Netherra

*"Somewhere in the void lies his twisted vision of the Nexus, built as a monument to his own greatness."*

**Netherra**, also known as World 5, Level 5, Area 5 or A5 is the final in-game Prime World, where Praxis ends his travel. Netherra is Praxis' own creation, and it is there where he opens the tear to the Architect's realm.

### **Appearance**

As stated in the description, the entrance to Netherra bears a resemblance to the Nexus' Ember Tree. Entering Ember Knights zap in through the tree-like structure boasting Praxis' insignia, reminiscent of the animation played when entering the Nexus. The level's background consists of a purplish void, and the ground consists of tall, black towers with golden and silver decorations, spikes and crystals. The level is short and mostly empty, consisting of an entrance room, two rooms with sealed gates, a long stairway and Praxis' room.

Due to the room structure of Netherra, it contains no gold containers, breakables or backpacks, or any other objects of the like. The entrance room leads to the first room containing four portals and a large sealed door. Two portals must be entered and cleared to open the seals, and entering the remaining two portals is optional, and completing all eight portal will give you a buff for the praxis fight. Entering the gate after it is opened leads to another identical room where three portal areas must be completed.

A portal area can have one of two functional structures, either a single room, or three consecutive rooms. Areas consisting of only one room will spawn multiple tough waves of enemies in a row, or house two Champion enemies. Triple room areas however spawn much less enemies at once, but require the player to traverse and complete three rooms before collecting there award and teleporting back to the hub room.

Completing the second gate room leads the player to a long staircase with six mighty statues of praxis placed in rows on the stairway's sides, which leads up to Praxis' room, the gate to which opens as the player approaches.

Praxis' fight will be interrupted at when he reaches 2/3 of his health, at which point he breaks the rear wall and leaves to another room, and the player must follow over a path of floating material while being chased by attacks. At the end of the fight, he makes a large tear at the rear of the room, which he uses to reach the Architect's realm the first time Praxis is defeated. On following playthroughs, he exits through the tear and the player follows, fading to white and ending the run.

On doom mode, Praxis' fight changes dramatically, as he has acquired the Architect's power. His appearance is different and his moveset changes entirely. This time, Praxis remains in the same arena the entire battle, instead summoning copies of the minibosses between his phases. The summoned minibosses have a purple tint and mimic the appearance of the default miniboss variants, but their movesets have mixed and matched attacks from multiple variants. For instance, Summoned Guzzle uses a double charge attack, Sanguinsucker's absorb and Plague bringer's poison pools.

### **Enemies**

* Arbiters

* Behemoths

* Gar-Ghouls (+ Champion)

* Grimlins

* Shades (+ Champion)

* Summoned Guzzle

* Summoned Phalanx

* Summoned Herald

* Summoned Scrapper

* Praxis, the Vengeful Betrayer (Boss)

* Arch Praxis, the End of Everything (True Boss)

### **Strategy**

As the contents of the portals are random exept for the gemn and awards, it doesn't matter which portals to select, but in most cases going through only 2 is the best option. For min-maxing, it may be worth clearing them all in very specific cases, such as in runs where Supreme Ambition or Titan's Wargear have been found, or if a player has a consistent source of healing in hostile rooms and wishes to top up their health bar before the final fight. Looking for the one or two Champion rooms may also be worthwhile, since they are the only consistent source of healing items and stat gems unless the Mimic King's Consort relic has been found or you ifna a healing pool or health potion room.

### **Trivia**

* The summoned minibosses in the Arch Praxis do not count as minibosses, as Cloak and Dagger has no special effect on them and the Earned Power upgrade does not reward further damage from defeating them
* Netherra is the only Prime World where no Elite enemies spawn

An example of a single room portal area in NetherraThe stairs leading up to Praxis' boss fightPraxis' first arenaPraxis' second arena and crystal attackThe entrance to the Architect's realm, just before the Arch Praxis fightArch Praxis' arena and spawn animation