I think he can drop everything in the game, but do I need everything? Also the time it takes me to kill him is twice that for the Countess, and probably ten times as much for Pindle/Eldritch/Thresh etc.
For general loot farming there are probably better targets. But he does drop a key, so you need him if you want to run Ubers unless you trade for his key.
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hahaha after 20 years Nihlathak still putting more fear into the hearts of rookies than even De Seis
he’s good for XP on high character levels (96+) and for keys.
But the halls of pain is a great level 84 area with high denstity - IMO it is very worth it, and it’s lots of fun with various monsters and a good amount of objects (chests\caskets\evil urns\etc) to loot. And killing nihlathak at the end is a nice cherry on top
that’s not right. you have to traverse 5 levels to reach countess, but only 1 for nihlathak. There are 3 Halls of Pain map layouts, so depending on the starting waypoint position you can always find the Halls of Vaught quickly. The Nihlathak’s “wing” can also be determined by looking at the eyes murals in the Halls of Vaught
I use my sorceress, so getting to the Countess or to Nihlalak is (very) quick, but what happens when I am there is another matter. With the Countess takes say 30 seconds to kill as I always try to clear the two rooms adjacent. With Nihlalak I try to clear all his section and then snipe him from the distance, even off screen many times. He has a huge range on his CE, I have the scars to prove it! Sometimes I go right up to him, if there are no corpses near by, but CE also has a huge range!
Nope - old players playing melee are more afraid of all de seis with his sudden iron maiden and you died 
If you happen to have a Nature’s Peace ring somewhere, use it. You’ll only have to watch out for the corpses your merc kills.
The second alternative is to just kill Nihlathak and leave his minions alive (they are always cold immune). So a Blizz sorcs works well for that (but Nihlathak is also sometimes cold immune, so 30% of your runs may end up with no result at all 
).
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as for the merc corpses, give merc a weak weapon → no corpses from him.
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EDIT: Is he worth it? Yeah, but nothing crazy. He’s got decent EXP to give you, level 85 area if you’re killing stuff on the way, and a predictable path. Any character you feel comfortable doing him with probably should unless they’re blowing through Chaos pretty fast.
Nihl should always be faster than Countess
- The maps are predictable so you can learn them
- His map shows you which leg hes on
- You don’t have to find the entrance
Nihl is very easy with several builds - Necro, Assassin, and Barb probably being the best.
- Necro - Dim Vision anything you don’t like. Amp Nihl and blow up corpses.
- Assassin - Cloak anything you don’t like, Mindblast his minions to keep them close, kill a couple with a bunch of Death Sentries around and kill him with his own minions.
- Barb - Howl anything you don’t like, Leap attack him, Howl, kill him while everything runs away.
but the other classes are fine too:
- Druid, teleport on him with Hurricane. Throw tornados to speed it up.
- Sorc → Blizz him or Firewall him.
- Pally → Overpowered class in every regard - you’ll figure something out.
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I usually let the merc go in, draw out all the mobs, kill them on the one side of his area and a bit further out. That means the other side is relatively clear of mobs. I also send the merc in to force Nihlalak to CE the corpses, then I pick a “safe” spot and snipe him. I only move using TP.
What are you running?
It’s much much faster if you can make a strategy that doesn’t require what you’re doing. An AI curse (you can put confuse on the merc with Delirium), cold spell to kill him without killing his minions, Firewall so you kill him so fast that it doesn’t matter, or many other options I listed above will make doing 1-minute runs easy.
Players with Enigma/Teleport who have good gear and skip everything can do it in under 30 seconds reliably.
Yep, he drops well if you farm him for keys, I have found great skillers, decent high level uniques but it takes time, as extra or sub boss he drops the really good 87 stuff like Baal, but the drop rate is 10 times worse and Baals drop rate sucks so…but hey your are farming keys to farm torches. That is why. More so the dungeons itself drops runes if you farm it. For a sorc use a peace ring, that way there are not corpse for him to pop, though a hydra based build should just tp behind him drop hydras and back out the room. He and everything it in will die with good placement. Chain lighting works from just outside the room. Any melee character with a peace ring can just walk up to him and trash him
Hey can drop Destruction Key, grand charms that can roll 45 life, and high runes. Along with items.
Oh, I forgot to factor in the time taken to find the bloody tower!
I think I am into 10+ mins. Finding him is like 30 secs. Clearing the annoying succubi or restarting game, 2 mins. Clearing up to his chamber, say 2 mins. Clearing his chamber another 2 mins easy. Finally, dancing around corpses to find safe spot (even off screen) another 2 mins.
I think the most bang for your buck farming is Travincal. Chaos Sanctuary a close second.
Get yourself:
- Natures ring
- Energy Shield
- Lite build, nova is the best for solo
after that your runs shouldnt last more than 1min