Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for using a distributed cache architecture with different methods to load balance requests depending upon whether a requested data item is a freely-requested item (e.g., a “hot key”). The cache may be implemented as a consistent hash ring, and most keys may be assigned to particular node based on a consistent hash. For hot key requests, the requests may be distributed among a subset of nodes rather than being assigned to a specific node using consistent hashing. When a witness service is used to ensure that cached data is fresh, verification requests for data regarding hot keys may be batched to avoid overloading the witness service with hot key requests.