Best Key Runner?

[PokGuy]

Your ideas on the best key running char (fast/efficient and safe)
Hammerdin w/ Enigma out of my budget.
Anything else, feel free to suggest. Ive tried a WW barb, works well, but is a little slow in nila's temple, plus dangerous with the snakes.

[Arnatkoak]

I use a Auradin. Dual Dream/Dragon/Hand of Justice.

I have no trouble what so ever getting the keys, or even with the three mini Ubers.

[popab]

I use a trapper for a 30 second nila run - spirit, hoto and nigma required though for fcr/fhr and res. Some folks do it in 20 or under. This one uses LS/DS to kill everything there

If nigma is not an option, a howl/conc barb ought to work just fine - using leap for transport. This one uses howl to scare off the minions, then whack nila.

There are only 3 variations on points of entry (telepad), each has its own stairway down. Once on the bottom level, the wall markings will indicate which direction to go.

[Dunner]

If you can't afford an Enigma, then a sorc would probably be the fastest to run the Countess and the Summoner, due to teleporting ability. If I remember correctly, Countess is fire and cold immune, so that makes some sort of lightning build the fastest, although your merc could kill her for you if he was properly equipped.

I suppose a LF/CS zon could tear through the Countess and Summoner as well. However, a non-Enigma hammerdin would probably be just as fast as the zon.

For obtaining destruction keys, I have to think that a barb is the safest due to their huge hitpoint potential. Having run Nihl a bunch in search of his elusive keys, I know that there is a lot that can go wrong while killing him, as well as just getting to him. It is nice to have a huge ball of red to take a hit or two and avoid the deeds screen.

I haven't gotten my D-key runner going yet since I've only recently returned to D2, but I'm thinking that I'll build an IK barb like I have used in the past. They don't need points in dex, so they have a huge life ball. With Sol runes in the helm and a 20+ dmg reduced amulet (the "everlasting" mod iirc), they are also fairly impervious to poison clouds. WW is my preferred build for general dmg dealing and and mobility in a crowd. I've found that a 1-point zerk or concentrate is more than adequate at dispatching Nihl once you get to him.

[MoUsE_WiZ]

Barbs are plenty quick, you just need the knowledge contained in this picture:
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/846...diagram1hl.jpg

The halls of pain is pretty self explanatory, there's only 3 maps, look where the WP is, and run the path correctly. It shouldn't take too long to learn.
The halls of vaught diagram there is a bit less easy to decipher, but the trick is even easier to learn. On the left side of the top right panel is a picture of a painting on the wall. On the right side, there are 4 green highlighted bits. Nihl will always be in the branch where that painting appears on the highlighted section. So instead of having to run all the way down to the end of each branch, you just have to run a quick circle around the middle when you come down the stairs. I'm not sure I just made sense, and I don't feel like going back to make sure.

As for the snakes? Stack some PDR and they're a joke. Fifty or so is more than enough. The charges from the skeletons is much more worrisome at that point, and that's even more dangerous for anything that isn't a barb.

WW on the other hand is less than ideal, I like conc, others use zerk. Disregard the part about howling monsters away... just leap attack onto nihl and start hitting conc. You'll take next to no damage with your 20-30k def. Howl/warcry are more useful to the zerkers who will take hits while swinging.

My build:
20 conc
20 shout/bo
20 sword mastery
1 ww/passives/zerk/bc, maybe a few extra into nat res if needed
rest into bash

SS um
arreats um
gbane um (alternative is shaft, sols instead of Ums, and sanctuary or upped umum mosers, your losses are dwarf for raven on CBF, a chunk of def, and 5% dr, but it is a cheaper build and starts running before 85)
amulet of life everlasting
oath in whatever sword because I like swords
dwarf star (MDR helps vs the succis he spawns with, fire absorb helps vs his CE, and if he's FE)
nature's peace (the RIP isn't a HUGE deal as a couple CEs isn't the end of the world and you're only killing nihl, but combined with the fact it has PDR I don't think it can be beat, a 2nd dwarf would be fine here too)
dungos (string works fine too)
gores

With that barb I've done well over 1000 runs (I've lost count, I just know I can account for 1000 over a 3 day span) and I don't think I've dropped below 30% health once, and I've only dropped below 50% a small handful of times. Hell, dropping below 90% is surprising. 30 second runs.

Add a might reapers merc and trav is a complete joke too.

Edit: oh, you just said "key runner" not "dkey runner" in your thread title I guess... I got distracted by the fact your post only mentions nihl/snakes ^^
I wouldn't touch t/h keys with a barb. Way too slow without port, any sorc with a decent merc can do those though.
I'm not sure what the economy's like right now, but both my key runners have been at the starts of s3/4 respectively, so trading dkeys 1:3 or even more was easy, it might be a bit saturated with them at this point though. But even 1:1 I'd still just run Ds, so long as you can get the others reliably, he has great drops on his own, you can level off him easily, and he's the fastest run without a maphack.

[Socialism]

You can pray/hope/wait, but you won't get receive better information on this than what MoUsE_WiZ (and his obnoxiously caps-alternate-name) has put forward.

Kudos (whatever the hell that means).

[Loafers]

Barbs are plenty quick, you just need the knowledge contained in this picture:
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/846...diagram1hl.jpg

The halls of pain is pretty self explanatory, there's only 3 maps, look where the WP is, and run the path correctly. It shouldn't take too long to learn.
The halls of vaught diagram there is a bit less easy to decipher, but the trick is even easier to learn. On the left side of the top right panel is a picture of a painting on the wall. On the right side, there are 4 green highlighted bits. Nihl will always be in the branch where that painting appears on the highlighted section. So instead of having to run all the way down to the end of each branch, you just have to run a quick circle around the middle when you come down the stairs. I'm not sure I just made sense, and I don't feel like going back to make sure.

As for the snakes? Stack some PDR and they're a joke. Fifty or so is more than enough. The charges from the skeletons is much more worrisome at that point, and that's even more dangerous for anything that isn't a barb.

WW on the other hand is less than ideal, I like conc, others use zerk. Disregard the part about howling monsters away... just leap attack onto nihl and start hitting conc. You'll take next to no damage with your 20-30k def. Howl/warcry are more useful to the zerkers who will take hits while swinging.

My build:
20 conc
20 shout/bo
20 sword mastery
1 ww/passives/zerk/bc, maybe a few extra into nat res if needed
rest into bash

SS um
arreats um
gbane um (alternative is shaft, sols instead of Ums, and sanctuary or upped umum mosers, your losses are dwarf for raven on CBF, a chunk of def, and 5% dr, but it is a cheaper build and starts running before 85)
amulet of life everlasting
oath in whatever sword because I like swords
dwarf star (MDR helps vs the succis he spawns with, fire absorb helps vs his CE, and if he's FE)
nature's peace (the RIP isn't a HUGE deal as a couple CEs isn't the end of the world and you're only killing nihl, but combined with the fact it has PDR I don't think it can be beat, a 2nd dwarf would be fine here too)
dungos (string works fine too)
gores

With that barb I've done well over 1000 runs (I've lost count, I just know I can account for 1000 over a 3 day span) and I don't think I've dropped below 30% health once, and I've only dropped below 50% a small handful of times. Hell, dropping below 90% is surprising. 30 second runs.

Add a might reapers merc and trav is a complete joke too.

Edit: oh, you just said "key runner" not "dkey runner" in your thread title I guess... I got distracted by the fact your post only mentions nihl/snakes ^^
I wouldn't touch t/h keys with a barb. Way too slow without port, any sorc with a decent merc can do those though.
I'm not sure what the economy's like right now, but both my key runners have been at the starts of s3/4 respectively, so trading dkeys 1:3 or even more was easy, it might be a bit saturated with them at this point though. But even 1:1 I'd still just run Ds, so long as you can get the others reliably, he has great drops on his own, you can level off him easily, and he's the fastest run without a maphack.

Thought about making this for this season's ladder and had some questions:

1) Why Oath?

2) What gloves?

3) How long does it take in an 8 player game?

4) Any new suggestions/advice after all these years ?

(Sorry about the necro bump, but it won't let me send a PM until I get 10 posts.)

[scollin]

1. Oath isnt the best weapon really, but its a more affordable one. Something like Grief is probably your best bet, or maybe a death collosus blade or something.

2. Anything with IAS/stats is probably fine. If you are using Berserk then leech isnt important, res isnt that needed since there isnt much elemental damage down there, even enhanced damage isnt overly important because you get so much off weapon ED from berserk. If you are using concentrate then you might want to use something with life leech just to be safe.

3. To get to him, well under a minute. To kill him, 5 seconds? Leap attack, howl, 2-3 hits (assuming a very strong weapon) and he's dead.

4. Not really, depends on how long its been. The best overall key runner is probably an infinity light sorc, however that setup will require a natures peace and still isnt nearly as safe. its just faster and is capable of running the other 2 guys extremely quickly. Barbs are probably the best bet for Nihlatathak in HC simply cus they can tank a couple corpse explosions with a half decent BO.

[oOmpie]

What most of the above said. For Nihla I used a barb on a budget and it was easy going as well. Took me a minute instead of 30 secs, but for a start up it will do you well. Ladder has just rest, so there might actually be a proper demand for D keys.

The build is far from perfect, but he was built as a Leaper first and turned into a key runner after

20 leap
20 leap attack
20 bo
20 mastery
standard 1 pointers
leftovers in Conc when this was complete

IK set, sol-ed hat, IAS-ed weap iirc. Don't remember tbh.
Just (half)decent yellow rings

After 10 to 20 runs or so you got the layouts down and it's just, enter game, BO, ruuuuuuuuuuuuuun, leap attack, conc-conc-(leap attack again if he teleports)-conc-etc , check loot, leave game.
A full Conc barb is probably quicker, although the initial whack from Leap Attack could knock a giant chunk out of Nihla's life bar.

And yeah... key running is boring as hell

[ZappaFan]

I ran Nihl using an IK Barb so many times I lost count, always very safely. I think I had about 40 PDR. Used Conc as my main attack, Zerk as a backup. I think I had Sol's in the helm and one in the armor then a couple of Nature's Peace.