Okay look, farming keys in D2R had me scratching my head at first. I wanted those darn things for Uber runs, but figuring out the best spots felt messy. Went through some trial and error myself. Here’s how it actually went down:
Getting My Act Together (Literally)
First, I gotta be real – you wanna run places FAST. I dusted off my level 85 Sorceress. Teleport is basically mandatory unless you wanna spend forever walking. Gear wasn’t fancy – Spirit sword/shield, Stealth armor, crappy MF gear I had lying around. Speed mattered more than magic find for this particular job.
Resists? Yeah, tried to cap ’em out as much as my junk gear allowed, especially fire and lightning ’cause… well, those key bosses hit hard with elements.
Target Practice: Who To Smack
It ain’t random! Gotta hit three specific nightmare ladies:
- The Countess: Found deep in the Tower on Act 1’s Black Marsh. Runs took a few minutes once I memorized the floor layouts. Got me Terror Keys. Lots of failed runs just getting lost though, sucked.
- The Summoner: Camping out in that lonely Arcane Sanctuary. Teleported like a madman across the zigzags. Fought him dozens of times. Mostly useless junk drops, but eventually Hate Keys started popping. Weird feeling hoping a mage drops keys instead of books.
- Nihlathak: This guy’s the worst. His temple in Act 5’s icy hell is packed with explody corpses and invisible vipers. Died stupidly to corpse explosion a couple times. Finally started dragging him away from his minions before blasting him. Got my first Destruction Key and nearly cheered. Careful here – super annoying spot.
The Grind… Oh Man, The Grind
Thought it would be quick. Ha! RNG is a cruel mistress. Ran Countess maybe 20 times? Got maybe 5 Terror keys. Summoner felt easier, snagged like 8 Hate keys in 30 runs. Nihlathak? Maybe 1 key every 5-10 tries if I was lucky. Takes forever. Just put on some music and zone out.
Important! Didn’t even mess with Hell difficulty. Nightmare drop rates are better for keys unless you’re chasing other high-end loot too. Less RNG crap to wade through.
Stuff That Almost Made Me Quit
- Dying to Nihlathak’s minions is frustrating as hell. Felt dumb. Learned: Isolate the boss!
- Getting totally lost in the Tower before finding the Countess. Wasted time.
- Losing motivation after a bad streak of zero drops for 10+ runs. Kept telling myself “next one” like a gambler.
Bottom Line
Be Patient. Be Fast. That’s it. Farm Countess (Terror), Summoner (Hate), Nihlathak (Destruction) strictly on Nightmare difficulty with a speedy character. Expect dry spells. It ain’t glamorous, but once that key finally drops? Feels good. Took me a whole lazy afternoon to get a full set. Don’t expect miracles!