Nixis, Hunger of Oryx

Nixis, Hunger of Oryx is a Taken Captain who serves as the main boss of the Taken version of the Winter's Run strike introduced in the April Update.

Gameplay

Nixis is more dangerous than his Fallen counterpart due to additional abilities. For ranged combat, he uses an Arc Shrapnel Launcher with great accuracy and stopping power over long distances. Guardian that gets too close will either get knocked back or killed by his Ultra Smash, in which Nixis performs a ground stomp that creates a large area-of-effect shockwave. If so willing to close the gap and use this attack, or wanting to make a withdrawal, he can rapidly teleport in unpredictable directions, throwing off the player's aim. This can make it very difficult for a Guardian to keep him pinned down in one spot. In addition, like Taken Captains, Nixis can send out a Darkness Bolt that will blind and deafen Guardians that they hit, and he will summon Taken Blights throughout the battle to get support from his minions. These blights will also disable agility and recovery for Guardians who step in them. However, like Aksor, Nixis can be temporarily stunned by hard-hitting headshots from weapons like 1000 Yard Stare and the Sleeper Simulant, allowing the player the opportunity for a series of follow-up shots that can help whittle away at his health until he is killed.

Trivia

Nixis is thus far the only Taken to replace the usual final boss (in the case of Winter's Run, Aksor, Archon Priest) at the end of a Taken version of a strike. Other strikes with Taken versions, including Dust Palace, The Undying Mind, and Cerberus Vae III, replace most standard enemy encounters with Taken, but retain the same boss.