Farming is important in Diablo II. It doesn’t matter if you play the legacy or the remake version. You will have to do it to beat the campaign on Hell difficulty. Not only that, it is also important for the endgame if you’re chasing the best in slot items or preparing for Ubers. I will talk about what are the best farming spots for each act from the first one to the last.
The great thing about Diablo II is there is a decent amount of farming spots that one can do. If you’re getting tired of running the same zones over and over again, there’s some variety. Not only I will show you why these areas are great for farming, but I will give you some intricate details about them too.
These areas are basically the spots that many veteran Diablo II players have been running for so many years. They are basically the zones that have proven themselves to be efficient if you are trying to maximize the potential of your favorite builds. These zones are by far the best of all time, and they shouldn’t be ignored.
Act I – The Countess Is Your Friend
The first noteworthy farming spot is one of my personal favorites. It’s none other, but The Countess. She is fantastic to farm during a new character playthrough for early game runes and experience. It’s always worth it to do some runs just to collect some runes and experience to prepare yourself for Andariel. The runes can help you increase Fire Resistance during your playthrough, and provide you the Stealth Runeword.
For endgame, she’s still fantastic for farming mid runes which can be helpful for socketing items or crafting Runewords. On top of that, she can drop Key of Terror, which is important for the Pandemonium Event. Overall, The Countess is always going to be a trusty source to many Diablo II players. She is a Super Unique target that is designed to drop runes, and can be helpful for preparing the later content. It doesn’t matter if you’re still on your journey to Hell difficulty or you’re trying to gear up for Ubers. The Countess can only drop the Key of Terror on Hell difficulty.
The Pit
The Pit is mostly run by players in the endgame. You generally want to avoid this area if you’re doing a playthrough of a new character. The Pit is also not worth it on Nightmare difficulty. People like running this area because it has a decent amount of density which can help players finding item bases or runes. However, the most important thing about The Pit is it’s an easy place to farm.
If you follow the trail within your map, it should lead you to The Pit.
If you’re desperate for gear upgrades, The Pit is an excellent place to farm a couple of times until you find some desirable items. It’s also a location that can drop every single item in the game. There is a chance that you can end up finding rare and powerful items like Griffon’s Eye within the zone. Even if your character is powerful, it’s still a fantastic place to run especially, your clear speed is definitely going to be faster if players are in the mood for magic finding.
Andariel
Andariel is going to be the first big boss that players will encounter in Diablo II. She is also a great source of finding potential upgrades your character. Even on Normal difficulty, I will do a couple of runs just to find some decent rare items that can boost up my survivability. Once my character gets to Nightmare, I still like to run her temporarily to increase my experience and try to find some potential upgrades for myself or my mercenary. Nightmare Andariel is the best farming zone for hunting down the elusive Stone of Jordan.
Don’t undestimate the mobs that you’ll bump into before you find Andariel. They can sometimes drop valuable items.
In the endgame, she is also a great boss to farm for Uniques. There’s always going to be something valuable that’ll eventually drop the more you run her. It should be noted that she is an excellent source of dropping jewelries. If you happened to be lucky enough to fight her while terrorized, she is definitely an amazing boss to farm for those rare Unique items!
The Secret Cow Level
Cows have always been a good source of runes and bases. Folks do enjoy running them on Normal difficulty to find a Crystal Sword. After that, you quest socket it and you can get your Spirit sword easily. On Nightmare difficulty, they can also be great for running if you need a better Paladin shield base or weapon base for your mercenary.
On Hell difficulty, this is where the Cows shine because of their elevated rune drop chances. They can also drop elite version of armor and weapon bases which is the best type you can get. It should be noted that you must complete the campaign per difficulty to be able to spawn The Secret Cow Level.
Act II – The Magic of Ancient Tunnels
Ancient Tunnels is basically the Act II version of The Pit. Finding the entrance to this dungeon can be tricky at times, but it is still manageable if you don’t mind fighting the bystanders. Due to this, it’s a popular place for various Sorceress builds because of their Teleport ability. The mobs are easy to find and the density isn’t the best, but it’s mostly a place you run to find valuable Unique and Set items. Just like The Pit, they can drop every single item in the game. Only run this zone on Hell difficulty.
Sometimes, you’ll get lucky and have the entrance next to your Lost City waypoint!
Arcane Sanctuary
Arcane Sanctuary has always been iconic with the space-themed location that players are put in. This is a great place to farm the Key of Hate from The Summoner. Another item that is important for the Ubers. Players can also participate of killing the trash mobs if they want to.
The ghosts within this location do have increased drop chances for runes, so it can be a decent choice of rune hunting. You have to make sure they die on the narrow platform though. Depending if you play on offline or online mode, the spawn location of The Summoner can vary. Just like The Countess, The Summoner can drop his Key of Hate on the game’s hardest difficulty.
Act III – Treasure Hunting in Travincal
This area is the second last location of the Act III waypoints that the player can acquire. Travincal is easily one of the best places for hunting high runes, jewelries, and gold. The Council Members are the big targets when farming Travincal.
Since the location of the waypoint and The Council Members are so close by, players can easily farm them hastily. If you’re trying to go for high runes, it will certainly take a couple of thousand runs, so be patient! I only recommend players to run this place religiously on Hell difficulty.
Mephisto
It should be noted that depending on the difficulty, finding Mephisto can be more challenging than on Normal difficulty. On Nightmare and Hell difficulty, the Durance of Hate Level 2’s map size drastically increases. You should definitely use a Sorceress if you plan on wanting to farm Mephisto many times.
The Durance of Hate looks very appealing in Resurrected’s update visuals.
Mephisto is basically similar to Andariel of why players farm him. He’s an excellent source of finding valuable Unique items, but he does have a bigger drop table than Andariel. Some noteworthy items that he can drop are Mara’s Kaleidoscope and Arachnid Mesh. On both Normal and Nightmare difficulty, he is still worth farming if you need gear upgrades or experience to make your character stronger.
Act IV – The Chaos Sanctuary Awaits…
The Chaos Sanctuary is the final location of Act IV, and it is the home of Diablo. What makes the Chaos Sanctuary so great is the sheer density of monsters. Due to this design, the zone is excellent for rune hunting and looking for white or gray items. There are mobs that do have elevated rune drop chances too.
On Hell difficulty, you can find every single item in here just like The Pit and Ancient Tunnels. Diablo is there to basically give you a couple of more items before you go. You can definitely find something nice if you plan on running the Chaos Sanctuary at least a thousand times.
For those who want to focus on leveling their character, the Chaos Sanctuary has always been one of the best locations for that. With Terror Zones now being a thing, the Chaos Sanctuary will only give you better experience than before if you plan on reaching to level 99.
Act V – Frigid Highlands and Many More
The Frigid Highlands is great for the accessibility to two Super Unique demons: Eldritch and Shenk. You can do runs fairly fast, and they can drop some nice items if you plan on running them for some hours.
Due to the respectable density, it’s not a bad place to farm for runes or bases. Players do enjoy farming this area if their character isn’t in top tier form because it isn’t too challenging to run it if you need some upgrades in the long run. Doing Frigid Highlands runs can also be great from Normal to Hell difficulty too.
Are you afraid of an Archer pack with Might Aura?
Pindleskin
To do a Pindleskin run, all you have to do is go to the red portal of Nihlathak’s Temple. It will be nearby Anya. People run Pindleskin just because he has a good drop tables that can drop valuable upgrades for you to use or trading.
Another great thing about Pindleskin is it is fast to do them so you can accumulate many items in the long run. However, his minions and he can do some serious damage in return! It’s mostly best to run Pindleskin on Hell difficulty because on lower difficulty, he doesn’t offer much.
Nihlathak
Diablo II players often farm Nihlathak within the Halls of Vaught mostly for the Key of Destruction. He is the last Super Unique target that can drop the final material to summon the Pandemonium Event. Nihlathak is generally considered to be the hardest to farm due to the deadly monsters that are guarding him.
On top of that, he can also cast Corpse Explosion which can result in a lot of damage towards the player. I do recommend players to be decently geared before running him for the keys. Physical Damage Reduction and having a high life pool is going to be important. You should also try to use items that have the Slain Monsters Rest in Peace stat too. Outside of Hell difficulty, there’s not much reason to run him other than if you want to personalize your favorite item.
Worldstone Keep and Baal
In a nutshell, Baal’s Worldstone Keep is basically the Act V version of the Chaos Sanctuary. It should be noted that it is a much harder place to play through. Just like the Chaos Sanctuary, it is jam packed with lots of monsters and they can drop all sorts of items. Players can choose to walk through Baal’s throne room if you’re in the mood of wanting to magic find. If you’re not, it’s definitely best to just rush through the throne room and kill the remaining minions to trigger Baal’s summoning mechanic.
A Zealot is walking his way towards Baal…
This is also another great place to farm experience no matter what difficulty you play on. It is one of the best places to reach for level 99 when it is terrorized. Always be careful of Stygian Dolls and Hell Witches together!
Almost Done, But Stay Awhile and Listen
Those are the best zones to farm since Diablo II’s lifespan. There been some new and updated areas that should’ve been mentioned. Diablo II: Resurrected did do some nice balancing updates to make it more than just a plain remake. For example, both Arachnid Lair and The Stony Tomb are certainly great additions. However, back in Diablo II’s prime years, they weren’t the areas that players would farm seriously.
Hopefully, this guide will help out newer players to understand why these areas are so often ran by long time players. You should also be doing them too if you want to see your character become godly.
