Leveling and Magic Find Guide

Leveling Guide

Act One

1. A higher player count in the game will increase the amount of experience gained from fights. Tristram in the Stony Fields after the third quest in Act 1 and the Forgotten Tower in the Black Marsh give the most experience in early Act 1. The Countess has the added bonus of providing useful runes for weapon and armor upgrades such as a 3 Ral rune weapon or you can combine three sets of 3 Ral runes in the Horadric Cube (which is found in Act2) for a 3 Ort rune weapon. With the runes from Countess you can also make an Ancient's Pledge Runeword Shield (Ral Ort Tal) that has 43-48 resist all as early as Act 2. An open socketed scepter can also be purchased from Akara at the beginning of the game to socket with chipped or flawed gems if you need a better starting weapon. As an added trick on multiplayer, you can make the quest flail used to get through Act 3, leave before using the flail, and then transfer the flail to your low level characters. The weapon is an overpowered weapon with no stat requirement that can be used at level one. This also works for the weapon from the Act 4 Forge quest.

Act Two

1. Canyon of the Magi and/or Tal Rasha's Tomb are the best places to level in Act 2. Try and hit as high of a level as you can and don't forget that a higher player count in the game provides more experience.

Upgrade: Act 2 gives access to the Ancient's Pledge Runeword Shield (Ral Ort Tal) for 43-48 to all resists with the addition of the Horadric Cube. The Ancient's Pledge runeword shield is a great resistance shield for early in the game.

Vendor: The Ancient's Pledge runeword can be put in a 3 socketed large shield which can be bought from Fara by running in and out of town to cycle her inventory. You can also make a 3 Ral rune or a 3 Ort rune weapon in a 3 open socketed flail which can be purchased from Fara in Act 2. Elzix will also sell gloves and boots with magic find and one resistance somewhat rarely.

Act Three and Four (No Leveling)

Act Five

The three uniques that are best to level / magic find off of are:

1. Eldritch The Rectifier is found just past the first warp point in Act 5

2. Pindleskin runs in Anya's portal that is opened after saving Anya from the Frozen River

3. And finally Baal runs

Add players for more experience.

Nightmare: Act One and Two (No Leveling)

Upgrade: Smoke is an optional armor that is now available. It has 50 resist all, 20% faster hit recovery, and the Weaken curse and is made with Nef + Lum in a two socketed armor. The rarer of the two runes Lum can be found rarely from Nightmare Countess. Skin of the Vipermagi is a similar option that is available from Nightmare Mephisto that has 20-35 resist all, plus one to all skills, and faster cast rate.

Vendor: Belts from Gheed can now be exceptional quality with four potion slots and can come with a resistance and as much as 100 life. You can also wait until later in the game where health/resistance belts are more commonly sold as Plated Belts. The two open socket Breast Plate to make Smoke runeword (Nef + Lum) which has +50 to all resistances can now be purchased from Fara.

Nightmare: Act Three

Mephisto runs are a good idea for magic finding, offering a high drop rate for uniques, quick runs, and lots of great gear.

Nightmare: Act Four (No Leveling)

Nightmare: Act Five

These three bosses once again:

1. Eldritch The Rectifier

2. Pindleskin

3. Baal runs

Add players for more experience and difficulty.

Upgrades: +3 Warcry weapons become available for purchase from Anya in Nightmare Act 5 once you are a high enough level. After fully leveling up on Nightmare Baal you should easily be a high enough level to purchase them.

Hell: Act One (optional for magic finding)

For single player characters there is really only one location that's safe to level and find items in Hardcore difficulty as melee before finishing Hell difficulty.

1. The Pit (and it's optional)

The Pit can be found in the Tamoe Highlands and can be difficult for some builds with a chance at some very difficult modifiers on the monsters. It is a great place to magic find, however, and you can level up there while finding items. The Pit can offer all of the highest level unique items and all of the highest level runes in Act 1. Make sure to be safe with what you feel is your character's ability on Hardcore difficulty.

2. The Countess (optional and is not recommended for early on in Hardcore)

The Countess can be found in the Forgotten Tower in the Black Marsh and typically drops multiple runes each time she is killed. Her rune table drops up to Ist Rune and her regular monster drops drop up to Lo Rune. Above Ist Rune is an extremely rare drop but, you can expect to find about two runes between Ist and Pul every 100 runs.

Hell: Act Two (optional for magic finding)

1. Ancient Tunnels (optional for magic finding)

The Ancient Tunnels can be found by looking for an L shaped building in the Lost City area. Ancient Tunnels can drop all of the highest level uniques and runes similar to The Pit, however, The Pit still has a higher mob density and is a better magic find spot for melee characters. The Ancient Tunnels is better to magic find on ranged characters that can use teleport because the entrance is sometimes hard to find and because The Pit has a lot of high damage archer enemies that happen to be cold immune. There are no normal monsters that are cold immune in the Ancient Tunnels making it an excellent place to magic find with a Blizzard or Frozen Orb Sorceress.

Hell: Act Three (optional for magic finding)

1. Mephisto (optional for magic finding)

Mephisto is a great magic finding spot on Softcore but, it should only be used for magic finding in Hardcore Hell difficulty with completed builds. The dolls on the way to Mephisto explode on death making teleporting to Mephisto somewhat risky. A trick you can use is to switch to a weak non-ethereal mercenary weapon to keep your mercenary from killing the dolls while you are teleporting to Mephisto.

Hell: Act Four (optional for magic finding)

1. Hell Forge

Hell Forge offers a high chance at some great runes all the way up to Gul rune. Leveling up new characters has the benefit of providing a new chance at finding some excellent runes.

2. Diablo (optional for magic finding)

Diablo should only be used for magic finding solo in Hardcore when you are very well geared and can solo the endgames easily.

Hell: Act Five (optional for magic finding)

The best four places to level / magic find off of are:

1. Eldritch The Rectifier

2. Thresh Socket

3. Pindleskin

4. Baal runs

Add more players for more experience and difficulty.

After finding your gear it's time to progress onward through hell with your completed endgame level and gear all the way through to Baal. Now you can optionally do Baal runs to your hearts content. Best of luck on surviving hell on hardcore difficulty!