How to Speedrun D2R: The 8-Man Taxi Strat 3.0 Explained
Taxi Strat 3.0 is an 8-man D2R speedrun plan by jymnasium: six Normal games built around Countess runs, then a taxi through Nightmare and Hell. Here is the comp, the game-by-game jobs and the planbook's fastest known times.
To speedrun Diablo 2 Resurrected as a team, run the 8-man Taxi Strat 3.0. Normal is six games built around Countess runs, and Nightmare and Hell are the "taxi": one teleporting Sorceress drops town portals on boss groups so the rest of the team farms XP together.
Taxi Strat 3.0 was created by jymnasium (twitch.tv/jymnasium) with the help of the 8Man Speedrunners, and everything below is read from that plan. The planbook's fastest known time for this comp is SC 1:20:14, HC 1:32:26. Those figures come from the planbook, where each plan is called a sheet, and may have been beaten since. This post teaches how the route works. The complete act-by-act version, with every slot's tasks and skill builds, is in the strategy library.
The Eight Slots
The comp is fixed: Tele Sorc, Shockwave Druid, Salvation Pally, Limo Sorc (Taxi), Conviction Pally, BO Barb, Conc Pally and Cold Sorc. Three jobs carry the idea. The Tele Sorc teleports ahead, drops the XP portals and spawns Andariel on P1 in Nightmare (P1 is the plan's shorthand for the one-player game setting). The Limo Sorc runs outside and finds boss groups for the harvest team, meaning everyone who hops into the XP portals. The Barb keeps potions and Battle Orders at the portals.
Everyone else follows the portals. The Druid takes the first XP portal and copies it, everyone else joins in, and in Hell the Cold Sorc leads the Throne. Who should play which slot is covered in the 8-man roles post.
What a Taxi Is and Why It Saves Time
In a rush, a taxi holds portals so rushees skip the walk, which the team rush strategy covers. In this plan the taxi moves XP instead. The Tele Sorc teleports to a boss group and drops a portal beside it, the team hops in and kills the group, then hops to the next one. Nobody walks a level looking for monsters.
Chaos Sanctuary shows it in miniature. The plan calls it TP hopping: kill a seal boss, go back to town, and take the next portal the Tele Sorc left. Our read, not the sheet's: searching is the slowest, least productive part of leveling, and a Sorc with Teleport is the cheapest way to take that cost off seven players. All three Sorcs take Teleport at level 18 in the build tables.
How to Speedrun D2R in Normal: Six Games
The level goals are the sheet's own. A solo version of this route is in Normal to Hell fast.
- Game 1 (levels 3-9). The Salvation Pally, Conc Pally and Barb clear the Den of Evil for the skill point. The Tele Sorc shops 2-socket armors and helms (Tal Eth), drops a portal at Stony Field and waits for the party so Poison Creeper can take a kill for level 5. The team spreads out along the road to find the Stony Field waypoint, and the Tele Sorc and Barb spread out again in Dark Wood for the Tree of Inifuss. The Conviction Pally takes the scroll and opens Tristram, the Druid follows the Black Marsh road to Tamoe Highland and the Jail level 1 waypoint, and the Conc Pally finds the Forgotten Tower and runs Countess. The Tele Sorc leaves a portal in Tamoe and hops to XP shrines and boss groups.
- Game 2 (9-11). Countess again. The Conc Pally runs her and clears boss groups on each Tower level, waiting for a P1 or P2 kill. The Tele Sorc drops the Outer Cloister waypoint and pushes to the Inner Cloister, and the Conviction Pally runs Pit 1 into Pit 2 and leaves a portal there for her.
- Game 3 (11-13). One more Countess, then everyone joins the Inner Cloister portal and kills Andariel.
- Game 4 (12-20). Save and exit after Andariel so the Conc Pally can kill Countess on P1 for Stealth runes; with three Sorcs and three Pallies the sheet counts up to six useful Stealths. In Act 2 the Tele Sorc and Limo Sorc work Stony Tomb for XP portals, the Druid solos the Halls of the Dead, the Conc Pally solos Radament, and the other Pallies leave portals at Maggot Lair or Far Oasis and at Ancient Tunnels. At level 18 the Tele Sorc teleports Maggot Lair to Arcane Sanctuary and calls the correct Tal Rasha tomb. Every other runner has an assigned tomb symbol, and whoever's tomb is real heads for the star. The Tele Sorc then goes to Duriel as a duo. In Act 3 the team drops the Gidbinn and the golden bird in town and waits for everyone to turn in, reaches level 19.75+ before Travincal, and the Tele Sorc teleports the Durance of Hate to Mephisto.
- Game 5 (21+). The Druid, Conviction Pally and Conc Pally spread out on the Plains of Despair to find Izual, and the Tele Sorc kills him once Diablo is spawned. The seal bosses fall by TP hopping, then Diablo. The Pallies respec in Act 1 and redo skills and stats in Act 5. After that come Shenk, the barbarian rescue, Anya, Crystalline Passage and the Ancients.
- Game 6 (22-23). A fresh game where everyone builds Ancient's Pledge shields (the Barb makes the Tele Sorc's) and gains XP in Flayer Jungle, while the Tele Sorc teleports the Throne and prepares Baal back in Game 5.
- Back in Game 5 (25-26). Kill Baal, then run Cows until one player reaches 26, ideally the Tele Sorc. Respec at 25 unless you are first to 26.
Nightmare and Hell: The Taxi Proper
Nightmare (levels 27-45) repeats one formula in every act. The Tele Sorc takes the outside portal, teleports ahead and drops an XP portal beside each boss group. The Druid takes the first portal and copies it, the Limo Sorc scouts groups, and the Barb sets potions at the portals.
Act 1 (27-28) ends with Andariel spawned on P1. In Act 2 (28-31) the Tele Sorc drops a Maggot Lair portal while she gets the amulet, the Limo Sorc leaves the staff at the town portals, and the Tele Sorc goes straight to Duriel after dropping the Summoner portal. Act 3 (31-34) has her grab Khalim's Eye, leave a portal at the Gidbinn, smash the Compelling Orb and portal Mephisto. In Act 4 (32-35) she opens every Chaos seal but one in advance. Act 5 (36-45) is Chaos runs until level 40, the Ancients, Shenk and Anya, then the Throne and Baal. The sheet says the Tele Sorc and Barb don't need level 40, so they stay out of Chaos and leave the XP to everyone else.
Hell (45-60+) repeats Acts 1 to 3 with the same roles and runs boss-group portals and Chaos in Act 4. Act 5 is Chaos runs until level 60, the Ancients, and a Throne led by the Cold Sorc. After Baal's minions everyone leaves except the Cold Sorc, who spawns Baal on P1 while the others rejoin to leech the quest.
FAQ
How long does an 8-man D2R speedrun take?
Per the planbook, the fastest known time for the Taxi Strat 3.0 comp is SC 1:20:14 and HC 1:32:26. Those are the best figures on the sheet, not a target for a first attempt, and they may have been beaten. The planbook gives no typical time. For racing to level 99 instead, see ladder race tips.
Do you need exactly eight players for the Taxi Strat?
The plan is written for eight fixed slots, and jobs like the Limo Sorc's scouting and the Cold Sorc's Throne lead assume someone is there to do them. The plan has no smaller version. Smaller groups can borrow single ideas from it, not the whole route.
What changed between Old Taxi and Taxi Strat 3.0?
The Old Taxi sheet, the original taxi route by jymnasium, calls itself superseded and says 3.0 evolved directly from it. Its listed times are SC 1:33:18 and HC 1:57:44, which is 13:04 and 25:18 slower than 3.0's. The sheets don't say how much of that gap is route and how much is execution.
Get the Full Plan and Fill the Eight Slots
The strategy library has the complete act-by-act Taxi Strat 3.0, and the matching eight-slot comp sits on the compositions page. Short a few players? Create an account to register and fill in Ladder Setup on your profile to appear in the free-agent pool, browse open teams or post on the LFG board.