Farming for Keys in Terror Zones

Hey everyone,

If I did my research right, I understood that farming the three enemies while terrorized should have zero impact on the chances for dropping their keys, right?

And yet, I can't shake the feeling that they get more stingy whilst terrorized. So I'm checking with the community: does anyone feel the same, is there any truth to it, or is it perhaps simply a result of slightly faster runs when non-TZ?

Help me out, data wizards and fellow slayers. =)

No impact on Key drops. The sample size is too small to rule out just being lucky / unlucky.

Evens out over thousands of runs.

I feel this way too sometimes but can't be sure. My best guess is that if they have a larger possible drop pool when terrorized, then it would decrease the chance at keys (or any specific item really). This would similar to the reason that wraiths in Arcane Sanctuary tend to drop runes more often, for example (they cannot drop certain types of items). I am just not sure if Key drops are treated differently than regular item drops.

justinman114 wrote: 4 months ago

My best guess is that if they have a larger possible drop pool when terrorized, then it would decrease the chance at keys (or any specific item really).

No, that's not the case. They always roll their chances to drop keys the same. Look at the database entries for the keys to find these chances. Only if they roll "No- Key", then the item that actually rolls instead is affected by MF and TZ but not the initial Key rolls.

As far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong, Countess, Summoner and Nihli have 5 drops, so 5 keys are possible, theoretically.

On players 1 the chance to drop 5 Keys of Destruction with just one Nihli drop would be 0.122 x 0.122 x 0.122 x 0.122 x 0.122 = 0.000027027081632, which is 0.0027% or roughly 1 in 37.000 runs.

What Mike said - Terror Zones have no effect on Key drop chances.

I only farm keys when it's terrorized because of the extra XP/drops along the way.

mikelessar wrote: 4 months ago

As far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong, Countess, Summoner and Nihli have 5 drops, so 5 keys are possible, theoretically.

I had a one lucky shot with four Key of Destruction in one drop from Nihli.

And on topic, I had tens of runs without seeing a single Key and then two runs back to back with a Key each, both TZ and nonTZ.