the requirement to 82 Magic and makes the staff untradeable. You can dismantle it to get the staff and orb back.

• Eldritch orb, "Invocate": costs 55% special attack energy. It restores Prayer equal to 50% of the damage dealt, up to 120 Prayer. Max hit is 50 with the staff alone, or 66 in best-in-slot gear.
• Volatile orb, "Immolate": costs 55% special attack energy and has +50% accuracy. Max hit is 66 with the staff alone, or 87 in best-in-slot gear.
• Harmonised orb: standard spells autocast every 4 ticks instead of 5. It cannot autocast Ancient Magicks. With Fire Surge, it is one of the listed magic weapons for the totems.

Built from median prices, the Eldritch staff costs about 125M GP, the Volatile staff about 56.1M GP and the Harmonised staff about 524M GP.

All of these items are tradeable: the mace, the armour, the staff and the orbs. A staff with an orb attached is not.

For other high-value drops, see our list of the most expensive OSRS items. For how this boss compares on profit, see the most profitable OSRS bosses. Item pages: Inquisitor's mace and Nightmare staff. For melee gear outside this fight, see our OSRS melee guide.

History: the Siren's tome

The Nightmare's story starts on the island of Ashihama. The siren Shura rallied the other sirens to drive the creature out. It escaped to Slepe, a Morytanian town suffering from the sleeper plague, and made its home there.

One planned reward never reached the game. The Siren's tome was meant to be the best magic off-hand. It was weakened during the beta, and on 12 December 2019 Jagex said it would not be added at all. The Arcane spirit shield stayed the best magic off-hand at the time. Elidinis' ward (f), released in August 2022, has since passed it with more magic attack and magic damage.

How we calculated this

• Prices: 7-day median of 6-hour mid prices from the OSRS Wiki real-time prices API, window 27 September 2026 12:48 UTC to 4 October 2026 12:48 UTC. The latest-price check is from 4 October 2026, 13:44 UTC.
• GE tax: 2% rounded down, capped at 5M per item, on items worth over 49 GP. Untradeable drops count as 0 GP: clue scrolls, the pet, the Slepey tablet and the parasitic egg.
• Drop rates: OSRS Wiki pages "Phosani's Nightmare" and "The Nightmare", full drop tables. Phosani's rates match Mod Ash's confirmation of 1-2 April 2026. Nightmare team rates use the page's drop lines. In the 5-man case, uniques and the Jar of Dreams are split equally across the five players.
• Kills per hour and supplies: OSRS Wiki pages "Money making guide/Killing Phosani's Nightmare" (9.5 kills per hour, and 5:00 to 5:30 per kill plus about 1:00 of banking) and "Money making guide/Killing The Nightmare" (12 kills per hour, 5-man). Supplies are the input rows of those pages at our prices, with Dark crab as the cheapest food at about 1,280 GP each.
• Gear subtotals: the same 7-day median and the same window as the drop prices. Price series for 18 gear items were fetched once on 4 October 2026 at 14:03 UTC and frozen. An item counts as tradeable only if the OSRS Wiki real-time prices API lists it. Upgrade-input recipes come from the OSRS Wiki item pages for each assembled piece, read on 4 October 2026, and 8 input price series were frozen at 14:10 UTC. An input that is already in a tier's tradeable gear is not counted twice. The gear lists are the High level, Entry level and Budget setups on "Phosani's Nightmare/Strategies".
• Requirements, mechanics and gear: OSRS Wiki pages "The Nightmare/Strategies" and "Phosani's Nightmare/Strategies".
• Item stats: OSRS Wiki pages "Inquisitor's mace", "Inquisitor's armour", "Inquisitor's great helm", "Inquisitor's hauberk", "Inquisitor's plateskirt", "Nightmare staff", "Eldritch Nightmare staff", "Volatile Nightmare staff" and "Harmonised Nightmare staff". All wiki pages were read on 4 October 2026.
• Checks: we calculated GP/hr two ways, from the boss drop table and from the money making guide's own rows. They agree within 0.3%. At the wiki's own prices, our method reproduces the wiki's figures exactly.
• Dry-streak chance: the chance of no unique in one kill (1 minus the per-kill unique chance), raised to the number of kills in the period.

Item, boss and game images: © Jagex, from the Old School RuneScape Wiki.