by Hotstreak - 11 years ago     show comments

Are you tired of grinding each Keywarden individually to try and get that sick Hellfire Ring for your upcoming Crusader? Tired of running through the Dahlgur Oasis (damn Dahlgur Oasis!) only to not have the Key of Hate drop? Well stress no more because we have a solution! With the launch of patch 2.0.1 came the removal of Nephalem Valor which used to be required before a Keywarden kill to even have a chance for a key drop.

That process made key runs pretty lengthy if you didn’t have the gear to run the higher monster power levels for the higher drop rates. Not only were you required to get NV, you also needed to get 5 stacks of it which was 5 elite kills. So with the removal of NV, key runs have gotten significantly faster but the drop rates for them have been toned down. You only have a 25% chance of a key drop on Torment I and a 50% drop rate on Torment VI. Here’s the source for the drop rates.

With Patch 2.0.1, the only thing that changed about the current Hellfire Ring/Infernal Machine event is the drop rates. Both Keys and Organs now only drop in Torment I or above at the following rates:

Torment I: 25%
Torment II: 28%
Torment III: 33%
Torment IV: 38%
Torment V: 43%
Torment VI: 50%

So it still can take multiple runs before you even see a key. The solution is running the Act IV Keywarden, Nekarat. Every single key type is in his loot table, so he can drop the Key of Hate in one run and the Key of Destruction in another. He is found in the Silver Spire Level 1 which is a significantly smaller zone than where all of the other Keywardens exist so the runs are really fast and easy with really good results.

In 20 Nekarat runs on Torment I, I looted 5 Keys of Hate, 3 Keys of Terror, and 2 Keys of Destruction for a total of 10 keys of all types in 20 runs. That’s pretty damn efficient if you ask me as I only looted 6 Keys of Destruction in 20 Odeg runs on Act 1. I also got a couple of legendaries and a set item in my 20 Nekarat runs. This makes Key farming pretty easy as these Nekarat runs only take 10 minutes at the most assuming you have the gear to down monsters on Torment I pretty fast and easily.

Now this run isn’t going to be the most efficient once RoS launches as each Keywarden at level 70 will have a chance to drop keys from other acts as well. Also with the addition of Adventure Mode, you will be able to do full key runs by going and defeating each Keywarden in one run through every act which will be very fun and also much easier. Each key will also have it’s own Infernal Machine to spawn individual uber portals, instead of needing one of each key to craft only 1 Infernal Machine. For example, the Key of Gluttony will be used to craft the Infernal Machine of Gluttony.

Infernal Machine

• The Keywardens now spawn in both Campaign and Adventure Mode from level 60-70
• Level 70 Keywardens now also have a small chance to drop a random key from other Acts
• The following keys now drop at level 70 from Keywardens (these keys are used to craft the level 70 Infernal Machine device):
  • Key of Bones
  • Key of Gluttony
  • Key of War
  • Key of Evil
• The Blacksmith can now craft the following level 70 devices:
  • The Infernal Machine of Bones
  • The Infernal Machine of Gluttony
  • The Infernal Machine of War
  • The Infernal Machine of Evil

All in all these runs have made key farming a lot easier with much better results as the Silver Spire Level 1 is a pretty small zone compared to the others. I can’t tell you how many times Nekarat has been there when I have barely even stepped foot into the Silver Spire. We would love to hear your results! Have you had similar results when doing these runs? Were you unaware that Nekarat could drop every key? Let us know in the comments below!

The folks over at Gameranx.com had really good results doing these Nekarat runs as well!