Hardcore D2 Leveling and Magic Find Guide

Hardcore 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 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 3-4 Ral rune flail which is a great weapon for early on. With the found 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 which is especially helpful in Hardcore. A socketed scepter can be purchased from Akara at the beginning of the game to socket with low level gems for a starter 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 hammer 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 higher player counts in the game provide 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 early resistance shield especially for Hardcore.

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 now sell gloves and boots with a resistance and magic find 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 which can be done in Anya's portal which is opened after saving Anya from the Frozen River.

3. And finally Baal runs.

Add more players for more experience.

Nightmare: Act One and Two (Leveling Optional)

If you didn't do Baal runs in Normal difficulty you can finish off leveling in Act 1 in the Forgotten Tower for experience and runes.

Upgrade: Smoke is an optional armor that is now available. It has 50% resist all, 20% faster hit recovery, and the Weaken curse. It can be made with Nef + Lum in a two socketed body armor. The rarer of the two runes Lum can be found somewhat rarely from Nightmare Countess. Skin of the Vipermagi is a similar body armor option that is also available from Nightmare Mephisto with up to 35% resist all, +1 to all skills, 30% faster cast rate, and reduced magic damage taken.

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 great optional magic finding runs once you are strong enough to easily survive it in Hardcore, offering a high drop rate for unique items, quick runs, and a chance at some really 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 a melee build 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's 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 high runes in Act 1. Make sure to be safe with what you feel is your character's ability on Hardcore.

2. The Countess (optional and isn't 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 unique items and runes similar to The Pit but, The Pit still has a higher mob density and is a better magic find spot for melee characters. The Ancient Tunnels is better suited for ranged characters with Teleport like Frozen Orb and Blizzard Sorceresses because The Pit has a lot of cold immune archers and the entrance is sometimes hard to find quickly without Teleport. As an added note there are also no normal monsters that are cold immune in the Ancient Tunnels making it an even better place to magic find with a Blizzard Sorceress or a Frozen Orb Sorceress.

Hell: Act Three (optional for magic finding)

1. Mephisto (optional for magic finding)

Mephisto is a great magic finding spot in Hell difficulty in Softcore but, it should only be used for magic finding in Hardcore Hell difficulty with completed and optimized builds with Teleport. 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 non-ethereal low damage mercenary weapon to keep your mercenary from killing dolls when you're teleporting to Mephisto.

Hell: Act Four (optional for magic finding)

1. Hell Forge

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

2. Diablo (optional for magic finding)

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

Hell: Act Five (optional for magic finding)

The best four places to level and magic find in Act 5 are:

1. Eldritch The Rectifier

2. Thresh Socket

3. Pindleskin

4. Baal runs

Add more players for more difficulty and experience.

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!