Lightning keyfinder mini-guide

[insaneIII]

Pros:
-Easilly the fastest keyrunner out there

Cons:
-Single purpose (poor MFing abilities, virtually no PvP ability)
-EXPENSIVE, especially if you're non-ladder. You have to have money to make money

Introduction:
A lot of people will say other characters are better for keyfinding, but I disagree. The sorc has the advantage of being able to teleport extremely fast. She can traverse 5 Catacomb levels, across the Arcane Sanctuary, and down into the Halls of Vaught faster than any other character out there. The lightning sorc, however, can do all three with ease. The summoner is never immune, the countess is immune to fire/cold (rules out meteorbs), and Nihlithak can be immune to anything (we'll address this with Infinity). Depending on how lucky you are, your runs should take no longer than a couple minutes.

I have to give credit to yelopen (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=368816), as this is almost a mirror copy of his guide except with a few minor changes. I highly recommend you read his guide first as it will explain much more about the lightning sorc. Also thanks to macbeth (http://forums.diabloii.net/member.php?u=163450) for helping me with the merc setup.

Equipment:
Weapon: Eschuta's Temper with 5/-5 lite facet
Sheild: 35% Spirit Monarch
Switch: double-isted Alibaba with 4-isted monarch OR Call to Arms
Helm: 20/15 Griffon's Eye with 5/-5 lite facet
Armor: Chains of Honor
Amulet: +3 skiller with good mods (preferred), Mara's if you don't have
Rings: Nature's Peace and SOJ
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Gloves: Magefist
Boots: Rare boots with mods (+str, resists, etc.), War Trav's are OK but the MF is wasted
Inventory: Torch/anni/Lite skill gcs/life scs to fill up the spaces under the grand charms

Stats:
Str: Goal is 156. I've found 80-90 base strength is enough with the above equipment. Your results may vary.
Dex: Base
Vit: Everything
Energy: Base

Skills:
1 Warmth
1 Static
1 Teleport
20 Charged Bolt
20 Lightning
20 Nova
20 Chain Lightning
20 Lightning Mastery

Merc equipment:
Helm: Cham'd 8/8/20 Vamp gaze (for leech, dmg reduction)
Armor: Treachery runeword (for IAS)
Weapon: Eth Infinity giant thresher (for speed, conviction aura)

The build finishes in the 90's, but I've found lvl 85-90 is sufficient. Remember that your merc also benefits from your level with his stats/resists/damage/etc.

Strategy:

Countess:
This run is the longest. Find the tower entrance from the Black Marsh. Teleport clockwise once inside the cellar to find each of the exits. When you get to level 5, teleport next to the wall (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=countess10aa.jpg) that separates you from the Countess and her minions. Then teleport slightly in front of you to get over the wall. Dispose of minions with CL, then use lightning on the Countess.

Summoner:
This one is a no-brainer. Simply teleport across each path until you find the one that contains the Summoner. I've found it's best to not teleport randomly so that you can get used to doing the same route over and over. Use CL on the minions then lightning on the Summoner.

Nihlithak:
This one is the shortest, but also the most dangerous. Infinity is a must here, as it breaks the immunities on the vipers and Nihlithak when they spawn. You will also need Nature's Peace to prevent the deadly corpse explosion. To get to him, you will need to memorize three maps for the Halls of Pain. They are as follows:

From WP, hallway opens down and to the right. (http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nihlithak19rv.jpg)
From WP, hallway opens down and to the left. (http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nihlithak33fp.jpg)
From WP, hallway opens left and right. (http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nihlithak29gm.jpg)

Once you get to the Halls of Vaught, you will know which hallway leads to Nihlithak by the markings on the walls. Whichever hallway has the blue emblem on it's wall will lead to him.

Placement of emblems (http://img223.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nihlithak46bi.jpg) (ignore ALL other markings)

Once you get to Nihlithak, CL the ranged attackers first (or they will kill your merc), then take care of the other minions. If tomb vipers spawn, you can avoid most of them by teleporting to the back of the room and take out Nihlithak from there.

Anyways, that concludes this guide. It's boring, but key running is probably the easiest way to amass massive amounts of wealth. Feel free to add suggestions/comments (I still haven't figured out an easy way to find the Tower entrance :( )

[LorveN]

This works well, tried it out myself for quite a time now.
However, 2 questions.

1/ Does nature's peace really prevent CE's? Iirc, it only works with monsters slain physically, not with spells. Help anyone? :P

2/ What is the 'ist ist' Alibaba/4 ist monarch for? Imo, there is no time to switch and hope for better mf anyway. Nihlatak is a pain to take out, so no mf there. Summoner isnt really known for his good drops (though, he once gave me a 30% maras).
Countess is supposed to give you runes (if anything), and those arent mf dependant.

[StewieGriff_XLT]

no reason for baba/monarch on switch when key running... your purpose is to KEY RUN, not mf, so that is a waste on switch.... use cta/spirit for sure, more life for both yourself and your merc...

oh... nice mini-guide too... :thumbsup:

My suggestion, to make this guide less expensive... use shako... griffs is very expensive and even though is obviously the best, shako still works

CJ :clap:

[sorceressgod]

i own a lvl 90 pure lite sorc, with a defiance merc with thorns aura(from bramble)

act 1 and 2 key running are too easy, but takes longer time to kill countess/summoner.

so i usually do nihlathak runs in baal run games or 8 player games, after that if have time i just go for a "quickie" at summoner.

i don't use natures peace, neither do my merc.

to kill nihlathak w/o getting charged by lizards/zombies nor getting corpse exploded? simple.

teleport right at the back of the whole group of nihlathak monsters, then, walk to the either sides, leaving your merc alone to fend for itself(distracting nihlathak's attention), then just spam lightning on him.

this is easy only when there are no lizards nor zombies nor those subuccus around.

if there is lizards/zombies(their charge damage can be really bad to a caster char), get main thing is to get the merc to get their attention, rather than nih's. if there are also skelly archers, ignore them ONLY if nihlathak is NOT magic immune(takes longer time to kill with lightning alone).

in a summary, the trick is to use your merc to lure away the powerful monsters from you, and best not to kill too many monsters before nihlathak is dead.

however if it's lightning immuned...

1. Use your merc to fight it out(assist him with one of the warcry skills that gives -def and -dmg to a monster from CTA).

2. RUN, and go for summoner instead(a nice fat chance of getting Hkey in a full 8-player game.

NOTE: if you have less than 1k life, it's best not to do nihlathak, unless you have 15k defence and 75% block rate(my lite sorc has 44% block rate with spirit monarch)


As for act 2 summoner, notice that it's branched into 4 areas. in each area, there's a corner. if you are lucky, u can teleport from a corner in a area, into another area, so u don't have to teleport to another area via the waypoint.


I'm sure many sorcs are familiar with act 1 countess runs, since many sorcs i see only do act 2 and 1. not much of a problem getting from tower lvl 1 to 5, it's only finding the tower that makes things a little harder.

Sometimes the tower can be hidden in places like in the corners of the map. most sorcs usually teleport in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction around the map, so do observe though.


and yes, light sorcs are the best for key runs. even if it's a lite immune nih ur facing, if you are rich enough, you can give your merc a eth infinity, it's plain godly and obscene to kill anything.


in cases where my merc dies and i have no money to resurrect him, i either run keys by myself, or do a fund-raising from killing the popular uniques at the frigid highlands wp zone.

good block rate helps against those nasty act 1 archers who are immune to light, if unlucky, u might encounter unconsensual upon entering the tower lvl 1. mana drain minions of the countess can be bad too, chain lightning requires mad amounts of mana so no mana is not such a good thing.

in the arcane sanctuary, the area that has the summoner, always a couple of nice spiral steps all over the end of that particular area, leading to the summoner, and the tome. in areas that don't have the summoner, there will usually be "holes" on the floor(it's a trap, which impales your character if it stands there). so while teleporting, just do a quick surveilance on the edge of your computer screen if there are holes or any hints of spiral stairways, instead of teleporting there to investigate, it helps save time.

here's a rough "sketch" of 1 area(the "A"s are the pathways, and the "-"s are empty spaces):

----------AAA----------
----------AAA----------
-----------A-----------
-----------A-----------
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
A---------------------A
*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*


at the corner of the area that has the * sign, it refers to the possible teleporting areas of each area.

note that the areas at the bottom-left and top-left of the always-diagonal diablo arcane sanct map, u can ONLY teleport at the * marks as shown above, to the next area pair(eg: TPing from bottom-left to top-left and vice versa). so it's kind of like a pair of areas which sometimes, the map design permits teleporting. and similarly, the areas at the top-right and bottom-right, u can ONLY teleport from the * marks to which lies beside the other area pair.

hope it helps ^^

[sorceressgod]

Nihlatak is a pain to take out, so no mf there. Summoner isnt really known for his good drops (though, he once gave me a 30% maras).

Countess is supposed to give you runes (if anything), and those arent mf dependant.


nihlathak drops REALLY GOOD item level charms. i always keep them for re-rolling their stats. oh, and nihlathak can have the tendency to drop really cool items, but mfing it(not key-running it) might be a little problem ^^.

well, a little mf won't hurt in rune finding from countess... after all i got a gul and ist and a couple of ums from her lol.

[sorceressgod]

oh and the equips for my sorc and mercs for key finding...

- Sorc gear
shako(umed)
maras
heart of the oak flail
spirit monarch
chains of honour
arachnid spider belt
raven frost
SOJ
magefists
sandstorm treks
and a decent amount of vita scs, lite gcs, torch/anni.

- on switch...
4 BO CTA
lidless wall

- merc
eth thresher(that unique item)
vamp gaze
bramble armour

too bad i'm too broke for infinity for non ladders :/

[XxXDiceXxX]

I have a Lightning Sorc keyrunner on ladder.
The only differences I have to this build are...

1) My gear setup is for cast rate. I'm using HOTO, Griff, Maras, Fortitude, 35/111 Spirit Monarch, Arach, Upped Magefists, Marrowwalk, and two FCR/Res/Mana rings. Weapon switch is a 4/4/2 CTA + Spirit. Spirit on the weapon switch is essential for the extra skills to your warcrys.

2) A point in energy shield. I only use it doing Nil, and it's reduced my number of deaths to almost zero. Learning when to bail out also helps.

3) I use Insight on my merc when doing countess, summoner, and the trip to Nil. It keeps my mana from being used up during the trip. Once I make it to the level where Nil is, I put Infinity on him.

4) When doing Countess, always...ALWAYS travel to your *character's* left. Clockwise/Counterclockwise makes less sense to me than a reference to the character. Always travel to *her* left hand.

All of my resists are maxed, or above max. I use a few charms to make up the difference. A few life charms and whatnot to fill up the rest. Zero MF, however. Even so, I find a nice item from time to time.

The key to my build is speed. With 185% FCR, I tele so fast through the bad guys, they rarely land a hit on me. I fill my #1 slot with regular red pots and can drink while teleporting. I usually drink one if something should knock me to half life range. I usually don't take another hit until my ball has had time to refill.

I could change out my armor for Vipermagi, and Maras for a FCR ammy. That would put me over 200% FCR. But by doing so, I'd lose the skills to the Warcry's because they are not "Sorceress" skills. I might give it a try in the future with the Viper since that would add one to the WC's, but I believe the other benefits of Fortitude are above that single skill point. I have over 1600 life after cries, so I can several licks before I die.

With my merc wearing Insight, I can tele a looooooooooooooooooong way before I have to rest. Usually not a problem. I've tried it with straight Infinity and find myself stopping to replenish or drink the hell out of pots. The change to Insight ended that problem. I keep full rejuves under my #2-4 keys in case of emergency. Those usually only happen at Nil. Infinity on the merc works without a problem on countess and summoner. I kill plenty fast. The merc picks off any stray Light immunes.

I can do the Arcane between 15 seconds and 1.5 minute depending on if I hit it in the first or last leg. It's actually pretty incredible. By far the fastest key runner I could possibly imagine. I've been very pleased with the results.

[XxXDiceXxX]

Once you get to the Halls of Vaught, you will know which hallway leads to Nihlithak by the markings on the walls. Whichever hallway has the blue emblem on it's wall will lead to him.

I did not know this. Thanks for the tip. I'll be that much faster now. :thumbsup:

[insaneIII]

1/ Does nature's peace really prevent CE's? Iirc, it only works with monsters slain physically, not with spells. Help anyone? :P
I'm not 100% sure on Nature's Peace. When I put it on, however, I did not notice any CE's from monsters killed by me.

no reason for baba/monarch on switch when key running... your purpose is to KEY RUN, not mf, so that is a waste on switch.... use cta/spirit for sure, more life for both yourself and your merc...
Good point. CTA/Spirit sounds like it's definitely the way to go.


Also, about 8 player runs... I was a believer in the increased drop rate. I had my first double-keydrop in an 8 player game, which threw me off for some time (I would never do solo games). But the increased drop rate for keys is not worth it, IMO.

From the Item Generation Thread (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=392254&page=3), posted by Warrior of Light:

Here is Countess’ chance to drop Key of Terror:
Total players in your game — Chance
1 or 2 —7%
3 or 4 — 9,1%
5 or 6 — 9,6%
7 or 8 — 9,8%

Here is Summoner’s chance to drop Key of Hate:
Total players in your game — Chance
1 or 2 — 8,6%
3 or 4 — 11,6%
5 or 6 — 12,5%
7 or 8 — 12,8%

Here is Nihlathak’s chance to drop Key of Destruction:
Total players in your game — Chance
1 or 2 — 7,9%
3 or 4 — 10,4%
5 or 6 — 11,1%
7 or 8 — 11,4%


To jump from a 8% chance (solo) to a 12% chance (8 players) is simply not worth it, IMO. When you factor in the extra time it takes to find/join a good 8 player game, the yelling and screaming from other players for keyrunning, and just to put up with 7 other people who have NO interest in what you're doing, you could've done 2 solo runs for a 16% chance! Again, if you can find good 8 player games (or if you're in a clan) then by all means go for it. However for the purpose of fast, continuous keyruns, I've found solo games to be superior.

[twelvebagger]

I'm not 100% sure on Nature's Peace. When I put it on, however, I did not notice any CE's from monsters killed by me.


Natures peace works to prevent CE. Rumor has it the kamikazee dudes that run up to you and pop can still be exploded, but they are few and far between. I always use natures peace now that I have it. It allows me to use chain lite almost exlusively.


Good point. CTA/Spirit sounds like it's definitely the way to go.

Absolutely.


I'll second your opinion that this is THE fastest key running char possible.

[twelvebagger]

well, a little mf won't hurt in rune finding from countess... after all i got a gul and ist and a couple of ums from her lol.


O/T, but mf has absolutely nothing to do with rune drops.

[junglejunkie]

I'm always surprised when people overlook a full Tal's sorc for keyrunning.

first: with a couple light gcs, at level 85, i do over 20k light damage. more than enough -- there's absolutely no need for UB4R L33T 45k damage. (plus, you get -15% enemy res from tal's orb).

second: with gheeds, war travs, chancies and one 7mfsc, i have 300% NATIVE mf -- that is, without having to switch, i have a very decent amount of MF, which is awesome when hitting high ilvl droppers like nihla and his cronies.

third: it's pretty cheap - the armor's come down ist-mal, and you can pick up the ammy between mal and um. the rest goes for pgems.

fourth: max resists. pimp. giant life bonuses. etc.

just my .02 -- this is what i use and don't remember the last time i died (thanks largely to natures peace) -- and run all three under 4:00.

my setup:
Tals Mask (PTopaz)
Tals Ammy
Spirit Shield
War Travs
Soj
Tal's Belt
Nature's Peace
Chancies
Tal's Stick (5/5 die light facet)
Tal's Armor (PTopaz)

Cheap and easy. :D

[jake007]

My friends CL/Orb hybrid Tal sorceress does all key runs with relative ease. Nature's Peace is a must though, and knowing how to deal with tomb vipers helps alot.

[sorceressgod]

I'm always surprised when people overlook a full Tal's sorc for keyrunning.

first: with a couple light gcs, at level 85, i do over 20k light damage. more than enough -- there's absolutely no need for UB4R L33T 45k damage. (plus, you get -15% enemy res from tal's orb).

second: with gheeds, war travs, chancies and one 7mfsc, i have 300% NATIVE mf -- that is, without having to switch, i have a very decent amount of MF, which is awesome when hitting high ilvl droppers like nihla and his cronies.

third: it's pretty cheap - the armor's come down ist-mal, and you can pick up the ammy between mal and um. the rest goes for pgems.

fourth: max resists. pimp. giant life bonuses. etc.

just my .02 -- this is what i use and don't remember the last time i died (thanks largely to natures peace) -- and run all three under 4:00.

my setup:
Tals Mask (PTopaz)
Tals Ammy
Spirit Shield
War Travs
Soj
Tal's Belt
Nature's Peace
Chancies
Tal's Stick (5/5 die light facet)
Tal's Armor (PTopaz)

Cheap and easy. :D


not bad, but things will get a little harder at nihlathaks :P.

[MegaVovaN]

Hi all, I aint got all the 1337 gear, but here's what I plan to use:
Shako
Arach
CoH/Fort
Lidless wall (dont wanna go 156 str/max block...LIFE!)
11 lit dmg/+2 skills echutas
wizpike "hel"
5bo CTA+sig shield on switch
magefists
sandstorm trek boots
BK
Nat Peace
Maras
No torch No anni (ill get torch after i find some keys)

Merc:
3k eth fort
eth cryptic axe infinity
Vamp Gaze 8ll/8ml/15 DR

Is that all cool for keyruns? I want only enough str/dex for gear listed above, rest-LIFE LIFE LIFE.

With this, I'll be easily over 117 fcr. However, next FCR BP is not reachable by me (200fcr).
See FCR breakpoints here (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=563#equipment_pvp) .

[sorceressgod]

u need some dex dude, not only for wizspike but more importantly, block rate.

[MegaVovaN]

Is it essential to go max block route with this build? Then I can as well use stormshield (go for 156 str)?

[nicothemaster]

ok my key runner has crap equip. her merc has obedience, delirium, corpsemourn. i own all key runs

[w-igor]

what is the best merc for keyhunting ?

[HGHLNDR]

Regarding Nature's Peace. CE can't be done by Nilly to the enemies you kill with your lightning while you're wearing the ring. Nilly, however, can CE any monster your merc kills. So if your merc kicks ***, there is still the risk of being CE'd from Nilly.

High

[HGHLNDR]

what is the best merc for keyhunting ?

I use an Act 2 NM Might (offensive) merc equiped with (not up'd or runed) Vamp Gaze Helm, 1500 def +28 all resist Fortitude (In an Archon Plate) and Infinity in a cryptic axe. He can kick arse, and fast! In a Hell cows level he can take on a medium sized herd of cows all by himself and take them down fast. He's a great help to my lite sorc because he takes on the lightning resist monsters and I don't have to monitor his health unless there are some OK's around.

Some others may use mercs with holy freeze so they slow down your enemy so you can zap them (crowd control) or he can take them out.

High

[CoyoteKid]

Nico,

what gear does your sorc wear?

ok my key runner has crap equip. her merc has obedience, delirium, corpsemourn. i own all key runs

[sorceressgod]

lol i think i made a nihlathak guided aeons ago, wonder where it went to... :S

nature's peace is not really neccessary if u got good DR and know where to teleport to.

my merc is using a eth what-you-call-that which has % chance to cast decryptify, and basically tanks all the lightning immuned lizards.

depending on the circumstances, i teleport to a spot that has less or none subucusses or lizards or even monster-less. and i also make sure my sorc is not cursed with amp dmg because with lizards and CE around, i can die in a snap.

but ironically i find that it's not nihlathak's CE that's lethal, it's usually the monsters around(subccuses, lizards and archers) that actually kills.

i also recommend a sorc while teleporting, not to hold down right click and point in a single direction teleporting. instead just keep clicking teleport when you have teleported and landed instead of spamming - at least you can see things ahead of you more clearly and land in a safe spot.

[mathil]

eh, i'm guna agree with a cl/orb sorc. you lose a little dmg off of lightning, and gain an entire element. with infinity, there aren't 2 monsters in the game that are immune to me. that and she can do just about anything in the entire game with no COH, arach, anni, griffons, sojs, skillers.

she just has 105 fcr, 85 lr (tgods), 75 fr, natures peace (is it really that hard to get?), dwarf (the CE's that natures peace doesnt' stop).

she was done at lvl 85, i took her to lvl 90 to play with the little mini-staffs that ubers drops (name escapes me).

and with all the dmg i lose from all the lack of gear, nihl will die in 3 lightning's max if he isn't immune.

[killian27]

Chained Lightning/Frozen orb (15points orb, 1 point mastery) is the fastest Nihlathak runner (imo of course). I have done tons of runs with pure light, cl/fo, meteorb. Most runs are faster with pure light, however nihlathaks light immunity does not always break, and is not always killed quickly by your merc. With cl/fo I dont wear a natures peace, and I never have to bail, and it is pretty dang close to the speed of pure light... 30-45 seconds load to load... of course doing this continously always results in realm down. My gear on cl/fo is the same as you mentioned above, of course 35fcr spirit is not neccesary since you only need 117fcr. So, for average run-time over 100 runs or whatever sample size you want, cl/fo is faster. (cl/fo: all vita, no dex and no eshield)

However, I also run with my tals meteorb sorc, no merc, wearing natures peace... probably a minute to a minute and a half a run, you dont have to worry about realm down as much, and you have some mf... nihl can drop tc87's ... which is a plus, and he drops about as frequently as pindle. (meteorb has anni, torch, 3fire skillers, magefist, stormshield, maxblock)

[pure]

pretty quide ;D i agree with keyfinder ;D