There’s an ongoing community project/contest to achieve the fastest clear time for 10 Nephalem Rifts on Torment 6 difficulty, with fans reporting their times in a thread in the B.net Barbarian forum. Given that it originated in that Barb forum the entrants are largely Barbs, but some other classes make appearances as well, even in the top times.
All builds, gear, strategies, shrines/pylons, gear-switching, etc is permitted. Many players carry special gear just to up their Elite damage against the Rift Guardian, and there are debates about the speed benefits (or not) of skipping past Elites to just kill trash mobs, of using Nemesis Bracers to spawn an extra Elite every time you hit a shrine, of the utility of higher DPS vs. faster movement speed, about which LGems are best (speed boost from Boon of the Hoarder or Wreath of Lightning vs. DPS boosts), etc. All the proof ultimately lies in the ten-run pudding, and that’s where the final scores can best be compared.
Here are the top ten runs to date, with their total clear times, class/build, and the link to their entry in the OP. All characters can be seen via the B.net armory, though they might not have the same build/gear now as they did when they clocked their best time.
- (35:24), Devil – physical Charge Barbarian
- (36:35), Mental – fire Exploding Blast/Blizzard Wizard
- (37:34), KevinTSmith – physical Charge Barbarian
- (37:34), whistler – physical Charge Barbarian
- (37:53), Freestyle – physical WW/Rend Barbarian
- (39:21), SpongeBob – physical Bowmen Crusader
- (39:36), Det0x – physical WW/Rend Barbarian
- (39:56), Arbacus – physical Charge Barbarian
- (39:59), Nubtro – physical WW/Rend Barbarian
- (40:27), VocaloidNyan – fire Strafe Demon Hunter
The timer starts when the first Rift opens, and doesn’t stop until you hit Orek after the 10th, which bakes in ~35s of dead time after each Rift while you wait 30s for Orek to close the rift, plus level creation/loading time. Wise players start to portal out as soon as (if not before the Guardian dies, click Orek, portal back down to pick up the loot, portal out and dash to salvage/repair, and then back to Orek to open up the next Rift as soon as possible. No rest for the wicked!
The strategy and technique differs from the normal game quite a bit. For one thing, the Gem of Efficacious Toxin is almost mandatory, since the DoT is so powerful as finishing off enemies left behind while the hurrying player rushes onwards. Builds that leave damage behind are very useful as well, which partially explains the prevalence of Barbarians on the list. Spin2Win returns!
Click through for some more strategy and videos of the top times showing their full runs.
I haven’t tried 10 runs in a row myself, but I’m curious to do so once I’m back home after Xmas vacay, on a computer that can run D3. I’ve done numerous runs with my PTR DH in 2-3min, but of course I only notice the really fast ones. I’m sure I’ve got 5+ minute runs mixed in due to bad spawns, and those are the ones that pull the overall average down. The majority of entries in the OP thread are in the 50-65m range, likely for just those bad luck type of reasons.
Have any of you guys tried these 10x T6 runs, and got tips or warnings for the rest of us? And has anyone seen these times for Hardcore characters? HC *could* do it just as quickly, since it’s not like players with super geared chars are dying in these T6 x10 runs, but obviously there’s more barrier to getting that geared if you’ve got the chance of dying and losing it all during the gear up process.
Here’s the current #1, Devil’s physical Charge Barbarian in a sizzling 35:24 total time.
Here’s the current #2, Mental’s fire Exploding Blast/Blizzard Wizard in 36:35.
#8: Arbacus’ physical Charge Barbarian in 39:56.
Original thread with updated top run times and more details can be seen here on the Battle.net forums.