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In Diablo III's 1.05 patch they've reintroduced an Uber Boss system of harvesting keys and organs to produce a legendary ring.

The keys are drops from mobs nick named Key Wardens.

Where are the various key wardens? Are there any requirements for making the keys drop (mf/nv/mp)?

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@JQAn As long as you choose a quest that has a waypoint for the warden's location, it doesn't matter which one you choose. If all you care about is farming keys, just always choose the last quest, to give yourself the maximum flexibility for earning NV. – bwarner Oct 19 '12 at 15:14

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Here's how I've been farming the keys, up to you to decide if its the fastest way or not.

As for quest starting location, it doesn't matter as much. I usually start the game on the very last quest (except for the act 2 one since that puts you in the assault on Belial.)

General tips:

  • You need 5 stacks of nv to make a key appear, it's not about magic find, just the 5 stacks.
  • Do this on the highest MP you can tolerate and yet gain stacks/kill fast. By fast I mean, each run shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes tops. This is because there is a 10% chance improvement for each mp level, up to 100% at 10.
  • Having multiple people helps. The act 1 and act 2 key wardens spawn in huge zones, so you can cover more ground with more people searching for them.

Key of Destruction

Odeg the Keywarden is in Fields of Misery in act 1. The fastest way to gain 5 stacks in act 1 is to hit up Festering Woods. Its can spawn up to multiple elites, 1-2 events, and has 2 dungeons with 1 guaranteed elite/champion in each. If you only have 3-4 stacks after this zone, just head straight to Fields of Misery as you'll probably run into 1-2 more packs before you find the key warden. Odeg always spawns with the molten effect, and he has a big fireball spell that can do ok damage. Other than that he's pretty easy. Keep in mind that he's a ranged attacker.

Key of Hate

Sokahr the Keywarden spawns in Dahlgur Oasis. The best place imo to farm up 5 stacks is actually the Dalghur Oasis itself. If you find the Keywarden before you have all 5 stacks, simply run away as he is incredibly slow and cannot catch you - come back when you've gathered the stacks from elsewhere in The Oasis. As for Sokahr himself, Dahlgur oasis is quite big and he can spawn anywhere in that zone, so having multiple people helps a lot. Sokahr has an electric attack and a whirlwind attack. When he starts whirlwinding, I recommend to back up since t hat attack hurts a lot. Other than that he's pretty easy.

Another note here is that he is a cake walk for a demon hunter using the ball lightning attack. Since he often (always?) appears with a slow missile shield these balls hang around sparking on him if you can stay far enough away that he isn't chasing you. Alternately make him chase you in a circle so the balls stay within his shield.

Key of Terror

Xah'Rith the Keywarden is in Stonefort. To gain stacks in act 3, I teleport to the keep 3 waypoint and work my way backwards through keep 3 and keep 2 until I have 5 stacks, and then I TP to stonefort. Having multiple people here won't help much since Stonefort is a very straight forward path rather than an open zone. Also make sure to check the offshoots on the side as he can sometimes spawn there. Xah'Rith is the hardest of the 3 key wardens as he teleports around a lot and have a high damage aoe attack. If you are a melee character, it helps a lot if you lure him to one of the many stair cases in the area so he can't run away as easily.

Infernal Machine Blacksmithing Plans

Dropped from Nekarat the Keywarden in Act 4. Luckily, you only have to find this once as its hard to build up 5 stacks in act 4. Start with the gardens and work your way through to the spire, hopefully you'll have 5 stacks by then. I got it on my first try so I can't recommend anything special for this guy.

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You left out Sokahr's brutal mortar attack. I think he is Vortex as well. Quite a pain for ranged characters. – bwarner Oct 19 '12 at 20:48
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@bwarner well I'm a barb so I tend to ignore that stuff :D – spartacus Oct 19 '12 at 22:16
I start the act two one on the assault on Belial because it gives you Leah and Adria, which not much but does help. – Mike Nov 14 '12 at 14:32
Another helpful hint is to get 3 sets of all 3 keys. That will guarantee that you'll unlock all 3 realms. Otherwise, you make get the same organ twice... – Coomie Apr 10 at 5:35
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Lylirra made a blue post about drop chances. You have to have 5 stacks of Nephalim Valor and the drop chance scales up to 100% with monster power level.

You'll need five stacks of NV in order for the keys and the demonic organ pieces to drop.

Currently, both the keys and the demonic organ pieces (Vengeful Eye, Devil's Fang, and Writhing Spine) have higher chances to drop in higher MP levels, all the way up to 100% in MP10.

When they appear, they'll show us as legendary items, making them easy to distinguish from the other items the mobs may pop.

Diablofans posted information on the location of all of the keys:

  • Key 1 - Found on Goat Mutant Key Warden in the Fields of Misery (Act 1)
  • Key 2 - Found on Dune Dervish Key Warden in Dahlgur Oasis (Act 2)
  • Key 3 - Found on Morlu Spellcaster Key Warden in Stonefort (Act 3)
  • Infernal Machine Plan - Found on Terror Demon Key Warden in Silver Spire Lvl 1 (Act 4)
  • The Key Wardens will always spawn in each Inferno game.
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What is the optimal quest to start in each act for getting NV 5 just before finding the Wardens? – jmfsg♦ Oct 19 '12 at 15:00
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I typically start at the last quest in the Act, go to my preferred farming spot to get 5 stacks, then go to the area where the Key Warden is. If you are only concerned with keys, do the same thing but go straight to the correct area. Just go somewhere else for a bit if you don't have enough NV by the time you find the Warden. – dpatchery Oct 19 '12 at 15:09

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