Can you press A to swiftly go to the parent dir and B to go to the previous dir in history (and C for the next), and D to switch to the next tab?
Likewise, having a single E key to jump down by 10 items in your realm would be no different than pressing the down arrow 10 times , or using search to find the file which ends with "_abc" is no different than using your eyes to find all such files and then using a cursor to nagivate to them and select - after all, these are all keyboard-only (except for the find part)!
I'm not much one for home row. I'm an evolved hunt-n-peck, as typing programmes made my fingers hurt. Works for me, and in an office of secretaries, I'm one of the fastest typists.