Nihil is one of the lesser-known, but important bosses for lore and item reasons in Warframe. You may have heard about him in passing either because of the sword or because of past Nightwave mainline series. In any case, don’t worry if you missed the event back then. Here’s a definitive guide about the Nihil Boss in Warframe along with a few other important tidbits.
Where to Fight Nihil in Warframe
Since the Glassmaker is over, you will first need to rack up some Nightwave Creds in any subsequent series. It does not matter if it’s a main series, Intermission, or Nora’s Mix.
Next, you will have to buy Nihil’s Oubliette. This is an Orbiter decoration that costs 60 Creds. You have to place it somewhere. Next, you have to buy the item “Enter Nihil’s Oubliette” item which costs another 60 Creds.
Best build and strategy against Nihil
Once you enter the fight, you cannot use any weapons or frame abilities. This is mostly a test of utilizing the movement system in the game. The best Warframe to use in this boss fight is Zephyr thanks to her passive ability. Movement speed and other mobility mods help you in this fight, so use some of the following on a separate mod build:
- Sprint Boost (Aura)
- Armored Agility
- Speed Drift
- Toxic Flight / Ice Spring / Lightning Dash / Firewalker
- Rush
- Motus Signal
- Amar’s Anguish
- Rolling Guard*
This will make your Zephyr extremely mobile both on foot and in the air. You can also easily control where she can land next so you don’t fall during the fight. The addition of Rolling Guard will allow you to tank one hit from Nihil since all of his sword attacks deal lethal damage, regardless of health, armor, or shield.
Nihil has three attacks you need to be on the lookout. We’ll list out the moves and ways to counter them.
- Vertical downward swing – move to the left or right of the arena as you see him raise his sword above his head. The fight will become progressively harder when he uses this because the floor he hits will also be destroyed.
- Horizontal swing – as Nihil begins to bring his sword behind his left shoulder, be ready to jump over the attack.
Getting hit by either of these attacks will result in an instant death.
- Shard blast – when Nihil starts to nod his head at you, he’s about to shoot a glass shard at you. Jump as you see that animation.
The Shard blast move is what you need to capitalize on. If the projectile hits you, you’ll be slowed almost to a complete stop. Jumping over the blast will most likely make the attack hit the ground. It then becomes an item that you must pick up and throw at the floating crystals.
Once you destroy all the crystals with the pickups, Nihil is then vulnerable. Subsequent Shards should be thrown directly at him. You’ll know when the boss is vulnerable when you see the health bar turn red.
The fight has three phases, each time refreshing the crystals and broken platforms. You should also keep your life count in mind. Equipping fully upgraded Arcanes to your frame will grant you one additional respawn for each one, giving you a maximum of six revives per fight.
Lastly, do not worry about failing the fight. Your key won’t be used unless you successfully beat Nihil.
What loot does Nihil drop?
Upon defeating him for the first time, you will receive the Vitrica greatsword and a Veiled Riven Mod. When you defeat him in a rematch, you will only get the Riven Mod. This is a decent way to farm them, but the cost to fight him again will be 60 Nightwave Creds, so keep that in mind.
