P1 TZ Farming
Keys

What spec would you do?

I normally in single player play through the game as Fireball into Orb/Hydra and then respec into lightning/chain lightning for key farming
But I will be playing on bnet this ladder reset, so I will probably just leech tristram into tomb runs as a blizz sorc, and then maybe stay blizz the entire time and have some help on hell chaos/ancients.

At 75 or 80, maybe I would stop and spam meph for a bit and hope to get lucky as blizz
Then respec for keys/tz farming.

I was thinking about trying a vita Orb/Nova. Seems I could clear p1 tz with max static+orb mainly and use nova on cold immunes, then also use nova for keys.
I don't really see much on orb/nova tho. Is it viable?

Maybe something super day 1 budget like this
https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/403wqt0u

This post was edited by ahyp on May 2 2026 04:51pm

I started one season farming countess and summoner with a budget nova sorc and it was very quick & safe.

She had terrible damage, but you only really need to kill two monsters per game, so it’s ok.

just make a blizzard sorc and do endless mephistos run for them shako and arach, rest is no where close as rewarding unless you got terrible rng.

Yea, well I just tested it on single player PTR client

Did some p1 tz as orb nova, was ok. Orb hydra was way better. Hydras way more damage. Either spec lvl 75 sucked doing tz chaos, but was very easy to do all the high density act 1 tz zones. Chaos non terrorized was alright but not ideal.

Orb hydra is good for countess and summoner too.

Abyss warlock was able to do all p1 tz including chaos without much issue. Just merc dying.

This is all with basic leveling runewords and shopped gloves boots belt etc so super budget.

Probably what I’ll do is just start as a blizz sorc and then slam some Meph runs until I get some good gear and respec orb/hydra for summoner/countess and then lvl a lock in abyss and start doing tzs

This post was edited by ahyp on May 2 2026 06:17pm

HYDRA ORBZ

She’s cold & fire immune


Oh, well

Yea but hydra kills all the mobs around her that are cold immune and a merc with a nightmare base insight/bulwark/smoke can kill her quite easily

you do you

P1 key farmers are the ones who complain about no drops in 50+ games. Building for Bnet p1 is not good, orb/nova not good, vita nova not good, prayer merc without cure helm not good, that maxroll build not good. Going into nova without max light mastery to put points into chilling armor, not good. Builds that rely on merc for kills, not good.

Just my opinion, but i wouldn't play that.

To clarify, it's fine to play with starter gear or off meta - I've played lore and ancients pledge fire sorc to mid 90s - but balance with an understanding of what is missing compared to better builds, in terms of gear and time to kill, and the resulting drops.

This post was edited by VexTheBrave on May 3 2026 07:15am

Do you have any recommendations that involve leveling gear?
I’m thinking orb hydra single respec as the only respec necessary.
P1 for sure is what’s going to be happening the first few days of ladder. I’ll play/beat the game on my PC and then I’ll cross-platform load up my switch 2 and farm meph / keys on my living room couch while my wife watches tv

If I get some good meph loot or some good luck elsewhere things may change, but with no gear at the start, what’s better?

This post was edited by ahyp on May 3 2026 07:43am