This was super interesting.
In particular I tested for the 98-99 stage, but I figured why not check out if this is viable for 97-98 already. I used a twinked Necro and respec'ed/regeared him numerous times, always using gear available to my untwinked Necro.
First of all the overall conclusion: Sub-
30s runs are definitely possible with a Novamancer build, provided no S&E lag. I only used one P&B skiller and no DWeb, so with these it should be faster still. In any case I am sure this is the best approach for 98-99. As for 97-98, it is very similar to P8/P3 Baal runs (or P1/P7 Diablo with a ~25-30% XP shrine rate):
Runs needed for 97-98: ~
8600. Time needed to beat Baal: ~
31s
Checking 2 shrines: ~
8200. Time needed to beat Baal: ~
32.7s
Checking 3 shrines: ~
8000. Time needed to beat Baal: ~
33.5s
Due to Baal being so much safer, I figured I'll only hit Nihl for 98-99. But it was interesting to see it's in fact a good option for 97-98.
I also checked out the tests performed by scrcrw who was using Bone Spear, running without Merc. He tried both Bone Prison and Confuse/Dim Vision to provide the necessary safety. I quickly discarded Bone Spear altogether though. It just doesn't kill fast enough, and my untwinked Nec only has one P&B skiller anyway. As summons are out for these short runs, I'm pretty sure an approach around PN is the way to go for Nihl, in conjunction with a strong Merc to start CEs quickly. I tested these setups and strategies:
Build 1: Beast Novamancer with Infinity Merc
Build 2: Hoto/White Novamancer with Infinity Merc
Build 3: Hoto Novamancer without Merc
Build 4: White Novamancer without Merc
All builds were 125% FCR. I quickly felt this was the best approach, not only to teleport to Nihl faster but also to win the CE battle against him. Difference between those setups were mostly down to defensive stats, and Fanaticism vs higher PN damage.
I figured curses play a crucial rule in running him, and tried the following sequences after landing at his platform:
Dim Vision -> Attract -> Amp -> spam CE
Dim Vision -> Attract -> LR -> spam CE
Confuse -> Attract -> Amp -> spam CE
Confuse -> Attract -> LR -> spam CE
LR and Amp were treated differently to the extent that Amp was only used right before starting the CE chain. LR on the other hand I often cast earlier, namely if there were no Vipers around and no crowd control (Confuse) was necessary. In case of Vipers/other type of danger, I switched to LR only just before the first CE, same as Amp.
I quickly noticed that
(1) Attract helps a ton in terms of safety, diverting monster attacks while preparing to spam CE,
(2) Confuse is doing much more for safety than Dim Vision, way fewer attacks hitting the Merc or Necro, and
(3) using Infinity Merc is faster (and more comfortable) than running without Merc.
The choice of weapons (Hoto, Beast, +6 PN White) barely had an effect on run times. I will be suing Beast because sometimes Nihl survives the CE onslaught. In such case telestomping him with the Merc is the fastest way to finish the run, and Beast is best for that. Though he doesn't have DWeb, which is probably a little stronger overall.
So it came down to using LR vs using Amp. Run times were almost the same in my testing. However, I think theoretically LR should be better. Nihl has 70% PR naturally, so LR does a lot for you in lowering that. Again this might be different with Death's Web, where Amp should be a little stonger overall.
One word on the IG: He died too often in my test runs. But the character I used was only lvl 87 and didn't have spare points to pump Golem Mastery, so he might survive well with Golem Mastery. I ended up running without IG potting mana in his runs. Just something to bear in mind.
A final crazy idea: How about BotD for Merc!?
My untwinked Necro found two Zod runes, and I'm thining Infinity "only" helps CE unless Nihl rolls unbreakable FI. I don't have a suitable BotD base at the moment, but it might be an upgrade over Infinity, providing the first corpse (and finishing FI Nihl) faster.
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